IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SCOURING, WASHING, AND CLEANSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Stephens Marling, of Stanley Park, in the
County of Gloucester, Woollen Cloth Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SCOURING, WASHING, AND CLEANSING WOOLLEN
CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS."
Sealed the 9th October 1863, and dated the 28th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Stephens Marling
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th April 1863.
I, SAMUEL STEPHENS MARLING, of Stanley Park, in the County of Glou-
cester, Woollen Cloth Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR SCOURING, WASHING, AND CLEANSING
WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery used for
scouring, washing, and cleansing woollen cloths and other fabrics. For these
purposes a pair of rolls, somewhat similar to those used in the ordinary
cloth fulling machine, are employed. The bottom roll is keyed fast on
a spindle which runs in fixed bearings, and on each side of the roll are
fixed metal or other rings, or shrouds, or guides, projecting beyond its circum-
ference. The upper roll is narrower than the bottom one, and has no shrouds.
It is keyed fast on a spindle which runs in bearings that are attached to
springs or levers, in such a manner as to allow the roll to work up and down
and to run freely between the shrouds or guides of the bottom one, or it may

page_text: work up and down in suitable guide carriages. Behind the pressing rolls and
at some distance from them is a taking-off roll driven by a strap or other
means at a little greater speed than the cloth travels at, to prevent the cloth
clinging to the pressing rolls. A short trough with one end fitting to the
bottom pressing roll and without any lid may sometimes be used, either by
itself or in conjunction with the taking-off' roll, for the same purpose. The
rolls are mounted in a. cistern with suitable openings closed by doors, for
putting in or taking out the cloth or other material to be operated upon, and
is so formed as to allow the cloth to slide gradually down to the bottom of the
cistern as it is delivered from the pressing rolls. A trough with sluices, and
having its outlet outside the cistern, is fitted underneath the pressing rolls, to
prevent the impurities extracted from the cloth from falling to the bottom of
the cistern and being again taken up. Guide rolls and a suitable mouth-piece
fitted with a glass ferule are placed in front of the pressing rolls to conduct
the cloth to them. There is also a swinging or jointed frame fitted with a
glass ferule or ferules connected with a throwing-off apparatus for stopping
the motion of the pressing rolls in case the cloth becomes entangled. Two or
more sets of bottom pressing rolls may be mounted on the same spindle and in
the same cistern, provided with suitable divisions, the top roll of each set being
mounted with a separate spindle and carriages fitted to springs, levers, or
guides, to insure a constant pressure on each band of cloth. The cistern is
provided with sluices or valves for letting off the impurities extracted from the
cloth, and for regulating the height of the water in the cistern; also with a
heating box, when necessary, steam pipes, and hot and cold water pipes and
valves, for admitting steam, hot and cold water, as required. The cloth is
passed through the ferule in the swing board, over the guide rolls, through the
glass mouth-piece, between the pressing rolls, and over the taking-up roll, and
the two ends are sewn together. To cleanse a "say" cloth ready for the
fulling machine, the valves or sluices at the bottom of the cistern are closed,
the necessary quantity of cleansing liquor used for the purpose is introduced
and diluted with warm water, or heated by steam after introduction. The
cloth is allowed to run for some time through the liquor and between the
pressing rolls until the grease and other impurities in the cloth are thoroughly
"loosened," which will be much more quickly done than in the common
washer, owing to the cloth being confined between the flanges of the bottom
roll and equally pressed by the moveable top roll. So soon as the "loosen-
ing" is effected, the sluices or valves are opened and the impurities allowed
to escape, when they are again closed; a stream of water is then turned into
the cistern near the bottom, and another in front of each mouth-piece, the

page_text: sluice of the trough under the rolls opened, and the overflow sluice or valve in
the bottom of the cistern regulated to maintain the water at its proper height
in the cistern. The cloth is then continued to be passed between the rolls as
they revolve until it is sufficiently cleansed, which will be indicated by the
clearness of the water as it escapes from the trough.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Stephens Marling in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
STEPHENS MARLING, of Stanley Park, in the County of Gloucester, Woollen
Cloth Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Stephens Marling, Her special license that I, the said Samuel
Stephens Marling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Samuel Stephens Marling, 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 "IM-
PROVED MACHINERY FOR SCOURING, WASHING, AND CLEANSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND
OTHER FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Stephens Marling, 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 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 Samuel Stephens Marling, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery, by the use of
which the scouring, washing, and cleansing of woollen and other cloths may be

