IMPROVENDUMS IN MOE MANNANRUDE OF FELTED FARRICS THR Α
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cornelius Turner, of Airedale Felt Mills, Hunslet,
in the Parish of Leeds, in the County of. York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVENDUMS IN MOE MANNANRUDE OF FELTED FARRICS
THR
ΑΟ
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cornelius Turner at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd January 1863.
I, CORNELIUS TURNER, of Airedale Felt Mills, Hunslet, in the Parish of
Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
felted fabrics. Heretofore in the manufacture of felted fabrics, in order to
strengthen the fabric and prevent it stretching, threads have been laid
transversely from side to side of the batt before the same is submitted to the
felting operation; these threads have heretofore been carried by a suitable
carrier alternately from side to side of the bat and secured at each selvage,
each thread being continuous; but this arrangement is inconvenient, because if
the carrier takes many threads across the bat at one time the threads laid in
at one traverse will necessarily make a very considerable angle with those
laid in at the next traverse, more especially near the selvage, which is
objectionable, as if the threads are laid in irregularly, it is not practicable
to produce a felt of uniform thickness. If, on the other hand, the carrier

page_text: takes across at each traverse but one thread, or very few threads, the process
is so slow as to be commercially useless. The object of the present Invention
is to enable the carrier to take across any desired number of threads at one
time, all parallel to each other throughout, and without any angling near the
selvages, and also without their being any accumulation of the threads at the
selvages. For this purpose I cause the carrier to traverse to and fro from
side to side of the batt as before, taking with it any desired number of threads,
which it lays on the batt at regular distances apart; when the threads come
to a selvage they are by a brush or otherwise pressed in amongst pins or
points, they are also retained by a blade, which descends on to them and nips
them; or they are taken by any suitable holding instrument, and in place of
being left continuous, as heretofore, they are then cut off, the loose ends of the
threads descending from the carrier are also retained in a holder; the batt
with the pins or points or other instruments are then caused to move forward
a distance equal to the width of the sheet of threads taken across by the
carrier, and the carrier then returns to the opposite selvage, where the
operation of retaining the ends of the threads and cutting them off is repeated,
and so the work continues. In this manner any desired number of threads
may be laid in at each traverse of the carrier, and these may be kept through-
out strictly parallel the one to the other, and all accumulation of thread at the
selvages is avoided. In order to cut off from the bat the ends of the threads,
which at first are left projecting therefrom, and which, as already described,
are by preference laid amongst pins or points at the selvages or edges, I
place inclined or it may be revolving knives or shears one at each selvage or
edge, and close up thereto, and opposite the knives I cause the ends of the
threads to be nipped, so as to hold them securely to be cut; this nipping may
be effected by small pullies or wheels running over the ends of the threads,
and pressing them against the head or back in which the pins or points are
set. In order to clear the pins or points of the short ends of thread left in
amongst them I employ revolving brushes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Cornelius Turner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CORNELIUS
TURNER, of Airedale Felt Mills, Hunslet, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County
of York, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Cornelius Turner, Her special licence that I, the said Cornelius
Turner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Cornelius Turner, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Cornelius Turner, 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 Cornelius Turner, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 the manufacture of felted
fabrics. Heretofore in the manufacture of felted fabrics, in order to strengthen
the fabric and prevent it stretching, threads have been laid transversely from
side to side of the batt before the same is submitted to the felting.operation;
these threads have heretofore been carried by a suitable carrier alternately
from side to side of the batt and secured at each selvage, each thread being
continuous; but this arrangement is inconvenient, because if the carrier take
many threads across the batt at one time, the threads laid in at one traverse
will necessarily make a very considerable angle with those laid in at the next
traverse, more especially near the selvage, which is objectionable, as if the
threads are laid in irregularly it is not practicable to produce a felt of uniform
thickness. If, on the other hand, the carrier take across at each traverse
but one thread, or very few threads, the process is so slow as to be com-
mercially useless. The object of the present Invention is to enable the carrier to
take across any desired number of threads at one time all parallel to each other
throughout, and without any angling near the selvages, and also without there

page_text: being any accumulation of the threads at the selvages. For this purpose I
cause the carrier to traverse to and fro from side to side of the batt as before,
taking with it any desired number of threads, which it lays on the batt at
regular distances apart; when the threads come to a selvage they are by a
brush or otherwise pressed in amongst pins or points, they are also retained by
a blade which descends on to them and nips them; or they are taken by any
suitable holding instrument, and in place of being left continuous, as heretofore,
they are then cut off, the loose ends of the threads descending from the carrier
are also retained in a holder; the batt with the pins or points or other instru-
ments are then caused to moved forward a distance equal to the width of the
sheet of threads taken across by the carrier, and the carrier then returns to
the opposite selvage, where the operation of retaining the ends of the threads
and cutting them off is repeated, and so the work continues. In this manner
any desired number of threads may be laid in at each traverse of the carrier,
and these may be kept throughout strictly parallel the one to the other, and
all accumulation of thread at the selvages is avoided. In order to cut off
from the batt the ends of the threads, which at first are left projecting there-
from, and which, as already described, are by preference laid amongst pins or
points at the selvages or edges, I place inclined or it may be revolving knives
or shears one at each selvage or edge, and close up thereto, and opposite the s
knives I cause the ends of the threads to be nipped so as to hold them
securely to be cut; this nipping may be effected by small pulleys or wheels, or
by a roller running over the ends of the threads and pressing them against the
head or back in which the pins or points are set.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed. .
T
1
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
in my Tumantin

