Improvements in or connected with the Manufacture of Felt and other similar Fabrics.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Apr., 1898
1000
Ath Mon
4000
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Manufacture of Felt and
other similar Fabrics.
We, WILLIAM BRADSHAW LEACHMAN, of Excel Works, Great Wilson Street,
Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and ROBERT JOHN CHADWICK MITCHELL, of
the Firm of Mitchell Brothers of Waterfoot Limited, of Albert Works, Waterfoot,
near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Felt Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention has particular reference to the machine and process described in
the Specification of our Patent No. 16702, 14th July A.D. 1897; and our object
is to so improve the manufacture of the fabric that an even width is maintained,
and the injury effected by the tentering process is entirely obviated.
In the manufacture of felted fabrics, it has been customary to subject the said
fabric to a
tentering process after it has passed through the milling operation
or after it has undergone the process of dyeing, and the said tentering besides
giving an uneven result, has had the effect of partially destroying the texture
of the material, by loosening and opening out the fibres after they have been
locked.
According to this invention, the felt is passed direct from the hardener or
washer to the milling machine either in the grey or dyed state, and in its
passage it is placed on tenter hooks which are carried on chains running in grooves
at the side of the machine; and as the said chains open out gradually and then
carry the material through the machine at a given width the material is held at
a standard width whilst it is passed between the heated plates and subjected to
a series of severe pressures. The felted fabric is thus simultaneously hardened,
milled, and tentered in one and the same process either before dyeing or after;
thereby gaining considerable advantage over the separate proces: hitherto
necessary, besides obtaining a much superior and more serviceable felted material.
Improvements in or connected with the Manufacture of Felt and
other similar Fabrics.
We, WILLIAM BRADSHAW LEACHMAN, of Excel Works, Great Wilson Street.
Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and RoBERT JOHN CHADWICK MITCHELL, of
CD 077

page_text: the Firm of Mitchell Brothers of Waterfoot Limited, of Albert Works, Waterfoot,
near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Felt Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
Our invention has particular reference to the machine and process described in
the Specification of our Patent No. 16702, 14th July A.D. 1897; and our object
is to so improve the manufacture of the fabric that an even width is maintained,
and the injury effected by the tentering process is entirely obviated.
In the manufacture of felted fabrics, it has been customary to subject the said
fabric to a tentering process after it has passed through the milling operation
or after it has undergone the process of dyeing.
This tentering process after the milling, has practically the effect of loosening
and opening out, the fibres after they have been locked, and the result is that
the fabric shrinks back to its milled width on becoming wet. The object of
our invention is to prevent this subsequent shrinkage, and this result we obtain
in the following manner.
The felt is passed, direct from the hardener or washer to the milling machine
either in the grey or dyed state, and in its passage it is placed on tenter hooks
which are carried on chains running in grooves at the side of the machine; and
as the said chains open out gradually and then carry the material through the
machine at a given width the material is held at a standard width whilst it
is passed between the heated plates and subjected to a series of severe pressures:
The felted fabric is thus simultaneously hardened, milled, and tentered in one
and the same process either before dyeing or after; thereby gaining consider-
able advantage over the separate processes hitherto necessary, besides obtain-
ing a finished felted material, which being finished at its milled width cannot
afterwards shrink.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
The method and process of simultaneously hardening, milling and tentering
felted fabrics, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
[February 1899.
BREWER & SON,
London and Leeds, Agents for the Applicants.