IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING
Sealed the 30th May 1856, and dated, the 5th December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th December 1855.
J, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING
CLOTH" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the employment in the dressing of woollen goods
of metallic teasles of peculiar construction in place of vegetable teasles. In
constructing these teasles, fillets of vulcanised india-rubber, about one-tenth of
an inch thick, and strengthened with any suitablo fabric, are used to form the
backs of the teasles. Into these fillets teeth made of iron, steel, or other
metal wire are inserted. The teeth are sharpened at the points like needles,
and bent at their ends in such a manner as to imitate the point of the
vegetable teasle. To prevent oxydation, the wire may be coated with any
suitablo alloy.
In order that the teeth may bite, the ends of the wires are chamfered off,

page_text: the degree of obliquity varying according to the requirements of the work.
These wires or teeth are fixed in the fillets or sheets of vulcanized india-
rubber, either obliquely or perpendicularly, and they are bent at their extremi-
ties to an angle more or less acute, and they may either be set so as to cover
the whole surface of the fillet, or they may be arranged in rows running either
transversely or obliquely. In applying the metallic teazles to woollen dressing
machines, it is only necessary to fix the fillets upon wooden segmental pieces,
which are attached to and form the periphery of the large card drum. With
machines thus provided, the dressing operation may be performed more
expeditiously than heretofore, as there is no occasion to turn or change the
teazles or to dry or clean them away from the machine. By the employment
of an endless band of metallic teazles moving at right angles to the progress
of the cloth, it is proposed to dress woollen cloths in a transverse direction.
In order to clear the teazles of cloth-dressing machines fitted according to
this Invention, or, indeed, of cloth-dressing machines generally, a rotating brush
is employed, the same being so mounted that it may be thrown in and out of
action with facility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from 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, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING CLOTH," being a communication
from Mr. Nos d'Argence, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the

page_text: said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates, firstly, to the employment (in place of vegetable teazles) of metallic
teazles in the dressing of woollen goods, such metallic teazles being of a
peculiar construction, and presenting at the same time the required degrees of
flexibility and of resistance.
In constructing these teazles or teazling surfaces, the Inventor says, I
employ fillets of vulcanized india-rubber, about one-tenth of an inch thick
(strengthened with any suitable woven fabric), to form the back, and in these
fillets I insert series of oblique teeth, of greater or less fineness, according to
the nature of the fabric to be operated upon. These teeth, which are mado
of iron, steel, or other wire, aro sharpened at the points like needles, and bent
at their ends in such a manner as to imitate as nearly as possible the point of
the vegetablo teazle. Being very flexible, they will act as springs, and resist
very effectively the consecutive action which they are intended to produce. I
make the teeth by preference of iron or brass wire, which may, if required,
be coated with any alloy which will serve to protect it from oxidation. This
metallic wire, to which I give an angular sectional form, might also be
made of a round form; this latter form I generally adopt, as metallic wire is
constructed of that form in commerce.
In order that the teeth may bite, I chamfer off the ends of the wires
instead of cutting them perpendicularly to their length. The degree of
obliquity or angle of this chamfer, and consequently the sharpness of the
point, may vary, according to the requirements of the work. I fix these wires
or teeth to the fillets or sheets of vulcanized india-rubber, lined with some
strengthening fabric, either obliquely or perpendicularly, according to the effect
which they are required to produce. These wires or teeth are at their
extremities bent to an angle more or less acute, as will bereafter be seen by
reference to the accompanying Drawing; and they may either be set so as to
cover the whole surface of the fillet, or they may be arranged in rows running

