CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING OF CARDS FOR DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WILLIAMS, the elder, of Dursly, in the County of Gloucester, Card Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of
May, in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Williams, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said Richard Williams,
my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term
of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING OF CARDS FOR DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Richard Williams, shall not 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 under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
iurolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the
same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Williams, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist in placing the teeth of the cards in groups or
bundles, somewhat similar to the groups or bundles of bristles, or of hair in
.brushes, such as common shoe brushes, &c., and also in fastening the said
bundles of teeth into wooden blocks, or blocks made of metal, or any other
suitable material, instead of putting the teeth thro' leather, as is commonly
practised in the manufacturing of cards for dressing woollen cloths. I make the
teeth of my said cards of wire made of steel, brass, iron, or any, other suitable
metal; but as the teeth for cards have long been made. of these metals, I do
not claim the introduction of metal teeth as any part of my Invention. As to
the size of the wire of which the teeth are to be made, or the length of the
teeth, or the number of teeth in each group or bundle, no precise directions
can be given, as these must necessarily vary with the description of cloth
intended to be dressed. It may, however, be well to say generally: the size or
diameter of the wire will be nearly the same as is commonly used for making
cards for a like purpose; that I usually make the length of the teeth about
three fourths of an inch (by the length, I mean that part of the tooth which
stands above or out of the block in which the bundles are fixed); that the
number of teeth in each bundle will vary from fifty to two hundred, less or
more, as occasion may require. The blocks in which I fix the bundles of teeth
I commonly make of wood, about half an inch thick, and about the same size
of the common cards for dressing cloths. These blocks must be perforated with
as many holes as there are to be bundles of teeth in each block, and by the
position of the holes the bundles of teeth are made to stand in rows in the
direction of the length of the block, but in the contrary direction across the
block; the bundles of teeth alternate with each other, that is, the bundles in
any one row stand opposite to the spaces between the bundles in the neigh-
bouring row.
For the better explanation of my Invention, and the application thereof in
the manufacturing of cards for dressing woollen cloths, reference may be had to
the Drawings annexed to these Presents, where Fig. 1 is a perspective
Drawing of a card exhibiting my improvements. a, a, a, a, represents the
wooden block in which the bundles of teeth are fixed; b, b; b, b, &c. represent
the bundles of teeth. I have here, and also in Fig. 2 (which Fig. 2 is a
section of the block, representing the bundles of teeth in the manuer in which
I usually make them, namely, with a considerable inclination to one side or
leaning backwards, and with their points bent forward in the contrary direction,

page_text: so as to form a kind of hook at the point or end of each wire. c, c, in Fig. 1,
represents a piece of wood or stem, fastened across the middle of the block,
similar to the stems in common use for affixing the teasil frames to the
cylinder or wheel of a gig mill; but as neither the manner of affixing the cards
to gig mills, nor the kinds of handles or stems to be fastened to the card, nor
the particular manner of using the cards, whether by hand or as connected
with gig mills, or any other kind of machinery for the purpose of dressing
wollen cloths, form any part of my Invention, and as these are expedients
which admit of a great variety of modification, and are well understood by
those who are employed in dressing woollen cloths, I need not give more
particular directions for the applications thereof. Notwithstanding I have in the
Drawings represented the teeth as forming a certain angle with the plane of
the block, it is obvious they may be placed at right angles therewith, or with
any greater or less degree of inclination which may be best adapted to the
dressing of peculiar kinds of cloths, or that the teeth may be left straight
without having their ends bent forward, as shewn in the Drawings. I have
said above, that the bundles of teeth are fixed into the wooden blocks in the
same way as bristles or hair are fixed in brushes, such as shoe brushes, &c.; but
although this manner of fixing the said bundles is no part of my Invention,
yet it may be useful, to the better understanding the nature of my said
Invention or improvements, that I should be more particular in describing it,
which I do as follows:-I will suppose it determined that each each bundle
shall consist of one hundred teeth; I then take fifty pieces of wire of an equal
and proper length, say from one inch and half to two inches long, so that, when
these are bent in the middle and doubled, both ends will be brought together
and form a bundle of one hundred teeth, about half the length they were
before they were bent. In order to insert and fasten a proper number of such
bundles into the blocks, so as to make cards, a proper and corresponding
number of holes must be made in each block, with such an inclination, or
making such an angle with the plane of the block, as it is intended that the
bundles of teeth shall have when inserted therein. For distinction sake I shall
call that side of the block from which the teeth project the face, and the
opposite side the back of the block. I generally make the holes in the blocks
taper or conical. The diameter of the holes on the face side of the block must
be such as to receive the doubled ends of the bundles, and such that the
bundles may fill the holes; the diameter at the back, for the holes must pass
thro' the blocks, may be about the tenth of an inch. By the description I have
given above, of bending and doubling up the bundles, it will appear clearly
that each individual wire will be bent into the shape of a staple or bow,

page_text: and that there will be a bundle of fifty such staples. In order, therefore, to
fasten these bundles into the holes in the block, I pass one end of a long thread
or wire (but I prefer wire) from the back of the block through one of the holes,
and passing the same end of the wire thro' the bundle of staples or teeth, I
return it through the same hole from the face of the block, and by drawing it
tight, the bundle of teeth is drawn into the hole to a proper depth, and thereby
held fast. In this manner I proceed to pass the end of the same wire thro' the
next hole in the same row, and to fix another bundle of teeth, and so on succes-
sively from hole to hole throughout the whole number of holes in the block,
until the card is compleated. I forbear to describe the more minute parts of
the manipulations in this process, as they must be perfectly understood, from
the well-known and similar method used in making brushes.
Lastly, I proceed more distinctly to show in what my improvements in the
manufacturing of cards for dressing woollen cloths consist, namely, that they are
two-fold, first, the placing the teeth of the cards in groups or bundles; and,
secondly, the fixing the said groups or bundles into wooden blocks, or blocks
made of any other suitable material, so as to render the card so manufactured
better adapted to the purpose of dressing of woollen cloths than cards made
in the common way.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh