IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PLAITING OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cook and William Henry Hacking, of
Bury, in the County of Lancaster, Ironfounders and Machinists, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PLAITING
OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cook and William
Henry Hacking at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 13th June 1861.
We, SAMUEL COOK and WILLIAM HENRY HACKING, of Bury, in the County
of Lancaster, Ironfounders and Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
PLAITING OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in applying to the ordinary folding machines a
relieving motion, in order to enable the machine to fold finished fabrics without
injury. Each side of the table is attached by a strap or chain to a quadrant
or segment, and then connected to a lever fixed to a rocking shaft in the
centre of the machine, to which shaft a rocking motion is imparted by a rod
connected with a revolving crank; when the aforesaid parts are put in motion
each side of the table is depressed alternately, and allows the fabric to pass
underneath the card rails without contact or friction, and thereby preserve the
fabric from fraying or damage, and thus enable fabrics of the finest materials
or colors to be folded.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Cook and William Henry Hacking, in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th December 1801.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
Cook and WILLIAM HENRY HACKING, of Bury, in the County of Lancaster,
Ironfounders and Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Cook and William Henry Hacking, Her special licence that we,
the said Samuel Cook and William Henry Hacking, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Cook and William
Henry Hacking, our 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 IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PLAITING OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Cook and William Henry
Tacking, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, 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 we, the said Samuel Cook and William Henry
Hacking, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in applying to the ordinary folding machines a
relieving motion, in order to enable the machine to fold finished fabrics without
injury. Each side of the table is attached by a strap or chain to a quadrant
or segment, and then connected to a lever fixed to the ordinary rocking shaft
in the centre of the machine, to which shaft a rocking motion is imparted by
a rod connected with a revolving crank in the usual manner.
When the
aforesaid parts are put in motion, each end of the table is depressed alternately,
and allows the fabric to pass underneath the card rails without contact or

page_text: friction, and thereby preserves the fabric from fraying or damage, and thus
enabling fabrics of the finest materials or colors to be folded.
These improvements will be clearly understood by referring to the figures
and letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an end
elevation of a folding machine, having our improvements attached; and Fig. 2,
a detached elevation of some of the parts.
The table is shewn at a, at the under side of which, near each end, is a
guide b, c, through which are passed chains or straps d, e, each connected to a
lever f, fixed to the ordinary rocking shaft g of the side levers, one of which is
shewn at h. The other ends of the straps or chains are connected to a
segment or quadrant i, having a balance weight j. When the rocking shaft
rocks to and fro the lever f vibrates also, and causes the chains or straps alter-
nately to depress the table at each end, which thereby relieves the fabric so as to
avoid its coming in contact with the cards and prevent any fraying or damage.
In order to counterbalance the side levers we connect to them two levers
jointed together; one lever is fixed to the rocking shaft g, and another lever
is suspended upon a shaft or stud m, and has connected to it a weight n, which
can be adjusted to any required position, and the two levers. are jointed
together by the link o, so as to move simultaneously. As the side levers
vibrate, the two levers k and vibrate also, and cause the weight to ascend as
the side levers descend, and vice versa, thereby balancing the same.
For feeding the fabric to the machine we employ a feed roller p and a
weighting roller q. To the shaft of the feed roller is fixed the spur wheel r,
gearing into the carrier wheel or pinion t, which gears into the spur wheel u,
working on one of two studs fixed to the cross lever v, the other stud carrying
the spur wheel w, also in gear with the wheel r. The top part of the cross
other end is connected by a
lever swings upon the feed roller shaft, and the
rod to one arm of the L lever a, the other arm being acted upon by the cam y
on the crank shaft =. On one of the side levers there is fixed a toothed
segment a', placed so as to be always in gear with one or the other of the spur
wheels u, w. As the cam y revolves it causes, by means of the lever and rod,
first one of the wheels u, w, and then the other to gear with the teeth of the
segment, so that the wheels u, w, revolve alternately in different directions.
When the wheel w is put in motion it acts directly on the wheel r, and causes
the feed roller to revolve, and when the wheel u is turned it acts by means of
the carrier wheel t upon the spur wheel », so as to cause the feed roller to
turn in the same direction as before, and cause the material to be fed to the
machine.

page_text: It is evident that various modifications may be contrived to impart a motion
of the feed rollers.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, wo desire it to be under-
stood that we claim in machinery or apparatus for plaiting or folding woven
fabrics,―
First, the improved relieving motion.
Secondly, the compound levers and weights for balancing the side levers
and knives.
And, thirdly, the feed rollers, to which a regular or variable motion is
imparted by means of a train of wheels, as such improvements are herein
described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cook, for and on behalf of
myself and the said William Henry Hacking, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord 1
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Samuel Cook, in the
presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
17, Cross Street,
Manchester.
SAMUEL COOK. (L.S.)