IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STRETCHING AND SMOOTHING CLOTH OR WOVEN FABRICS PRE- PARATORY TO OR IN THE COURSE OF BEING PRINTED
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Allan McDonald, of Alexandria, in the County of
Dumbarton, Foreman Printer, and Alexander McIntosh, of Alexandria
aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR STRETCHING AND SMOOTHING CLOTH OR WOVEN FABRICS PRE-
PARATORY TO OR IN THE COURSE OF BEING PRINTED."
Sealed the 12th January 1855, and dated the 8th November 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Allan McDonald and
Alexander McIntosh at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th November 1854.
We, ALLAN MCDONALD, of Alexandria, in the County of Dumbarton,
Foreman Printer, and ALEXANDER MCINTOSH, of Alexandria aforesaid,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STRETCHING AND SMOOTHING CLOTH OR WOVEN
FABRICS PREPARATORY TO OR IN THE COURSE OF BEING PRINTED" to be as follows,
that is to say-
In the process of printing calico and other, woven fabrics it is necessary that
the cloth should be stretched breadthwise before entering the printing machine,
in order that its surface may be made smooth and free from creases. According
to the ordinary method of performing this operation, the cloth as it runs off
the beam (or roller on which it is wound previously to being printed) is made

page_text: to pass over and under certain straight bars, called stretching rails, and while
so passing it is stretched and smoothed breadthwise, and the creases taken
out by a worker, who attends the machine for that purpose. Occasionally the
attendance of more than one worker is required for this purpose, and the
printing machines have frequently to be worked at.a less speed than that of
which they would otherwise be capable, in order to give the workers sufficient
time to stretch and smooth the cloth by hand.
We propose to effect the same object in an improved manner by means of a
piece of machinery which we call a "self-acting tenter," and by the aid of
which the stretching by hand will be superseded; the printing machines will
be enabled to work at an increased speed, and the cloth will, be stretched more
regularly, freed from creases more effectually, and guided into the printing
machines more evenly, than it is by the present method.
In Sheet first of the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation
of a printing machine with our self-acting tenter attached, and shews the
general arrangement of the machinery.
In Sheet second, Figures 2, 3, and 4 represent the self-acting tenter and
certain parts thereof separately and in detail.
In Figure 1, d, d, d, d, d, is part of the framework of a printing machine.
a is a roller, called a shell, by which the colours are printed on the cloth. The
dotted circle b, b, is a roller, called a boul, by which the cloth is pressed against
the shell. h, h, is a roller, called a beam, on which the cloth is wound
previously to being printed. g is the end of a horizontal bar, called a stretching
rail, which assists in guiding the cloth. There may be more such rails, if
required. is the self-acting tenter, for stretching and smoothing the cloth,
consisting of a drum or drums and pulleys and other parts, shewn in detail in
the other Figures. e is the end of a square shaft on which the self-acting
tenter is mounted. k, k, k, is the piece of cloth seen edgeways, which is run
off from the beam h, h, and passes below the stretching rail g, and over the
self-acting tenter c, from which it is drawn on to the bowl b, b, and between
the bowl b, b, and the shell a. The direction of motion of the cloth is indicated
by an arrow.
Figure 2 is a plan of the self-acting tenter alone, as seen from above. In
this Figure, G is the side at which the cloth passes on the tenter, and H the
side at which the cloth passes off the tenter and on to the bowl.
e, e, is the
square shaft already mentioned, which is fixed. A is a cylindrical drum or
roller. This drum rotates upon a cylindrical bush, fitted upon the square shaft,
and having its axis parallel to the shaft. B, B, are two additional narrow
drums, also rotating upon cylindrical bushes, fitted on the square shaft, and

