IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING WOOLLEN AND UNION CLOTHS FOR SURFACE FINISH
Year: 1861

page_text: .LETTERS PATENT to Robert Brearley, the younger, of Batley, in the
County of York, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING WOOLLEN AND UNION CLOTHS FOR SURFACE FINISH."
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 5th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Brearley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
March 1861.
I, ROBERT BREARLEY, the younger, of Batley, in the County of York, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING WOOLLEN AND UNION CLOTHS FOR SURFACE FINISH," to be as follows:-
The object of the improvements is to obtain peculiar pile, nap, or surface
finish to woollen and union cloths. For this purpose the fabric is by pre-
ference woven pulpy or loose, and whilst held wet in a tentering or such like
machine it is "batted" or beaten on the face side, then dried and passed
through apparatus in which the back surface is operated upon by beaters,
which beaters I form by the application of a series of revolving bars or surfaces,
supported on arms, and parallel to their axis of motion. The front or face
surface is then acted upon by soft card teeth upon a roller moving in the same
direction. as the cloth, but at a faster speed, by which the nap or pile is
straightened up. The pile may be sheared if desired. I now pass the fabric in

page_text: a distended state over a table or surface coated by preference with cloth or
other elastic material as an elastic bed, whilst the face or pile is operated upon
by a peculiar description of prepared india-rubber applied to a board or frame
to which a kind of short circular motion is given by the ends thereof being
supported by and receiving motion from cranks. The india-rubber employed,
in place of having a uniform even surface, is formed knotty or rough, or as it
is sometimes called "corrugated." By such treatment the surface finish
obtained, whilst somewhat of a knotty or curled .character, is peculiarly
soft.
SPECIFICATION, in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Brearley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BREARLEY, the younger, of Batley, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Brearley, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Brearley,
my executors, administrators,, and assigns, or such others as, I, the said
Robert Brearley, 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
TREATING WOOLLEN AND UNION CLOTHS FOR SURFACE FINISH," upon
the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Brearley, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 Robert Brearley, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly'described and ascertained in and by-the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
"
The object of the improvements is to obtain peculiar pile, nap, or surface
finish to woollen and union cloths. For this purpose the fabric is by pre-
ference woven pulpy or loose, and whilst held wet in a tentering or such like
machine it is "batted "or beaten on the face or front side as is well under-
stood; then dried and passed through apparatus in which the back surface is
operated upon by beaters, which beaters I form by the application of a series
of revolving bars or surfaces supported on arms and parallel to their axis of
motion. The front or face surface is then acted upon by soft card teeth upon
a roller moving in the same direction as the cloth, but at a somewhat faster
speed, by which the nap or pile is straightened up.
Figure 1 shews a section of parts of apparatus adapted to effect this part of
the process. The red line indicates a portion of cloth under operation being
drawn forward by the roller a, from between the bars b, b, b, which act to
retard its progress; c, c, c, are a series of bars carried by arms d, d, d, from the
axis d, and operating.as beaters..
These beaters revolve with their axis in the direction. indicated by the arrow
and opposite to that in which the cloth is. caused to move; e is a roller on the
axis e', covered with soft card teeth and moving in the direction indicated by
the arrow for the purpose of acting on the face of the cloth; f represents, a
band or strap by which motion is communicated between the respective axles d¹
and e'; h is a beater for relieving the cloth from the card surface of the
roller a.
The pile may be sheared if desired. I now pass the fabric with its
back side downwards, and in a distended state, over a table or surface
coated by preference with cloth or other elastic. material as an elastic
bed, whilst the face or pile is operated: upon by .a peculiar _description of
prepared india-rubber applied to a board or frame to which a kind of
short circular motion is given by the ends thereof being supported by and
receiving motion from cranks.
Figure 2 shews a section, and Figure 3 a side view of parts of apparatus
adapted to effect this part of the process. The red line indicates the cloth
under operation and being carried forward by the roller i, whilst it is kept
distended between that roller and the rollerj, by the action of the card surfaces
of such rollers; k is a table or bed over which the cloth is passed in its
passage from the roller j to i. This table is covered with cloth or other
elastic material k', and I is a board coated on its under side with the india-
rubber, and the india-rubber employed by us in place of having a uniform even
surface is formed knotty or rough, or as it is sometimes called "corrugated."

page_text: This board is formed at each end with a hole to receive a pin 4, capable of
adjustment in a plate , one at each end of the machine, so as to give facility
for varying the amount of motion imparted to the board l, in the rotation of
the plates. Each of these plates 12, is affixed to a shaft or axis P, carried by
bearings from the main framing, and has upon it a small bevilled pinion *,
which is taken into and driven by a bevilled pinion on the shaft or axis 1. The
axis has also upon it a drum 1, which receives motion from a pulley l on the
main shaft by means of the band or strap P. By such treatment the surface
'finish obtained, whilst somewhat of a knotty or curled character, is peculiarly
soft.
Having thus described my Invention, and the means which I adopt in carry-
ing the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine
'myself to the precise details shewn and described so long as the peculiar
character of the improvements be retained. But what I do claim is the
method or process of operating to obtain peculiar surface finish to woollen cloths
substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Brearley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 31st day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
THOMAS COATES,
Batley.
ROBT. BREARLEY, JR. (L.S.)