CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING AND DRESSING OF CLOTH
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HIRST, of Leeds, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of October, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hirst, and also to JOHN WOOD, of Leeds aforesaid, Manufacturer,
and JOHN ROGERSON, of Leeds aforesaid, Millwright, His especial licence that
we, the said William Hirst, John Wood, and John Rogerson, our exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Hirst, John
Wood, and John Rogerson, our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING AND
DRESSING OF CLOTH;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging us, or one of us, the said William Hirst, John Wood; and John
Rogerson, by an instrument in writing under our or one of our hands and
seals, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at loc appear

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hirst, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention to consist
in certain additions to the machinery described in the Specification of a former
Patent granted to us by His present Majesty for Certain Improvements in
Machinery for Raising and Dressing Cloth, bearing date at Westminster, the
Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-four, the Specification of which Patent was duly inrolled according to
the proviso therein contained.
The leading features of the said former Invention were the introduction of
a second cylinder or gig barrel with the necessary gear for actuating it, and
the employment of certain rollers with pinions and racks for the purpose of
pressing the cloth against the surface of the gig barrels, and the modes of
regulating and adjusting the same in order to bring a greater or less portion
of the surface of the cloth in contact with the gigs, and also to make it bear
upon the 'teazles with any required force. Our present improvements are the
introduction. of certain rollers and the gear connected thereto, by means of
which contrivances. we are enabled to bring the, face of the cloth in contact-
with the backs of both the gig. barrels as well as the front, and thereby to
double the effect of the former machine.
:
And in further compliance. with the said proviso, I, the said William.
Hirst, do hereby describe the manner in which our said Invention is to bo
performed, by reference to the general construction of the entire machine and
the Drawing annexed exhibiting both the old and new parts.
In the Drawing hereto annexed Fig. 1 is a front view of the machine
shewing the two. barrels, and the rollers with the toothed wheels by which
they are actuated; Fig. 2 is the right-hand end of the machine with the
wheels and other gear more perfectly exhibited; and Fig. 3 is a representation
of the left-hand-end-of-the-machine-with-the-piece-of-cloth-shewn passing,
over the rollers, and in contact with both sides. of the gig barrels, the letters
of reference respectively marking the same parts of the machinery in all the
Figures. The vertical shaft (a), with its horizontal bevil.wheel (b), receiving
rotary motion from a steam engine or any other first mover, actuates the
bevel wheel (c), from whence rotary motion. is communicated to the machinery
by the sliding clutch or coupling box (d), locking it, to the axle of the lower
gig barrel c.
At the reverse end of the axle of the lower gig barrel is affixed
the toothed wheel f, which takes into a similar toothed wheel g that slides
loosely upon. the axle of the upper gig barrel h, and when the axle of the
upper gig barrel is locked to this wheel g' by the sliding clutch i then the two
gig barrels revolve together in opposite directions, but when the clutch i is

page_text: withdrawn the wheel slides round its axle, and the upper gig barrel remains
quiescent. At the right-hand end of the axle of the lower gig barrel the
toothed wheel k is affixed, which takes into an intermediate toothed wheel l,
and this into a similar toothed wheel m sliding loosely round the axle of the
upper gig barrel. Hence when the clutch n, which slides upon the square
part of the axle, is made to lock to the wheel m, and the clutch i at the
reverse end is unlocked, the two gig barrels are made to revolve together in
the same direction. The cloth to be operated upon (as shewn by the red
color in Fig. 3) is first passed over the roller o and stretched smoothly
breadthwise. From thence it is carried downwards and conducted under and
over the rails p, p, which are intended to give it tension, and then under the
roller q, after which proceeds upwards with the face of the cloth next the gig
barrels and over the rollers r, r, at top, from whence it is conducted down the
back of the machine and under the rollers & and t to the pair of drawing rollers
u, and is then let fall on to the inclined scray, where it slides down to the
floor, and from the floor is drawn up as above described, its ends being joined
together in a continuous or endless web. The series of drawing and con-
ducting rollers are made to revolve by a train of wheels, which are actuated
by a pinion upon the axle of the wheel l. As this wheel revolves by the
means above described the pinion v takes into and turns a spur wheel W, and
this
wheel actuates a toothed wheel x. On the axle of this toothed
spur
wheel a bevel pinion is fixed, which takes into another bevel pinion y upon
the vertical shaft , 2, and hence causes that shaft to turn. At the upper and
lower extremities of the shaft two similar bevel pinions aro attached, which
take into corresponding bevel pinions upon the right-hand end of the axles of
the back rollers r and s, and communicate to those rollers rotatory motion.
At the left-hand end of the axle of the back roller 2 a toothed wheel I is
affixed, which takes into an intermediate wheel 2, and this into a similar
wheel 3 at the end of the date of the front roller r; thus the two rollers ? are
made to revolve together. To the right-hand extremity of the dato of the
front roller a toothed wheel 4 is attached, which turns with it and takes
into an intermediate wheel 5, and this into a smaller toothed wheel 6 fixed to
the end of the roller o. There is also attached to this roller o a rigger 7, with
a band leading to another rigger 8 upon the axle of the lower drawing roller
u. Hence it will be perceived that all the drawing and conducting rollers are
actuated by the pinion v, through the train of wheels, and that as the gig
barrels revolve the cloth continues traversing round the machine in an endless
web in the manner shewn by the red color in Fig. 3. In order to regulate
the force with which the cloth shall be pressed against the gig barrels a series

page_text: of rollers 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, and q, are introduced mounted on sliders 10, 10, 10.
A portion of each slider is formed into a rack in which a small pinion acts,
and at the end of the date of each pinion is a small bevelled toothed wheel
11, 11, 11. At the right-hand end of the machine a vertical rod 12, 12, is
placed, upon which there are bevelled pinions taking into the bevelled wheel
11, and on turning the rod by the handle 13 all the bevelled wheels and the
pinions will be simultaneously turned, by which means the racks with the
sliders will advance or recede, and the rollers 9 be drawn inwards or outwards,
so as to give a greater or less tension to the cloth, and cause it to extend over
and press more or less against the periphery of the gig barrels. To assist the
tension a roller 14 is placed at top of the machine, and also a roller 15 at the
under part of the machine, which is supported in pendent arms. These two
last-mentioned rollers, and also the roller t and the six tension rollers
9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, turn only by the friction of the cloth pressing against them
as it passes.
Now whereas, for the better elucidation of our said improvements, I have
described in the Drawing annexed a machine of the nature of that for which
the former herein-before recited Patent was obtained, as also the additions
thereto which constitute the said improvements to which we claim exclusive
priviledge under our present Patent; but whereas we only claim such privilege
to the said additions, which said additions are wholly independent of tho
remaining parts of the machine, for the said remaining parts constitute of
themselves a complete machine, which may be used either with or without the
said additions; and whereas the said additions which constitute our 'present
improvements are referable only to the series of guide rollers which lead the
cloth round to the back as well as the front of the gig barrels, and are marked
with the letters and figures following; that is to say, 1, 2, 3, 14, 8, 15, t and
u; and such guide rollers, so marked as aforesaid, being, to the best of our
knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used in that part of
His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His said Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I
do hereby declare this to be our Specification of our said improvements, and
that I do verily believe this our said Specification doth comply in all respects,
fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent contained: wherefore we hereby claim to
maintain exclusive right and privilege to our said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hirst, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
W (L.s.) HIRST.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid William Hirst came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and tant