IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED HAT BODIES OR SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY THEREFOR
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED HAT BODIES OR SIMILAR
ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY THEREFOR." A communication
from abroad by John Thomas Waring, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th May 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FELTED HAT BODIES OR SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY
THEREFOR." [A communication from abroad by John Thomas Waring, of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to the various stages of the process of felting hat-bodies
and other articles composed of fur or wool, commencing with the first stage
commonly known as "hardening," and terminating with the final stage known as
"second sizing" or or "knocking up." The principal object of the said Invention is
to provide means for superseding as far as possible the use of skilled hand labor
throughout the felting process.
The first part of the said Invention is designed more particularly to be applied
and used in the earlier stage of the felting process, commonly called "hardening,"
but is believed to be applicable with more or less success in the later stages of the
process. This part of the said Invention consists principally in the combination in.
a machine for hardening or felting of two parallel horizontal or nearly horizontal
rollers arranged to rotate and form between them an open trough or trough-like
cavity, which has an ascending surface on one side, and a descending surface on
the opposite side, and which is adapted to receive within it and contain a roll of
hat-bodies or other articles, and subject the same to a rolling motion by the friction
of said surfaces upon said roll lying loosely between them. By the addition to
this combination of a third roll, two troughs or trough-like cavities are produced,
each having an ascending and descending side, and in both of which the hardening

page_text: or felting operation may be performed at the same time. The said rollers may
both or all rotate with uniform surface velocity or with unequal surface velocities.
Another feature of this part of the Invention consists in the combination with such
rollers of stationary guards, consisting of boards or plates arranged in proximity to
the ends thereof for the purpose of forming closed ends to the said troughs or
trough-like cavities between the said rollers.
Another feature of the said Invention consists in the combination to be used with,
such a system of rollers as hereinabove mentioned or otherwise of felting cloths of
unequal lengths, the shorter one, preferably of woollen material, being only just as
long as or very little longer than is necessary to completely surround the roll of hat-
bodies or other articles to be felted, and being placed immediately outside of the
said roll, and the other preferably of cotton, linen, hemp, or other vegitable fibrous
fabric, being considerably longer and placed outside of the shorter one, the object
of such two cloths being to reduce the liability to tear the bodies or other articles,
which in the early stages of felting are very tender, and to produce a better
working of the goods than could be produced with the single cloth commonly
employed.
The second part of the Invention is designed more particularly to be applied and
used in that stage of the manufacture of hat-bodies and other felted goods, and
which is commonly called "starting." This immediately follows the stage called
"hardening," but the improvements which constitute this part of the said Invention
might be used in earlier or later stages of the felting process.
This part of the said Invention consists principally in subjecting the bat-bodies
or other articles in a wet or moist state to a rolling, turning, or tumbling operation
in a hollow receptacle, which has a rotary or other turning motion or an oscillating
motion, and by the interior surfaces of which the said articles are carried upward
until they are caused to roll or turn, or tumble over by gravitation. The hollow
receptacle may consist of a rotating or oscillating cylinder, a rotating or an
oscillating box or chamber of any shape, or an endless apron so suspended that a
pocket-like receptacle is formed in its lower part. The inner surface of said
receptacle may be corrugated, ribbed, lagged, or slatted for the purpose of enabling
it the better to lift and cause the rolling, turning, or tumbling over of the bodies or
other articles placed within it. One feature of this part of the Invention consists
in subjecting the articles during the felting process to the action of steam introduced
into such a receptacle as is hereinabove mentioned, or in any suitable closed
receptacle, such action having the effect of expediting the felting process.
The third part of the said Invention relates to what are known as "sizing" cloths
in which bat-bodies and other felt goods are subjected to the operation known as
"sizing" or "planking," by which they are shrunk to the requisite size and worked
to the requisite degree of compactness and tenacity. Such a cloth consists
generally of a piece of ordinary even-surfaced woven fabric, such as burlap."
This part of the said Invention consists in a sizing cloth constructed, provided, or
furnished with slats, lags, ribs, ridges, bosses, or projections, or constructed with
some parts thicker, harder, or more solid than others, or otherwise having an
uneven or irregular surface for the purpose of producing an effectual working of
the hat-bodies or other articles in the rolling operation to which they are subject
in such cloths. The sizing cloth with uneven or irregular surface may be produced
by securing slats, ribs, or lags, bosses, knobs, nodules, or buttons of wood, india-
rubber, or other material to the surface of a single piece of ordinary woven cloth,
or by making in such a piece of cloth a series of pockets or tucks into which pieces
of wood or other hard material are inserted, or by fastening two cloths together
with lags, sticks, or slats, or other pieces of wood, india-rubber, or other material
between them; or such a sizing cloth may be made of strings or light cords
arranged parallel with each other, and stouter cords or picces of rope arranged
transversely and securely attached thereto; or it may consist of a fabric having
knots produced in it or on its surface at certain intervals; or the said cloth may
be made of india-rubber with projections on its surface of the same material. The

page_text: projections on the cloth may be in the form of wedges having either straight or
hollow curved faces running transversely to the length of the cloth, such wedge-
shaped projections having their more prominent parts at or near the edges of the
cloth, and tapering inwards towards the middle of the width thereof, where they
may vanish or terminate in the surface of the cloth, the object of such wedge
shaped or inwardly tapering projections being to confine in a longitudinal direction
the roll of hat-bodies placed in the cloth. Sizing cloths constructed, provided, or
furnished according to this part of the Invention may be used like ordinary sizing
cloths in sizing by hand, or may be used in any known or suitable sizing machines.
