IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OB APPARATUS USED IN FINISHING FELT HATS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Green, of Stockport, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OB
APPARATUS USED IN FINISHING FELT HATS."
Sealed the 7th November 1871, and dated the 27th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Green at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th May 1871.
I; ROBERT GREEN, of. Stockport, in the County of Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY.
or Åpparatus usED IN FINISHING FELT HATS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus to be used in the process of
finishing felt hats, called "shaving" or "pouncing," and consists
principally in an arrangement of mechanism designed to impart a com-
bined reciprocating and rotary motion to the hat whilst the workman
presses a piece or pieces of glass paper or other suitable material against
the surface.
In carrying this Invention into practise I mount a suitable carriage
upon slides, and impart thereto a rapid reciprocating motion to and from

page_text: the workman by means of a crank pin and connecting rod, or by any
other convenient mechanism. Upon this carriage I mount a circular
plate or wheel capable of revolving (on a vertical axis by preference), and
communicate thereto a slow rotatory motion, either by means of a cord
or band passing round a groove in the edge of the said plate or wheel,
and round the crank pin or in any other similar or convenient manner.
The wooden or other block with the hat to be shaved is placed on the
plate or wheel, and is thereby caused to move backwards and forwards
at the same time that it revolves slowly. The workman taking a picce
of glass paper or other suitable material in each hand presses them
against the hat on each side, and by the peculiar combined movement
of the block each portion of the circumference is brought equally under
the rubbing or shaving operation, and a greatly improved result is
obtained with much less time and labor than by the ordinary process
of shaving.
I would here remark that a similar result might be produced by
merely giving the rotary motion to the block, and imparting a recipro-
cating or rubbing motion to one or more pads covered with glass paper
or other suitable material placed one on each side of the block, and
pressed against it by the hand of the operator, but for several reasons
I prefer the first-duscribed arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Green in the Great Seal Patent Offico
on the 27th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
GREEN, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and ;
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Green, Her special
license that I, the said Robert Green, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Green, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, sliould at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term

page_text: 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 USED FOR FINISHING FELT HATS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Green, 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 Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Green, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention relates to apparatus to be used in the process of
finishing felt hats, called "shaving" or "pouncing," and consists
principally in an arrangement of mechanism designed to impart a
reciprocating motion to the hat, either in combination with a simul-
taneous rotary motion or otherwise whilst the workman presses a piece
or pieces of glass paper or other suitable material against the surface.
In carrying this Invention into practice I mount a suitable carriage
upon slides and impart thereto a rapid reciprocating motion to and from
the workman by means of a crank pin, and connecting rod or by any
other convenient mechanism. Upon this carriage I mount a circular
plate or wheel capable of revolving (on a vertical axis by preference), and
communicate thereto a slow rotatory motion, either by means of a cord
or band passing round a groove in the edge of the said plate or wheel,
and round the crank pin, or in any other similar or convenient manner.
The wooden or other block with the hat to be shaved is placed on the
plate or wheel and is thereby caused to move backwards and forwards
at the same time that it revolves slowly. The workman taking a piece
of glass paper or other suitable material in each hand presses them
against the hat on each side, and by the peculiar combined movement
of the block cach portion of the circumference is brought equally
under the rubbing or shaving operation, and a greatly improved result is
obtained with much less time and labor than by the ordinary process of
shaving.

page_text: I would hero remark that a similar result might be produced by
merely giving the rotary motion to the block, and imparting a recipro-
cating or rubbing motion to one or more pads covered with glass paper
or other suitable material placed one on each side of the block and
pressed against it by the hand of the operator, but for several reasons I
prefer the first-described arrangement.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improve-
ments in Machinery or Apparatus usod in Finishing Felt Hats," I will
now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is
to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order
that the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a
Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof :-
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a front elevation (shown partly in 1
section) of a double machine constructed according to my Invention,
Fig. 2 is a vertical section, and Fig. 3 is a plan view as seen from
above.
a, a, is the framing of the machine supporting the bed or table b, b,
provided with V slides c, c, in which the carriage d, d, moves, a rapid
reciprocating motion to and from the workman being imparted thereto
by means of the arm or connecting rod c, e, and the excentric S.♪ In
the carriage d, d, is mounted a wheel or plate 9, 9, capable of revolving
in circular V grooves in the said carriage, this plate carries the block or
mould h, h, for holding the hat to be operated on and a slow rotatory 2
movement is given to it by means of an endless cord i, i, passing round
it, and round a crank pin k, k, on the excentric ƒ, f, and by these means
a combined rapid reciprocating and slow revolving motion is given to
the hat to be operated upon. During a part of the finishing process
however it is desirable to give a rapid rotary motion to the hat, and to 3
dispense with the reciprocating motion. For effecting this the action
of the excentric is stopped by placing the driving band on to the loose
pulley 1, 2, and the cord i, i, is removed; the following mechanism being
then put into action. Beneath the centre of the carriago d, d, is a
vertical spindle m, m, provided at its upper end with two arms or drivers 3
2, n, which (when the spindle is lowered as hercin-after described) act
upon two lugs, o, o, upon the wheel or plate 7, 9, which carries the hat.
The lower end of this spindle is furnished with a bevilled friction plate

page_text: '
or disc p, p, a similar plate or disc q, q, being also keyed upon one end
of the driving shaft r, r. The spindle m, m, may be raised or lowered
so as to throw the disc p and 7 out of or into contact and the arms n, n,
out of or into gear with the liigs o, o, by partially turning the collar 8, 8,
(which supports the spindle) by means of the arms t, t, the said arms
resting upon inclined planes ", " (see Fig. 1,) which cause the spindle
to rise out of gear or fall into gear according to the direction in which
the arms t, t, are moved.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
"Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus used in Finishing Felt Hats,"
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention the novel arrangement of mechanism or apparatus
for imparting a reciprocating motion to the hat, and also the arrange-
ment for combing the reciprocating with a rotary motion for such
purpose as herein-before particularly described and illustrated in the
Drawings annexed, or any mere modification or imitation thercof con-
structed and operating in substantially the same or a similar manner.
In witness whereof; I, the said Robert Green, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
onc.
5
Witness
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
ROBERT GREEN. (L.S.)