IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERED STEEL FOR CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR COVERING AND UNITING THE SAME
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Sparks Thomson, of No. 12, Boulevard
Poissonnière, Paris, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERED STEEL FOR CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN THE
MACHINERY FOR COVERING AND UNITING THE SAME."-A communication from
Oliver Rogers Burnham, residing at New York City, in the County and
State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 26th May 1865, and dated the 2nd March 1865.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Sparks Thomson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition and Decla-
ration, on the 2nd March 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COMF. I, WILLIAM
SPARKS THOMSON, of No. 12, Boulevard Poissonnière, Paris, in the Empire of
France, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COVERED STEEL FOR CRINOLINE SKIRTS, AND IN THE MACHINERY FOR COVERING AND
UNITING THE SAME," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same,
and have made solemn Declaration that it is a communication from Oliver
Rogers Burnham, a person resident at New York City, in the County and
State of New York, United States of America.

page_text: chat 1, the said wina Sparks Inоmson, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings :-
:-
In this Specification the term "crinoline" is used as denoting strips or
bands of steel covered in lengths to be afterwards manufactured into crinoline
skirts.
The Invention consists in making crinoline by covering and uniting two
strips or bands of steel in a braiding machine so that the two strips or bands
of steel when covered and finished may lie flat, that is, side by side, or edge
to edge, being united by the covering, each strip or band of steel being in a
separate and distinct cell, case, or covering.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1, is a rear elevation of
part of an ordinary flat braiding machine fitted according to my Invention;
Figure 2, is an end elevation; and Figure 3, a plan of the same; Figure 4,
is a front elevation of the upper part of the machine; Figure 5, is a top view
of a self-adjusting guide, with the part to which it is attached; Figure 6, is
a bottom view; and Figure 7, a side elevation of the same; Figure 8x¹,
represents a piece of crinoline formed of two strips or bands of steel, after
being covered, but before being finished; and Figure 8x2, is a plan of the
same when finished. The same letters refer to the same parts of the machine
in the different Figures.
The wheels and other parts located below the bed plate A are similar to
those usually employed in flat braiding machines, and have not therefore been
shown in the Drawings, nor need they be described as my Invention relates
to parts located in the upper part of the machine. In the bed plate A is
formed in the usual way a slot a in the form of a figure 8. Through this
slot each of the bobbin carriages B pass in the ordinary way, instead of
simply revolving in a circle around one of the discs C. The bobbins B¹ are
placed on the carriages and the delivery from said bobbins of the material
used for covering the steel is regulated in the ordinary manner. The strips or
bands of steel b,b, are placed on reels below the bed plate A and are brought
above said plate through apertures 61, 61, in the discs C, C. The strips or
bands b, b, pass through the apertures c, c, in the guides D, D, as shown in
Figure 2, and are brought face to face at the point where the covering is
effected as more clearly shown in Figure 1, by the conjoined action of the
guides D, D, and the guide H herein-after described. The guides D, D, need
pot be of the exact description or configuration shown, but other guides may.