Another feature of this part of the said Invention consists in the combination
with a sizing cloth, of a heavy weight, preferably in the form of a roller to be rolled
up into a hat-body or other article, or into a roll of hat-bodies or other articles,
rolled up in the sizing cloth, for the purpose of producing, automatically, on the said:
hat-bodies, or other article or articles, a pressure outward from the interior thereof.
This weight may be attached to one end of the sizing cloth, or be left detached
therefrom.
The fourth part of this Invention is intended more particularly to be applied and
used in the final stage of the felting process known as "second sizing" and "knock-
ing up," and to perform what is known in the trade as "glove work," but it might
be used in the earlier stages of the felting process. It consists principally in sub-
jecting the hat-bodies or other articles to be felted in a wet or moist state, to a
rolling and pressing operation in a tube which is flexible or capable of changing the
form of its transverse section. It also consists in a "sizing cloth" constructed of
tubular form; this flexible tube or tubular sizing cloth may be made of a woven
fibrous fabric, or of india-rubber or other material. It may have a smooth surface
or be provided internally with projections, or have an uneven internal surface, or
be composed of a series of parallel rods or slats, held together in tubular form by
bands of flexible material. The desired operation may be performed in such a tube
by rolling it by hand, as in the hand process of sizing hat-bodies in an ordinary
sizing cloth, or by subjecting the said tube with the contained hat-bodies to a rolling
and compressing operation, by rollers between and lengthwise of which the said
tube is placed, and to which rotary motion is given by suitable means; and
one feature of this part of the Invention consists in the combination of such a tube,
or tubular sizing cloth with a system of rollers between, and by which it is rolled
and pressed. The essential characteristic of the felting operation performed in the
flexible tube or tubular sizing cloth, as distinguished from that performed in a sizing
cloth of an ordinary kind which is rolled up around the hat bodies or other articles
to be felted, is that the tube or tubular cloth does not tighten upon the articles and so
bind and confine them as to interfere with the "working" which is necessary to
felting, but retains its normal inner circumference and has always room left within
it for working.
"
The fifth part of the Invention is an improvement in that class of "sizing'
machines for felting hat-bodies or other articles, the principal elements of which are
a series of parallel rollers between, and parallel with which a roll of hat-bodies or
other articles in a "sizing" cloth is placed and subjected to a rolling and pressing
operation. Such machines are commonly provided with either three or four rollers,
but might have a greater number. In such machines as heretofore constructed, all
the rollers rotate with uniform surface-velocity, but this improvement consists in so
constructing, gearing, and driving the said rollers that they rotate at different
surface-velocities, and thereby have a tendency to repeatedly loosen and tighten the
sizing cloth and the roll contained therein instead of gradually rolling them up
tighter and tighter. The effect of this alternate loosening and tightening of the
cloth and the roll is to keep the roll soft and so produce a better working of the
felt than is possible when it is gradually rolled up tighter and tighter, and so
compacted into a hard dead mass, in which condition the working and felting
ceases.
The different surface velocities of the several rollers may be obtained, when the

page_text: rollers are all of uniform diameter, by so driving them that some make a greater
number of revolutions than others. The several rollers may however be so driven
that all make the same number of revolutions, and may have the different surface
velocities produced by making thein of different diameters. The rollers may be
smooth cylinders, or may have their surfaces ribbed, lagged, or corrugated, or other-
wise provided with projections or protuberances, and the difference of surface
velocity may be obtained by making the bodies of the several rollers of uniform
size but making the ribs, lags, or protuberances more prominent on some than on
the others.
The sixth part of the said Invention relates to the class of sizing machines last
mentioned, and applies to those in which the several rollers rotate with a uniform
surface-velocity, or to those in which they rotate with different surface-velocities
as hereinabove mentioned. It consists in the construction of the rollers of such
machines with concave longitudinal profiles, for the purpose of preventing the ex-
tension in a longitudinal direction of the rolls of hat-bodies placed between them,
thereby ensuring a more rapid shrinking or sizing. The concavity of profile which
produces a taper form each end toward the middle of the length of the roller may
be in straight or curved lines. These longitudinally concave rollers may have either
smooth or ribbed surfaces. When the surfaces are ribbed, those portions of the
surfaces between the ribs, as well as the ribs themselves, may have the concave
longitudinal profile, or the portions between the ribs may be cylindrical and the
ribs only have a concave longitudinal profile. Instead of having smooth or ribbed
surfaces, such rollers may have their surfaces studded or provided with knobs or
projections or any suitable shape, and the concavity of profile may be produced by
making the studs, knobs, or projections of different length. The most important
distinguishing characteristic of a sizing machine having the rollers with concave
longitudinal profiles is, that there is formed between the said rollers for the recep-
tion of the roll of hat-bodies or other articles, a cavity or pocket, which is largest
at the middle of the length of the said rollers and tapers towards the ends thereof.
