IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PLANKING' OR FELTING HAT BODIES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOME OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Firth Garside, of Hurst Brooks, near Ashton-
under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PLANKING' OR FELTING HAT BODIES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOME OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 20th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Firth Garside at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th October 1870.
I, FIRTH GARSIDE, of Hurst Brooks, near Ashton-under-Lyne, in the
County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR 'PLANKING' OR FELTING HAT BODIES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOME OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates more particularly to the manufacture of felt
hats and to the process in such manufacture ordinarily termed planking,

page_text: wwherein the materials of which the bodies or shells of the said hats are
composed are caused to felt together and to form a firmly cohering
fabric.
The improved machinery or apparatus which I employ to effect the
said planking or felting of the said hat bodies may be described in
manner as follows, namely, a cylinder or drum is mounted on a shaft
revolving in bearings formed on or attached to the framing of the
machine, and the circumference of the said drum or cylinder is made of
a fluted or corrugated form or is covered with rods or bars of a rounded
or angular form on their outer surfaces. A curved shell extends entirely
around the circumference of the said drum with the exception of an
open space sufficient for the introduction and withdrawal of the hat
bodies into and from within an annular space between the said shell
and the said drum. The inner surface of the said shell is corrugated
or fluted or is otherwise formed to correspond with the circumference
of the said drum, and the said shell is formed in two or more portions
hinged or jointed together, and is supported or suspended from the
framing of the machine by means of links jointed to the two ends of
the said shell and to the intermediate hinged part or parts, or the said
shell is so otherwise sustained as that whilst being capable of yielding
to admit of the passage of the hat bodies around the central drum the
said shell or each portion thereof will exert a suitable amount of pressure
upon the said bodies. For this purpose the said shell or those parts
thereof which will not gravitate towards the said drum are sustained
or pressed towards the said drum by the action of weights or springs.
Suitable means are provided for communicating a rotatory motion to the
said drum. The aforesaid open space between the two ends of the said
shell is or may be provided with a hinged table which may be moved
into position either to feed the hat bodies into the machine or to with-
draw them therefrom as may be required.
When using the machine the drum is caused to revolve and the hat
bodies are fed singly into the space between the above described shell
and the said drum and by the action of the said drum are carried
entirely around the central axis with a rolling motion as many times
as may be desired, being at the same time pressed between the shell
and the drum. A tank or cistern containing hot water is situated
beneath the machine through which the hat bodies are caused to pass

page_text: at each revolution around the axis of the drum. Two or more drums
each supplied with a shell acting as aforesaid may be fitted to revolve
on the same axis.
The machine may be adapted to be employed in the felting of other
articles or goods than hat bodies, such as cloths, and also in the washing
or cleansing of fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Firth Garside in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 20th April 1871.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FIRTH
GARSIDE, of Hurst Brooks, near Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Firth Garside, Her special license,
that I, the said Firth Garside, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Firth Garside, 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
PLANKING OR FELTING: HAT BODIES; APPLICABLE ALSO TO. SOME OTHER. PURPOSES,”
upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Firth Garside,
by an instrument in. writing: under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my 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 Firth. Garside, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say: —
My Invention relates more particularly to the manufacture of felt hats,
and to the process in such manufacture ordinarily termed "planking,"
wherein the materials of which the bodies or shells of the said hats are
composed are caused to felt together and to form a firmly cohering fabric.
The improved machinery or apparatus which I employ to effect the
said planking or felting of the said hat bodies may be described in manner
as follows, namely, a cylinder or drum is mounted on a shaft revolving
in bearings formed on or attached to the framing of the machine, and
the circumference of the said drum or cylinder is made of a fluted or
corrugated form or is covered with rods or bars of a rounded or angular
form on their outer surfaces. A curved shell extends entirely around the
circumference of the said drum with the exception of an open space
sufficient for the introduction and withdrawal of the hat bodies into and
from within an annular space between the said shell and the said drum.
The inner surface of the said shell is corrugated or fluted or is otherwise
formed to correspond with the circumference of the said drum, and the
said shell is formed in two or more portions hinged or jointed together,
and is supported or suspended from the framing of the machine by means
of links jointed to the two ends of the said shell and to the intermediato
hinged part or parts, or the said shell is so otherwise sustained as that
whilst being capable of yielding to admit of the passage of the hat bodies
around the central drum the said shell or each portion thereof will exert
a suitable amount of pressure upon the said bodies. For this purpose
the said shell or those parts thereof which will not gravitate towards the
said drum are sustained or pressed towards the said drum by the action
of weights or springs. Suitable means are provided for communicating
a rotatory motion to the said drum. The aforesaid open space between the
two ends of the said shell is or may be provided with a hinged table
which may be moved into position either to feed the hat bodies into the
machine or to withdraw them therefrom as may be required. Two or
more drums, each supplied with a shell acting as aforesaid, may be fitted
'to revolve on the same axis.
°
The machine may be adapted to be employed in the felting of other
articles or goods than hat bodies, and also in the washing or cleansing

