IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CALENDERING, MANGLING, OR FINISHING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Walker, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
CALENDERING, MANGLING, OR FINISHING."
Sealed the 31st August 1866, and dated the 3rd March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Walker at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd March
1866.
I, ROBERT WALKER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CALENDERING, MANGLING, OR FINISHING," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
This Invention has for its object increased efficiency and convenience in
apparatus for calendering, mangling, or finishing, and in one modification
embodying the improvements there are three horizontal rollers, as in arrange-
ments in common use, which are held one above the other in end standards
or housings, the middle one being that upon which the goods to be acted
upon are generally rolled. The rollers are driven by means of a vertical
screw or worm shaft, and the spindles of the top and bottom rollers have
worm wheels fixed upon them to be actuated by the screw shaft, and the
middle roller may also have a worm wheel placed loosely on its spindle for
the purpose of driving it independently when not in contact with the top and

page_text: bottoni rollers, at which time it is made to drive the roller by means of a
common clutch. The uppermost roller is the stationary one, and the requisite
pressure is applied to the rollers by preference from beneath by means of
levers acting on the bearings, and acted on by preference by one or more
hydraulic rams or pistons acted on by water, steam, air, or other fluid.
With these arrangements the roller wheels keep completely in gear with
their actuating screw, shaft, notwithstanding their vertical movement, and the
middle roller can be actuated whilst not in contact with the top and bottom
rollers for the purpose of putting the goods on or off.
In other modifications the worm wheel on the
dispensed with, in which case that roller, when not in
roller, may be driven by contact with the bottom roller for putting the goods
on or off.
Or instead of three worm wheels there may be a single one fixed
on the spindle of the middle roller, the top and bottom rollers in that case
receiving their motion by contact with the middle roller.
middle roller may be
contact with the upper
The simple combination of screw shaft and worm wheel may be introduced
with advantage in various kinds of calendering, mangling, or finishing
machines, and particularly where a vertical or equivalent adjustment of the
roller is required.
Whilst the making of the top roller stationary as regards vertical adjustment
has some practical advantages, particularly in connection with hydraulic pressure
appliances, that. arrangement involves some difficulty in providing for driving
the middle or bottom and middle rollers when the middle roller is not in contact
with the top roller, but in the described arrangements this difficulty is met by
providing for driving the middle or bottom roller independently of the top
roller, and it will be obvious that this independent action can be obtained in
various ways, as, for example, by means of a belt applied to pulleys on the middle
roller spindle in connection with movable pulleys for regulating the tightness of
the belt in the different positions of the roller, or by arranging spur wheels to
drive the rollers, such spur wheels being placed at the side and not above or
below, and having teeth of sufficient depth to permit of the requisite vertical:
or other adjustment of-the rollers without their getting out of gear.
Finally, to obviate the difficulty of working the ordinary reversing gear.
under heavy pressure it is intended to apply one or more steam cylinders
with any conveniently reversing valve motion in connection with each
machine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the 'conditions of the Letters Patent, filéd
by the said Robert Walker in the Great Seal Pateut Office on. the 1st
September 1866.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WALKER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Walker, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Walker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Walker, 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
APPARATUS FOR CALENDERING, MANGLING, OR FINISHING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Walker, 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 Robert Walker, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say: -:
My said Invention has for its objects increased efficiency and convenience
in apparatus for calendering, mangling, or finishing.
And in order that the said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing a
calendering machine embodying modifications of my improved arrangements.
The machine is represented in front elevation in Figure 1, and in side
elevation in Figure 2, and comprises three horizontal rollers 1, 2, 3, as in
arrangements in common use, these rollers being held one above the other in
end standards or housings 3, 4, bolted down to a base plate 5, and connected

