IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR IRONING AND FINISHING LINEN AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR IRONING AND FINISHING LINEN AND OTHER FABRICS."
-A communication from abroad by James Lyall and William Lyall,
both of the City of New York, in the United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th March 1866.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR IRONING AND FINISHING LINEN AND
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a machine for polishing and
finishing articles of wearing apparel and fabrics which require to have a
smooth or glossy surface. It may be used for finishing hats, and generally
for putting a finish on goods and fabrics, especially such as require a glossy
appearance. In this example of the Invention as applied for the purpose of
ironing shirt bosoms the ironing or polishing cylinder has an unbroken peri-
phery: In applying the Invention to uneven surfaces or bodies, such as the
crowns of hats for instanco, the polishing and rubbing surface is of a corre-

page_text: sponding shape. The polishing surface or cylinder is hollow, and is heated
by means of gas burned within it, or by hot water, or hot air or steam, or by
heated irons, and is suspended from a shaft which is kept in constant rotation.
The shaft is suspended in bearings which are capable by a rocking action or
otherwise of being raised and lowered as occasion requires to bring the ironing
surface in contact with the article to be acted on; or the shaft may be stationary
and the bearings or supports of the ironing surface may be arranged so as to
be capable of elevation and depression. The surface or bed which supports
the fabric or article is movable, being placed loosely on a feeding wheel or
other feeding apparatus, which causes it to advance beneath the ironing sur-
face in the same direction, but at a much lower rate of speed, whereby a
polishing, glazing, or calendering action is produced. The several parts of
the machine are so arranged that the feeding apparatus acts only when the
ironing surface is lowered upon the fabric or article to be treated, which
may be done by the foot on a treadle, leaving the hands of the operator]
free for the application of the fabric to the polishing cylinder or surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, Sled
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Clark, 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 IRONING AND FINISHING LINEN AND OTHER FABRICS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by James Lyall and William Lyall, both of the

page_text: City of New York, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Clark, my executors or administra-
tors, 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 William Clark, 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 two Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Figure 1 is an axial section of that part of a machine constructed according
to this Invention which contains the main shaft and the rotating ironer or
polisher; Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the part shown in Figure 1,
taken through the axis of the ironer or polisher; Figure 3 is an elevation
of the machine as seen in side view, a portion thereof being broken away;
Figuro 4 is a perspective view of the machiue; Figure 5 is a detailed view
of a bosom board to be used with the machine when the latter is employed
for ironing shirt bosoms. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts.
The object of this Invention is to provide a machine for polishing and
finishing articles of wearing appareland fabrics which require to have a smooth
orglossy surface. It may be used for finishing hats, and generally for putting
a finish on goods and fabrics, especially such as require a glossy appearance.
In this example of the Invention it is shown applied for the purpose of ironing
shirt bosoms when the ironing or polishing surface has an unbroken periphery.
In applying the Iuvention to uneven surfaces or bodies, such as the crowns
of hats for instance, the polishing and rubbing surface is of a corresponding
shape. The polishing surface is hollow, and is heated by means of gas burned
within it, or by hot water, or hot air or steam, or by heated irons, and is
suspended from a shaft which is kept in constant rotation. The shaft is sus-
pended in bearings which are capable of being raised and lowered as occasion
requires to bring the ironing surface in contact with the article to be acted
on; or this shaft may be stationary and the bearings or supports of the ironing
surface may be arranged so as to be capable of elevation or depression. The
surface or bed which supports the fabric or article is movable being placed
loosely on a feeding wheel or other feeding device, which causes it to advance
beneath the ironing surface in the same direction, but at a much lower rate of

page_text: speed. The several parts of the machine are so arranged that the feeding
device acts only when the ironing surface is lowered upon the fabric or
article to be treated.
The letter X designates the supports of the main shaft and other operating
parts, which supports sustain the table on which the article or fabric is spread.
The said shaft is contained in a frame A, seen in perspective view in Figure 4,
which frame contains the ironing cylinder O and the heating device; the
frame is also seen in the other Figures. The shaft B, observing Figure 1,
has on its end outside of the right-hand end of the frame, a driving pulloy C
and a gear wheel I, and is supported in hanging bearings II, H, whose upper
ends clasp the grooved rims of camb plates E, E, fixed on a rock shaft D,
which has bearings in standards A', A', that rise from the top of frame A
The rock shaft is rocked by means of a treadle G, which is connected to an
arm F that is rigidly fixed on the rock shaft. The rock shaft and its camb
plates are restored to their normal position, and the shaft B raised so soon as
the force that depressed the treadle is removed by means of a spring G' con-
nected to the end of arm F. The letter O desiguates a hollow cylinder which
is suspended by means of frames Y, Y from the main shaft, the ends of each
frame Y being guided as seen in Figure 2, by grooves in the sides of the
cnclosing frame A. The ends of the cylinder are reduced so as to form
journals, which are hollow like the rest of the cylinder, and which have their
bearings in said suspended frames Y,Y. The left-hand end P of the cylinder
is open to the atmosphere, and its right-hand end is enclosed by a stationary
box Q, in which the cylinder is free to revolve, said box being connected with
a chimney P which conducts the products of combustion away out of the
machine when gas is burnt within the cylinder to heat it. The letter N
designates a gas pipe which terminates within the cylinder, and is there per-
forated to allow gas to escape and be burned by applying a taper thereto
through the open end P. The gas pipe N is connected with a cock M, on the
case of which is constructed a dial graduated to show the degree at which the
cock is opened, and an index connected to the cock itself moves over the dial
and indicates by its position how far the cock is turned, thereby enabling the
operator to fix the cock for the proper supply of gas to produce the heat
required with ease and certainty, and without being required to guess thereat
or to go through repeated trials. That end of the cylinder which is open at
Phas fixed on it a gear wheel L, which is engaged by a gear K on the left-
hand end of the main shaft B; by means of these gear wheels the cylinder is
kept in constant rotation while power is applied to shaft B, whether that shaft
is elevated or depressed. The gear wheel I ou shaft B outside of frame A

