IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING OR FINISHING FABRICS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRESSING OR FINISHING FABRICS."-A communication from abroad
by Joseph Ernest Thiemonge, of Lesses, near Thillot, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 21st April 1869.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRESSING OR FINISHING FABRICS," to, be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a system of mechanical dressing or finishing
whereby the necessary amount of rigidity is obtained according to the
degree of dressing required without any deterioration of the stuff.

page_text: rapidity, and provided with pin plates, combs, fallers, and similar
appliances according to the effect desired to be produced acting against
the fabric by means of centrifugal force. The centrifugal force may
be sometimes replaced by weights or variable springs according to the
sort of stuff to be acted upon and the degree of dressing required. The
springs and weights are especially applicable for use in rectilinear
dressing, and finishing apparatus worked either mechanically, or by
hand.
For the sake of clearness one apparatus is described, which is arranged
for the continuous dressing or finishing of fabrics, but it is of course to
be understood that the Invention extends to other similar apparatus
which contain its principle. The piece of fabric or stuff to be dressed
or finished is placed in front of the machine either in a folded state or
rolled upon a roller and passing behind a grooved bar or projection is
passed over a cylinder. This cylinder is provided with a sanded or a
roughened surface or other means to prevent the fabric from slipping;
it has a pulley at each end over which a weighted cord passes, one end
of which is attached to the frame of the machine while the other end
supports the weight. The weights are intended to prevent the
cylinder turning quicker than is required by the drum upon which the
fabric is dressed on its way. To the dressing cylinder the fabric passes
round a roller, and after being dressed it passes to a receiving cylinder.
This receiving cylinder is acted upon by the dressing cylinder, upon
which it is kept pressed by a weighted lever. The finishing or dressing
cylinder carries idle and fixed pulleys, and communicates motion to the
other cylinder upon which the fabric is dressed by means of wheels and
pinions. The cylinder upon which the fabric is dressed is covered
according to the kind of stuff acted upon with sanded or roughened
plates or any other material to prevent the fabric from slipping. The
finishing or dressing cylinder is provided with carding plates, combs,
pins, or other appliances according to the kind of dressing or finishing
required. These may be of variable sizes, but for certain fabrics a breadth
of from in. to 1 in. and a length of from 2 in. to 4 in. are
preferred. They are fixed upon the cylinder by one end only, the other
end being free, and by the action of centrifugal force strike against the
stuff and card or finish it. The distance between the dressing cylinder
and the one upon which the stuff is carded is regulated by means of a

page_text: screw and nut carried by the support of the latter cylinder. This
distance can be varied according to the degree of carding or dressing
required and the kind of fabric to be acted upon. The surface of the
carding cylinder is divided into several parts in its longitudinal sense,
and horizontal lines either straight or spiral are traced upon it to mark
the divisions. The carding plates or other dressing appliances are placed
upon the first linė in such a manner as to leave an equal interval of
about half a plate between each plate. They are placed in like manner
upon the second line, and also the covered parts on one line are crossed
with the uncovered parts of the other line, and so on for the rest of the
lines. The dressing cylinder may be provided with more or less broad
and long plates of cards fixed at one or both ends, or with a ribbon of
cards spirally arranged, or it may be entirely covered with card, but in
this case the centrifical force will no longer be exerted and it is necessary
to replace by springs or other means of elasticity in order to produce
a similar effect. The axes of the dressing cylinder and the cylinder upon
which the fabric is carded may be generally placed in the same hori-
zontal plane, but the latter may be raised or lowered relatively to the
former in such a manner that the dressing or carding may be entirely
accomplished before the arrival of the fabric upon its cylinder, or it may
be accomplished entirely or only partly upon the cylinder. The carding
cylinder in order to lessen the effect of any inequalities among its
furniture has a to-and-fro movement imparted to it. The weighted drum
is usually made to revolve without inconvenience by the cylinder upon
which the fabric is carded by means of the fabric passing from one to
the other, but for delicate stuffs it may be revolved by a pulley and
driving strap actuated by another pulley placed upon the axle of the
cylinder upon which the fabric is carded.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company,
of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her special
licence that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercisc, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING OR FINISHING FABRICS," (communicated
to me from abroad by Joseph Ernest Thiemonge, of Lesses, near Thillot,
France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Clinton
Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of a system of mechanical dressing or
finishing whereby the necessary amount of rigidity is obtained according
to the degree of dressing required and the strength of the fabric acted
upon without any deterioration of the latter.
The apparatus principally consists of one or several cylinders revolving
with a rapidity more or less great, and provided with pin plates, combs,
fallers, or similar appliances according to the effect desired to be
produced acting against the fabric by means of centrifugal force.
The principal therefore of this Invention consists in the fact that
the dressing or finishing organs, such as the pin plates, combs, and
fallers, just mentioned, instead of being adherent or entirely fixed upon

