IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING WOVEN FABRICS."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bailey, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING WOVEN FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bailey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th July 1859.
I, JOHN BAILEY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING WOVEN FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to those machines in which travelling chains, straps,
or other such apparatus are employed. These chains, &c., I furnish with a
series of clamps, which are opened to receive the cloth, and are closed thereon
by means of wedges. The closing I effect by the arrival of the wedges in
contact with a spring roller or other elastic medium whereby the pressure may
be regulated. The opening takes place at the proper periods by the teeth of
the driving pullies acting against the wedges, but to secure the said opening I
cause pins therein to be pressed downward by arrival in contact with a rod or
weight. The chain or other such apparatus I drive by horizontal pullies, so
that the advancing and returning parts are side by side.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said John Bailey in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BAILEY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Bailey, Her special license that I, the said John Bailey, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Bailey, 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 MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING WOVEN FABRICS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said John Bailey, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 on or before
the Twenty-sixth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Bailey, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention relates to those machines in which travelling chains, straps,
or other such apparatus are employed. These I furnish with a series of
clamps, which are opened to receive the cloth, and are closed thereon by
means of wedges. The closing I effect by the arrival of the wedges in contact
with a spring roller or other elastic medium whereby the pressure may be
regulated. The opening takes place at the proper periods by the teeth of the
driving pullies acting against the wedges, but to secure the said opening I
cause pins therein to be pressed downward by arrival in contact with a rod or
weight.
Having thus pointed out the general features of my Invention, I will
proceed to describe how the same may be carried into practical operation,
referring to a Sheet of Drawings accompanying this my Complete Specification.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a Diagram explaining the class of machine to which my Invention
is shewn adapted; in this Fig. A, B, represent rollers, around which chains or
bands C, C, D, D¹, pass. The inward parts C, D', of the chains or bands
are those portions to which the cloth to be stretched is attached, and it is the
method of attaching it which constitutes the leading feature of my improve-
ments, and which I will now describe. Fig. 2 represents in plan view one of
the chains corresponding to that shewn in the Diagram D, D', together with
the holding apparatus and other parts, but being of considerable length a
portion of the central part is removed; Fig. 3 is a section of the chain-holding
apparatus and guides; Fig. 4. a view of the holding apparatus detached, the
jaws thereof being open; and Fig. 5, a front view of the chain and holding
apparatus; in all of which Figures similar letters or numbers of reference
denote the like parts. The links of the chain are shewn at a, upon which are
fixed by means of screws 6 the upper stationary jaws of clamps c, which jaws
extend downward on either side of the chain, as at d, e. The lower moveable
jaws of the clamps are seen at f mounted upon centre pins g, which are carried
by the parts d. The parts d, e, are furnished with openings, within which are
placed wedges h, which wedges being thrust forward (as hereafter to be
described) close the under upon the upper jaws of the clamps, so as to receive
the cloth therein. The links of the chain pass over toothed rollers B, B',
which are caused to revolve by any suitable gearing, so as to impart a
travelling motion to the chain and clamps, which are situate during that
motion within recesses formed in bars l, m, held together by means of cross
pieces n. The bars l, m, are discontinued at the points F, G, at which places
there are joints connecting them to similar guides p, q, which are circular, so
as to hold the chain as it travels around the toothed pullies B, B', and between
these two parts there are spaces r, s, in order to admit of a deviation from a
right line, as will hereafter be mentioned. The guides p, q, together with the
pullies B, B', are mounted upon nuts, which are capable of being moved
within guides t, by means of screws u, u', each of such screws being right
handed at one end, corresponding, for instance, to the pulley B of Fig. 1, and
left banded at the other, corresponding to the pulley A of the same Figure, by
which means the said pullies may be advanced towards or separated from
each other; attached to the bar m (see Fig. 3) is a plate v, which extends over
rollers w, carried by the upper jaw c of the clamps, by which plate, therefore,
