IMPROVEMENTS IN CRAPING HAIR AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND IN THE MACHINERY
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Pitcher, of 15, Park Street, Camden
Town, in the Parish of St. Pancras, in the County of Middlesex,
Ornamental Hair Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CRAPING HAIR AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND IN THE MACHINERY
Bealed the 8th July 1873, and dated the 14th January 1873.
^
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Pitcher at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th January 1873.
I, WALTER PITCHER, of 15, Park Street, Camden Town, in the Parish
of St. Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Ornamental Hair Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “Im-
PROVEMENTS IN CRAPING HAIR AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND IN
MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows: -
·
:
THE

page_text: to be craped is arranged in continuous strands, and wound upon
bobbins ready to be used in a machine commonly known as a braiding
machine, certain parts of which are altered and modified to suit the
requirements of the hair or other materials to be craped. The machine is
somewhat similar to an ordinary three strand braiding machine, but is
provided with only one bobbin and carrier. The plate spindles of the
machine are made hollow to receive the cords which form the cores on
which the hair or other fibrous material to be craped is wound in the
form of the figure 8, in a manner well understood by persons acquainted
with this branch of manufacture. In a convenient position below the
hollow spindles of the machine there is an arrangement for receiving
continuous cores with a tension motion so arranged as to give the
required closeness to the material being acted upon. There is also a
taking off motion to cause the material to be closely packed on its
core as it leaves the bobbin carrier spindle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter Pitcher in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 14th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
PITCHER, of 15, Park Street, Camden Town, in the Parish of St.
Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, Ornamental Hair Manufacturer,
send greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand. eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Walter Pitcher, Her special
licence that I, the said Walter Pitcher, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Pitcher, 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

page_text: IN CRAPING HAIR AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Walter Pitcher, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
5 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 Walter Pitcher, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say :-
In carrying out this Invention the hair or other fibrous materials to
be craped is arranged in continuous strands, and wound upon bobbins
ready to be used in a machine commonly known as a braiding machine,
certain parts of which are altered and modified to suit the require-
ments of the hair or other materials to be craped. The machine
is somewhat similar to an ordinary three strand braiding machine, but
is provided with only one bobbin and carrier. The plate spindles of the
machine are made hollow to receive the cords which form the cores on
which the hair or other material to be craped is wound in the form of
the figure 8, in a manner well understood by persons acquainted with
this branch of manufacture. In a convenient position below the hollow
spindles of the machine there is an arrangement for receiving con-
tinuous cores with a tension motion so arranged as to give the required
closeness to the material being acted upon. There is also a taking off
motion to cause the material to be closely packed on its core as it leaves
the bobbin carrier spindle.
Heretofore the hair or other material to be craped has been prepared
by hand in short untwisted lengths and "craped" or wound by hand
round the core threads, a process which involves considerable time and
expense. Instead of this I prepare the material by the ordinary process
of drawing and spinning in continuous loosely twisted strands, which
I then "crape" or wind round the core threads by the machinery which

page_text: 'I shall hereafter describe, by which means a considerable saving in time,
and cost of production of the craped material is effected.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents a side elevation of a braiding
machine with the alterations and modifications attached thereto, which
I have found necessary or desirable to adapt it to the purpose of craping
'hair after it has been prepared in continuous loosely twisted strands.
Figure 2, an end elevation; Figure 3, a plan of same; and Figures
4 and 5, detail views of certain parts thercof. The Drawing shews a
machine with four pairs of plate spindles, each pair arranged to produce
a strand of craped material, but the machine may be arranged with
any other number of pairs of spindles, as may be required.
I shall now proceed to describe the mechanism in connection with one
pair of plate spindles, it being understood that the other pairs are
arranged and adapted in a similar manner.
A, A', are a pair of plate spindles driven by the gearing B, B, from the
upright shaft C, to which motion is imparted by the driving shaft D
and bevil gearing as shown. These plate spindles are hollow throughout
their lengths and the core threads E, E, pass up through them from the
core bobbins F, F. These core threads form the ground work upon
which the hair strand is to be craped, they are brought together above
the plate spindles A, A¹, and are passed through the adjustable guide G
to the taking off rollers H, H, the action of which will be hereafter
described. The bobbin carrier I with the bobbin J is caused to describe a
path round the plate spindles of the form of the figure 8, as shown by the
heavy red line in Figure 3, by means of the usual notched plates K, K¹,
and the switches L, L', in the manner well known in connection with
this class of machinery.
The loosely twisted strand of hair to be craped is wound on the
bobbin J and the end passed through the eyes O, O', in the carrier frame,
see especially Figuro 5, thence through the bobbin catch P through
the eyelet Q of the tension spring R in the carrier spindle, and up
through the point of such spindle to the braiding point at the adjustable
guide G in the manner usual in such machines. The motion of the
bobbin J round the spindles A, A', winds the hair strand in the form of
the figure 8, round the core threads E, E, the tension spring keeping
the hair strand tight during the revolution of the bobbin and carrier in

