IMPROVEMENTS IN BEETLING ENGINES to be as follows:
Year: 1885

page_text: We GEORGE HORNER, Machine maker, JAMES HAITHWAITE, Bleacher and ADAM
DOBSON Engineer all of Belfast in the County of Antrim, Ireland do hereby declare
the nature of our said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEETLING ENGINES to be
as follows:-
"
Our invention relates to machines for Beetling linen and other fabrics and bas
for its object to impart a better and more uniform finish to the cloth and reduce
the time required for the operation.
Heretofore it has been usual to lap the cloth a great number of times around
the beetling beam, the result being that as the beetles play upon the whole
mass at once, the outermost plys are beetled more than the inner ones and it
becomes necessary to unlap the cloth, several times in order to bring the inner plys
to the outside and enable them to receive their proper share of finish. This
involves a considerable amount of labour and loss of time and fails to ensure that
high degree of finish which is obtainable by the system of this invention.
According to this invention the cloth is passed to and fro over the beetling
beam and under the beetle as many times as may be required, instead of being
wound upon the beam as above mentioned, the cloth being reversed, i:e: brought
face upwards and face downwards alternately at each passage over the beam, or
at other intervals if necessary so that it is beetled on both sides. And the
invention further comprises the means whereby the cloth is conveyed over the beam
as above mentioned, and is constantly shifted laterally or at right angles to its
direction of travel, so as to equalize the drop or blow of the face of the beetle,
over the whole surface of the cloth.
The cloth is carried by a system of revolving rollers parallel to, and at either
side of, the beetling beam, and is passed to and fro over the beam, for the
purpose of reversing the cloth, and causing it to travel through the machine, this
system of revolving rollers being. mounted in a carriage receiving a to and fro
motion in the direction of the length of the beetling beam. The beam is provided
with a pad or covering in order to ease the drop or fall of the beetle.
Dated this 31st day of July 1885

page_text: We GEORGE HORNER, Machine Maker JAMES HAITHWAITE, Bleacher and ADAM
DOBSON, Engineer all of Belfast in the County of Antrim Ireland 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 :—
Our Invention relates to machines for beetling linen and other textile fabrics,
and has for its object to cause a better and more uniform finish to be imparted
to the cloth and enable the time required for the operation to be reduced. Hereto-
fore, it has been usual to lap the cloth a great number of times around the
beetling beam so that a mass of cloth varying from 40 to 130 or more plys is
presented at one time to the action of the beetles the result being that the outer-
most plys receive more of the beetling action than the innermost ones and it
becomes necessary to unlap and rewind the cloth several times in order to bring
the innermost plys to the outside and enable them to receive their proper share
of finish. The operation of repeatedly changing the position of the goods upon
the beam in order that the beetling may be approximately uniform involves a
considerable amount of labor and loss of time and fails to ensure that uniformity
of finish which is obtainable by the system of this Invention.
According to this Invention the cloth, instead of being wound upon the beetling
beam as above mentioned is led or passed over the beetling beam and under the
beetles one or more times as may be required, the cloth being held in tension
and receiving a constant or intermittent travelling motion in the direction of its
length as well as a to and fro shifting motion laterally or at right angles to
its direction of travel so as to equalize the beetling action over the whole surface
of the cloth. The cloth which may be presented to the beetles in one or more
plys as desired is more efficiently beetled, the cloth being reversed if desired i.e:
brought face upwards and face downwards alternately at each passage over the
beam or at other intervals if necessary so that it may be beetled on both sides.
To this end the cloth is carried by a system of revolving rollers mounted parallel
to the beetling beam and is thereby conveyed between the beam and the beetles as
often as required and as will be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings forming part of this Specification in which figure 1. is a part front
elevation, figure 2 a plan, figure 3 an end elevation, and figure 4 a cross-section of
a machine provided with our improvements, figure 5 is a cross-section showing
an alternative arrangement. The same letters of reference indicate similar parts
in all the figures.
a is the beetling beam journaled in bearings in the main frame and receiving
both a continuous rotary and a to and fro longitudinal motion as hereafter
described. It is covered with a pad of suitable material to ease the blow of the
beetles 6 which are raised and dropped in serial order by wipers in the ordinary
way, occ³ etc are revolving guiding and carrying rollers arranged at either side
of and parallel to the beam a and de are delivery and pressing rollers the latter
being mounted in eccentric bearings adjusted by levers f. The whole of the rollers