page_text: engages when the shaft is brought down by the treadle the gear wheel I,
which runs loosely on a short shaft fixed in frame A, carrying a pulley J that
drives through a belt U the shaft V, see Figure 3, which is a side elevation
partly broken away of the machine. The shaft V has a crank and connecting
rod W, which gives motion to a corrugated feed wheel S that has bearings
within the forward end of the table T, over which the article to be ironed (or
a supplementary table like K) is placed. Said wheel projects a little way
above the surface of the table, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, in order to take
hold of the bottom of a supplementary table or bosom board, such as is seen at
R, Figure 5, and also iu Figures 1 and 3. The bosom board K is intended to
represent one form of board for supporting the bosom of a shirt, when it is
being ironed. The board is placed on the feed wheel in the manner shown
in Figure 3, and the shirt is placed upon the table 'T' with its bosom extending
over the bosom board, the back and sides of the shirt surrounding the sides
and under part of the table. When the bosoin is placed properly beneath the
ironing cylinder the treadle is brought down and the shaft B is depressed so
as to bring its gear wheel 1 into engagement with gear wheel I', whereby the
feed wheel Sis put in motion. The motion of the feed wheel is slow, while that
of the cylinder O is fast, both turning in the same direction, and consequently
the cylinder, which is heated as before explained, rubs and burnishes the
bosom, drying the size or starch put thereon, and giving it a glossy appearance
and a fine finish. The pressure of the cylinder on the bosom is controlled by
the attendant by means of the treadle. When the bosom has passed beyond
the cylinder, the treadle is released and the rock shaft and its cambs are
turned to their normal position by the spring G¹, thereby raising the shaft B,
and lifting the cylinder clear of the bosom board and disengaging the gears
I, I, so that the motion of the feed wheel immediately stops. The bosom
is then drawn off the table T, and the machine is ready to receive another.
The machine as here shown is adapted for the use of manufacturers of
shirts and shirt bosoms, which are ironed and glazed before the buttons are
sewn on; but it is also adapted to be used in ironing bosoms which have
already received their buttons, in which case one side of the bosoms can be
ironed at a time. The table T is here made of a suitable shape to receive a
shirt, but it may be made of any other shape to suit the work to be done on
the machine. The object sought after in leaving one end of the cylinder
O open, as at P, is to allow a free and constant supply of air to support
combustion when gas is used to heat the cylinder, the chimney P¹ carrying
off the noxious vapors generated by the combustion of the gas.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of per-

page_text: forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be pro-
tected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st, in machines for ironing or polishing shirt bosoms, or other articles
having plain or curved surfaces, the use of a rotating hollow cylinder heated
by gas or other means and revolved at a high speed in combination with a
feeding device for feeding the article to be operated on moved at a com-
paratively low speed, substantially as described.
2ndly, suspending the polishing cylinder from a shaft which gives con-
tinuous rotation to it, and which is itself suspended from a rock shaft whose
vibrations cause it to be raised and lowered, substantially as described.
3rdly, moving the feed wheel S from the main shaft B by means of the
gear wheels I, I', which become engaged when shaft B is lowered, sub-
stantially as described.
4thly, the gas pipe N for heating the cylinder O in combination with the
index and dial M connected to the gas cock, substantially as described.
5thly, the opening P at one end of cylinder O in, combination with the
chimney Pat the other, substantially as described...
6thly, forming a table T beneath the cylinder O, around which a shirt
may be placed when its bosom is to be ironed, substantially as described.
7thly, in machines for ironing or polishing fabrics, or articles made from
fabrics, giving motion to such fabrics or articles while being operated on
by the ironing or polishing surface, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
W. G. E. SIMMOCK,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)