Improvements in Machines for Ironing and Dressing or Glossing Collars, Cuffs, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Aug., 1895-Accepted, 26th Oct., 1895
}
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Ironing and Dressing or Glossing
Collars, Cuffs, and the like.
We, THOMAS HENRY HARRIS, of 15 Narcissus Road, West Hampstead, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and HERBERT CHURCHILL CAPEL, of
Hartwell Street Works, Dalston Junction, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
Our invention relates to machines for ironing and dressing or glossing collars,
cuffs and the like, and is designed to provide a machine for this purpose which
shall be more simple and efficient and at the same time of lower cost and of much
less weight than the machines heretofore employed, and which shall be capable of
being easily operated by hand.
One important feature of our said invention is the combination, with a feed-roll,
of a reciprocating iron which is so arranged that the direction of its movement is
parallel or approximately parallel to the axis of the said feed-roll, and which is of
such shape that the required pressure will be exerted upon the articles to be ironed
or dressed only along one or more very narrow strips thereof or at a series of
places or points in such strip or strips thereof.
Another feature of our said invention is the employment of a reciprocating
iron made with an irregular, uneven, corrugated or undulating operative surface so
that it will press against the article to be ironed or dressed only at certain points
along the line or lines of its contact with the feed-roll; the collar, cuff or other
article will thus be more efficiently and expeditiously dressed or glossed than would
be the case were the reciprocating surface so formned as to press against the article
at all points along the said line or lines of contact.
Another feature of our said invention consists in so arranging the reciprocating
iron that it travels upon balls or spherical or other rollers on a suitable support
beneath the feed-roll, and, during such travel, can be very conveniently and
effectually heated by means of Bunsen or other burners situated beneath it.
In carrying our said invention into practice, we mount the feed-roll in suitable
bearings and arrange the reciprocating iron above or below the said roll as may be
deemed desirable; and we provide suitable means for slowly rotating the said feed-
roll about its axis and for simultaneously moving the said iron rapidly to and fro in
a direction parallel or approximately parallel to the axis of the said roll, whilst
permitting the roll to rise and fall according to varying thicknesses of the material
being ironed. In some instances we provide a suitable handle or hand-wheel whereby
the requisite motions may be imparted to the said feed-roll and iron by manual
power. The feed-roll is preferably covered with felt or other suitable material to
increase the adherence of the collars, cuffs or other articles to the said roll, and to
form a suitable cushion to allow for the irregularities in thickness due to seams and
the like in the article to be dressed.
We sometimes make suitable provision for adjusting the iron laterally relatively
to the feed-roll, or the feed-roll relatively to the iron so as to bring different parts
of the surface of the iron into contact with the said roll.
We provide for heating the iron by means of gas, oil, electricity or other
suitable medium as may be found most convenient.
The articles to be ironed or dressed are inserted between the reciprocating iron
and the feed-roll and are gradually drawn through by the action of the latter,

page_text: being at the same time very efficiently dressed or glossed by means of the
reciprocating iron.
We sometimes make the operative surface of the iron with ridges and grooves
or corrugations extending at an angle to the direction of its movement and to the
axis of the feed-roll; or we make the said iron with a large number of prominences
or protuberances so as to increase its efficiency in polishing or imparting a gloss to
the collars, cuffs or other articles.
The general shape of the operative surface of the reciprocating iron may be
either flat or slightly convex or concave in transverse section, as may be found
most desirable. Its shape should, however, be such that it will only be in contact
with the surface of the feed-roll along one or more narrow strips thereof.
Dated this 22nd day of November 1894.
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,..
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Machines for Ironing and Dressing or Glossing
Collars, Cuffs, and the like.
We, THOMAS HENRY HARRIS, of 15 Narcissus Road, West Hampstead, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, and HERBERT CHURCHILL CAPEL, of Hartwell
Street Works, Dalston Junction, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Our invention relates to machines for ironing and dressing, polishing or glossing
collars, cuffs and the like, and is designed to provide a machine for this purpose
which shall be more simple and efficient and at the same time of lower cost and of..
less weight than the machines heretofore employed, and which shall be capable of
being easily operated by manual or other power.
One important feature of our said invention is the combination, with a feed-roll,
of a non-rotating reciprocating iron which is so arranged that the direction of its
movement is parallel or approximately parallel to the axis of the said feed-roll, and
which is of such shape that the required pressure will be exerted by it upon the
articles to be ironed or polished only along one or more very narrow strips thereof.
