IMPROVEMENTS IN SHRINKING OR TREATING WOOLLEN. AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert McConnell, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHRINKING
OR TREATING WOOLLEN. AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR."
Scaled the 21st December 1877, and dated the 30th June 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert McConnell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th June 1877.
"
ROBERT MCCONNELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Bleacher.
IMPROVEMENTS IN SHRINKING OR TREATING WOOLLEN AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS,
AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
T:
This Invention has for its object the "shrinking" of woven fabrics, or the treating
of 'them in such manner as to entirely remove or very much diminish or exhaust
the tendency which some woven fabrics have to shrink when subjected to moisture.
The Invention is very advantageously applicable to woollen fabrics, but it is also
beneficial when applied to any linen, cotton, or other fabrics which are liable to
shrink.
"The Invention consists in subjecting the fabrics in a systematic manner to moisture
accompanied by heat, and in subsequently drying the fabrics; the improved apparatus
employed for carrying out the Invention being arranged to act in a continuous
manner upon any convenient number of pieces of fabric joined together endways.
The fabric is led through the apparatus by means of a number of guide rollers,
some of which are combined with nipping rollers, and are driven so as to draw the
fabric onwards, and the fabric first passes through a chamber or box, in which.
there is a
trough containing water, having partly immersed in it a felt-covered
roller over, and in contact with which the fabric is led. Guide rollers under which

page_text: the fabric passes, before and after passing over the felt-covered roller, cause it to
press on and turn that roller and become moistened by it in a regular manner.
In some cases the box or chamber is filled with steam of about atmospheric
pressure, and the water is heated to near the boiling point; but in other cases the
water does not require to be so hot and the steam is not needed. The fabric next
passes round one or more hollow metal cylinders heated by steam of about atmo-
spheric pressure, and is then led into a drying chamber heated by means of steam
pipes or flues, or by currents of hot air, and in this chamber it is led over rollers in
such a manner as to hang in a number of vertical loops or folds, the course being
made of such a length that although the fabric is kept moving continuously through
the chamber, each part remains in it for a sufficient length of time.
When currents of heated air are used for the drying operation they may be led
through vertical flues or channels, of which two sides are formed by the hanging
fabric, whilst the other two sides consist of boards or brickwork, or metal plates.
The fabric is afterwards passed round a large copper or other metal cylinder, which
is heated by steam of about atinospheric pressure, and which removes creases
and smoothens the fabric, which is finally delivered into loose heaps and allowed to
cool.
An advantage of the improved process is that it removes from woollen and some
other goods the gloss or glistening finish which is often objected to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert McConnell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th December
1877.
☐ ROBERT M°CONNELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Bleacher.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHRINKING OR TREATING WOOLLEN AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS,
AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
My said Invention has for its object the "shrinking" of woven fabrics, or the
treating of them in such manner as to entirely remove or very much diminish
or exhaust the tendency which some woven fabrics have to shrink when subjected to
moisture.
My Invention is very advantageously applicable to woollen fabrics, but it is also
beneficial when applied to any linen, cotton, or other fabrics which are liable to
shrink.
My Invention consists in subjecting the fabrics in an improved and systematic
manner to moisture accompanied by heat, and in afterwards suitably drying the
fabrics; the improved apparatus employed for carrying out my Invention being
arranged to act in a continuous manner upon any convenient number of pieces
joined together endways.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
inay be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings,

page_text: to be herein-after referred to, and representing my improved apparatus or arrange-
ments. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same
or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1, occupying the lower part of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, is a
longitudinal vertical section showing one modification of my improved apparatus.
The fabric 1, shown by a peculiarly dotted line, is led through the apparatus by'
means of a number of guide rollers, some of which are combined with nipping
rollers, and are driven so as to draw the fabric onwards. The fabric 1, after passing
partly round two breadthening smoothing and guiding rollers 2, enters a chamber
or box 3, in which there is a trough 4 containing water, having partly immersed in
it a felt-covered roller 5, in contact with which the fabric 1 is led. The guide
rollers 2 and 6 under which the fabric passes before and after passing over the felt-
covered roller 5, cause it to press on and turn that roller and become moistened by
it in a regular manner.
If in any case additional pressure is required a small roller 7 may be arranged to
rest on the roller 5, the fabric passing between.
In some cases steam of about atmospheric pressure is admitted by a pipe 8 into
the box 3, and the water in the trough 4 may be heated by means of a steam pipe
or otherwise to nearly the boiling point; but in other cases the water does not
require to be so hot, and the steam is not needed. The cover of the box 3 is made
with inclined sides, and gutters are fixed along the lower parts of these to catch
water due to condensation of the steam, and to prevent it from dropping on the
fabric, or the box 3 may be made without a cover, the admission of the steam beneath
the fabric confining it sufficiently. The fabric 1 next passes round a hollow metal
cylinder 9 and between it and a lower roller 10, passing partly round the latter,
and thence through an opening 11 in the wall into the drying chamber. The
cylinder 9 is heated by steam which may be of about atmospheric pressure, and in
some cases a steam-heated hollow metal cylinder may be substituted for the lower
roller 10, or more than two such heated cylinders may be employed.
The drying chamber, which may be fifty feet long or of any other suitable length,
portions of the apparatus at the ends of the chamber being alone shown in the Figure,
is heated by steam pipes 42 placed at the floor, or it might be heated by means of
flues or by currents of hot air. In this drying chamber the fabric 1 is led over
rollers 12 in such a manner as to hang down in loose loops or festoons between the
rollers.
In the case of woollen or heavy fabrics it is important that each loop or festoon
between any two rollers 12 shall not comprise so much of the fabric as that its own
weight may have any appreciable stretching action on it whilst it is drying, because
if stretched whilst drying it might be liable to shrink on being subsequently
moistened. And in order to further prevent the weight of the fabric from thus
acting injuriously, a number of tapes 13 are stretched horizontally and longitudinally
at such a distance below the rollers 12 as to afford a little support to the bottoms of
the festoons. These tapes 13 may be arranged in number to suit the greatest width
of fabric for which the apparatus is constructed, and at about 5 or 6 inches apart;
they also prevent the fabric from getting disarranged on the rollers 12.
The fabric 1 when in the drying chamber is first led over a lower horizontal row
of carrying and guiding, rollers 12 to the further end of the chamber, and then
returns over an upper horizontal row of the rollers, afterwards passing between a
pair of nipping rollers 14, and then round a large steam-heated drum or cylinder 15.
The fabric on leaving the drum 15 passes out of the drying chamber by an opening 16
in the wall, and proceeding to an ordinary vibrating folder 17 is delivered in a
folded pile 18 below. The several rollers 12 in the drying chamber, which support
and move forward the fabric, are driven by means of an endless rope 19 which
passes round pulleys on the spindles of the rollers 12 in a manner that will be under-
stood from the Drawing, and is driven by a pulley 20 indicated by dotted lines, and
which receives its motion by means of a spur wheel and pinion from the shaft of

