IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING A PILE UPON WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
Ross, of Coleman Street, in the City of London, Gentleman; send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of April, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me; the said
Thomas Ross, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Ross, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Thomas Ross, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING A
PILE UPON WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said Thomas Ross, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Ross, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements in machinery for raising a pile upon woven and felted
fabrics are applicable to the working of several kinds of cloth or fabrics upon
which it may be required to raise a pile or nap; but the principal object of
the improved machinery is to work upon the face of linen cloth for the pro-
duction of a material known by the name of "lint," used for the covering of
wounds and other surgical purposes. The main feature of these improve-
ments consists in the adaptation and mode of working upon the cloth or
fabric a peculiarly constructed scraper or scrapers, which, by their action,
shall abrade the surface of the cloth or fabric, partially break the fibres of
which it is constructed, and thereby produce a pile or nap upon its surface.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents an end elevation of a
machine suitable for the performance of the proposed pile raising operation;
Fig. 2 is an elevation of the front of the said machine, shewing the situation
and mode of working the scraper or scrapers by a rotary motion; and Fig. 3
is a sectional elevation of the same machine, taken vertically through about
the middle of Fig. 2, and in an opposite direction to Fig. 1, in all which
Figures similar letters of reference indicate the same parts. The parallel end
frames of the machine are shewn at a, a, a, which, being suitably braced
together, support the axles or shafts of the several rollers or wheels necessary
for carrying the cloth or fabric through and bringing it under the operation of
the scrapers, and also supporting the lateral mechanism by which the cloth
or fabric is fed in and the scrapers made to revolve. The cloth or fabric
intended to be operated upon is first wound round a roller b, which roller, being
mounted in the machine by the ends of its axle bearing in notches in the
frame, is enabled to turn freely. The cloth proceeds thence between a pair of
flated feeding rollers c, c, and from these rollers over a bed d under a straight
edged bar e, which hangs horizontally across the machine, for the purpose of
keeping the cloth flat and tight upon the bed. The cloth thence passes over
a ledge of thick leather f, extended along the edge of the bed, upon which
ledge of leather the abraiding operation takes place by the rotary action of
the scraping blades g, g, g,g, affixed to a revolving axle or shaft h. From
the ledge of leather f the cloth (having become napped by the action of the
scrapers) passes under a guide roller i to the taking-up roller k, round the

page_text: periphery of which it is wound by the rotation of a friction roller 1: This
roller is made to revolve by means which I shall presently describe.
The
taking-up roller, it will be perceived, turns freely with its axle hung in slotted
grooves in the end frames, for the purpose of allowing it to rise and accom-
5modate itself to any increase of diameter caused by the accumulation of the
napped cloth or fabric winding round its surface, and in order that it may have
sufficient weight or bearing upon the driving roller l, the ends of the axle-of-
the taking-up roller are weighted by pendant rods m, m. acted upon by a
weight n below.
I will now describe the construction of the bed d. It is formed by a long
rail of iron or other firm material extended across the machine, bearing on
'the end frames, and is furnished with means of adjustment, for the purpose
of bringing the bed and the cloth as it passes accurately against the edges of
the rotary scrapers. The straight edge bar e is hung at its ends in slots in
the frame, which enables its lower edge to bear evenly and with due pressure
upon the face of the cloth or fabric passing under it. The rotary scrapers g
are blades of steel formed with chisel edges affixed to arms extending from a
shaft h, and the ledge of thick leather fattached to the front edge of the bed,
parallel to the scrapers, is hollowed or made concave on that side next to the
scrapers, for the purpose of enabling the scrapers as they revolve to operate
upon the face of the cloth through the whole depth of the leather ledge.
is
The working parts of the machine are actuated by the following means:-A
band from a steam engine or any other first mover is passed over the fast
pulley p fixed upon a shaft q, mounted on the lower parts of the end frames, as
seen in Figures 1 and 2. At the reverse end of this shaft a band wheel
attached, from whence a band passes over a pulleys on the shaft h of the
scrapers, and turns the rotary scrapers in the direction shewn by the arrows,
that is, with the bevel of the chisel edges of the scrapers forward, which is
particularly to be observed, because if turned in the opposite direction the
scrapers would become cutters and sheer off the pile, and probably cut the
fabric into ribbons. At the opposite end of the shaft h an endless screw or
worm t is affixed, which takes into a worm wheel u, upon an oblique shaft
seen in Fig. 1, and at the other end of this shaft a worm v is fixed, taking
into a wheel w on the end of the axle of the lower feeding roller c. The
feeding rollers are fluted, for the purpose of holding the fabric firmly when
pressed together, and, consequently, they turn simultaneously, and advance
the fabric forward (that is, feed it in) when driven by the gear, as described.
The worm t on the shaft of the scrapers also takes into a wheel x, fixed on
the upper end of a vertical shaft seenin Figures 1 and 2, at the lower end of