page_text: by tie rods 6. The rollers are driven by means of a vertical screw or worm
shaft 7, which is carried in bracket bearings 8, 9, 10, bolted to the standard 3,
and the spindles of the top and bottom rollers 1, 3, have worm wheels 11, 13,
fixed. upon them to be actuated by the screw shaft 7. The middle roller 2,
which is that on which the goods to be acted on are generally rolled, has also
a worm wheel 12 placed loosely on its spindle for the purpose of driving it
independently when not in contact with the top and bottom rollers 1, 3, at
which time the wheel is made to gear with and drive the roller 2 by means
of a common clutch 14, shifted by the handle 15. Similar clutch details may
be applied if wished to the other rollers 1, 3, or to one of them. The upper-
most roller 1 is the stationary one, and the requisite pressure is applied to the
rollers from beneath by means of levers 16 acting on the bearings, and acted
on by a hydraulic ram or piston 17 worked by water or other fluid. The
hydraulic cylinder 18 is fixed in the bed plate 5, and the levers 16 are formed
with centre journals, which rest in bearings 19 cast for them on the end
standards 3, 4. The compressive strain of the hydraulic ram 17 and levers 16
is resisted by four strong tie rods or bolts 20 passing from the bed plate to the
tops of the end standards 3, 4, there being two in connection with each
standard, and which are made to serve as guides for the bearing blocks of the
roller journals. In the Drawings the rollers 1, 2, 3, are represented as
pressed up in contact with each other, but when the pressure is taken off the
middle and bottom rollers 2, 3, descend by their own weight, the top roller 1
being kept up by stops 21 on the tie rods 20. Stops 22, also on these rods,
limit the downward movement of the middle roller 2, and after that roller
reaches those stops the bottom roller 3 still descends a little, and by these
means the middle roller 2 becomes quite free from from both the other
rollers 1, 3. With the arrangements thus described the roller wheels 11, 12, 13,
keep completely in gear with their actuating screw shaft 7 notwithstanding
their vertical movement, and the middle roller 2 can be actuated whilst not
in contact with the top and bottom rollers 1, 3, for the purpose of putting the
goods on or off.
My improved arrangements are susceptible of various other modifications,
all having the same practical objects in view.
In a second modification the worm wheel 12 on the middle roller 2 may be
dispensed with, in which case that roller, when not in contact with the top
roller 1 may be driven by contact with the bottom roller 3 for putting the
goods on or off.
In a third modification, instead of three or two worm wheels, there may be
a single one fixed on the spindle of the middle roller 2; the top and bottom

page_text: rollers 1, 3, in that case receiving their motion by contact with the middle
roller 2.
The simple combination of screw shaft and worm wheel may be introduced
with advantage in various kinds of calendering, mangling, or finishing
machines, and particularly where a vertical or equivalent adjustment of the
roller or rollers is required. The making of the top roller stationary as
regards vertical adjustment has some practical advantages, particularly in
.connection with hydraulic pressure appliances, but this arrangement involves
some difficulty in providing, for driving the middle; (2) or bottom and middle
rollers 3, 2, when the middle roller 2 is out of contact from the top roller 1,
but in my described arrangements this difficulty is met by providing for
driving the middle or bottom roller independently of the top roller, and it
will be obvious that this independent action can be obtained in various ways
besides those already pointed out, as, for example, by means of a belt applied
to pulleys on the spindle of the middle roller 2 in connection with movable
pulleys for regulating the tightness of the belt in the different positions of the
roller, or by arranging spur wheels to drive the rollers, such spur wheels being
placed at the side, and not above or below, and having teeth of sufficient
depth to permit of the requisite vertical or other adjustment of the rollers
without their getting out of gear; or, again, bevil wheels may be fixed on the
roller spindles (with a disengaging clutch to one or more of them), such bevil
wheels being driven by bevil wheels on a vertical shaft; the bevil wheels for
driving the bottom and middle rollers being arranged with the well-known
groove-and-feather details, admitting of their vertical movement on the driving
shaft to follow the movements of the rollers.
Finally, to obviate the difficulty of working the ordinary reversing gear
under heavy pressure, I apply one or more steum cylinders 23 in connection
with each machine. The piston rod of this engine is connected directly to a
crauk on the lower end of the vertical screw shaft 7, and this shaft is fitted
with a fly wheel 24 and with eccentrics 25 for working the valve through the
intervention of the well-known reversing link motion 26, the link of which is
shifted by a lever on a vertical spindle 27, having a hand lever 28 on its
upper end.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for

page_text: calendering, mangling, or finishing, substantially in the improved modes herein
described.
2. The providing for the independent driving of the middle or middle and
bottom rollers, substantially as herein-before described. And,
3. The applying of one or more steam cylinders with reversing valve motion
directly to the machine, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
:.
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ROBT. WALKER. (L.S.)