Improved Method and Machinery or Apparatus for Producing Designs on Textile and Felted Fabrics and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Dec., 1894-Accepted, 2nd Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method and Machinery or Apparatus for Producing
Designs on Textile and Felted Fabrics and the like.
I, SAMUEL HOLT SHARP, of 16, Aire Street, Leeds, in the County of York,
Lithographic Printer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
According to this invention, I produce designs on textile or felted fabric or the
Ike (hereinafter referred to as a fabric) by means of an endless pattern sheet, by
passing the said fabric along with the said endless sheet on one side and an endless
blanket on the other between a pressing cylinder and a fixed presser, the arrange-
ment being such that the pressure of the cylinder against the presser, forces the
blanket and fabric partly into the orifices of the patterns in the endless pattern
sheet, whilst composition from the reservoir is supplied to the latter, which, whilst
passing under the fixed presser, forces the composition into the fabric, projecting in
the orifices in the endless pattern sheet, the superfluous composition being constantly
kept on the pattern sheet in front of the presser.
And in order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried
into effect will proceed to describe the same with the aid of the accompanying
drawings wherein
Figs. 1 & 2 are front and back elevations respectively of a printing-machine
according to this invention;
Figs. 3 & 4 are elevations of the feeding and the delivery ends respectively of
the said machine; and
Fig. 5 is a central cross section thereof;
Figs. 6 to 12 inclusive are detail-views drawn to a larger scale and referred to
more particularly hereinafter.
The machine comprises two frames 1 & 2 firmly secured together at a suitable
distance apart by bolts 3. On these frames are secured bearings 4 and 5, in which
is mounted a shaft 6 carrying a roller 7 and adapted to be rotated by means of a
toothed wheel 8 in gear with a toothed wheel 9 on the driving-shaft 10 through an
intermediate wheel 11. At the feeding-end of the machine the frames 1 & 2 are
provided with parallel horizontal slides 12 and 13, (Figs. 1 & 3) on which are
mounted saddles 14 and 15 carrying bearings 16 and 17 in which is mounted a
shaft 18, with a roller 19 fixed thereon. Around this roller and the roller 7 is
carried an endless metallic pattern-sheet 20, which can be tightened or slackened
at will by means of the saddles 14 and 15, which, with their roller 19, can be caused to
advance toward and recede from the roller 7 by means of screws 21 (Fig. 2) which
are arranged to be turned simultaneously in nuts 22 fixed to the slides 14 & 15,
mitre-wheels 23 and 24 (Figs. 1, 2 & 3) fixed on the outwardly projecting ends of
the screws 21 and gearing into mitre-wheels 25 and 26 respectively on a cross
shaft 27 which is carried by bearings 28 and 29 on the frames 1 and 2 and is
provided with a hand-wheel 30.
31 is a presser which is arranged between the upper and the lower portions of
the endless pattern-sheet 20 and also between the rollers 7 & 19.
This presser
and its appurtenances are shown separately and to a larger scale in Figs. 8, 9 & 10;
which are an elevation, a plan, and a cross section respectively thereof. The
presser 31 which is a sheet-metal strip (preferably a blade of spring steel) having
a blunt edge is secured by screws 35 to a stock 34 which is carried by brackets 32

page_text: and 33. The presser may however consist simply of a stock with an elliptical
edge 36 (Fig. 11) or with an otherwise suitably blunted edge. Fig. 12 is a section
of a modified construction of presser, which consists of a number of blades 37
attached to a stock 38 by hinges 39, an adjustable spring 40 enclosed in a box 40°
fixed to the stock behind each blade furnishing pressure to a piston 40' which acts
on the blade.
To the stock 34 at the feeding-side thereof is attached the reservoir 41,
containing the viscous composition used for printing and which may advan-
tageously be a composition of the kind described in the Specification of
another application for Letters Patent filed by me dated Oct. 31st 1894
No. 21607. Arrangements are provided, such as clips 42 & 43, to enable the
reservoir 41 to be readily removed from its position and again secured therein.
Extending through the open end 44 of this reservoir and adjacent to the rear
wall 45 thereof, is arranged a vertically movable slide 46, which is arranged to
work in suitable guides and is adapted in ascending to open an orifice in the
bottom of the reservoir, and in descending to force therethrough a quantity of
composition and to deliver the same upon the pattern-sheet 20 and the fabric under
treatment finally closing the said orifice. The vertical motion of the slide 46 is
produced by means of a pair of eccentrics 47 which work in slotted extensions 48
and 49 of the slide 46 and to which are fixed arms 50 and 51 connected to a
bar 52 provided with a handle 53. The eccentrics 47 with their arms are
mounted on studs 54 and 55 secured in brackets 56 and 57 projecting from the rear
wall 45 of the reservoir.
