MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PLAITING FABRICS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Newton Wilson, of 144, High Holborn, in the County of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer, for an Invention of
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PLAITING FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Newton Wilson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th March 1880.
NEWTON WILSON, of 144, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Engineer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
PLAITING FABRICS."
"
This Invention relates to further improvements upon and modifications of the
plaiting or kilting machine described in the Specification to my Patent, bearing
date the 16th of April 1877, No. 1476, & has for its object increasing the range of
variety of plaits, simplifying the construction of the machine, affording a ready
means for space plaiting or kilting to any required extent, according to the will of
the operator, & also for reversing the action of the feed rollers at any moment in
case of the plaits becoming irregular or being imperfectly formed, whereby the
work can at once be fed back again & removed from the machine in lieu of being
severed from the strip or worked forward until it has passed through the rollers.
The action of the knife or plaiting blade is regulated, as described in the said
former Specification, in order to vary the underlap only, whilst the width of plaits
is, according to my present improvements, regulated by varying the motion of the
feed rollers.
In carrying out these improvements I employ a slotted vibrating lever working
freely on one of the feed roller shafts, & actuated directly by a rod or link from
an eccentric mounted on the fly wheel shaft. This lever carries a pall lever &
detent lever, the former being provided with double_palls engaging_as_required--
with one or the other-of-two ratchet wheels having reversed teeth mounted on the
axis of one of the feed rollers. By varying the position of the eccentric rod in the
slot of the lever I vary the width of plaits, & by adjusting the knife arms or
carriers, as described in my said former Specification, I vary the underlap. In
order to afford facility for readily varying the spaces between the plaits, I provide
a hand lever which works along a slotted quadrant guide suitably graduated or
marked, so that by moving the said lever one or more divisions, or a greater or less

page_text: distance, I am enabled to space the plaits to any desired extent at the will & by
the hand of the operator. By changing or reversing the palls & working the said
hand lever to-&-fro, the feed of the rollers is reversed by the said action, & the
work is readily brought back. By the use of the said arrangement of slotted lever,
eccentric, & double ratchet wheels & palls for varying the motion of the feed
rollers, I am enabled to dispense with the necessity for changing the tappet wheels,
described under the said Specification, these tappets remaining always the same, as
their action is simply to impart a given reciprocating motion to the knife, which is
set further forward or backward, as required, by adjusting the positions of the
vibrating arms in connection therewith, in the same manner as described in the
said Specification.
According to another improvement in plaiting or kilting machines, I introduce
an automatic lever arrangement for raising the presser bar the moment the plaiter
or knife advances, thereby facilitating the entrance of the knife or plaiter underneath
the said bar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Newton Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
September 1880.
NEWTON WILSON, of 144, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
PLAITING FABRICS."
My said Invention relates to further improvements upon and modifications of the
plaiting or kilting machine described in the Specification to my Patent, bearing
date the 16th of April 1877, No. 1476, and bas for its object increasing the range
of variety of plaits, simplifying the construction of the machine, affording a ready
means for space-plaiting or kilting to any required extent, according to the will of
the operator, and also for reversing the action of the feed rollers at any moment in
case of the plaits becoming irregular or being imperfectly formed, whereby the
work can at once be fed back again at the will of the operator, and removed from
the machine in lieu of being severed from the strip, or of being worked forward
until it has passed through the rollers. The action of the knife or plaiting blade is
regulated, as described in the said former Specification, in order to vary the underlap
only, the width of plaits being regulated by varying the motion of the feed rollers,
as is well understood.
In carrying out these improvements I employ a slotted vibrating lever working
freely on one of the usual feed roller shafts, and actuated directly by a rod or link
from an eccentric mounted on the fly wheel shaft. This lever carries a pall lever
provided with a pall engaging with a ratchet wheel mounted on the axle of one of
the feed rollers. By varying the position of the eccentric rod in the slot of the
lever I vary the width of plaits, and by adjusting the knife arms or carriers, as

