IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING HAT BODIES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING HAT BODIES."-A com-
munication from abroad by S. B. Tobey, of Providence, Rhode Island,
in the United States of America.
Sealed the 11th May 1860, and dated the 12th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th March 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING HAT BODIES," to
be as follows:-
Heretofore hat bodies have been formed of wool by delivering the carded
wool in a thin bat from a carding engine, and winding it on two cones united
at their bases and made to rotate and vibrate to cross the several turns, until
the required thickness is obtained, and then the bat so formed is hardened and
cut apart at the base of the cones to form two hat bodies; or hat bodies have
been made entirely of fur by the well-known process of bowing by hand, or
formed by machinery directly on a pervious cone.

page_text: The object of the present Invention is to make hat bodies of alternate layers
of carded wool and of fur, whether the fur be new or obtained from the
disintegration of old or waste felts. And to this end the present Invention
consists in the employment of a picker, for receiving, picking, and throwing
the fibres of fur in combination with the doffer of a carding engine, which
delivers a bat of carded woollen fibres, and with rotating and vibrating cones,
on which the bat delivered by the doffer is wound, by means of which combi-
nation the bat of carded woollen fibres as it passes from the doffer to the cones
is covered with a layer of fur fibres from the picker, and the two thicknesses
wound on to the cones until the required thickness is obtained, thus forming
hat bodies of alternate layers of fur and carded wool, which in the after
processes of hardening and felting, become thoroughly interlocked. In order
to cause the disintegrated fibres of fur to descend on the bat of wool in the
form of a shower, and be thus regularly and properly disposed thereon, the
semicircular cover of the rotating picker is provided internally with a curved,
deflecting plate, which will direct the current of air and disintegrated fibres
upwards, and allow the fibres to fall down by their weight without allowing
the current of air to act on the bat of wool.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of March, 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 William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR MAKING HAT BODIES," being a communication from abroad,

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
Heretofore bat bodies have been formed of wool by delivering the carded
wool in a thin bat from a carding engine, and winding it on to two cones
united at their bases, and made to rotate and vibrate to cross the several turns
until the required thickness is obtained; and then the bat so formed is hardened
and cut apart at the base of the cones to form two hat bodies; or hat bodies
have been made entirely of fur by the well-known process of bowing by hand,
or formed by machinery directly on a pervious cone.
Now the object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign cor-
respondent, is to make hat bodies of alternate layers of carded wool and of fur,
whether the fur be new or obtained from the, disintegration of old or, waste
felts. To this end a picker, is employed for receiving, picking, and throwing
the fibres of fur in combination with the doffer of a 'carding engine, which
delivers a bat of carded woollen fibres on to rotating and vibrating cones, upon
which the bat is wound. By means of this combination the bat of carded
woollen fibres, as it passes from the doffer to the cones, is covered with a layer
of fur fibres from the picker, and the two thicknesses wound on to the cones
until the required thickness is obtained, thus forming hat bodies of alternate
layers of fur and carded wool, which, in the after processes of hardening and
felting, become thoroughly interlocked..
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of
the machine; and Fig. 2, a horizontal section taken at the line A, a, of Fig. 1.
The same letters indicate like parts in both the Figures..
a represents a doffer by which a bat of carded wool fibres is delivered from
any suitable carding engine, which, being well known, it is not necessary to
represent or describe. As the bat of carded wool fibres is delivered by the
doffer it passes to and is wound upon a pair of rotating and vibrating cones b,
constructed and operated by means well known to hat manufacturers, and
which, therefore, it is unnecessary to describe and represent.

page_text: In the upper part of the frame there is a picking apparatus, which consists
of a feeding apron c, on which is to be placed the fur or fibrous substance
obtained from the disintegration of fur felts, by a process described in Letters
Patent granted to William Edward Newton, and bearing date the Twenty-
first day of June, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, No. 1402, or
by any other process producing similar results. The fur or disintegrated fur
felts so placed on the feed apron is presented regularly to a pair of feed rollers
d, d, which in turn present it to a rapidly rotating picker e, by which it is
loosened and thrown and scattered within a surrounding case f.. This case is
in the form of a hollow semicylinder, as represented, and one edge of it extends
over the feed rollers, and the other edge g extends down in a tangent to form
the outside of a vertical spout h, extending down to within a short distance of
the upper surface of the bat of carded wool fibres i as it passes from the doffer
to the winding cones. The axis of the picker is midway between the inner
edge of the spout h, and that edge of the cap case f which extends over the
feed rollers, so that the circle of this cap is excentric to the picker. And
within the capf there is a plate j, which extends in a curve from the inner
periphery of the cap to within a very short distance of the picker (so as just
to: clear the teeth thereof), and is intended to break the current. The under
part of the picker is enclosed. by a bottom case k, open as at 1, back of the
picker, for the admission of air, and in the front part of the case there is an
inclined deflector m, made by preference adjustable. This is simply an inclined
plate, the ends of which are adapted to slide in suitable grooves in the ends of
the case k, and its upper edge is in close proximity with the inner edge of the
spout h, leaving an open space n between its upper edge and the lower edge of
the curved plate j, through which alone the material thrown by the picker can
reach the spout, so that it shall descend the spout in a sort of shower to fall on
to the bat of carded fibres. In this way the current of air which otherwise
would have an injurious effect on the bat of carded fibres below is effectually
broken, and the fur or disintegrated fibres deposited regularly on the bat of
carded fibres as it is being wound on to the cones, so as thereby to form the
hat bodies of alternate layers of wool and fur.
Having now set set forth the nature of the Invention of " Improved
Machinery for Making Hat Bodies," as communicated to me from abroad,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the
combination of the picker with the doffer of a carding engine and the winding
cones, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
And I also claim, in combination with the rotating picker, the break current

page_text: plate in the cap case over the picker and the deflecting plate, substantially as
and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)