IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FULLING CLOTH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Whitehead, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FULLING
CLOTH." A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Whitehead at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
January 1856.
I, JOHN WHITEHEAD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
FULLING CLOTH, to be as follows:-
This improved machinery for fulling cloth consists principally in the
employment of grooved rollers, under or between which the cloth to be
operated upon is made to pass. The rollers may be each composed of one
piece, in which the grooves may be made, or they may be made of several
pieces of different diameters mounted on one shaft, and the two rollers are to
be so arranged that the projecting parts of one roller may be made to take
into the hollows or depressions of the other roller, so that at each time that
the cloth passes between the rollers the position of the cloth may be changed,
thus preventing the wrinkling or puckering of the cloth, which sometimes
takes place under the old process. Besides these grooved rollers, fluted
cylinders are also employed, to feed forward the cloth and prevent it from

page_text: slipping. The flutes of these rollers will be found materially to assist in
fulling the cloth. In order to cause the cloth to be presented properly to the
working cylinders and rollers; it is placed in a sort of tube, pipe, or covered
way, having a door or valve at the lower end, which causes it to issue from
the conduit in a single thickness or otherwise, as may be considered con-
venient, and prevents it from passing between the rollers in lumps of several
thicknesses. I would observe that although I propose to employ these several
improvements in combination, yet they may each be adapted separately to
fulling machinery, in which the fulling operation is effected by means of
rollers or cylinders..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Whitehead .in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITEHEAD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six,-in-the-nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the
said John Whitehead, Her special license that I, the said John Whitehead,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Whitehead, 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 FULLING CLOTH," being a "cominiñication from abroad, upon the 'condition
(amongst others) that 'I, the said John Whitehead, 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 "sanie 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 John Whitehead, do 'liereby declare
the nature of the Said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: 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 inarked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by niy correspondent, relates to
certain improvements in fulling machinery, whereliy the operation of fulling
woollen cloth is greatly facilitated.
The improvements consist, firstly, in grooving and fluting certain of the
pressing rollers; and, secondly, in the use of a chamber for permitting
the accumulation of the endless web of cloth, and yet at the same time
presenting no obstruction to the continuous traverse of the cloth through the
machine.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews.in side elevation the modern
form of the well-known dyers' fulling machine; Fig. 2 is a. ilongitudinal
sectional elevation of the same with my improvements applied thereto.; ánd
Fig. 3 is an end elevation with the end casing removed to:expose the working
parts. To prevent the wrinkling or puckering of the cloth while subjected to
à rolling pressure for the purpose of fulling or washing it, I form: the rollers
a, a, (by which the cloth is guided upwards.to.the vertical pressing rollers)
with annular projections on their periphery. These rollers I mount loosely in
suitable bearings, and so arrange them relatively that.the.projections of the
one roller will take into the annular recesses of the other. A lateral:strain
will thus be put upon the band of cloth as it traverses between.them. to the
nipping rollers above. These annular grooved rollers may be.made of wood
or metal, and composed either of discs of suitable form.strung on. a common
shaft, and held firmly thereto, or they may be made of one solid piece turned
to shape. Fig. 4 represents one of these rollers detached, and shews the.form
of grooving which I prefer to employ. Instead of causing these rollers to
receive the cloth between them, the same object may be obtained (but not so
efficiently) by straining the cloth over their irregular surfaces. I do not,
therefore, confine myself to the use of the rollers arranged as shewn at
Figures 2 and 3. To prevent any slip of the cloth taking place between the
rollers b, b, which impart to the cloth its traversing motion, I propose to flute
one or both of these rollers, preferring the form of fluting shewn at Figs. 5.
By thus forming the rollers b, or one of them, I find that in addition to
preventing the slipping of the cloth, I obtain a sort of beating action, slight in
amount, but sufficient to assist the fulling operation, and to produce good
results. The axle of the lower roller b¹ forms the main driving shaft of the
machine, and by means of gearing rotary motion is as usual communicated
o the upper roller. The cloth as it is traversed forward by these rollers b, b',

page_text: is passed beneath a weighted pressing roller f, and delivered into a chamber c,
where it is allowed to accumulate to a certain extent. The lower end of this
chamber is fitted with a valve or swing door d, under which the endless web
of cloth has to pass in leaving the chamber c. The pressure which this
swinging valve puts upon the cloth will suffice to prevent the delivery of the
cloth being too easy, and by thus putting a drag on the cloth its length will
be preserved. But the chief advantages of this chamber or conductor care,
that it permits of the introduction of a greater quantity of cloth at one time to
the machine, and by accumulating the cloth in a confined space it causes it
to retain its heat, which is a matter of considerable importance in the fulling
operation.
Having now set forth the nature and object of the Invention of "Improved
Machinery for Fulling Cloth," as communicated to me by my correspondent,
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
application to fulling machines of grooved rollers for preventing the puckering
of the cloth, as explained, and also the application to fulling machines of
fluted nipping rollers for traversing the cloth through the machine.
Secondly, I claim the application to fulling machinery of a chamber fitted
with the swing valve, as described, for accumulating the cloth therein, and
facilitating in the manner above explained the fulling operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Whitehead, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. B. WILKINSON,
11, Albion Street, Leeds.
JOHN WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)