IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH FROM THE DOWN OF BIRDS, AND IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUfacture
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Charles Henderson, of 6, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH FROM THE DOWN OF BIRDS, AND IN THE
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUfacture." A
communication from abroad by Thierry Girées, of Pouru, St. Remy, in the
Department of Ardennes, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Charles Henderson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd June 1879.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH FROM
THE DOWN OF BIRDS, AND IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN
SUCH MANUFACTURE." A communication from abroad by Thierry Girées, of Pouru,
St. Remy, in the Department of Ardennes, in the Republic of France.
The principal ingredient in this manufacture of down cloth is the down of birds,
such, for instance, as the down of swaus, which will take any shades of dye, from
the most delicate to the deepest. This matter may be worked separately or in
conjunction with other matters, such as wool, by preference silk, cotton, or other
material.
--
70 to 85 kilogrammes.
The mixture best suited to the purpose is as follows :-
Birds' down in a natural state
Wool
"
"
Added to which is aleic acid
-
-
20 to 30
50 to 60
do.
do.
These are intimately mixed by strewing them in superposed layers, and are then
passed through the usual series of machines, three in number, the first being for
carding and mixing the ingredients; the second is the shag machine, and the third
the carding machine for slubbing. These machines are slightly modified to suit
requirements.
The doffer is of special construction to effect an important operation, viz., the
introduction into the down or mixture of matters of one or inore threads to strengthen
and sustain the down, and serve as core to it. This introduction is effected as
follows:-The doffer is composed of 42 collars, each one forming a thread, Above

page_text: is a bobbin, containing by preference, threads of wool, silk, cotton, or other material,
in numbers equal to the collars; these threads, led by the doffer, pass between it
and the drum, and become clothed with the mixture of down and wool; thence
they reach the doffing combs, each of which doffs 21 threads to deliver them to an
American or dyer's franie, preceded by small grooved cylinders, which isolate the
threads from one another, sustain them, and facilitate the passage of the doffers to
the American frames.
The matters, after leaving the slubbing machine, are spun in the usual manner,
with the exception that the speed must not be so great as for other filamentous
matters.
In weaving all that is required is to avoid the too close locking up of the matter
so that it can be readily dressed.
In scouring, as example, say, for a piece weighing 10 to 12 kilogrammes, it is
placed in a washing trough containing 20 to 25 litres of soda at 5 degrees; it is
heated to from 30 to 40 degrees centigrade. The piece is there left for 2 hours,
until the oleine forms with the soda an abundant saponification.
The piece is then put into a bath heated to from 25 to 35 degrees, turning it for
half an hour, and at this juncture a gentle admission of a jet of cold water is
allowed to gradually disperse the soda bath, after which water is copiously admitted
till it becomes quite clear; the piece is then withdrawn to dry it, when it is napped
to free it from knots.
Fulling may be dispensed with, and the matter passed to the teasing machine.
Fulling is effected by the known method and use of soap.
In teasing the down cloth a machine is employed, bearing on the shaft of the
driving pulley or pinion which transmits the motion of a cog wheel keyed to the
axis of a cylinder furnished with cards for drawing and teasing the down cloth.
A movable roller presents the piece of stuff to the cylinder and conducts it to a
second cylinder supplied with cards, for separating the piece of material from the
first cylinder.
There is also a detaching cylinder furnished with cards and above a roller guide,
and support to the piece of material during its translation; another roller further
on serves a similar purpose, and by the side of this is another cylinder supplied
with cards, placed in a contrary direction to those of the cylinder in front of it.
With this arrangement, and after having passed the piece through as many times
as may be required, the down reappears and equalizes itself with the surface of the
tissue, and all crushing occasioned by the action of fulling disappears.
Shearing and dyeing is effected in the usual manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Arthur Charles Henderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
December 1879.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH FROM
THE DOWN OF BIRDS, AND IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN
SUCH MANUFACTURE.' A communication from abroad by Thierry Girées, of Pouru,
St. Remy, in the Department of Ardennes, in the Republic of France.
"
This Invention relates to a practical and efficacious mode of manufacturing cloth
from down, and consists, first, in a judicious choice of materials in the proportions
most suitable thereto, in the preparation and mixture of such matters, in the
operations to which they are subjected, and in the apparatus employed, so as to
finally constitute, after spinning, weaving, scouring, fulling, teaseling, dyeing, and
so forth, a material presenting the special features and characteristics of a perfectly
novel manufacture.
