Improvements in Machines for Stretching and Finishing Textile Fabrics.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Mar., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Nov., 1892-Accepted, 31st Dec., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Stretching and Finishing Textile
Fabrics.
We, CHARLES EDMESTON and ALFRED EDMESTON, of the firm Archibald
Edmeston & Sons, of Cannon Street Works, Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Millwrights and Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, to
be as follows:-
-
Our invention relates to machines for recovering the width of cloths or textile
fabrics which has been lost in the processes of bleaching, dyeing, printing and
finishing, and refers especially to that class of machines for this purpose known as
"belt stretching "machines, in which the selvages of the cloth are each gripped by
means of an endless .band or belt, against the rim of a flanged pulley, one for each
selvage, which pulleys are arranged in a plane at an angle to the axis by which
they are rotated so that they are closer together on one side than on the opposite
side, the cloth to be treated entering on that side where the pulleys are nearest
together and leaving it where they are furthest apart and is thus stretched in the
widthway in passing from one side to the other.
These machines are made with arrangements for adjusting them to treat cloths
of different widths.
The first part of our invention relates to means for softening or breaking down
the "finish" or "stiffening" added to the cloth, either immediately before or after
it has passed through the stretching operation, but before it has passed through that
operation by preference.
Hitherto the softening effect if any, produced while the cloth has passed through
the ordinary belt stretching machine, has had no effect or very little upon that part
of the selvages under the grip of the endless belts, and consequently the cloth which
has been operated upon has not the uniform finish desired.
According to this part of our invention we apply to the ordinary cloth belt
stretching machine arrangements by which the cloth is treated for the purpose of
softening or breaking down its finish just before (by preference) its selvages enter
between the endless belts and flanged pulleys.
The arrangements which we prefer to use for this purpose consists of two or more
square or other sided bars, square by preference, which are turned cylindrical at
each end so as to be readily carried and secured when adjusted in a trunnioned arm,
one at each end, the trunnioned arms being each in a bearing in a bracket or stand
from the frame of the machine, which trunnioned arms carrying the square bars
when adjusted may be secured from rotation.
The cloth is passed over suitable guide rollers and under and over the square
bars, the edges of which act to soften and break up the finish of the cloth as it
passes (by preference) to the stretching arrangements.
We prefer to make a groove in the lengthway of one of the square bars, at one
of its angles to receive steel inclined pieces which can be adjusted in the groove
in the bar and are then secured thereto when adjusted to the selvages of the
cloth.
These inclined pieces are intended to operate more upon the cloth at or near
its selvages, and the highest parts of the inclines are nearest the edges of the
cloth.
The second part of our invention relates to arrangements combined with the said
cloth "belt stretching" machine by which the cloth as it is delivered therefrom is
wound upon a roller, and is more or less finished while being rolled up.
There are two rollers made of any suitable material, one roller which may be

page_text: termed the lower one rotates in stationary bearings, and is driven from any con-
venient rotary part of the machine, by an endless jointed chain by preference,
working upon suitable wheels or pulleys one of which is upon the axis of this said
lower roller, but it is not keyed upon or secured to the axis of the roller but comes
between discs on the axis of the roller, one of which discs is loose thereon, and is
acted upon by a helical spring, to press it and the wheel against the other disc fast
on the axis of the roller, this arrangement thus forming a means of driving the
roller by friction which is adjusted to slip and give way, if too much strain comes
upon the cloth.
Above the lower roller there is another similar roller which we will call the upper
roller which is in bearings connected with toothed racks, which bearings can slide
up and down in vertical guides in the framing, the tooth racks gearing with.pinions
on a cross shaft having its bearings on the framing.
The pinion shaft for the toothed racks is connected by suitable gearing with a
hand wheel so that the upper roller can be raised and lowered or held up as
required.
On the pinion shaft there is a pulley upon which a brake block can be made to
rest, this block being secured to a lever having its fulcrum on the framing which
lever is weighted as required and will act to resist when desired the rotation of the
pinion shaft when the upper roller is lifted.
Between the upper and lower rollers there is another small roller, the pivots of
which are carried in suitable bearings in two weighted levers having their fulcrums
on the framing.
