Manufacture of Felt Hats.
Year: 1887

page_text: Manufacture of Felt Hats.
1 GILES ATHERTON of the Virginia Mills, Stockport in the County of Chester,
Hat Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention (communicated
to me from abroad by Rudolf Eickemeyer of Yonkers in the State of New York
United States of America) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement and
accompanying drawings :-
The Invention consists of improvements in the apparatus known to some extent under
the designation of the Eickemeyer hat pouncing machines and the objects of the
invention are to increase the efficiency of the machines by obtaining increased
rapidity of operation with less requirement for skill on the part of the operator.
The invention can be best described with reference to the accompanying drawings
wherein Figure 1 Sheet 1 is a front elevation of my machine.
Fig. 2 Sheet 2 is a
plan view of the same with some of the parts removed and
shewn in horizontal section.
Figs. 3 and 4 sheet 2 represent the parts of the machine which support the feeding
devices detached from the machine.
Fig. 5 sheet 3 is an end view of the machine.
Fig. 6 sheet 3 is a diagram shewing the cutting roller, hat support and feeding
devices in their working positions.
In the example the machine has a strong rigid frame A which carries the various
moving parts. At the back of the frame near the bottom is the driving shaft a which
is provided with fast and loose pulleys. A belt fork is controlled by a lever a¹ which
projects forward and upward so as to be conveniently accessible to the operator
while at work.

page_text: The pouncing cylinder B is firmly mounted its shaft b being provided with long
bearings as seen in Fig. 2 and being connected and belted by means of a belt b¹ with
a large pulley on the main shaft.
A supporting bed c is employed and by preference the said bed is a little longer
than one half of the diameter of the hats to be pounced and in order that this
proportion may be maintained it is preferred that changeable beds to suit the
different sizes of hats shall be provided.
The said supporting bed is located beneath the pouncing cylinder and is shown
detached in Fig. 6 on sheet 3.
The said bed has a downwardly projecting stem, through which a screw or bolt
passes in order to secure the bed rigidly to an auxiliary bed lever d. The upper end
of the said lever and the lower adjacent surface of the said bed are squared off to
afford good bearing contact as seen in Figs. 15 and 6.
The said supporting bed c with its adjusting lever d is mounted on a lever D which
is pivoted at e to the front of the frame and is connected at 1 by means of the link
to the foot lever E. The upward motion of the lever D is limited by the set screw e¹
which comes in contact with a projection e' on the lever D.
The lever d is pivoted at d and is forced downward by a rubber spring d² and
adjusted by the screw d³.
By means of this screw the upper surface of the hat support is adjusted to be
parallel with the cutting surface of the cutting roller B.
A guard / is placed in front of the cutting roller with its underside on a level
with the lower edge of the said roller, to prevent the hat from coming in contact with
the roller excepting at the cutting line.
The feed rollers are two in number.
The lower roller is a large cone p which is mounted on a stud bolt p' which is
supported on the hinged piece k. The rear edge of this conical feed roller is
provided with spur teeth which gear with a pinion p² from which the roll receives
its motion.
The upper feed roller q is mounted in a bracket and occupies a position close to the
cutting roller B and above the lower feed roller p.
The feed rollers and their gearing appliances are mounted in and have their
bearings in a sliding frame composed in part of the sliding rods G and G¹ which
extend from side to side of the machine and have guide bearings in the upper part of
the frame.
As seen in the drawings the spindles of the feed rollers are angularly arranged
with respect to the pouncing cylinder shaft so as to bring the feed rollers into close
proximity to the pouncing rollers and also to the bed or hat support underneath.
The lower feed roller p is mounted upon a projection on the hinged piece and is
with its support of about the same length as the hat support c and on being raised
can enter the crown of the hat while the tip is being pounced, leaving the side crown
in its natural position as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1 sheet 1.
This construction enables the operator to guide the hat from the edge of the brim
over the side crown and to the centre of the tip and out again without wrinkling or
distorting the hat.
As stated above the feeding rollers are mounted on a sliding frame composed in
part of the sliding rods G and G. To the said two sliding rods is attached a cross
piece I which supports the brackets in which are formed the bearings for the feed
roller shafts. The said brackets are fastened at n¹ and n² to the cross piece I by
means of bolts n¹.
A second cross piece S also secured to the sliding bars G and G¹ is formed
with a bearing for the shaft k by means of which rotary motion is given to the feed
rollers.
As shown in Fig. 1 the main shaft a gives motion to the shaft & by means of a
belt b². A bevel wheel on the opposite end of the shaft k drives another bevel
wheel which is fastened to the shaft of the upper feed roller and thus gives it a
rotary motion in an opposite direction to the rotation of the pouncing roller. On the

