AN IMPROVED GOFFERING MACHINE,, TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Grey Hill, of Commerce Square, High
Pavement, in the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Lace
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED GOFFERING MACHINE,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Grey Hill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd November 1859.
I, CHARLES GREY HILL, of Commerce Square, High Pavement, in the
Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED GOFFERING
MACHINE, TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as
follows:-
My improvements consist, in the first place, in so arranging a number of
wires or rollers in two series, each series being so connected together as to
form two distinct chains, each chain passing round two rollers, one of each pair
of rollers being provided with a spur wheel which gear into each other, by
which means the chains are caused to revolve simultaneously; the wire or
rollers in each series, instead of being of equal size, are gradually diminished in
diameter. The wires or rollers being thus arranged cause the article to be
pleated or goffered in gradually decreasing width until the narrowest width of
pleat is made, when the pleats gradually increase in width, and instead of
using wires or rollers of various diameters, in some cases I may prefer using
them of the same diameter or of various diameters, so as to form the pleats of
various widths, by causing the rollers to advance towards each other or to
recede by the chains being guided by a tappit plate, or the rollers being

page_text: furnished with excentrics which move the chains towards or from each other
as may be required; and secondly, in connection with my machine I use
steaming boards which have the corresponding faces convex instead of
parallel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Grey Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd May 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS S1 ALL COME, I, CHARLES
GREY HILL, of Commerce Square, High Pavement, in the Town and County
of the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Grey Hill, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Grey Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said Charles Grey Hill, 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
"AN IMPROVED GOFFERING MACHINE, TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Grey Hill, my executors or administrators, 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 Charles Grey Hill, 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 accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in the following arrangement, that
is to say, in so arranging a number of wires or rollers in two series, each

page_text: series being so connected together as to form two distinct chains, each chain
passing round two rollers, one of each pair of rollers being provided with a
spur wheel, which spur wheels gear into each other, by which means the
chains are caused to revolve simultaneously; the wire or rollers in each series
instead of being of equal size are gradually diminished in diameter; the wires
or rollers being thus arranged and an article or material to be plaited or
goffered being fed to them, they will plait or goffer the article in plaits of
gradually decreasing width until the narrowest width of plait is made, when
the plaits gradually increase in width. But instead of using wires or rollers of
gradually diminishing diameters I prefer in some cases to use wires or rollers
of the same diameter or of various diameters so as to form the plaits of the
same or of various widths by causing the rollers to advance towards or to
recede from each other, which is effected by guiding the chains by a tappit
plate or by furnishing the rollers with eccentrics, which move the chains
towards or from each other as may be required; and secondly, in connection
with my machine I use steaming boards, which have their "corresponding "
faces convex instead of parallel.
I now proceed to explain particularly the mode in which my Invention may
be carried into effect with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Sheet 1, Figure 1, is a side view of a machine constructed according to my
Invention, but with one side removed to shew more fully the manner in which
the wires or rollers are arranged to form a graduated goffering or plaiting;
Sheet 2, Figure 2, is a sectional view of the same as if cut through near the
middle looking from the end of the machine, and shewing the arrangement of
the hot-air flues, etc.; Figure 3 is a side view of a portion of the machine,
shewing the manner in which the rollers are moved and set the required
distance apart; Sheet 3, Figures 4 to 13, represent various arms that I employ
to form various patterns in goffering; Figures 14 to 28 on Sheet 4, and
Figures 29 to 41, on Sheet 5, represent a few of the positions in which the
wires or bars are capable of being placed; Figures 42 to 45 on Sheet 5
represent my improved steaming boards.
Description of Sheets 1 and 2:-A, A, are the standards; in Figure 1,
Sheet 1, one of these standards A is removed, but both standards are shewn in
section in Figure 2, Sheet 2. B, B, are two rollers forming the bottom pair
of axles, round which the lower chain revolves; B', B', are two similar rollers
or axles forming the top pair, round which the upper chain revolves; C, C, are
two cast-iron slides, fitted to slide on a V-cut on the upper and lower pro-
jections at the ends of the standards in the usual manner; there are four of
these slides, each of which forms bearings for an upper and lower axle, the

