IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND GUIDING CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS, CALICO PRINTERS, AND OTHERS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Birch, of the City of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR
OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND GUIDING CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER
FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS, CALICO PRINTERS, AND OTHERS."
Sealed the 23rd June 1874, and dated the 24th December 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Birch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1873.
I, WILLIAM BIRсп, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of tho said
Invention for "IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO
MACHINERY FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND GUIDING CALICO, CLOTH,
AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS, CALICO PRINTERS, AND
OTHERS,” (to be as follows) :-
This Invention can be applied to all descriptions of smoothing,
spreading, and guiding machinery or apparatus, but it is especially

page_text: applicable to an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me,
entitled "Improved Self-acting Machinery for Opening, Smoothing,
Spreading, and Guiding Calico, Cloth, and other Fabrics for the use of
Bleachers, Dyers, Calico Printers, and others, dated 1st October, 1870,
No. 2610, and the main object of my present Invention is to enable {
this self-acting machinery to obtain the greatest results in the most
cconomical manner by means of preliminary arrangements and improved
apparatus.
The fabric, after having passed through the bleaching, washing,
dycing, or other processes, and afterwards squeezed or wrung to exude 1
the superfluous liquor or water, is in a confused state of twist, but in
enormous lengths of combined pieces, the twists from right to left, and
vice versa, are generally equal, and therefore if the fabric is properly
shaken the untwisting of the different twists makes the said fabric
comparatively even, and one part of this Invention is to perform this-1
shaking or untwisting operation by scutching or beating the cloth or
fabric whilst it is passing to the machine or machines by means of
scutchers or beaters worked by a strap and pulleys, or by gearing from
any driving shaft.
The fabric to be acted upon is drawn from any required place by the 2
drying or other machine, through which it is to pass, or by drawing
rollers on the smoothing and spreading machine, or any other suitable
place, but between the scutchers or beaters and the eyelet guide imme-
diately before them there should be a vertical or horizontal length of
fabric for about twenty-five or more yards, so that as the said scutchers 2
or beaters are rapidly revolved or oscillated, a great agitation will be
given to the cloth or fabric and the surrounding air, and thereby so
effectually shake and open the fabric that it will not have a single twist
when it arrives at the smoothing, spreading, and guiding machine, and
thus, unless by a chance there is an unequal twist, thousands of pieces 3
of fabric can be opened, smoothed, and spread not only without the
direct employment of hand labor, but with the satisfactory result of
producing an endless or continuous self-acting system of opening,
smoothing, spreading, and guiding calico, cloth, or other fabrics, a
desideratum never before attained.
3

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Putent,
filed by the said William Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BIRCH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Birch, Her special license that I,
tho said William Birch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Birch, 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 ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS
APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND GUIDING
CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS, CALICO
PRINTERS, AND OTHERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Birch, 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 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 William Birch, do hereby declaro
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 tho
following statement (that is to say) :—
This Invention can be applied to all descriptions of smoothing, spread-
ing, and guiding machinery or apparatus, but it is especially applicable
to an Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me, entitled,
"Improved Self-acting Machinery for Opening, Smoothing, Spreading,
and Guiding Calico, Cloth, and other Fabrics for the use of Bleachers,
Dyers, Calico Printers, and others, dated First October, One thousand
cight hundred and seventy, No. 2610. In this machine the calico or cloth

page_text: or fabric is passed between two pairs of endless bands or chains travelling
horizontally on pulleys or chain wheels having revolving motion imparted
to them by gearing from a revolving shaft of the machine, and the studs
or bearings for the pulleys or wheels for one band or chain at each sido
aro stationary, and those for the other band or chain at each side placed
on moveable arms worked by levers, and the parts of the bands or chains.
in contact with the cloth or fabric travel outwards from the centre of tho
machine.
r
'
The endless bands or chains are either plain or have projections or
serrated surfaces fixed to them, the projections or teeth on one of cach
pair of bands or chains passing between those on the other in order to
give a grip to the cloth or fabric, and when the projections or teeth aro
not required the friction of the plain or serrated surfaces will be sufficient
to keep the fabric opened out.
. Above or in line with the endless bands or chains there is a two-armed
lever having at cachi side two or more corrugated bars, the angles on onc
sido being reversed to those. on, the, other, and tho central shaft or
fulcrum of the lever is connected by an arm to cranks attached to the
levers on the moveable arms, and between the corrugated bars at cach
sido there is a corrugated or plain spring bar which can be adjusted to
any required pressure. by a screw, and the-two-armed lever with its.
corrugated and spring bars is used as a regulator or governor to maintain-
the calico, cloth, or fabric central with the machine.
'
At the commencement of operations, when the machine is set to work,
an' end of the calico, cloth, or fibrio to be opened, spread, and guided is
passed between the endless bands or chains and the corrugated bars and
springs, and then the cloth or fabric is drawn onwards, and as it advances
it is opened and spread out by the endless bands or chains, and as. long
as it continues. central with the machinc no change takes place, but
directly it commences to swerve on cither sido the regulator or governor
is called into action.
"When the cloth or fabric goes out of the centre it passes further
between the corrugated bars and spring on one side of tlic two-armed
lever and grips the lever sufficiently hard to give it motion and also tho.
levers connected with it, the effect of which is that the moveable arm on-
the sido of the machine where the lever is gripped is moved outwards to
lessen the effect of the travelling bands or chains on the cloth or fabric
on that side, and the moveable arm'on the other.sido is moved inwards

