IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FLANNEL, CARPETS, DRUGGETS, TWEEDS, TROWSERINGS. BROAD AND OTHER WOOLLEN CLOTHS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Smith, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Foreign Produce Broker, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FLANNEL, CARPETS, DRUGGETS, TWEEDS,
TROWSERINGS. BROAD AND OTHER WOOLLEN CLOTHS."
Sealed the 17th August 1869, and dated the 19th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th February 1869.
I, THOMAS SMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Foreign
Produce Broker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FLANNEL, CARPETS, DRUGGETS,
TWEEDS, TROWSERINGS, BROAD AND OTHER WOOLLEN CLOTHS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention has for its object the filling and thickening of flannel,
carpets, druggets, tweeds, trowserings, broad and other woollen cloths.
For this purpose I spread over them spermaceti, paraffin, or other such
matters, either alone or in combination with wax. I propose to reduce
the filling or thickening substances to powder, and to distribute them

page_text: upon the surface of the material by placing them in a perforated or wire
gauze cylinder in contact with which the material travels, or by the use
of other surfaces which are provided with fine openings. Or in place of
this arrangement I propose to use a brush revolving in a supply of the
powdered substances, and in contact with which brush the woven fabric
travels. In like manner I also propose to use the filling or thickening
substances in a fluid condition. After this preparation I propose to pass
the fabric over or between heated cylinders, by which the substances
spread thercon become melted or diffused, and then over or between
cold rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Foreign Produce
Broker, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, 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 me, the said Thomas Smith, Her special license that
1, the said Thomas Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Smith, my 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
TREATMENT OF FLANNEL, CARPETS, DRUGGETS, TWEEDS, TROUSERINGS, BROAD
AND OTHER WOOLLEN CLOTHS," upon the condition, amongst other things,
that I, the said Thomas Smith, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 :— *
My Invention has for its object the filling and the thickening of
flannel, carpets, druggets, tweeds, trouserings, broad and other woollen
cloths. For this purpose I spread over them spermaceti, paraffin, or
other such matters, either alone or in combination with wax.
'
The accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, shews an arrangement of apparatus
I employ for applying the material in a cold state, to be subsequently
hcated.
At a, b, c, are three cylinders made of wire gauze or otherwise provided
with fine perforations, and beyond these are steam cylinders d, e, f, such
as are ordinarily used for drying woven fabrics, and at g, h, i, j, k, are
tension rollers. At is a roller upon which the goods to be thickened
are placed, and at m is another roller which receives them when so
treated. The thickening substance having been reduced to a powder is
placed in the cylinders a, b, c, and the goods represented by the red line
are caused by the tension rollers to pass in contact with the surfaces of
the gauze cylinders a, b, c, and subsequently in contact with the steam
cylinders d, e, f, after which they are wound upon the roller m, and this
drawing forward of the goods is effected by the rotation of the cylinders
d, e, f, they being driven by any convenient gearing, but the cylinders
a, b, c, may also be driven. The effect is as follows:-As the goods pass
onward they cause the gauze cylinders a, b, c, to revolve (if they are
not geared), and the thickening substance therein falls through the
perforation on to the surface of the goods; after this the said thickening
substance becomes melted by the steam cylinders d, e, f, and the required
thickening is effected. I use more than one gauze cylinder for the
purpose of equalizing the distribution of the thickening substance, but
one only may be employed. On the upper surfaces of the gauze cylinders
I place rollers g*,.*, i*, of wire cards, which are caused to revolve by
contact, and this keeps the meshes open. The thickening substances
employed may be those above mentioned or others of like character, but
I have found a mixture in equal proportions of spermacetti and parafiin
to answer the purpose well, and I reduce them to a powder by, firstly,
melting them into a cake, and when cold submitting it to the action of
revolving wire cards.

page_text: Another method I employ for distributing the powdered material is
shewn at Fig. 2. In this instance the material is placed in a hopper a,
beneath which is a roller furnished with recesses b, and as these revolve
they receive the material from the hopper and deliver it to the travelling
cloth c, after which it passes in contact with steam cylinders, as above
described. In order to keep the material stirred I place a coiled wire
c in the hopper, and which is caused to revolve by the roller b.
By another method, as in Fig. 3, I place the thickening substance
upon the cloth a and behind a weighted doctor 6 provided with a shield c
on each side, and as the cloth travels forward the doctor causes it to
retain but a certain portion only of the said thickening substance.
Fig. 4 represents an apparatus I employ for applying the material in
a fluid state. At a is a vessel provided with a steam jacket, and into
which the thickening substance is placed, and in which it becomes
melted. In the fluid substance is a roller b which takes up a certain
quantity of the fluid substance and delivers it to another roller c, which
in its turn delivers it to a third roller d in contact with which the goods
pass, after which it proceeds to a steam cylinder or cylinders c which
distributes the thickening substance. By varying the number of the
rollers b, c, d, the quantity of substance conveyed to the goods may be
regulated.
Having this described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the
exact mechanical arrangements herein described, as they may be varied,
for instance, by causing the material to be distributed by a revolving
brush or other surface, or by a reciprocating or rotating sieve; that
which I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, and in reference to such fabrics as aforesaid being, the use of
spermacetti, parallin, wax, or other such substance for the purpose of
filling or thickening such fabrics in the modes substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
THOMAS SMITH. (L.S.)