The cloth from the belt stretching machine comes direct from the belts to the
lower roller and winds upon this small middle roller, and as it fills and increases in
diameter it forces up the upper roller against the resistance of the brake upon tlic
pulley on the pinion shaft, and this gives the pressure to roll up the cloth tightly
and give the required finish.
The arrangements and details may be varied from those herein before described
without departing from our invention.
Dated this Wifth dox of March 1802
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Stretching and Finishing Textile
Fabrics.
We, CHARLES EDMESTON and ALFRED EDMESTON, of the firm Archibald
Edmeston & Sons, of Cannon Street Works, Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Millwrights and Engineers, 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 recovering the width of cloths or textile
fabrics which has been lost in the processes of bleaching, dyeing, printing and
finishing, and refers especially to that class of machines for this purpose known as
"belt stretching" machines, in which the selvages of the cloth are each gripped
by means of an endless band or belt, against the rim of a flanged pulley, one for
each selvage, which pulleys are arranged in a plane at an angle to the axis by which
they are rotated so that they are closer together on one side than on the opposite
side, the cloth to be treated entering on that side where the pulleys are nearest
together and leaving it where they are furthest apart and is thus stretched in the
widthway in passing from one side to the other. These machines are made with
arrangements for adjusting them to treat cloths of different widths.
The first part of our invention relates to means for softening or breaking down
the finish
"
or stiffening" added to the cloth, either immediately before or after

page_text: it has passed through the stretching operation, but before it has passed throngh
that operation by preference.
Hitherto the softening effect if any, produced while the cloth has passed through
the ordinary belt stretching machine, has had no effect or very little upon that
part of the selvages under the grip of the endless belts and consequently the cloth
which has been operated upon has not the uniform finish desired.
According to this part of our invention we apply to the ordinary cloth belt
stretching machine arrangements by which the cloth is treated for the purpose of
softening or breaking down its finish just before (by preference) its selvages enter
between the endless belts and flanged pulleys.
The arrangements which we prefer to use for this purpose consist of two or more
square or other sided bars, square by preference, which are turned cylindrical at
each end so as to be readily carried and secured when adjusted in a trunnioned
arm, one at each end, the trunnioned arms being each in a bearing in a bracket or
stand from the frame of the machine, which trunnioned arms carrying the square
bars when adjusted may be secured from rotation.
The cloth is passed over suitable guide rollers and under and over the square
bars, the edges of which act to soften and break up the finish of the cloth as it
passes (by preference) to the stretching arrangements.
We prefer to make a groove in the lengthway of one of the square bars, at one
of its angles to receive steel inclined pieces which can be adjusted in the groove
in the bar and are then secured thereto when adjusted to the selvages of the cloth.
These inclined pieces are intended to operate more upon the cloth at or near its
selvages, and the highest parts of the inclines are nearest the edges of the cloth.
The second part of our invention relates to arrangements combined with the said
cloth belt stretching" machine by which the cloth as it is delivered therefrom is
wound upon a roller, and is more or less finished while being rolled up.
There are
two rollers made of any suitable material, one roller, which may be termed the
lower, one rotates in stationary bearings, and is driven from any convenient rotary
part of the machine, by an endless jointed chain by preference, working upon
suitable wheels or pulleys one of which is upon the axis of this said lower roller,
but it is not keyed upon or secured to the axis of the roller, but comes between
discs on the axis of the roller, one of which discs is loose thereon, and is acted upon
by a helical spring, to press it and the wheel against the other disc fast on the axis
of the roller, this arrangement thus forming a means of driving the roller by
friction which is adjusted to slip and give way, if too much strain comes upon
the cloth.
Above the lower roller there is another similar roller which we will call the
upper roller which is in bearings connected with toothed racks, which bearings
can slide up and down in vertical guides in the framing, the tooth racks gearing
with pinions on a cross shaft having its bearings on the framing. The pinion shaft
for the toothed racks is connected by suitable gearing with a hand wheel so that
the upper roller can be raised and lowered or held up as required.
On the pinion shaft there is a pulley upon which a brake block can be made to
rest, this block being secured to a lever having its fulcrum on the framing, which
lever is weighted as required and will act to resist when desired the rotation of the
pinion shaft when the upper roller is lifted.
Between the upper and lower rollers there is another small roller, the pivots of
which are carried in suitable bearings in two weighted levers having their fulcrums
on the framing.