Immediately under the presser 31 there are arranged in the frames 1 and 2
(Figs. 1, 2 and 5) parallel guides 58 and 59 in which are adapted to slide vertical
bearings 60 and 61 carrying a shaft 62 on which is fixed the pressing-cylinder 63.
This cylinder is arranged to be rotated by a toothed wheel 64 which is fixed on
the shaft 62 and gears into a pinion 65 on the driving-shaft 10 (Fig. 2). The
pressing-cylinder 63 is adapted to be moved towards and away from the presser 31 by
means of eccentrics 66 and 67 which are fixed on a cross shaft 68 mounted in
bearings 69 and 70 in the frames 1 and 2 and which bear simultaneously against
projections 71 and 72 on the sliding bearings 60 and 61 respectively. On the cross
shaft 68 is secured a worm-wheel 73 adapted to be rotated by a worm 74 (Figs. 1,
3 & 4), carried between bearings in a bracket 75 and fixed to a shaft 76 provided
with a hand-wheel 77.
Instead of having the presser fixed and the pressing-cylin lor movable as above
described, the presser may be made movable towards and away from the cylinder
which is then mounted, in stationary hearings.
At the front end of the frames 1 and 2 there are fixed bracket- 74 and 79
carrying in hollow cylindrical guides sliding rods 80 and 81 respectively on the
ends of which are bearings 82 and 83.
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section, and
Fig. 7 a cross section through one of these cylindrical guides. In the bearings 82
and 83 is mounted a shaft 84 on which is secured a ruller 85. Around the
peripheries of the cylinder 63 and the roller 85 is passed an endless band 86
(hereinafter referred to as a blanket) composed preferably of woven flexible material
or of india rubber. In order to enable the necessary tension to be produced in this
blanket the sliding rods 80 and 81 carrying the roller 85 are adapted to be moved
simultaneously outwards from the cylinder 63 for which purpose they are each
formed with a screw-thread 87 (see Figs. 6 and 7) on which is mounted, between
the front and the rear portions of the said parallel cylindrical guiles, a worn wheel
nut 8% or 89 engaging in a worm 90 or 91 on a cross shaft 92 which is mounted
in bearings 93 and 94 in the brackets 78 and 79 and is provided with a hand-
wheel 95.
At the feeding end of the machine there is also provided a tension-arrangement
to regulate the feeding of the fabric into the machine. For this purpose there are
secured to the frames 1 and 2 brackets 96 and 97 provided with bearings at their

page_text: outer ends (Figs. 1 and 2). On a shaft 98 mounted in these bearings are fixed two
double armed levers 99 and 100, which are respectively furnished at their ends with
bearings 101, 101°, and 102 102 in which are mounted shafts 103 and 104 carrying
rollers 105 and 106 respectively. The shafts 103 and 104 with their rollers are
adapted to be rotated about the axis of the shaft 98 by means of a worm-wheel 107
fixed on the shaft 98 and gearing with a worin 108 on a shaft 109 which is mounted
in a vertical bearing 110 on the bracket 97 and is furnished with a hand-wheel 111.
A roller 112 fixed on a shaft 113 mounted in bearings 114 carried by the brackets 96
and 97 serves in conjunction with the rollers 105 and 106, as a brake for the
fabric A which is led around the rollers as indicated by dotted lines in
Fig. 1.
At the delivery-end of the machine there are fixed to the frames 1 and 2
bearings 115 and 116 (Figs. 1, 2 & 4,) in which is mounted a shaft 117 which
carries a drag-roller 118 and a toothed wheel 119 that gears in the wheel 9 on the
driving-shaft 10. The drag-roller 118 is formed with a series of annular ribs 120,
which are covered with glass-cloth, card-clothing or other material adapted to drag
or pull the material forward after leaving the pressing-cylinder 63. Below the
roller 118 and some distance therefrom there is arranged a similarly formed
roller 122 with its shaft 123 mounted in bearings 124 and 125 fixed to the frames 1
and 2. In the annular grooves formed in the rollers 118 and 122 between their
annular ribs there are inserted a series of endless tapes 126 (Figs. 1 & 2) which
serve to rotate the roller 122 and also to strip the fabric from the drag-roller 118.