page_text: the drum or cylinder 15. The endless rope 19 is tightened by means of a lever 21
at the further end of the drying chamber; this lever having on it a pulley round
which the rope passes, and being held by a pin fixed into one or other of a series of
holes in a bar 22.
In some cases pressure is applied to the fabric when passing round the drum or
cylinder 15 by means of one or two rollers 23 carried by weighted levers.
The various parts of my improved apparatus are obviously susceptible of modifi-
cation to suit different fabrics and requirements without departing from the essential
features of my Invention. Thus in place of the felt-covered roller 5, Figure 1, for
moistening the fabric, a fluted roller 5 may be used, as shown in Figure 2, or the
roller 5 may be made hollow, and with a perforated shell, as shown in Figure 3, and
have the steam admitted into its interior; or again the fabric 1 may be made to pass
round the under side of the roller 5, as indicated in Figure 4, so that it will dip into
the water and become more completely saturated.
In the drying chamber the rollers 12 may be arranged closer together, and the
fabric may be placed in vertical loops or folds between them, but such vertical folds
must be so short that the weight of the fabric will not appreciably stretch it.
A modified arrangement of the drying chamber and apparatus is shown in plan in
Figure 5, and in vertical section in Figure 6, these Figures being drawn to a com-
paratively reduced scale. In this modification the chamber is of a cylindrical form,
the vertical cylindrical wall or casing 25 being of iron, or it might be of wood, stone,
or brick, and a horizontal cover 26 being provided. In the centre of the chamber
there is fixed a pedestal 27, carrying a vertical shaft, which has fixed at its upper
end a wheel 28, formed at its circumference with sockets, in which are fixed a number
of wooden or other rods 29, projecting out radially. The fal
on these radial rods 29, and the wheel or turnstyle 28, as it
round step by step by means of its shaft or otherwise.
hung in loose folds
called, is turned
Two openings 30, 31, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 5, are formed in the
cover 26, and the fabric is led into one of these. Each time that a sufficient length
of fabric has entered for a single loop or fold, the wheel 28 is turned through the
angle between two rods, and the folds are thereby successively and gradually
carried round the chamber, and the fabric is drawn off through the second
opening 31 in the cover 26 just at the same rate as that at which it enters at the
opening 30.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to ne by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The improved combination of apparatus herein-before described with reference
to Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings, such apparatus being used for the
systematic "shrinking" or moistening, heating, and drying treatment of woven.
fabrics for the purpose of diminishing or exhausting their tendency to shrink.
2. The process of "shrinking" or treating woven fabrics, wherein the fabrics are
passed continuously through apparatus in which they are first moistened with cold
or hot water or with steam, or with both; secondly, passed round one or more heated
cylinders; thirdly, passed through a drying chamber.over an extended course, and so
as not to be stretched; and finally, passed round a heated cylinder, all substantially
in the manner herein-before described.
3. The several modifications of apparatus for moistening or steaming, or both
moistening and steaming woven fabrics in a continuous manner, preparatory to their
passing through a chamber in which they are arranged or conveyed, so as not
to be subjected to stretching action, substantially as and for the purpose herein-
before described.
4. The combination of apparatus for moistening and drying or "shrinking"
woven fabrics, in which the "turnstyle" drying apparatus herein-before described

page_text: with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying Drawings, is substituted for
that described with reference to Figure 1.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert McConnell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
R. M CONNELL. (L.S.)