IMPROVEMENTS IN INDIA-RUBBER MANUFACTURES, AND IN TOOLS OR MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Get Broad, John Swines, and Join
Kershaw, of the City of Manchester, India-rubber Manufacturers,
for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN INDIA-RUBBER MANUFACTURES,
AND IN TOOLS OR MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Scaled the 22nd July 1870, and dated the 1st February 1870. “
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Broadhurst,
John Swindells, and John Kershaw at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 1st February
.1870.
We, GEORGE BROADHURST, JOHN SWINDELLS, and JOIN KERSHAW, of
the City of Manchester, India-rubber Manufacturers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDIA-BUBBER
MANUFACTURES, AND IN TOOLS OR MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
1
We have for our object improvements in the manufacture of india-
mubber sacks suitable for containing tobacco, and also well adapted for
sponge bags and such like articles; and also the manufacture of elastic
„Przebij

page_text: webbing suitable for boot gussets and similar purposes, and the
machinery for making such webbing; and also for a partially cut
fabric for rollers to be used by calico printers and others, and for other
useful purposes, and for the tools or apparatus for producing the said
cut fabric; and also for a pierced or cellular fabric intended for the use
of woollen cloth manufacturers, and the machinery employed for pro-
ducing the said fabric.
And we make our sacks of india-rubber suitably prepared for
vulcanizing by any of the well-known processes, taking care to have
the sacks in lengths sufficient to admit of being folded up and turned
inside out at the mouth after the fashion of folding stockings or
gloves, and thereby securing the contents from loss or becoming dry
by evaporation.
And we make our webbing by the aid of sewing machinery, as
follows: We take a band of vulcanized india-rubber of a suitable width
and thickness, and stretch it to about 2 or 3 times its normal length,
and lay on one side of it leather or a woven fabric, and on the other
similar materials, and stitch the whole together by the aid of sewing
machinery.
The machine we employ for this purpose is so constructed as that the
needle is made to travel and perform a row of stitches of any convenient
width or length whilst the material is at rest, and then a motion is
given to the material, which is brought into position for another row of
stitches, and so on.
We make our cut fabric by taking vulcanized india-rubber of a
suitable thickness and size for the purpose intended, and by passing it
under a circular knife we make cuts parallel to each other partly
through the rubber, and produce a fabric useful for covering calico
printers rollers, and for many other useful purposes. For this purpose
we mount a circular knife on a spindle and make a travelling platform;
underneath the knife, and fix the india-rubber on the platform and
raise it to the knife and cut it according to any required depth.
And we make our pierced or cellular fabric by punching small holes in
a sheet of india-rubber prepared for vulcanizing, and then vulcanize it
to canvas, and so produce an article useful to woollen cloth manu-
facturers in their process of making "Whitneys" and such like surfaces,
and we employ for this purpose a steel plate of any convenient length
pierced with suitable sized holes, and punches to work into the said

page_text: holes and bring the prepared sheet of rubber between the said steel plate
and punches, and force the latter into the holes, and thus punch out
pieces of the rubber and produce a pierced or cellular fabric.
i
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters . Patent,
filed by the said George Broadhurst, John Swindells, and John
Kershaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
BROADHURST, JOHN SWINDELLS, and JOHN KERSHAW, of the City of
Manchester, Inga-rubber Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year 'of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give
and grant unto us, tlie said George Broadhurst, John Swindells; and
John Kershaw, Her special licence that we, the said George Broadhurst,
John Swindells, and John Kershaw, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said George Broadhurst, John
Swindells, and John Kershaw,our 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 INDIA-RUBBER: MANUFACTURES
AND IN TOOLS OR MACHINES Y EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Broadhurst, John Swindells;
and John Kershaw, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar.
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
_NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said
the said George Broadhurst, John
Swindells, and John Kershaw, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
i

