IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING, APPLICABLE TO THE DRESSING OR STIFFENING OF FABRICS SUCH AS TULLE AND LACE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Griffith Brewer, of 89, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING, APPLICABLE TO
THE DRESSING OR STIFFENING OF FABRICS SUCH AS TULLE AND LACE."—A
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Griffith Brewer,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th May 1873.
I, EDWARD GRIFFITH BREWER, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING,
APPLICABLE TO THE DRESSING OR STIFFENING OF FABRICS SUCH AS TULLE AND LACE,"
(a communication to me from abroad by Eugène Pasquier, of Reims,
France,) to be as follows:-
It is well known that tulle and lace after leaving the machines on
11
.

page_text: treated with a dressing or stiffening in order to give them the desired
consistency for use. Hitherto the dressing or stiffening done by hand
has necessitated much care and occupied much time, while at the same
time incomplete results have only been obtained.
By machinery or apparatus for drying according to this Invention a
good dressing or stiffening is imparted to the tulle or other material in
an economical manner, and in a very short space of time, and in as
perfect a manner as may be desired, for they are much more uniformly
dressed or stiffened than by hand.
The machine is composed of metal frames or panels coupled together
by bolts, but it is provided with a cover for only a portion of its length
in such manner as to be able to arrange cach piece of material with
facility so that it may arrive properly damped in the closed part of tho
machine; this last part is provided at top with one or several openings
for the exit of damp air. The fabric to be treated is carried upon guides
driven by chains; these guides are jointed or hinged near one end, so
that these ends may be brought nearer to or farther from one anothor
as desired and required. These two ends may have motion communicated
to them by a right and left-handed screw on a shaft carrying a toothed
wheel at one end, into which a pinion on a longitudinal shaft extending
along the machine gears, clutch gear being provided so that the toothed
wheel on screw shaft may be thrown out of gear when required.
The guides throughout the machine are carried by cross shafts with
right and left handed screws to each, and each of these shafts has
motion given to it by gearing from the longitudinal shaft, so that turning
one way or the other the guides are brought nearer to or farther from
one another, as required, according to the width of the material to be
treated.
Instead of the screws before mentioned racks may be used on the
guides, gearing into pinions in such manner that a similar result is
obtained to that beforo described; or any other mechanical equivalent
may be employed for communicating and maintaining at all times an
equal distance between the guides for the different widths of material to
be treated. Supports are used for the guides and screws which also form
a support for the two guides forming rails to carry a carriage.
The ends of the pieces of material are guided by wood bars extending
the breadth of the machine; they are carried by the chains at the sides,

page_text: and are supported by rollers or slides; they are driven in the same way
as the chains carrying the hooks or needles which slide on the guides;
these latter stretch the material breadthways, and the chains draw the
bars to which the ends of the material are connected; the two chains
are driven in the same way and at the same speed.
The bars of wood to which the ends of the material are hooked may
be dispensed with, and small carriages may be used instead of the width
of the machine, and provided with needles to which the fag ends are
hooked on; or instead of the carriage an elastic band may be employed,
for example, of caoutchouc fitted with hooks or needles to hold the fag
end of the material and to draw it square with the borders in the
machine, always employing the second chain, before mentioned. Other
chains placed on the cover of the machine allow the bars to return to
point of departure during the motion of the machine. The pieces of
material may be delivered to the apparatus from a drum or cylinder;
from thence it is carried through a vessel containing the dressing
material, and afterwards between two rollers or cylinders, one of which
is provided with a break whereby the material is stretched lengthways
with facility as required, while the bars and guides stretch it in the
other direction; it will therefore be understood that the material can be
perfectly stretched and dressed in this machine, combined and improved
as before described.
The covered part of the machine contains a series of pipes, placed at
the lower part of the machine for the circulation of steam which heats
the air entering by the lateral openings formed at the base of the
machine. There are ventilators for agitating the-air thus heated which
completely drys the material in all its parts however great the mass of
flowers or ornaments on the material may be.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, Her special licenco that
I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, 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 OR APPARATUS FOR DRYING, APPLICABLE TO THE DRESSING OR
STIFFENING OF FABRICS SUCH AS TULLE AND LACE," (a communication to me
from abroad by Eugène Pasquier, of Reims, France,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Edward Griffith Brewer, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say :-
It is well known that tulle and lace after leaving the machines on
which they have been made have to be cleaned, washed, or dyed, and
treated with a dressing or stiffening in order to give them the desired
consistency for use. Hitherto the dressing or stiffening done by hand
has necessitated much care and occupied much time, while at the same
time incomplete results have only been obtained.
By machinery or apparatus for drying, according to this Invention, a
good dressing or stiffening is imparted to tulle or other material in an
economical manner, and in a very short space of time, and in as perfect

