IMPROVEMENTS IN SCRAYS OR TABLES APPLICABLE TO GIG MILLS, BRUSHING MILLS. AND OTHER LIKE MACHINERY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Kempe and Arthur Kempe, both of
Holbeck Mills, Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SCRAYS OR TABLES APPLICABLE TO GIG MILLS, BRUSHING
MILLS. AND OTHER LIKE MACHINERY."
Sealed the 7th December 1869, and dated the 29th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Kempe and
Arthur Kempe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 29th September 1869.
We, WILLIAM KEMPE and ARTHUR KEMPE, both of Holbeck Mills,
Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCRAYS OR TABLES APPLICABLE TO GIG
MILLS, BRUSHING MILLS, AND OTHER LIKE MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in scrays or -tables
applicable to gig mills, brushing mills, and other like machinery.
When working with such machines the two ends of the piece of fabric
under treatment are sewn together, and the endless piece is passed round
and round through the machine until the operation is complete. The
scrays or tables of such machines have heretofore been constructed in

page_text: various ways to receive the fabric as it passes from the machine and to
carry it on until it is again to enter the machine. These scrays or
tables also have in some cases been so arranged as to turn over the pile
or accumulated folds of the fabric upon them, so that as the fabric is
lifted to pass again into the machine it may rise from the top of the pile
and not from the lower part which would cause an injurious strain to be
thrown on the fabric.
Now according to our Invention we effect the carrying on and turning
of the fabric more perfectly and conveniently than heretofore by com-
bining together a travelling surface or creeper and a roller, which are so
set that the folds of the fabric as it descends from the machine fall first
on to the roller and then descend between the creeper and the roller,.
whose surfaces form as it were a hopper to receive the fabric, the creeper
being at this part of the scray or table in a nearly upright position, but
after passing below the roller the surface of the creeper becomes
horizontal or nearly so. The slow motion of the creeper takes the folds
of the fabric down with it, holding the fabric all the time against the
roller so that the folds in which it fell on the top of the roller are
preserved until by the combined motion of the creeper and roller they
are carried to the under side of the roller and so have been completely
inverted in position. The horizontal part of the creeper carries the
fabric on to the point from which it is lifted to again enter the machine.
The creeper may conveniently be formed of endless chains with lathes
fixed upon them and passing over chain rollers driven at a suitable
speed, or it may consist of a series of rollers mounted parallel the one to
the other and all driven at the same surface speed. In place of the
turning roller a travelling surface of other form may be employed, or å
fixed surface may be used, but less advantageously, and the arrangement
of the creeper may be varied so long as by it or by suitable instruments
the folds of the fabric falling on to the top of the roller or other convex
surface are held in form whilst they are passed to the under side of the
said roller or surface.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Kempe and Arthur Kempe in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 29th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
KEMPE and ARTHUR KEMPE, both of Holbeck Mills, Leeds, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Kempe and Arthur Kempe,
Her special licence that we, the said William Kempe and Arthur
Kempe, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said William Kempe and Arthur Kempe, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 SCRAYS OR
TABLES APPLICABLE TO GIG MILLS, BRUSHING MILLS, AND OTHER LIKE MACHINERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Kempe
and Arthur Kempe, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, 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 William Kempe and Arthur
Kempe, 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 thereof, that is to
say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in scrays or tables
applicable to gig mills, brushing mills, and other like machinery.
When working with such machines the two ends of the piece of fabric.
under treatment are sewn together, and the endless piece is passed round-

page_text: and round through the machine until the operation is complete. The
scrays or tables of such machines have heretofore been constructed in
various ways to receive the fabric as it passes from the machine and to
carry it on until it is again to enter the machine. These scrays or
tables also have in some cases been so arranged as to turn over the pile
or accumulated folds of the fabric upon them, so that as the fabric is
lifted to pass again into the machine it may rise from the top of the pile
and not from the lower part, which would cause an injurious strain to
be thrown on the fabric.
Now according to our Invention we effect the carrying on and
turning of the fabric more perfectly and conveniently than heretofore
by combining together a travelling surface or creeper and a roller, which
are so set that the folds of the fabric as it descends from the machine
fall first on to the roller and then descend between the creeper and the
roller, whose surfaces form as it were a hopper to receive the fabric,
the creeper being at this part of the scray or table in a nearly upright
position, but after passing below the roller the surface of the creeper
becomes horizontal or nearly so. The slow motion of the creeper takes
the folds of the fabric down with it, holding the fabric all the time
against the roller, so that the folds in which it fell on the top of the
roller are preserved until by the combined motion of the creeper and
roller they are carried to the under side of the roller and so have been
completely inverted in position. The horizontal part of the creeper
carries the fabric on to the point from which it is lifted to again enter
the machine. The creeper may conveniently be formed of endless
chains with laths fixed upon them and passing over chain rollers
driven at a suitable speed, or it may consist of a series of rollers
mounted parallel the one to the other, and all driven at the same
surface speed. In place of the turning roller a travelling surface of
other form may be employed, or a fixed surface may be used, but less
advantageously, and the arrangement of the creeper may be varied so
long as by it or by suitable instruments the folds of the fabric falling
on to the top of the roller or other convex surface are held in form
whilst they are passed to the under side of the said roller or surface.
In carrying out our Invention we prefer to proceed as follows:-We
fix parallel to each other, and kept in position by suitable bolts and
rails, two frames of an L form, the horizontal limb being extended in
length to suit the requirements of the machine to which the scray may

page_text: be fixed. Through the top of each vertical limb of this framing and
at the extreme end of each horizontal one we pass a shaft at right
angles to the framing. At each end of these two shafts, but within
the framing, we fix a pulley, known as a "chain wheel" or pulley,
having projecting knobs cast on its periphery for gearing into the
square links of a suitable chain (or the chain or chain wheels may be
otherwise formed). Over these pulleys we pass two or more endless chains
parallel to the two frames. These chains are put on sufficiently slack
that by means of guide pulleys fixed to the framing they are made to
take the same form as the framing before described. To these chains
we fasten by screws or any other suitable method a series of laths
across the machine, that is to say, at right angles to the chain, one end
of each lath being fastened to a link of one chain and the other end of
the lath being fastened to a corresponding link of the other chain.
This part of the machine therefore becomes a continuous platform free
to move as the chain pullies are moved. The two shafts upon which
the chain wheels or pulleys are fixed are coupled together by a system
of bevel wheels and shafts or any other convenient arrangement for
obtaining the simultaneous and uniform motion of these two shafts,
motion being given to them by a ratchet wheel or other suitable feed
fixed on the end of one of the shafts projecting outside the framing, or in
any convenient position in the machine. From brackets projecting from
the inside of the vertical limb of the L-shaped framing we fix a free roller
parallel to the laths and working in "slots," so that its distance from
the laths may be self-adjusted to the quantity of cloth or fabric on the
scray. The scray being put in motion by the ratchet wheel or other
feed before described the cloth from the gig mill or other machine falls
upon the before-mentioned roller, and by the action of the scray is
carried between the laths and the roller, and in so passing becomes
completely turned over and travels along the horizontal limb of the
framing in folds or plaits ready for being supplied to the gig mill or
other machine and laid the right way up without strain or tension on
the fabric.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
5 of performing the same, we would have it understood that what we
claim is, the combination of mechanism herein described whereby the
folds of cloths as they enter the scray are received on a roller or
travelling surface or rail and are turned over by the motion of the scray

page_text: and presented in a suitable form or position for feeding the gig mill or.
other machine.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Kempe and Arthur.
Kempe, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.