IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF STUFFS IN GENERAL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Julien. Weerts, of Verviers; in the Kingdom,
of Belgium, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, for the Invention
a
"
Sealed the 14th August 1860, and dated the 21st February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Julien Weerts, at
the Office of the Commissioners of. Patents, with his Petition, on the,
21st February 1860.
I, PIERRE JOLIEN WEERTS, of Verviers, in the Kingdom of Belgium, and
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF STUFFS IN GENERAL,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the giving to stuffs, finished or not finished,
more-suppleness, softness, cleanness, and brightness, than until now obtained.'
To obtain this result, I submit the stuff to the action of rollers worked by:
steam or by hand power. These rollers are covered with sand, emery, pounded
glass or stone, or any other mineral, or other suitable polishing substance, to
produce the effect of brushing as obtained. by the brushing machine. This
operation may be performed in the dressing, or when the stuff is entirely
finished. The same result is also obtained on undressed stuffs; thus, with
Ca piece of sand paper which I rub on a finislied-stuff closely sheared or
otherwise without softness, I obtain the same result (without weakening it).

page_text: as by the re-napping process. If a woollen stuff has its nap matted together,
or irregularly placed, I pass it though the rollers above described until its nap
is entirely unmatted, and I then slightly shear it; by this means the stuff is
rendered regular, soft, and clean.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Julien Weerts in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th-August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
JULIEN WEERTS, of Verviers, in the Kingdom of Belgium, and 4; South Street,
Finsbury, London, send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Pierre Julien Weerts, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Julien Weerts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such. others
as I, the said Pierre Julien Weerts, my executors, administrators, 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF STUFFS IN GENERAL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Julien Weerts,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Pierre Julien Weerts, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
My improvements relate to giving to stuffs or fabrics made wholly of wool
or partly of wool and partly of cotton, or partly of wool and partly of silk,

page_text: and to fulled and milled cloths, and woollen fabrics in general, more suppleness
or pliability, and to make them more soft, clean, and bright in colour, than
hitherto, and consists in submitting the said fabrics to the action of one of the
dressing machines shewn in the accompanying Drawing (as the case requires,)
in which the dressing rollers are covered with sand, emery, powdered glass or
stone, iron or steel filings, or any similar suitable polishing substance, as
herein-after described. The employment of this improved method of dressing
produces on the cloth or fabric the effect of brushing, as obtained by the
brushing machine. This operation may be performed in the dressing, or when
the cloth or stuff is entirely finished. The same result is also obtained on
undressed cloth as on finished cloth, closely sheared or otherwise without softness,
without injuring or weakening it as by the re-napping process.
If a woollen
fabric has its nap matted together or irregularly placed, I pass it through the
rollers of one of the machines herein-after described, until its nap is thereby
entirely unmatted, and I then slightly shear it.
To make my Invention better understood, I will now more particularly
describe the same, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, in
which Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the dressing machine; Figuro
2, an end view of the same; Figure 3, a side elevation of a machine for a
siniilar object; Figure 4, an end elevation of the same.
Description of the first machine, Figures 1 and 2.-The dressing
is effected on the right side of the fabric by the working rollers R, R',
and on the wrong side by the roller R. These rollers are covered either
with sand, emery, powdered glass or stone, iron or steel filings, or any
other substance suitable for polishing, in the following manner :-Stout
paper is made to adhere to the roller by means of paste, and is then covered.
with glue, and strewn with powdered glass, emery, or other of the polishing
substances before stated. The cloth on being taken out of the trough is
passed through the lower guide rollers b, b,. the roller A² is turned by the
action of the fabric. The height of this roller may be varied by means of tho
cams C and the handle m, or by any other suitable means. The roller A³
serves to keep the fabric wide. It may be replaced, if required, by the
widening apparatus of napping machines. When the fabric has been under
the action of the rollers R, R', and R, it is made to pass under the roller
7, on the right side, which roller is covered with shag, then between the
drawing rollers A, A, afterwards through the upper guide rollers b, b, and
lastly, between the drawing rollers D, D, set in motion by the pulleys Gg,
when it falls back into the trough l, whence it rises to be, again submitted to
the same operation. The pulleys P, P, Pr, P5, give motion to the working

page_text: rollers by means of straps: The pulleys and cog wheels Qq, E;. set the drawing
rollers in motion; B is a basin which receives the dust passing off the stuff
.or cloth.
Description of the second machine, Figures 3. and 4, which is employed by
preference for a velvet dressing. (apprêt velouté).-This machine is provided
wtih five rollers similarly covered with a polishing substance as above stated.
Four of these rollers, A¹ to A, work the cloth or fabric on the right side,
and may each be put in contact with it twice. The roller A working the
wrong side of the stuff only touches it on one side and very lightly. These
five rollers are set in motion by one strap, which passes over five pulleys
keyed to the axes of the rollers and a sixth larger one keyed to the axis of the
driving pulley. The pieces of cloth or fabric are stitched together so as to
form one endless band, and pass successively over the rollers D, C', D', D",
B, B, C, D, D, B, B; and afterwards on to an endless cloth conducted
by the rollers E to E. The rollers D, D', D", D", D, are simple
rollers worked by the friction of the stuff or cloth, or by means of straps and
pulleys. The rollers B, B', B", B", are drawing rollers. The movement is
transmitted, 1st, from the main shaft of the machine to the drawing roller B
by means of pulleys p, P, q, q' and straps K, and f; 2ndly, from the drawing
roller B to the drawing roller B by the toothed wheels e, e¹; 3rdly, from the
drawing roller B₁ to the drawing roller B by the strap f¹ passing over
pulleys, 4thly, from the drawing roller B
the toothed wheels e, e". All the said rollers,
ported in sockets in the traversing blocks U, U, formed with two holes, one
being tapped with a screw thread and screwed on to the screw-threaded
axes F, F, I, I, G, G, I, 1. By putting the hand wheels H, H³, H",
HI, in motion, the axles I, I, I, I, provided with bevil pinions gearing
with similar bevil pinions fixed on the screw-threaded shafts, are caused to turn.
and put in motion simultaneously each pair of these shafts, and thereby cause.
the rollers D, D, C, C¹, or B, B, to advance or recede at will, so as to
vary the extent of contact of the piece of cloth or fabric with the working
rollers. The endless cloth, serving to draw out the creases in the cloth or
fabric as soon as they form, is set in motion by the strap h, passing over the
pulleys S, S', the last of which is fixed on the shaft of the roller E.
i
to the drawing roller B" by
except the roller D, are sup-
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, what I claim as my Invention and intend to be.
protected by the herein in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
1stly, the process, of dressing or preparing stuffs or fabrics composed of
wool, wool and cotton, wool and silk, fulled or milled cloths, and woollen fabrics

page_text: in general, by submitting them to the action of rollers covered with emery,
pounded glass or stone, and other suitable polishing substance, as herein-before
described and represented in the annexed Drawing.
2ndly, the general arrangement of the machines, in which the working rollers
are covered with sand, emery, or other of the polishing substances herein
stated, for finishing woollen fabrics, as herein-before described and represented
in the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Julien Weerts, have hereto
set my band and seal, this Eighteenth day of August in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
year of
(L.S.) P. J. WEERTS.