Improvements in the Machinery for Making Felt.
Year: 1894

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Machinery for Making Felt.
CHARLES ARIS 100 Raymouth Road Southwark Park. Road London, SE
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Two continuous aprons or bauds pressing the material between them, felt it by a
suitable rapid and vibratory or rubbing motion with the aid of steam and heat.
To make the working continuous the bands pass over cog wheels or drums driven
in a suitable manner & in such a direction that the two adjacent parts of the bands
travel together & so carry the material forward between them.
The material is fed in between the bands at one end by hand or draught or other
suitable means, and by the time the forward motion of the bands carries it to the
other end their vibrating motion has so acted upon it as to cause it to emerge
as felt.
The vibratory & forward movements are distinct from one another and the
machine is so arranged that either kind of motion can be carried on with or without
the other.
The aprons are vibrated parallel to their surfaces in contact with the felt in any
way by suitable mechanism:
The vibrations are given in such a way that one apron moves in the contrary
direction to the other, thus setting up the rubbing action which effects the felting.
The vibratory motion may be used in one band only if desired.
The felt then continues on to a second bottom apron in line & travelling in the
same direction as the first but which does not vibrate and which carries the felt
under oue or more beating plates, which plates may be kept suspended & thus
allow the felt to pass under them without further action, if it has been sufficiently
worked for the purpose for which it is required. When desired to further work or
otherwise improve the felt the above mentioned plate or plates are put in action by
causing them to repeatedly lift and descend thereby beating the felt which is
passing beneath them still upon the second bottom band which continues a short
distance beyond the beating plates in order to form a table for rolling up the felt.
The above described rubbing and beating process may be reversed in order, or
either process used alone for making felt.
The endless bands work over drums or cog wheels; between which they are.
supported where required by backings over which they slide, especially where the
rubbing & beating processes take place so as to cuable the bands to give the
necessary pressure and to withstand the necessary impact where the rubbing and
beating take place respectively.
Steam passes through holes or crevices in the backing, thence through holes or
crevices in the apron to the material undergoing the felting process; the steam so
passing is regulated by valves outside the backing.
The necessary pressure above referred to is caused by the weight of the top
band, backing, and gearing. The weight may be added to or lessoned in some
suitable way.
It is not necessary that the aprons or backings or plates should be flat either in.
longitudinal or cross direction but they may be curved or inclined in. various ways
so long as it does not unduly interfere with the necessary movements.

page_text: The working surfaces of the aprons are rough, ribbed or pointed or otherwise
marked in order to better grip the material and so to felt it; and also in order to
work or impress various designs or names upon it.
The working surface of the beating plates and the second bottom band before
mentioned may be rough, or ribbed or smooth according as it is desired to turn out
felt with a printed or rough surface or with a smooth surface.
The apron may be constructed of a series of cast metal plates suitably hinged
together to enable them to turn round their drums or cog wheels; or may be made
of sheet metal sufficiently thin to bend without injuring themselves, or of woven
wire; or of canvass or other suitable material; but in any cases where the aprons
are not sufficiently rigid in themselves, they must be strengthened in order to
properly communicate the vibrations to the material being felted.
The whole of the machine is kept hot in any convenient manner.
Dated this 26th day of September 1894.
improvements in the Machinery for Making Felt.
I CHARLES ARIS 100 Raymouth Road Southwark Park Road London S.E.
Engineer 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 :-
Two continuous aprons or bands pressing the material between them felt it by a
suitable rapid vibratory or rubbing notion with the aid of steam & heat.
To make the working continuous the bands pass over driving wheels or drums
driven in a suitable manner and in such a direction that the two adjacent parts of
the bands slowly travel together and so carry the material forward between
them.
The material is continuously fed between the bands at one end and by the time
their forward motion has carried it to the other end their rapid vibratory motion
has felted it.
The vibratory & forward movements are distinct from one another and are so
arranged that either can be carried on with or without the other, and the vibration
may be used in one band only if desired.
The felt then continues on to a second bottom apron in line and travelling in the
same direction and at the same rate as the first, (but which need not be vibrated)
which carries the felt under one or more beating plates. These plates may be
kept suspended and thus allow the felt to pass under them without further working,
but when further working is required the abovementioned plate, or plates are put
into action by causing them to repeatedly lift and descend thereby beating the
felt which is passing under them still upon the second bottom apron, or hand
which projects beyond the beating plates at the end to form a table on which to
roll up the felt.
The abovementioned rubbing or beating process may be reversed in order, or
either used alone.
To more fully describe the action the machine is composed of two frames, one
above the other, upon each frame are mounted a pair of drums or driving wheels
and a continuous band or apron is stretched over each pair of drunis.
The action of the machine is such that when the drums are revolved the
adjacent parts of the two continuous aprons or bauds press against each other.
The surfaces in contact move in the same direction and in such a way that the
material fed between them is slowly carried forward.
The material is pressed, upon the bottom band by the weight of the top band