The cloth from the belt stretching machine comes direct from the belts to the
lower roller and winds upon this small middle roller, and as it fills and increases
in diameter, it forces up the upper roller against the resistance of the brake
upon the pulley on the pinion shaft, and this gives the pressure to roll up the
cloth tightly and give the required finish.
The arrangements and details may be varied from those hereinbefore described
without departing from our invention.

page_text: ments applied to it.
Fig. 2, is a plan view of the same.
Fig. 3. is a detached sectional view of a friction driving arrangement used in
the machine.
Fig. 4 is an end view on an enlarged scale detached and Fig. 5 is a side elevation
partly in section of the arrangements for softening the fabric operated upon in the
machine.
We will first describe the arrangement of some of the old and well known parts
of the machine in order that our improvements upon it to be afterwards described
may be more readily understood.
a, is the side framing of the machine connected by cross stays or framing.
b, is a shaft having its bearings on the side frames a, which shaft gives rotary
motion to the "belt stretching" pulleys . The shaft b, has a spur wheel ², on
its end which gears with a pinion ¹, on a short shaft having one end in a bearing
on the side framing a, and the other end in a bearing in a stand. This short
shaft c, has the. fast and loose pulleys e, upon it for the belt which drives the
machine.
Each belt pulley, has a large boss that is carried and can rotate freely in a
bearing in a frame 3, but the pulley b, cannot move endways in its bearings, and
within the boss there is a square hole which fits a square block on the shaft b, to
which it is connected by a key and key groove. The square block is arranged in
the square hole in the boss of the belt pulley b, so that it cannot move endways
therein, and the sides of the block for each pulley 6', are rounded off to permit the
belt pulley to swivel freely on the block when rotating.
The ends of the frames 3, for the belt pulleys are carried on cross bars a', upon
the side framing a, and are connected to swivel screw nuts, at each end, into which
works a shaft, one for each end of the frame 3, having right and left handed
screw threads, so that by rotating these screws the frames, and thus the belt
stretching pulleys ', may be adjusted to the required distance apart.
Each frame, carries studs for two guide pulleys 5, and 66, and a cross bar for
two pulleys, which cross bar is adjustable vertically on a descending projection
from the frame 3, in order to tighten the belt 18, against the pulley b'..
Each belt passes from the guide pulley 6, round the lower part of its pulley b',
(the periphery of which is covered with a tyre of india rubber or other suitable
material) then the belt passes over the guide pulley 66, and under the tightening
pulleys 7, back to the guide pulley 1.
The cloth, to be operated upon is upon a roller d, having its bearings in the
ends of two arms d', the inner ends of which are jointed on a vertical axis on the
main cross framing in order that the roller d, may be moved end ways as required.
to adjust the cloth upon it to come opposite to the stretching pulleys The
cloth passes from the roller d, under a guide roller d, and over guide rollers e,
and e, to the belt stretching pulleys &', each edge of the cloth coming between the
periphery of the pulley ', on its side and the endless belt 68, in contact with it and
then passes away on the other side to arrangements to be wound up and treated as
hereinafter described.
The mechanism herein before described by letters referring to the drawings is or
may be the same or is similar to that used in the ordinary and well known belt
stretching machine, our improvements being applied to and combined with such
machine.
Our improvements for softening the fabric being treated in the machine are
shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and upon an enlarged scale detached by Figs. 4 and 5.
There is a trunnioned cross head f; being the trunnioned axis at each end in
which the ends of two square bars, are secured, so that these bars and the
trunnioned cross-heads can be rotated being carried in suitable bearings on the
side frames a.
At one end and on the axis of one trunnion f¹, there is or may be a band

page_text: wheel, by which the bars f³, may be rotated, and when placed in any
required position the axes of the trunnions are secured by set screws f, (see
Figs. 4 and 5).
"
The cloth, passes over the guide roller e, between the two square bars, and
then over the guide roller e¹, and then to the stretching pulleys ¹.
If the square bars, are turned on their trunnioned axes, into a position in
which one bar is vertically over the other the cloth will then pass between them
without touching or being operated upon by the edges of either of them, but when
the trunnioned bars f, are turned and secured in the position shown in Fig. 1, the
cloth passes under the edge of the lower bar f, and over the edge of the upper
bar, and more or less strain and friction and action will be given upon the cloth
accordingly.