The down cloth has for its principal ingredients birds' down, such as swans' down,
which will take any colour, may be more or less heavy, is always very warm, and
in most cases impermeable to rain. This element may be mixed with wool, silk,
cotton, and other filamentous substances, or it may be used singly in the said
manufacture without altering the method and machinery hereafter described.
The following description of the method of manufacture, which is much similar
to the ordinary and well known one, and in which some of the machinery employed
is unaltered, whilst some is modified to suit requirements, as will be shown by the
Drawings which represent by Figs. 1 and 2 an elevation and plan of the second
carding engine or shag machine appropriate for the down; Figs. 3 and 4 are an
elevation and plan of the third carding machine for slubbing, also suitable to the
purpose; Figs. 5 and 6 represent an elevation and plan of the improved dressing
machine.
Raw Materials. Mixing and oiling. It has been mentioned that down alone may
be used without any admixture or materially changing the subsequent operations.
Industrially and commercially considered it is best to mix the down with wool in fixed
proportions, and experience proves that the following proportions are most advisable,
viz. Birds' down, in a natural state, 70 to 85 kilogrammes; wool, 20 to 30 kilo-
grammes; to which is added oleic acid, 50 to 60 kilogrammes. To make an intimate
mixture of these three ingredients they are strewn in superposed layers in the
ordinary machinery for heating and mixing the wool, and inaking from 4 to 500
turns per minute, and the mixture effected may then be submitted to the sorters,
which, as in the case of wool, consist of three carding machines having the requisite
modifications, which will hereafter be described.
First Carding Machine.-The principal cylinder should make from 35 to 45 turns
a minute, instead of 100 to 110, which it makes for wool; supposing it to have a
diameter of 1 metre, all the other parts would be of dimensions and a speed in
proportion. The first machine would have the workers, clearers, and drums garnished
with cards on indiarubber tissue of No. 24 thread and 18 teeth to the square centi-
mètre, these teeth being 7 millimètres high and 2 millimètres hook from the tissue.
The doffer is garnished with ribbons of the same tissue, but No. 26 thread and 22
tecth to the square centimetre and 11 millimètres high, and the hook 7 millimètres
from the leather or tissue.
The first machine thus prepared and the cylinders adjusted as near as possible,
the mixture is laid out on the table which regularly introduces it to the machine,
and the carding and mixture are mado conveniently. When the matter leaves the
machine it falls to the ground, and there a workman specially engaged withdraws
the small feathers that may still remain in the mixture.

page_text: Second or Shag Machine, Fig. 1.-This should be worked at the same speed as
the first; the card ribbons garnishing it are also like those of the first machine, and
from the regularity of the spinning this shag machine should form a mattress of the
matter, which is effected by placing after the doffer an endless cloth, on which is
another movable cloth for receiving the matter as quickly as it is detached from the
doffer. The speed of translation of this cloth and the quality of the raw material
placed on the table of the machine will produce the thickness more or less of the
mattress it is desired to produce. a is the endless table of the machine where the
matter coming from the first machine is spread out; b is the cylinder or principal
drum, with the usual series of working cylinders and clearing or cleaning cylinders;
o is the fly which detaches the matter from the drum; d is the doffer with its comb
e, which detaches the matter to cause it to fall on the endless table f, arranged at
the end of the frame. The endless cloth ƒ is led by the cylinder f', mounted on the
axis of a pulley f", which receives by a strap the movement of the machine by
receiving it on the axis of one of the delivering cylinders. The endless cloth f runs
from the roller fl to that f³ arranged behind the doffer. It receives on this latter
roller a movable cloth g, coming from the roller gl, round which it is stored to
place itself on the endless cloth f, and to wind itself on the cloth beam g¹¹ arranged
above and a little in rear of the roller f¹. The result is that the mixture detached
from the doffer falls regularly on the cloth g, which draws it along to wind itself
with it round the roller g".
Third Machine, or Carding Machine for Slubbing, Figs. 2 and 3.-This machine
has the same speed as the preceding; its ribbons are of No. 26 thread and carding
points apart, or not closely arranged. All these machines, with the exception of the
doffers, should not be filled, so as to leave sufficient space for carding the down
without breakage.
h is the endless table, which bears the mattress produced by the shag machine,
Fig. 1; this table introduces it by the entries i, i, in the machine; the largo
cylinder J is surrounded by strippers , k, workers 1, 1, 1, and fly m. The movable
cloth 9, freed from the mattress, winds round the cylinder g³. p is the doffer of
special construction to effect an important operation, the introduction into the down,
or the prescribed mixture of one or several threads destined to sustain the down
and serve as core to it. This introduction is effected as follows:-The doffer p is a
mètre long, is composed of 42 collars, each one forming a thread. Above a bobbin
q contains wool threads by preference, or silk, cotton, or other material, in number
equal to that of the collars of the doffer; these threads, led by the doffer, pass
between it and the drum, and become clothed with the mixture of down and wool;
thence they reach the doffing combs o, o, which each doff 21 threads to deliver them
to a continuous apparatus having two sets of takers r, r, which rub them and form
them into rolls, which latter are wound on the sticks 8, 8, animated with a rotary
motion influenced by the rollers s¹, 8'.
