IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING WATERPROOFING OR SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS OVER WEBS OR SHEETS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge, of Saint Paul's Church
Yard, in the City of London, Merchant and India-rubber Cloth Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING WATERPROOFING OR SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS
OVER WEBS OR SHEETS."-A communication.
Sealed the 1st April, 1856, and dated the 20th October 1855...
PROVISIONAL.. SPECIFICATION left, by the said Nathaniel Shattswell
Dodge at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th October 1855.
I, NATHANIEL SHATTSWELL DODGE, of Saint Paul's Church Yard, in the City
of London, Merchant and India-rubber Cloth Manufacturer; do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS FOR SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING WATERPROOFING OR SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS
OVER WEBS OR SHEETS," a communication from abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for 'spreading waterproofing or other similar materials
over webs or sheets of woven fabric, leather, or other similar materials, and
consists in passing the web or sheet in the form of an endless band under a
fixed knife or doctor, extending across the machine at right angles to the
traverse of the web, the waterproofing or other similar material being laid on
the web by hand with a broad knife or trowel, and spread evenly over it by

page_text: the action of the knife or doctor, herein-before referred to. The web is
carried at each end by suitable rollers supported in standards, one of which
standards is made to traverse by means of a windlass along suitable rails so
as to keep the web well stretched. The surface of the web is kept in a lateral
state of tension by passing over a suitable temple or stretcher bar; and one of
the carrying rollers is fitted with reversed spiral projections for the same
purpose. When the entire fabric is coated, it is removed from the carrying
rollers and a fresh one replaced, one of the rollers being made to unship for
that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHANIEL
SHATTSWELL DODGE, of Saint Paul's Church Yard, in the City of London,
Merchant and India-rubber Cloth Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge, Her special license that I, the said
Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge, my executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING WATERPROOFING OR SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS OVER WEBS
OR SHEETS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Nathaniel
Shattswell Dodge, 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 Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say-
:
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for spreading waterproofing or other similar materials
over webs or sheets of woven fabrics, leather, or other similar materials, and
consists in passing the web or sheet in the form of an endless band under a
fixed knife, or doctor, extending across the machine at right angles to the
traverse of the web, the waterproofing or other similar material being laid on
the web by hand, with a broad knife or trowel, and spread evenly over it
by the action of the knife or doctor, herein-before referred to. The web is
carried at each end by suitable rollers supported in standards, one of which
standards is made to traverse by means of a windlass along suitable rails so
as to keep the web well stretched. The surface of the web is kept in a lateral
state of tension by passing over a suitable temple or stretcher bar, and one of the
carrying rollers is fitted with reversed spiral projections for the same purpose..
When the entire fabric is coated, it is removed from the carrying rollers and
a fresh one replaced, one of the rollers being made to unship for that purpose..
And in order that my said Invention may be more properly understood,.
I shall now proceed particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,.
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
"
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a perspective view of my japanning or
waterproofing apparatus, complete;. Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section.
of the same; Figure 3. is a detail of the knife or "doctor;" and Figure 4 is a.
detail of the "temple" or stretcher bar. A, A, are the main standards or sup--
ports carrying the large open drum or cylinder B, to which a rotatory motion.
is applied by means of the winch. handle Cand. spur wheel and pinion.
D and E. ;
The cloth to be japanned or waterproofed is passed round the drum B in
the form of an endless belt or web F, and is also passed round. the small
roller G, which is carried in the moveable frame H. This frame is. capable
of traversing along the fixed guide rails I, I, and is-drawn outwards so as to
stretch the web by means of the small windlass J. and rope K. The surface
of the small roller G is furnished with wires L, which are wound round it
in opposite directions from the centre, so as to stretch the cloth. breadthwise,
and thus prevent it from wrinkling.
At a proper distance from: the large cylinder or drum B is placed the

page_text: "doctor" or knife N, which is 'fixed at each end into the side standards by
means of hooks or catches M.
*
:
i
This knife serves to distribute or spread the japanning or waterproofing
substance evenly over the surface of the cloth, which passes or traverses under
it, as shewn in the Drawings, when the large-drum is set in motion. One
side of the framework or support which carries the large drum is hinged at
0, 0, so as to be capable of letting down and exposing one end of the drum,
'for the facility of putting on and taking off the webs of cloth to be treated.
For this purpose a small aperture is made in the end of the drum'at P, in
which aperture is placed a lever, by means of which the drum may be
slightly elevated at the end opposite to the driving gear, so as to raise its
journal from off the hinged support. This support is then turned down, and
'the drum is allowed to rest temporarily on the fixed support Q beneath it. The
cloth may now be readily put on to or taken off the drum, as the case may be,
'the small roller G being also made to unship for the same purpose. The web
having been thus passed over both rollers or cylinders, the moveable frame is
drawn outwards by means of the windlass until it is brought into a sufficient
state of tension, in which it is held by means of the ratchet wheel and pall R
in the windlass.
Before arriving at the knife or doctor, the upper half of the endless web
is passed over the stretcher bar or temple S (Figure 4), the surface of which
is furnished, like the roller G, with wires T, T, arranged obliquely in opposite
directions from the centre, by which means the web is kept well stretched
laterally and free from wrinkles just previous to entering below the knife.
The japanning or waterproofing substance is laid on to the: cloth in front of
the knife by means of trowels, and spread roughly over it, when the edge
of the spreading knife or doctor completes the even distribution of the
'material.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but
"what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the 'Inven-
tion secured to me by the herein before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for effecting the spreading of japan or waterproofing material on endless webs
of cloth or other fabrics, as herein-before described.

page_text: Second, the combination of the drum and obliquely wrapped cylinder, with
the stretcher bar and knife or "doctor," as herein-before described.
Third, the combination of the windlass with a moveable or traversing
frame, and fixed guide rails, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the system or mode of unshipping the same drum or cylinder by
entering or removing the web, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Shattswell Dodge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
N. S. DODGE. (L.S.)