To break down or soften the margins of the cloth, the edge of one of the square
bars 2, is rounded to some extent and a groove is formed in its lengthway and in
this groove at each end of the bar f2, an inclined steel edge f, is inserted and is
secured therein by a hoop f, having a set screw f', so that these inclined steel
edges, may be adjusted to and secured in the position required. The steel edges
incline from the two ends towards the middle as shown in Fig. 5.
There are upright side frames a, added to the ordinary side frames a, having a
cross stay a³, to carry the mechanism for winding up and putting a finishing
pressure upon the cloth as it comes from the "belt stretching" pulleys b
These upright side frames a², have bearings for a lower stationary roller
have each a guide slot for a sliding block g', forming the bearings carrying an upper
roller.
and
To each slide block g', the lower end of a toothed rack g³, is attached which
passes through suitable guides at its upper end and gears with a toothed pinion g³,
on a cross shaft, in suitable bearings on the framing a².
One end of the shaft g³, has a toothed wheel gº, upon it to gear with the links of
a jointed endless chain g', that also works upon a pinion 98, on the boss of a hand
wheel g, having its fulcrum on a stud in the side frame a².
By rotating the hand wheel 9, the roller g³, may be lifted or lowered and when
lifted may be held up by a pawl g", jointed on the side frame which pawl engages
with teeth on a ratchet wheel yb, secured on the boss of the hand wheel gª.
There is a weighted lever h, having its fulcrum ', on the end of the cross stay a³,
and this lever carries a brake block that comes against a pulley h², on the shaft g³,
and will resist its rotation and consequently the rise, and thus put pressure upon
the bearings of the roller g².
There is a handle lever ³, from the brake lever h, by moving which the brake
block may be withdrawn from the pulley h², when desired to allow the roller g², to
descend.
is
The roller i, upon which the cloth coming from the belt stretching pulleys &',
wound, rotates between the two rollers g, and g³, and its pivots are in bearings on
two arms i', secured on a shaft 2, having its bearings on the side frame.
This shaft i, has a ratchet wheel 3, at one end in the teeth of which a pawl i,
engages which has its fulcrum upon a stud in the framing. This pawl, has a
handle, by which it can be lifted and released from the teeth of the ratchet to
allow the arms i¹, to descend when required.
The arms, have cach a weight, suspended upon their hook ends to press the
roller, in contact with the lower roller
g.
The cloth passes from the belt stretching pulleys ', over the upper surface of the
lower roller I, and under and winds on to the roller i.
The roller 9: is driven by a jointed endless chain j, that works on a toothed
wheel, upon the first motion shaft c, and upon a wheel, on the end of the
shaft g, of the roller g.
This last named toothed wheel 2, is loose on the boss of a disc, fast on the
shaft g*, and comes between this disc and another, which is or may be loose on

page_text: the shaft g, or connected with it by a key and key groove, the disc j, being thus
arranged to move endways.
Against the disc, one end of a helical spring, acts, the other end coming
against a screw nut, screwing upon the end of the shaft g*.
The wheel, is driven a little faster than is required in order to take up the cloth
fast enough but the wheel, slips between the two discs if too much strain comes
upon the cloth.
The amount of strain upon the cloth is regulated by adjusting the pressure of the
spring by the screw nut j'.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is.
1. The combination of the mechanism for softening the fabric being treated, with
"belt stretching" mechanism substantially as hereinbefore described by reference
to the drawings.
"
2. The arrangements for softening the margins of the fabric being treated in
combination with "belt stretching mechanism, substantially as hereinbefore
described by reference to the drawings.
3. The combination of mechanism for winding up and putting a finishing pressure
upon fabrics, with "belt stretching" mechanism substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the drawings.
4. The combination of friction driving mechanism for giving rotary motion to
the lower winding and finishing roller (g) when used in combination with "belt
stretching mechanism substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
the drawings.
"
5. The combination of mechanism for softening, widening, winding up, and
finishing by pressure substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
drawings.
6. The combination and arrangement of mechanism substantially as and for the
purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
Dated this Twenty-first day of November 1892.
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.