page_text: bearings for the upper axles are screwed, and partly lie in a slot in the upper
part of the slides, and are secured when set at the required distance from the
lower axle by a screw C', seen in Figure 3, Sheet 2; one upper and one lower
axle are moved simultaneously by means of toothed or spur wheels. D, one on
each axle at one side of the machine gearing into each other, larger wheels
than are here shewn being put upon the axles when they are placed such a
distance apart that wheels of the proportions represented will not gear into
each other properly; the lower wheel is driven by a small winch handle D';
the axles are enlarged at two points of their length, the enlarged parts being
turned down to form pulleys and collars, as shewn, the collars bearing against
the inside of the slides. Round the pulleys are passed the chains E, E, which
are formed by arranging a number of wires or rollers, as shewn in Figures 1
and 2, the wires or rollers being of eight different sizes, gradually increasing
in size from the smallest. By way of illustration I designate them No. 10
to 3; each size of wire or roller is reduced in size at each end for a small
portion of its length, as shewn in Figure 2; the ends are rivetted in a hole in
one end of a link or arm; the other end of the arms which are larger than the
end carrying the wire or roller are pierced with two holes, by which they are
rivetted to each other, thus forming a chain; the arms are of gradually
decreasing or enlarging size according to the size of wire or roller used, each
size of wire or roller having an arm to correspond; by these means, when the
material F intended to be goffered has been fed into the machine, as seen in
Figure 1, and the chains have been moved one revolution of their length, the
said material when it is passed out at the opposite end of the machine will be
in a goffered state, having for a portion of its length goffers of the same size,
namely, the size of No. 3 roller, and then having goffers gradually decreasing
in size down to No. 10, and next goffers again increasing in size up to No. 3,
so that by these means, by one and the same machine, I obtain gofferings or
pleats of any size of one or ten, or any number of different sizes preferred, by
rivetting the arms or wires, or rollers of the different sizes in one chain, and
taking two such chains and gearing them together, as shewn in Figure 1,
whereas, heretofore, when gofferings of more than one size have been made,
distinct chains, each of the size required, have been put in the machine, the
chains being taken out and others of a different size being put in for another
size of goffer, or a separate machine has been used for each size of goffer;
both chains are held tight by setting the axles at the required distance asunder
in a horizontal position by means of the screws G, which pass through tabs
upon the outside of the slides, and bear against the ends of the castings or
standards. H represents the hot air flues, of which there are three in each

page_text: casting. When a pair of castings are placed a distance apart, and are held
by four stretchers I, the top opening H of the lower flue, and the bottom
opening H2 of the upper flue on one standard will be exactly opposite the
openings H3 and H of the other standard, and the openings H³ and H
opposite the openings Hand H2 on the other half of the castings; the
openings H1, H2, and H³, H, are connected to each other by flat wrought-iron
flues H, thereby forming two flues, through which hot air passes up, as shewn.
by the arrows,. from a gas pipe perforated for gas jets, the pipe ruuning across.
the centre of the machine, and partly along each side opposite to the entrance
to each flue, by which means the heat is equally distributed all over it, passing
across the bottom, up part of each side, and out along the. flues between the
lower axles in the sides again, and out across between the upper axles into.
the sides, and out at the upper part, by which means the heat can be regulated.
to the greatest nicety by turning the gas on or off as required.. Instead of:
using a set screw to regulate the height of the bearings of the upper axles, as-
is usually done, I use excentrics or tappet plates K, two to each lower axle,..
the axles turning freely in their centres. The plates are all identical in size,.
and are extended at one side at the circumference, where they form a short:
slotted are, a screw passing through the slot, by which they are held fast to
the side of the standards; the arc is graduated, and a small pin is screwed in
the standards near the clamp screw, to shew the number of divisions the arc-
has passed, thereby ensuring that the upper axle may lie parallel with the
bottom one at each end of the machine, the screws C¹ being loosed until the
axle is pushed up the required height by the plates K. which bear upon the
under side of the axles; when the bearing is secured by the screw C¹ the arc
may be loosed and moved a little way from the shaft, or the arc may be made
to bear upon a projection on the upper shaft bearing, in which case the arc
will not have to be moved when set until a deeper or shallower goffer is
required to be made on the same machine without changing the chains, the
manner of doing which I will describe more fully herein-after.
Sheet 3, Figures 4, represent arms which I use with the various sized
round wires or rollers, as shewn with each, there being ten rollers of different
sizes, and five arms of different sizes, the arms for the larger sized roller
having the rivet hole a little nearer the top than that of the smaller sized
roller, and the holes by which they are rivetted
little wider apart than are those for a less size.
I use for the largest sized square bar or wire, and the largest sized arm, shewn
at Figure 4, representing the arm for the second sized square wire, and so on
to the ninth arm, which represents the tenth arm for the square wires. The
together to form a chain are a
Figure 5 represents the arm

