IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF FELTS AND FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Ferdinand Tavernier, junior, of Leeds, in
the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRODUCTION OF FELTS AND FELTED FABRICS."
Sealed the 31st July 1874, and dated the 5th February 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Ferdinand
Tavernier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th February 1874.
I, LOUIS FERDINAND TAVERNIER, junior, of Leeds, in the County of
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF FELTS AND FELTED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the production of felts and felted
fabrics,―
Firstly. By felting or amalgamating carded wool or other filamentous
body or substance as a bat upon a woven fabric made of carded woollen
yarns, say upon a flannel, with or without cotton warp.
. Secondly. By producing a felting operation by mechanical appliances
or apparatus, as hereafter set forth.

page_text: Thirdly. Manufacturing ordinary felt for carpets and the like, so that
the printing or colours are caused to show upon both surfaces of the
fabric.
The felting of a bat of wool upon a fabric made of cotton or any other
vegetable fibrous substances, as well as on a fabric made of combed wool
spun in yarns has proved unsatisfactory, because these fibrous substances
owing to their nature cannot be felted properly, and cannot amalgamate
properly with a bat of carded wool.
My first improvement consists in using for the same purpose fabrics
made of woollen yarn, that is to say, of carded (not combed) wool, 1
shoddy, or other animal fibrous substances. These substances owing to
their nature amalgamate and melt into one solid body with the bat of
carded wool by reason of the felting and fulling. This kind of felted
produce I call "coactile" (from the Latin word coactilium) to distinguish
it from ordinary felt.
My second improvement consists of a peculiar arrangement and
combination of organs constituting a simple felting machine. I take
two stone flags of proper dimensions; these I make mathematically
straight, and cause them to touch each other in every point of their
surfaces. One of these flags acts as a solid and motionless table, over ?
which an endless travelling apron moves guided by rollers. Above this
table I mount a similar table with an endless apron beneath, travelling
at the same speed as the former but in the reverse way. The upper
table has a reciprocating movement imparted to it to give friction in the
lengthway of the bat, the bat entering at one end and being delivered
felted at the other. The upper table is supported in a frame which
governs the to-and-fro movement of friction. The working surface of
the upper table is coated with linen, which prevents its being broken by
the movement of the to-and-fro movement of friction; it can occasionally
be lifted if suspended by chains to a shaft placed horizontally on the
frame. The travelling endless aprons travelling round each table are
guided by pullies keeping the aprons straight and taut. Steam or soaped
water can be used to facilitate the operation of felting.
My third improvement consists in manufacturing ordinary felt for
carpets, so that the printing and colouring are made to penetrate
through the felt, and to show clearly upon both surfaces of the carpet.
The means that I prefer using for obtaining these carpets (which I call

page_text: "fresco carpets") are as follows:-I first print the felt when half felted
and in its most spongy state, after which the felt is completed in the
ordinary manner. When the felt is half felted and in a spongy state it
is washed, and when washed and dried it is printed upon a hot metallic
table in order to open the pores of the wool. When printed in the half
felted state the colour or colours is or are fixed by steaming in the
ordinary manner, and then the felting is completed in the ordinary way.
When the carpet is washed and dry I crop the two surfaces in order to
make the pattern clear on both sides.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Louis Ferdinand Tervernier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
FERDINAND TAVERNIER, junior, of Leeds, in the County of York, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Louis Ferdinand Tavernier,
Her special licence that I, the said Louis Ferdinand Tavernier, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Louis Ferdinand Tavernier, 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 PRODUCTION OF FELTS AND
FELTED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis
Ferdinand Tavernier, 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

