provements in the Milling of Felts, and in Machinery to be employed therefor.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Feb., 1893
Cannifinction Loft 31 ct Ont 1808 Accented 3rd Dec.
1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Improvements in the Milling of Felts, and in Machinery to be
employed therefor.
I, WALTER BEST HODGETTS, of Holly Cottage, Dursley, in the County of
Gloucester, Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:
This invention relates to the finishing stages in the process of milling felts,
and to machinery to be employed in connection therewith, and has for its object,
to produce a perfectly flat band or length of felt, devoid of bucklings, wrinklings,
bends, bowings-up or other inequalities of surface and thickness.
The improved machine consists of a bed situated above a tank, wherein acid,
alkali or soap water is placed, and through which liquid or solution, the partly-
made felt is passed. A pair of widely separated lower steel or other suitable
rolls, encased or faced with copper, are disposed across the said bed and are
mounted in open bearings to admit of the introduction of the endless band of
unfinished felt over them, whilst located above the space between the said lower
rolls, which space is rather less than the diameter of one of them, is an upper
roll, working in suitable bearings carried by a block capable of being raised and
lowered by a screw or otherwise on vertical guides of one part of a frame.
another part of which may carry the bearings of the lower rolls. The whole of
these three rolls may be coupled together or geared with one another, although,
if it is found necessary, the top roll may run loose, so as to have the same surface
velocity as the under ones, which are driven by pulleys or otherwise and have
clutch mechanism for throwing the same into or out of gear. To produce felts
of different thicknesses, the rolls have different sets of change wheels, to admit
of adjustment up to or away from one another.
Mounted upon the principal bearing frame work, or from a prop directed up-
wardly from the bed, is a beam, commonly known as a crane, which is fulcrumed
to its said support at or about its middle, and having a roller at the inner end,
whilst the other end is formed into a hand lever, which, when raised, brings the
roller at the opposite end of the crane onto the top of the felt under treatment,
(which in its initial stages, is soft and pliable) beyond the lower rolls, or between
them and the guide roll hereinafter described, and prevents the said felt from
flying up or bellying out by centrifugal action. Situated upon the bed at a con-
siderable distance forward of the milling rolls, is a guide roller, capable of being
adjusted along the bed and of being clamped thereto in any position by a
suitable device.
After a quantity of wool to be felted has been first carded as it comes from the
comb of the carding engine, it is wrapped around a drum having a loose covering
of canvas, and when made sufficiently firm by treatment in the usual way it is
then made up into another canvas to protect it from injury and is next taken to
the table of a roller hardening machine, after which it is steamed, rubbed and
subjected to the other usual operations to start the shrinking, which is the first
stage of the felting process.

page_text: The partly formed felt, which is now in the form of an endless band is then
laterally introduced onto or between the three felting rollers and also around the
guide roll, which is either open sided or has open bearings like unto the bearings
of the milling rollers. The rolls are then driven round, when the endless band
is then traversed or carried round between the milling rolls and around the guide
roll and through the acidulated or alkaline shrinking liquid in the tank, upward
hellying of the band being prevented during such motion by the application of
the crane roller thereto. After this process has been continued for the required
period the mass of material under operation is compacted or densified or its fibres
are tightened up and is at the same time milled out to a uniform thickness and
surface. It is then taken from the mill and cut transversely across to form a
sheet or length of felt.
Dated this 2nd dass
L T
Improvements in the Milling of Felts, and in Machinery to be
employed therefor.
I, WALTER BEST HODGETTS, of Holly Cottage, Dursley, in the County of
Gloucester, Manager of Works, 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:-
This invention relates to the finishing stages in the process of milling felts,
and to machinery to be employed in connection therewith, and has for its object,
to produce a perfectly flat band or length of felt, devoid of bucklings wrinklings,
bends, bowings-up or other inequalities of surface and thickness.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a side elevation of a felt
milling machine constructed according to my invention.
Figure 2 is a topside plan of the two opposite sides of the machine, the middle
parts of the shrinking tank and the mill rollers being broken away.
Figure 3 represents, upon a smaller scale a complete longitudinal vertical
section of the said tank and mill, showing a band of felt in the act of being
milled or compacted by the system of rollers.
Figure 4 is a side elevation upon the same scale as Figures 1 and 2, of a portion
of the machine showing how certain of the rollers employed are removable for
the purpose of introducing or removing a band of felt onto or from the same,
and also showing the open bearings in which the journalled ends of the said
removable rollers are mounted.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several
figures of the drawings.
4
The improved machine, in the particular arrangement represented in the draw-
ings, situated above the open top of a shrinking vat or tank a, wherein an acidu-
lated or alkaline solution or soap water is placed, and through which liquid or
solution, the partly-made felt is passed in order to shrink the same.
widely separated lower steel or other suitable rolls b, c, encased or faced with
A pair of 4
copper, are disposed across the said vat, with the journal ends b, c, thereof
mounted in the open bearings ¹, of standards or holsters d, bolted to the sides
of the vat, which said bearings admit of the rolls being readily removed for