page_text: described in my said former Specification, I vary the underlap. In order to afford
facility for readily varying the spaces between the plaits, I provide a hand lever
and double action pall, the lever working along a slotted quadrant guide suitably
graduated or marked, so that by moving the said lever one or more divisions, or a
greater or less distance, I am enabled to space the plaits to any desired extent at
the will and by the hand of the operator. By suitably adjusting the pall and
working the said hand lever to and fro, the motion or feed of the rollers is reversed
by the said action, and the work is readily brought back. By the use of the said
arrangement of slotted lever, eccentric, ratchet wheel, and pall for varying the
motion of the feed rollers, I am enabled to dispense with the use of the inter-
changeable tappet wheels described under the said Specification, a given reciprocating
motion being imparted to the knife by an adjustable crank pin. The knife is set
further backward or forward, as required, by adjusting the positions of the vibrating
pendant arms in connection therewith, in the same manner as described in the said
former Specification.
I also introduce an automatic lever arrangement for raising the edge of the
plaiter or knife just before it commences its return or back movement, thereby.
preventing the dragging of the cloth along with it.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer.
to the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 of my Drawings represents a front elevation of my improved kilting
machine; Fig. 2 is an elevation with the fly wheel removed of the driving end of
the machine corresponding to Fig. 1. The rest of the Figures are details drawn to
a larger scale, which will be hereinafter more fully described and referred to.
c, c, are the standards of the machine; A is a short driving shaft working in a
collar-bearing on one of the standards, and carrying the fly wheel B, the boss of
which forms an eccentric C. This eccentric works in a strap on the eccentric
rod D, which is connected by a screw pin and tightening lever nut E with the
slotted lever F, the screw pin being adjustable to any desired position along the
slot F, as shown more clearly in the enlarged detail, Fig. 3. The lever F is
represented as a bell-crank lever; it works freely on the axle of the lower one of
the two usual feed rollers a and b covered with flannel or other suitable material,
and the shorter arm of the said lever carries an adjustable pall g¹ engaging with the
teeth of a ratchet wheel G fast on the axle of the lower feed roller with the teeth
of which wheel the said pall is capable of being thrown in and out of gear by a
small handle and spring, as shown; g and h are spur wheels for gearing together
the two feed or pressing rollers a, b, as is well understood; H is a slotted disc fast
on the end of the driving shaft, and carrying an adjustable crank pin I connected
by a bent connecting rod K with the adjustable slotted arm x (see detail, Fig. 4).
This arm vibrates freely on the rocking spindle o, the position of which spindle is
brought towards the front of the machine, as shown in Fig. 2, in lieu of being
situate over the centre of the pressing rollers as in my said former arrangement.
By this change of position of the fulcrum of the levers or arms n and x I obtain a
greater sweep of the knife, whilst still preserving it at its necessary angle to the
plaiting table t. The said rocking spindle is supported in bracket arms L, attached
to and projecting from the front of the standards c. A curved slot x¹ is made in
the arm, in which enters an adjustable screwed pin y in the lower end of one of
the two pendant lever arms n, n¹, carrying the pivotted knife blade p as in my
said former Specification. This pin y is fixed after adjustment in any desired
position in the curved slot by tightening up the same, it being provided with a
square head for that purpose (see Fig. 2). This arrangement enables the knife to
be adjustable forward or backward at will according to the-under-lap-required, as
is fully-described in my said former Specification. M, M, are two levers connected
to metal straps N, N, (shown dotted in Fig. 2) passing under the axle of the upper
roller a for the purpose of lifting that roller from contact with the bottom heated

page_text: roller b, and maintaining it more or less elevated when required; O is an adjusting
screw and hand wheel situate beneath the lower roller, and connected with a
spring P and metal straps N', N¹, passing over the axle of the top roller for the
purpose of further regulating the pressure thereof; Q is a spring connected to a
bent lever R pivotted to an arm on the back of the knife blade, and pressing at its
end upon such blade (see detail Fig. 5) for the purpose of imparting the requisite
downward pressure to the acting edge of the plaiting blade p working along the
usual inclined folding plate or table t. The spring. Qis adjustable by the nut S
according to the length of stroke of the knife that may be required; T is the usual
guide for the fabric to be plaited; U (see detail Fig. 3) is a hand lever with
indicator working loose on the axle of the lower roller and carrying a double action
pall V, which engages either with the teeth of the ratchet wheel G or at its opposite
end v into the teeth of the spur wheel has required. The lever works through a
stationary slotted quadrant guide W graduated or marked so as to enable the
operator at will by moving the said lever through a greater or less range to space
the plaits as required by imparting an independent rotary forward motion to the
roller b. By bringing the tail end of the pall V into gear with the teeth of tho
spur wheel h, the motion of the lower roller will be reversed by the action of the
hand lever and the work fed backwards. On rotating the driving shaft the
eccentric C imparts motion to the slotted lever F, and through the pall g¹ and
ratchet wheel G to the feed rollers a and b, such motion being intermittent, and to
greater or less extent according to the position of the adjustable coupling pin E
in the slot F. The throw of the knife is varied by changing the position of the
adjustable crank pin I in the slotted disc H (shown in detail Fig. 4), and its
forward or backward position is regulated by the slotted pendant arm x, as described
in my said former Specification; X is a lever worked by a cam surface on the
disc H for the purpose of lifting the edge of the knife just before it commences its
back stroke (see detail Fig. 4) in order to avoid the dragging back of the work.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
The improvements in plaiting or kilting machines, substantially as and for the
purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Newton Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.