IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, JAMES SMITH, of North Park Cottage, Thornliebank, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS"
to be as follows :—
"
My said Invention has for its object to finish woven fabrics in an improved
manner and by means of machinery of improved construction and action. The
kind of finish produced by my improved machinery may be varied to suit different
requirements, and is more or less like what is produced by beetling machines, but
is produced in a different manner and much more rapidly.
In my improved machine the fabric to be finished is wound upon a comparatively
large cylinder which may or may not be heated by steam according to the special
finish desired. This cloth cylinder as it may be termed is held in bearings in the
framing of the machine and there is above it a peculiarly formed roller by which
the finishing operation is effected. The journals of the finishing roller pass through
vertical guide slots in the framing and can move up and down in these slots to a
certain extent. The finishing roller, which may be of wood or metal or a
combination of both, is formed with large flutings or grooves extending parallel to its
axis, and with the parts between the flutings of a flat or nearly flat form and
inclined like the backs of ratchet teeth so that one side of each fluting projects
more than the other from the axis of the roller. The guide slots of the finishing
roller are placed so that the vertical plane passing through the axis of the roller is a
little to one side of that passing through the axis of the cloth cylinder, and in
one position of the roller it rests with one of its flat surfaces on the top of the cloth
cylinder. The finishing roller is turned by apparatus hereinafter described, and in
turning turns the cloth cylinder by frictional contact and at the same time raises
itself until it rests with the more projecting edge of the flat surface upon the cloth
cylinder. As the motion continues the finishing roller immediately afterwards falls
the distance it was lifted the succeeding flat surface coming concussively in contact
with the cloth cylinder, or rather, with the cloth or woven fabric thereon, and it is
this concussive action continually repeated that produces the desired finish. The
cloth cylinder may either be driven exclusively by the frictional action of the
finishing roller or it may be driven by power applied directly to itself, the finishing
roller being also driven; or again the finishing roller may be driven by the
frictional action of the cloth roller.

page_text: The finishing roller may be made hollow for the purpose of being heated by
steam which may be led to its journals through flexible or jointed pipes. When
the finishing roller is driven, the driving may be effected by means of pitch chains
gearing with sprocket wheels on the journals of the rollers and with driving
sprocket wheels on a shaft placed in any suitable position and driven in any
convenient way.
I prefer to arrange the parts in duplicate in each machine so that after a piece or
a number of pieces of fabric attached together in one length has been operated on
on one cloth cylinder it may be directly wound from that cylinder to the other one
in a manner to make the outer plies of the first winding the inner plies of the
second, this arrangement being requisite in order that the finishing action may be
equalised by the operation of the second finishing roller.
The surfaces of the finishing roller which act on the fabric may be smooth or
plain from end to end of the roller or they may be formed with indentations across
them or in another direction or with indentations of various forms or directions.
Dated this twenty-eighth day of March 1884.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: I, JAMES SMITH, of North Park Cottage, Thornliebank, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS
"
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to finish woven fabrics in an improved
manner and by means of machinery of improved construction and action. The
kind of finish produced by my improved machinery may be varied to suit different
requirements, and is more or less like what is produced by beetling machines, but
is produced in a different manner and much more rapidly.
On the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings, figures, 1 and 2, are side
and front elevations; and figure, 3, is a vertical section of the finishing roller and
cloth cylinder. In these drawing the same reference numerals are used to mark
the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In my improved machine the fabric, 4, to be finished is wound upon a compa-
ratively large cylinder, 5, which may or may not be heated by steam according to
the special finish desired. This cloth cylinder, 5, as it may be termed is held in
bearings, 6, in the framing, 7, of the machine and there is above it a peculiarly
formed roller, 8, by which the finishing operation is effected. The journals of the
finishing roller, 8, pass through vertical guide slots, 9, in the framing and can move
up and down in these slots to a certain extent. The finishing roller, 8, which may
be of wood or metal or a combination of both, is formed with large flutings or
grooves extending parallel to its axis, and with parts between or at the sides of the
flutings of a flat or nearly fat form and inclined like the backs of ratchet teeth as
shown in figure, 3. The guide slots, 9, of the finishing roller, 8, are placed so that
the vertical plane passing through the axis of the roller, 8, is a little to one side of
that passing through the axis of the cloth cylinder, 5, and in one position of the
roller, 8, it rests with one of its flat surfaces on the top of the cloth cylinder, 5.
