IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELTING FELT CLOTHS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELTING FELT CLOTHS."-A com-
munication from abroad by John Thomas Waring, Manufacturer,
residing at Yonkers, in the State of New York, United States of
America.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 22nd March 1869, pursuant to
the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELTING FELT CLOTHS," (the same has
communicated to me from abroad by John Thomas Waring, Manu-
Ofacturer, a person resident at Yonkers, in the State of New York,

page_text: United States of America,) and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in improvements in jiggering machines for
continuously hardening and felting felt cloths.
The first part of the Invention consists in the arrangement and com-
bination of an intermittently moving horizontal felting cylinder with
an intermittently moving conductor or hardening cloth and a horizontal
concave jiggering apparatus, substantially as herein-after described.
This part of the Invention is embodied in the machine represented in
Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheets 1 and 2 of the Drawings.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a vertical longitudinal section of
the machine; Figure 2 a plan view, and Figure 3 an end elevation of
the same.
The side frames a, a¹, of the machine are framed together by the cross
braces a, a³, a². The felting cylinder 6 is mounted horizontally in
fixed bearings 61, 63, in the side frames, and is moved intermittently in
the direction indicated by the arrows by a pawl c and ratchet wheel c³,
the latter attached to the shaft of the felting cylinder. The felting
cylinder may be of wood, but should preferably be made hollow of iron
or other suitable metal, and have hollow shafts by which steam can be
introduced within for the purpose of warming it if desired, as in calender
rollers. The surface should be slightly scored or grooved circum-
ferentially to hold the fabric while felting against the action of the
jigger. The hardening cloth d is an endless apron or conductor of linen,
canvas, or other suitable material for a hardening cloth extended over
the drums e, e¹, e, e³, e, the two drums e¹ and e² being placed one each
side of the felting cylinder in such manner as to wrap the portion of
the hardening cloth between them around the lower half of the surface
of the felting cylinder, so that when the felting cylinder is moved the
hardening cloth moves with it and conducts the prepared fabric to
and from the felting cylinder, holding it to the felting cylinder while
the jigger is in action.
The jiggering or rubbing plate by which the felting is accomplished is
a concave metal plate f, which forms the top plate of a steam box f¹.
This concave plate is of a curvature corresponding to that of the felting
cylinder, and is perforated with fine holes to permit steam to pass to the

page_text: fabric to be felted through the hardening cloth. The steam box f¹ has
suitable induction and eduction pipes f, fs, (shown broken off) which
should be connected by flexible connecting pipes with a source of supply
of steam and a waste water receptacle. This steam box with its concave
rubbing surface is placed beneath the felting cylinder under that portion
of the hardening cloth in contact therewith, and receives a very short
and exceedingly rapid reciprocating motion from the eccentric shaft g,
which may be driven as usual by a rapid belt from a separate counter-
shaft over head running upon the driving pulley g', and is connected
with the steam box f¹ by two connecting rods g², g. At each side of
the jiggering steam box are guides g', 95, which do not interfere with its
being moved towards and from the felting cylinder.
The steam box and its concave jiggering surface is moved up and
down and held against the hardening cloth and felting cylinder with
a yielding pressure by mechanism as follows, viz. :-The steam box is
supported by four rocking columns, two of which h, h¹, are connected by
joints to lugs or projections from the lower part of a sliding plate i,
which slides up and down within the frame upon the side frame a¹, the
upper part of the sliding plate i having a guide bar a projecting upwards
from it, which slides in a recess in the end of the cross brace a', the
lower part of the sliding plate being guided by the cam shaft, which
passes through a slot made in the middle of the lower part of the plate
for that purpose, and the other two columns (one only h³ shown in the
Drawings) are similarly connected to an opposite sliding plate ³, which
slides up and down upon
the opposite side frame in the same manner as
the sliding plate i. The two opposite sliding plates i and 2 are exactly
alike, facing each other on opposite sides of the machine within the side
frames, and are each independently moved up and down at the same
time by means of the cams k, k, fast to the cam shaft k, operating
through two systems of weights and levors, one system for each sliding
plate. The two systems of weighted levers being alike, a déscription of
one only will be given, that which is in connection with the cam k¹ and
the sliding plate i. This system of levers consists of a lever m pivoted
upon the cross shaft m¹, and extending horizontally to the cam k', being
provided at the end with an antifriction roller m³, which runs on the
cam k¹. The lever m is linked by a short link m³ to the fulcrum point
of a lever p immediately above it, which lever is connected to the
sliding plate i at one end, and is loaded with weights p¹ at the other end.

