AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING MANGLES EMPLOYED IN FINISHING CLOTH, AND IN BEAMING THE ROLLERS OF SAME
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT
to William Martin, the younger, or
undee, m the
County of Forfar, Calenderer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF WORKING MANGLES EMPLOYED IN FINISHING CLOTH, AND IN BEAMING THE
ROLLERS OF SAME."
Sealed the 9th December 1864, and dated the 13th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Martin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th June 1864.
I, WILLIAM MARTIN, the younger, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar,
Calenderer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING MANGLES EMPLOYED IN FINISHING CLOTH, AND
OF BEAMING THE ROLLERS OF SAME," to be as follows:-
My improved method of working mangles for finishing cloth consists in the
direct application to the mangle of the pressure of steam, air, or water
through a rod connected to the mangle and the piston rod. This improved
method allows of convenient alterations of speed and length of travel of the
mangle, and variety of finish at pleasure.
My improvement in the method of beaming the mangle rollers consists in
attaching the same to the cloth on the calender rollers by pressure or friction
in the preliminary operation of calendering.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Martin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MARTIN, the younger, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, Calenderer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Martin, the younger, Her special licence that I, the
said William Martin, the younger, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Martin, the younger, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING MANGLES
EMPLOYED IN FINISHING CLOTH, AND IN BEAMING THE ROLLERS OF SAME," upon.
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Martin, the younger,
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 William Martin, the younger, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention consists in moving laterally the large stone
or other heavy body or dead weight of the mangle for finishing linen, cotton,
and similar fabrics, and which I call its chest, by the direct action of steam.
or other gas or fluid pressure, so that the speed and length of travel of the
mangle may be instantly modified and varied at pleasure and without
stoppage.
The importance of my Invention will be better understood by my first
describing the principle and mode hitherto employed in the application of

page_text: steam or other moving power to the chests of mangles used for finishing cloth.
They are as follows:-The original power or motion is transmitted and applied
to the chest of the mangle by the usual rotary motion through shafting and
wheels or other gearing, that is to say, by the intervention of machinery and
apparatus usually adopted for transmitting power and motion, and by means
of which mechanical arrangement and intervention the first motion of the
steam engine or water wheel is converted into the lateral motion of the
mangle chest.
The following are some of the objections to the present methods:-1st,
great strain on the steam engine or water wheel, and on the whole inter-
mediate gearing, and loss of power by friction, besides frequent breakage of
gearing; 2nd, great irregularity of speed of the steam engine or water wheel
occasioned by the continuous alternate starting and stopping of the chest,
which is of great weight, and which irregularity of speed is necessarily com-
municated to any other machines attached to the same engine; 3rd, the great
cost of the engine gearing and apparatus, which require more strength than
is necessary for the mere working, because of the great momentum necessary
to start at each travel of the chest.
My method obviates these objections, besides giving other important
advantages. I fix near one end of the chest of the mangle, in the line of its
motion and at about the level of its centre of gravity, a steam cylinder con-
nected by a steam pipe with a boiler. The cylinder should be of sufficient
length to allow its piston as much travel as the maximum travel of the chest ;
the piston is directly attached to the near end of the chest by an open eye
constructed to admit of a little elevation and depression of the chest level
without bending the rod. I prefer, however, to use a connecting rod jointed
to the end of the piston rod proper, and attached to the mangle chest by a
joint, cither at its nearest end or to a point in its centre near to its centre of
gravity; or the piston connecting rod may be forked and attached to both
sides of the chest near the middle. If the cylinder is not made sufficiently
long I introduce a lever or crank wheel between the piston rod and the con-
necting rod of the chest to increase the travel. The steam valves of the
cylinder may be of the usual kinds, but so adjusted as to be free to open fully
at once and shut off the steam gradually, so that the chest may not be
stopped too suddenly. To prevent this, provision may be made for a steam
pillow at each end of the cylinder, but the friction of the cloth rollers is so
great that this will not be necessary with ordinary care and usual speed. The
valves may be made to work by hand, and also attached to the chest, and so
made self-acting.

page_text: The above description only refers to the employment of steam for working
will be readily understood that other gases or fluids may
the mangles; but
be applied in a similar manner.
When the cloth to be mangled requires to be first calendered, I combine
this operation with that of beaming the cloth at once upon the rollers, which
go under the chest of the mangle. This may be done, first, by using the
mangle rollers as stripping rollers for the calendering operation, driving them
by a slipping friction belt going at a greater speed than the calender rollers;
or, second, by inserting the mangle roller upon or between the calender rollers
in the frame or gables of the calender, giving pressure by any of the usual
methods and shifting the mangle rollers from the calender when full. The
cloth may also be rubbed, if necessary, in passing through the calender rails
in any convenient manner. By this arrangement all these operations may be
combined in one, so saving expense.
:
Among the advantages from my Invention, I may cite that I not only
obviate the objections to the present method, but I obtain the results fol-
lowing 1st, alteration of speed or time of the travel of the chest of the
mangle at pleasure, also giving any desired ratio of speed during each travel
or journey instead of a fixed ratio of speed; 2nd, this alteration of speed is
also equivalent to alteration of the weight of the mangle chest, so giving
variety of finish; 3rd, alteration of length of travel at pleasure; 4th, economy
of construction of the driving parts or gearing; 5th, convenience and saving
of power and space.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, working mangles by the direct action of steam or other gas or fluid
pressure, substantially as herein-before described.
Second, beaming the mangle rollers by attaching them to the cloth on
the calender rollers by pressure or friction in the preliminary operation of
calendering, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Martin, the younger, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.