page_text: having their axes parallel to it. These additional drums and their bushes can
be taken off or on at pleasure, so as to vary the breadth of the self-acting
tenter when required. C, C, are a pair of pulleys, which we shall call the
oblique pulleys, and which rotate on cylindrical bushes, to be afterwards more
particularly described, fixed on the square shaft, but having their axes more or
less oblique to it. These pulleys have their peripheries covered with card or
some other suitable substance, and the edges of the piece of cloth to be printed
pass over them. The obliquity of the bushes is so regulated that the peripheries
of the oblique pullies are further asunder, and consequently the whole breadth
of the self-acting tenter is greater at the side marked H, where the cloth
passes off towards the bowl and shell, than at the side marked G, where the
cloth comes on to the tenter from the cloth beam. In consequence of this, and
of the action of the card or other substance upon the edges of the piece of
cloth, the latter, in passing over the self-acting tenter, is stretched breadthwise
with a force and to an extent depending on the degree of obliquity of the
bushes on which the oblique pulleys rotate; the cloth is thus delivered smooth
and free from creases to the printing machinery. c, c, are the outer flanches
of the oblique bushes already mentioned; f,f,f,f, are screws for adjusting
their degree of obliquity; the rotation of the drums and pullies is produced by
the cloth passing over them.
Figure 3 is an end view of the self-acting tenter. In this Figure, G, as before,
is the side at which it receives the cloth; H, that at which it delivers it. The
direction of motion is shown by an arrow. C is one of the oblique pulleys; e is
the fixed square shaft; d, d, is one of the oblique bushes before mentioned,
and c, c, its outer flanch. This bush is pierced longitudinally with a slot or
rectangular opening. This slot at the inner end, not seen in the Figure, is
square, occupies the centre of the bush, and exactly fits the square shaft at the
outer end, shewn in the Figure; it is oblong, being of the same width with
the shaft in a vertical direction, but wider in a horizontal direction, so as to
admit of the bush being placed obliquely to the shaft. f. f, are set screws for
fixing this bush at any required degree of obliquity to the shaft. b, b, is an
outer bush, fixed in the pulley C, and rotating upon the oblique bush d, d.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section of one of the oblique bushes and part of the
square shaft. In this Figure, e, c, is part of the shaft; d, d, is the oblique bush.
shewing its slot or opening, fitting the shaft at the inner end and widening
towards the outer end; c, c, is the outer flanch of this bush; ff, are the set
screws for adjusting the obliquity.
Although the arrangement and details of machinery, as before described
and shown in the Drawings, are such as would answer well in practice, yet

page_text: they may be varied, according to circumstances, without departing from the
principle of our Invention.
In this Specification and the annexed Drawings we have described and
represented various portions of machinery which are well known; we do not
claim any such portions of machinery as our Invention; but what we do claim,
as constituting or embraced by our Invention or improvements, is, the appli-
cation to any inachine for printing woven fabrics of a self-acting. tenter, as
herein-before described, for stretching and smoothing the cloth before it is
printed, or while it is in the act of being printed, in which such stretching or
smoothing is performed by the action of pulleys, placed at the ends of a drum
or of an assemblage of drums, and rotating on the same shaft with the drums,
But round.axes of rotation oblique to that shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Allan McDonald and Alexander McIntosh in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALLAN
MCDONALD, of Alexandria, in the County of Dumbarton, Foreman Printer,
and ALEXANDER MCINTOSH, of Alexandria aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Allan McDonald and Alexander McIntosh, Her special license that we,
the said Allan McDonald and Alexander McIntosh, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Allan McDonald and
Alexander McIntosh, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, frou time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, in such manner as to us and our
foresaids should, in our and their discretion, seem meet, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STRETCHING AND SMOOTHING CLOTH OR WOVEN
FABRICS PREPARATORY TO OR IN THE COURSE OF BEING PRINTED," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Allau McDonald and Alexander McIntosh, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal

page_text: of one of us; should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Allan McDonald and Alexander
McIntosh, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
In the process, of printing calico and other woven fabrics it is necessary
that the cloth should be stretched breadthwise before entering the printing
machine, in order that its surface may be made smooth and free from creases.
According to the ordinary method of performing this operation, the cloth as it
runs off the beam (or roller on which it. is wound previously. to being printed)
is made to pass over and under certain straight bars, called stretching rails,
and while so passing it is stretched and smoothed breadthwise, and the creases
taken out by a worker, who attends the machine for that. purpose. Occasionally
the attendance of more than one worker is required for this purpose, and the
printing machines have frequently to be worked at a less speed than that of
which they would otherwise be capable, in order to give the worker sufficient
time to stretch and smooth the cloth by hand.
We propose to effect the same object in an improved manner by means of
a piece of machinery, which we call a self-acting tenter," and by the aid of
which the stretching by hand will be superseded, the printing machines will be
enabled to work at an increased speed, and the cloth will be stretched more
regularly, freed from creases more effectually, and guided into the printing
machine more evenly, than it is by the present method.
In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a printing
machine with our self-acting tenter attached, and shews the general arrange-
ment of the machinery. Figures 2, 3, and 4 represent the self-acting tenter
and certain parts thereof separately and in detail.
In Figure 1, d, d, d, d, d, is part of the.framework of a printing machine; a
is a roller, called a shell, by which the colours are printed on the cloth. The
partly dotted circle b, b, is a roller, called a bowl, by which the cloth is pressed
against the shell. h is a roller, called a beam, on which the cloth is wound
previously to being printed; g is the end of a horizontal bar, called a stretching
rail, which assists in guiding the cloth. There may be more such rails if
required. c is the self-acting tenter, for stretching and smoothing the cloth,
consisting of a drum or drums and pulleys and other parts, shewn in detail in
the other Figures. e is the end of a square shaft on which the self-acting

