CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHEARING AND DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE,
OLDLAND, of Hillesley, in the Parish of Hawkesbury and County of Gloucester,
Cloth Worker, send greeting..
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and thirty, and the first of His reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said George Oldland, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said George Oldland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or any.
other person or persons whom I might authorise and appoint, and no others,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my. Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR SHEARING AND DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said
George Oldland, shall not within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, that then and in that case.
the said Letters Patent, and all privileges and advantages thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Oldland, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly set forth and
described by the following explanation thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention of improvements in machinery or apparatus for shearing and
dressing woollen cloths consists, first, in the construction and adaptation of a
peculiar kind of cutting instrument never before employed in or adapted to a
machine for shearing or cropping the pile from woollen cloth, which cutting
instrument is formed by a dise of steel or other hard metal, or. it may be
hollowed out resembling a cup, the circular edge of which is intended to act
against a thin bar.or ledger blade, and being made to revolve upon a central
spindle, and to traverse to and fro against the edge of the ledger blade, will,
when thus put in action, produce the effect of shears by cropping the pile of
the cloth which is brought against it.
Secondly, in the adaptation of a frame, handle, or holder containing teasles
or wire cards or brushes, or any other suitable material for dressing cloth,
which frame, frames, handles, or holders are to be brought against the face
of the cloth under operation for raising the pile, and which frame or frames,
handles or holders, being made to revolve on a central spindle, or by any other
convenient means, is intended by the circular movement of the points of the
teasles, wires, brushes, or other materials to draw out tho fibres of the wool,
or in other words, to raise the pile of the cloth crosswise, that is, in the direc-
tion from the middle towards the lists.
These improved cutting instrument or implements for shearing or cropping
and for dressing or raising the pile of woollen cloth, I bring into effective
operation by mounting them in suitable standards and framework for driving
with beds, rollers, and other appendages for supporting and adjusting the cloth
intended to be operated upon, and for bringing the cloth forward by similar
micans to those heretofore commonly employed in shearing and dressing
machines for tho like purposes. It is thereforo to bo understood that I do not
claim the construction of such machines, except in regard to tho adaptation
of my improved cutters and frames, handles or holders, and avail myself of
any form or construction of machine to which the said improved cutters and
frames, handles, or holders may be found applicable for the aforesaid
purposes.
Fig. 1 represents one of the disc culters, seen edgewise, bearing upon the
ledger blade; Fig. 2 is a top view of the same, and Fig. 3 is the under side
of the disc cutter, the central part being excavated, making the cutter cup-

page_text: shaped. To the centre of the disc on the upper side a spindle is affixed for
the purpose of allowing it to revolve when mounted in the shaving frame, as
shewn in the two following Figures. This disc cutter may be of hardened
steel, or perhaps some other hard substance may answer the purpose nearly as
well, and about two and a quarter inches in diameter. The edge of the disc
is to bear upon the edge of the ledger blade, covering it about a quarter of an
inch, more or less, as represented at Fig. 2, where it will be seen that tho
edges of the cutter and the ledger blade form acute angles, like the two blades
of shears, and if the cutter be made to revolve rapidly, and to traverse to and
fro, the pile of the cloth, that is, the fibres of the wool standing up being
caught in the angle between the ledger blade and cutter, will, as the cutter
moves onward, be cropped or shorn off. Fig. 4 is a front view of a shearing
frame or machine, in which a series of these disc-formed cutters are mounted,
and Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the same. These two last-mentioned
Figures are exhibited merely for the purpose of shewing a convenient mode of
adapting the said cutters, and of bringing them to act upon the face of the
cloth; but I do not confine myself to this particular construction of machine,
as the said cutters may be made to work, perhaps with equally good effect, in
differently constructed machines. It is therefore to be understood that the
particular construction of machine here shown forms no part of my present
Invention.
a, a, is the main rotary shaft, driven by a band and rigger as usual; b, b, is
the ledger blade, a thin plate of steel extending along the frame, fastened by
screws to the ledger bar, and suspended in the same way as in some other
shearing machines already known and in use; c, c, is the bed, a smooth edge
of iron extending along tho machine, over which the cloth passes to be shorn;
d, d, d, d, &c. are the disc cutters; to each of these a spindle c, c, e, c, &c. is
affixed, as above said; f, f, is a moveable carrier frame, in which the spindles
of the cutters are mounted, with adjusting screws and springs 9, 9.9, 9, &c. at
top, to bring all the cutters to their proper bearings upon the ledger blade.
On each of the spindles a pulley is fixed, and a tight cord passed round them,
in the manner of a drill bow, for the purpose of giving the spindles and their
cutters a rotary motion when the carrier frame moves. The carrier frame f, f,
is mounted in grooves in the standards h, h, affixed to the ledger bar, and in
these grooves the frame f, f, slides to and fro. The sliding frame is elongated
towards the right-hand end of the machine at i, for the purpose of allowing
it to be acted upon by a spiral or cam wheel k affixed to the end of the main
rotary shaft. As the main shaft revolves, the rib, or spiral tooth or cam
formed round the periphery of the wheel k, taking into the groove of the pieco