page_text: more effectively and economically performed than by the machinery ordinarily
employed for such purposes.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional clevation of the
improved machine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation; and Fig. 3 a transverse
sectional elevation. The same letters refer to the same parts in each of the
Figures.
In this class of machine the fabrics to be operated upon are formed into
endless bands, and as they are drawn continuously through cisterns of cleansing
liquor they are subjected to pressure (while saturated with the liquor which
they take up) from pressing rolls. I now propose so to modify the construc-
tion of the machine as greatly to increase its efficiency. To this end I provide
flanged rolls A, A, for submitting the cloth to pressure.
Between the flanges
of these rolls the pressing rolls B, B, work freely; these pairs of rolls A
and B are fixed respectively on spindles a, a', which turn in bearings b, b²,
carried by a strong cast-iron framing C, within which the cistern C is built
up of boards in the usual way. The caps of the bearings 6 of the pressing
rolls are attached to springs c, and are free to move up and down in the guides
formed in the frames to receive them. The rolls A, A, and B, B, are geared
together by the wheels D, D, which are fast on the spindles a, a¹. E is a
taking-off roll, driven by a belt from a strap pulley F on the spindle A, passing
over a pulley G on the spindle of the roll E; these pulleys are proportioned to
give the taking-off roll E a somewhat faster circumferential speed than that
of the roll A. H is a pressing roll for keeping the cloth or other material T
in contact with the roll E; K is a board suspended by jointed levers p, having
glass ferules for the cloths to pass up through out of the liquor to the
pressing rolls; L is a guide roll set in front of these rolls and immediately
before the glass pipes m, which serve to guide the cloths to the flanged rolls
A, A. Below these rolls a trough N is situated, which extends across the
machine from side to side thereof. Connected with this trough N is a pipe M
leading away to the outside of the machine, for the purpose to be presently
explained; d, d', are sluices in the trough N, provided with handles e, e, which
allow of their being opened and closed from the outside; ff, are sluices in the
cistern c*, opened and closed by the handles 9, 9; 0, 0, are cocks for admitting
water to the cistern; P are driving pulleys; and Q is a strap lever attached
to the bar h, and supported by the bearings k, k, k; is a spring pressing on
the strap lever Q; m is a catch lever attached to the bar h; and n is a catch
lever made fast to the hinged board & within the cistern, its use being to hold
fast the catch lever m, and so keeping the strap on the driving pulley P
against the pressure of the spring ; a vertical partition 7 serves to divide the

page_text: cistern into two parts. The length of cloth T or other material to be cleansed
is passed through the glass pipe or mouth-piece m, between the rolls A, B,
over the taking-off roll E, and under the pressing roll H, and thence up through
the glass guide or ferule t in the board K, where the two ends are connected
together by sewing, motion being communicated to the rolls A, B, by means
of the strap pulley P in the direction of the arrows; the cloth I will be carried
forwards and delivered into the cistern sliding down the incline, as shewn, to
the bottom thereof, whence it will be drawn up and caused to travel continu-
ously between the rolls so long as it is necessary to maintain the operation.
In the event of the cloth becoming entangled or knotted, the obstruction on
arriving at the glass guide t in the suspended board K will cause it to rise,
and thereby release the catch lever m from the catch n attached to it, when
the spring will, by means of the lever Q throw the driving strap on to the
loose pulley P and stop the machine.
I would here remark that it may be desirable to mount the pressing rolls
B, B, on separate spindles, in order that an accumulation of cloth under one
roll may not interfere with the action of the other roll by raising it from
its work.
"
In order to cleanse a "say " cloth ready for the fulling machine, the sluices
ff, are to be closed, and the sluice d in the trough N opened. The necessary
quantity of cleansing liquor is then to be poured into the cistern, and the cloth
allowed to run through the liquor until it is thoroughly saturated and tho
grease and other impurities contained therein are "loosened." When the
"loosening is effected, the sluice d before referred to is closed, and the
sluice din connection with the pipe M is opened. Water is now admitted
into the cistern through the cocks o, o, and the cloth, as it is subjected to
pressure between the rolls A and B, has its impurities wrung out, which escape
by the pipe M, instead of falling back as is usual into the cistern. During
this process, the cocks o, o, and sluices f.f, are regulated to maintain the
water at any desired height in the cistern. When the cloths have run suffi-
ciently long in this state, the cocks o, o, are closed and the sluices f,f³, opened,
to allow the contents of the cistern to escape, after which the sluices are again
closed. Fullers earth in solution is then poured into the cistern, the sluice d¹
in connection with the pipe M closed, and the sluice d opened; the cloth is
allowed to run as long as necessary, when it is washed off with water, as in the
earlier process already described; the scouring process being completed with-
out removing the fabrics from the machine or allowing them to stand as in the
old plan of scouring.
To cleanse cloths after they have been fulled, I put into the cistern a little

page_text: warm water, run them until the soap is raised, then wash off with cold water;
after which I use fuller's earth, as before described. In each of the processes
the greater portion of the impurities are carried off by the pipe M, and may be
collected for manure or other purposes.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Scouring, Washing, and Cleansing Woollen Cloths and other Fabrics,"
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to bo
understood, that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the
novel arrangement of scouring, washing, and cleansing machine, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Stephens Marling, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
SAM². S. MARLING. (L.s.)