IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS SINGEING .. APPARATUS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Colin Mather, of Salford, in the County of Lan-
caster, 'Engineer,. for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS SINGEING
.. APPARATUS."
Sealed the 23rd November 1860, and dated the 27th August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Colin Mather at the Office-
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th August:
1860.
I, COLIN MATHER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, "do-
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS SINGEING.
APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in gas singeing apparatus..
For these purposes the cloth or fabric is caused to enter at an opening. at the
lower part of an oblong chamber, which is closed at the upper part, there
being however a chimney which rises from the middle of such chamber.
Interior of the chamber is a copper plate or hollow partition with curved ends.
The cloth or fabric when it has entered the lower part of the chamber passes
over a guiding and supporting roller, then against and around one of the curved
ends of the partition, thence over the upper surface of the partition, and
round: the other curved end thereof. The cloth or fabric is then caused to
pass over another supporting and guiding roller, and out of the chamber.
At each end of the chamber proper doors are formed in order to get to the
interior thereof, and the gas flames or jets are arranged at both ends of the
chamber, and by preference in two rows at each end, and the burners.used' are
arranged as is well understood in such manner that the gas is mixed largely

page_text: with atmospheric air before it comes to where it is ignited, whereby the gas
used will be more advantageously burned. By these arrangements there will
be no fan or other artificial means of obtaining draft required, as the products
of combustion and dust will be carried away by the draft of the chimney, and
by reason of.burning large quantities of atmospheric air with the-gas, and the
consequent perfect combustion of the gas, no black or colored marks will take
place on the cloth or fabric singed by the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Colin Mather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
February 1861.
T
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COLIN
MATHER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and-sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Colin Mather, Her special licence, that I, the said Colin Mather, my
"executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Colin
Mather, 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 GAS SINGEING
APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Colin
Mather, 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
the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW. YE, that I, the said Colin Mather, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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:
This Invention consists of an apparatus for gas singeing fabrics, by which
the fabrics to be singed, are conducted into an oblong chamber which is divided

page_text: by a hollow partition, so that when the cloth or fabric to be singed has entered
the lower part of the chamber, it passes against the curved lower ends of the
central hollow partition. The fabric is conducted into and out of the oblong
chamber by guide and supporting rollers. The fabric may be caused to enter the
5 oblong chamber from the upper part, and be conducted downwards to the lower
-part, and under the ends of the hollow plates or partitions which is the arrange-
ment preferred, or the fabric may be caused to enter the oblong chamber
towards the .lower part of that chamber, and thence pass more directly under
the ends of the plates of the hollow partition. At the ends or other proper
parts of the oblong chamber, there are doors to facilitate getting to the interior
of the chamber, and to the fabric passing through the same.
There is a gas
apparatus used in combination with the oblong chamber, by..which gas and
atmospheric air are supplied in a. manner which is well understood when used.
for other purposes, in order that the gas may be largely mixed with the
air before the same is ignited. By these arrangements there will be. no fan
or other artificial means of obtaining draft required, the products of combus-
tion and dust will be carried..away by the draft of the chimney, and by-reason
of burning large quantities of atmospheric air with the gas, and the conse-
quent perfect combustion of the gas; no black or colored marks will take place
on the cloth or fabric singed by the apparatus.
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section, Figure 2 an elevation, Figure 3 a
plan, and Figure 4 a transverse section of apparatus constructed.according. to
my Invention; Figure. 5, is a.side view partly in section of the singeing :appa-
› rátus, and oblong chamber separately on a somewhat larger scale than the
other: Figures.
a, à, is the driving shaft or axis, having a fast and loose pulley or drum
thereon; b.is. a forked lever by which the driving strap is moved on to and off
the fast pulley, and such lever is arranged to shut off the supply of gas to the
singeing apparatus when the machine is stopped, and this is accomplished by
the lever being connected with the supply cock c in such manner as to open.
it when the machine is started, and to close it when the machine is stopped.;
d, d, is an oblong chamber, having within it four conducting and supporting
rollers, the two upper ones being for the purpose of guiding the fabric into the
chamber at the upper part thereof, but in place thereof the fabric may enter lower
down; e, e, are gas cocks surrounded by tubes f, which have openings at their
lower ends to admit atmospheric air. The upper ends of the tubes fare con-
nected with a .hollow chamber with a slit or narrow passage, and 9, 9, are

page_text: 'slides by which the length of the narrow outlet or slit is contracted or extended
according to the width of fabric, which is being passed through the machine;
- is, a hollow partition extending nearly from end to end of the oblong chamber,
and at its upper part, and just above the oblong chamber is a chimney connected
to the hollow partition; x is a gas tube, which has at its end a burner which is
constantly lighted, so that when the 'machine is stopped and again started,
the mixture of gas and air will be ignited. The other parts of the machinery
are simply for the purpose of conducting the fabric to and from the gas
singeing apparatus, the peculiarity consisting in the arrangement or combi-
nation of oblong chamber and gas apparatus. The cloth-or-fabric-; it is pre-
ferred should be rendered as dry and warm as may be immediately before "it
enters the oblong chamber where the singeing is performed, for which purpose
the fabric or cloth is passed around the cylinder k which is heated by steam,
from thence it passes over and partly around the supporting and guiding
rollers l, m, n, o, and p, into and out of the oblong chamber, and against the
curved ends of the plates composing the hollow partition, which are preferred
to be of copper, though it may be of other metal, and at this point the fabric
meets the flame produced by the combined gas and atmospheric air" through
which it passes, and is by it singed. In place of only-using one row of flame,
the apparatus may be arranged to produce two or even more flames. The-
fabric as it leaves the gas singeing chamber is brushed by a revolving brush p¹
on to which it is caused to press by the roller q, and thence the fabric passes
to the roller r, on to which it is wound by the rotation of the cylinder's, which
is on the main shaft or axis of the machine.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the
separate mechanical parts herein described, nor do I confine myself to the
details so long as gas singeing apparatus is arranged as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Colin Mather, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
JAB. BROWN,
Broughton.
COLIN MATHER. (L.S.)