IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR IRONING AND FINISHING LINEN AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Julius Ball, of 21, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars,
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR IRONING
AND FINISHING LINEN AND OTHER FABRICS." A communcation from abroad
by Jules Decoudun, of 77, Rue de Montreuil, Paris, France.
Sealed the 21st December 1876, and dated the 1st July 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Julius Ball at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st July 1876.
CHARLES JULIUS BALL, of 21, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London.
"IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR IRONING AND FINISHING LINEN AND OTHER
FABRICS,"
This Invention relates to a machine by which linen can be ironed, and woollen,
cotton, or silk fabrics may be dressed and finished so as to give them either a glazed
or a dull surface, and stretching them at the same time so as to prevent shrinkage
and to preserve the piece goods their full width.
This machine is composed of a hollow table, semi-cylindrical, of polished cast
iron, heated internally, and on which rubs a felted cylinder with adjustable pressure,
and also internally heated, the whole forming a continuous hot press mounted on
two standards, which carry also:-1°, a vaporisator, or apparatus injecting steam
under the goods, so as to swell, open, and easy the fibres; 2°, a drying drum, pre-
ceded by a damper or imbiber, to damp, wet, and imbibe the goods in a regular and
uniform way, and then to dry them partially or totally before passing them through
the continuous hot press before described; 3°, a stretcher, or apparatus for widening
the piece goods.
The said machine is geared with frictional gearing which can be instantly thrown
in or out of gear, so as to vary at will the speed according to the nature of the goods.
The said machine though usually driven by gear can also work by hand,
especially for cases when the dressing instead of taking place on piece goods takes
place on separate pieces of goods, as at the dyer's, cleaner's, or laundryman's. For
this last-mentioned trade the machine is divested of stretching apparatus, damper,
or imbiber, or vaporisator, and can be made with only one standard, allowing
thereby the passage of certain pieces of apparel.

page_text: In certain cases, and for laundry machines especially, and for ironing goods
puckered up or taken up in one part, as aprons, petticoats, night shirts, etc., etc.,
we make the revolving cylinder only part of the length of the ironing table to
allow the puckered parts to pass unironed while the remainder is finished by the
machine, these special parts being after finished by hand labour. The heat
necessary is given either by gas, coal, or steam, indifferently.
For laundry work the fire may be placed outside the machine, and the gases of
combustion taken through the hollow table to keep it hot while the fire itself can
be used for warming hand irons. For light laundry work and domestic machines
the hollow table alone need be warmed. The smaller sized laundry machines can
be worked by a treadle or by hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Julius Ball in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
December 1876.
CHARLES JULIUS BALL, of 21, New Bridge Street, in the City of London.
MACHINE FOR DRESSING DRY GOODS AND IRONING LINEN."
"A
The main feature of this machine is a semi-cylindrical hollow table which is
fixed and in which revolves under pressure a cylinder, covered with felt or any
other suitable fabric, see Sheet No. 1, Figures No. 3 & 4. The part A is generally
made of polished cast iron and forms a kind of trough, heated internally by steam
or gas burners or by a small furnace placed under it or along side. The cast-iron
part A is carried by a frame and standards and receives a felt covered cylinder
which revolves while pressing on the table A, so that a piece of goods if let in
at C it will be drawn in by the adherence of the felt surface, will glide on the
metallic and smooth surface of the table and trough A, and will come out in D
perfectly smooth and shining with all reliefs on it carefully preserved.
This machine can take various forms according to the nature of the work it has
to do; Figures 1 & 2 on the first Sheet show an arrangement for hot pressing
goods; E is the table or trough; F, the felt covered revolving cylinder; G, the
fabric or piece of goods which unwinds from H to wind on to I after having passed
between the trough and the cylinder, i.c., after having received a pressure which
can be varied at will by means of the wheel J, which actuates the screw K and
presses more or less the trough and the cylinder together.
When the fabric is not to be made shiny or glossy a thin material like muslin is
allowed to lay under the tissue, to press and to wind itself between the fabric and
the metallic trough, but which does not in any way alter the pressure. This
auxiliary stuff, which I call a doubler, enrols itself from L and rolls itself up on M.
The anteriors rollers are fitted with brakes and variable weights so as to prevent
the goods from unrolling unless a certain tension, so that they come well stretched
under the press. The steam or other source of heat first heats the table and thence
escapes through the cylinder, so as to keep the felt quite dry and to expell any
damp it may have taken up; N is a small gutter containing a pipe with many
small holes, which we call the vaporisator, and its object is to inject steam into the
goods before bringing them under the hot press.
Figure 5 represents a continuous hot press S, preceded by drying drums, ie.,
the goods T get sized in the bath U, dry and get stretched on the heated
cylinders V, and are pressed in S. The same machine can also be specially arranged
for ironing linen and can be moved by hand, treadle, or power.
The Figures No. 1 & 2 of the second Sheet represent a small machine for ironing
linen, the table or trough of which is heated by the gases of a small furnace Y
placed just by the machine, and so arranged as to give heating surface for a number
of hand irons. It has two treadles, the one Z gives motion to the machine, the

page_text: other relieves the weight of the cylinder and counterweights, so that one woman
alone can drive the machine with her foot, at the same time feeding it and smooth-
ing the linen with her two hands.
In machines for ironing linen I make the cylinder somewhat shorter at one or
both ends than the table, so as to be able to pass sideways through the machine all
partly puckered up linen like aprons, petticoats, night shirts, etc., etc., which
considerably increases the general usefulness of the machine for domestic or laundry
purposes.
CHA³. JULIUS BALL. (L.S.)