IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Drewett, of Guildford Street, Luton, in the
County of Bedford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Drewett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th June 1874.
I, WILLIAM DREWETT, of Guildford Street, Luton, in the County of
5 Bedford, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BLOCKING HATS, BONNETS, AND SUCH LIKE
ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction and
working of apparatus for blocking or moulding into shape hats, bonnets,
0 or other articles of like kind of straw, felt, or other suitable material.

page_text: Blocking apparatus as ordinarily constructed consists of a steam
jacketted mould into which the piece of material to be shaped into a hat
or bonnet is placed. Over this is brought a cap having a caoutchouc
facing or bag. Water is forced into the cap and the facing or bag is
thereby pressed outwards from the cap forcing the hat or bonnet into the
mould where it receives its shape while subject to the heat imparted
from the steam in the jacket. The cap having to resist very considerable
internal pressure is necessarily strong and heavy, and requires to be held
firmly down while the pressure is applied. It is therefore usually
counterbalanced by a weight connected to it by a chain passing over a :
pulley, and it is guided between vertical guides so that it can be raised
to remove a blocked article and to insert one to be blocked, or to change
the mould; and while the pressure is applied it is usually held down by.
strong draw bolts or turnbuckles.
ཞ
.
Instead of employing this arrangement I construct the apparatus in
the following manner:-To the mould or the framing in which it is held
I fix four bolts or columns extending upwards and carrying at the top a
frame on which a horizontal shaft is mounted in bearings. On this
shaft I provide a crank, eccentric, or cam connected by a rod to the cap
of the mould, and on the same shaft I fix a hand wheel loaded on one 2
side to counterbalance the weight of the cap which is fitted to slide
vertically along the bolts above mentioned. When it is desired to raise
or lower the cap the workman turns the hand wheel, the crank, eccentric,
or cam thereon, imparting the desired vertical movement to the cap.
When a crank or eccentric is used the level of the shaft or the length of 2
the connecting rod is adjusted so that the crank or eccentric is on its
lower dead centre or nearly so when the cap is down, so that the force
holding down the cap does not tend to turn the shaft. The hand wheel
however may be made with notches for the insertion of a stop to hold it
when the cap is either down or up.
Instead of mounting the shaft above the blocking frame it may be
mounted below the same, the cap in that case being connected by side
rods extending downwards to a pair of cranks, eccentrics, or cams on the
shaft below.
3
As water under pressure either from an accumulator or pump is 3
emploved to effect the moulding such water. Dross
3077 ha

page_text: veniently employed to give the necessary movements to the shaft in the
following manner:-I connect the hand wheel or a wheel on the shaft
by gearing to a turbine or water pressure engine which is always sub-
jected to the flow or pressure of the water, but which is kept at rest
while the wheel is stopped. On releasing the stop the turbine or water
engine causes the shaft to revolve, and thus the workman for raising or
lowering the cap of the mould has only to remove or insert a stop, the
action thereupon being automatic.
こ
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DREWETT, of Guildford Street, Luton, in the County of Bedford, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Drewett, Her special license
that I, the said William Drewett, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Drewett, my executors,
administrators, or 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 BLOCKING HATS, BONNETS, AND SUCH LIKE ARTICLES," upon.
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Drewett,
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

page_text: Great Seal 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 Drewett, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction and
working of apparatus for blocking or moulding into shape hats, bonnets,
or other articles of like kind, of straw, felt, or other suitable material.
Blocking apparatus as ordinarily constructed consists of a steam
jacketted mould into which the piece of material to be shaped into a hat
or bonnet is placed. Over this is brought a cap having a caoutchouc
facing or bag. Water is forced into the cap, and the facing or bag is
thereby pressed outwards from the cap, forcing the hat or bonnet into
the mould, where it receives its shape while subject to the heat imparted
from the steam in the jacket. The cap having to resist very considerable
internal pressure is necessarily strong and heavy and requires to be held
firmly down while the pressure is applied. It is therefore usually
counterbalanced by a weight connected to it by a chain passing over a
pulley, and it is guided between vertical guides so that it can be raised
to remove a blocked article and to inscrt one to be blocked, or to change
the mould, and while the pressure is applied it is usually held down by
strong draw bolts or turnbuckles.
Instead of employing this arrangement I construct the apparatus in
the following manner :-To the mould or the frame in which it is held I
fix four bolts or columns extending upwards, and carrying at the top a
frame on which a horizontal shaft is mounted in bearings. On this
shaft I provide a crank, eccentric, or cam connected by a rod to the cap
of the mould, and on the same shaft I fix a hand wheel loaded on onc
side to counterbalance the weight of the cap which is fitted to slide
vertically along the bolts above mentioned. When it is desired to raise
or lower the cap the workman turns the hand wheel, the crank,
eccentric or cam thereon, imparting the desired vertical movement to
the cap. When a crank or eccentric is used the level of the shaft or
the length of the connecting rod is adjusted so that the crank or

page_text: eccentric is on its lower dead centre, or nearly so, when the cap is down,
so that the force holding down the cap does not tend to turn the shaft.
The hand wheel however may be made with notches for the insertion of
a stop to hold it when the cap is either down or up.
be
Instead of mounting the shaft above the blocking frame it may
mounted below the same, the cap in that case being connected by side
rods extending downwards to a pair of cranks, eccentrics, or cams on the
shaft below.
As water under pressure either from an accumulator or pump is
employed to effect the moulding, such water pressure may be con-
veniently employed to give the necessary movements to the shaft in the
following manner:-I connect the hand wheel or a wheel on the shaft
by gearing to a turbine or water pressure engine which is always sub-
jected to the flow or pressure of the water, but which is kept at rest
while the wheel is stopped. On releasing the stop the turbine or water
engine causes the shaft to revolve, and thus the workman for raising or
lowering the cap of the mould has only to remove or insert a stop, the
tomatin

page_text: blocking apparatus, so arranged that while the mould is subjected to
pressure the upward thrust of the cap has little or no tendency to turn
the shaft, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Drewett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, 5
iu the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.