An equivalent substitute for each of the several rollers of a set of such rollers with
concave longitudinal profiles would be two taper rollers having one common axis
and arranged with their small ends together in contact, or nearly in contact with
each other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
November 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FELTED HAT-BODIES OR SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY
THEREFOR." A communication from abroad by John Thomas Waring, of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention relates to the various stages of the process of felting bat-bodies
and other articles composed of fur or wool, commencing with the first stage,
commonly known as "hardening," and terminating with the final stage, known as
"second sizing' or "knocking up." The principal object of the said Invention is
to supersede as far as possible the use of skilled hand labor throughout the felting
process.
"
The first part of the said Invention is intended more particularly to be applied
and used in the earlier stage of the felting process, commonly called "hardening,"
but is believed to be applicable with more or less success in the later stages of the
process. This part of the Invention consists principally in the combination in a
machine for hardening or felting of two parallel horizontal or nearly horizontal
rollers, arranged to rotate and form between them an open trough or trough-like
cavity, which has an ascending surface on one side and a descending surface on the
opposite side, and which is adapted to receive within it and to contain a roll of
hat-bodies or other articles, and subject the same to a rolling motion by the friction
of said surfaces upon said roll, lying loosely between them. By the addition to
this combination of a third roll, two troughs or trough-like cavities are produced,
each having an ascending and a decending side, and in both of which the
hardening or felting operation may be performed at the same time. The said
rollers may both or all rotate with uniform surface-velocity or with unequal surface-
velocities.
Another feature of this part of the Invention consists in the combination with
such rollers of stationary guards, consisting of boards or plates arranged in proximity
to the ends thereof for the purpose of forming closed ends to the said troughs or
trough-like cavities between the said rollers.
Another feature consists in the combination to be used with a system of rollers,
as hereinbefore mentioned, or otherwise, of felting cloths of unequal lengths, the
shorter one, preferably of woollen material, being only just as long as or very little
longer than is necessary to completely surround the roll of hat-bodies or other
articles to be felted, and being placed immediately outside of the said roll, and the
other preferably made of cotton, linen, hemp, or other vegetable fibrous fabric)
being considerably longer and placed outside of the shorter one, the object of such
two cloths being to reduce the liability to tear the bodies or other articles which in
the early stages of felting are very tender, and to produce a better working of the
goods than could be produced with the single cloth commonly employed.
The second part of the said Invention is intended more particularly to be applied
and used in that stage of the manufacture of hat-bodies and other felted goods
commonly called "starting," which immediately follows the stage called "hardening,"
but the improvements which constitute this part of the Invention might be used in
earlier or later stages of the felting process.
This part of the said Invention consists principally in subjecting the hat-bodies
or other articles in a wet or moist state to a rolling, turning, or tumbling operation
in a hollow receptacle which has a rotary or other turning motion, or an oscillating
motion, and by the interior surfaces of which the said articles are carried upward

page_text: until they are caused to roll, or turn, or tumble over by gravitation. The hollow
receptacle may consist of a rotating or oscillating cylinder, a rotating or an
oscillating box or chamber of any shape, or it may be an endless apron so suspended
that a pocket-like receptacle is formed in its lower part. The inner surface of said
receptacle may be corrugated, ribbed, lagged, or slatted for the purpose of enabling
it the better to lift and cause the rolling, turning, or tumbling over of the bodies
or other articles placed within it. One feature of this part of the said Invention
consists in subjecting the articles during the felting process to the action of steam
introduced into such a receptacle or in any suitable closed receptacle, such action
having the effect of expediting the felting process.
The third part of the said Invention relates to what are known as 'sizing"
eloths, in which hat-bodies and other felt goods are subjected to the operation
known as "sizing" or "planking," by which they are shrunk to the requisite size
and worked to the requisite degree of compactness and tenacity. Such a cloth
consists generally of a piece of ordinary even surfaced woven fabric, such as burlap.
This part of the said Invention consists in a sizing cloth provided or furnished
with slats, lags, ribs, ridges, bosses, or projections, or with some of its parts thicker,
harder, or more solid than others, or the surface of such sizing cloth may otherwise
be made uneven or irregular for the purpose of producing a more effectual working
of the hat-bodies or other articles in the rolling operation to which they are
subject in such cloths. The sizing cloth with uneven or irregular surface may be
produced by securing slats, ribs, or lags, bosses, knobs, nodules, or buttons of wood,
india-rubber, or other material to the surface of a single piece of ordinary woven
cloth, or by making in such a piece of cloth a series of pockets or tucks into which
pieces of wood or other hard material are inserted, or by fastening two cloths
together with lags, sticks, or slats, or pieces of wood, india-rubber, or other suitable
material between them; or such a sizing cloth may be made of strings or light
cords arranged parallel with each other, and stouter cords or pieces of rope arranged
transversely and securely attached to the former, or it may consist of a fabric
having knots produced in it or on its surface at certain intervals; or the said cloth
may be made of india-rubber, with projections of the same material on its surface.
The projections on the cloth may be in the form of wedges, having either straight
or hollow curved faces running transversely to the length of the cloth, such wedge-
shaped projections having their more prominent parts at or near the edges of the
cloth and tapering inwards towards the middle of the width thereof, where they
may gradually become flush with or terminate in the surface of the cloth, the
object of such wedge-shaped or inwardly tapering projections being to confine in a
longitudinal direction the roll of hat-bodies placed in the cloth.
