IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING FABRICS AND ALSO FOR INSERTING PAPERS, METALLIC PLATES, OR OTHER SUITABLE SUBSTANCES BETWEEN THE FOLDS OF FABRICS FOR PRESSING
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Charles Ellison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th January 1868.
I, JAMES CHARLES ELLISON, of Rawfolds, near Cleckheaton, in the
County of York, Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING FABRICS AND ALSO FOR INSERTING
PAPERS, METALLIC PLATES, OR OTHER SUITABLE SUBSTANCES BETWEEN THE FOLDS OF
FABRICS FOR PRESSING," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in applying and combining further improve-
ments in machinery or apparatus for which Provisional Protection was
granted to me on the 2nd day of January 1867, No. 12. Instead of the
moveable box or receptacle which is therein described as divided into
two compartments I now employ a carriage of four compartments, each
of suitable size and form to hold a necessary quantity of the papers,
cardboards, metallic plates, or other substances to be inserted betwixt
the folds of fabrics required to be pressed. A slit or slot is made at
the division or betwixt the two intermediate compartments, and two
friction rollers are introduced for the fabric to pass between. These
intermediate compartments are opened at both top and bottom, except
that a flange is provided on each side at the bottom thereof, and the

page_text: sides nearest the end compartments do not extend as low or to the
same depth as the other sides. The end compartments are open at top,
and the sides towards the middle compartments are lower than the
others. In each is a moveable bottom or platform mounted by preference
on a screw (but racks and pinions may be employed) which is capable
of turning in a nut formed in or fixed to a cross rail attached to the
said carriage, by which the said bottoms can be raised and lowered
as required. This carriage may be either mounted on wheels to run on
rails, or may be formed to slide in grooves upon or over a suitable table
or frame. A platform of suitable size for the fabrics to be folded upon
fits easily within a box fixed in the middle of the table or frame, which
platform is capable of being moved up or down by screw and nut or
rack and pinion for adjusting the upper surface (as the fabric is folded
thereon) to the level of the bottom of the intermediate compartments.
Reciprocatory motion is given to the carriage by crank and rod from a
rotary shaft, and rotary motion may be given to the platforms either
by means of ratchet wheels and catches, racks and pinions, or other
suitable mechanical equivalents by or from the motion of the carriage.
The end compartments are supplied with a suitable quantity of the
papers or metallic plates, the uppermost being adjusted to the level of
the top of those sides towards the middle compartments. Holders are
hinged to the frame and rest upon the papers or plates, so that when
motion is given to the carriage the top papers or plates are held while
the middle compartments are moved underneath and receive them one
at each alternate reciprocation. Projections are attached to the box
which catch on these papers or plates and cause them to be left in
succession upon the fabric as it is folded on the platform by the
.reciprocation of the carriage. When this apparatus is to be used for
folding only the compartments of the carriage are formed to hold a
series of rods or bars of metal or other suitable material, one of which
is issued therefrom at each stroke or reciprocation at each end of the
folding platform, where the ends enter grooves formed in the box which
hold them in position whilst the fabric is folded around, thus a rod or
bar is left in each fold of the fabric.