page_text: the cylinders are held by one only of their ends so as to be able to move
and to oscillate by centrifugal force, and to come into contact with
the fabric with a sort of beating action, which produces upon it a
softer and more effectual dressing than the means hitherto employed.
The centrifugal force may be sometimes replaced by weights or variable
springs according to the sort of stuff to be acted upon and the degree
of dressing required. The springs and weights are especially appli-
cable for use in rectilinear dressing and finishing apparatus worked
mechanically.
For the sake of clearness I proceed to describe one of the apparatus
I employ for the continuous dressing or finishing of fabrics, but it
is of course to be understood that the Invention extends to other
similar apparatus which contain its principle.
The accompanying Drawings represent the apparatus, of which
Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of its sides; Figure 2, a side
elevation of the other side showing the dressing or combing cylinders;
and Figure 3, a plan view. All the cylinders except those with the
dressing combs are covered with sanded or emery paper or provided
with roughened surfaces.
The piece of fabric to be dressed or finished is placed at the back of
the machine at A, and passes under and over a series of tension laths or
stretching pieces in order to be drawn tight, and lastly under the batten
or spreading piece (elargisseur) B, by which the folds or creases are quite
effaced. The fabric then passes over the roller C, which is provided at
each end with a pulley round which runs a weight carrying cord, which
is regulated according to the degree of tension necessary for checking
the too rapid advance of the fabric. The fabric then passes under the
roller 1 to the cylinder 2, and so on under and over the other rollers
and cylinders 3, 4, &c., until it is gathered upon the roller E. The
movement of the rollers C, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, is commanded by the
motion of the fabric to be dressed, which is itself commanded by the
cylinders D and E. The dressing or combing cylinders H, H, are provided
with little pin plates or cards h, h, attached to them at one end while
the other is free, so that as these cylinders revolve more or less quickly
the pin plates are thrown outwards by centrifugal action and strike
or beat upon the fabric with a more or less force or power according
to the nature of the fabric operated upon and the kind of dressing or

page_text: finishing desired. These oscillating pin plates h, h, are of a variable
fabric to be operated upon;
inches (2 to 4 centimetres)
inches, (3 to 6 centimetres,)
length and breadth according to the kind of
generally a breadth of from about to 1
and a length of about from 1 inches to 2
are convenient. The Drawings show clearly the mode adopted for
fixing these plates. Their fixed ends are bent at right angles and
lodged in grooves i, i, arranged longitudinally upon the dressing
cylinders, and are maintained in position and held tight by the insertion
into the groove of a thin piecej fixed to the cylinders by screws. The
thinness of the pin plates and their consequent flexibility permits
them to be thrown outwards under the action of centrifugal force,
and also to apply themselves upon the cylinders when at rest or
when pressed by the fabric. The same action can be obtained by
jointing the plates to the cylinders. The dressing cylinders H, H,
receive their motion in the direction indicated by the arrows by straps
or bands from the shaft K, which carries for this purpose two pulleys
N, N', over which pass two bands T, T, each of which drive two dressing
cylinders by means of the pulleys with which the latter are provided.
The main shaft L and the shaft K each carry a cone. Motion is trans-
mitted from the shaft L to the shaft K by means of a strap passing
over these cones, and the speed of revolution of the shaft K may be
varied by moving the strap by means of two forks and a hook. The
rollers C, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and D, are covered with sand or
any other material to prevent the fabric from slipping. They are held
upon adjustable supports like the dressing cylinders, and may thus
be brought closer together or further apart at will according to the
effect it is desired to produce and the sort of fabric under operation.
Each dressing cylinder is permitted a to-and-fro movement in the
direction of its length in order to obtain a more regular dressing or
finishing. This movement is nearly the same as that employed for
the emery cylinders to sharpen the pin points; it is shown at D. The
axis of one of the dressing cylinders communicates motion to the
cylinder D by means of an endless screw or worm P of a wheel Q upon
an axis q and of pinions R and S, as shown in the Drawings. The
rate of revolution of the cylinder D may be varied by changing these
wheels and pinions. The number of the dressing cylinders and the
dimensions of all the parts of the apparatus may of course be varied
according to the effect desired to be produced.

page_text: And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
dressing or finishing fabrics by means of pin plates, combs, fallers,
or other similar appliances fixed upon cylinders by one end only,
the other end being free to be thrown outwards by centrifugal force
to strike against or upon the face of the fabric travelling in promixity
thereto, substantially as herein-before described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.