IMPROVEMENTS IN FULLING MACHINERY
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park;
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FULLING MACHINERY."-A Communication from abroad by Thomas
Mayall, residing at Roxburgh, in the State of Massachusetts, United
States of America.
Sealed the 7th June 1864, and dated the 12th December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th December 1863.,
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN FULLING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
In fulling cloth by the ordinary machinery employed considerable difficulty
is experienced, arising mostly from the fact that the cloth is subjected to very
hard straining, squeezing, and pounding, and by reason of the knotting of the
same, occasioned by the unequal tension in its different parts, to which it is
necessarily exposed, and from other causes. These and other difficulties in
working fulling mills render the operation attending one and requiring much
care in producing goods that are often unequally "fulled." The delay in time
occasioned by the necessity of "over-hauling" (as it is termed) the cloth to
take out the knots, and allow it to pass freely through the machine, is a very

page_text: serious disadvantage. In experiments in fulling goods it has been de-
monstrated that they need to be subjected to both a rubbing and a squeezing
process, but in such a manner that no undue strain shall take place upon any
portion of the cloth, but on the contrary so that the tension shall be always
uniform, and by the devices employed for producing the rubbing and squeezing
operations shall be of such a nature and so arranged as to not merely retain
the requisite tension, but be also self-adjusting, elastic, and yielding, so as to
prevent the possibility of knotting.
In a fulling mill constructed according to this Invention two or more
corrugated or fluted elastic rolls made of elastic vulcanized india-rubber or
gutta percha, separately or combined, are used, between which the cloth to be
fulled is passed after having been fed through a trough containing the proper
liquid, and also two or more elastic vulcanized india-rubber or gutta percha
rollers, with plain and continuous peripheries, which receive the cloth and
squeeze out the liquid with which it has been saturated. These operations of
saturating, rubbing, and squeezing are successively performed until the fulling
of the cloth is completed. From this arrangement it will be seen that by the
use of elastic vulcanized fluted or corrugated rollers made of caoutchouc or gutta
percha, separately or combined, the rubbing of the cloth is accomplished. The
flutes of these rolls take up and effectually perform the necessary manipulation,
and at the same time from their elastic nature prevent the possibility of any
obstruction to the free passage of the cloth, whether from knotting or other causes.
So far as the keeping up a uniform tension upon the cloth, and feeding it
continuously and evenly through the machine, the same may be said of the
squeezing rollers, which being also of vulcanized caoutchouc or gutta percha,
separately or combined as aforesaid, yield and adapt themselves to whatever
thickness of fabric may pass between them. The fluted rollers are susceptible
of adjustment by means of moveable journal boxes and set screws, or otherwise
so as to be accommodated to different thicknesses of goods.. The two elastic
plain rollers are also susceptible of adjustment. The cloth to be fulled is first
passed through the liquid in the trough, thence between the fluted rollers, and
then between the plain pressing rollers, when the two ends are joined together
so as to form an endless band, which is moved continuously through the
trough between the corrugated rollers, and then between the plain rollers.
The corrugated rollers take up the cloth between their elastic corrugations,
and draw and rub the same with an uniform tension and yet yielding pressure,
so as to effectively secure the necessary condition of the cloth technically called
"fulling" without incurring the danger of subjecting it to undue straining
or the formation of knots during the process. The elastic plain rollers squeeze

page_text: out the liquid in the cloth, which is again saturated in the liquor in the
trough, and then rubbed and squeezed as before, and again pressed until the
article is sufficiently "fulled."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors;, administrators, and assigns, of
such others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FULLING MACHINERY," a communication to me
from abroad by Thomas Mayall, a person resident at Roxburgh, in the State
of Massachusetts, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 George Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 thereof, that is to say:
In fulling cloth by the ordinary machinery employed considerable difficulty
is experienced arising mostly from the fact that the cloth is subjected to very
bard straining, squeezing, and pounding, and by reason of the knotting of the

