IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GOFFERING, FLUTING, AND CRIMPING NET AND OTHER FABRICS."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Gray Hill, of the Town of Nottingham,
Bonnet Front Manufacturer, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR GOFFERING, FLUTING, AND CRIMPING NET AND OTHER
FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Gray Hill at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th July 1872.
I, CHARLES GRAY HILL, of the Town of Nottingham, Bonnet Front
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GOFFERING, FLUTING, AND CRIMPING NET
AND OTHER FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
goffering, fluting, and crimping net and other fabrics. For this purpose
I cause the strip or piece of net or fabric to be goffered, fluted, or
crimped to be passed between endless bands or chains having formers.
upon them.
The endless bands or chains are arranged in pairs, an
•

page_text: upper and a lower, and the formers upon them interlock and so corrugate
the fabric. There are two such pairs of bands or chains which act
simultaneously on the right-hand side and left-hand side of the net
or fabric, and between them there is a clear space in which a pair of
· pressing rollers or it may be flat pressing blades work and press down
the net or fabric, which at this point is moistened or gummed, and so
form a flat band with the goffering, fluting, or crimping on either side
of it.
So far the arrangement is similar to that described in the Provisional
Specification filed by me on the 3rd day of April last, No. 986, but by
my present Invention when the goffers or flutes are deep I provide
partitions between the goffers or flutes, and these partitions travel
forward with the bands or chains carrying the formers. The formers
are drawn out of the goffers or flutes endwise before the net or fabric
is pressed to make the centre band, and the partitions then support the
goffers or flutes each as it were in a box by itself, and so keep them in
shape, and yet the net or fabric is free to yield to the pressers which
form the band. Where the pressed band is required to be curved or to
be inclined to the edge of the net or fabric I cause the guide by which
the net or fabric is led between, the bands or chains of formers to
receive a transverse motion as the bands or chains travel forward, and
by regulating the amount of this motion any curve desired can be
obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of, the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Gray Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 17th January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GREY HILL, of the Town of Nottingham, Bonnet Front Manufacturer,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her a
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Grey Hill, Her special license
that I, the said Charles Grey Hill, my executors, administrators, and 3

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Grey Hill, my 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 FOR GOFFERING, FLUTING, AND CRIMPING NET AND OTHER FABRICS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Grey Hill,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Charles Grey Hill, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
goffering, fluting, and crimping net and other fabrics. For this purpose
I cause the strip or picce of net or fabric to be goffered, fluted, or
crimped to be passed between endless bands or chains having formers
upon them.
The endless bands or chains are arranged in pairs, an
upper and a lower, and the formers upon them interlock and so
corrugate the fabric. There are two such pairs of bands or chains,
which act simultaneously on the right-hand side and left-hand side of
the net or fabric, and between them there is a clear space in which a
pair of pressing rollers or it may be flat pressing blades, as herein-after
described, work and press down the net or fabric, which at this point
may be moistened or gummed, and so form a flat band, with the
goffering, fluting, or crimping on either side of it.
So far the arrangement is similar to that described in the Provisional
Specification filed by me on the 3rd day of April last, No. 986, but by
my present Invention when the goffers or flutes are deep I provide
partitions between the goffers or flutes, and these partitions travel
forward with the bands or chains carrying the formers. The formers
are drawn out of the goffers or flutes endwise before the net or fabric
is pressed to make the centre band, and the partitions then support the

