IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SINGEING FABRICS BY GAS FLAMES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Colin Mather, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SINGEING FABRICS BY GAS FLAMES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Colin Mather at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th January 1869.
I, COLIN MATHER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SINGEING FABRICS BY GAS FLAMES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention is more particularly applicable to those singaing
frames in which the fabric is brought against both sides of the flame,
and in-which the combustion of the gas is promoted by causing a current
of cold air to be drawn towards or through the flame; this current of
air is produced by a fan or other equivalent which exhausts the air out
of a slotted tube, and my Invention consists in the application of certain

page_text: parts to the above machines whereby the results produced by the process
of singeing are greatly improved.
In performing my Invention I apply a doctor or thin blade of metal
or a roller with blades against the surface of the fabric that has been
singed, and this doctor is adjustable so as to act with more or less force
on the fabric as it passes from one guide roller or rail to the other. The
effect of the fabric passing over the doctor is to detach the carbonized
particles, and when the doctor is placed in a slot in the air tube these
particles are carried away by the fan. The doctor not only throws off
the carbonized particles, but it also prepares the surface of the fabric for
the subsequent singeing. In double singeing machines I prefer to place
a doctor in each air tube and a third in any convenient position between
them, but the number and position of the doctors may be varied to suit
the particular construction of the machine and the fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Colin Mather in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COLIN
MATHER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Colin Mather, Her special
license that I, the said Colin Mather, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Colin Mather, 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SINGEING FABRICS BY GAS

page_text: FLAMES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Colin
Mather, 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 Colin Mather, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say): -
This Invention is more particularly applicable to those singeing
frames in which the fabric is brought against both sides of the flame,
and in which the combustion of the gas is promoted by causing a current
of cold air to be drawn towards or through the flame; this current of
air is produced by a fan or other equivalent which exhausts the air out
of a slotted tube, and my Invention consists in the application of certain
parts to the above machines whereby the results produced by the process
of singeing are greatly improved.
In performing my Invention I apply a doctor or thin blade of metal
or a roller with blades against the surface of the fabric that has been
singed, and this doctor is adjustable so as to act with more or less force
on the fabric as it passes from one guide roller or rail to the other. The
effect of the fabric passing over the doctor is to detach the carbonized
particles, and when the doctor is placed in a slot in the air tube these
particles are carried away by the fan. The doctor not only throws off
the carbonized particles, but it also prepares the surface of the fabric for
the subsequent singeing. In double singeing machines I prefer to place
a doctor in each air tube and a third in any convenient position between
them, but the number and position of the doctors may be varied to suit
the particular construction of the machine and the fabrics.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation of an ordinary double gas
singeing machine to which my improvements are applied; Figure 2 is

page_text: an end view of the same; and Figure 3 is a detached view on an enlarged
scale of part of my improvements.
In Figure 1 the dotted line a represents the fabric to be singed, which
passes first under the ribbed stretching bar b, then over the guide
roller c and under the roller d, then over the guide rollers e and f
between which is the air tube g; this air tube instead of being closed at
the top as now customary is provided with a longitudinal slot, as shewn
best in Figure 3, the width of which can be enlarged or reduced by varying
the distance between the angle brackets h, h, which are connected to the
air tube g by set screws passing through slots in the segmental shaped
flanges of the angle brackets. Between the angle brackets h I also
apply the doctor or thin metal blade i, the upper edge of which is made
perfectly true and sharp; the level of the doctor i can be adjusted by set
screws so as to cause it to act with more or less force on the surface of
the fabric as it passes from the roller e to the roller f, from whence the
fabric is taken under the roller j. The rollers d and j are supported in
adjustable bearings as usual so as to be able to regulate the distance
between them according to the peculiar quality of the fabric to be singed
by the jets of gas which issue from the burners k; these burners are
raised and lowered in the ordinary manner by the treadle l, levers m,
and frames n, the connecting pipes o between the main gas pipe and the
pipes under the burners being flexible. The lower side of the air tube g
is partially closed by the sheet metal plates g¹, between which a narrow
slit is left, through which the flame is drawn as usual by the exhausting
P which is connected to the air tubes by the pipes p¹. After the
fabric has passed under the roller; it is taken over the rollers q
and r,
between which is placed another doctor 8, it is then singed a second time
in passing under the rollers e¹ and j³, and it is again acted upon by
the third doctor placed above the air tube g². On leaving the roller j¹
the fabric is taken over the guide roller t, then it passes around the
roller u, by which it is drawn through the machine and then over the
roller v, from which it passes over the roller wo which revolves in a
trough containing water, the object of which is to extinguish any sparks
that might adhere to the fabric; the fabric then passes under the guide
roller w¹, and is carried upwards to the rollers 2, from whence it
descends to the plaiting down apparatus z, or it may be wound on a
batch roller or otherwise disposed of.
fan
. I wish to remark that instead of the doctors shewn I may in some

page_text: cases prefer to employ rollers with blades. The effect of the doctors on
the fabric is to detach the carbonized particles adhering to the surface and
thereby to prepare the surface so that it may be more effectually acted upon
by the subsequent singeing. The carbonized particles thrown off the fabric
by the doctors i and fall into the air tubes g and g³, and are to a great
extent drawn off by the fan p, but the heavier particles accumulate in the
lower part of the air tubes and are taken away from time to time by
removing the lids at the ends of the air tubes. I wish to observe that in
double singeing machines I prefer to place a doctor above each air tube
and a third between the intervening rollers, but I do not limit myself to
this arrangement as the number and position of the doctors or their
equivalents may be varied to suit the particular construction of the
machine and the peculiar quality of the fabric to be singed.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described a
convenient mode of applying the same to an existing machine. I declare
that I claim,
Firstly. The application of a doctor or doctors or a roller covered
with blades to act on the fabric passing through a singeing machine, as
shewn and described.
And, secondly. The slot in and the regulating angle brackets applied
to the air tube of a gas singeing machine, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Colin Mather, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of July One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine.
that I claim,-
Firstly. The application of a doctor or doctors or a roller covered
with blades to act on the fabric passing through a singeing machine, as
shewn and described.
And, secondly. The slot in and the regulating angle brackets applied
to the air tube of a gas singeing machine, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Colin Mather, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of July One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine.