IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Robert Clarke, Felt Manufacturer,
William Bywater, Machine and Tool Maker, Thomas Lawson, Felt
Mill Manager, and Charles Limbert Lister, Mechanic, all of Leeds,
in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED
"
Sealed the 30th July 1869, and dated the 1st June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Robert Clarke,
William Bywater, Thomas Lawson, and Charles Limbert Lister at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition; on
the 1st June 1869.
We, THOMAS ROBERT CLARKE, Felt Manufacturer, WILLIAM BYWATER;
Machine and Tool Maker, TиOMAS LAWSON, Felt Mill Manager, and
CHARLES LIMBERT LISTER, Mechanic, all of Leeds, in the County of
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the manufacture of felted fabrics by.

page_text: employing batts or slivers made with their fibres crosswise or at right
or other angles to the batt or sliver upon a suitable feed, and also batts
or slivers made in the usual or other way having the fibres lengthwise
or parallel to the batt or sliver, two or more of such batts or slivers
being laid upon each other alternately or otherwise and felted together
by means of suitable felt hardening machinery.
Also our improvements consist in machinery for making an endless
batt or sliver for felted fabrics by means of a travelling apron or sheet
in front of and below or above the doffer of an ordinary carding engine
which travelling apron or sheet has a to-and-fro or forward and
backward as well as a rotating motion, thereby spreading the sliver
from the doffer on to the travelling apron or sheet in layers or sheets to
any required thickness, and forming a batt or sliver with the fibres
lengthwise or parallel to the sliver or batt, and winding the same by the
rotating motion given to the travelling apron or sheet on to a roller or end-
less sheet before going to the hardening machine to be hardened by itself,
or in conjunction with the cross fibred sliver or batt before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Robert Clarke, William Bywater, Thomas
Lawson, and Charles Limbert Lister in the Great. Seal Patent Office
on the 1st December 1869).
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, THOMAS
ROBERT CLARK, Felt Manufacturer, WILLIAM BYWATER, Machine and
Tool Maker, THOMAS LAWSON, Felt Mill Manager, and CHARLES
LIMBERT LISTER, Mechanic, all of Leeds, in the County of York, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Thomas Robert Clarke, William Bywater,
Thomas Lawson, and Charles Limbert Lister, Her special licence that.
we, the said Thomas Robert Clarke, William Bywater, Thomas Lawson,
B

page_text: and Charles Limbert Lister, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Thomas Robert Clarke, William Bywater,
Thomas Lawson, and Charles Limbert Lister, executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Robert Clarke,
William Bywater, Thomas Lawson, and Charles Limbert Lister, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and scal of one of us or them,
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 William Bywater and Charles
Limbert Lister, on behalf of ourselves and the said Thomas Robert Clarke
and Thomas Lawson, 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 thereof,
that is to say :-
The Invention consists firstly, in the manufacture of felted fabrics
by employing batts or slivers made with their fibres crosswise or at right
or other angles to the direction of the length of the batt or sliver
combined with other batt or batts or slivers having the fibres thereof
laid in the direction of the length of such other batts or slivers. Thus
in the diagram, Figure 1, we have given an illustration of this part of
the Invention in which three batts or livers a, b, and c are combined
into one d, upon a batted or other suitable apron or sheet e, such apron
or sheet being supported upon and having motion given to it in the
In this illustration the
direction of the arrows by the rollers f, f.
5 batts a and c are supposed to have been formed by their fibres being
laid in the direction of the length of these batts, whilst the batt b is formed
by the fibres composing it being laid crosswise at right or it may be other

