IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FOLDING FABRICS, AND ALSO FOR FOLDING AND INSERTING CARDBOARDS, METALLIC PLATES, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES BETWEEN THE FOLDS OF FABRICS TO BE PRESSED
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Charles Ellison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
January 1867.
I, JAMES CHARLES ELLISON, of Shelf Dye Works, near Halifax, in the
County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FOLDING FABRICS, AND ALSO FOR
FOLDING AND INSERTING CARDBOARDS, METALLIC PLATES, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES
BETWEEN THE FOLDS OF FABRICS TO BE PRESSED," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a moveable box or receptacle
divided into. two compartments, each of suitable size and form to hold a
necessary quantity of the cardboards, metallic plates, or other substances to
be inserted betwixt the folds of a fabric required to be pressed. A slit or slot
is made at the division or betwixt the compartments for the fabrick to pass
through. Each compartment is open at both top and bottom, and the sides
nearest to the slit do not extend so low or are not of the same depth as the
other sides, thus when the box rests on the flat surface of a table an opening
or aperture is formed to each, which are adjustable to the exact thickness of
one of the cardboards, metallic plates, or other substance employed for
insertion; or these openings may be formed at the top of the box for the
cards or plates to be issued from the top instead of the bottom of the box;
this box or receptacle may either be mounted on wheels to run on rails, or
may be formed to slide in grooves upon or over a suitable table or frame.
platform the size of the cardboards or plates is employed for the fabric to be
A

page_text: folded upon, which fits easily within an opening in the table or frame, and is
capable of being moved up or down for adjusting the upper surface (as the
fabric is folded thereon) to the level of the table top or the bottom of the
box, which motion may be effected either by means of ratchet wheels and
catches, rack and pinion, levers and cams, eccentrics and straps, or other
suitable mechanical equivalents, actuated by or from the motion of the box,
or in connection therewith, or other suitable means may be employed for giving
motion thereto. Reciprocatory motion may be given to the box by crank and
rod from a rotary shaft, to which power is applied, or other means of pro-
ducing reciprocating motion may be employed. The fabric to be folded is
first passed between a pair of feeding rollers, then through the slit, and the
end thereof is attached to the platform, when the motion of the box in one
direction spreads it over the said platform, and at the same time distributes or
issues one of the cardboards or metallic plates from one of the compartments
of the box, and on the return movement of the box a fold of the fabric is
made, and another card or plate is issued from the other compartment, which
is left inserted between the folds, and so on with each to-and-fro movement of
the said box. When the apparatus is to be used for folding only the com-
partments of the reciprocatory box are formed to hold a series of rods or bars
of metal or other suitable material, one of which is issued therefrom at each
stroke or at each end of the folding platform, where the ends enter grooves
formed in the frame which hold them in position whilst the fabric is folded
around, thus a rod or bar is left in each fold of the fabric.