page_text: same, occasioned by the unequal tension in its different parts to which it is
necessarily exposed, and from other causes. These and other difficulties in
working fulling mills render the operation one requiring much care, and the
goods are often unequally "fulled." The delay in time occasioned by the
necessity of "over-hauling" (as it is termed) the cloth to take out the knots
and allow it to pass freely through the machine is a very serious disadvantage,
In experiments in "fulling" goods it has been demonstrated that they need
to be subjected to both a rubbing and a squeezing process, but in such a man-
ner that no undue strain shall take place upon any portion of the cloth, but on
the contrary so that the tension shall be always uniform, and by the devices
employed for producing the rubbing and squeezing operations shall be of such
a nature and so arranged as to not merely retain the requisite tension, but be
also self-adjusting, elastic, and yielding, so as to prevent the possibility of
knotting.
In a fulling mill constructed according to this Invention two or more
corrugated or fluted elastic rolls made of elastic vulcanized india-rubber or
gutta percha, separately or combined, are used, between which the cloth
to be fulled is passed; after having been fed through a trough filled with the
proper cleansing liquid, and also two or more elastic vulcanized india-rubber
or gutta percha rollers, with plain and continuous peripheries, which receive
the cloth and squeeze out the liquid with which it has been saturated. These
operations of saturating, rubbing, and squeezing are successfully performed
until the fulling of the cloth is completed. From this arrangement it will be
seen that by the use of elastic vulcanized fluted or corrugated rollers made of
caoutchouc or gutta percha, separately or combined, the rubbing of the cloth
is accomplished. The flutes of these rolls take up and effectually perform the
necessary manipulation, and at the same time from their elastic nature prevent
the possibility of any obstruction to the free passage of the cloth, whether from
knotting or other causes. So far as keeping up a uniform tension upon
the cloth and feeding it continuously and evenly through the machine, the
same may be said of the squeezing rollers, which being also of vulcanized
caoutchouc or gutta percha, separately or combined as aforesaid, yield and
adapt themselves to whatever thickness of fabric may pass between them.
In the accompaning Drawings a fulling mill is represented constructed in
accordance with these improvements. Figure 1 is a plan or top view of the
same; Figure 2 is a side elevation; Figure 3 is a central, vertical, longitudi-
nal section of the same.
a, a, a, a, represent the supporting framework of the machine; b, b, is the
trough filled with any proper fulling liquid; c, c, are two rollers made of elastic

page_text: vulcanized india-rubber or gutta percha, separately or combined, having fluted
or corrugated peripheries as shewn in Figures 1 and 3. The positions of
these rollers are susceptible of adjustment by means of moveable journal boxes
and set screws so as to be accommodated to different thicknesses of goods.
d, d, are two elastic rollers also susceptible of adjustment, having plain and
continuous peripheries. The cloth to be fulled is first passed through the liquid
in the trough b, b, thence between the fluted rollers c, c, and finally between
the elastic surfaces of the rollers d, d, when the two ends are joined together
so as to form an endless band, which is moved continuously through the trough
b, b, between the rollers c, c, and lastly between the rollers d, d. The rollers
c, c, take up the cloth between their elastic corrugations and draw and rub
the same with a uniform tension, and yet yielding pressure, so as to effectively
secure the necessary condition of the cloth technically called "fulling" without
incurring the danger of subjecting to undue straining or the formation of
knots during the process. The elastic rollers d. d, theu squeeze out the super-
fluous liquid in the cloth, which is again saturated in the liquor in the trough
b, b, and then rubbed and squeezed as before until the article is sufficiently
"fulled."
I claim the combination of a trough for containing the proper liquid with
two or more elastic vulcanized fluted or corrugated rollers made of elastic
vulcanized india rubber or gutta percha, separately or combined, and two or
more elastic vulcanized rollers with plain peripheries, the whole operating
together upon the cloth as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)