page_text: to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
-
We have for our object improvements in the manufacture of india-
rubber sacs suitable for containing tobacco, and also well adapted for
sponge bags and such like articles; and also the manufacture of elastic
webbing suitable for boot gussets and similar purposes, and the
machinery for making such webbing; and also for a partially cut
fabric for rollers to be used by calico printers and others, and for other
useful purposes, and for the tools or apparatus for producing said
cut fabric; and also for a pierced or cellular fabric intended for the
use of woollen cloth manufactures, and the machinery employed for
producing the said fabric.
And we make our sacs of india-rubber suitably prepared for
vulcanising by any of the well-known processes, taking care to have
the sacs in length sufficient to admit of being folded up and turned
inside out at the mouth after the fashion of folding stockings or
gloves, and thereby securing the contents from loss or becoming dry
by evaporation. When made these sacs are vulcanised, and amongst
other purposes as india-rubber is a bad conductor of heat, and as such
bags when folded up .arc.air-and water tight, or nearly so, they will be
found very serviceable-as icc bags for carrying ice from. place to place,
for which purpose they may be lined inside or outside with flannel or
other suitable material.
And we make, our webbing by the aid of sewing machinery as
follows: We take a band or bands or a sheet of vulcanised india
rubber of a suitable width and thickness and stretch it to about 3 or 4
times its normal length, and lay on one side of it leather or a woven
fabric, and on the other similar materials, and stitch-the-whole together-
by the aid of sewing machines.
.
The machine-we-employ-for-this-purpose-is-so.constructed as that the
needle is made to travel and perform a row of stitches of any convenient
width or length while the material is at rest, and then a notion is
given to the material, which is thus brought into position for another
row of stitches, and so on. Or we use a stationary sewing machine, and
mount the three-fold material in a suitable frame, to which frame a
lateral or longitudinal motion is imparted according to the direction of
the stitching required, so as to bring the material under the needle of
the sewing machine, and thus to stitch it together.

page_text: We make our cut fabric by taking vulcanised india-rubber of a
suitable thickness and size for the purpose intended, and by-passing it
under a circular knife we make cuts parallel to each other partly
through the rubber, and produce a fabric useful for covering calico
printers' rollers, and for many other useful purposes. For this purpose
we mount a circular knife on a spindle and make a travelling platform
underneath the knife and fix the india-rubber on the platform and raise
it to the knife, or arrange the platform so that the india-rubber meets
the knife in its onward progress and cuts it according to any required
depth.
And we make our cellular fabric by punching round or other shaped
holes in a sheet of india-rubber prepared for vulcanising, and then
vulcanise it to canvas, and so produce an article useful to woollen cloth
manufacturers in their process of making "Whitneys" and such like
surfaces, and we employ for this purpose a steel plate of any convenient
length, pierced with suitable sized holes and punches commonly known
as centre punches, to work into the said holes, and bring the prepared
sheet of rubber between the said steel plate and punches and force the
points of the centre punches into the holes by a sharp blow, and
thus punch out pieces of the rubber and produce a pierced or cellular
fabric. It will be readily understood that various shaped holes can
be formed, the punches being made to suit them.......
i In order that this.our said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood, we have hereunto annexed- two Sheets of Drawings
illustrating various methods of carrying our Invention into practical
effect,similar letters marked on the Drawings and herein-after mentioned
being used to denote similar parts in all the views.
Fig. 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2 an end view, partly in section, drawn
to about half size of a sewing machine with a travelling needle suitable
for stitching the three-fold material transversely together in the manu-
facture of webbing or elastic fabric according to this Invention. A is
a. frame mounted upon four wheels B running upon the guidle rails C.
In the uprights or pedestals of the frame A grooves are formed, in which
the needle bar D moves up and down. E, E, are two eccentrics fixed at
the extremity of two driving shafts F working in fixed bearings at
any convenient distance from the machine. These- eccentrics give the
necessary reciprocating motion to the needle bar D by working in-the
slot-G, which slot allows the framework A to travel along the guide

