IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN PRINTING FELT CARPETS AND DRUGGETS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Mitchell at the Offico
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
August 1871.
I, WILLIAM MITCHELL, of Waterfoot, near Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN PRINTING FELT
CARPETS AND DRUGGETS," to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed principally to facilitate the printing of
wide felt carpets or druggets, for which purpose I employ a table of
about two or three feet in width, and of a length rather more than the
width of the widest material to be printed thereon, and I roll the
material to be printed on a roller mounted beneath the table, the axis of
the said roller being in the direction of the length of the table. Parallel
with each side of the table, and at a short distance from the edge thereof,

page_text: I mount on a level slightly lower than the surface of the table a long
roller covered with cards or pins and capable of revolving. These rollers
are provided with ratchet wheels and catches to fix them in the required
position, and one or both can be turned as required by means of a winch
handle.
"
.
At or near one end of the table is a fixed row of tenter pins or hooks, .
and at or near the other end is an iron bar fixed by screws or clamps,
and capable of being set nearer to or further from the end, so as to suit
different widths of material; having fixed this bar in a suitable posi-
tion, the workman takes the outer or tail end of the felt or drugget and 10
stretches it across the table over the two card rollers, the cards or pins.
taking a firm hold of the back of the felt or drugget and holding it in
the direction of its length; he then takes one selvedge and passes it
over the fixed tenter pins or hooks at one end of the table; "he next
takes a bar of wood about equal in length to the width of the table and 18
provided with tenter hooks or pins, and pressing the latter into the other
selvedge of the. material pulls it and fixes it by means of hooks or
clamps with which it is provided to the iron bar above named.
The piece of felt or drugget being now stretched and firmly fixed in
the direction of its length and width is to be printed in the usual 20
manner, and when the length thus stretched has been printed the
selvedges are untentered and the card roller turned so as to bring:
another length forward, and so on throughout the length of the piece.
i
:
;
By these means the felt or cloth is kept perfectly stretched flat and
square, the whole width is printed at once, and the printing can be 25
effected much more rapidly and evenly than under the ordinary method
of printing wide felts or druggets, wherein it was usual to print only a
portion of the width at a time, or where narrow tables are used, that is
to say, about fifty-two to fifty-four inches wide, or in cases of wide tables
where there are no rollers to keep the cloth stretched lengthways, and 30
where the cloth had to be drawn forward by hand.
j
The second selvedge of the material may be tentered by means of a
strap or chain provided with pins or points, and running in a groove or
box, or by other similar means, or if preferred the felt or drugget may':
be held and passed over the printing table by a simple arrangement or. 85
i.
ay

page_text: modification of the ordinary tentering machine, both ends of the felt or
drugget being stretched together so that it is stretched over the printing
table both lengthwise and breadthwise, and can be moved on a definite
length equal to about the width of the table after each length has been
5 printed.
.