Sizing cloths made according to this part of the said Invention may be used like
ordinary sizing cloths in sizing by hand, or may be used in any suitable sizing
machine.
Another feature of this part of the Invention consists in the combination with a
sizing cloth of a heavy weight, preferably in the form of a roller, to be rolled up
into a hat-body or other article, or into a roll of hat-bodies or other articles rolled
up in the sizing cloth, for the purpose of producing automatically on the said
hat-bodies or other article or articles, a pressure outward from the interior thereof.
This weight may be attached to one end of the sizing cloth, or it may be separate
therefrom.
The fourth part of this Invention is intended more particularly to be applied and
used in the final stage of the felting process, known as "second. sizing" and
"knocking-up," and to perform what is known in the trade as "glove work," but it
may be used in the earlier stages of the felting process. It consists principally in
subjecting the hat-bodies or other articles to be felted in a wet or moist state to a
rolling and pressing operation in a tube, which is flexible or capable of changing
the form of its transverse section. It also consists in a "sizing cloth" of tubular
form. This flexible tube or tubular "sizing cloth may be made of a woven fibrous
fabric of india-rubber or other material. It may have a smooth surface or be
رو

page_text: provided internally with projections, or have an uneven internal surface, or it may
be composed of a series of parallel rods or slats held together in tubular form by
bands of flexible material.
The desired operation may be performed in such a tube by rolling it by hand, as
in the hand process of sizing hat-bodies in an ordinary sizing cloth, or by subjecting
the said tube with the hat-bodies contained therein to rolling and compressing by
rollers, between and lengthwise of which the said tube is placed, and to which
rollers rotary motion is given by suitable means; and one feature of this part of
the said Invention consists in the combination of such a tube or tubular sizing
cloth with a system of rollers between, and by which it is rolled and pressed.
The essential characteristic of the felting operation performed in the flexible tube
or tubular sizing cloth, as distinguished from that performed in a sizing cloth of an
ordinary kind, which is rolled up around the hat-bodies or other articles to be
felted, is that the tube or tubular cloth does not tighten upon the articles, and so
bind and confine them as to interfere with the "working" which is necessary to
felting, but retains its normal inner circumference and has always room left within
it for working.
"
The fifth part of the said Invention relates to improvements in that class of
sizing" machines for felting hat-bodies or other articles, the principal elements of
which are a series of parallel rollers, between and parallel with which a roll of hat-
bodies or other articles in a "sizing" cloth is placed and subjected to a rolling and
pressing operation. Such machines are commonly provided with either three or
four rollers, but might have a greater number. In such machines as heretofore
constructed all the rollers rotate with uniform surface-velocity; but this part of my
Invention consists in so constructing the gearing, and so driving the said rollers
that they rotate at different surface-velocities, and thereby have a tendency to
repeatedly loosen and tighten the sizing cloth and the roll contained therein,
instead of gradually rolling them up tighter and tighter, as is done when the.
rollers have a uniform surface-velocity. The effect of this alternate loosening and
tightening of the cloth and the roll is to keep the roll soft, and so produce a better
working of the felt than is possible when it is gradually rolled up tighter, and so
made into a hard dead. mass, in which condition the working and felting ceases.
When the rollers are all of uniform diameter, the different surface-velocities may
be obtained by causing some of the said rollers to make a greater number of
revolutions within a given time than others. The several rollers may however be
so driven that all make the same number of revolutions, and different surface-
velocities may be produced by making them of different diameters. The rollers
may be smooth cylinders, or may have their surfaces. ribbed, lagged, or corrugated,
or otherwise provided with projections or protuberances, and in such rollers the
different surface-velocities may be obtained by making the bodies of the several
rollers of uniform size, but making the ribs, lags, or protuberances more prominent
on some than on the others.
The sixth part of the Invention relates to the class of sizing machines last
mentioned, and it consists in the construction of the rollers of such machines with
concave longitudinal profiles for the purpose of preventing the extension in a
longitudinal direction of the rolls of hat-bodies placed between them, thereby
ensuring a more rapid shrinking or sizing. The concavity of profile which produces
a taper from each end toward the middle of the length of the roller may be in
straight or curved lines. These longitudinal concave rollers may have either
smooth or ribbed surfaces. When the surfaces are ribbed, those portions of the
surfaces between the ribs, as well as the ribs themselves, may have the concave
longitudinal profile, or the portions between the ribs may be cylindrical and the
ribs only have a concave longitudinal profile. Instead of having smooth or ribbed
surfaces such rollers may have their surfaces studded or provided with knobs or
projections of any suitable shape, and the concavity of profile may be produced by
making the studs, knobs, or projections of different length. The most important
distinguishing characteristic of a sizing machine having the rollers with concave

page_text: longitudinal profiles is that there is formed between the said rollers for the
reception of the roll of hat-bodies or other articles a cavity or pocket which is
largest at the middle of the length of the profile and tapers towards the ends
thereof. An equivalent substitute for each of the several rollers of a set of such
rollers with concave longitudinal profiles would be two taper rollers having one
common axis and arranged with their smaller ends in contact, or nearly in contact,
with each other.