page_text: which shaft there is a worm taking into a wheel y on the axle of the friction
roller l, for the purpose of effecting the taking-up of the napped fabric.
A modification of the mode of suspending the straight edge bar e is shewn
in two partial Figures 4 and 5, upon an enlarged scale, in which it will be
seen that instead of placing the straight edge bar in slots of the frame, as
before described, I have affixed it to levers z, mounted on jointed pieces on the
bed plate, and have placed cams 1, 1, 1, 1, on each end of the shaft of the
rotary scrapers, which by passing over the studs 2 fixed in the lower parts of
the levers, cause the bar e to be pressed down upon the bed and held firmly
there during every operation of each scraper.
Instead of employing rotary scrapers, as described, I sometimes apply a
reciprocating pendulous movement to a single scraper to effect the object of
raising pile upon fabrics. For this purpose I construct a machine, as repre-
sented in sectional elevation at Fig. 6, and in front view at Fig: 7. The end
frames of the machine are marked d, d, d, on which are mounted the shafts of
the cloth roller, feeding rollers, and taking up rollers, nearly as in the former,
and in which the cloth or other fabric is shewn passing over the horizontal
bed b, covered with leather secured to the front part of the machine with
adjustments. A three-throw crank shaft c is mounted in the back part of the
frame, and to this shaft is attached a compound lever frame consisting of
several rods or bars jointed together and hanging upon a fulcrum shaft d
mounted in the upper part of the frame. A view of the three-throw crank
shaft is shewn detached at Fig. 8. From the middle crank of this shaft an
upright bar or link e passes to the tail piece or arm f, which is jointed thereto.
This arm is firmly keyed to the horizontal fulcrum shaft d, and from the
said fulcrum shaft two arms or levers g, g, extend forward, as shewn in the
horizontal view, Fig. 9. The ends of these arms or levers g, g, are by joints
connected to two pendent rods h, h, affixed to the scraper frame i (see Fig. 7),
the scraper being a straight bar of steel k, formed as before, with a chisel edge.
To the back part of the scraper frame two horizontal connecting rods 1, 1, are
attached by joints and carried back to the two outer cranks of the crank
shaft c, to which they are jointed.
The movements of this machine are derived from a pulley m on the end of
the crank shaft c, the other end of which shaft has a worm n that communi-
cates motion to the feeding and taking up rollers, as in the former instance.
The operations of the scraper, it will be perceived; are effected by the three-
throw crank, and the jointed rods and levers above described, by means of
which, as the cloth travels over the bed b, the scraper k will be moved forward
on the face of the cloth, and thereby made to raise a pile upon its surface, and in

page_text: returning the scraper will be raised off the cloth by the operation of the cranks
of the shaft c, as described, the scraper by these means. being made to perform
reciprocating pendulous movements.
Having described the best modes that I am acquainted with of applying my
improved apparatus for raising the pile or nap upon cloth or other fabrics, I
now proceed to point out the particular features of my Invention which I claim
under the above in part recited Letters Patent.
Firstly, I claim the novel adaptation of chisel-formed blades as scrapers.for..
raising pile on woven or felted fabrics by working with the bevel edges of the
chisel-formed blades forward, so that they may be enabled to scrape the sur-
face of the fabric, and not cut it, and whether these scrapers shall be parallel
to the axis of their shaft or inclined, and whether worked by rotary or recipro-
cating actions.
Secondly, the concave form and position of the ledge or bed of leather shewn
in Fig. 3 shaped to a curve, concentric or nearly so with the axis of the
rotary scraper.
Thirdly, the adaptation of the presser bar for keeping the cloth or other
fabric flat and tight upon the bed, whether such presser bar be made to
operate by its own weight or by cams and levers, as described.
And, lastly, the peculiar constructions of machinery, as shewn in the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ross, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.