IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING CHENILLE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for.
the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING CHENILLE."-A com-
munication from Messieurs Cadinot and Chennevière, of Elbeuf, in the
Empire of France..
Sealed the 6th February 1857, and dated the 22nd August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton,.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd August 1856.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CUTTING CHENILLE," to be as
follows:-
According to the plan hitherto adopted of manufacturing chenille, the fabric
is first woven and then cut up into strips by hand, which is a long and tedious
process, and consequently very expensive. Many attempts have been made to
perform this operation by mechanical means but they have hitherto been
unsuccessful. This result is obtained by the Inventors of the present improve-
ments by means of a very simple machine, which consists in mounting upon a
common shaft a series of circular cutters. These cutters are made to rotate

page_text: with considerable velocity, and the chenille (which has been previously woven
in a broad band) is slowly brought forward and pressed tangentially against
them, by which means the chenille will be divided into as many strips or
fillets as there are cutters, and which strips or fillets will be consequently of a
brandth caual to the snace between each of the said cutters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Offico
on the 20th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING CHENILLE," being a communication from Mess**
Cadinot and Chennevierè, of Elbeuf, in the Empire of France, upon the condi-
tion (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
According to the plan hitherto adopted of manufacturing chenille, the fabric

page_text: is first woven and then cut up into strips by hand, which is a long and tedious
process, and consequently very expensive. Many attempts have been made to
perform this operation by mechanical means but they have hitherto been
unsuccessful. This object is effected by the Inventors of the present improve-
ments by means of a very simple machine, which consists in mounting upon a
common shaft a series of circular cutters. These cutters are made to rotate
with considerable velocity, and the chenille (which has been previously woven
in a broad band) is slowly brought forward and pressed tangentially against
the rotating cutters, by which means the chenille will be divided into as many
strips or fillets as there are cutters, and which strips or fillets will be conse-
quently of a breadth equal to the space between each of the said cutters.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a side view, and Fig. 1º a
longitudinal section, of a series of cutters detached from the machine, and
arranged in the manner above mentioned; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the
series of cutters; and Fig. 8 is an elevation in perspective of the machine
complete.
By referring to Fig. 3 the construction of the machine will be perfectly
understood. It consists of a rectangular frame a, supported by standards b,
and carrying bracket boarings c for the reception of the cutter shaft m, upon
which shaft are mounted a series of circular steel cutters M, as seen in
Figs. 1 and 2. These cutters may either be keyed, or otherwise fixed im-
movably upon the shaft m, or may be made adjustable (either by means of keys
or screws), so as to regulate their distances from each other according to the
breadth of chenille desired to be cut. Under these circular cutters are
mounted a series of flexible steel blades E (Figs. 1 and 2), provided with a
coating of emery, and which are made to press, after the manner of springs,
against the cutting edges of the cutters, and thereby sharpen them as they
revolve.
The fabric which has been woven in a broad band is wound upon a roller A,
mounted loosely at the lower part of the standards b, and from thence it passes
under and over cylindrical tension rods or bars e, e, to another roller B, driven by
a pulley C¹ on one end of its shaft or axle. From the roller B, which regulates
the forward movement of the fabric, the latter passes under another tension
rod f', mounted in brackets close to the cutting edges of the cutters, the fabric
to be cut being by that means being brought into immediate contact with the
said cutters, which will by their rotation divide it into strips by severing the
weft. A pulley i is mounted on the cutter shaft, and is driven by a band
from the driving pulley I, to which motion is communicated by any suitable
means, the necessary resistance being offered to the edges of the cutters by

page_text: means of the roller D, by which the fabric is drawn through the machine.
The strips after being cut pass from the cutters over and under the tension
rollers d and d to the roller D, whence they fall on to a table g underneath,
and are removed therefrom in any convenient manner. Motion is com-
municated to the roller D from the driving shaft I' (at any suitable speed)
either by means of the pinion J, wheel J', and the second pinion K (which
is mounted upon the shaft of the roller), or by means of the intermediate
pinion K' and wheel L, care being taken in the second case to throw the
pinion K out of gear..
By the above-described arrangement of machinery the operation of cutting
the fabric into strips to form chenille may be performed with great precision
and celerity whatever may be the nature of the fabric operated upon.
Having now described this Invention as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, I desire it to be understood that I do not mean or intend to
confine myself exclusively to the arrangement of machinery above shewn and
described, as the same may be varied to some extent without departing from
the nature and object of the present Invention; but that which I desire to
claim as the Invention secured to me under the above recited Letters Patent
is, the arrangement of machinery, above described and shewn in the Drawing,
or any more modification thereof, in which a series of rotating cutters mounted
upon a common shaft are employed, and the application of the same for the
purpose of cutting chenille, from whatever material the same may be manu-
factured.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight-hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)