page_text: on the apron, and on it the strengthening threads are laid; these are then
covered with the batt or fleece from the roller d', and the whole together is
wound up by the roller e until when the roller e is full it with the batts or
fleeces upon it is removed from the machine for the material to be felted and
otherwise treated as is usual.
The axes of the rollers d and d¹ are retained by forked standards a¹ on
the frame, and the travelling forward of the endless apron draws the material
from the rollers. The axis of the roller e is retained by similar forked
standards a', and this roller rests on two small drums f, f, which are caused to
revolve at intervals by means which I will presently describe. On each side
of the frame is a standard a³, and these standards carry two guide bars g, g,
on which an instrument h, which I call a shuttle, is capable of sliding.
Figure 4 shews a transverse section through the guide bars g, together
with a side view of the shuttle, and Figure 5 is an end view of the shuttle.
The shuttle frame h' has a boss at its upper end, this is bored to fit the upper
guide bar which passes through it at its lower end; the shuttle frame only
rests against the lower guide bar, but does not encircle it, as it is desirable at
times to be able to turn the shuttle up, so that it may be out of the way; h³ is
a horizontal bar bolted to the lower part of the shuttle frame; it is perforated
with a number of small holes through which the threads which the shuttle
carries are passed, so that the holes may serve as guides for them; the threads
are brought down to the bar h2 of the shuttle from a reel i suspended over the
machine. The shuttle is drawn to and fro across the machine by an endless
chain k, a stud on which passes through a slot in the shuttle; the chain k
passes over the chain wheels 1, 1, the axes of which are carried by the
standards a². The chain wheels are caused to rotate first in one direction
and then in the other, so as to carry the shuttle from side to side of the frame.
across the batt or fleece; this motion is given to the chain wheels by means
herein-after set forth. At each extremity of the course of the shuttle is
placed an arm m turning on a centre at m'; it is furnished with a brush to
pat down the threads into the pins or points at 6', and also it has a blade m
or knife fixed to it to cut off the threads beyond or outside of the pins or
points.
The arm m has motion given to it by means of a shorter arm on the
same axis which is linked by the adjustable rod m³ with a lever m* turning on
a centre at m³, and carrying at its further end a friction pulley, and this rests
upon the double cam n, and the lever is actuated thereby. Outside the
endless apron and beyond the knife is another arm o turning on a centre at o¹;
and it is actuated from the camp in the same manner as is the arm m from the

page_text: cam n, but in consequence of the form of the cams the arm o makes but one
motion for each two motions of the arm m. The arm o is used to hold the
threads whilst they are cut off by the knife and retain their ends, afterwards
it nips the threads against a fixed bar beneath.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The threads from the reel i
having passed through the perforated bar h³ of the shuttle, and their ends
being nipped by the arm o, which is on the same side of the machine with the
shuttle; the shuttle then travels across to the other side of the machine laying
on its threads, the brushes and knives on the two sides of the machine
descend simultaneously, and with or immediately in advance of them the other
arm o. By these motions the threads are patted into the pins or points which
serve to retain them in their places, and immediately beyond these pins or
points on each side the threads are cut off by the knives, and the nipping
arm o on the side of the machine to which the shuttle has now come holds the
ends of the threads beyond the shuttle, which would otherwise be loose.
Before the next traverse of the shuttle the two brushes and knives both rise
so as to be out of the way, and so also does the nipping arm on the further
side from the shuttle; the other nipping arm remaining down the endless
apron also makes a step forward equal to the width of the sheet of threads
laid by the shuttle, the shuttle then returns, and so the work goes on.
The several parts of the machine are actuated in the following manner :-
2 is the main axis which is driven by a belt passing around a pulley thereon;
on it is a spur wheel gearing with a wheel on the axis r, and another wheel r
on the axis drives the toothed wheel c¹ on the axis of one of the rollers c,
and so the endless apron receives motion, but this not continually, because the
wheel has teeth only on a portion of its periphery sufficient to give the
motion required, as above explained; during the rest of the revolution of the
wheel r¹ and axis r the apron b remains stationary; whilst the apron bis
travelling the roller e is caused to wind up the batt or fleece which it delivers,
the two small drums f, f, on which it is supported being driven from the
wheel c¹ by the gearing shewn in the plan. The axis q also by means of a
spur wheel upon it and the two intermediate wheels s, s, drives a spur wheel
on the axis t, so that the axes q and t revolve at the same speed; these axes
have upon them large wheels q and t, each having a few teeth at the points
q* and t*.
Between them is the axis u with the toothed wheel u¹ upon it,
which the teeth on the wheels q' and t¹ alternately drive through part of a
rotation first in one and then in the other direction; us is a toothed arc on the
axis u;
it gears with a pinion on the axis w which is carried by one of the
standards a², and this by bevilled gear, as is shewn, gives motion to one of the

page_text: chain wheels . The cams n and p are mounted on the axis t, and give
motion to the brushes and knives and to the nipping arms, as already
explained.
The ends of the threads which are patted down in amongst the points or
pins are cut off from the batt or fleece by the revolving knives a, which are
driven at a high speed by bands, as is shewn; and immediately behind the
knives, to prevent the batt or fleece shrinking in, there is a wooden roller y
passing across the machine; it rests on the ends of the threads just inside the
points, and so holds the threads in their places; the roller y also serves to
steady the endless apron. z, z, are wires stretched from end to end of the
machine; they enter between the lines of points, and consequently lay under
the ends of the threads therein. When the roller c is reached by the apron
and the apron commences to descend, the wires z lift the short ends of thread
which the points then contain; they do not entirely remove them but raise
them to such an extent that the metal inclines A, of which there is one in
between each two rows of points, are able to take and remove them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cornelius Turner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
CORNELIUS TURNER. (L.s.)