IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cornelius Turner, of the Airedale Woollen Felt
Mills, Leeds, in the County of York, Manufacturer, and Jack Shaw, of
the same Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 7th August 1862, and dated the 15th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cornelius Turner and
Jack Shaw at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 15th February 1862.
We, CORNELIUS TURNER, of the Airedale Woollen Felt Mills, Leeds, in the
5 County of York, Manufacturer, and JACK SHAW, of the same Place, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FELTED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of textile fabrics known as "felted
fabrics," or not woven, which are produced or manufactured by well-known
0 means or processes of preparing and carding wool or other fibrous substances,
and forming the same into thin sheets or films, two or more of which are laid
together and caused to adhere by process of felting, being rubbed and pressed
into a compact substance or fabric, such fabrics, however, are not strong in
texture, but liable to tear or to be pulled asunder, to prevent or remedy which
is the object of this Invention, and the improvements consist in the introduc-
tion of threads or yarns of wool or any suitable material betwixt the
layers, sheets, or films either crosswise of the fabric or longitudinally, or both,
as may be required, the whole being felted or wrought together into a compact

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Cornelius Turner and Jack Shaw in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CORNELIUS
TURNER, of the Airedale Woollen Felt Mills, Leeds, in the County of York,
Manufacturer, and JACK SHAW, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Cornelius Turner and Jack Shaw, Her special license that we,
the said Cornelius Turner and Jack Shaw, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Cornelius Turner and Jack Shaw,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the termi
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 FELTED FABRICS,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said Cornelius Turner and
Jack Shaw, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of our or 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 we, the said Cornelius Turner and Jack Shaw, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
"
This Invention relates to that class of textile fabrics known as "felted
fabrics
or not woven, which are produced or manufactured by well-known
means or processes of preparing and carding wool or other fibrous substances,
and forming the same into thin sheets or films, two or more of which are laid
together and caused to adhere by process of felting, being rubbed and pressed

page_text: into a compact substance or fabric; such fabrics, however, are not strong in
texture, but liable to be stretched out of proper form; to prevent or remedy
which is the object of this Invention, and the improvements consist in the
introduction of threads or yarns of wool or any suitable material betwixt the
layers, sheets, or films transversely or crosswise of the fabric, the whole being
felted or wrought together into a compact substance or body by the usual
process of felting, whereby felted fabrics are very much strengthened, or
rendered more adhesive in their texture.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings will more clearly explain the manner
in which our Invention is performed or put into practice.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine or apparatus we employ; Fig. 2
is a plan; and Figs. 3 and 4 are end clevations of the same.
"
A is the main driving shaft of the machine; B, a cone pulley, fixed thereon
for driving the shuttle C, or the apparatus employed to introduce threads
crosswise of the fabric; D, are cops of thread or weft; E, are pullies,
carrying an endless belt E', which receive motion by means of a cord F from
the cone pulley B, the cord being placed in one or other of the grooves,
according to the speed required to be given to the shuttle, or to the quantity
of threads or weft required to be put in. The shuttle C has a reciprocating
motion given to it by means of a pin or finger e fixed on the belt and entering
into a slot c of the shuttle; G is a lattice sheet or endless travelling table,
receiving motion by a belt from the main shaft, and on which the "bats or
rolls of fibrous substances to form the fabric rest, and by which the layers,
sheets, or films are unwound and carried along the machine; H is the bottom
"bat" or foundation for the cloth or fabric; and J is the top "bat" or finish
of the cloth; K is a "bat," completed ready for the process of hardening or
felting; L'are a series of bobbins, arranged so as to introduce yarn lengthwise
of the fabric, if desirable, which is simply effected by the ends of the threads
first being placed betwixt the layers, and the machine then put in motion,
when the travelling sheet draws and unwinds the yarn from the bobbins,
laying the same in parallel lines betwixt the layers or "bats" forming the
fabric; M are strips of card, fixed to the lattice sheet G, by means of which
the transverse threads are retained in position after the return of the shuttle;
N are fingers, which are caused to slide over the threads at each edge of the
fabric after the pick of the shuttle, and at its return the threads pass over
the fingers, which hold and form selvages thereof. These fingers are operated
alternately by means of levers O, P, fixed on shafts R, S, geared together by
tooth wheels T, the levers being connected by a cord U, on which are clip
blocks V, W, fixed so that a finger X on the shuttle will strike against them,

page_text: and thus actuate the fingers N in opposite directions to each other; Y and Z
are drop blocks, for pressing the threads into the cards M, and which are
raised by the shuttle on its approach, and drop on its return. It will now
readily be seen that as the table G travels forward the layers are taken off or
unwound from the rolls Hand J, and threads are drawn from the cops D,
and layed across the bottom or foundation layer in parallel lines by the action
of the shuttle C, more or less in quantity. or distance apart, according to the
relative speeds given to the table G and to the shuttle C. Also that longitu-
dinal threads may be laid parallel thereon in number or distance apart,
according to the number and arrangement of the bobbins L. It will also be
observed that any desirable thickness or kind of yarn may be introduced
betwixt the layers of fibrous substances forming the fabric. By these means
felted fabrics may be strengthened or made more adhesive in texture, and
thereby rendered equal to woven fabrics.
Having now fully described the nature of this our Invention, and shewn the
manner in which the same may be performed, we would have it distinctly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise means which we
have herein shewn and described for effecting the same; but what we claim
as of our Invention, and which we believe to be new within the realm is, the
introduction or application of threads or yarns of wool, or any other suitable
fibrous substance betwixt the "bats" or layers in the manufacture of felted
fabrics, as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Cornelius Turner and Jack Shaw,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Cornelius Turner
and Jack Shaw, in the pre-
sence of
WN. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
CORNELIUS TURNER. (L.S.)
JACK SHAW.
(L.S.)