page_text: tenter is mounted. k, k, k, is the piece of cloth seen edgeways, which is run
off from the beam h, and passes below the stretching rail g and over the self-
acting tenter c, from which it is drawn on to the bowl b, b, and between the
bowl b, b, and the shell a. The direction of motion of the cloth is indicated
by an arrow.
Figure 2 is a plan of the self-acting tenter alone, as seen from above. In
this Figure, G is the side at which the cloth passes on to the tenter, and II
the side at which the cloth passes off the tenter and on to the bowl; e, c, is
the square shaft already mentioned, which is fixed; A is a cylindrical drum or
roller. This drum rotates upon a cylindrical bush, fitted upon the square shaft,
and having its axis parallel to the shaft. B, B, are two additional narrow
drums, also rotating upon cylindrical bushes, fitted on the square shaft, and
having their axes parallel to it. These additional drums and their bushes can
be taken off or on at pleasure, so as to vary the breadth of the self-acting
tenter when required. C, C, are a pair of pulleys, which we shall call the
oblique pulleys, and which rotate on cylindrical bushes, to be afterwards more
particularly described, fixed on the square shaft, and having their axes more
or less oblique to it. These pulleys have their peripheries covered with card,
cloth, or some other suitable substance, and the edges of the piece of cloth to
be printed pass over them. The obliquity of the bushes is so regulated that
the peripheries of the oblique pulleys are further assunder, and consequently
the whole breadth of the self-acting tenter is greater at the side marked H,
where the cloth passes off towards the bowl and shell, than at the side marked
G, where the cloth comes on to the tenter from the cloth beam. In con-
sequence of this, and of the action of the card or other substance upon the
edges of the piece of cloth, the latter, in passing over the self-acting tenter, is
stretched breadthwise with a force and to an extent depending on the degree
of obliquity of the bushes on which the oblique pulleys rotate. The cloth is
thus delivered smooth and free from creases to the printing machinery. c, c, are
the outer flanches of the oblique bushes already mentioned; f.f.f.f, are screws
for adjusting their degree of obliquity; the rotation of the drums and pulleys
may be produced by the cloth passing over them.
Figure 3 is an end view of the self-acting tenter. In this Figure, G, as
before, is the side at which it receives the cloth; H, that at which it delivers
it. The direction of motion is shewn by an arrow. C is one of the oblique
pulleys; e is the fixed square shaft; d is one of the oblique bushes before
mentioned; and c, its outer flanch. This bush is pierced longitudinally with a
slot or rectangular opening. This slot at the inner end, not seen in the Figure,
is square, occupies the centre of the bush, and exactly fits the square shaft; at.

page_text: the outer end, shewn in the Figure, it is oblong, being of the same width with
the shaft in a vertical direction, but wider in a horizontal direction, so as to
admit of the bush being placed obliquely to the shaft. ff, are set screws, for
fixing this bush at any required degree of obliquity to the shaft.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section of one of the oblique bushes and part of the
square shaft. In this Figure, e, e, is part of the shaft; d, d, is the oblique
bush, shewing its slot or opening, fitting the shaft at the inner end and
widening towards the outer end. c, c, is the outer flanch of this bush; f.f, an
the set screws for adjusting the obliquity.
Although the arrangement and details of machinery, as before described and.
shewn in the Drawings, are such as would answer well in practice, yet they
may be varied according to circumstances, without departing from the principle
of our Invention.
In this Specification and the annexed Drawings we have described and repre-
sented various portions of machinery which are well known; we do not claim
any such portions of machinery as our Invention; but what we do claim, as
constituting or embraced by our Invention or improvements, is, the application
to any machine for printing woven fabrics, of a self-acting tenter, as herein-
before described, for stretching and smoothing the cloth before it is printed, or
while it is in the act of being printed, in which such stretching or smoothing
is performed by the action of pulleys placed at the ends of a drum or of an
assemblage of drums, and rotating on the same shaft with the drums, but
round axes of rotation oblique to that shaft.
In witness whereof, we, the said Allan McDonald and Alexander McIntosh,
have heretofore set our respective hands and seals, this Seventeenth
day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
ALLAN MCDONALD.
(L.S.)
ALEXANDER MCINTOSH. (L.S.)