page_text: In
either transversely or obliquely, but never in a longitudinal direction, as this
would produce precisely the defect which the ordinary metallic teazling or card
surfaces are found to possess, viz, that of acting in an unequal manner.
certain cases I cut the extremities of the angles at a right angle instead of
chamfering them off, and in other cases I do not bend them at all; I vary
their form and arrangement according as I intend to apply them to the work
performed by the different kinds of teazles, known under the names of live,
dead, and close tenzles.
As my improved sheet teazles do not absorb water, they will consequently
require no drying. They are not liable to foul, and require little or no
cleaning, cleaning by hand being done away with. As they make no flock,
the strength of the fabric is not diminished by their use. The regularity of
the teeth ensures an equal action upon the whole surface of the cloth, either
in the direction of the length of the cloth, or in a transverse direction, that is,
from selvage to selvage. This latter method of dressing is entirely new, and
constitutes, with my metallic teazles, the whole of the improvements which I
have made in woollen dressing machines.
In the accompanying Drawing, different numbers or constructions of my
metallic teazles are represented with their different applications. Figures 1
and 2 represent, in edge and plan views, a live teazle made of iron; Fig. 3
shews one of the teeth of the same on an enlarged scale. The teeth a, bent
back at a right angle, are chamfered off at their extremities; they are fixed
obliquely in the lined caoutchouc cloth b. In order that their biting action
may not be too great, the teeth are set in separate transverse rows.
Fig. 4 shews, in odge view, a live teazle made of brass, the teeth of which,
of the same form as those represented at Fig. 3, occupy the whole surface of
the sheet or fillet.
Fig. 5 shews, in elevation, a form of tooth for a live teazle, which is bent at
an angle less than the preceding ones.
Fig. 6 represents, in elevation, a dead teazle of iron, the teeth of which (see
the enlarged view, Fig. 7,) are cut square at their ends instead of being
chamfered, and cover the whole surface of the fillet.
Figures 8 and 9 represent, in edge view and plan, a dead teazle made of
brass, the teeth of which are set in oblique rows. The form of these teeth is
shown on a larger scale in Fig. 10.
Fig. 11 represents a close teazle, made of iron or brass, the teeth of which
are straight, and cut at right angles to their length (see Fig. 12). These teeth,
instead of being fixed perpendicularly to the sheet, may be set obliquely, as
shewn in elevation at Fig. 13.

page_text: It will be understood that the arrangements of teeth which I have described
for each kind of teazle and each form of teeth may be also applied to all
others; thus, the teeth of each kind of teazle (of steel, brass, copper, &c.)
may be more or less bent, with flat or chamfered points, and arranged in
oblique or transverse rows, or be made to cover the whole surface of the
fillet, &c. Although I usually employ iron or brass wire of Nos. 26 and 28,
it is evident that I can employ wires of any numbers, from the coarsest up to
the finest.
On referring to the vertical section, Fig. 14, it will be seen that the metallic
cards thus prepared may be applied with the greatest facility to woollen dressing
machines. It is only necessary for this purpose to fix the fillets upon the
wooden segmental pieces C, which are attached in any suitable manner to the
iron framing D, adapted to the circumference of the large card drum T, as
substitutes for the ordinary teazles.
It will be seen that the wooden segmental pieces have the required form for
their adaptation to the circumference of the cylinder, so that they form with
the fillets with which they are furnished a perfect cylinder. This arrangement
possesses not merely the advantage of being cheap of construction and easily
kept in working order, but it also performs a greater amount of work in a
given time than those of the teazles in use, which, only presenting a small
portion of their acting surface to the surface of the cloth under operation,
will for that cause only operate in certain parts of the circumference of the
drum or cylinder, whilst, according to my system, all the teeth being at an
equal distance from the centre, will work equally and simultaneously. It will
therefore be understood that the dressing operation may be performed much
moro expeditiously than heretofore, as there is no occasion, as with vegetable
teazles, to turn or change them, and to dry and clean them successively, which
materially deteriorates their efficiency.
By the employment of my metallic teazles, I am enabled, as I have above
stated, to dress woollen cloths in a transverse direction. It is only necessary for
this purpose to adapt to ordinary cloth-dressing machinery a small apparatus,
similar to that represented at Figures 14 and 16. This apparatus consists
of two pullies E, over which passes an endless band of metallic teazles e,
and to which a continuous motion is communicated.. The cloth to be operated
upon passes in the direction of its length over the small rollers F, and also over
a larger centre roller G, upon which the dressing operation is performed.
This operation takes place in a transverse direction, notwithstanding the con-
tinuous forward movement of the cloth by reason of the band of metallic
teazles being kept at tension by the tension rollers II (Fig. 16) during its

page_text: passage over the cloth, whereby the teeth are enabled to act as effectually as
the teazing surfaces in the ordinary longitudinal cloth-dressing machines.
In order to clean the teeth of the teazing surfaces in cloth-dressing
machinery, the Inventor provides a cylinder N, the axis of which lies parallel
to that of the cylinder T, and around its periphery he lays fillets of card teeth,
also set in vulcanized india-rubber; these teeth, which are long and very
flexible, being set therein either upright or at an angle. On rotary motion in
the requisite direction and at a suitable speed being communicated to this
roller by the movement of the machine, and adjusting it (by means of the
adjusting screw U, Fig. 15,) at the requisite point of contact with the teeth of
the cylinder T', these latter will be freed from the fibres of wool, and caused to
work regularly and effectively.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Apparatus for Dressing Cloth," as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish
it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim,-
First, the application of metallic teazles constructed as above described to
machines for dressing woollen cloth.
And, secondly, I claim the use of the teazing surfaces, constructed and
arranged as above described, for operating upon the fabric both longitudinally
and transversely.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.B.)