page_text: and framing, which are free to rise & fall and in this way the machine adjusts
itself to the various thicknesses of felt required to be made.
The weight of the top band & framing is added to or lessened in any convenient
way.
In addition to the slow forward motion each band has a rapid vibratory motion
in the same plane as the felt and which may be either in a cross or longitudinal
direction. This motion is communicated to the band through the frame and drums
and should be adjustable so as to allow the extent of the vibrations to be altered for
various thicknesses of felt. This is done in the usual way as in the present felting
machines; the vibrations being so arranged that at the same moment each band
vibrates in the opposite direction to the other.
The material compressed between the bands thus receives a rapid rubbing
action which by the aid of hot steam felts it at the same time that it is being
carried along by the forward motion to the second bottom band which is fixed in
line with and close to the first one.
The beating plates then come into action by being worked by cams which
alternately lift and allow the plates to drop freely on the felting material.
Thus the combination of the rubbing and beating actions ensures the felting
being complete.
The endless bands are made of cast or rolled thick perforated plates suitably
binged together in order to allow them to turn round the drums which have flat
faces corresponding to the width of the plates. If it is desired to avoid the hinges
and flats on the drums, the band or apron may be made of thin perforated sheet
metal sufficicutly flexible to allow of the continuous bending round the drums or
they may be made of woven wire of suitable strength.
The motive of the perforations is to allow steam to pass into the material and
it is necessary that the surfaces of the rubbing aprons should be roughened, ribbed
or otherwise marked in order to grip the material & to imprint various patterns,
names or desigus thereon, but the beating plates & second bottom apron inay be
smooth. The length of the bands depends upon the required output of the
machine; the longer the bands, the greater the output their being more felting
surface in action. The first bottom band may be louger than the top one in front
of the machine in order to form a feeding table, and the second bottom band may
be longer than necessary for the beating plate, or plates, at the back of the
machine, in order to form a rolling up or taking off table.
In order to support the bands and make then sufficiently rigid to give the
necessary pressure to the material they are backed up by metal plates, in any
convenient way, upon which they slide; the support being especially necessary in
that part of the machine where the felting is in progress.
In order to ensure a good edge it is necessary to have sides to the machine
forming a trough through which the bands travel and vibrate. This prevents the
material from working out at the edges of the bands the trough being a closo
working fit.
It is not necessary that the plates, backings or bands should be flat in either a
longitudinal or cross direction but may be inclined or curved in various ways so
long as this does not interfere with the necessary movements.
The felting part of the machine is entirely covered in, forming a close box, in
any convenient way.
Hot steam, regulated by a valve outside the box, is blown in and finds its way to
the material through the backings and perforations in the plates.
To more particularly describe the construction of the machine the annexed
drawing shows a longitudinal part elevation & part sectional view.
a is the top endless revolving band or apron, b₁ & b, are the two bottom endless
revolving aprons working over their respective pairs of drums c, c d, de, e. These
are revolved from the fast & loose pulleys through the top shaft 9, thence
through the diagonal shaft h, through the worm to the worm wheel & which is
keyed on to the same shaft as the drum e thus turning the apron b.

page_text: The aprons a & b, are driven by the chain wheels l, m, & n. The chains o, & o
working over these wheels are slack enough to allow of the small vibrating motion
of the endless bands before mentioned.
The vibrating motion is communicated by the eccentrics p' & p' driven by the
vertical shaft g, which is worked from the main top shaft through the bevel
wheels t₁ to
There is another vertical shaft on the other side of the machine worked by the
bevel wheels fat. All the eccentrics are so set that they vibrate the bands in
opposite directions at the same time. The eccentrics convey the motion to the
bands through the framing r, r2 because these frames carry the journals of the
drums c, c & d, d. The weight of the top band & drums is supported entirely by
the material being felted when at work. (Except for any counterbalance some-
times required when working light material, which may be arranged for in, any
convenient way.
The weight of the bottom apron, drum,& frame, is carried by guide blocks.(not
shown in the drawing) supported on the base of the machine.
5,82 and are rigid cast iron chambers fixed to the frames r₁, r₁ & r of the
machine, which besides forming backing plates to support the endless bands
& press them against the top & bottom of the felt respectively, also form recep-
tacles for steam which passes out through the bands into the material undergoing
the felting process, as already described. The sides of & are carried upwards
to form longitudinal'guide troughs in which the bands b, & b, & beating plates u, u, u,
work.
v, v, v, are cams on the top rotating shaft g which lift the plates u, u, u as the
felting material is carried under them by the band by.
w, w, w are rollers to carry the felt from one band to
rollers which keep the felt on the band b, while it is
rollers are all rotated at the same speed as the band b.
at either end to form tables for feeding or taking off.
the other and x, x, x, x are
beaten by the plates, these
baud.b, inay be prolonged
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said' inven-
tion and in what manuer the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The complete machine to make felt as above described.
2. Two continuous rubbing aprons or bands made and working as described in
conjunction with the backings or supports mentioned.
3. One continuous apron working in conjunction, with beating plates to make
felt as described.
Dated this 26th day of June 1895.
CHARLES ARIS.