The first part of this Invention is illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the
accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 is a plan of a hardening machine.
Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same.
Figure 3 is a transverse section drawn to an enlarged scale of a roll of hats
contained in two cloths rolled up one within the other.
1
A, Figures 1 and 2, is the framing of the machine, on the top or upper part of
which are bearings for the three parallel rollers B1, B2, B3, of hard wood, metal, or
other suitable material, which rollers are arranged in such proximity to each other (as
shewn in Figure 2) as to form open troughs or trough-like or hopper-like cavities a³, a³,
between the upper adjacent portions of their peripheries the two rollers B', B²,
constituting one pair; between which is formed the trough a and the two
rollers B2, B3, constituting another. pair, between which is formed the trough a².
The said rollers may have smooth peripheries, or they may be grooved, or lagged,
or corded, but generally for hardening purposes I propose to make them smooth.
They are connected by suitable gearing or belting, and so driven that all rotate in
the same direction, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2, so that each of the
troughs a², a³, has an ascending and, a descending side, and they are preferably so
relatively speeded, that the descending side of the roller of each pair moves a little
faster than the contiguous ascending side of the roller of the same pair, and that
consequently there will be a slight tendency produced by the greater velocity of
the movement of the descending side of the trough between the rollers to crowd
downward into the said trough a roll of hats or other goods C that may be placed
therein. Opposite to the troughs a', a², between the rollers, and not quite touching
the latter, are arranged stationary discs or plates D, D, which are secured firmly to
the framing A and serve as guards to close the ends of the saids troughs, and
prevent the working out of the roll or rolls C.
To perform the operation of hardening fur hat-bodies in a machine of this kind
a number of bodies taken from the cone (say about twelve) are dipped in hot water
or liquor and loosely rolled up together and surrounded by one or more cloths
which are rolled around then. The roll thus formed is laid in either of the
troughs a, a, while the rollers B1, B2, B3, are in motion, and is caused by the
friction of the surface of the rollers to roll lightly therein, no pressure being applied
but what is due to the weight of the bodies and the enveloping cloth or cloths, and
to the tendency to crowd down into the trough. During this operation the roll
should from time to time be taken out from the machine and the bodies be taken
from the cloth or cloths, refolded in different ways, redipped and rolled up again in
the cloth or cloths and the roll be replaced in the machine.
The
The machine represented in the Drawings having the three rollers so arranged as
to form two pairs and two troughs, is a double machine capable of doing with one
attendant as much work as two machines having two rollers each. In working
with this machine the attendant would stand at the end to the right of Figures 1
and 2 and can manage the operation in both troughs at the same time.
process may be partly performed in the first trough and finished in the second, the
attendant transferring the roll from one to the other at any desired stage of the
process. Although it is practicable to perform the operation of hardening hat-
bodies in this machine with the roll of bodies contained in a single cloth, it will be
found very advantageous to use two cloths, viz., an inner one d, Figure 3, preferably
of flannel or other woollen material, and only just long enough to envelope the roll
of bodies C and a longer outer one e, preferably of burlap or other vegetable woven

page_text: fabric long enough to pass, say, twice around the roll. If a single cloth be used, it
must, in order to confine the bodies in the roll, be much longer than the
circumference of the roll to give its outer end a good lap.
The second part of the said Invention is illustrated in Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Figure 4 is a central longitudinal vertical section of a revolving closed cylinder
or cylindrical receptacle containing a number of hat-bodies.
Figure 5 is a transverse section of the same.
Figure 6 is a central longitudinal vertical section of another revolving cylinder
or cylindrical receptacle illustrating a modification of this part of my Invention.
Figure 7 is a transverse vertical section of a closed receptacle containing an
endless apron in which hat-bodies are placed and treated.
Figure 8 is a transverse section of an oscillating closed receptacle containing a
number of hat-bodies.
The cylinder A, Figures 4 and 5, has its axis arranged horizontally, and is
provided with journals a, b, fitted to bearings in standards B, B. The journal a is
prolonged to receive fast and loose pulleys c, d, for the driving band, and is made
hollow for the induction into the cylindrical receptacle of steam received from a
boiler through a pipe e, which is furnished with a T-head surrounding the said
journal. The cylinder A may be of wood or metal, and if of wood its head
should be lined with smooth metal plates, as shown at f, f', the plate f' being
perforated, as shewn in Figure 5, at g, g, for the purpose of distributing the steam
in the said receptacle. The interior periphery of the cylinder may be smooth, but
should be preferably longitudinally corrugated or ribbed, as shewn at l, l, in Figure 5.
A lid C is provided for the introduction and removal of hat-bodies or other articles.
The hat-bodies D, D, or other articles to be felted are to be placed in this
cylinder, cither loosely or folded or rolled up, as shewn in Figure 5, and when in the
latter condition each may be confined in the rolled condition by placing an india-
rubber or other band around it. They are previously dipped in water or other
liquor, such as is ordinarily used in felting.
The cylinder A with the hat-bodies or other articles in it has a slow rotary
motion imparted to it while steam is admitted through its hollow journal, as above
stated, and the operation is as follows:-The rotation of the cylinder causes the
friction of its inner periphery to carry up the bodies or other articles on its rising
side, and after they have been thus carried up a certain distance they are caused to
roll, or turn, or tumble over in the opposite direction, and fall back to the bottom
of the cylinder. This rolling, turning, or tumbling operation causes an active
felting action to take place, although the bodies or articles are not subjected to
any pressure beyond that due to their own weight or the weight of the
super-incumbent body or bodies.