page_text: fixed at the back of the end of the sliding frame, shewn by dots at i, causes
the sliding frame f,f, to traverse to and fro, and the cord passed round the
pullies being drawn tight and made fast at each end to stationary arms 1, 1,
fixed to the standards h, h. The pullies with the spindles are by the tight
cord made to revolve rapidly, and thus by the traversing of the frame to pro-
duce the alternating rotary action of the cutters, which crops the pile of the
cloth.
I have described the above method of actuating the cutters by a cord and
pullies, because I find it effective; but I do not confino myself to that par-
ticular mode of driving the cutters, as the same movement might perhaps be
produced with equally good effect by a rack and pinions, or by other means.
It is unnecessary to describe particularly the manner in which the cloth
is brought forward, the bed and the ledger blade adjusted, and the other parts
of the machine constructed, as the same will be fully understood by the Draw-
ing, and is well known to mechanics conversant with shearing machinery.
The frames, handles, or holders to contain the teasles, wire cards, or other
suitable materials for raising the pilo of woollen cloths, I construct in a similar
form to the cutters above described, that is, in circular frames or discs, which
are intended to revolve by means of a central spindle affixed to each, and
when mounted in a convenient frame and driven round, cause the teasles,
avire cards, or other suitable materials, to raise the pile of the cloth submitted
to operation.
Fig 67, and 8 represent the frame handle or holder, containing teasles, as
it would appear in different positions. I first construct a frame of pieces of wood
a, a, a, Fig. 6, connected together by rings of iron b, b, with small arms, through
which rivets, pins, or screws pass, for the purpose of holding the wood together.
I then introduce teasles c, c, c, in the manner shewn, by passing their stems and
heads into grooves or recesses in the edge of the wood, and confine them in that
situation by a string bound round the external edge or periphery of the frame,
which mode of fastening the teasles into the frames is much the same as the
ordinary mode of fixing them into rods or handles, but, in this instance, as
applied to my improved object, the frame is disc-formed. If I employ wire
cards, or any other suitable material instead of teasles, it is obvious that I must
fasten them by some other convenient mode; it is only necessary to say that they
must be placed in the same position as the teasles shown in Figure 6, and on
disc-formed frames, at equal distances from the centre. When these frames
are charged with the teasles, or other suitable materials, they are to be attached
to a circular carrier d by staples or otherwise, and then mounted in a suitable
machine. The construction of machine which I find convenient for this pur-

page_text: end view; and
d, d, d; are the
pose, as shewn at Fig. 9, a front elevation; Fig. 10, an
Fig. 11, a plan or horizontal representation of the same.
circular carriers, about sixteen inches diameter, the frames, handles, or holders,
with the teasles or wires placed in them. These carriers have each a spindle
e, e, e, affixed to the centre of their upper surface, which spindles being
mounted in the machine, as shewn, are made to revolve by means of bevil
gear, or may be driven by various other means. The cloth to be operated
upon is to be stretched over the bed ff. f, extending the whole. breadth of
the machine, and to be progressively drawn forwards by means of rollers, in a
similar way to that usually employed in brushing machines. The bed is
suspended upon weighted levers g. 9, by which means the face of the cloth is
kept up against the surface of the teasles, and as they revolve, the pile or
wool is raised in a segment direction crosswise of the cloth, that is, from the
middle towards the lists. It is necessary that the bed should be formed of
some elastic material, in order to give free action to the points of the teasles
or wires. I have found it desirable to employ in connection with this mode of
raising the pile of woollen cloth a row of fine needle points or heckles, shewn
at h, which I cause to move a little distance up and down by means of the
crank and rod i, Fig. 10, and also laterally to and fro by means of a cam and
fixed tooth k, Fig. 10 and 11; this contrivance I call a pioneer, and its
design is to draw out the fibres of the wool previously to the face of the cloth
coming under the operation of the teasles or wirers in the disc-raisers. I have
exhibited in the Drawing this machine merely for the purpose of shewing a
method of bringing my rotary disc-formed teasle frames or raisers into opera-
tion upon the face of woollen cloth for the purpose of raising the pile. I do
not, however, claim its particular construction, or confine myself solely to its
employment, as my improved rotary teasle frames or raisers might be con-
veniently put in operation in various other constructions of machinery, and
answer the purpose perhaps equally well.
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Lastly, I wish it to be observed, that tho' I have described my improved.
cutter as of a disc or circular form, turning upon a central spindle, and
which I consider to be the most effective for the operation of cropping or
shearing the pile, yet if any slight variation of form should be suggested by
any other person, such as an eliptical or poligonal-formed cutter, bearing upon
the ledger blade and turning upon a central spindle, in imitation of the mode
above described, I shall consider the same to be an infringement of my
present Invention; and as respects the disc-formed teaslc frame, bandle or
holder for raising the pile of the cloth, the same remarks must apply, as the
said holder may be slightly varied in form; but if made to turn upon a

page_text: central spindle, as described, I shall consider it to be an imitation of my said
Invention.
In witness whereof I, the said George Oldland, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
GEORGE (L.s.) OLDLAND.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of January,
in the first year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said George Oldland came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and everything therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.