Sometimes other grooves are formed in the ribs of the stripping-roller 122, and
tapes placed in these grooves are passed round a plain cylindrical roller mounted
on the floor some distance from the machine for the purpose of conveying away the
stencilled fabric.
The driving shaft 10 is provided with fast and loose pulley 10 to facilitate
starting and stopping the machine.
The endless metallic pattern sheet 20 used in this machine is constructed from a
sheet of metal of any suitable width and thickness and through the thickness of
which is cut or engraved the pattern or design it is desired to produce upon the
fabric. This sheet is bent into the form of a cylinder, causing one end of it to
overlap the other for a short distance, and the two ends are then soldered or brazed
together, forming a lap joint, the edges and surfaces being then reduced in thickness,
until the joint is of the same thickness as the remainder of the sheet.
With the arrangements already described a pattern sheet can, when required, be
readily removed from the rollers 7 and 19 in the following manner :-First, the
pressing cylinder 63 is lowered as far as possible by means of the hand wheel 77;
and the roller 19 is then moved towards the roller 7 by means of the hand-wheel 30
until the endless sheet 20 is sufficiently slack. On now removing the bearings 5
& 17 of the rollers 7 and 19 and also the bracket 33 supporting the presser 31, and
reservoir 41, the pattern-sheet 20 can be easily withdrawn from the roller. The
operation of my improved machine is as follows:-
The fabric A to be printed is first passed over the roller 112, under the
roller 106, over the shaft 98, and under and over the other roller on 105 of the
tension arrangement and thence on to the blanket 86. It now passes under
the pattern-sheet 20, the surface-speed of which is equal to that of the blanket,
and on approaching the presser 31 pressure begins to act thereon and increases in
intensity until the fabric reaches and passes under the said presser. The effect of
this pressure is to cause the fabric A to be forced partly into the pattern holes in
the endless sheet 20 so as to close them and prevent any of the printing composition
from passing therethrough. The printing composition is fed from the reservoir 41
upon the upper side of the endless sheet 20 immediately in front of the fixed
presser 31 and the portions of the fabric projecting into the orifices in the pattern
sheet 20 receive a certain amount of composition, which on passing under the fixel
presser 31 is thereby forced into the fabric. By this means clear, distinct, and
permanent designs or impressions are producel on the fabric. The fabric, having

page_text: passed the fixed presser 31, begins to leave the pattern sheet 20, thus preventing
the designs or impressions from becoming smeared, and finally passes over the
drag-roller 118, which constantly draws it away from the pressing cylinder.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what mauner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The herein described method of producing designs on woven, felted or other
material by compressing the said material against one side of a travelling pattern-
sheet, so as to cause the parts of the material on which the design is to be produced,
to partly enter the orifices constituting the required design, and forcing through
the said orifices from the opposite side of the pattern-sheet a semi-liquid composition
so as to cause the same to enter the material and produce the required design
thereon substantially as herein described.
2. For carrying out the method referred to in the preceding claim, a machine or
apparatus comprising a travelling endless pattern sheet, a cylinder and presser
or pressing device arranged at opposite sides of the pattern sheet adapted to be
adjusted the one towards the other, means for feeding woven, felted or other
material on which the design is to be produced, between the said cylinder and
pattern-sheet, and means for supplying a viscous or semi-liquid composition to the
side of the pattern-sheet opposite to that against which the said material is
pressed, and in front of the said presser or pressing device, substantially as herein
described.
3. In a machine or apparatus of the kind referred to in the preceding claim, the
use for holding a supply of semi-liquid or viscous stencilling composition of a
reservoir provided with a vertically movable slide controlling an aperture in the
bottom of the reservoir, and means such as eccentrics and levers for reciprocating
said slide so that said composition will be fed in an intermittent mauner to the said
pattern plate; substantially as herein described.
4. The combination with a machine or apparatus of the kind referred to in
Claim 2, of an adjustable tension arrangement constructed substantially as described
and shown, for controlling the passage through the machine or apparatus of the
material in and on which the design is to be produced.
5. In a machine or apparatus of the kind specified in Claims 2 and 4, the
combination with the main pressing cylinder and tension arrangement of a drag
roller 118 and a stripping roller 122 caused to rotate thereby, substantially as
hereinbefore described for the purpose specified.
6. For producing designs on textile, felted and other material, a machine or
apparatus constructed arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore
described with reference to and shown in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 6th day of December 1401
R. E. P. (RAVEN,
Registered Patent Agent,
22, Victoria Chambers, South Parade, Leeds, Agent for the Applicant.