IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND DYEING MACHINERY
Year: 1884

page_text: I, JAMES WORRALL of Ordsall, Salford in the County of Lancaster, Dyer, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND
DYEING MACHINERY to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery for subjecting pile
fabrics to a beating action while being washed or dyed such beating action serving
as is well known to prevent the lay of the pile.
In the machines hitherto constructed on the most approved plan much difficulty
has been found in getting access to the parts and the cost of constructing and
working them has been considerable.
By the present arrangement which simplifies the construction of the machine
without detracting from its efficiency a material economy in space is secured and
all the parts are readily accessible to the Attendant.
Set up in a tank which is to receive the cleansing or the dyeing liquor is a pair
of octagonal standards which are braced together by cross stays. These standards
carry the bearings for a series of guide rollers which are mounted at or near their
angles.
At the uppermost angle two such rollers are mounted side by side and at a few
inches apart, the space between the rollers serving for the entrance and withdrawal
of the fabric intended to be acted upon.
The fabric passes down under one of these rollers and outside all the other rollers
of the series until it comes to the last, it then passes under this roller and is led
over a card roller to which rotary motion is imparted for the purpose of drawing
the cloth through and out of the tank.
Between the angles of the octagon frame, bearings are provided for receiving the
axles of rotary beaters which acting upon the inner side or back of the fabric will
impart to it a rapid vibratory motion and thereby give the pile of the fabric a
tendency to stand upright from the base of the fabric.
These beaters may be conveniently rotated by means of a pair of spur wheels
keyed to a central driving shaft which has its bearings in the ends of the tank.
The axles of the beaters being fitted with pinions which gear into the spur wheels.
In some cases it may be desirable to use a double set of beaters, the one set
acting on the back and the other on the face of the fabric.

page_text: The driving of the outer series may be effected by transmitting through an
intermediate pinion motion to a spur pinion on the outer beater shaft from the
pinion of the next adjacent inner beater shaft.
This will cause the inner and outer beaters to act in opposite directions and
thereby neutralize the drag which they would severally put upon the travelling
fabric.
The beaters may be made of the ordinary construction or adapted to discharge
liquid onto the fabric as it passes over them. In the latter case they will be formed
with sleeve axles through which stationary hollow axles will be passed, the latter
having openings in the outer side thereof to discharge the liquor intermittently
into the hollow arms of the beaters..
These hollow arms will form channels for conveying the liquor to the beater bars,
which will in this case be tubular and be pierced to permit of the discharge of the
liquor onto the fabric.

page_text: I JAMES WORRALL of Ordsall Salford, in the County of Lancaster Dyer do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND
DYEING MACHINERY" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery for subjecting pile
fabrics to a beating action while being washed or dyed such beating action serving
as is well known to prevent the lay of the pile.
In the machines hitherto constructed on the most approved plan much difficulty
has been found in getting access to the parts and the cost of constructing and
working such machines has been considerable.
By the present Invention which simplifies the construction of the machine
without detracting from its efficiency a material economy in space is secured and
all the parts are readily accessible to the Attendant.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig: 1 Sheet I shews in longitudinal sectional
elevation my improved machine for washing and dyeing pile fabrics.
In Sheet II Fig: 2 is a transverse vertical section of the machine and
Figures 3. and 4 are detached views of one of the winces or beaters drawn to an
enlarged scale.
A A is a tank which is to receive the cleansing or the dyeing liquor and B B is
a pair of octagonal standards which are braced together by cross stays and set up
on the bottom of the tank. These standards with their transverse braces and
vertical supports B' B' constitute a frame for carrying the bearings for a series of
winces or beaters C C and a series of guide rollers D D.
The bearings for the guide rollers consist of short pedestals set at the angles of
the octagon frame-At the uppermost angle however the standard is branched.
to carry two guide rollers D' D' under which the cloth to be operated upon
respectively passes when entering and leaving the machine.
The winces or beaters are arranged in two concentric rings CC and C¹ C¹ around
the octagonal framing and their bearings are carried by standards made fast to the
flat edges of the octagon frame-The standards carrying the winces or beaters of the
external ring are higher than the standards carrying the guide rollers and those
carrying the bearings of the inner ring of winces are shorter than the guide roller
standards.
The fabric to be operated upon is led down from an elevated guide roller E into
the machine under the roller D' then under the first of the winces C and over the
first of the winces C to the second guide roller D over which it passes and so on
through the whole series of beaters and rollers until it comes to the guide roller D'
whence it passes to the card roller F to which rotary motion is imparted for the
purpose of drawing the cloth through and out of the tank.
From this drawing off roller the cloth is led past a guide roller and thence to
the folder G which deposits it in folds upon a table H ready for removal from the
machine.