page_text: In order that the said Invention may be fully understood reference
will in this place be made to the Sheet of Drawings accompanying this
Specification, the said Drawings being marked with letters of reference,
similar letters indicating corresponding parts in the various Figures.
Fig. 1 of the said Drawings represents a vertical section, Fig. 2; a
side elevation, and Fig. 3, a plan of a planking machine of the con-
struction which I have adopted when carrying my said Invention into
effect, the said Figures being drawn to about one-eigth of the full
size.
In the said Figures a is a circular drum formed by attaching wood
lags a, a, a, to the circular wheels which are fixed to the shaft c. The
said shaft is mounted in pedestals or bearings carried by the framing of
the machine d, and on the said shaft is fixed a spur wheel e which is
geared through an intermediate spur wheel with the spur pinion g
fixed to the driving shaft h, so that when the said driving shaft is caused
to revolve by means of a driving strap acting on the pulley h¹ a rotatory
_motion in the direction of the arrow will be imparted to the said drum.
The said drum is partly surrounded by the outer shell i, which is formed
in two parts hinged together at ¹. The shaft ; is mounted in bearings
formed in brackets attached to the framing d, and on the said shaft are
fixed two levers k, k¹, one on each side of the machine, the lower ends of
which levers are jointed to the said outer shell at the part marked 2¹.
In this example the hinge pin passes through the lower ends of the
said levers as well as through the hinge of the shell i. Other two shafts /
and m are also mounted in bearings, and are each fitted with two levers
n, n', and o, o¹, one lever of each pair being situated on each side of the
machine. Each of the levers n, n¹, is connected by a link p with the
front end of the upper part of the shell i, and each of the levers o, o¹, is
similarly connected by means of a link g with the front end of the lower
part of the said shell. On the lever n¹ is mounted a weight r of sufficient
gravity to sustain the ends of the lower part of the shell and to press the
said lower part of the shell towards the inner drum, and on the lever o'
is mounted a weight which partly sustains the upper part of the said
shell. On the lever k¹, which is formed as a "bell-crank lever," is
mounted the weight 2, which presses the central part of the said shell
towards the inner drum. The said shell is thus suspended in position
and at the same time by the action of the said weights and by the

page_text: gravity of the upper part of the shell tends towards the central drum, the
force of this tendency being capable of being adjusted by sliding the
said weights upon the levers. In the example illustrated each weight is
fixed in any desired position by means of a screw fitted or formed with a
hand wheel y. The inner surface of the outer shell is composed of or is
lined with wood lags s, s, and the said lags as well as the lags a, a, are
corrugated or grooved as represented, or if preferred, narrow bars of wood
beveled or rounded so as to form the said grooves or corrugations by
their juxtaposition may be employed. A cistern t to contain acidulated
water as ordinarily employed in the process of planking is fixed below
the revolving drum and a second cistern or trough u is fixed in front of
the machine, suitable arrangements being made for heating the water
contained in the said cisterns, as, for example, the said water may be
heated by blowing steam thereinto. A steam injector may be employed
to raise water from the lower into the upper cistern. A board v is fitted
or formed with a trunnion at each end, which trunnions are mounted in
bearings or slots in the framing so that the said board may be swiveled
out of the position shown in the full lines into the position indicated by
the dotted lines. The said board is provided with a handle to enable the
said change in its position to be readily effected, the springs w restoring
the said board to the position represented by the full lines after each move-
ment therefrom. When using the machine in the planking of hat bodies
the said bodies are dipped in the cistern u and are usually made up into
rolls on the working table x in manner as is understood, and each roll is
dropped into the open space between the board and the drum a when
the board is in the position represented. A roll having been placed in
the said open space the said board yields to the pressure of the said roll
and swivels sufficiently to permit the said roll to be carried forward by
the drum a into the space between the said drum and the shell i, through
which space the said roll travels in the direction of the arrow until it
has passed entirely around the central axis of the drum and has fallen
into the said space between the board and the drum. During the
passage of the roll as aforesaid it is subjected to a combined rolling and
squeezing action, and this action is maintained for a suitable duration of
time, the said roll travelling around the central axis as many times as
may be desired and passing each time through the heated liquid in the
cistern t. When it is desired to remove the roll from the machine the
board is swiveled into the position represented by the dotted lines,

page_text: so that the roll on completing a circuit will fall on to the said board, and
will thereby be conducted into the cistern u. The said roll is then
unrolled and examined, and is again made up into a roll, and is again
subjected to the action of the machine. These operations are repeated
until it is considered that the hat body or bodies is or are sufficiently
felted. Two or more rolls may be operated upon by the machine at the
same time, as shewn at z, z, in Fig. 1. When employing the machine
for washing fabrics the said fabrics are similarly treated as in the case of
the hat bodies, a suitable detergent being substituted for the acid in the
water contained in the cistern t.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly in section of a machine having two
revolving drums. The levers and some other parts are not represented
in this example, but it will be understood that the shells and ² are
sustained and acted upon by similar means as in the example previously
described.
In a machine containing two drums the various parts may be so
arranged as that the working bench of one drum shall be on the opposite
side of the machine to that of the other drum, the front of or entrance
into one shell and the back of the other shell being on the same side of
the machine.
Various other modifications may be made in the apparatus without
departing from the principle of my Invention, as, for example, the shell
or each shell may be formed in three or more parts hinged together.
Thus the shell represented in Figs. 1 and 2 might have been formed in
four parts hinged together at or near the centres of the upper and the
lower portions of the said shell as well as at 2, in which case additional
weights, levers, shafts, and connecting links would be required, the said
links being connected with the additional hinges or with parts of the
shell near thereto; also it may be found to be advantageous to substitute
some other material for the wood with which the revolving drum is
covered, and the aforesaid shell is lined. It must be understood that the
aforesaid shell is not allowed to come into actual contact with the
revolving drum.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and
methods for carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it
to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the precise

page_text: details so described; but that I desire to claim as secured to me by the
hercin-before named Letters Patent,-
First. The employment for the purpose or purposes herein-before
set forth of a revolving drum in conjunction with an outer hinged or
jointed shell acting together in manner substantially as herein-before set
forth.
And, lastly. The methods of constructing and the employment of
machines for the purpose or purposes herein-before set forth, substantially
as herein-before described and as illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Firth Garside, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Signed and sealed by the said
Firth Garside, in the presence
of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentee,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.
FIRTH GARSIDE. (L.S.)