IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING FABRICS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Graham, William Graham,
and John Graham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th April 1863.
We, GEORGE GRAHAM, WILLIAM GRAHAM, and JOHN GRAHAM, of the Firm
of Messieurs Graham and Sons, of Burnley, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates to a new or improved machine for folding or plaiting
silk, cotton, woollen, linen, or other woven fabrics into straight, even, and
equal folds of from twelve inches to two yards or more, if required. Instead
of a horizontal or curved table we uso a vertical frame or bar, or a series of
frames or bars, supported in bearings at each end of the machine, or from the
floor, or otherwise, on the upper edge of which the cloth is laid, an equal
length of cloth being made to fall down on each side of the frame or bar by
means of a vibrating cage working in the arc of a circle over the vertical
frame or bar or upon horizontal guide bars. A footboard, friction bars,
handles for starting and stopping, strap guide and bar rods, break wheel,
brushes, sloping board, and guide rod, with sliding collars adjustable by set
screws or other convenient arrangement, may be used, as in the present
ordinary plaiting machines. Instead of an oscillating knife for drawing the
cloth over the sloping board, we use a revolving roller or pair of rollers, over
or between which the cloth passes, and motion being communicated to the
roller or rollers, the cloth is drawn forward and then falls by its own weight

page_text: on to the vertical frame or bar above referred to. Motion is communicated
to the roller by gearing or by a strap from the driving shaft. The vibrating
or horizontal cage is worked from the roller by a shaft, on which is keyed a
grooved eccentric tappet cam, slotted revolving arm, or by other contrivance.
The registering apparatus and self-acting stopping motion at present in use
may be applied, or instead of the ordinary stopping motion we make use of a
bar similar to the one now used, over which the cloth passes; this bar is con-
nected to a lever, the end of which falls between the threads of a screw cut on
one of the revolving shafts, so that lateral motion will be communicated to
this lever as long as the shaft revolves, and this lateral motion is communi-
cated by another lever to a bar, which moves the strap guide and also acts
upon a break, for the purpose of shifting the strap on to the loose pulley and
for applying the break in order to stop the machine. The length of fold is
determined by the circumference of the roller over which the cloth passes, and
by the mode of connecting this roller with the vibrating cage. If necessary,
the folds may be pressed together by a frame acting alternately on the cloth on
each side of the vertical frame.
The cloth may be kept stretched and free from creases by currents of air,
or the same object may be effected by falling bars or rollers. Currents of air
may also be used, if necessary, for driving the cloth over the centre of the bar
or vertical frame when one-half the fold has been let down on one side.