page_text: The winces or beaters C C¹ receive rotary motion from a spur wheel I keyed to
a central shaft the bearings of which are carried by the tank A and the octagon
framing.
Gearing into this spur. wheel I are pinions I keyed on the axles of the
winces C-These pinions drive through pinions 13 spur pinions 1' on the axles of
the winces or beaters C.
For driving the shaft of the spur wheel I at the requisite speed a second spur
wheel I and pinion I³ are used for transmitting the motion thereto―This pinion
is keyed to a short shaft I mounted in suitable bearings and carrying fast and
loose band pulleys which receive a strap from over head gearing.
The tank it will be seen is of such a depth that when fully charged with liquor
one half only of the winces will be submerged-When however it is thought
desirable the depth of the tank may be sufficiently increased to submerge all the
winces or beaters.
In such case the winces used will be of the ordinary construction but when as
in the present instance one half of the winces only are submerged some or all of
those above the tank are made to discharge liquor onto the fabric under treatment.
For this purpose I make the winces say of the outer circle as shewn in side
elevation and transverse section at Figures 3 and 4 where c. is a hollow axle
receiving the detergent or other liquor from a fixed pipe c' inserted into a gland
fitted in the end of the axle.
The bars c² of the wince or beater are made hollow and connected by hollow
arms c³ with the axle c. which arms serve as channels for conducting the liquor
from the axle to the bars c².
These hollow bars are slit nearly from end to end to provide a passage for the
discharge of the liquor onto the cloth as it passes over them and to prevent the
closing of the slit by the cloth while held at tension over each bar of the wince in
succession ribs are formed on opposite sides of the slit to take the strain of the
cloth and cause it to bridge over the slit.
The wince or beater is intended to discharge liquor from each bar c³ in succession
and only at the time that the bar is in contact with the cloth. To provide for
this the fixed pipe c which passes from end to end of the hollow axle c. is provided
with vents situate in the plane of the revolving arm c³-Thus as the arms severally
come into coincidence with these vents they will be supplied with liquor under
pressure which will be ejected from the slits of the bars c² onto the cloth in the
form of intermittent jets.
Supposing now the cloth to have been led through the machine in the manner
above explained its cut pile face being outwards and rotary motion to have
been imparted to the machine through the driving pulley and spur gearing above
described, the rotary beaters C¹ acting upon the inner side or back of the travelling
fabric and the rotary beaters C. acting on the face of the fabric will impart to it a
rapid vibratory motion and thereby give the pile a tendency to stand upright from
the base of the fabric.
As the beaters C and C¹ act in opposite directions they will neutralize the drag
which they severally put upon the travelling fabric and thus protect the fabric from
any undue strain.
In some cases I propose to use only one series or ring of rotary beaters which
will then act upon the back of the fabric like the beaters C¹.
The agitation imparted to the cloth will so effectually separate the fibres of the
pile as to render unnecessary much of the brushing which is at present required to
raise the laid pile and to give the required finish to the fabric.
In the Machine just described washing or detergent liquor or a dye liquor inay
be indifferently used so far as the action of the machine is concerned but the
Manufacturer will readily understand that it is necessary to limit the use of his
machinery to either the washing or dyeing operation.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
In a washing and dyeing machine the combination of a tank for containing
liquor with a frame carrying a ring of guide rollers and two rings of winces or
beaters concentric with the rollers, the guide rollers serving to present the fabric
as it is drawn through the machine to the action of the beaters, such beaters being
driven by gearing operated from the central shaft and serving, while the cloth is
presented to the. action of the liquor, to impart to the cloth a rapid vibratory
motion for the purpose above set forth.