IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FLUTING, CRIMPING, AND PUPPING FABRICS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hardy Kent, of St. George's Place,
Knightsbridge, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FLUTING, CRIMPING, AND PUPPING
FABRICS." A communication from abroad by George Edwin King,
of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hardy: Kent
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th May 1868..
I, WILLIAM HARDY KENT, of St. George's Place,, Knightsbridge,.
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FLUTING, CRIMPING, AND.
PUPPING FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
fluting, crimping, and puffing fabrics. For this purpose a pair of rollers
is employed having upon them at intervals rings of cog-like teeth which:

page_text: gear together. The toothed rings on each roller are arranged in pairs,
and the two rings of each pair are at a short distance apart, between
them the peripheries, of the rollers are not in contact, and they receive
at these points adjustable pressers, of an S-like form, each presser partly
encircles the two rollers passing around somewhat less than a quarter of
the circumference of each of them. Between the pairs of toothed rings.
on the rollers the distances are longer, and here also the peripheries of
the rollers are not in contact, but there are no pressers. In front of the
rollers is a fixed guide consisting of a top and bottom plate set at a
short distance apart; the parts of the guide which stand between the
pairs of rings are curved or arched,
The operation is thon as follows-Whilst the rollers, are rotating the
fabric is passed through the guide to them, and is fluted by the cog-like.
teeth along the lines on which these teeth operate between the adjacent
lincs of flutes produced by cach pair of rings; the fabric is gathered up
by the fluting, and being so, gathered it passes between the surface of
the lower roller and the presser, and is. pressed flat so as to. set the
gathers or crimps. The remainder of the fabric which passes, between
the pairs of toothed rings is puffed or ruffled in consequence of the
arched form of the guide causing a greater width of fabric to be fed to
these portions of the rollers than corresponds with the distance between
the rings, the fluting gathering the fabric at the same time longi-
tudinally; the fabric being thus thrown into. irregular creases. the
creases are sot, but without being flattened by the surfaces of the
rollers. The fabric may after it comes from the machine be stitched
along the lines on which the pressers act to. keep it the better in form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Hardy Kent in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 3
HARDY KENT, of St. George's Place, Knightsbridge, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty.
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Hardy Kent, Her special licence
that I, the said William Hardy Kent, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Hardy Kent, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR FLUTING, CRIMPING, AND PUFFING FABRICS," a com
munication to me from abroad by George Edwin King, of New
York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Hardy Kent, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Hardy Kent, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
fluting, crimping, and puffing fabrics. For this purpose a pair of
rollers is employed having upon them at intervals rings of cog-like
teeth which gear together. The toothed rings on each roller are
arranged in pairs, and the two rings of each pair of rings are at a short:
distance apart, between them the peripheries of the rollers are not in
contact, and they receive at these points adjustable pressers of a S-like
form, each presser partly encircles the two rollers passing around some-
what less than a quarter of the circumference of each of them. Between
the pairs of toothed rings on the rollers the distances are longer, and
here also the peripheries of the rollers are not in contact, but there are
no pressers. In front of the rollers is a fixed guide consisting of a top,
and bottom plate set, at a short distance apart;. the parts of the guide
which stand between the pairs of rings are curved or arched.

page_text: a given distance of the lower roller by set screws situated one at cach
end of the top of the aforesaid frame A, and acting upon the sliding or
adjustable bearings c. The fluted, crimped, or puffed fabric is represented
in Figure 4; it may be of muslin or other suitable material, and of a
width when finished nearly or quite equal to the length of the fluting
rollers B, C; it has longitudinal portions g, which are fluted transversely.
to the length of the strip aforesaid, and also portions, in which the
fabric is pressed flat, and through which longitudinal rows of stitching
are formed to render permanent the conformation of the puffing, also
portions i, which are intended to be wider than the parts just described,
and which are puffed or crinkled in such manner as to possess an
irregular wavy surface. In order to form these several portions of the
puffing each of the fluting rollers B, C, is formed with as many annular
or circumferential series A' of grooves and flutes as there are fluted:
portions upon the puffing, with as many narrow annular faces B' as
there are flattened portions h, and with as many comparatively broad
portions C as there are puff portions i in the finished puffing, each of
the said parts of the rollers being of the same width as that portion of thic
completed puffing which it is designed to shape, and the circumferential
faces or plain portions C¹ being of such diameter that when the two
rollers are in proper position those upon one roller will be situated at
such a distance from those upon the other that no considerable pressure
will be exerted upon the fabric in passing between them, and the several
series A¹ of grooves and flutes upon one roller gear into those upon the
other roller. D indicates pressers, the rearmost end of cach one of
which is curved downward and fitted upon the upper rearmost part
of each of the faces B' of the lower roller B, with its forward end
curved upward in contact with the forward sides of the corresponding
face B' upon the other roller, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the
aforesaid rearmost ends of these pressers D being pressed against the
roller B by set screws j passing through a horizontal bar or brace k
secured upon the rear of the frame A. Fixed upon the forward side of the
frame A in front of the roller B is a horizontal supporting brace m,
which has upon it an inclined plate n, upon which is supported the
inclined guide E, which is composed of two pieces of sheet metal
secured one over the other at such a distance apart as to permit the
passage of the cloth or fabric between them, and those parts of this
guide E in front of the plain cylindrical portions C' of the rollers aro

page_text: curved upward or arched transversely, as shown at a', in such manner
that the width of fabric passed between each pair of the plain portions C¹
will be greater if stretched out to its full extent than the width of the
said portions, so that the said fabric, by means of its increased width, will
be crinkled or puffed in passing between the aforesaid plain portions C',
as will be presently fully set forth. The end of the strip of cloth or
fabric from which the fluted puffing is to be formed is passed into and
through the guide E, and between the rollers B, C, and a rotary motion
is communicated to the said rollers by turning the crank b, or by other
suitable means the fabric is drawn lengthwise between the rollers, those
portions thereof which pass between the several opposite series A¹ of
grooves and flutes of the two rollers being. fluted, as shown at g in
Figure 4, while those portions of the said fabric which pass between the
smooth narrow annular faces B₁ of the rollers being formed into gathers
by the fluting of the fabric at the sides or edges thereof, are pressed flat
by passing under the pressers D as the fabric is drawn back, at the
same time that those portions of the fabric drawn through the curved
or arched parts a¹ of the guide E being, if stretched to their full extent,
of a width greater than that of the smooth cylindrical portions C¹, and
being also gathered by the fluting formed at their sides or edges are
caused to assume a crinkled or puffed form as they are passed between
the aforesaid smooth portions C³, the distance between each pair of
opposite smooth portions C¹ aforesaid being such that no pressure is
exerted upon the fabric passing between them beyond that required
to simply press the convex surfaces thereof downward to a sufficient
degree to insure the shaping thereof into the puffed condition just herein
described. By these means the fluted puffing is brought into the form
required in the finished articlo. To complete the puffing longitudinal
rows of stitching are formed in the flat parts h of the puffing to retain it
in shape, and when desired the puffing as thus completed may be divided
longitudinally in the said parts / to separate it into narrow picces, as
required for various trimming purposes.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the constructing machinery for fluting, crimping, and puffing
fabrics, substantially as herein described,
I also claim the constructing machinery for fluting, crimping, and

page_text: puffing fabrics with a fabric guide E, having one or more curved or
arched portions a³, such guide being combined with suitable fluting
rollers, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hardy Kent, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.