The finishing roller, 8, is turned by apparatus hereinafter described, and in turning
turns the cloth cylinder, 5, by frictional contact, and at the same time raises itself
until it rests with the more projecting edge of the flat surface upon the cloth
cylinder. As the motion continues the finishing roller immediately afterwards
falls the distance it was lifted the succeeding flat surface coming concussively in
contact with the cloth cylinder, or rather, with the cloth or woven fabric, 4,
thereon; and it is this concussive action continually repeated that produces the
desired finish. The cloth cylinder, 5, may either be driven exclusively by the
frictional action of the finishing roller or it may be driven by power applied
directly to itself, the finishing roller, 8, being also driven; or again the finishing
roller may be driven by the frictional action of the cloth cylinder.
The finishing roller, 8, may be made hollow for the purpose of being heated by
steam which may be led to its journals through flexible or jointed pipes. When
the finishing roller, 8, is driven, the driving may be effected as shown by means of
pitch chains, 10, gearing with sprocket wheels, 11, on the journals of the roller, 8,
and with driving sprocket wheels, 12, on a shaft, 13, which may be placed in any
suitable position and driven in any convenient way.
The shaft, 13, of the lower sprocket wheels, 12, is carried in bearings, 14, fixed
upon the base plate, 15, of the machine, and this shaft, 13, which is hollow has fast
on one end of it a pulley, 16, for a driving belt. The endless pitch chains, 10, are

page_text: each guided by two pulleys, 17, 18, the lower pulley, 17, at each side being carried
on a stud in a fixed position, whilst each higher pulley, 18, is carried on a stud, 19,
projecting from a block fitted in a guide, 20, and adjustable by means of a screw
and hand wheel, 21, for tightening the chain. The cloth cylinder, 5, is turned for
winding on or unwinding the fabric by means of a pulley, 22, on its shaft, 23, this
pulley, 22, being driven by a belt, 24, from a pulley, 25, on one end of a shaft, 26,
which passes through the shaft, 13, carrying the lower sprocket wheels, 12. On
the other end of the shaft, 26, there is a fast pulley, 27, and between this pulley, 27,
and the pulley, 16, fast on the shaft, 13, there is a loose pulley, 28. Belt shifting
details of any convenient kind, but which are not shown in the drawings, are
provided for placing the driving belt upon any one of the pulleys, 16, 28, 27, as
required. When the fabric is being wound on or unwound from the cylinder, 5,
the finishing roller, 8, is held up by means of levers, 29, which are moved by means
of screw spindles and handwheels, 30.
The parts may be arranged in duplicate in each machine so that after a piece or
a number of pieces of fabric attached together in one length has been operated on
on one cloth cylinder it may be directly wound from that cylinder to the other one
in a manner to make the outer plies of the first winding the inner plies of the
Becond, this arrangement being requisite in order that the finishing action may be
equalised by the operation of the second finishing roller. In the modification of
the machine shown in the drawings the same result is obtained by suitably.
rewinding the fabric and passing it through the machine a second time.
The surfaces of the finishing roller which act on the fabric may be smooth or
plain from end to end of the roller or they may be formed with indentations across
them or in another direction or with indentations of various forms or directions.
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
1. The combination of parts constituting my improved finishing machine
substantially as herein before described.
2. The finishing of woven fabrics by the operation of a rotating fluted finishing
roller which rests on the fabric wound upon a cylinder, and which in rotating rises
and falls through the action of its alternating raised and depressed parts substan-
tially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this sixteenth day of December 1884.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.