IMPROVE- MENTS IN DRESSING SHIRTS, ANd in Apparatus THEREFOR
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Alley, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRESSING SHIRTS, ANd in Apparatus THEREFOR.”
Scaled the 8th April 1873, and dated the 13th February 1873.

page_text: In the first stage the shirt has inserted within it a flat board or plate
of a suitable shape, which by preference approximates to that of the
front, or is as much wider as the shirt body is when laid flat. The
sleeves are folded down on the upper side when the board is broad
enough, but they are folded to the back when the board is only about as
wide as the shirt front. In both cases the skirt is folded to the back
and the cuffs project beyond the lower end of the board. The board
may be made of wood, pasteboard, vulcanite, metal, or other suitable
material, covered or not, as required, with a softer material, and it may be
made thicker directly under the front in order that that part may receive
more pressure and glazing in the subsequent operation. On the other
hand any part may be protected from the glazing action by placing over
it a cover or mask of pasteboard or other suitable material.
For the second stage the boards with the shirts on them are carried by
bands, or otherwise, with a slow progressive movement through a stove
for the drying process, technically termed withering.
In the third stage each board with the shirt on it is pushed through a
calendering machine which may be constructed in various ways, but
which by preference comprises two heated cylinders or rollers made to
revolve at the same angular velocity, but constructed of different
diameters, so that one has a greater surface velocity than the other,
which causes a rubbing glazing action upon the shirt front. A recess is
formed in one of the rollers, and the board is entered between the rollers
up to a stop, so that the collar or neck band enters this recess and is
unacted on during the calendering and glazing operation. Similar a
recesses may be formed in the roller to correspond with any other parts
that it is desired to have unacted on; but recesses are not required for
the sleeve cuffs in consequence of their projecting beyond the board.
Movable pieces may be provided for fitting to the roller to present
recesses of different sizes.
In the fourth stage the shirts are taken off the boards and the plaits
are separated in the usual way by means of blunt knives.
In the fifth stage the collars and cuffs are finished, this being effected
by means of a pair of short heated rollers held in a framing so as to
overhang, and revolving with different surface speeds, so as to have a a
glazing action. The operator holds the shirt so as to present the collar
or cuff with its edge entering between the rollers, and with that side

page_text: towards the more rapidly moving surface which it is desired to have
glazed. For convenience of entering the collars and cuffs the rollers
may be arranged to separate and close by means of a treadle. Loose
collars or cuffs can be finished by the same machine.
The rollers used in the third and fifth stages may be heated in any
convenient known way. It is however preferred to heat them by means of
streams of heated oil or other liquid, or by means of gas jets ignited in
their interiors made hollow for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Alley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
ALLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
ecssors, give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Alley, Her special
licence that I, the said Stephen Alley, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Alley, 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 for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN DRESSING SHIRTS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Stephen Alley, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stephen Alley, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the dressing of shirts in an
improved and superior manner, and with rapidity and economy.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
my improved arrangements and apparatus. In these Drawings the same
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated.
The carrying out of my Invention comprises several stages subsequent
to the starching of the shirt in the usual way.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings shows in sectional plan a con-
venient arrangement of buildings or premises in which to conduct the
various contemplated operations.
In the first stage conducted in a chamber 1 which is furnished with a
number of tables 2, the shirts are folded with boards or plates of suitable
shapes inserted in them. The manner of folding the shirt and the shape
of the board may be varied in different cases to suit different classes of
goods and different requirements, and to correspond with the different
degrees or extents of finishing treatment to be applied. Some of the
more obvious and convenient arrangements are shown in Figures 2 to 7
on Sheet 1.
Figure 2 shows in its most extended flat form a shirt 3 which is
shown folded in different ways in Figures 3, 4, 5.
Figure 6 is an edge view, and Figure 7 is a front view of a board or
plate 4 of the largest size. A board for the shirt folded as in Figure 3
extends downwards only to a short distance lower than the shirt front 5,
and in this case the skirt 6 is folded to the back or under side of the
board, whilst the sleeves 7 are folded in the manner indicated in the
Figure so as to lie upon the shirt body at each side of the front 5, and
with the cuffs 8 extending down beyond the lower edge of the board.

page_text: In Figure 4 the board 4 which is of full width and full length is
shown as inserted inside the shirt, and the sleeves 7 are folded up loosely
as shown, but so as not to lie upon the body of the shirt.
In the arrangement shown in Figure 5 the board 4 is of full length,
but is no wider than the front 5 of the shirt, whilst the sides of the body
are folded doubly to the back of the board, and the sleeves 7 are folded
loosely so as to project at the sides. When the board 4 is inserted in a
shirt 3, a clip 9 is fixed down on parts of the neck band by means of a
nut screwing on a pin fixed to the board, and this prevents the shirt
from slipping or dragging on the board. The board 4 may be made of
wood, pasteboard, vulcanite, metal, or other suitable material covered or
not as required with a softer material, and it may be made thicker
directly under the front 5, as indicated in outline in Figure 7, in order
that that part may receive more pressure and glazing in the subsequent.
operation. On the other hand any part may be protected from the
glazing action by placing over it a cover or mask of pasteboard, or other
suitable material. I prefer to make the board or plate 4 of pasteboard
in consequence of its being light, tough, and slightly clastic, and I prefer
to cover it with woollen cloth of close texture.
For the second stage of the operations the shirts folded on the boards
are submitted to the usual drying process, technically termed withering.
For this process two withering stoves or drying chambers 10 are shown
provided in the general plan, Figure 1. These stoves may be arranged
and heated in the ordinary way, and the shirts may be placed in them
by hand, and after remaining the necessary time be removed by hand.
Where however the operations are conducted on such an extensive scale
as to admit of the necessary length of stove being economically worked,
I provide a series of endless travelling bands on which the shirts may
be carried with a slow progressive movement into, through, and out of
the stove; the heat of the stove and the progressive motion being
regulated in concert, so that the shirts may be subjected to the proper
amount of drying action during their passage from one end of the stove
to the other. I find it proferable to have the shirts in an almost dry
condition on leaving the stove, and on being submitted to the subsequent
operation.

