CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL POWERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF LAYING, SMOOTHING, AND POLISHING THE PILE OR FACE OF WOOLLEN OR OTHER CLOTH OR FABRIC; AND ALSO FOR THE PURPOSE OF CLEANSING AT THE SAME TIME THE SAID CLOTH OR FABRIC REQUIRING SUCH OPERATIONS
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN LEWIS,
Clothier, WILLIAM LEWIS, Dyer, and WILLIAM DAVIS, Engineer, all of
Brimscomb, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of
June, in the fifty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto them, the
said John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis, their exors, adñiors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that they,
the said John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis, their exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, their Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL POWERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF LAYING, SMOOTHING, AND
POLISHING THE PILE OR FACE OF WOOLLEN OR OTHER CLOTH OR FABRIC; AND ALSO
FOR THE PURPOSE OF CLEANSING AT THE SAME TIME THE SAID CLOTH OR FABRIC
REQUIRING SUCH OPERATIONS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that if they, the said John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under their hands and seals, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, they, the said
John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis, do hereby declare that the
nature of their said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are particularly described and ascertained in the following words,
together with the Drawings and references hereunto annexed:-
These mechanical Drawings are orthographical projections, every part of
which can be measured by a scale of equal parts adapted to the Figures, and are
not perspective representations, which do not easily admit of this advantage, and
which therefore are but little used by mechanics. The Figures are one tenth
of the real dimensions of the machinery, and are projections in vertical planes,
the plane of Figure 1 being at right angles to that of Figure 2. The same
letters of reference mark in all the Figures the same parts of the machinery.
The letter A marks the two ends of the framework. B are three bars
fastened with the two ends A. C is a roller, on which the woollen or other
cloth or fabric is first wound. D is the said cloth. E is a strong bar fixed at
each end to the framework A, adjustable in vertical grooves by means of two
screws, marked by a small letter e in Figure 2. This bar E is for supporting
the cloth D. F is a card roller for drawing the cloth D over E' and off C.
G is a plain roller on which the cloth D is wound as it descends from F.
His a card roller always bearing against the cloth, which is rolled on G.
I is a weight on the lever K. K is a break or lever always bearing on the
wheel L, for the purpose of regulating the tension of the cloth D. L is a
friction wheel fixed on one end of the axis of C. Q is a rod at each end of the
machine, for suspending H from the axis of F. These two rods Q are
loose on the axis of F, in order to allow the roller II to recede from G as
the cloth D accumulates on the roller G. M is a toothed wheel fixed on
the axis of F. N is a rigger, fixed on the axis of F, for driving P.
O is a strap or band passing round N and P P is a band wheel fixed
on the axis of H. R is a worm on S, for turning the wheel M. S is
the axis carrying R and T. T is a wheel fixed on S, and turned by
the worm U. U is a worm driven by V. V is a rigger driven by an endless
strap from W. W is a rigger on the axis X. X is the driving axis, carrying
W, Y, and g. Y are two connecting rods carrying Z. The lower ends of
these connecting rods Y are driven excentrically or crank-wise about five
eighths of an inch by the revolution of the axis X, and their upper ends are
guided by the radial bars marked with the small letter e. Z is a bar carried
by Y, and having one half of its under surface b; in. Figures 2 and 3,
furnished with a few rows of wires smoothly pointed, and inclined to the
horizon at an angle of about thirty degrees, and pointing towards F. The
other half of the under surface of Z, next to F, and marked.a in Figure 3, is

page_text: covered with or formed into a number of small grooves, reeds, flutings, or
knobs, entirely free from cutting edges, or is formed into any other smooth
surface of a suitable nature for acting on the cloth D, to lay smooth and
polish the pile or face after the raised fibres of D are combed straight by the
points b. The upper surface of the strong supporting bar E is curved, as in
Figure 3, and covered with a few layers of woollen cloth, and over the latter a
layer of strong linen cloth, over which the cloth D is to travel to receive the
action of Z, b, and a. The openings or grooves in the frame ends A, and in
the pieces Y, marked d, are for holding the centres of motion of the radial
bars e, and allowing them room for adjustment. 9 is a fly wheel turning
with the axis X.
The chief advantages obtained by our new system of laying, smoothing, and
polishing the previously raised pile of the fabric D, are, that by means of the
successive blows with which the acting parts strike upon D, the cloth is made
firmer in the ground, and is more readily and uniformly polished, while waste
of the substance of D, and opening the texture by dragging or rubbing for a
long space over the said cloth, are in great measure avoided. Besides, the
cloth or fabric D is cleansed at the same time, without risk of damage.
The cloth D requires to be wetted while subject to the action of the machine,
and in some part of the operation it may be advantageous, with regard to the
cleansing, to use a little soap or fullers earth along with the water for wetting
the cloth D.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lewis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and nineteen.