IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BEATING OR CLEANING CARPETS
Year: 1884

page_text: We, WILLIAM BOWIE, and JOHN BOWIE, of Clyde Dye Works, Strathclyde
Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Dyers, do
hereby declare the nature of our said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR BEATING OR CLEANING CARPETS" and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement that is to say :-
Our said Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for beating or
cleaning carpets so as to render the machinery more efficient in its action and less
liable to injure the carpets or fabrics subjected to it.
In carrying out our Invention the carpet to be beat or cleaned is inserted
through an opening in the front of a framing or casing enclosing the apparatus,
and passes on to a flexible bed consisting of leather bands or straps fixed securely
at the front of the machine and passing over small rollers towards the middle of
the machine these rollers being placed so as to give a suitable downward inclination
to the bed. The other ends of the straps are attached to springs fixed to the inside
of the front of the framing. As the carpet passes over this flexible bed it is
subjected to the repeated action of a set of flexible beaters made of alternate layers
of guttapercha and canvas with leather facings and attached at their inner ends to
a roller placed horizontally in the centre of the framing and driven at a suitable
speed in any convenient way. The action of the beaters feeds in the carpet at a
regular speed and it falls over the rollers down upon a grating below the ground
level, a pit being formed below the grating to receive the dust which is taken out
through a trap door in the floor.
A fan placed on the top of the framing and driven in any suitable way is used
for drawing off the lighter particles of dust held in suspension.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood we hereunto append two sheets of explanatory
drawings to be hereinafter referred to, and representing our improved machinery.
Figure, 1, on sheet, 1, of the drawings is a horizontal section. Figure, 2, is a
vertical section, and figure, 3, on sheet, 2, is a transverse vertical section of the
apparatus. In these drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.

page_text: In the front of an enclosed framing or casing, 4, there is provided an opening, 5,
for the insertion of the carpet to be beat or cleaned. Straps or bands, 6, of leather
are securely fixed by their upper ends to the framing, 4, just below the opening, 5,
and pass from the opening, 5, down to and over rollers, 7, carried on a horizontal
spindle and placed so as to give a downward inclination to the straps or bands, 6,
these forming the bed on which the carpet is beat. After passing over the
rollers, 7, the lower ends of the bands or straps, 6, have attached to them
springs, 8, which are fixed to the inside of the front of the framing, 4. The bed is
thus rendered flexible and very durable, and consequently less liable to injure the
carpet being operated on, whilst the springs tend to keep it stretched and elastic
and prevent it from becoming concave.
The beaters, 9, (of which there may be any suitable number) for operating on
the carpet, are made by preference with alternative layers of guttapercha and
canvas with leather facings and consist of radial strips connected to each other by
longitudinal strips. The beaters, 9, are hung on short lengths of tubes, 10, which
are strung on rods, 11, these rods being fixed by small brackets, 12, to a boss or
roller, 13, carried on a shaft, 14, and placed horizontally in the centre of the
framing, the shaft having on it fast and loose pulleys, 15, for a driving belt.
The carpet is first led over a roller, 16, carried on a bracket fixed to the front of
the framing, 4, and then through the opening, 5, on to the flexible straps or
bands, 6, forming the bed whereon it is subjected to the action of the beaters, 9,
this action also feeding in the carpet which after being beaten drops over the
rollers, 7, down upon a grating, 17, placed below the floor level. Beneath this
grating, 17, a pit, 18, is formed to receive the heavier particles of dust, and
provision is made for cleaning this pit by means of a trap door in the floor. After
the carpet has been cleaned it is withdrawn through a door (not shown) in the
front of the framing, 4.
At the centre of the top of the framing, 4, a fan, 19, driven in any suitable way
is provided for drawing off the lighter particles of dust held in suspension.
We do not restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated
provided that the distinctive features of our Invention are retained, these being;-
1, the improved construction of rotating flexible beaters, and 2, the combination of
an elastic bed consisting of straps or bands separately tightened by springs with
the other parts of the apparatus described, and 3, the application of the pit below
the grating.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is;
1. The improved construction of rotating flexible beaters substantially as
hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of an elastic bed consisting of straps or bands separately
tightened by springs with the other parts of the apparatus substantially as
herein before described.
3. The application of the pit below the grating upon which the carpet falls
substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
Dated this twenty-eighth day of November 1884.