page_text: goffers or flutes each as it were in a box by itself, and so keep them in
shape, and yet the net or fabric is free to yield to the pressers which
form the band. Where the pressed band is required to be curved or to
be inclined to the edge of the net or fabric I cause the guide by which
the net or fabric is led between the bands or chains of formers to
receive a transverse motion as the bands or chains travel forward, and
by regulating the amount of this motion any curve desired can be
obtained.
Figure 1 shews a longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 2 a vertical
transverse section of that portion of the machine by which the net or
fabric is gathered up into a series of folds.
In these Figures a, b, are the two pairs of endless chains carrying
respectively the partitions and formers for acting upon the right and
the left hand sides of the net or fabric. Each chain is composed of
parallel wires, the ends of which are linked together by small links, as
shewn. Each endless series or chain of parallel wires is supported by
toothed wheels c, c, and the wires enter between the teeth, so that when
the wheels are driven the endless chains travel round with them;
d, d, are the formers, and e, e, are the partitions carried by the endless
wires; these are both shewn separately at Figures 3 and 4, they are each
formed with grooves on both sides of their lower ends for the wires of
the endless chains to lie in, and they are thus held and carried by the
wires, whilst at the same time they are free to slide to and fro upon
them. In Figure 1 the formers and partitions are shewn to be all of the
same height, but as stated in the Specification of the before-mentioned
Patent granted to me in April last, they might be of different heights;
for example, they might be arranged as shewn at Figure 5, or at Figure 6.
In Figure 1 each chain is shewn to carry two sets of formers, one of
which is out of action whilst the other is in action, and each set contains
a sufficient number of formers to produce between them a goffered or
crimped fabric of the length required for a cap front; but the sets of
formers might be continuous, so as to be able to produce a continuous
length of crimped fabric.

page_text: The arrangement of toothed wheels for simultaneously giving à
revolving motion to the toothed wheels c is shewn by red lines in
Figure 1. When the toothed wheels are revolved the bands carrying
the formers and partitions are carried round with them, whilst at the
same time the fabric to be crimped is led between the upper and lower
set of formers, and these, as described in the Specification before
mentioned, lap the fabric between them into a zig-zag form. When
one of the sets of formers has thus gathered up a length of fabric into
a number of laps or folds and the parts come into the position shewn
at Figure 1 the machine is stopped. The formers are then withdrawn
from between the folds by sliding them backwards upon the wires of the
endless chains, as shewn at Figure 2, leaving the several folds of the
fabric supported by the partitions, as above described. After the formers
have been thus withdrawn the pressing blades f,f, are caused to approach
one another by depressing a hand lever 9 (see Figures 7 and 8), and to
powerfully nip the fabric in between the two sets of partitions which
are on either side of it. The arrangement of mechanism for causing the
blades to move towards one another is clearly shewn at Figures 7 and 8,
so that it is unnecessary to give any further description of it. The
blades are kept constantly heated by jets of gas, and when they nip
the fabric between them the several folds of the fabric (when of a
gummy nature) so pressed together unite firmly without any moistening
of the fabric being necessary, or without any threads moistened withi
cement being doubled up with the fabric where the pressing together
of the folds is to be effected. After the fluted fabric has been thus
pressed the partitions are withdrawn from the goffers or flutes by sliding
them endwise along the wires of the endless chains, and the fluting or
crimping of the fabric is effected. When it is desired that the edges of
the crimped fabric should. be inclined to the pressed band where the
several folds are pressed together and formed into a plain band, the
fabric to be crimped or goffered is led into the machine through an eye
or guide which has a transverse to-and-fro motion given mechanically
to it. This I effect by apparatus such as is shewn at Figure 9. In this
Figure is the guide through which the strip of net or fabric to be
crimped or goffered is led; this is carried by a slide k, which is by a
spring drawn towards the face of a cam m, so that a roller n carried
by the slide is held constantly against the face of the cam. On the axis
of the cam is a toothed wheel by which it is revolved; this wheel is
driven by a pinion, which by other wheels receives motion from the axis

page_text: of one of the pinions c. By this means the guide h can be progressively
shifted either to the right or left of the central line between the two sets
of formers, and thus a goffered or crimped fabric of a form such, as is
shewn at Figure 10 may be produced, or the edges of the fabric may be
otherwise inclined or curved to the pressed band, which is produced
along the fabric according to the form which is given to the cam m.
By making a goffered or crimped fabric into the form shewn at
Figure 10, the fabric may be cut along the line x, x, and the left hand
portion of the fabric will then be suitable for a cap front, whilst the
right hand portion may be divided into two across the line y, y, so as to
form two side pieces, so that no portion of the fabric will be wasted.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,-
1. The employment of partitions in combination with formers, so that'
the folds of the fabric may be supported by the partitions after the
formers have been withdrawn, and whilst the fabric is being pressed,
substantially as above described.
2. The employment of a feed mouth or guide which has a lateral
motion mechanically given to it to present the net or fabric to the
formers of a goffering, fluting, or crimping machine.
3. The combined arrangement of goffering, fluting, or crimping
machine, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Grey Hill, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
TTTT T