page_text: rails C, the eccentrics E meanwhile remaining stationary, and yet giving
the necessary up-and-down motion to the needle bar. H is the needle,
and I the table upon which the three-fold material is placed whilst being
stitched together. Now as the material remains stationary in this
machine it is necessary to apply the feeding motion to the travelling
frame A, which is thus advanced a stitch at a time until the needle
arrives at the edge of the material, or at the end of a row of stitching,
when the action of the machine should be reversed and the frame caused
to travel in the contrary direction, and vice versa.
Fig. 3 is a front view, Fig. 4 a half plan, and Fig. 5 an end view
of another description of sewing machine drawn about full size con-
structed to work a number of needles in a row for stitching our three-fold
material in a continuous length. In this machine the needles do not
travel backwards and forwards, but simply reciprocate the same as any
ordinary single needle machine. J is the needle bar, which slides up and 1
down in slots formed in the brackets K, having the necessary recipro-
cating motion imparted to it by the connecting rods L, which are
connected to the cranks M. upon the driving shaft N. An end view of
the needle bar is shewn separate at Fig. 6. O are the needles, which are
fed with the necessary supply of cotton from a series of bobbins mounted 2
in any convenient position.
The under or locking thread in the case of a shuttle arrangement
being employed is supplied by means of a single shuttle, which is caused
to pass through all the loops formed by the needles at the same time.
Although a single row of needles is illustrated, it will be readily seen if
very close stitching is required that the needles may be arranged in sets,
one set being behind the other, for example, a row of eight needles may
be arranged with two others rows of the same number in the rear of one
another, so placed as to sew between each other; in this case there
would be three shuttles and three rows of needles (say, 24 in all) ;
working one set behind the other so as to produce 24 rows of stitching
at even distances from each other running and lengthwise of the
material. Other similar arrangements may be made with a greater or
less number of needles, and placed so as to produce wider or narrower
spaces between each row of stitches.
It will be seen that by placing rows of needles behind each other and
in intervening lines the rows of stitching may be made only th of an
inch, or even less, apart, and all the rows produced at the same time.

page_text: The three-fold material is drawn or fed beneath the needles by a pair
rollers covered with india-rubber, between which the material is drawn
by a take-up motion, which takes up a draws the material for the
distance of a stitch at a time, and at the instant when the needles
are out of the work. As the stitching in this modification is in one
continuous length no reverse motion is needed in the machine.
It will be understood that the india-rubber is in a state of tension
in both of the foregoing modifications whilst being stitched to the
covering fabrics.
Fig. 7 is a side view, and Fig. S an end view, drawn about quarter size,
of an arrangement of mechanism for sewing continuous lengths of three-
fold material together by any ordinary sewing machine with a single
needle. This is performed by passing the three-fold material between
two sets of rollers mounted in a cradle, to which a rocking motion is
imparted. Pis the cradle suspended from the rod Q working in the
standards R; at the lower extremity of the cradle the rollers $ are
mounted, and are capable of being tightened together by means of the
thumb screws T; U is the india-rubber band or sheet held in a state of
tension by the weight V or in any other convenient manner, and passing
over the guide roller W, and then proceeding towards the pressure
rollers X, where it is met by the top fabric Y and bottom fabric Z, which
all three pass together between such pressure rollers; this three-fold
material marked a thence passes between the cradle rollers S to the
delivery rollers b. c is any ordinary suitable sewing machine (partly
dotted in in Fig. 7), arranged to work between the cradle rollers, and
to sew the three-fold material together as it passes along. An inter-
mittent rocking motion is imparted to tlie cradle P by means of the
connecting rod d and adjustable crank upon the revolving shaft f;
this intermittent rocking motion being employed to feed the three-fold
material transversely under the needle of the sewing machine, which
thus sews it transversely from side to side. The three-fold material is
caused to advance a sufficient distance at the end of every row of stitches
by the take-up motion applied to the delivery rollers 6, which consists of
a ratchet wheel g and double-arm lever h, one arm of such lever carrying
the paul Z, and the other having a spiral spring j affixed to it, which is
strong enough to cause the rollers to partially revolve, and thus to pull
forward the three-fold material, the degree of which pull is controlled
by the double cam plate K fixed upon the shaft f and revolving with it,