Another feature of our said invention is the employment of a reciprocating
iron made with a grooved, irregular, uneven, corrugated or undulating operative
surface or working face which will press against the article to be ironed or
polished only at certain points along the line or lines of its contact with the feed-
roll; the collar, cuff or other article will thus be more efficiently and expeditiously
ironed polished or glossed than would be the case were the reciprocating surface
so formed as to press against the article at all points along the said line or lines of
contact..
Our said invention moreover comprises other improvements hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawing we have shown how our said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice :-
Figure 1 is an end elevation, and
Figure 2 a front elevation of our improved machine, showing the feed-roll in its
raised position.
Figure 3 is a transverse section on the line x, x, Figure 2, showing the feed-roll
in its depressed position ready for use.
Like fetters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.
A is the base of the machine; B is the reciprocating iron which is provided
with suitably faced sliding surfaces B' at its sides, travelling on correspondingly-

page_text: shaped guide-bars a on the base A, and which receives motion by means of a
connecting-rod 6 from a crank-shaft C arranged to be driven by hand or by a belt
passed around the pulley c, a loose pulley being also provided to enable the
machine to be readily stopped at will. D is a perforated pipe or burner for heating
the iron B by means of gas. E is the feed-roll.
The operative surface or working face e of the iron is made with ridges and
grooves or corrugations extending at an angle to the direction of its movement and
to the axis of the feed-roll; or we make the said iron with a large number of
suitable prominences or protuberances so as to increase its efficiency in polishing or
imparting a gloss to the collars, cuffs or other articles.
The general shape of the operative surface of the reciprocating iron is
preferably somewhat convex as shown in Figures 1 and 3, or it may be flat in
transverse section, as may be found most desirable. The shape or configuration of
the working face of the iron should, however, be such that it will only be in
contact with the surface of the feed-roll along one or more narrow strips thereof,
or such that only small portions of its working face will be in contact with the
surface of the feed-roll or with the collar or other article thereon.
Heat is applied to the underside of the iron B, in the arrangement shown, by
means of the gas-burner D which consists of a pipe provided with a series of
perforations or jets and which extends across the machine. If desired, however,
the said iron may be heated by oil, electricity or any other suitable heating medium
as found most convenient. In order to protect the bearing 61 at the end of the
connecting-rod b as much as possible from the heat of the burner, the sides of the
said iron are extended downwards below the burner D so that the said bearing b
lies below the burner and is not unduly heated by the flame therefrom. If desired,
we may make the said connecting rod fork-shaped and provide pivots or journals
extending outwards from the iron B on each side of the frame and working in
bearings at the ends of the said fork-shaped connecting rod so as to entirely remove
the bearings from the burner. Or other means may be adopted for this purpose.
The feed-roll E consists of a cast-iron or other suitable cylinder or drum covered
with linen, cloth, felt or other suitable material to increase the adherence of the
collars, cuffs or other articles to the said roll, and to form a suitable cushion to
allow for the irregularities in thickness due to seams and the like in the article to
be ironed or polished. The said roller E is mounted on a shaft E' working in
bearings provided on swinging arms or levers F which are mounted on a shaft G
in such a manner that they can turn freely thereon. From this shaft the feed-roll E
receives motion by means of gear-wheels g, h, the shaft G being itself driven from
the crank-shaft C through a worm-wheel i and worm k. By connecting the
feed-roll E with the crank-shaft C, in this manner we ensure that the iron B shall
be reciprocated at a rapid rate whilst the feed-roll is being slowly rotated thus
enabling an iron having a "broken," interrupted corrugated or otherwise indented
surface to be successfully employed for ironing, glossing and polishing.
To provide for the raising and lowering of the roller E, and to permit it to
automatically rise and fall according to the varying thicknesses of material
being ironed, the outer ends of the arms or levers F are connected to the.
base A of the machine by means of spring links H, the upper ends H³ of which
pass through slots at the ends of the arms F and are provided with sliding
pieces m having knife-edges m¹; these knife-edges engage with grooves or notches n
in the ends of the arms F. The pieces m are acted upon by spiral springs p and
serve to press the said arms F against cross-bars or stops H2 on the links H;
the tension of the springs p can be regulated by means of wing-nuts p' working
on the screw-threaded ends H' of the links H. The lower ends of the links H are
formed into eccentric straps H³ which work on eccentrics 7 mounted on a shaft J
turning in bearings on the base A of the machine. The shaft J is provided with
a hand-lever K and with a toothed pinion or segment engaging with a rack r¹
formed on a sliding bar s. Or, if desired, the sliding-bar s may be operated from
the shaft J by means of a link and crank-pin or in any other suitable manner.