In this operation the felting is assisted and expedited by the steam admitted
to and confined within the receptacle.
The cylinder A (shown in Figure 6) may resemble that first described in all
essential particulars except that it has a journal or shaft a at one end only,
supported in standards B, B. at a suitable distance apart to give stability, and
the lid C is made in the form of a cap which fits over the other end of the cylinder,
which is open for the introduction and removal of the hat-bodies or other goods to
be felted when the said lid or cap is removed.
In Figure 7 E is a closed stationary upright box or chamber to which steam may
be admitted by a suitable pipe, and which contains an endless apron F suspended
from and turning with a roller or drum G, the journals of which work in bearings
at the sides of the said box, and the ends of which, as well as the edges of the said
apron, work close to or very nearly in contact with the sides of the said box or
chamber, so that the said apron, closed at the sides by the sides of the said box or
chamber, may form a receptacle for hat-bodies or other articles D, D, to be
felted, the said bodies or other articles being introduced through a door H in one
side of the box or chamber. Above the roller or drum G and apron F is a pressure-
roller I, which keeps the apron in contact with the said roller or drum.

page_text: The endless apron should preferably be made of two or more bands ;, and a
series of slats, k, arranged at short distances apart to allow the steam to enter
within the said apron. The slats k, k, have the same effect as the ribs or internal
corrugations 1, 1, of the cylinder A above described in carrying up the bodies or
other articles on the rising side of the revolving or turning receptacle or apron, and
causing them to roll, or tumble over, or fall back toward the bottom of the apron.
Although it is preferable to admit steam to the cylinder, box, or receptacle during
the operation, such use of steam may be dispensed with. Figure 8 shows a closed
oscillating box, in which the hat-bodies or other articles D, D, to be felted may be
subjected to a similar action to that to which they are subjected in the cylinder A
or apron F.
The third part of the said Invention is illustrated in Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 of the Drawings.
Figure 9 is a face view of one example of my improved sizing-cloth; Figure 10
is a longitudinal section of the same; Figures 11 and 12 are face views of two
modifications of the same; Figures 13, 14, and 15 are longitudinal sections of other
modifications of the same; Figures 16, 17, and 18 are sectional views illustrating
methods of rolling up hat-bodies in such cloths; Figure 19 represents a section of
such a cloth having the aforesaid weight attached to one end, and shewing it partly
rolled up with bat-bodies.
In the example shewn in Figures 9 and 10 the sizing-cloth consists of a piece of
burlap or other woven fabric A, which has an uneven surface produced by securing
to its face, by rivets or otherwise, a series of slats or ribs B, B, of wood or other
material, the said slats or ribs being arranged transversely at right angles to the
length of the cloth. The cloth represented in Figures 11 and 12 is composed of a
single cloth A, having on its face à series of oblique ribs or projections B, producing
its uneven surface. The ribs or projections thus arranged inust, in order to enable
them to be rolled up, be of some flexible material, such, for instance, as india-rubber,
or such cloths with ribs or projections might be made in one piece of vulcanized
india-rubber.
The cloth A (represented in Figure 13) has an uneven surface produced by
forming in it a series of tucks or pockets a, a, into which are inserted fillings b of
cord or other material.
The cloth represented in Figure 14 is double, being composed of two cloths
A, A, of burlap or other woven fabric, having inserted and secured between them
by rivets, nails, or other means, slats, ribs, or rods c, c, of wood or other material,
of square, round, or other form. The cloth represented in Figure 15 is like that
shewn in Figure 14, except that the inner cloth A is made shorter than the outer
one A¹, so that in the double internally slatted or ribbed cloth thus formed the two
cloths may be nearly equally tight. The slats, ribs, or rods c, c, give these cloths
uneven surfaces.
Another modification of the cloth consists in providing its surface with a series
of bosses, knobs, buttons, or nodules, of wood, bone, india-rubber, or other material,
such bosses, knobs, nodules, buttons, or knots being secured to the cloth by
rivetting, sewing, or other convenient means.
Instead of a woven fabric, with projections formed on its face in any of the
ways above described, a cloth may be made of strings or light cords arranged
parallel and lengthwise, like the warp of a woven fabric, and stouter cords or
pieces of rope arranged transversely to the said strings or lighter cords, as the rods,
ribs, or slats B, B, and c, c, are arranged relatively to the cloths A and A, A¹.
The hat bodies or other articles to be felted, and indicated at d, d, may be dipped
in water or other liquid or solution used in felting, and rolled up in these cloths,
either spread out singly, as shewn in Figures 16 and 17, or a number together
within the inner end of the cloth, as shewn in Figure 18. I propose generally to
operate in such a cloth upon about four hat-bodies at a time.
When the hat-bodies are rolled up in the cloth the sizing or felting operation
may be performed by rolling and working the roll composed of the cloth and the

page_text: bodies, in the same way in which the sizing is generally performed, by hand or in
the sizing-machines in common use; a suitable machine for the purpose is that
illustrated in section in Figure 20, the construction of which is well known, and
whose principal working parts are three rollers D, D, E, rotating in the same
direction, the two lower rollers D, D, having their journals in fixed bearings, and
the upper one E, which is a pressure-roller, having its journals in a frame F. to
which pressure is applied, and with which is connected a treadle G by which it
may be raised.