page_text: to cause the bands or chains on that side to have a greater hold on the
cloth or fabric, and cause it to become again central, and this regulator
or governor is continually detecting the slightest swerving movement
and immediately giving motion to the moveable arms as required, and
the main object of my present Invention is to enable this self-acting
machinery to obtain the greatest results in the most economical manner
by means of preliminary arrangements and apparatus.
It is well known that the fabric, after having passed through the
bleaching, dyeing, washing, or other processes, and afterwards squeezed
or wrung to exude the superfluous liquor or water, is in a confused state
of twist, but the twists from right to left, and vice versa, are in enormous
lengths of combined picces, generally equal or nearly so, and therefore if
the fabric is properly shaken the different twists are untwisted so as to
make the fabric comparatively even, and by my Invention this shaking
or untwisting operation is performed by scutching or beating the cloth or
fabric whilst it is passing to the opening, smoothing, and spreading
machine by means of scutchers or beaters made of sticks, arms, or flails,
and caused to oscillate up and down, or formed of horizontal rods or tubes
connected to arms fixed to shafts, to which revolving motion is given by
a strap and pulloys, or by gearing from any driving shaft.
The fabric to be acted upon is drawn from any required place by the
drying or other machine through which it is to pass or by one or more
drawing rollers on the smoothing or scutching machine, or any other
suitable place, but between the scutchers or beaters and the eyelet guide
immediately before them there should be a vertical or horizontal length
of fabric for about twenty-five or more yards, so that as the said
scutchers or beaters aro rapidly revolved or oscillated a great agitation
will be given to the cloth or fabric and the surrounding air, the effect
being that of turning all the twists back from the opening, smoothing,
and spreading machine to that portion of the fabric where the opposito
twist comes, when there will not be a single twist in the whole length of
the fabric from the eyelet to the said opening, smoothing, and spreading
machine, and thus, unless by misadventure there are some unequal
twists thousands of picces of fabric can be opened, smoothed, and spread
not only without the direct employment of hand labor, but with the
satisfactory result of producing a comparatively endless or continuous
self-acting system of opening, smoothing, spreading, and guiding calico,
cloth, or other fabrics, a desideratum never before attained.

page_text: I
In most cases it is advisable to employ two of these opening and
spreading machines, one attached to or near the drying or other machine
through which the fabric has to pass, and the other placed at any con-
venient position before it, and it is to this additional or supplementary.
machine that I connect my scutching or beating apparatus, the object of
the arrangement being to prevent any twisted part of the fabric from
getting to the drying or other machine, for if by accident there should
be too many twists, they are found out at the first machine, and then
the fabric is unsewn, and a portion of the twist taken out by hand, after
which the fabric is resewn to make it right, but these cases very seldom
occur.
.
On the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings Fig. 1, Sheet 1, is a
longitudinal elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan representing the application of
one pair of my revolving scutchers or beaters to an opening or spreading
machine, and Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a side view of one arrangement, in
which the fabric is passed between the scutchers or beaters and through
two opening or spreading machines to drying cylinders or expanders,
and in all the Figures the main shaft of the opening and spreading
machine is marked. a, the endless chains 6, and the regulator or
governor c. To the shaft a is fixed a toothed wheel.d gearing into the
toothed wheel e fixed to the shaft f of the roller g, and on the shaft f
there is a pulley & having revolving motion given to it from any driving.
shaft, it being only necessary to have the surface motion of the roller
g to correspond with or slightly exceed the surface motion of the
cylinders of the drying or other machine, through which the fabric has
to pass.
.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the roller g is in contact with the roller g¹, and .in
Fig. 3, on the shaft f, there are loose arms i carrying a tension roller j,
which is acted upon as required by springs to regulate the tension of
the fabric. On the shaft a there is a pulley / communicating by the
strap m, with the pulley n, on the shaft o, to which are fixed the arms
p, carrying the rods or tubes q, and to this shaft is fixed the toothed
wheel, gearing into the toothed wheel 8, on the shaft t, carrying tho
arms u and rods or tubes of another scutcher or beater at right angles
to the first, and it is beyond the rods or tubes of the two-scutchers that
the cloth marked to passes.
ย
When the apparatus is at work the scutchers or beaters rapidly
revolve and give the cloth such a shaking, and the surrounding air such

page_text: an agitation as to cause the twists to be untwisted and make the cloth.
comparatively even before it arrives at the opening or spreading machine,
and if the cloth overruns and becomes slack the springs k, arms i, and
roller j, regulate the tension.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the cloth, after passing over the roller g', falls on to
the floor or into a truck, as may be required, but in Fig. 8 the cloth.or
fabric, after passing over the tension roller j, passes through the second
opening and spreading machine to one or more ordinary crimped bars x,
and then to the drying cylinders y, but it is evident that the course of
the cloth, whether horizontal or vertical, must be adapted to the arrange-
ment of the buildings and the positions of the machines, and also that
in some cases the scutchers or beaters may work in connection with a
single opening or spreading machine, as shewn or connected to the
drying or other machine through which the fabric has to pass.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, I desire it to
be understood that I do not claim, the machinery for opening, smooth-
ing, spreading, and guiding cloth, as that is not new, but what I do
claim is,
First. The scutchers or beaters used for giving the cloth or fabric.and
the surrounding air a great agitation.
And, Secondly. The employment of the scutchers or beaters in con-
nection with all kinds of machinery for opening, smoothing, and
spreading cloth or fabric, but more especially with the opening, smooth-
ing, and spreading machinery as herein described and illustrated on the
accompanying two Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Birch, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
WILLIAM BIRCH. (L.S.)