IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAINTED OR ENAMELLED CLOTH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAINTED OR
ENAMELLED CLOTH"-A communication
Sealed the 3rd October 1856, and dated the 26th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th April 1856.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAINTED OR
ENAMELLED CLOTH, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction and use of a novel arrangement
of mechanism, by which the manufacture of painted or enamelled cloth is
greatly improved. The cloth is brought to the machine on a cloth beam, and
from the beam it passes under a doctor or scraper to a friction roller, which
receives rotary motion from any first mover. The cloth is lapped over this
roller, which holds it at tension and imparts motion to the cloth by friction of
contact. The coating or paint is-laid on the cloth by trowels, and in passing
forward under the scraper the coating is laid smooth and even over the surface
of the cloth. The fabric thus coated is conducted from the friction roller to a

page_text: guide roller, and thence upwards or forwards (it being sustained in its course by
endless bands) to the hanging frame to be dried. This frame is provided with
cross bars, between which the fabric is allowed to drop in loops or loose folds;
the operation of filling the frame being greatly facilitated by mounting it on
rollers or wheels, which traverse a railway, and thus permit of the vacant
spaces in the frame being successively presented to receive the descending
loops of cloth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
.EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAINTED OR ENAMELLED CLOTH,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-.

page_text: To understand the importance of this Invention, which is peculiarly adapted
to the painting of cotton or other cloth intended as a substitute for leather, and
which is now so extensively used in carriage trimmings, coverings of tables, sofas,
and other articles, it may, perhaps, be as well to explain the method now em-
ployed of coating cloth for this purpose. In the ordinary process it is requisite.
that the cloth or fabric be cut off in lengths, say, of ten or twelve yards, the
ends of such pieces are then joined, thus making an endless sheet; this is now
stretched between a pair of rollers, and the composition or paint is applied by
hand, the cloth being moved continuously until coated; it is then removed
from the rollers and taken to a hanging room, where it is suspended by the
edge in order to be dried; when small quantities of this cloth may be
required, and expense of manufacture is not important, this method may
answer, but at best it is a slovenly way, as careless handling must more or
less disfigure the side of the cloth intended to be preserved from the coating,
and when the number of coats required to produce the requisite surface is
taken into consideration it would be surprising if the cloth were not disfigured.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a
longitudinal vertical section of the improved machinery for effecting the
coating and which forms part of the present Invention.
One of the principal features of this Invention is that the Inventor make
use of the friction of the cloth alone upon a rolling drum A or cylinder, for
the
purpose of moving the cloth under the knife, he is thus enabled to coat
the cloth irrespective of the length thereof, as it is not necessary in the
improved machinery that the ends of the cloth should be sewed together as in
the method now employed; on the contrary, the cloth after passing around the
drawing drum A under a scraper or doctor B, as it is drawn from the bolt or
web axle C, on which one hundred yards or more may be rolled, is then
carried under the machine, as shewn in Fig. 1, and over a second stretching,
roller D, where by the adhesion or friction on this roll, as in the first instance,
the web of painted cloth is stretched evenly across its whole breadth; from
the second roll it passes by means of an endless belt E, on which it is received,
to a second carrying belt F, from which it is delivered on to the bars a, a, a,
of a travelling hanging frame G, moveable on rails b, b, and by means of this
frame the cloth is delivered in loops e, e, and hung over the bars without
touching either surface thereof, and without the necessity of the least handling
by the selvage or edge, thus not only preserving the cloth H clean, but
obviating a serious difficulty of stretching the selvage by which it has heretofore
been disfigured. The tension of the cloth over the drums will remove any
wrinkles, and deliver it without strain on the selvage. The banging frames G

page_text: are filled by looping the cloth over the bars a, a, when the folds hang about
two yards long. It is found in practice that in a twelve feet frame one
hundred and fifty yards of cloth thus coated can be hung two and a half
inches apart. After having filled the frame by moving it forward and bringing
each bar to receive its fold, the frame is run off by a suitable railway to the
drying or stove room, and there left until sufficiently dry to receive another
coat; it is then removed by rolling on a bar, and again subjected to the same
process as that described. The coating or paint is kept in a tray or trough I,
suspended over the scraper or doctor B, from which, when the color or paint
is stiff, it is taken by trowels, and spread on the surface of the cloth
between the scraper and the web beam, any superfluous paint being removed
by the scraper, and the coating thus evenly spread upon the surface of the
cloth. With the view of rendering the tension of the cloth more perfect as
it is drawn under the scraper, a friction clutch h is applied to the web beam,
and by a shifting weight the cloth may be more or less retarded, and thus
produce a perfect operation of the scraper or doctor.
To enable others to construct the machine the following description will
suffice-A is a large drum receiving motion from an engine or otherwise;
B is a metal scraper extending the whole width of the machine; C is a web
or bolt beam, or roller on which the cloth is wound preparatory to receiving
the coat of paint; D is a large drum of the same size as A, and turning with
it by suitable pulley and band z; E is an endless belt placed above the large
drums, and passing around small rollers x, x, x, the centre one receiving
motion from the driving band z passing over it. Immediately below the
centre roller is placed a fourth roller V, whose office is to support the endless
belt E, and prevent it from bagging, it also assists in moving the endless belt
as the weight of the painted cloth received on the belt renders this necessary.
The endless belt E also directs the cloth over head, so as to allow space under
it for the workmen; F is a second carrying belt, moved by a band t; this
second belt F is arranged on rollers 8, s, s, placed between projecting timbers
r, r, from the elevated end of the machine, below these timbers, are suspended
by suitable braces the rails b, b, upon which the hanging frame G is made to
travel, the said frame being provided with suitable friction wheels to render
its movement easy.
Having now described the Invention of "Improved Machinery for Manu-
facturing Painted or Enamelled Cloth," which has been communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, and the means of carrying the same into effect,
I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, the
arrangement of the several rollers and belts as described, wherein the friction

page_text: of the cloth on the roller A is made use of for the purpose of giving the
necessary tension and movement to the said cloth, in combination with the
means of spreading the paint or composition, and the delivery of the cloth
when coated, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
I also claim the use of the hanging frame G for receiving the cloth for
drying, thereby rendering the painting and hanging of it a single mechanical
operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)