page_text: arms;
above arms and the several sizes of square or round wires or rollers I use
when I wish to form chains to make two or more goffers of different size in
one machine; but I do not confine myself to the number and sizes shewn, for
I use arms gradually decreasing in size from the smallest shewn in the
Drawing, with wires and rollers to correspond; and I also use arms gradually
increasing in size from the largest shewn in the Drawing up to as large a size
as I may require, with wires or rollers to correspond, for making goffers of
various sizes, forming two rows of plaits, the said plaits in both rows lying
close together, and each row close to the other. I also form two rows of plaits,
each row close to the other, and the plaits all of one size, by using arms of
divers lengths, as shewn in Figure 6, which are used for wires or rollers of the
largest size, shewn by means of these arms; I make goffers all of one size and
the rows close to each other, or I make the plaits of various depths, according
to the length of the arms I use to make the chains; the various depths of the
goffering being according to the length of arm used, and the size of the goffer-
ing being according to the number of the wire or roller and its corresponding
thus I form a chain to goffer the material, of the same depth and
size for a certain length, and then narrow or widen the same suddenly or
gradually with wires and arms of the same size, or of another size or other
sizes, as I rivet the various sizes together. The foregoing refers to all the arms
that I require for making whole chains or parts of chains which form two rows
of plaits or goffers of any of the patterns herein-after described, besides many
others which may be formed by the combination of two or more of the same.
Figure 7 shews the arm that I use for the largest size of flat wire, the flat
wires and arms being gradually diminished in size, in the same relative pro-
portion as the ten arms and rollers, Figures 4, herein-before described; this
arrangement will form four rows of long square-ended plaits or goffers of the
same or various sizes, each arm carrying two flat wires each. Figure 8
represents the arm for the largest size of flat round-edged wire, they being
also gradually decreased or increased in size, as may be required, each arm
carrying two flat wires. Figure 9 represents the largest sized arm I at present
use for an arrangement of one of the largest round rollers shewn, and one three
sizes smaller, which, when combined with a similar one on another chain, will
form a goffer, having a large plait on each side and two smaller ones in the
centre, each arm carrying two different sized rollers. Figure 10 represents an
arm for the largest round roller and two small rollers five sizes less, which,
when combined with a similar one on another chain, will form a goffer, having
one of its edges serrated or plaited and another straight, the end plaits being
of a larger size than the plaits in the centre. Figures 11 and 12 represent

page_text: the arms for the first and second sized square wires, forming, when combined
with similar arms on another chain, a goffering of three plaits in depth; the
arms for the eight smaller three-row square wires or rollers are represented by
the first four various sized arms seen in Figure 13, which Figures represent
the five-sized arms I use for making chains with ten different sized rollers
forming three rows of plaits. The above is a description of all the arms I use
for making chains to form one or more rows of plaits, except where I place a
small size next a large one, in which case I use an arm to each size, having
the rivet holes wider apart for riveting them into one chain.
Sheet 4, Figures 14 to 28, and Sheet 5, Figures 29 to 41, represent, by
way of example, a few of the positions in which the wires or rollers may be
placed; a variety of other patterns may be formed by two or more of the
whole series. The following Figures also represent, by way of example, a few
of the patterns in which the wires or rollers can be arranged to form two rows
of plaits. Figures 14, part of Figures 16, 17, 18, Figures 20, 21, 22, part of
Figure 24, and the whole of the several arrangements shewn in Figures 29 to
41, or they may be placed as shewn at Figure 35, to form a single line of
goffering of a waved or other shaped plait, or as a goffering having two rows.
Figures 19, 21, 22, represent an arrangement of two rows of plaits, Figure 19
having the wires graduated, forming the plaits graduated; Figures 21 and 22
with the plaits all one size, the graduation being obtained by using different
lengths of arms, as shewn at Figure 6, Sheet 3, or by placing the chains
nearer to or farther from each other for a certain distance. Figures 15, 16,
17, 18, and 26, represent some of the combinations of wires or rollers to form
goffering with three rows of plaits, and some in combination with wires forming
two rows of plaits. Figures 24, 25, and 27, represent some of the wires com-
bined to form goffering with four rows of plaits. Figure 28 represents a com-
bination of wires to produce a goffering having six rows of plaits; but I do
not confine myself to the number of rows of plaits in a given length of goffer-
ing, as in some cases I prefer to increase the number of rows by lengthening
the arms in proportion thereto, such arm carrying three or a greater number
of wires or rollers, both being of the same size or of various sizes and lengths.
I also combine any one of the varied shaped wires or rollers with one or more
of another shape, or of two or more shapes; thus in one chain I use an
arrangement as shewn at Figure 35, Sheet 5, to produce a waved or other
shaped line of one plait, then, next to it, I use the arrangement shewn at
Figure 34, then that as shewn at Figures 32 or 33, or 23 or 24, or an
arrangement of the two middle wires of 23 or 24, for the inside rows, and any
of the various shaped wires shewn at Figures 29 to 41, or two or more of

page_text: them, according to the pattern I require for the outside rows and in the goffer-
ings, having only a waved or other shaped single goffer or a small two-plait
goffering next a large two plait or three plait or other goffer; the difference in
width may be filled up with flowers or any other device to ornament the same,
as taste or fancy may suggest.
Figure 42 is a plan of the improved steaming boards or apparatus, which I
use instead of the boards hitherto ordinarily used; in the boards of the ordinary
construction hitherto known and used the corresponding faces, or faces of
those of each pair, when placed together are parallel, whereas I construct my
improved boards with their corresponding faces convex. My boards, represented
in the Drawings, are constructed of three or more lengths of brass, wood, or
other suitable material connected together transversely by other pieces A, and
having a thumb-piece B at each end, as seen in Figure 43; these boards may
be of any suitable length or shape required for steaming the goffered material,
which is placed upon the face of one board, and the other board is turned face
downward upon it; one end of each board is pushed towards the other until
they are in the position shewn in Figure 44, which is a side view of a pair of
boards in the position for steaming a cap border or other length of material,
having goffers of large size at each end decreasing to a smaller size in the
middle, the middle consisting of a number of goffered plaits of a smaller size.
Figure 45 represents a similar pair of boards, having the several bars cut of
the shape as shewn for steaming a goffered material, having a number of plaits
of one size at each end, gradually decreasing to the centre. The bearing
pieces C shewn at one end of a board are for the purpose of keeping the boards
at such a distance apart that they may not crush or nip the pleats during the
sliding of the boards to the position shewn at Figure 44, just before reaching
which point they close together, as shewn, the bearing pieces upon which the
end of the other board runs being turned down, as seen, to facilitate the
gradually closing of the boards. By using boards such as I have just described
constructed according to my Invention, the jet of steam can be directed under
them, the steam passing completely through the boards in consequence of their
presenting only a number of lines to the steam jet, whereas, the old boards
have to be presented to the jet of steam at the opening formed by the space
between their faces, but the three or four points which touch the goffered
material in my improved boards as effectually hold the plaits goffers together
as when they are compressed between the old boards which touch the whole
width of the goffering, besides which the fine edges of the material are not
crushed by the force of the steam directed against them, as was always the case
when the old or ordinary known boards were used.
or

page_text: My Invention is also applicable (amongst other matters) to the production
of trimmings for ladies' dresses made of any material, cloth trimmings for cloaks,
mantles, muslin, cambric, and ribbon trimmings, and of millinery trimmings in
great variety; for trimmings of leather or other fabrics used in decorating
railway or other carriages, or of upholstery work, and is further applicable to
a variety of laces, paper, &c.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim is,―
Firstly, the employment for goffering or plaiting of the following arrange-
ment and combination of parts, that is to say, of a number of wires or rollers
arranged in two series, each series forming two distinct chains passing round
two rollers, one of each pair whereof is provided with wheels gearing into each
other, and causing the chains to revolve simultaneously, the wires or rollers of
each series being of gradually diminished diameter.
Secondly, the employment for goffering or plaiting of the arms for the first
and second sized square wires or rollers, which form, when combined with
similar armis on another chain, a goffering of three plaits in depth; and the
arms for the eight smaller three-row square wires or rollers, which are repre-
sented by the first four various sized arms seen in Figures 11 and 12, and in
Figure 13, which latter represents the five-sized arms I employ for making
chains with ten different sized rollers forming three rows of plaits as herein-
before described.
Thirdly, the employment in connection with the goffering machine of
steaming boards with convex corresponding faces.
And, fourthly, the general arrangement and combination of machinery con-
structed in the manner herein-before described and exemplified in the ac-
companying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Grey Hill, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Agent,
Nottingham.
CHARLES GREY HILL. (L.S.)