page_text: T
angle to the direction of the length of the batt. The batts thus
combined as indicated by the roll d are then removed to a felt hardening
machine to be operated upon in the usual way.
Secondly. Our improvements consist in obtaining batts or slivers for
felted fabrics by means of a travelling apron or sheet in front of and
below or above the doffer of an ordinary carding engine, such travelling
apron or sheet having a to-and-fro or forward and backward as well
as a rotating motion, thereby spreading the sliver from the doffer on to
the travelling apron or sheet in layers or sheets to any required thick-
ness, and forming a batt or sliver with the fibres lengthwise or parallel
to the sliver or batt, and winding the same by the rotating motion
given to the travelling apron or sheet on to a roller or sheet before going
to the hardening machine to be hardened by itself or in conjunction with
the cross fibred sliver or batt hefore mentioned.
In order that this second part of the improvements may be fully
understood, we will by the aid of the accompanying Drawing proceed
to describe means pursued by us in carrying the same into effect.
Figure 2 represents a cross section of parts of the machine showing.
how the hatt or sliver is made or laid from the doffer of an ordinary
carding engine. Figure 3 shows the sliver from the doffer of an
ordinary carding engine and also the cuttles and batt or sliver as ob-
tained by the operation of machinery arranged to act as that shown by
Figure 2.
In Figure 2, A indicates the doffer cylinder of an ordinary carding
engine, B the endless apron or sheet for receiving from the doffer A
the sliver of a carding engine. The endless apron or sheet B has a
progressive motion given to it as indicated by the arrows to conduct
the sliver as it is received from the doffer A, to between the rollers C,
C, and C, C'. The cudless apron or sheet B, with the rollers C, C,
have a rising and falling motion given to them for the purpose of taking
up the slack of the sliver, whilst the progressive motion to the apron
and rotary motion given to the rollers effects the drawing off and cutt-
ling of the sliver into cuttles of any required length on to the lower
apron or sheet D. The sheet D is mounted on a carriage E, and the
said sheet D and carriage E have a to-and-fro or forward and backward a

page_text: motion, whilst the sheet D also has a progressive motion imparted to
it in the direction of the arrow, and in so doing the apron D receives
the sliver from the endless apron or sheet B, and rollers C, C, in layers
to the thickness of the batt required. The rollers G and G³, G³, are
simply for the purpose of rolling or pressing the batt or sliver as the
carriage E moves to and fro or backward and forward. The batt or
sliver is then wound off the sheet D continuously by means of the
surface rollers F, F, or other suitable means on to the roller H, to the
length the batt may be required before going on to the ordinary hardening
machine to be hardened by itself or in conjunction with the cross fibred
batt or sliver herein-before mentioned in two or more layers of batis
and slivers of wool or other felting material. We have not thought it
necessary to show any mechanism for giving the to-and-fro motions to
the carriage E with its apron D and rollers F, but the full lines show the
position of these parts at one time and the dotted lines their position at
another time and a mechanic accustomed to arranging such machinery
will readily apply the ordinary and well known nieans for effecting such
movements as also the rotary motions to the rollers F, and to the
rollers for effecting the progressive motions to the apron D; F, F, are
supporting and grooved rollers applied to the carriage E and running ou
the rails G to guide the movements of that carriage.
Figure 3 represents the sliver from the doffer of a carding engine
and also the cuttles and batt or sliver as made or laid by arrangements
such as shown at Figure 2.
Having thus described our said Invention, and means by which we
carry the same into effect we would have it understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise method of operating herein set forth
under the second head of our Invention, but what we claim is,―
Firstly. The manufacture of felted fabrics by combining batts or slivers
with their fibres laid lengthwise with batts or slivers, with their fibros
laid crosswise or at right or other angles to cach other, substantially as
explained.
Secondly. We claim the obtaining of a batt or sliver by the sliver from
the doffer of a carding engine, being cuttled and laid in layers one upon
5 another and without the use of the ordinary batt frames, batt sheets,
and rollers, substantially as described.

page_text: Also we claim the arranging or combining machinery to operate in
the manufacture of felted fabrics, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Bywater and Charles
Limbert Lister have hereunto set our hands and scals, this
Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM BYWATER.
(L.S.)
CHARLES LIMBERT LISTER. (L.S.)