IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bywater, of the Sweet Street Foundry,.
Holbeck, near Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT."
Scaled the Sth June 1869, and dated the 15th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bywater.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th December 1868.
I, WILLIAM BYWATER, of the Sweet Street Foundry, Holbeck, near
Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FELT," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved mode of working the top rollers.
of hardening machines employed in the manufacture of felt for working.
the fibres together. In the ordinary hardening machines the top rollers.
are worked endwise to and fro by one shaft, with eccentrics turned on.

page_text: the shaft, on which are shackles or shackles and saddles, which shackles
and saddles are connected to the top rollers by means of a neck in shaft
or collars on the same, thereby moving the top roller to and fro and
felting the material.
My Invention consists in the application of two instead of one eccentric
shaft as heretofore used, each shaft working together at one speed and
concentric in their motion, and having on the eccentric shaft straps,
clams, shackles, or pedestals or other appliances, working opposite each
end of each top roller, with screws or studs screwed into them with lock
nuts, such screws or studs fitting into the hollow of top roller shaft end,
or made hollow for top roller shaft ends to fit into, or pointed to a
centre, and the top roller shaft end centre hollowed out to suit the point,
which screw or stud is to be tightened up to the roller at each end, and
held there by lock nuts, by which means the two eccentric shafts com-
municate an oscillating, reciprocating, or to-and-fro motion to the top
rollers of the machine to fult the fibres which pass on an endless sheet
between the top and bottom rollers, the weight of the top roller being
equalized over the whole surface of the felted fabric, whereas in machines
now working with eccentric shaft and shackle at only one end of the top
roller the work produced is uneven, and there is great wear and tear
in the machines. The eccentric motion given to the top roller may be
effected by loose eccentrics fastened on to plane shafts, producing the
same results and advantages.
Also the improvements relate to the introduction of a particular mode
of syphoning water out of the steam heated rollers in such hardening
machines. For this purpose I introduce at one end of the copper steam-
heated rollers a copper hollow tube open on one side, into which opening
I insert a thin plate of copper the length of the tube for the purpose of
dividing it into two channels, so as to operate whichever way the roller
revolves; the plate being. fastened to the inside of the periphery of the
steam-heated roller conducts out the water therefrom through a tube in
the axle of such roller so. soon as motion is given thereto..
And the improvements also relate to connecting the crank or doffing:
motion of a carding engine with the shaft of the fancy direct without
bands or belts. For this purpose I use on one or both ends of the fancy
shaft eccentrics, cams, or tumblers, which being made fast are connected

page_text: direct to the doffing motion by means of connecting rods or forks
attached to a lever and rocking shaft on which the doffing knife is fixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bywater in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BYWATER, of the Sweet Street Foundry. Holbeck, near Leeds, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Bywater. Her special.
licence that I, the said William Bywater, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Bywater, 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 APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Bywater, 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Bywater, 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 :-
My Invention relates to an improved mode of working the top rollers
of hardening machines employed in the manufacture of felt for the

page_text: purpose of more efficiently working the fibres together. In the ordinary
hardening machines the top rollers are worked endwise to and fro by the
use of a single shaft with eccentrics turned on it, acting by means of
shackles or shackles and saddles or such like connection upon one end
of each of the top rollers, and in order that these top rollers may have a
to and fro as well as a rotary motion to aid the felting of the material.
My Invention consists in the application of two instead of one eccentric
shaft as heretofore used, both shafts working uniformly together so as to
produce like endway motions to these rollers, by which a more uniform
or even felting will be obtained with less wear and tear to the machinery
employed.
Also the improvements relate, secondly, to a method of syphoning
out the water of condensation from the steam heated rollers in such
hardening machines. For this purpose I introduce at one end of the
copper-steam-heated rollers_a_hollow tube open on one side, into which
opening insert-a thin plate-of-copper the length of the tube, for the
purpose of dividing it into two channels, so as to operate whichever way
the roller revolves; the plate being fastened to the inside of the peri-
phery of the steam heated roller conducts out the water therefrom through
a tube in the axle of such roller so soon as motion is given thereto.
Also the improvements relate, thirdly, to connecting the crank or
doffing motion of a carding engine with the "fancy" or cross shafts
direct without belts, tapes, or bands, by means of one or more eccentrics
with their straps and connecting rods. For this purpose I apply on one
or each end of the shaft of the "fancy" an eccentric to act direct upon
the doffing motion by means of a suitable connecting rod or fork from
such eccentric to an arm from a rocking shaft of the doffing knife.
But that the Invention may be fully understood I will, by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe means pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

page_text: cach end of the axis of the top roller C, in order that in the simul-
taneously corresponding motion of the two shafts A, A, an uniform
oscillating or to-and-fro endway motion may be given to the roller C by
the action of both ends thereof.
Figure 2 shews by a vertical view of one of the rollers and a section of
the two shafts A, A, with their eccentric necks (indicated by the dotted
lines) and the two pedestals or shackles B, B, with their pins B. The
pins B' are formed with threads to receive set nuts, by which they are
adjustable in the pedestals or shackles B. The ends of the pins B' and
of the axes C¹ of the top rollers may be variously formed in relation to
each other, as indicated by Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, or otherwise.
Figure 3 shews, by a longitudinal section, a portion of a steam heated
roller, and Figure 4 a section of the same, with a syphon applied thereto
for syphoning out the water of condensation formed in the steam heated
rollers of a felt hardening machine, according to the second part of the
Invention. A is the syphon tube which is open on its under side, where
it is divided by a thin plate, so as to divide the tube into two channels
and facilitate the action of syphoning whichever way the cylinder
revolves.
Figure 5 shews an application of the third part of the improvements.
In this Figure the letter A indicates an eccentric applied to the shaft of
the "fancy" roller, with a strap and connecting rod B connecting it
with the arm C¹ to the axis C of the doffing knife, according to the third
part of the improvements.
Having thus stated my Invention, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I
claim is,―
First. The employment of two shafts with eccentrics instead of one,
for giving an oscillating reciprocating or to-and-fro motion to the top
rollers of a hardening machine employed in the manufacture of felt,
substantially as described.
Secondly. I claim the mode of syphoning out the water formed by
condensation of steam in the steam-heated rollers of a felt hardening
machine, substantially as described.

page_text: And, thirdly. I claim working the doffing motion of a carding engine
used in the manufacture of felt direct from the "fancy" or cross shaft.
without belts, tapes, or bands, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bywater, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of 5
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM BYWATER. (L.S.)