IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STENTERING AND PINTSITING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION WOVEN FABRI
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Smith, Engineer to Messieurs Walter Crum and
Company of Thornliebank in the County of Renfrew, North Britain for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STENTERING AND
PINTSITING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th April 1883.
JAMES SMITH, Engineer to Messieurs Walter Crum and Company, of
Thornliebank in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR STENTERING AND FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS."
"
This Invention has for its object to apply to stentering and finishing machines
in which the fabric is carried through continuously by endless chains, improved
mechanism for imparting what is known as an elastic or broken finish.
The desired peculiarity of finish is obtained by causing the two endless chains
which hold the two selvedges of the fabric by clips and carry it through the
machine, to move with intermittent and alternate inequalities of speed, one chain
moving in advance of and behind the other alternately so that the wefts of the
fabric are drawn into oblique positions alternately in opposite directions. In
carrying out the Invention the two sprocket wheels which (generally at the
delivery end of the machine) give motion to the endless chains, are fixed on shafts
one of which is tubular and has the other passing through it so that both shafts
can be driven at the same side of the machine. In one modification the shafts
have on them plain sprocket wheels for small endless pitch chains which chains
transmit motion to them from driving sprocket wheels on a driving shaft at a short
distance. The driving sprocket wheels are fixed on a square part of their shaft
and are formed with slotted centres or bosses allowing of their being placed more
or less eccentrically on their shaft. Provision is made for fixing each eccentric on
its shaft in a few definite positions by means of a cutter passing through the boss
and through the shaft, in preference to their being made adjustable to any position
between the extremes. The two driving sprocket wheels are always fixed with
037

page_text: opposite eccentricities and as the endless stentering chains receive their motion
through them their eccentric positions cause that motion, to be such as to attain
the desired object. Separate driving sprocket wheels may be provided for obtaining
different relations between the average rate of the stentering chains and the
number of variations in the motions of the chains; or the sprocket wheels may
be arranged to impart the variations of motion independently of the average or
general progressive motion.
In another modification adjustable eccentric spur wheels are placed on the shafts
of the sprocket wheels which drive the endless chains and are driven by inter-
mediate spurwheels or pinions carried by levers which allow them to follow the
oscillations of the eccentric wheels. The intermediate spurwheels or pinions are
in gear with driving spurwheels or pinions on a shaft on which the levers are
centered. The resulting motions of the endless stentering chains are the same as
in the first modification.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th October
1883.
16
of
JAMES SMITH, Engineer to Messieurs Walter Crum and Company,
'IMPROVEMENTS IN
Thornliebank, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain
MACHINERY FOR STENTERING AND FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS
"
My said Invention has for its object to apply to stentering and finishing
machines in which the fabric is carried through continuously by endless chains,
improved mechanism for imparting what is known as an elastic or broken finish.
The desired peculiarity of finish is obtained by causing the two endless chains
which hold the two selvedges of the fabric by clips and carry it through the
machine, to move with intermittent and alternate inequalities of speed, one chain
moving in advance of and behind the other alternately, so that the wefts of the
fabric are drawn into oblique positions alternately in opposite directions
In carrying out my Invention the two sprocket wheels which (generally at the
delivery end of the machine) give motion to the endless chains, are fixed on shafts
one of which is tubular and has the other passing through it so that both shafts
can be driven at the same side of the machine. In one modification the shafts
have on them concentric sprocket wheels driven by means of pitch chains from
adjustable eccentric sprocket wheels on another shaft, and in another modification
the shafts moving the endless clip chains have on them adjustable eccentric spur-
wheels driven from spurwheels on another shaft through intermediate spurwheels
carried by levers which allow them to move so as to accomodate themselves to the
eccentric wheels.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings to
be hereinafter referred to and representing my improved apparatus.
