IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING AND DRYING.FABRICS, PART OR PARTS OF WHICH SAID APPARATUS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MACHINES WHEREIN FABRICS ARE REQUIRED TO BE DISTENDED
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Worrall, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Dyer, and Charles Race, of the City of Manchester, in the same County,
Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING AND DRYING.FABRICS, PART OR PARTS OF WHICH
SAID APPARATUS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MACHINES WHEREIN FABRICS
ARE REQUIRED TO BE DISTENDED."
Sealed the 3rd September 1858, and dated the 12th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Worrall and Charles
Race at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 12th March 1858.
We, JAMES WORRALL, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer, and
CHARLES RACE, of the City of Manchester, in the same County, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING AND DRYING FABRICS, PART OR PARTS
OF WHICH SAID' APPARATUS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MACHINES WHEREIN
FABRICS ARE REQUIRED TO BE DISTENDED," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to that class of machinery used for stretching fabrics,
wherein two endless chains with rows of stretching points or pins are used,
such chains diverging from each other when stretching a fabric,, and when
the stretching has been effected proceeding parallel to each other; whereby
(and by means of heat) the fabric not only becomes uniformly stretched, but

page_text: also set or retained in the stretched state, such descriptions of machinery and
the means for applying heat to the fabric under process being well known as
"Morand's stretching and drying machine." Our improvements consist in so
arranging and constructing such machinery as to be.enabled not only to stretch
and dry fabrics in a vertical position, but also by a novel and peculiar con-
struction of certain parts of such machinery, that is, the chains and rows of
stretching points, to be enabled to operate upon fabrics whilst distended in an
endless or continuous condition.
may,
The improvement in the construction and arrangement of the stretching
points or pins upon the endless chains consists in making the bottom of the pins
(or the cloth line) coincident with or upon the same level or line as the centres
of the pivots, studs, or axes on which the several links of the chains work as
hinges, so that when the fabric is distended upon such stretching points or pins
it will also be coincident with the hinged centres of the links of the chain, and
by such arrangement in stretching and drying machines, the fabric without
injury from tearing whilst distended between the stretching points,. be passed
around rollers or drums on an endless band, and submitted to the action of
heat obtained from any suitable and well-known arrangement of heating
apparatus situated between such endless surfaces of the fabric thus distended,
and we thereby, considerably increase the capabilities of the apparatus by
stretching and drying of about double the amount of surface of fabric
simultaneously in contradistinction to stretching and drying the surface, at
present limited, which must, according to the arrangement of machinery
hitherto employed, be the case when stretching and drying (or other operations
wherein fabrics are required to be distended) are performed in the horizontal
position as usual, in which situation the fabric requires to be "doffed" from
the stretching points whilst in such horizontal position as in "Morands" and
other such like stretching and drying machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Worrall and Charles Race in the Great Seal Patent 30
Office on the 11th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
WORRALL, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer, and CHARLES RACE,
of the City of Manchester, in the same County, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent-Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing. date the Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord-One

page_text: thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,. the
said James Worrall and Charles Race, Her especial license that we, the said:
James Worrall and Charles Race, our executors, administrators, and assigns,.
or such others as we, the said James Worrall and Charles Race, our 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 AND DRYING FABRICS, PART OR PARTS OF WHICH SAID APPARATUS ARE.
ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MACHINES WHEREIN FABRICS ARE REQUIRED TO BE
DISTENDED, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James.
Worrall and Charles Race, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Worrall, do hereby declare the
nature of our 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):-
Our Invention relates to that class of machinery used for stretching fabrics,
wherein two endless chains with rows of pins or stretching points are used,
such chains diverging from each other when stretching a fabric; and when the
stretching has been effected, proceeding parallel to each other, whereby the
fabric not only becomes uniformly stretched, but by means of heat also "set"
or retained in the stretched state, such descriptions of machinery and the
means for applying heat to the fabric under process being well known as
"Morands stretching and drying machine."
Our improvements consist in so arranging and constructing such machinery
as to be enabled not only to stretch and dry fabrics in a vertical position, but
also by a novel and péculiar construction of certain parts of such machinery,
that is to say, the chains and rows of stretching points, to be enabled to operate
upon fabrics whilst distended in an endless or continuous condition. The
improvement in the construction and arrangement of the stretching, points' or
pins upon the endless chains consists in making the bottom or the lower end
of the pins (or the cloth line) coincident with or upon the same level or line