H in Figure 19 is the weight combined with the sizing cloth for producing on a
roll of hat-bodies or other goods rolled up into said cloth a pressure outward from
the interior thereof as the said roll is worked in the usual process of sizing. A
piece of lead pipe will serve advantageously for this weight. This weight may for
convenience be permanently attached to one end of the sizing cloth, or it may be
detached from the cloth, and have the hat-bodies or other articles rolled up on it as
they are rolled up into the cloth.
A weight of this kind may be used with good effect in combination with a
sizing cloth of the ordinary kind.
The fourth part of this Invention is illustrated in Figures 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25
of the Drawings. Figure 21 represents a perspective view of a tubular sizing cloth
or flexible sizing tube, consisting of a piece of ordinary tubular woven fabric A of
cotton or other fibrous material, such as is commonly used for hose; such a tube for
sizing hat-bodies may be about eighteen inches long, and about four inches in its
internal diameter.
Figure 22 is a tranverse section of such a tube or tubular cloth A', having
slats a, a, arranged longitudinally within it, and secured to its inner surface at
suitable intervals apart. Instead of such slats the tube may be provided with
internal projections in the form of knobs, bosses, or buttons, which may be made of
wood or other material, and be secured to the cloth by sewing, rivetting, or
otherwise. The tube either made smooth, as shewn in Figure 21, or with internal
projections, as shewn in Figure 22, may be made of india-rubber or india-rubber
cloth. If made of india-rubber, the slats or other internal projections may be
formed of the same material.
Figure 23 is a perspective view of a modification of the tubular sizing-cloth,
consisting of a tube composed of a series of slats a¹, a¹, arranged parallel with each
other, and united by bands b, b, of india-rubber or other flexible material.
Figure 24 is a perspective view of a sizing tube or tubular sizing cloth A², which
is not originally woven or manufactured in tubular form, but is composed of a piece
of cloth having buttons d, d, and button-holes e, e, at opposite edges, and having
said edges brought together and buttoned.
Figure 25 is a transverse sectional view of three rollers E¹, E², E³, of a machine,
such as is represented in Figure 20. A sizing tube or tubular sizing cloth A is
shewn between these rollers containing a roll of hat-bodies G.
The hat-bodies, from two to six in number, according to the calibre of the tube,
having been moistened with hot water, or such other liquid as is used for felting,
are rolled up, but not very tightly, and placed in the tube, which is then placed in
the machine and subjected to the operation of the rollers E¹, E, E. As the rolling
proceeds and the bodies shrink, the tube becomes slack in the form, substantially
as shewn in Figure 25, and so leaves room for the working of the felt.
The fifth part of this Invention is illustrated in Figures 26, 27, 28, and 29 of the
Drawings. Figure 26 is a tranverse vertical section of a three-roller sizing
machine, having its rollers geared to rotate with different surface-velocities.
Figures 27, 28, 29, are transverse sections of different sets of rollers illustrating
modifications of this part of the Invention.
B, Figure 26, is the fixed main framing of the machine, having fixed bearings for
the journals of the two rollers A¹ and A2, which are so geared together by gear-
wheels a', a, and an intermediate wheel a, that the said rollers rotate in the same
direction.

page_text: C is a frame hinged at c to the main frame B, and having upon it bearings for
the third roller A³, which is so driven by a belt b running from a pulley 21 on the
shaft of the roller A and over guide pulleys d, d, to a pulley 23 on its own shaft,
that it rotates in the same direction as the rollers A¹ and A. The frame C is so
connected by a rod e with a treadle D that it and its roller A³ may be raised by
the pressure of the foot of the attendant upon the treadle for the purpose of
placing a roll E of hat-bodies or other articles between the rollers A¹, A², Â³, and
removing it therefrom.
This machine has all its rollers cylindrical and of equal diameter, and only differs
from sizing machines beretofore in use and well known in that its several rollers,
instead of being geared together by gear-wheels or pulleys of uniform size, and
thereby being made to rotate with uniform surface-velocities, are geared by gear-
wheels and pulleys of unequal size, and thereby caused to make unequal numbers
of revolutions, and so to have unequal surface-velocities, the gear-wheel a being
represented as so much larger than the gear-wheel a², and the pulley p¹ so much
larger than the pulley p³, that the surface velocity of the roller A² is greater than
that of the roller A¹, and that of the roller A³ is greater than that of the roller A*.
These rollers instead of having smooth peripheries, may have their peripheries
furnished or constructed with lags or projections or protuberances.
The set of four rollers shewn in Figure 27 are also all of uniform size, as in other
known sizing machines provided, with four rollers, the two lower rollers being
mounted in a fixed frame, and the upper ones in a frame which is capable of
an upward and downward motion. These rollers are intended to be geared
together by gear-wheels or pulleys of such different sizes that they rotate
with unequal surface-velocities. They may be so geared that the rollers A¹
and A³ rotate at uniform velocities, and that the rollers A and A* rotate at a
uniform velocity greater than that of the rollers A' and A³; or their relative
difference of velocity may be otherwise varied by suitable gearing.
