AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FINISHING CUT-PILE FABRICS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Worrall, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Dyer, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR FINISHING CUT-PILE FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Worrall at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th May 1880.
JAMES WORRALL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer. "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FINISHING CUT-PILE FABRICS."
This Invention relates to a modification in the process at present used for
raising and setting the pile of cords and other cut pile cotton goods, the object.
being to provide a means for finishing a class of cut pile cotton goods somewhat
new to the dyer and finisher, and presenting great difficulties of treatment owing
to its great depth and fulness of pile.
Hitherto in treating this class of goods it has been found impracticable to prevent
the finished fabric presenting a cloudy and uneven appearance, whereas it ought to
approach the rich quality of silk velvet.
After many experiments I have discovered that by modifying the process and.
the machinery used for raising and setting the pile of cotton cords and drying the
same at one operation I am enabled to give a rich and cloudless finish to this new
quality of cut pile goods.
In attaining this object I take the cut pile goods as they come wet from the
bands of the scourer, and submit the same to the treatment to be presently
explained before subjecting them to the singeing operation, and I subsequently
repeat the treatment after the goods have undergone the bleaching and dyeing
operations. The scoured cloth I plunge into a vat placed closely adjacent to a pile
raising machine, and charged with boiling water. This vat is fitted with suitable
guide rollers for leading the fabric into, through, and out of the vat.
From this vat I lead the fabric into a trough, also provided with boiling
liquor.
This trough I fix below the first of a series of heated cylinders, with which the
pile raising machine is provided.
ת

page_text: The trough is fitted with rollers for directing the course of the fabric up to and
from the first heating cylinder.
The fabric as it leaves the trough is drawn up over nearly one half of the
circumference of the cylinder, and it is then led up to and over a pair of rollers
situate above the cylinder.
.
From these rollers the fabric descends and passes down the opposite side of the
cylinder (it being held in contact with nearly one half of its circumference), and
thence to the trough, where it is again immersed in the boiling liquor.
Before however this second immersion in the trough takes place the fabric is
subjected to a carding action, a rotary card cylinder which has a slight endway
motion being brought to bear upon it as the fabric passes over the pair of rollers
before mentioned.
The fabric being submitted while in a saturated state to the action of the card
cylinder the operation of separating the matted fibres of the pile, straightening the
same, and laying them all in one direction is facilitated.
The fabric on leaving the trough of boiling liquid is guided round a second
heated cylinder, and it is led up thence over a roller, which serves to support the
fabric while it is submitted to the action of a chain of transverse brushes moving,
say, to the right.
The fabric is then let down past the second heating cylinder, and around rollers
which guide it to a third heating cylinder, in passing around which it is sub-
mitted to the action of an endless chain of brushes moving in an opposite direction
to the first chain of brushes.
On leaving this cylinder the fabric is led over a heating cylinder of larger
diameter, around which are set rotating brushes, three or more in number, and
having a slight endway motion.
These brushes complete the setting up of the pile, which requires now only to be
fixed by completing the drying of the fabric.
A convenient way of effecting this is to guide the fabric over or around ordinary
steam drying cylinders, or the fabric may be dried in a hot air stove, after which
the fabric will present an even and erect pile.
As a modification of this apparatus I may substitute for the second and third
.heated cylinders and the transverse brushes a second large heated cylinder
surrounded by a series of rotary brushes, as above explained, but whatever form of
apparatus I may employ the fabric will be introduced to it in a saturated condition,
and will while in this state be subjected to the action of cards or brushes, as above
explained.
When the fabric has passed through this apparatus it is subjected to the singeing
operation, and it is then bleached and dyed in the ordinary manner.
After dyeing and while still wet from the dye vat I again submit it to the pile
raising apparatus above described, passing it first through a vat of boiling water
tinged with dye liquor or through boiling soapy water, and by the subsequent
action of the apparatus I obtain a cloudless, even, and erect pile.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Worrall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th November
1880.
JAMES WORRALL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer.
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FINISHING CUT PILE FABRICS."
"AN
This Invention relates to a modification in the process at present used for raising
and setting the pile of cords and other cut pile cotton goods, the object being to
provide a means for finishing a class of cut pile goods somewhat new to the dyer
and finisher, and presenting great difficulties of treatment, owing to its great depth
and fulness of pile.
Hitherto in treating this class of goods it has been found impracticable to prevent
the finished fabric from presenting a cloudy and uneven appearance, whereas it ought
to approach the rich quality of silk velvet.
After many experiments I have discovered that by modifying the process and the
machinery used for raising and setting the pile of cotton cords and other cut pile
cotton goods and drying the same at one operation, I am enabled to give a rich and
cloudless finish to this new quality of cut pile goods.
In attaining this object I take the cut pile goods as they come wet from the
hands of the scourer, and submit the same to the treatment to be presently
explained, before subjecting them to the singeing, shearing, or cropping operation,
and I subsequently repeat the treatment after the goods have undergone the
bleaching and dyeing operation.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn in side elevation at Fig. 1, and in
plan view at Fig. 2, an arrangement of apparatus whereby I am enabled to finish
long cut-pile cotton goods in such a manner as to give them a rich and silky
appearance.
The apparatus is calculated to act upon three widths of fabric of twenty eight
inches broad at a time, but it may be modified in this respect to suit the require-
ments of the manufacturer.
The cloth to be treated I take in the wet state as it comes from the hand of the
Scourer, and submit it to the apparatus which I will now describe.
A, B, C, D, and E are a series of heated cylinders mounted in a suitable framing,
and so connected together by gearing that they will be driven slowly in one and
the same direction and at a uniform surface speed.
This arrangement of rollers constitutes, with the cards and brushes to be presently
described, a pile raising machine, and situate beyond this machine is an ordinary
hot cylinder drying machine.
Situate below the cylinders A, B, of the pile raising machine is an extended
trough F, or it may be two smaller troughs. This trough is furnished with guide
rollers, and it is charged with boiling water, into which the cloth wet from the
hands of the scourer is led.
ff, f, are guide rollers for directing the course of the fabric up to and from the
first heated cylinder A.
The fabric as it leaves the trough is drawn up over nearly one half of the
circumference of the cylinder A, and it is then led through a group of rollers a,
which guide it to the other side of the cylinder: It then passes around the second
balf of the cylinder and back to the trough F. This laying of the cloth around the
cylinder is assisted by the guide rollers a² which turn in bearings in the lower part'
of the framing.
The rollers a are mounted in the upper part of the main framing, and above
them is situated a card roller G, which acts upon the face of the cloth as it passes
from one pair of rollers to the other constituting the group.