page_text: as the centre of the pivots, studs, or axis on which the several links of the
chains work as hinges, so that when the fabric is distended upon such stretch-
ing points or pins it will also be coincident with or upon the same level or line
as the hinged centres of the links of the chain, and by such arrangement in
stretching and drying machines the fabric may without injury from tearing
(whilst distended between the stretching points) be passed around rollers or
drums in an endless band, and submitted to the action of heat obtained from
any suitable and well-known arrangement of heating apparatus situated
between such endless surfaces of the fabric thus distended, and we thereby
considerably increase the capabilities of the apparatus by stretching and drying.
about double the amount of surface of fabric simultaneously, whereas, accord-
ing to the arrangement of machinery hitherto employed when stretching and
drying or other operations wherein fabrics are required to be distended are
performed in the horizontal position as usual, we are only able to stretch and
dry one surface of the distended fabric at a time, equal to the length of the
machine employed, and after each such length has been stretched and dried
the fabric requires, according to the usual arrangement, to be "doffed" from
the stretching points, whilst in such horizontal position as in "Morands" and
other such like stretching and drying machines.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and more fully
explained in detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made
upon a scale of. about half an inch to a foot, and having similar letters of
reference marked upon corresponding parts of the apparatus in all the
Figures..
:
Fig. 1 is an end view of the apparatus, shewing the vertical position of the
chain and cloth indicated by the red line as extended between the upper and
lower pulleys, and also shewing the steam pipes or other heating apparatus
between the two interior surfaces of the fabric for the purpose of drying, by
which means also the rooms through which the fabric passes are heated:
Fig. 2 is a front view-of-the-apparatus having the fabric removed. Fig. 3 is
a detached side view of a portion of a pulley or wheel, such-as-are employed
in pairs at the upper and lower limit of the endless chains to keep the fabric
distended, and upon which the chains revolve. Fig. 4 is a detached plan
view of a portion of the endless chain which carries the pins for holding the
fabric shewn about the full size; and Fig. 5 is an end section of the rail
which conveys the chain to the wheel. In the several Figs. a, a, are the
wheels or pulleys, which are provided with a rim upon the periphery which is
cut away at intervals to form projecting teeth or studs which enter the slots
b, b, formed in the links of the chains, and thereby retain the chains firmly

page_text: upon the wheels a, a, during the process of stretching the fabric, the chains
being supported between the wheels by the bars or rails a', a', upon which
they traverse. c, c, is the heating apparatus for drying the fabric as it passes
on each side of it, and for heating the rooms d, d, d. The links of the chains e, e
are each provided with two or more rows of pins or points g, g, placed upon the
part h and coincident with the hinging centres f, f, of the links; and the pro-
jecting ribs i, i, i, i, bear upon the peripheries of the wheels when passing over
them, but when the chain is upon the rail these ribs fit into a groove therein.
The fabric to be stretched and dried is extended widthwise across between the
points carried by the two chains at the narrow end of the machine, and thence
is conveyed upwards by the chains to the wider end, and after having been
thus stretched and partially dried it passes from the points and around the
rollers, 1, 1, to complete the process of drying, and is finally wound upon the
roller m in a stretched and dry state. We would here remark that the chains
whilst stretching the fabric are caused to work at a slight angle, inclining
from the piece or fabric, as shewn in Fig. 5, so that the fabric will pull against
the chain, and thereby lessen the strain upon the pins or points when at the
full extremity of the stretch. Afterwards the angle of the chain is reversed
and inclined slightly towards the piece so as to allow the piece to leave the
points freely.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of performing the same, we wish it to be distinctly understood that
we claim as our Invention for improvements in machinery or apparatus for
stretching and drying fabrics, &c., the novel and peculiar construction and
arrangement of the chains before mentioned, that is to say, having the lower
end or bottom of their stretching points coincident with the centres of their
joints or hinges, by the use of which mechanical expedient we are enabled to
stretch and dry fabrics or otherwise operate upon them in an endless or con-
tinuous condition; and we also claim such novel arrangement and construction
of stretching and drying machinery as is set forth and fully exhibited in the
Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Worrall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JAMES WORKALL.
(L.S.)