page_text: be used so long as they bring the steel nearly into position below the point of
raiding by keeping the steel clear of the moving bobbins and allowing space
or the threads to pass and interlace between, and so encase the strips or
bands of steel. The adjustable attachment E is shewn secured to a horizontal
arm F formed on the standard G. This attachment is shewn clearly in
Figure 2 and part of it in Figures 5, 6, and,7. The part e, Figure 1, is made
adjustable vertically by a set screw and slot g, and the part h, is adjustable
horizontally by similar means. The self-adjusting or yielding guide H, shewn
detached in Figures 5, 6, and 7, is constructed of a piece of metal secured to
the lower part of the attachment E by passing under the head of the screw i,
as shewn in Figure 6. The jaws of this guide are kept pressed together by
means of an india-rubber ring or band j, of varying strength according to
the size of the strips or bands of steel. The object of this guide is to keep the
strips or bands of steel sufficiently close together at the point where the
covering is effected without throwing an undue strain on the cotton or other
covering material, at the same time being capable of yielding to permit any
irregularities in the braided or covered strips or bands to pass through the
apertures c' in the guide H. For the ring or band j may be substituted a
The apertures c¹ may be made of
spring or other equivalent device.
any suitable size and form; there are three shewn in the guide H, in
order to adapt the same guide for three sizes of strips or bands. The
attachment E, to which the guide H is fixed, being adjustable, either of the
apertures may be readily brought in position to properly guide the strip or
bands of steel.
C¹
It will be observed by reference to Figures 1 and 2, that the strips or
bands of steel are covered and united while face to face. This is more fully
shewn by Figure 8a". When the covering has been effected the strips or
bands thus united are drawn through the apertures c' in the guide Hby means
of rollers I, J, more clearly shewn in Figure 3. The strips or bands pass
freely through an aperture in a guide K, as in an ordinary braiding machine
which is also made adjustable horizontally by a thumb screw k. This guide K
is for the purpose only of guiding the covered strips or bands to the drawing
rollers I, J. The rollers I and J, which are the ordinary drawing rollers
answer also in this machine the novel and important purpose of changing the
5 relative position of the strips or bands of steel, so that by passing through the
said rollers they are placed edge to edge, as shown in Figure 8x2, instead of
face to face as when first covered or united, shown in Figure 8.r¹ and when
thus completed are in the same plane and have theappearance more of a single
strip or band than of two strips or bands united. The face of the roller I may

page_text: antageously roughened, and this rolleras in an ordinary braiding machin
is made adjustable on the shaft L by means of a set screw 7 for the purpos
of conveniently substituting the smaller roller I', Figure 3, when it is desire
to draw the material more slowly. The loose roller J rotates on a spindle M
and is held against the roller I or I' by means of the clamp N, passing ove
said spindle and the horizontal arm F, as shewn in Figure 3, the pressure
being regulated by the screw m, Figures 3 and 4. Between the end of the
clamp and the arm F is placed a piece of india-rubber or a spring in order
that the rollers I and J may be slightly yielding. From the pulley O fixed
on the shaft L, motion is given to a reel above on which the finished crinoline
is wound. Motion is given to the roller I, by means of the worm n on the
driving shaft P, Figure 4, acting on the worm wheel Q, Figures 1 and 3,
which is fixed on the same shaft L, as said roller, and the roller J is rotated
by friction. Power is applied to the driving shaft P through a pulley at its
lower end (not shown; which pulley as well as the gearing for giving motion
to the lower working parts is located below the bed plate A. If desired round
or half round steel wire may be used, but when round or half round steel wire is
used the drawing rollers will not, as is the case when strips or bands of steel
are covered, alter their relative position. When steel wire is used more than
two strands of wire may be covered by using an ordinary braiding machine,
such as is well known as a flat braiding machine for braiding flat braid of
considerable width adding to such well known machine the guide H, herein-
before described and using the same in combination with guides (as many as
there are wires) similar to D, D.
The crinoline made according to this Invention can be afterwards manu-
factured into crinoline skirts. When the operation of covering is commenced
the two strips or bands of steel are brought through the guides D, D, and
then face to face through the guide H, and thence through a guide K and
then between the drawing rollers I and J, care being taken that the strips or
bands of steel are face to face between the jaws of the guide H and side by s
side between the rollers I and J. The braiding is then commenced, a portion
at the commencement of each piece of wire is necessarily left uncovered.
By this mode the steel strips or bands are braided face to face, but when
inished they lie side by side or edge to edge.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention, and shown 3
ow the same may be conveniently and advantageously carried into effect, I
esire to state that none of the separare parts of the machine are claimed as
ew, per se, save the guide H. I do not confine myself to the details of con-
truction or the exact arrangement of the guide H, as herein set forth and

page_text: illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, so long as the distinctive
features of my Invention are retained; but I claim,―
First, the manufacture of crinoline by covering two strips or bands of steel
in a braiding machine, so that the two strips or bands of steel when covered
and finished may lie flat, that is, side by side, or edge to edge, being united by
the covering, and each strip or band of steel being or lying in a separate and
distinct cell, case, or covering.
Second, the guide H as and for the purpose herein-before described.
Third, the combination of the guides D, D, the guide H and the drawing
rollers I and J in a braiding machine, as and for the purposes herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Sparks Thomson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
5
Witness,
EDWARD DRUCKER.
WILLIAM SPARKS THOMSON. (L.B.)