page_text: This card roller is driven in the opposite direction to the progress of the cloth,
and as it rotates a slight endway motion is imparted to it in the manner common
to the inking rollers of web printing machines.
The speed of rotation of this roller should be such as to ensure its acting
energetically upon the cloth. By means of this card roller, which acts upon the
fabric while still in a saturated state, the operation of separating the matted fibres
of the pile, straightening the same, and laying them all in one direction, is
facilitated.
The fabric on leaving the trough F of boiling liquid a second time is guided
round the second heated cylinder B, which is fitted with guide rollers a and a
card roller G¹ in a precisely similar manner to the cylinder A and for the like
object.
On leaving this cylinder the cloth (having now been subjected to a second
carding operation) is conducted into a small trough H supplied with soapy water,
and it is led up thence to a third heated cylinder C, it being held thereto by a
guide roller a¹. The cloth then passes up to a roller I mounted above the heated
cylinder C.
This roller serves to support the fabric while it is submitted to the action of a
chain of transverse brushes K, moving say to the right.
To guide the fabric from the cylinder to the roller I and back again to the
cylinder two guide rollers a² are provided.
The fabric is then led down over the heated cylinder C, and around a roller a¹,
which guides it to a third trough L, also supplied with soapy water.
From this trough the cloth emerges, to be laid around a fourth heated cylinder D,
above which is mounted a roller I¹ to receive the cloth and hold it under the
action of a second endless chain of brushes K', moving in an opposite direction to
the first chain of brushes K.
On leaving this cylinder D the fabric is led under and over a set of guide
rollers a³, and thence to a heated metal cylinder E of larger diameter, around
which are set rotating brushes M, M, after the manner illustrated in the Specifi-
cation of a Patent dated June Eighth, One thousand eight hundred and sixty one,
No. 1458. Five of these brushes are shewn in the Drawing, but a greater or
lesser number may be employed. These brushes, which should have a slight
endway motion imparted to them, are driven by means of an endless belt, so
arranged as to move them all in one and the same direction, that is, opposed to the
direction of travel of the cloth.
'
These brushes in acting upon the fabric while supported upon a metallic bed
'complete the setting up of the pile, which requires now only to be fixed by
completing the drying of the fabric.
A convenient way of effecting this is to guide the fabric over or around ordinary
steam drying cylinders, such as those indicated at N, N, N, or the fabric may be
dried in a hot air stove. After this drying the fabric is to be submitted to the
ordinary process of brushing or setting up, singcing, shearing, or cropping, and it is
then ready to be bleached and dyed in the ordinary manner.
When the dyeing has been effected, and while the cloth is still wet from the dye
vat, I again submit it to the pile raising apparatus above described, passing it first
through a trough of boiling water tinged with dye liquor or through boiling soapy
water, and by the subsequent action of this apparatus and the drying cylinders I
obtain a cloudless, even, and erect pile.
Before submitting the cloth to the hot water trough I pass it over a rotating
brush, which will take out any creases that the cloth may have received in the
dye vat and allow it to be presented evenly to the guide rollers in the trough.
The construction of the endless chains of brushes K, K¹, and the means of
controlling their action on the fabric I have not thought it necessary to describe,
as these particulars are fully entered into in the Specification of my Patents, dated
respectively April Eleventh, One thousand eight hundred and seventy two,

page_text: No. 1070, and November Seventeenth, One thousand eight hundred and seventy
nine, No. 4678.
The rotary motion of the cylinders A, B, C, and D, it will be seen is taken from
the horizontal driving shaft O, which receives its motion through a cross shaft O¹
from the overhead shaft P, and the motion for the cylinder E may conveniently
be taken from the same overhead shaft.
The power for driving the carding rollers G, G¹, the endless chains of brushes
K, K', and the rotating brushes M will be conveniently derived from the same
overhead shaft P, as indicated in Fig. 1.
The iron guide rollers it is desirable to coat with copper, to prevent the action of
rust upon the cloth under treatment.
と
For throwing the machinery out of action it will only be necessary to slip onto a
loose pulley the belt which gives rotary motion to the overhead shaft P.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Mode of
and Apparatus for Finishing Cut Pile Fabrics," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The mode of raising and setting the pile of cords and other cut pile cotton
goods, as described with reference to the accompanying Drawing, an essential part
of which mode of treatment is the submitting of the fabric while in a wet or
saturated state to the action of the pile raising machinery.
Secondly. The combination of apparatus, above described with reference to the
Drawing, for submitting the fabric to moisture and heat and to carding and
brushing surfaces, in the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Worrall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
TATO
WADDITI
AMES WORRALL. (L.)