page_text: the introduction of the endless band of unfinished felt e, over them, whilst located
above the space between the said lower rolls, which space is rather less than the
diameter of one of them, is an upper roll f, whose ends f¹, working in suitable
bearings carried by blocks g, capable of being raised and lowered by swivelling
screws and hand wheels, or by other suitable means on vertical guides d
provided upon the holsters or roll brackets d, disposed in positions above the
parts thereof which carry the bearings of the lower rolls. The whole of theso
three rolls are coupled together or geared with one another by means of a series
of removable toothed wheels b, &, f, keyed on the left hand journal ends b', c¹, f¹,
thereof, outwards of the bearings, by which means the whole of the three rolls,
when rotating, have the same surface velocity. The two lower rolls are driven
by independent pulleys, c³, mounted on shafts b, c, running in suitably.
arranged sets of bearings 65, c³, and connected with the journals of the said rolls
by means of clutch mechanism such as h, h³, collectively operated by means of
a common lever he and yoke h³, for throwing the driving spindles b, c, in and
out of gear with the rolls.
As the thinning of the felt progresses the upper roller is brought closer to the
lower ones in order to follow up such reduction, and to admit of such following
up to a considerable extent, the gear wheels 2, 2, f, are provided in several sets
of different numbers of teeth, so that when the upper roll has been brought as
close to the lower ones as one set of gear wheels, each having say 20 teeth, will
admit, they are removed from the roll ends and a fresh set of smaller gear or change
wheels are substituted, having, for instance, 18 teeth each, and so on, smaller
sets of wheels being substituted in succession as the thinning or compacting of
the felt proceeds.
Mounted either upon the side holsters of the rollers, or upon a suitable inde-
pendent frame work is a rocking frame i, commonly known as a crane, which
is fulcrumed at ", to the said supports at or about its middle, and has a roller,
at the inner end whilst the other end is provided with a cross bar, constituting
grip for the hand of an operative in rocking the crane upon its pivots. When
this handle end is raised it brings the roller at the opposite end of the crane onto
the top of the band of felt e, under treatment, (which in its initial stages, is soft
and pliable) beyond the lower rolls, or between them and the guide roll herein-
after described, and prevents the said felt from flying up or bellying out by
centrifugal action.
Situated across the vat or tank, and at a considerable distance forward of the
milling rolls is a guide roller j, whose journalled ends j', are sealed in open
bearings mounted upon adjustable carrier blocks, which are capable of
being moved or traversed along guides or channelled rails j, disposed on the top
edges of the sides a', of the tank and of being secured in their adjusted positions
relative to the milling rollers, for the purpose hereinafter described, by means of
clamping nuts, such as 5, and screws j, or other convenient means.
After a quantity of wool to be felted has been carded in the ordinary way as
it comes from the comb of the carding engine, it is wrapped around a drum
having a loose covering of canvas, and when made sufficiently firm by treatment
by the usual process, it is made up into another canvas to protect it from injury
and is next taken to the table of a roller hardening machine, after which it is
steamed, rubbed and subjected to the other usual operations to start the shrink-
ing, which is the first stage of the felting process.
The partly-formed felt, which is now in the form of an endless band is then
laterally introduced onto or between the three felting rollers and also around
the guide roll. To effect this, the lower milling rollers b, c, and the guide roll j,
are lifted out of their open bearings and placed onto the edges of the vat, as
shown in Figure 4, and after the felt as being placed over them, they are restored
to their respective bearings, suitable gear wheels fitted to the milling rollers,
which are then rotated by throwing them in gear with the driving shafts by the
clutches. The rolls are thus driven round, and the endless band is traversed or
carried round between the milling rolls and around the guide roll and through'

page_text: the acidulated or alkaline shrinking liquid in the tank, upward bellying of the
band being prevented during such motion by the application of the crane roller
thereto as represented in Figure 1. After this process has been continued for
the required period the mass of material under operation is compacted or densified
or its fibres are tightened up and is at the same time milled out to a uniform
thickness and surface, the reduction of the thickness being followed up by bring
ing the upper roll gradually closer to the lower rolls, as previously described.
This shrinking and compacting process decreases the band of felt in cir-
cumferential area, and this necessitates the free-running guide roller being
brought gradually closer to the milling rollers as the shrinkage proceeds and to
admit this its carriers are, from time to time, unclamped from the guide rails
and adjusted along them to the required extent and again clamped.
When the milling has been completed, the felt band is removed from the
rollers, which are again lifted out of their bearings for the purpose, and cut across
transversely to form a sheet or length of felt.
Instead of providing an independent driving shaft to each of the lower rolls,
when gear wheels are employed, only one of the said rolls may be driven and its
motion communicated to the other rolls and the surface speed of the whole
equalized by means of the said change gear wheels or only the two lower rolls
may be geared together whilst the upper one runs free or loose and is driven at
the same speed as the others through the frictional contact between its periphery
'and the surface of the felt band.
I wish it to be understood that I am aware that it has heretofore been the
practice to employ a pair of milling rollers arranged two-high or
another across a shrinking vat and that I make no claim to such an arrangement,
one above
-but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is;―
First: In machines used in the finishing stages of felt milling, the employ-
ment of a series of three rolls arranged across a shrinking vat, with two of
them considerably separated from one another whilst the third is arranged to
come opposite the gap between the other two, so that the felt material is sagged
or is made to take an undulatory course in passing through the said rollers, hence
the prevention of bucklings or other surface irregularities in the felt produced,
substantially as herein described and set forth.
Secondly-In machines used in the finishing stages of felt milling, the em-
ployment in connection with a series of three rolls arranged as referred to in
the preceding claim, of a supplementary roller carried by a rocking frame or
crane for the purpose of preventing the flying up or bellying out of the 4
material as it leaves the milling rolls substantially as described and set forth.
Thirdly: A machine to be employed in the finishing stages of felt milling,
consisting of a series of three rollers, arranged across the shrinking vat and
driven at the same surface speed by change gear wheels and with one of them
being vertically adjustable in combination with a supplementary roller mounted
on a swinging frame or crane and a guide roller adjustably mounted upon the
'said vat, with the whole arranged and operating substantially as described and
set forth.
Dated this 29th day of October 1898.
WALTER BEST HODGETTS.
By Henry Skerrett,
24, Temple Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.