page_text: a manner as may be desired, for they are much more uniformly dressed
or stiffened than by hand, and a perfect white is obtained throughout
the whole nices of tulle or lace without any shade on enot
Figure 1 is an external and longitudinal view of the machine;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 3 is a horizontal section.
The machine is composed of metal frames or panels coupled together
by bolts. It is provided with a cover for only a portion of its length in
such manner as to be able to arrange cach piece of material with facility,
so that it may arrive properly damped in the closed part of the machine.
This last part is provided at top with one or several openings for the
exit of damp air. The fabric to be treated is carried upon guides a, a,
driven by chains. These guides are jointed or hinged near one end at a³,
so that the end pieces a², a³, may be brought nearer to or farther from
one another, as desired and required. These two end pieces a² may have
motion communicated to them by a screw b, which may be thrown out
of gear when required by a clutch on a shaft d, which by means of
bevil wheels causes to rotate at the same time all transverse screws c.
The screw b, and all the screws c throughout the machine, are each
provided with right and left handed screw threads, so that they may be
turned in either direction; and each of these screws has motion given
to it by gearing from the longitudinal shaft d, so that the screws turning
one way or the other the guides are brought nearer to or farther from
one another, as required according to the width of the material to be
treated.
Instead of the screws before mentioned racks may be used on the
guides gearing into pinions in such manner that a similar result is
obtained to that before described, or any other mechanical equivalent
may be employed for communicating and maintaining at all times an
equal distance between the guides for the different widths of material to
be treated. Supports are used for the guides a and screws c, which also
form a support for two guides forming rails to carry a carriage.
The ends of the pieces of material are guided by wood bars extending
the breadth of the machine. They are carried by the chains e at the

page_text: They (the bars) are driven
They slide in the guides a,
sides, and are supported by rollers or slides.
as the chains carrying the hooks or needles.
and these latter stretch the material breadthways, and the chains draw
the bars to which the ends of the material are connected; the two
chains are driven in the same way and at the same speed.
The bars of wood to which the ends of the material are hooked may
be dispensed with, and small carriages may be used instead of the width
of the machine, and provided with needles to which the fag ends are
hooked on; or, instead of the carriage, an clastic band may be employed,
for example, of caoutchouc, fitted with hooks or needles to hold the fag
end of the material, and to draw it square with the borders in the
machine, always employing the chains before mentioned. Other chains
placed on the cover of the machine allow the bars to return to their
point of departure during the motion of the machine. The pieces of
material may be delivered to the apparatus from a drum or cylinder;
from thence it is carried through a vessel containing the dressing
material, and afterwards between rollers or cylinders, one of which is
provided with a break, whereby the material is stretched lengthways
with facility, as required, while the bars and guides stretch it in the
other direction. It will therefore be understood that the material can
be perfectly stretched and dressed in this machine, combined and
improved as before described.
The covered part of the machine contains a series of pipes ƒ placed
at the lower part of the machine for the circulation of steam, which
heats the air entering by the lateral openings formed at the base of the
machine. There are ventilators or fans g for agitating the air thus
heated, which completely drys the material in all its parts, however
great the mass of flowers or ornaments on the material may be.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that it is to be understood
that this Invention is not to be limited to the precise mode described
and shewn for carrying the Invention into effect, although that described
has been found to answer well; but I claim, the dressing, or stiffening,
and drying of tulle and lace in as perfect a manner as possible, and in
a very short space of time, in and by the employment of machinery
constructed and acting substantially in the manner described and

page_text: illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, or by any other equivalent
machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Fifth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
EDWP. GRIFFITH BREWER. (L.S.)