page_text: The bar & slides in suitable bearings on the base A of the machine and is provided
with a belt-fork t so that, when the feed-roll E is depressed by the links H
acting through the springs p upon the arms F, the belt will be simultaneously
thrown onto the fast pulley c by the belt-fork t as shown in Figure 3, and when
the feed-roll raised by the links H acting through the cross-bars H³ upon the
said arms F, the belt will be thrown onto the loose pulley d. It will be seen that
any scorching of the covering of the feed-roll is prevented and a positive connection
or chain of mechanism is provided for raising the feed-roll E, but it is pressed
down through a connection or chain of mechanism having elastic members, viz. the
springs p so that the feed-roller is enabled to rise if an article of exceptional
thickness is passed through the machine.
We also provide tables or guides L, L' for guiding the articles into position
between the reciprocating iron B and the feed-roll E and for receiving them after
having been glossed or otherwise dressed, the said tables being provided with
low walls or raised edges u to prevent the articles from falling off and so becoming
soiled. If desired the rear-board or tray L' may be made detachable so that,
when full, it may be removed and replaced by an empty board or tray, thus
reducing the amount of manual labour required.
We sometimes make suitable provision for adjusting the iron laterally relatively
to the feed-roll, or the feed-roll relatively to the iron so as to bring different
parts of the surface of the iron into contact with the said roll.
The articles to be ironed or glossed are inserted between the reciprocating
iron B and the feed-roll E and are gradually drawn through by the action of the
latter, being at the same time very efficiently ironed or glossed by means of the
reciprocating iron.
In some cases we find it advantageous to so arrange the reciprocating iron that
it travels upon balls or spherical or other rollers. The reciprocating iron may
moreover be arranged above the said roll if desired, instead of below the same as
shown in the drawing. In some instances we provide a suitable handle or hand-
wheel whereby the requisite motions may be imparted to the said feed-roll and
iron by manual power.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we wish it understood that
we do not claim. broadly or irrespectively of our improvements herein described
the use of a reciprocating iron, as we are aware that the use of a non-rotating
reciprocating.iron hollowed out to fit upon a feed-roll has been disclosed prior
to the date of our present application and we are also aware that it has been
proposed to use a rotary reciprocating ironing roller in combination with a table;
but what we claim is :-
First. In a machine for ironing, glossing or polishing collars, cuffs and other
articles, the combination, with a feed roll, of a non-rotating reciprocating iron the
motion of which is parallel or approximately parallel to the axis of the said feed-roll
and which is of such shape that it will press upon the articles only along one or
more very narrow strips thereof, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
described.
Second. In a machine for ironing, glossing or polishing collars, cuffs and other
articles, the employment of a reciprocating iron having a "broken," undulating,
interrupted or indented working face of such shape or configuration that only
small portions of it will come in contact with the collars, cuffs or other articles at
any moment, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
Third. A machine such as is hereinbefore described in which the collars or other
articles are, by means of a feed-roll, slowly fed between the said roll and a non-
rotating rapidly reciprocating iron having a "broken," undulating, interrupted or
indented working face which will come into contact with the said articles only
over a relatively small proportion of its area, substantially as and for the purposes
specified.

page_text: Fourth. In combination, a feed-roll mounted on swinging arms or levers which
are connected with spring links, a longitudinally reciprocating iron, means for
slowly rotating the feed-roll and simultaneously imparting a rapid reciprocating
motion to the iron, and means for moving the said spring links so as to change the
position of the feed-roll relatively to the reciprocating iron, substantially as, and
for the purposes, hereinbefore described.
Fifth. In combination a feed-roll, a longitudinally reciprocating iron, means for
driving the said feed-roll and the said iron, means for raising and lowering the
said feed-roll, and means for stopping or arresting the motion of the said feed-roll
and of the said reciprocating iron and simultaneously raising the said feed-roll
from contact with the said reciprocating iron, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Sixth. The improved machine constructed substantially as herein before described
with reference to the accompanying drawing and operating as and for the purposes
specified.
Dated the 22nd day of August 1805
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.