IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES."-A
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th May 1856.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES," (commu-
cated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,) to be as follows:-
These improvements in machinery for felting or sizing hat bodies consist in
the employment of a revolving circular. floor or table in connection with a
vibrating plate overlying the table, and separated by a space sufficient to allow
the hat bodies to be worked between. The table is mounted on a vertical
shaft supported in a suitable frame, upon which is a pulley or gear wheel, by
means of which the table is made to revolve. The vibrating plate is circular,
and 1 of the same diameter as the table; one or more openings is or are made
in the edge of the plate. The plate is supported upon a vertical shaft placed
centrally over the lower one, in the top of which the lower foot may be stepped,
while the upper end is supported in the frame. The plate is made to vibrate

page_text: back and forward to the proper extent by a shackle bar connected to a crank
at its opposite end. To give the requisite pressure upon the hat bodies, a
weight, screw, or spring may be employed; the weight may be suspended on a
beam, one end of which should rest upon the shaft of the vibrating plate, so that
the pressure may be regulated by moving the weight nearer to or farther from
the shaft of the plate. The surfaces of both revolving table and vibrating
plate may be ribbed, or corrugated, or left smooth. The operation is as
follows: A somewhat slow and regular rotary motion is imparted to the
table, and the attendant, standing at one of the openings, first dips a hat body
into hot water, then rolls it up and places it under the edge of the top plate
on that side towards which the table is turning in a radial direction, so that
the roll may point toward the centre. It will then be carried onward, and
finally be discharged at the opposite opening, and while the table is revolving
the vibrating plate is kept in rapid vibration, by which means the felting or
sizing is perfectly effected. As the felting goes on, the roll becomes less in size.
In order to keep. up the pressure, throughout the whole distance between the
openings, the space between plate and table must be made to lessen gradually.
For this purpose either the table or the plate, or both table and plate, instead
of being made perfectly flat on the surface, are inclined round the working
edges, so that, as the roll travels on, it constantly enters a more contracted
space.
I intend to claim the construction of a hat sizing machine having a revolving
table or disc, in combination with a vibrating plate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166; Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: 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 MACHINERY FOR FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES," (com
municated to me by a foreigner residing abroad;) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Richard Archibald 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 ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
These improvements in machinery for felting or sizing hat bodies consist in
the employment of a revolving circular floor or table in connection with a
vibrating plate overlying the table, and separated by a space sufficient to allow
the hat bodies to be worked between.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is an elevation of my improved machinery;
Figure 2, a plan. A is the table mounted on a vertical shaft B, supported by
a suitable fraine X on which is a pulley or gear-wheel, by means of which the
table is made to revolve. C is the vibrating plate, which is of circular form,
and of the same diameter as the table A. One or more openings D, D', is or
are made in the edge of this plate. In the present Figures two such openings
are shewn on opposite sides at D, D'. The plate is supported upon a vertical
shaft J placed centrally over the lower shaft B, in the top of which, for
simplicity of arrangement, the lower foot is shewn as stepped, while the upper
end is supported in the framing. The plate is made to vibrate backward and
forward to the proper extent, as indicated by the lines e, e', by means of a
shackle bar E connected to a crank at its opposite end. To give the requisite
pressure upon the hat bodies a weight screw, or spring, may be employed. G is
a weight suspended upon a beam g, one end of which rests upon the shaft J
of the vibrating plate, the pressure being graduated. by moving the weight
nearer to or farther from the shaft J. The surfaces of both the revolving table
and vibrating plate may be ribbed or corrugated with radial ridges, as shewn,
or left smooth, if preferred.

page_text: The action is as follows:- A somewhat slow and regular rotary motion is
imparted to the table A by any suitable means. A workman standing at
each side by the opening D has a vessel of hot water near him, into which he
first dips one of the hat bodies, and then, rolling it up places it under the edge
of the top plate on that side towards which the table is turning, he places it
radially or so that the roll will point toward the centre. It will then be carried
onward and be discharged at the opposite opening D. This action alone
would produce very little benefit in the way of sizing or felting the hat body,
therefore at the same time that the table is revolving, the plate D is kept in
rapid vibration, by which means the felting or sizing is perfectly effected. 'As
the felting goes on, the roll becomes less in size, and in order that pressure
may be kept up throughout the whole distance from D to D₁ the space
between C and A must be gradually lessened. For this purpose either the
table or the plate, or both, instead of being perfectly flat on the surface, is or
are inclined around the working edges, so that, as the roll travels on, it con-
stantly enters a more contracted space. When arrived at D', the attendant
there takes the roll, dips it again into hot water, rolls it up in another direc-
tion, and starts it under again, whereby it is carried back to D, and will be in
most cases taken out finished; if not, the process must be continued. These
rolls may be started under at short intervals, so that a great many may be acted
upon at the same time. Two openings D, D', have only been described, but
if the table is large enough more may be made, and hence a greater number
of workmen employed about one machine.
The Invention, as above described, may be varied or modified in several
ways, while still retaining the general principle, namely, the employment of a
vibrating in connection with an onward motion, as this is essential to the
perfection of the felting operation. One of the modifications consists in con-
structing the machine as represented in Figures 3 and 4, in which a cylinder a
is substituted for the revolving plate A, and a concave shell e in lieu of the
vibrating plate C. The shell c vibrates in an are, the centre being the axis
upon which the cylinder a turns. As the cylinder a revolves constantly in the
direction of the arrow, Figure 4, one of the rolls of the hat bodies to be sized
is placed in the space between, at d, which is the equivalent of the opening D,
Figure 1, and it will be carried round and delivered at the opposite edge of
the concave shell, sized or felted in the same manner as in the other machine.
The cylinder may be either smooth or corrugated, and instead of having a
solid surface may be composed of laths or slats forming segments of a circle,
and these laths may be made capable of yielding to pressure by means of
springs placed within the cylinder, as shewn. i represents the slats; and k

page_text: the springs on the inside. To keep the laths compact, an elastic band o must
be put around them; the space d is such that a roll of hat bodies will be com-
pressed in entering, and in order that it may pass the slats will yield inward.
Thus pressure will be kept up all the while upon the roll in the same manner
as is done by the weight G, Figure 1. As the felting goes on, the size of the
roll of hat bodies becomes less, hence it will be well to have several cylinders,
or a continuous one, combined with several different concaves, so placed that
the space between shall be less in each, as shewn in Figure 3 at d¹ and d";
the roll of hats, as they become shrunk in size, being transferred to the action
of that section where the space is less, until the operation is completed, upon
the principle herein-before set forth. The concave shell may also be per-
manently fixed in position, and the cylinder be made to revolve with a motion
compounded of the vibratory and the rotary, that is, vibrating to a greater
distance in one direction than in the other.
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 the construction
of a hat sizing machine in the manner set forth; that is to say, having a
revolving table or disc in combination with a vibrating plate, or in which
a vibrating is combined with an onward motion, all as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.