page_text: The arrangement and proportions of the levers being as shown in the
Drawings, the cam lifts the sliding plate and its end of the steam box
by lifting the weighted lever p. When the cam turns to lower the
sliding plate the weighted lever p rests on the cross shaft m¹ close by
the weights, thereby relieving the sliding plate and steam box from the
upward pressure due to the weights, and permitting the steam box to
be lowered sufficiently to allow the felting cylinder to be moved. The
rotating cam shaft k is driven by a train of cog wheel from the driving
shaft q, upon which are the fast and loose pulleys q', q³, as follows,
viz. A pinion » fast to the driving shaft q gears into a spur wheel l
fast to the intermediate rotating shaft, which also carries a pinion s
which gears into the spur wheel fast to the cam shaft. The exact
proportions of these wheels are not material, as they are merely used to
reduce the speed and increase the power from a light driving belt.
The pawl c which moves the felting cylinder is actuated by the lever 8,
to which it is connected, the lever being moved the proper distance by a
wiper in the form of a set screw t screwed into the cam shaft k.
In the operation of this machine the continuous bat prepared for
the fabric to be felted is fed upon the hardening cloth, and carried step
by step a short distance at a time to the felting cylinder by the inter-
mittent motion of the felting cylinder and hardening cloth, and during
the intervals of this feeding motion, when the cylinder and hardening
cloth are at rest, the concave jigger, which has a rapid jiggering motion,
is lifted by the cams and system of weighted levers up to the hardening
cloth, bearing against the same and the fabric carried thereby with a
heavy yielding pressure resisted by the felting cylinder above the jigger
box, being supplied with steam which escapes through perforations
in the concave surface, and having, as before said, a rapid jiggering
motion, operates to felt or partially felt the fabric while thus held
against it during the interval determined by the concentric portions
of the cams which lift it, and then it is lowered to permit the fabric to
be fed forward another step by the intermittent motion of the cylinder
and hardening cloth, when the jigger is again raised by the rotating
cams which lift it. The cylinder and hardening cloth move but a very
short distance at a time compared with the width of the jiggering
surface, and therefore the jigger at each revolution of the machine
repeats its action upon the greater part of that portion of the surface
of the fabric upon which it had acted during the preceding revolution,

page_text: and the time during which the jigger acts upon the fabric being the same
at each revolution of the machine the fabric is progressively and
uniformly felted as it passes through the machine. The fabric adheres
to the felting cylinder and hardening cloth sufficiently for the purpose
of feeding it through the machine, but should it be desired a ratchet
feed can readily be attached to one of the carrying drums of the
hardening cloth, or one or both of the drums next to the felting cylinder
may be geared with it by cog wheels. The concave jigger plate should
have its surface slightly grooved or scored in a direction opposite to that
of its vibration, so as to take hold of the hardening cloth. The felting
cylinder may be engraved or embossed to impress any desired figure
upon the fabric while felting.
The concave jiggering apparatus and hardening cloth herein described
are substantially similar to those described in a previous Patent granted
to me on the 1st October 1868, and numbered 3007, for an Invention
for improvements in the manufacture of tufted or pile fabrics, and in
machinery for manufacturing the same (being a communication from the
same person who has communicated to me this Invention), and therefore
I do not claim them as a separate part of this Invention, but only claim
the combining them with a felting cylinder, substantially such as is
herein described, suitable for felting felt cloths, and differing from the
cylindrical "tuft holder" described in said Patent, which is not suitable
for felting plain cloths by reason of its being perforated with holes to
receive tufts.
The second part of the Invention consists in improvements in jig-
gering machines in which the material is fed upon a carrying cloth
between a flat surfaced jigger and a platten. In some of the jiggering
machines of this class the jigger has a continuous action upon the
fabric, and the carrying cloth or conductor has a slow continuous
motion, but such machines do not admit of applying the jiggering
surface to the fabric under heavy pressure, and consequently are only
suitable for hardening the fabric preparatory to the subsequent operation
of the fulling mill. In other machines of this class the jiggering
apparatus is applied to the fabric while the carrying cloth is at rest,
and the jiggering proceeded with for a period of time regulated by the
machinery when it ceases, and the fabric is moved forward about the
distance of the width of the jiggering apparatus and the jiggering again
proceeded with, these operations being repeated to felt a continuous

page_text: fabric, but such machines necessarily produce unevenly felted fabrics,.
because the entire surface of the fabric is not subjected to the action of
all parts of the jiggering surface, and because the speed of the jigger
and the heat and moisture may vary upon the successive squares of
the fabric successively acted upon by the jigger. This part of the
Invention consists in remedying the defects last mentioned by com-
bining with the mechanism that regulates the period of time during;
which the jigger acts upon the fabric to felt it a mechanism which
moves the fabric forward with the carrying cloth a short distance com-
pared with the width of the jiggering surfaces whenever the fabric is
released from the action of the jiggering surface, and then remains at
rest until the jiggering surface has repeated its action upon the fabric
and retreated therefrom, these operations being repeated until the desired
length of fabric is felted. By this mode of operation all parts of the
jiggering surface are applied to all parts of the fabric passing through
the machine during regular and uniform periods of time, and the fabric
thereby becomes uniformly felted. This part of the Invention is cm-
bodied in the machine represented in Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 3 of the
Drawings, Figure 4 representing an end view of the machine, and
Figure 5 a side elevation partly in section. This machine is constructed
in a similar manner to the machine represented in Sheets 1 and 2,
except that instead of the felting cylinder this machine has a felting
platten A securely fastened to the side frames a, a', and instead of a
concave jiggering plate it has a flat jigger plate B, which forms the
top plate of the steam box f¹ and is perforated with fine holes to
permit steam to pass to the fabric. The jigger is operated in the same
manner, and is lifted and lowered to operate upon the fabric with heavy
yielding pressure by the same system of rotating cams and weighted
levers as in the first machine, and therefore a further description of this
machine is not necessary, except with respect to the mechanism for
moving the carrying cloth, which consists of a ratchet wheel C upon
the shaft of a drum D, over which the carrying cloth d passes, and a
pawl E connected with a lever F actuated at every revolution of the
machine by a wiper G fixed in the cam shaft k which carries the cams
that lift and lower the jigger. The fabric prepared for felting is con-
tinuously supplied to the carrying cloth, which is moved forwards by
the pawl and ratchet a short distance compared with the width of the
platten and jiggering surfaces between which it passes, when the jigger
moves away from the platten to permit of the forward movement of the

page_text: acted upon in order to ensure regular and uniform felting of the fabric,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-nine.