page_text: which for the purpose which works in contact with the arm of the lever k,
and may be adjusted in its distance from the axis of such lever by the
set screw i, and thus regulate and adjust the degree of take-up to the.
greatest nicety.
We have thus described three methods of manufacturing elastic fabric
by sewing a band or bands or a sheet of india-rubber between two other
woven or other fabrics, it only remains to be stated that we do not
confine ourselves to any peculiar form of sewing machine to be applied
to the purpose of our Invention, as any suitable sewing machine may be
used, whether with or without a shuttle.
Instead of useing the cradle illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, the three-fold
material may be fixed in an horizontal sliding frame, and thus be
brought under the needle of a sewing machine, or a sewing machine
may be caused to travel backwards and forwards in slides or grooves, in
the same manner as a shaping machine for metal. We have found it
advantageous in some cases to make an endless elastic fabric, which is
accomplished by means of the machine illustrated by Figs. 9 and 10,
representing respectively (about a quarter size) a side view and plan,
upon which m is a wooden frame provided with a series of studs n placed
parallel to one another on each side of such framework. o, o, are two
rollers, upon which the woven or other fabric of the requisite length for
forming the bottom surface of the elastic fabric is first placed; the india-
rubber of a suitable length to give the necessary elasticity is next placed
on the rollers over the woven or other fabric; and, lastly, the woven
fabric, leather, or other material for forming the outside surface is put
over all. The rollers are then placed across the frame, as illustrated in
the Drawing, being drawn tightly across to give the necesary tension to
the india-rubber and held in position by the studs, whilst the three-fold
fabric marked ' is sewn together, either by hand or otherwise.
Sometimes we employ a series of tapes of india-rubber in tension, and
sew through these at their edges, as illustrated in Fig. 11, and at other
times we use a series of tapes of india-rubber, and sew immediately
between them, so binding them as to prevent their running up, as
illustrated by Figs. 12; the dotted lines in both the foregoing views
representing the stitches.
.
Although we have only herein-before mentioned three-fold material,
it should be understood that four or five materials may be combined
together in the manufacture of clastic fabric in accordance with this
Invention.

page_text: Fig. 13 is a front view, and Fig. 14 a plan, drawn about a quarter
-size, of a machine suitable for making one cut fabric. It consists of a
framework P, in which is mounted a circular knife q, to which a rapidly
revolving motion is imparted by means of a band passing over the
driving pulley. S is the sheet of india-rubber, which is shewn partly
cut through by being fixed upon the sliding plate t, which is guided in
its passage beneath the knife by the guide pieces U. By means of this
machine slits or cuts may be formed in india-rubber to any requisite
depth and parallel to one another, and thus produce a fabric suitable for.
covering calico printers' rollers, and for various other useful purposes.
Fig. 15 is a plan, and Fig. 16 a side sectional view, drawn about
quarter size, of a frame for punching any shaped holes in a sheet of
india-rubber. V is the frame of wood or other suitable material having
a steel plate W affixed upon it, with the necessary shaped holes X
formed through such plate. In close proximity to this steel plate a
cross bar Y is affixed, beneath which the india-rubber sheet Z is passed,
the notches in the edge of such cross bar being for the purpose of guiding
the punch 1 into the several holes.
An enlarged view of the punch and sheet plate W is seen at Fig. 17,
shewing the shape of the point of the punch more perfectly. As seen
on the Drawing the punch is arranged to be placed consecutively in
each of the notches and over the holes, when a sharp blow should be
given to it with a hammer; the peculiar shape of the point will thus
cause the piece to be cut bodily out to the exact shape of the holes. A
series of such punches could be arranged to work together in a frame,
and thus to punch a number of holes together.
By means of this machine a pierced or cellular fabric is produced,
which may be vulcanised to canvas, and thus be useful to manufacturers
in the fabrication of "Whitneys" and such like surfaces.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
our said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details, relative
proportions, or dimensions of the various parts of the machinery or
apparatus herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying
Drawings, as the same may be considerably varied without departing
from the Invention; but what we claim is,―

page_text: 1st. Manufacturing india-rubber sacks or bags in length sufficient to
be folded up, as and for the various purposes herein-before specified.
2nd. The manufacture of webbing or elastic fabric, such as is herein-
before described, by sewing machinery, not confining ourselves to any
particular sewing machine, but preferring to use those which we have
specified, and the apparatus herein-before described for the purpose, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
3rd. The manufacture of and apparatus for producing a partially cut
and pierced or cellular india-rubber fabric, as and for the purposes
described and illustrated on the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Broadhurst, John Swindells,
and John Kershaw, have hereunto signed our hands and affixed
our seals, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Office,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
GEORGE BROADHURST. (L.S.)
JOHN SWINDELLS.
JOHN KERSHAW.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)