page_text: produce I call "coactile" (from the Latin word coactilium) to dis-
tinguish it from ordinary felt.
My second improvement consists of a peculiar arrangement and
combination of organs constituting a simple felting machine. I take
two stone flags of proper dimensions; these I make mathematically
straight, and cause them to touch each other in every point of their
working surfaces. One of these flags acts as a solid and motionless
table over which an endless travelling apron moves guided by rollers.
Above this table I mount a similar table with an endless apron travelling
at the same speed as the former. The upper table has a reciprocating
movement imparted to it to give friction in the lengthway of the bat,
the bat entering at one end and being delivered felted at the other.
The upper table is supported in a frame which governs the to-and-fro
movement of friction. The working surface of the upper table is coated
with linen, which prevents its being broken by reason of the to-and-fro
movement of friction. It can occasionally be lifted, if suspended, by
chains to a shaft placed horizontally on the frame.
The travelling
endless aprons travelling round the tables are guided by pullies keeping
the aprons straight and taut. Steam or soaped water can be used to
facilitate the operation of felting.
The manner of carrying my Invention into effect is clearly illustrated
in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of
what I term the top stone A, and Figure 2 a view of what I term the
bottom stone B, these having endless bands C, D, arranged around them
by guide rollers E, F, and tension rollers H, I, to maintain the regularity
and flatness of the same while passing in contact or nearly so with the
faces of the two stones A, B. The two stones are arranged in proximity,
as in Figure 3; in a frame J, as in Figure 4, the lower stone being fixed
permanently in suitable bearings on a bed K, the upper one being
movable to and fro under the action of eccentrics L fitted to rotate
through the intermediation of gearing M from a main driving pulley N,
or in any other convenient manner. The upper stone frame P is
connected to the excentric straps Q, and is balanced in them so that the
batting or frictional action to produce the felting of the wool into the
meshes and upon the flat surface of a fabric which passes between the
working surfaces of the bands C, D, is effected. Both bands are driven
at the same relative speed, and their tension is maintained by a take-up
mechanism R, S, which can be secured by bolts and nuts.

page_text: The upper stone A is suspended by chains, as in Figure 5, or their
equivalent from a cross bar, round which the chains can be wound by a
winch handle T, and held at any position by a paul taking into ratchets
teeth upon the small disc a. The endless sheets or bands (aprons) have
their edges bound with cotton as a cord or rope, and these travel within 5
the forks of small brackets as guides to ensure the endless bands moving
in a direct and straight path through between the two stones, the
brackets having small rollers, as in Figure 6, to prevent catch or the
existence of friction that might otherwise occur were brackets or quides
only employed. The lower endless belt D is much longer than the 1
upper one, and the portion of it which is outside of the frame forms a
table upon which the fabric to be felted and also the flush or felt itself
are arranged before entering between the stones A, B.
The foregoing describes the best and simplest means of carrying my
Invention into practice, but I do not limit myself to that arrangement 1
of mechanism alone, since it can be modified in much of its details.
It will be understood that the bat of wool is presented lengthways of
its fibres into the apparatus, and has a continuous passage through
between the stones along with the fabric by the action or grip of the two
travelling bands C, D, notwithstanding the weight and frictional 2
operation of the upper stone upon them for incorporating one body with
the other, and thereby forming a single body or felted fabric.
The fabric may be of any kind woven into fine or coarse meshes or
weavings, and the bat of wool to be implanted into and upon the surface
may be of the same colour, or an amalgamation of colours arranged or a
blended to form any artistic effects; or the bat may be plain, and after
the felting operation it can be printed, dyed, or otherwise prepared to
suit the taste of the purchaser.
Another part of my Invention consists in manufacturing ordinary felt
for carpets, so that the printing and colouring are made to penetrate
through the felt, and to show clearly upon both surfaces of the carpet.
The means that I prefer using for obtaining these carpets (which I call
"fresco" carpets) are as follows:-I first print the felt when half felted
and in its most spongy state, after which the felt is completed in the
ordinary manner. When the felt is half felted and in a spongy state it a
is washed, and when washed and dried it is printed upon a hot metallic
table in order to open the porcs of the wool. When printed in the half

page_text: felted state the colour or colours is or are fixed by steaming in the
ordinary manner, and then the felting is completed in the ordinary way.
When the carpet is washed and dry I crop the two surfaces in order to
make the pattern clear on both sides.
Having now set forth the nature of my said Invention, I declare that
I claim, the felting of a bat of carded wool or other similarly carded
fibrous substances upon or into the surface of a woven fabric.
I also claim felting a woollen fabric between two bats of carded wool
by the rubbing or felting operation of a flat-faced body acting against or
in proximity to another flat-faced body, the latter being fixed and
arranged with endless bands for feeding and carrying the fabric to be
felted by the bat of carded wool or its equivalent, substantially in the
manner described and by the apparatus shown in the Drawings.
Secondly. I claim the implanting one into the other of two flannels
or woollen fabrics, making one solid body of these two woollen fabrics
without using a bat of carded wool and by the action of felting, using
for it the felting machine shown in the Drawings, either flat or with
felting rollers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Ferdinand Tavernier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
LOUIS FERDINAND TAVERNIER. (L.S.)