page_text: are passed through calendering machines 12, the boards 4 being of
course still inside of the shirts.
One of these calendering machines is shown in end elevation in
Figure 8, and in front elevation in Figure 9 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings.
This machine comprises a pair of hollow iron rollers 13, 14, arranged to
revolve in bearings 15 in frame standards 16. The rollers 13, 14, are
geared together by spur wheels 17 so as to revolve with equal angular
velocities, but the rollers themselves are of different diameters so that
one, the upper one 13, has a greater surface velocity than the other 14,
and this difference causes a rubbing glazing action upon the shirt front.
If preferred the rollers 13, 14, may be made of equal diameters, and
have an unequal surface velocity imparted to them by being geared
together by unequal wheels 17. In some cases it may be found better
where much glazing is not required to give the rollers equal surface
velocitics; and generally, whether the rollers are of equal or unequal
diameters, the relation of the surface velocities may at any time be
varied by changing the wheels 17. The rollers 13, 14, are hollow, and
are heated internally in any convenient way; as for example in the
manner shown in Figure 10, which is a section of the upper roller 13.
A central pipe 18 is encased in a larger pipe 19, and both are perforated
at the parts within the roller. Stop-cocks 20, 21, from supply pipes
admit gas and air, which mingling in the space between the two
pipes 18, 19, issue in jets from the latter, and being ignited furnish the
requisite heat. The products of combustion pass off at the open ends of
the roller journals. In consequence of the heated state of the rollers
the contact surfaces of the bearings 15 are limited to narrow strips of
Screws 22 are applied beneath
brass fitted into blocks (15) of cast iron.
the lower bearing blocks 15 for adjusting the level of the lower roller 14,
and screws 23 are also applied to the upper bearing blocks 15. These
latter screws are tapped through blocks jointed to levers 24, which being
centred on the framing at one end have their other ends connected by
links 25 to levers 26 below; and weights can be applied to these last to
correspond with the pressure required to be put on the upper roller 13.
A recess 27 is formed in the surface of the upper roller 13, and the
board 4 with the shirt on it is entered between the rollers 13, 14, in such
a way that the neck band or collar enters this recess and is unacted on
during the calendering and glazing operation. Similar recesses may be
formed in the roller to correspond with any other parts that it is desired

page_text: to have unacted on; but recesses are not required for the sleeve cuffs 8
in consequence of their projecting beyond the board 4. Movable pieces
may be provided for fitting to the roller to present recesses of different:
sizes. The rollers may be made of sufficient length, and sufficient space
may be left between their ends and the side frames to admit of the shirt
being passed through in the fully extended condition in which it is'
shown in Figure 2, and in that case the sleeves 7 will be calendered or
mangled, whilst the cuffs 8 will project laterally beyond the ends of the
rollers.
In the fourth stage the shirts are taken off the boards 4 on tables 28
in the chamber 11, and the plaits are separated in the usual way by.
means of blunt knives.
In the fifth stage the collars and cuffs are finished, and also the
sleeves if previously unacted on, this being effected by means of
machines 29, one of which is shown in side and end elevation in
Figures 11 and 12. This machine differs from that shown in Figures 81
and 9 herein-before described, principally in the rollers 13, 14, being
arranged to overhang from the framing 16, and in only the upper one 13
being heated internally. The lower roller 14 is by preference covered.
with paper like a well known kind of calendering roller. The requisite
pressure is employed in an upward direction to the lower roller 14 by.
means of a lever 30 connected by a link 31 to the lower bearing block 15
at the roller end of the machine. The lever 30 is on a shaft 32, which
projecting laterally has on its end a lever 33 connected to another
lever 34, to which the requisite weight is applied. In using this
machine the operator holds the shirt so as to present the collar or cuff
with its edge entering between the rollers 13, 14, and with that side.
towards the more rapidly moving surface (13) which it is desired to have
glazed. For convenience of entering the collars and cuffs a treadle might
be arranged in connection with the levers 30, 33, or 34, for depressing the
lower roller 14. Loose collars or cuffs can be finished by the same
machine. When the machine is arranged for mangling or finishing the
shirt sleeves the rollers 13, 14, are made longer, as indicated by dotted
lines in Figure 11, and the sleeve is passed through between the rollers
the length way of it, and is drawn away endways of the rollers when
completed.
By a further improvement comprised in the present Invention the
rollers 13, 14, in any of the machines herein-before described or referred

page_text: to are to be heated by means of currents of heated oil or other suitable
liquid of a high boiling point, and led to and from the rollers through
stuffing box joints.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to t
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The dressing of shirts by means of combined arrangements and
apparatus, substantially such as are herein-before described.
2. The constructing and arranging of apparatus for dressing shirts,
substantially in the improved manner herein described and delineated.
3. The folding or putting of the shirts on boards, as and for the
purposes herein-before described.
4. The forming of recesses for collars or other parts of shirts in the 1
rollers employed for calendering or finishing them, as herein-before
described.
5. The heating of the rollers by means of oil or other suitable liquid,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Alley, have hereunto 2
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
1
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
STEPHEN ALLEY. (L.S.)