IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OP PAPER, APPLICABLE ALSO TO CONTROLLING THE MOTION OF TRAVELLING WEBS AND FABRICS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Donkin, of the firm of Bryan, Donkin, and.
Company, of Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP PAPER, APPLICABLE ALSO TO CONTROLLING THE MOTION OF TRAVELLING WEBS
AND FABRICS." A communication from Gabriel Planche.
Sealed the 19th October 1858, and dated the 22nd April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Donkin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd April 1858.
I, THOMAS DONKIN, of the firm of Bryan, Donkin, and Company, of
Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER, APPLICABLE ALSO TO CONTROLLING THE MOTION OF TRAVELLING
WEBS AND FABRICS," (communicated to me by Gabriel Planche, a foreigner
residing abroad,) to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of paper, the endless wire upon which the pulp or paper
is supported and carried through the machine passes over a guide roller, which
when the said wire moves either to the one side or other, of its proper path,
has its position changed by means of a screw acting upon its shaft or axle for
the purpose of restoring the wire to its true direction, and the said screw has
heretofore been moved by hand. Now the object of this Invention is to connect
with the said screw certain apparatus, by means of which the parts before
mentioned may be made self-acting, that is, by means of which the wire may
be effectually guided without the intervention of an attendant. The Invention

page_text: .consists in placing upon each side of the wire at a short distance from the
guide roller a vertical guide, connected to a horizontal transverse spindle or
lever, which carries at its end a fork embracing a band or belt driven by any
suitable running shaft. This band or belt passes round one or other of three
pulleys, that in the centre is loose, and the others are fixed. Their shaft or
shafts is or are, by gearing or otherwise, connected with the shaft or axle of the
screw before mentioned in such manner that when the vertical guides are moved
by the wire (as it leaves its path) either to the one side or the other, the band
or belt shall be moved from the loose to one of the fixed pulleys, whereby the
screw shall be so caused to act upon the guide roller as that it shall restore
the wire to its path.
Apparatus constructed as before described may be applied to control the
motion of any travelling web or fabric whether during its manufacture or
during the winding of the manufactured material upon rollers or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Donkin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
.22nd October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DONKIN, of the firm of Bryan, Donkin, and Company, of Bermondsey, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Donkin, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Donkin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Donkin, my 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
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, APPLICABLE ALSO, TO CON-
TROLLING THE MOTION OF TRAVELLING WEBS AND FABRICS," (communicated to me
by Gabriel Planche, a foreigner residing abroad,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Donkin, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,

page_text: 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 Thomas Donkin, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say :-
In the manufacture of paper the endless wire upon which the pulp or paper.
is supported and carried through the machine passes over a guide roller, which,
when the said wire moves either to the one side or other of its proper path,
has its position changed by means of a screw acting upon its shaft or axle, for
the purpose of restoring the wire to its true direction; and the said screw has
heretofore been moved by hand. Now, the object of this Invention is to
connect with the said screw certain apparatus by means of which the parts
before mentioned may be made self-acting, that is, by means of which the wire
may be effectually guided without the intervention of an attendant. The
Invention consists in placing upon each side of the wire, at a short distance
from the guide roller, a vertical guide connected to a horizontal transverse
spindle or lever, which carries at its end a fork embracing a band or belt
driven by any suitable running shaft. This band or belt passes round one or
other of three pulleys placed side by side upon a shaft or shafts, the middle
one being what is called a loose pulley, the other two-working a shaft or shafts,
which is or are, by means of gearing or otherwise, connected with the shaft or
axle of the screw before mentioned, in such manner that when the vertical
guides are moved by the wire (as it leaves its path) either to the one side or
the other, the band or belt shall be moved from the loose to one of the other'
pulleys, whereby the screw shall be so caused to act upon the guide roller as
that it shall restore the wire to its path.
.
Apparatus constructed as before described may be applied to the travelling
felts in the paper making and drying machine, or to control the motion of any
travelling web or fabric, whether during its manufacture or during the winding
of the manufactured material upon rollers or otherwise.
The manner in which the Invention may be carried into effect is illustrated
as applied to the wire of a paper-making machine in the Drawings annexed.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of as much of such a machine as it is necessary
to show, and Figure 2 is a plan of the same. The rod b supported in the
bearings D, D, has fixed upon it the guides a, a, which are placed so as nearly

page_text: to touch the edges of the endless wire; c is an eared pulley, over which the
driving belt X passes, and which participates in all the movements of the
rod b, transferring the belt X from one of the three pulleys f, f¹, f", to the
other, as the case may be; f¹ is a loose pulley; f" is keyed on the shaft e;
and fis fixed on a nave carrying the bevil wheel g. The shaft e has the bevil 5
wheel g¹ keyed on it, and the wheels g and g alternately drive the bevil
wheel h, the shaft of which is furnished with a screw k, which works the nut l.
This nut forms the bearing for the axle of the roller S, which directs the
endless wire. Two screws m, m, screwed into the nut 2 limit the play of the
roller S by coming against the fixed bearings C, D, and C', D'; p, p, are
sliding and adjustable bearings supporting the axle of the roller S. The
bélt is moved by a pulley Y; which can be keyed on the spindle Z, called
the deckle spindle in the paper-making machine, or by a similar pulley keyed
on any other suitable revolving axle. . If the wire or web while travelling in
the direction of the arrow, Figure 2, from any irregularity whatever, should
press against either of the guides a, a, this would move the rod 6 endwise, and
thus, by. means of the roller c; shift the belt X from one pulley to the other.
This will have the effect of causing either the wheel g or the wheel g' to drive
the wheel h, and thus screw the nut 7 and the end of the axle S either back-
ward or forward, as the case may be.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be. performed, I declare that I do not confine myself to
the precise details herein-before described, as the same may be variously
modified; but I claim,
First, the construction of automatic apparatus for regulating the motion of
the endless wires or felts upon which the pulp or paper is supported, and
carried through paper-making and drying machines, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the Drawings annexed.
. And, secondly, the employment of such apparatus for controlling the motion
of travelling webs and fabrics generally.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Donkin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
HO
DONTZ TAT
THOMAS DONKIN.
FAT
(LTS.)