CERTAIN IMPROVI- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Harry Prowse, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Felt Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVI-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT."
Sealed the 8th June 1866, and dated the 14th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Harry Prowse at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
December 1865.
I, HARRY PROWSE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Felt
5 Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT," to be as follows:--
After that process in the manufacture of felt employed for hardening the
material, and technically known as "basining," it has been usual, in order to
keep it from creasing, to dip the felt into hot water and compress it by the
hand by rolling it round a pin upon a plank or board. I propose instead thereof
to provide a tub or other suitable receptacle for holding water, which be
may

page_text: of any convenient shape, but is by preference square or oblong. Over the
surface of this tub or other receptacle I place a series of rollers (the number
of which are of course determined by the size of the space they have to occupy),
working in journals fixed upon the tub. The rollers are provided with cog
wheels which gear one into the other, and are so placed that upon motion
being given to the first roller the others participate. An important feature
in my Invention is that the rollers are of unequal diameter, the first being
the largest, but gradually decreasing in size until the last is the smallest.
The cog wheels, however, are all of equal size, so that an equal number of
revolutions is made by each roller.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The felt to be operated upon is
joined at its extremities after the manner of an endless band; this is either
done by carding on a drum or upon a cradle, and afterwards sewn together;
it is then threaded upon the rollers in such manner that each roller shall
be alternately over and under the material, and motion having been given to
the apparatus by manual or other power the felt is caused to traverse through
the series of rollers. Water having been previously placed within the tub,
the piece of material under operation is constantly being propelled through it,
and so arrives at the rollers in a properly moist condition. In this manner
the material is effectually hardened, and the felt produced is much better in
quality than that. made according to the present process, whilst the cost of
production is materially diminished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Harry Prowse in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HARRY
PROWSE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Felt Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Harry Prowse, Her special licence that I, the said Harry Prowse, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Harry

page_text: Prowse, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT," upon the condition. (amongst others) that I
the said Harry Prowse, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Harry Prowse, 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):-
After that process in the manufacture of felt employed for hardening the
material, and technically known as "basining," it has been usual to dip the
felt into hot water and compress it by the hand by rolling it round a pin
upon a plank or board. I propose instead thereof to provide a tub, or trough,
or other suitable receptacle for holding water, which may be of any convenient
shape, but is by preference square or oblong. Over the surface of this tub or
trough or other receptacle I place a series of rollers (the number of which
are of course determined by the size of the space they have to occupy), working
in journals fixed upon the tub or trough. The rollers are provided with cog
wheels which gear one into the other, and are so placed that upon motion
being given to the first roller the others participate. An important feature in
my Invention is that the rollers are of unequal diameter, the first pair being
the largest, but gradually decreasing in size until the last pair is the smallest.
The cog wheels, however, are all of equal size, so that an equal number of
revolutions is made by each pair of rollers.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The felt to be operated upon is
joined at its extremities after the manner of an endless band; this is either
done by carding on a drum or upon a cradle, and afterwards sewn together;
it is then threaded upon the rollers in such manner that each roller shall be
alternately over and under the material, and motion having been given to the
apparatus by manual or other power the felt is caused to traverse through the
series of rollers. Water having been previously placed within the tub, the

page_text: piece of material under operation is being constantly propelled through it, and
so arrives at the rollers in a properly moist condition. In this manner the
material is effectually hardened, and the felt produced is much better in
quality than that made according to the present process, whilst the cost of
production is materially diminished.
That
my
Invention may
be better understood I have annexed Drawings
thereof, which I now proceed to describe.
Fig. 1 is a plan of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation; Figs.
3 and 4 are an elevation and cross section respectively. Similar letters of
reference refer to like parts in the several Figs.
a, b, c, d, e, (Figs. 1 and 4) are the rollers placed upon the top of the
trough or receptacle for holding water f, and are geared together by means
of the equal cog wheels g³, g³, g³, 9, and g³, (Figs. 1 and 3). The first roller a
is provided with a fly wheel h and a fast-and-loose pulley i and k (Figs. 1 and
2), to receive a strap or band communicating motion to the rollers. The
rollers a and b are the largest in diameter, the rollers c and d being of
Sinaller diameter. The roller e is for holding the felt in position and for
pressing it against the roller d, to which it corresponds in size. The said
rollers are intended to revolve in the direction of the arrows shown, so that
the felt may be kept in a constant state of tension by reason of the larger
rollers endeavouring to take up more than the smaller ones give out. The
covers of the bearings 1, 1, of the ends of the rollers (except the first roller)
are all made in one piece, and hinged or jointed to the bearing covers m, m,
of the first roller a, so that the rollers may be removed and the felt may be
placed in its position with greater celerity than if the bearing covers were all
separate. o, o, (Figs. 1 and 4) are roller guides which are used to keep the
felt in a straight line while passing through the rollers and prevent the felt
whilst being worked through the rollers from becoming feather edged, so that
the material may be as hard and of the same thickness at its edges as in the
middle; the said rollers can be adjusted to any width of felt by means of the
joints p, p, and the slotted brackets q, q. In the present case the felt is
only propelled by two pairs of the said rollers, but the number of rollers
employed may of course be varied as occasion may require.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be performed, I desire it to be understood that
without limiting myself to the precise details herein-before described (as these
may be varied or modified without departing from the nature of my said
Invention), I desire to claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-

page_text: before in part recited Letters Patent the "Certain Improvements in the
Manufacture, of Felt," substantially as herein-before described and shown in
the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harry Prowse, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE OSBORN THORNBERY,
Clerk to Mr. G. R. Holland,
Patent Office,
Birmingham.
HARRY PROWSE. (L.B.)