CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOLLEN CLOTH, OR CLOTH MADE FROM WOOL AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HIRST, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and bearing
dato at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-one and in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Hirst,
Her especial license, full power, and sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Hirst, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
William Hirst, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, and Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOLLEN CLOTH, OR CLOTH
MADE FROM WOOL AND OTHER MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said William Hirst, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters l'atent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hirst, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My improvements in machinery or apparatus for manufacturing woollen
cloth, or cloths made from wool and other materials, consisting of a novel
construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus for manufacturing a
peculiar kind of cloth formed of a combination of cloth or woven fabric and a
layer or layers of wool or other similar material attached thereto or upon onc
or both sides thereof, by the action of the machinery aided by steam, as hereiu-
after described, for the purpose of facing the cloth upon one or both sides, and
thus causing the same to have a surface and assume an appearance similar to
ordinary woollen cloth which has been fulled, napped, and shorn. By the use
or employment of this Invention I am enabled in the manufacture of woollen
cloth, or cloth made from wool and other materials, to produce a cloth which
I believe will be found to be equal in texture and durability to the finest
woven cloth..
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, which will be
readily understood, reference being had to the Drawings hereto annexed, and
the following explanation thereof :-
Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the felting machine as seen from
above, drawn from a scale of about one inch to the foot. Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal elevation of the same. Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the same,
taken through about the line A, B, in Figure 1. Figure 4 is an end view of
the apparatus, and Figure 5 is a transverse section of the same, taken through
the line C, D, in Figure 2. a, a, is the frame of the apparatus, supporting the
grid or grate b, b, which forms the bed of the machine. Upon this grid a wire
cloth c, c, is laid, and above the latter is placed a cloth, d, d, of cotton, or
other suitable material. e, e, is the cloth or woven fabric which forms the
foundation (and which may generally be of a light and inexpensive descrip-
tion) upon the surface of which the layer of wool, or wool and other material
is to be manufactured. ff, is a perforated steam pipe or pipes, with fric-
tional steam jets or otherwise, placed under the grid b, b, through which steam
is admitted for the purpose of setting the fibres of wool, or wool and other
materials in motion during the process. g, g, are small tables at each end of
the machine, upon one of which the roll of cloth or woven fabric j, j, to be
faced is placed, and upon the other the finished cloth. h, h, is the platten

page_text: which is for the purpose of giving the pressure and the reciprocal motion
necessary to the manufacture. This platten, h, h, must be weighted according
to the nature and quality of the cloth intended to be produced and may be
either made solid as represented, or in the same manner as the grid or grate
before described. i, i, is the main driving shaft for imparting motion to the
platten and for raising the same when necessary.. K is the main driving
pulley; 1, 1, are two connecting rods attached to the platten, the eyes of which
rest upon two slightly eccentric bearings formed upon the main driving shaft;
m is a spur pinion driving a similar pinion; n, o, is a spur wheel attached to a
winch p, and 2, 7, are two pinions in gear with the said wheel o, and mounted
in the ends of a lever ; s, s, is a rope from the said winch passing through
the blocks t, t, one of which is attached to a beam above, and the other
hooked on to the platten; u, u, is a catch for securing and retaining the platten
when raised; v, v, are iron rods for holding the cloth j, j, during the process.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The platten having been
raised and secured as shown in Figure 2, a "bat" or layer or layers
of wool, or of wool or other materials, is placed upon the cloth d, d, and
over or above which the cloth or woven foundation j, j, is laid evenly, and
over these another layer or layers of wool, or wool and other material is laid
evenly upon the central cloth j, j, and the steam is then admitted, the pinion q
is then thrown in gear with the pinion m, and the platten lowered until its
whole weight presses upon the "bat" of wool, or wool and other materials as
above described. The pinion is then thrown out of gear and the recipro-
cating motion of the platten, aided by the action of the steam will cause the
wool, or wool and other materials, to be firmly incorporated with or attached
to the woven cloth or fabric. When this operation has been sufficiently
prolonged, according to the nature and quality of the wool, or other material,
to be attached to or incorporated with the cloth or woven fabric, the pinion q
is placed in gear with the pinion n, and the platten raised and secured by the
catch u. The cloth that has been faced is then wound on to its respective roll
and a fresh layer or layers of wool, or wool and other materials, submitted to
the aforesaid operation, until the whole length of woven cloth has been
operated upon.
The cloth is then ready for the subsequent operations of
milling and fulling, raising, sheering, and finishing, which may be performed in
the usual manner.
q
Having thus described the nature and objects of my said improvements,
together with the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention, -
First, the peculiar arrangement and construction of mechanism exhibited