page_text: same shaft is another bevel wheel g' which through the intermediate gear ³ and
pinions and p² gives motion to the feeding cone underneath.
The two feed rollers are held in working contact with each other by a spring
which is interposed between the cross piece I and an adjusting screw o. The screw o
is fitted into the upper end of a link which is pivoted to the hinged piece k* at o³. A
lock nut o' is provided to maintain the screw o in position.
By means of this adjustment the pressure between the two feed rollers can thus be
regulated to suit the different requirements.
To enable the operator to move the feeding devices while pouncing a hat I have
provided a second treadle-lever H. This lever is pivoted to the front part of the frame
and is connected by the link to the weighted lever m, which is also pivoted to the
front of the frame. This lever is attached to a forked levert by means of a short
shaft and the forked end t operates the sliding frame of the feeding devices by means
of the pin on the side of the cross piece I.
The lever m has at its end a weight m¹ which causes the feeding devices when no
pressure is exerted upon the treadle H to move towards the side frame of the machine
the extent of this motion being limited and governed by an adjusting screw t³ which
abuts against the frame when the desired position is reached.
These devices enable the operator to change the position of the feeding devices
during the operation of pouncing and to guide the hat more readily as will hereinafter
be described.
The upper surface of the hat support is parallel with the cutting surface of the
pouncing roll and the upper surface of the lower feed roller is also in the same
plane.
From this it arises that any part of the hat held between the feed rollers and also
between the cutting roller and the hat support is in the same plane and must lie flat
upon the hat support.
In Fig. 6 the different operating devices are shown somewhat enlarged the full
black line representing a vertical cross section of a hat being pounced on the tip.
the
The hat rests upon the support c and is moved between the feed rollers P and q
guide wire L which is adjustably mounted in front of the hat support guiding the
side crown while the guard k prevents the hat from entering between the hat support
and pouncing roll in a folded and wrinkled condition.
The operation of the machine may be described as follows. Motion is transmitted
from the main shaft through the belts 61 and 62 to the cutting or pouncing roll and
the feeding rollers respectively.
To the pouncing roll a rapid rotary motion and to the feeding devices a compara-
tively slow motion is communicated."
The operator now presses the treadle H downwards thus causing the feed rollers to
be moved to a position about opposite to the centre of the cutting surface of the
pouncing roll.
The edge of a hat brim is now introduced under the pouncing roll and brought up
to the feed rollers when the latter will grip it and feed it along. The treadle E is now
depressed and the hat support being raised will bring the upper side of the hat in
working contact with the pouncing roll, which will now cut the surface as fast as it
is presented by the feeding devices. The operator now allows the hat to pass gradually
under until the side crown is pounced.
The treadle lever H is now allowed to come up slowly. This causes the feeding
rollers to move towards the side frame and this gradual change of position causes the
hat to move slowly under the cutting edge.
The square of the hat is first acted upon and when the feed rolls have reached their
extreme position the hat will revolve around its centre under the cutting roll while
the tip of the crown is being pounced. The feeding devices are now slowly moved
to their former position and the bat gradually runs to the edge of the brim when the
operation is completed and the hat taken out of the machine.
It is obvious that for different qualities of hats different kinds of cutting materials
are used on the pouncing rolls and that means are provided to readily cover the

page_text: pouncing rolls with such material. But as these means are not novel it is
unnecessary to describe them here.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
(1) In combination with a pouncing roll and a hat support a pair of feeding rollers
so mounted and supported as that they do not interfere with the movement of the hat
when the tip is being pounced substantially as set forth and indicated.
(2) The combination of a pouncing roll and a hat support with feeding rollers the
lower roller mounted and supported as described and the upper one so located as that
the feeding line of the rolls and the upper surface of the hat support are practically
in the same plane substantially as set forth and indicated.
(3) The combination of a hat support and pouncing roll with feeding rollers which
are mounted upon a sliding frame and provided with means to change their position
during the operation of pouncing substantially as set forth and indicated.
(4) The combination of the hat support, the pouncing roll, the feeding devices the
guard and the guide L substantially as and for the purposes set forth and indicated.
D
1007
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.