the chain and its appendages are prevented from rising during its travelling
motion by the tension of the cloth under operation, and there is also a siniilar
plate attached to the circular guides p, q; the other side of the chain does
not require these plates, it being the returning side upon which there is no

page_text: cloth. To the circular guide p is fixed a projecting piece x, against which
the ends of the wedges h arrive as they are carried onward by the chain, which
wedges being thereby driven inward cause the under jaws of the clamps to
close upon the upper jaws, so as to grasp the cloth, but this is a preparatory
closing only, for each wedge immediately after arrives in contact with a
roller y, forced forward by a spring or other elastic medium, whereby the
closing is completed, the elasticity of the roller admitting a variation according
to the different thicknesses of cloth which may be operated upon. Upon the
wedges arriving at the other end of the machine, their ends (one of which is
seen at h¹) are struck by a tooth of the pulley B', whereby the said wedges
are driven forward so as to release the pressure of the clamps, and allow the
under jaws thereof to fall. In order, however, to secure this dropping of the
jaws the following contrivance is adopted :-Each of the clamps is provided
with a pin Z, which passes loosely through a hole in the upper, and rests upon
the lower jaw. These pins successively arrive in contact with a weighted lever 2,
mounted upon a short shaft 3, by which lever they are, therefore, pressed
downward so as to seperate the jaws, should the lower ono not have dropped
by its own gravity. In order to enable the jaws of the clamps to gain a firm
hold upon the cloth, I provide one or both of them with pieces of india-rubber
or other such material, as at 4, so as to afford surfaces of such material; in
order, however, to gain a sure hold fine pins may be carried by a jaw or jaws
of the clamp, such pins, however, being covered with india-rubber or other
such substance, so as but slightly to project when the clamps are tightened.
The guides are mounted upon any suitable ordinary framework, and there
are occasional supports for the bars l, m, according to their length, and upon
which they are mounted loosely, so as to be capable of sliding transversely,
and the machine is provided with any ordinary heating apparatus.
On com-
mencing operations with the machine the attendant turns the screw u, so as
to bring the rollers A, B, Fig. 1, to the distance apart required for the
piece of cloth on entering the machine; he also turns the other screw u¹ so as
to seperate the rollers A¹, B¹, to a width corresponding to that to which it is
desired to stretch the cloth; he then places one edge of the cloth in a clamp
occupying the position shewn at II, Fig. 2, situate upon the chain D', Fig. 1,
and the other edge of the cloth in a corresponding clamp upon the chain c',
Fig. 1, the pullies B, B', being then caused to revolve the wedge of the clamp
II will be driven in by the fixed part x, and the hold on the cloth completed
by the spring roller y, as before mentioned, during which other portions of the
edges of the cloth will be grasped by succeeding clamps, and thus the whole
will pass through the machine, being gradually stretched by the widening

page_text: distance of the chains apart, and liberated as it arrives at that point where the
wedges become driven out by the pullies A', B'.
It will be observed from the foregoing description that the circular guide
bars p, q, move in a parallel direction upon their guides t, t; upon turning the
screw u, therefore, so as to separate the chains wider apart than at the other
end, the guide bars l, m, turn upon their centres at F, G, there being spaces
at their ends at r, s, as before observed, to admit of such movement, and in
order to gain the means of stretching the cloth more or less at any portion of
its length, I adapt joints similar to those shewn at F, G, at various places, and
use screws at such places like those at u, u', for separating the guide bars l, m,
and by those means the cloth is caused to move without being stretched when
over the drying apparatus, as is usual in other stretching machines.
I would observe, that according to the above description the cloth travels
forward, moving in one direction only, but, if desired, the guide bars l, m, and
their chains and clamps may have a vibrating or reciprocating motion imparted
to them simultaneously with their onward motion, which vibrating or reci-
procating motion is well known and in practice in other stretching machines.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction by which I
have shewn how the same may be carried into practical operation; but
I claim as secured to me under the above mentioned Letters Patent, and
for the purpose above set forth.-
Firstly, the use of clamps or jaws mounted upon travelling chains, bands,
or other apparatus, and capable of being caused to hold the cloth by means of
wedges.
Secondly, the use of a spring roller or other elastic medium for determining
the pressure upon such wedges.
Thirdly, the use of the pullies for driving back the wedges.
Fourthly, the use of the pins z for securing the opening of the jaws.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bailey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN BAILEY. (L.S.)