The set of three rollers, A¹, A2, and A³ (shewn in Figure 28), which may
be mounted in frames like those shown in Figure 26 and lettered B and C,
are intended to be so geared that all make the same number of revolutions, and
their unequal surface-velocities are produced by making the rollers themselves of
different diameters, the roller A² being shewn larger than the roller A¹, and the
roller A larger than the roller A³.
The set of three rollers, A¹, A³, and A³ (shewn in Figure 29) are also intended to
be mounted in frames B and C, in the same manner as those shewn in Figure 26
and similarly lettered, and are intended all to make the same number of revolutions.
They are constructed with ribs, lags, or protuberances, which may be of any desired
form. Their bodies are all shewn of the same size, but an unequal surface-velocity
is produced by making the ribs, lags, or protuberances of different size, projection,
or prominence, the protuberances g² on A² being represented as larger or more
prominent than the protuberances g¹ on A¹, and the protuberances g³ on A³ being
larger or more prominent than the protuberances g².
The hat-bodies or other articles to be treated between the rollers with unequal
velocities may be rolled up in a sizing-cloth into a roll E, in the usual way, and
placed between the rollers as shewn in Figures 26, 27, 28, 29, the direction of the
roll of the cloth being such relatively to the direction of revolution of the rollers
that in the rotary motion given to the roll E by the rotation of the rollers
the outer edge of the lap of the cloth will be presented in a backward direction
relatively to the rotation of the roll E, which will be understood by reference
to the several Figures of the Drawings, and the arrows shewn therein to indicate the
directions of rotation. The effect of this will be that in passing from a slower
to a faster roller there will be a tendency to loosen the cloth, and in passing from a
faster to a slower roller a tendency to tighten it. This operation of alternate
tightening and loosening is found in practice to keep the roll E from compacting
so much or so rapidly as is the case when the rollers all have uniform surface-

page_text: velocities, and the result is a much better working of the felt and a more rapid
felting action.
The sixth part of the said Invention is illustrated in Figures 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,
and 35 of the Drawings. The rollers A', A2, shewn in Figure 30, have
smooth surfaces and a longitudinal profile of a regular concave form.
The cavity
h produced between three or more of these rollers for the reception of the roll E of
hat-bodies, or other articles to be felted, is shewn to be largest at the middle of the
length of the rollers and to taper toward its ends. These rollers may be modified
by making their profiles with a straight taper from the ends toward the middlo
of their length, or with a portion of the length at and near the middle cylindrical
and increasing in size toward the ends.
The rollers A', A² (shewn in Figure 31), are like those shewn in Figure 30,
except that they are constructed or provided with longitudinal ribs or lags j, j
whose profile corresponds, or nearly so, with that of the bodies of the rollers.
In the modification shewn in Figure 33, instead of longitudinal ribs on the
rollers, there are represented a series of studs or bosses k, k, which may be produced
by driving pegs into holes provided for them in the bodies of the rollers, which may
be of wood or other suitable material.
In the modification shewn in Figure 32 the bodies of the rollers are cylindrical,
and there are provided thereon lags or ribs j, j, the outer edges or profiles of which
are wedge-shaped, or of a straight taper form. In Figure 34 the ribs or lags j, j, are
shewn as in sections of a length less than the whole length of the roller, and set
with middle sections opposite to spaces between the end sections, and in such a
manner that the general longitudinal profile of the roller is concave, as in the other
Figures.
In Figure 35 two taper rollers are shewn in place of each single roller, with
concave profile, the two rollers A'* or A²* being arranged on one shaft, or otherwise,
with a corresponding axis, the smaller ends of each two of the said rollers being
arranged together, so as to produce between then, as in the other examples, a
cavity h, which is largest at the middle of its length and tapers toward its
ends. In this modification of my Invention I prefer to use eight rollers, placed two
on each of four shafts arranged like the shafts of the four rollers shewn in
Figure 27.
The fifth and sixth parts of the said Invention allow the use of an ordinary
sizing cloth with smooth surface, or of the sizing cloth with an irregular surface.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. The improvements in machinery and apparatus for hardening or felting
hat-bodies and other felt goods, substantially as herein described with reference to
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings.
Second. The improvements relating to the process of and apparatus for felting
hat-bodies and other articles, substantially as herein described, with reference to
Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of the Drawings, the said process consisting in subjecting such
articles in a wet or moist state, with or without the use of steam, to the action of
the interior surface of a hollow revolving, turning, or oscillating receptacle, whereby
they are raised and afterwards caused to roll or turn or tumble over by gravitation.
Third. The improvements in sizing cloths and their appurtenances, substantially
as herein described with reference to Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, and 20.
Fourth. The improved apparatus and process for felting hat-bodies and other
articles, as described with reference to Figures 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, the naid
apparatus consisting of the sizing tube or tubular sizing cloth, having either a plain
or uneven interior surface, and the said process consisting in subjecting the articles
to be felted to rolling in a flexible tube.
Fifth. The improvements in sizing machines, substantially as herein described
with reference to Figures 26, 27, 28, and 29 of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Sixth. The improvements in sizing machine rollers, substantially as herein
described with reference to Figures 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 of the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Willian Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)