Figure, 1, on the accompanying sheet of drawings is a plan showing one
modification of my improved apparatus. Figure, 2, is a sectional side elevation,
and figure, 3, is a transverse vertical section of the same apparatus. Figures, 4,
and 5, are a face view and an edge view of one of the eccentric driving wheels;
and figures, 6, and 7, are diagrams explanatory of the second modification. In
these drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
•
In the modification shown in figures, 1, to 5, a small steam engine, 11, is shown
as combined with the rest of the apparatus and supplies the requisite motive
power. The crank shaft of the engine, 11, by means of a pinion and spur
wheel, 12, drives a shaft 13, having on it two sprocket wheels, 14, each made like
the one shown enlarged in figures, 4. and 5, with a box-like boss, 16, to fit and be
movable on a squared part of the shaft,.13. Slots are formed through the shaft, 13,
one for each sprocket wheel, and the sprocket-wheel bosses, 16, are formed with a
number of slots, allowing of the sprocket wheels, 14, being fixed in any one of a
few definite positions giving them more or less eccentricity. From the driving
sprocket wheels, 14, motion is transmitted by comparatively short endless pitch
chains, 17, to sprocket wheels, 18, which are beside each other at one side of the
main stentering and finishing machine, one wheel, 18, being on a solid shaft, 19, and
the other on a tubular shaft, 20, carried loosely on the solid shaft, 19. The.
shafts, 19, 20, are carried in bearings on stationary standards, 21, 22, 23, and they
carry sprocket wheels, 24, for moving the endless clip chains, 25, of the stentering
and finishing machine. The sprocket wheels, 24, are fitted to the shafts, 19, 20,
with grooves and feathers to allow of their being, as usual, set more or less apart
to suit different widths of fabrie; and they are held and adjusted in the usual way
by means of vertical plates, 26, fitted to rest and slide upon a transverse frame
bar, 27. These plates, 26, also carry the lower pulleys, 28, which guide the endless
clip chains, 25, at that end of the machine; and they are adjusted by means of a
transverse spindle, 29, having right-hand and left-hand screw threads on it. The
heat for drying the fabric whilst being stentered and finished may be supplied in
any suitable or desired manner; I however prefer to use heating apparatus of the
kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and dated
2 March 1881 (N° 888) and a portion of this apparatus is shown in figure, 2.
The endless clip chains, 25, move the fabric in the direction indicated by the
arrows in figure, 2, and as the driving sprocket wheels, 14, are fixed on their
shaft, 13, with opposite eccentricities the uniform rotation of that shaft is by the
sprocket wheels, 14, and short endless chains, 17, made to produce varying motions
of the shafts, 19, 20, and endless clip chains, 25. The average motions of the
chains, 25, are the same and cause a progressive motion of the fabric through the
machine but by the action of the eccentric wheels, 14, the clip chains, 25, move
each one alternately faster and slower than the other, which action produces the
desired finish upon the fabric.
In the modification shown in figures, 6, and 7, the shafts, 19, 20, of the sprocket
wheels (24) which move the endless clip chains (25) have upon them eccentric spur
wheels, 30, made (like the eccentric sprocket wheels, 14, of the other modification)
with box-like bosses, 16, and slots for keying them in a few definite positions. For
driving the eccentric spurwheels, 30, there are on a shaft, 13, which may be the
second-motion shaft of a steam engine (11) two spurwheels, 31, which gear with
intermediate spurwheels, 32, carried by pairs of levers, 33. The levers, 33, allow
the intermediate spurwheels, 32, to oscillate and accomodate themselves to the
eccentric spurwheels, 30, whilst keeping in gear with them as well as with the
driving spurwheels. 31.
It is an important practical advantage of both modifications that the eccentrici
ies of the eccentric wheels can be easily altered and the consequent angular action

page_text: on the fabric made more or less severe to suit different fabrics. The placing of the
eccentric driving gear entirely to one side of the stentering and finishing machine
is also of importance as it allows of perfectly free access to the end of the
machine.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is :-
1. The arranging or combining together of parts for driving the endless clip
chains of stentering and finishing machines substantially in the improved manner
hereinbefore described with reference to figures, 1, to 5, of the accompanying
drawings.
2. The arranging or combining together of parts for driving the endless clip
chains of stentering and finishing machines substantially in the improved
manner herein before described with reference to. figures, 6 and 7 of the
accompanying drawings
3. The construction of the eccentric sprocket wheels or spur wheels with box-
like bosses capable of being keyed on the shafts in a few definite positions as
herein before described.
4. The combination of the solid and tubular shafts, 19, 20, with other parts
so as to have the driving gearing all at one side of the machine as hereinbèfora
described.
In Witness whereof I the said James Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this sixteenth day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three.