The American or dyers' fraines ?, r, are preceded by small grooved cylinders u, u,
which isolate the threads from one another, sustain them, and facilitate the passage
of the doffers to the frames r, r. t is the roller conducting the threads of the bobbin
g at the speed of the doffer. As before mentioned, if it is desired to use the down
only, without any admixture, the previous operations are conducted just the same,
and the introduction of the sustaining thread or threads is similarly effected.
Spinning-The matters leaving the slubbing cording machine are spun on any
suitable machines or on self acting ones, with the reservation that the speed must
not be so great as for other filamentous matters.
Weaving. The spun material being produced as mentioned can be employed in
the manufacture of any tissues of wool, silk, or cotton. It suffices to guard against
locking up the matter too closely, so that it can be dressed without forcing the down
too much.
Scouring. In scouring the following example will serve as a basis:-For a piece
of stuff weighing 10 to 12 kilogrammes, a bath is prepared in a washing trough, in
which the piece is placed, containing 20 to 25 litres of soda at 5 degrees; this in

page_text: heated to 30 or 40 degrees centigrade. It is there left for about 2 hours until the
olein forms with the soda an abundant saponification; then it is placed in a bith
long enough to hold and bathe the piece, heated from 25 to 35 degrees, turning it
for half an hour. At this juncture a jet of cold water is admittert to gently
disperse the soda bath; after this a quantity of water is admitted, till the water
becomes quite clear. The piece is then withdrawn to dry it; it is then napped to
free it froin knots.
Fulling. The fulling may be dispensed with, and the matter be passed to the
teasing apparatus. Fulling is effected by the methods at present in practice by the
use of soap. An article of the weight of 6 to 700 grammes to the mètre may be
fulled of 25 to 30 per cent. long to 30 to 40 per cent. broad.
Teasing. In teasing the down cloth the machine represented Figs. 4 and 5 is
used. Without being restricted to any special form of frame, this machine com-
prises on the shaft of the driving pulley A a pinion B, which transmits the notion
of the cog wheel C. This is keyed on the axis of the cylinder D, furnished with
cards for drawing and teasing the down cloth. E is a movable roller presenting the
piece of stuff P to the cylinder D, and conducting it to the cylinder F, supplied
with cards for separating this piece P from cylinder D; G is a detaching cylinder
furnished with cards. Above is a roller guide and support of the piece P; during
its translation further on, the roller I serves the same purpose. By the side of this
is the cylinder J, supplied with cards in a contrary direction to that of the cylinder
K in front of it.
With this arrangement, and after having passed the piece through as many times
as is requisite, the down reappears and equalizes itself perfectly with the surface of
the tissue, and all crushing occasioned by the action of fulling disappears.
Shearing, Dyeing.-Shearing is effected by the usual and known methods; the
same is the case with dyeing. The down cloth takes any shades of colour, from the
most delicate to the deepest, by a simple use of the existing process.
Finally. The Invention relates to the manufacture of what is here termed down
cloth, composed of the down of birds preferably mixed with wool, silk, cotton, and
other filamentous matters. What is claimed in the manufacture is,-
1st. The selection of the raw inaterials, their proportions, their mode of admix-
ture, and oiling, as herein specified.
2nd. The modifications stipulated for, advantageously employing the first machine
in carding and mixing.
3rd. The second or shag machine as modified for producing a mattress rolled with
a movable cloth or doubler, such as described in respect of Fig. 1.
4th. The third machine or carding machine for slubbing, for effecting the intro-
duction into the down of the threads of wool, cotton, or silk, forming a core of
threads for the purpose of strengthening the down as described, and as represented,
Figs. 2 and 3.
5th. The practical observations as to spinning, weaving, scouring, and fulling.
Gth. The teasing machine, Figs. 5 and 6, for effecting and efficiently teasing and
raising the nap.
7th. If down is alone used, reservation is made to strengthen it by a core of other
matter, as specified in the claim 4.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
A. C. HENDERSON. (L.S.)