page_text: are journaled in the end frames of a carriage which receives a to and fro
traversing motion in the direction of length of the beam a whereby the cloth is
shifted laterally to equalize the beetling action. t are breadthers, being either
revolving rollers or stationary cross bars for the purpose of stretching the cloth
smooth, preventing it running into folds, and applying the necessary tension thereto.
h is the cloth and i in figures 3 and 4 is a pad which may be interposed between
the beetles and the cloth on the beetling beam if desired j is a screen for pre-
venting the soiling of the cloth by droppings from the wiper shaft. The mechanism
by which the rotary and longitudinal motion is imparted to the beetling beam and
roller carriage is situated as usual between the two halves of a machine of which
one is shown in figures 1 and 2. It consists of a heart cam k¹ on shaft k which
imparts longitudinal to and fro motion to the shafts 7, the shafts of the two parts
of the machine being coupled together beneath the heart wheel. On the shaft lis
fixed a flanged or box wheel m which gears with a wheel m¹ on the shaft of the
beam a the flanges of the wheel m carrying the wheel m' laterally and thus giving
longitudinal traverse to the beam a. The extremity of the shaft is mounted in
a bracket n on carriage g the shaft being free to revolve without sliding in the
bracket so that the carriage is caused to partake in the longitudinal to and fro
motion of the shaft.. Rotary motion is communicated to the beetling beam by
means of the shaft k, bevel gear o o¹ shaft p, pinion q on shaft p and wheel q¹ on
shaft and thence to the beam by wheels m m¹ before referred to. The wheel q'
is connected to shaft by a feather and key-way so as to rotate therewith but
it is prevented from partaking in the traversing motion of the shaft / by brackets
at either side of the wheel. The gear o o¹ p and q is duplicated for reversing
the motion of the beetling beam without operating the delivery rollers, each
pinion q being fitted to slide on its shaft with a groove and feather connection and
the one or other pinion being thrown into gear with wheel q¹ as required by
means of a forked lever. Rotary motion is imparted to the delivery roller d from
shaft p by bevel gear rr, shaft r³, and bevel gear & s¹, the latter wheel being
connected with the shaft of roller d by a groove and feather to enable the roller to
traverse to and fro longitudinally with the beetling beam and carriage.
In figure 4 the cloth is shown as carried to and fro a number of times over and
once partly around the beetling beam, the cloth being reversed at each passage
but it may be otherwise caused to travel through the machine In figure 4 the
cloth h pleated down on a table of the carriage g-is carried first over the
breadthers t t¹ under the guide rollers n¹ n³ and the pad i (these rollers and pad
being mounted on the carriage g) over the beetling beam around the roller c¹ back
again over the beam a and under the first ply of cloth around the roller c at the
opposite side of the beetling beam and so on, to and fro across the beam and
around the rollers c³ c c c and c' in the order nained and thence partly around
the beam a to the roller c³ thence over the delivery roller d and under the pressing
roller e by which it is delivered on to another table of the carriage, or the whole
process may be reversed by causing the cloth to enter at the lowest of the system
of rollers and be delivered from the top. Owing to the varying character of the
cloth operated on, it may not be necessary to pass it over the whole system of
rollers to obtain the required degree of finish and we do not, therefore, in any way
limit ourselves in this respect. A number of pieces of cloth may be similarly
arranged and passed across the beetling beam side by side according to the length
of the beam.
Figure 5. illustrates an alternative method of conveying the cloth. In this
arrangement the cloth passes always in the same direction over the beam and
presents always the same side to the beetles. In this case the cloth is carried
entirely around the beetling beam several times but is held clear thereof by passing
around the series of rollers c¹ c² c³ &c mounted in the carriage g in the manner
shown.
As some finishes require the goods to be beetled in the damp state, and as it is
found that they are liable to become dry during this process, a system of damping

page_text: is provided consisting of a trough v containing liquid beneath the beetling beam a
with a damping roller w regulated and. adjustable by levers y. y' and balance
weight y on the top of which in contact with it and the beetling beam, driven in
any way found convenient, is a revolving brush 2. The liquid in the trough is
taken up by the roller and applied by the brush to the beam. By means of the
levers the brush may be moved out of contact with the roller so that any required
degree of moistness may be imparted to the beam. The same end may also be
attained by applying a sponge in contact with the beam, the pressure of which
may be maintained by springs or otherwise; by a floating sponge; by causing the
beam to revolve in the liquid; or by any other means; but we prefer the method
above described in order to ensure uniformity in the damping of the beam. We
may also when necessary add to the liquid in the trough such dyes, chemicals, or
other substances as will keep up the color if any to the required shade and
preserve the "body" in the goods in process, thus diminishing the operations for
renewal found necessary under the old method in which the goods had to be taken
off the beetling beam as often as might be seen necessary and re-subjected to the
starching or other processes, according to the finish required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed; we declare that what
we claim is ;-
1. A beetling engine, wherein the cloth to be beetled is drawn one or more
times between the beetles and the beetling beam instead of being wound on the
latter, substantially as specified.
2. A beetling engine, wherein the cloth to be beetled is drawn to and fro between
the beetles and the beetling beam and the cloth being reversed at each passage or
otherwise as required, substantially as specified.
3. In a beetling engine, the combination with the beetling beam of revolving
cloth guiding rollers mounted parallel to the beetling beam and receiving to and
fro longitudinal motion in unison with the to and fro motion of the said beam,
substantially as and for the purpose specified.
4. In a beetling engine the combination with the beetling beam of series of
cloth guiding and drawing rollers and revolving or stationary breadthers mounted
parallel to the beetling beam in a carriage receiving to and fro longitudinal motion
in unison with the to and fro motion of the beetling beam the drawing or delivery
roller, receiving rotary-motion from the mechanism which drives the beetling beam
and revolving at the same surface speed as the said beam, all substantially as
herein described and illustrated in the drawings annexed.