page_text: the same manner as the well known tension weight in the ordinary
braiding or platting machine, and it may be here remarked that instead
of the spring R the ordinary tension weight may sometimes be employed
to take up the slack of the hair strand, but I find that in some cases
the weight cannot be made heavy enough to secure close packing of the
hair strand round the core threads.
The spring I prefer to employ is a spiral spring constructed in a
similar manner to the springs employed in steam engine indicators, that
is with the coils adjusted so as to exert as nearly as possible equal
tensions in all parts of its required range, but ordinary spiral springs if
carefully made are in general sufficient for this purpose.
The tension spring or weight acts upon the bobbin catch when the
tension of the hair strand becomes sufficient in the manner well under-
stood in connection with the ordinary braiding machine.
The necessary tension of the core threads and removal of the finished
work is obtained in the following manner :-S is a shaft on which are
formed or keyed the letting off rollers T, T, I prefer that these rollers
should be fluted as shown, but they may be made plain; similar rollers
U, U, are held in gear or in contact with the rollers T, T, see Fig. 4, by
spring hooks V, seen also in Figure 6, such as are commonly employed
in, for example, wool combing machinery. Between each of the pairs
of rollers T, U, is led one of the corc threads E, E, from the core
bobbins F, F, which threads are firmly gripped between the rollers T, U,
being allowed to pass from between them only as they are turned by the
catgut band W which communicates motion to the shaft S by the
pulley X in proportion to the required feed; II, H', are a pair of similar
rollers adapted to "take off" the finished material Z, as it is made and
passes through the guide G. These rollers are pressed in contact by
spring hooks V', similarly to those for regulating the "let off" of the
core threads, and they are driven at the speed requisite for the "take
off," by the pulley X', driven by the same catgut band W which receives
its motion from the speed pulley shown on the worm shaft D¹; it will
be seen that as the upper pair of rollers H, H', grip firmly between them
the finished material, and the lower pair of rollers T, U, the core threads.
Any required degree of tension of these core threads may be main-
tained, and in order to secure the maintenance of sufficient tension --I

page_text: "
prefer that the "taking off" rollers shall move slightly faster than the
'letting off" or core rollers, so as to produce a drag on the core threads,
but in order to guard against the inconvenience of too great a tension
which may sometimes result from this arrangement I employ, when
necessary, the following means of adjusting such tension:-Supposing
the rollers T & T to be loose on the shaft S and each provided with a
disc T, I apply to such disc a click T which takes into the teeth of a
ratchet wheel T³, keyed upon the shaft S so that the roller T is driven
by the ratchet wheel and click as the shaft S revolves. If now either
of the core threads becomes too tense, the attendant can slacken it
by letting back the roller T on the shaft S, by the space of one or more
teeth of the ratchet wheel T³, or if either of the core threads is too
slack he can turn the roller forward on the shaft one or more teeth of
the ratchet wheel and thus tighten it. It may be remarked that the
samo effect can be attained to a certain extent by tightening or loosening
the spring hooks V and V¹.
Instead of conveying motion from the driving or worm shaft to the
"letting off" and "taking off" mechanism by pullies and a catgut band
as shown, a similar effect may be obtained by the use of bevil or other
gearing. The same "letting off" and "taking off" roller shafts may
be adapted, as shown in the Drawing, to serve more than one pair of
spindles, by which arrangement one set only of mechanism is required
for giving motion to the "letting off" & "taking off" rollers of
several pairs of spindles.
The material delivered by the "taking off" rollers is to be prepared 2
for market in the ordinary way, which it is not necessary to describe
here, as it is well known to those interested in the trade.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner in which the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would
have it understood that what I claim as my Invention is,―
First. The application and use for the purpose of craping hair of a
braiding machine constructed, modified, and adapted, substantially as
described and illustrated.
g
Second. The apparatus for effecting the tension of the core threads
and of removing the finished work constructed, arranged, and combined, 3
batantially as dorazihad and illustrated

page_text: F
manner described and illustrated.
SHALL, substantiany in the
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Pitcher, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Pitcher, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
WALTER PITCHER. (L.S.)