CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON WIRE GIG MILLS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRESSING WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS THAT MAY REQUIRE SUCH PROCESS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
Lewis, Clothier, WILLIAM Lewis, Dyér, and WilLIAM DAVIS, Engineer, all of
Brimscomb, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, bý
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of
December, in the fifty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto us,
the said John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis, our exors, adiñors,
and assigns, His special licence; full power, sole privilege and authority, that
we, the 'said John Lewis,, William Lewis, and William Davis, our exors,
adiñors, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,.
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS ON WIRE GIG MILLS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRESSING WOOLLEN AND
OTHER CLOTHS THAT MAY REQUIRE SUCH PROCESS;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso that if the said John Lewis, William Lewis,
and William Davis, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months, next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall cease,

page_text: determine, and become void, as in. and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear..
:
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are particularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and the following description thereof (that is to say):-
Fig. 1, A, B, is an end view of the gig barrels for dressing cloth. Instead of
operating with teazles or wires, in the same manner as in the gig mills already
known, we have invented a system of wires and springs, which are fixed on the
rings of the barrels by projecting ribs consisting of bars or rods of metal and
strips of wood or other suitable substance, as hereafter described. An end
view of a portion of a barrel is represented, full size, in Fig. 3, the better to
explain their construction. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the machine
in a plane at right angles to that of Figure 1. In Fig. 3, C, C, is part of one
of the metallic rings of the barrels. E, E, are projections from the rings C
(shewn also at E, in Fig. 2) for receiving the rivets D, D, by which the ribs
are fixed on the rings F, F; and I, I, are bars of metal, and G, H, are other
bars, best made of wood, all of the same length, as shewn at I, I, in Fig. 2.
K, K, represents the wires fixed between F and G. L, a metal guard, fixed
between G and H, for the purpose of preventing the wires K, K, from being
thrown too far from the centre of the barrels by the centrifugal force when they
are in motion. M represents the polishers, which are best made of steel, and
tempered as springs; they are fixed between H and I. The parts F, K, G,
L, H, M, I, are fixed together before they are fastened to the projections E.
The dotted circular line N, N, shews the path of the cloth which is, to be
dressed by the action of the wires K and the polishers M. Fig. 4 represents
a steel polisher-in a plane at right angles to that of Fig. 3. O, O, are screw
holes for fixing it-to the piece H in Fig. 3. P, the curved part of the polisher,
has a number of small parallel grooves cut on its convex face in the direction
of its length, similar to the grooves made in the tools used for cutting V screws;
but in our polishers their edges or rubbing parts are made so round and
smooth that no part will cut or injure the cloth; a section of this polisher, at
right angles across the aforesaid grooves, would not be a straight line, but an
arc of a circle of short radius. They are so formed in order to keep their
outer edges from pressing too much, against the cloth.
The polishers are
made narrower in the middle, Fig. 4, that they may have a weaker spring and
not bear against the cloth with too much force in any part; but they might
be made of thinner steel, and the grooves be formed by pressure, in which
..

page_text: case they would do of the same width throughout; or on the convex surface
may be raised or fixed pyramidal, conical, or curved knobs, all sharp angles
being rounded off; or else a number of wires bent into the same form, and
tempered, might be used with similar effect. To keep the wires Kat proper
distances as under, it is best to weave a hundred or more of them together
for a considerable part of their length from the hcel at F, G, toward the acting
extremities. These wires and polishers are to be painted or varnished on all
those parts that do not come in contact with the.cloth. The smaller the wires
are, the nearer they may be placed together. The intervals between them
should be about equal to their diameters. The best diaincter for the wire, if
steel, is found between one sixtieth and one hundredth of an inch, and at about
one sixtieth of an inch, if brass. The acting extremities of the wires aro
smoothly pointed by being ground with emery and oil upon a lead cylinder
turned in grooves equal to the distances of the wires. Fig: 3, Q is a metallic
bar, as long as the barrel, fixed to the projection R, Fig. 2, of the rings S.
The rings marked by the letters S, in Fig. 2, are moveable on the centres
of the rings C, for the purpose of applying the bearing bar Q, Fig. 3, .to
different parts of the wires K, K. The said ring S are moved for this purpose
by the bar T and its pinions V acting in a toothed are in the inner circumfer-
ence of the rings S, Fig. 2. The bearings of the said bar T are in the rings C:
T is turned when required by a handle on its square end U, Fig. 2, and is fixed
in the required situation by a projection on the locking spring X, Fig. 1, which
takes into notches in the circular plates W; fixed on T, Fig. 1 and 2. Y is
the axis of the barrel, and the conical wheel c, Fig. 2. d is a conical wheel
on the axis e; a, a scrow with a handle, and ba coupling, which connects a
with Y for the purpose of moving c into or out of contact with d. The
screw a works in a nut fixed in the frame of the machine. The frame is
not represented in our Drawing, as it may be varied at pleasure to suit tho
situation where it is to be erected. The wheels f, Fig. 1, take into each other
in order to turn the two barrels together. One of the said wheels is shewn in
Fig. 2, f, on the axis e. Fig. 1, g is a wheel driven by a pinion on the axis
of Z, which is not represented, being exactly similar to the axis e in Fig. 2, and
hidden by it. On the axis of 9, Fig. 1, is a pinion h, turning the bevelled
wheel i on the axis k, which. carries a pinion turning the wheel m.. This
wheel m turns a roller r, Fig. 2, having a notched plate n at each end for
moving two endless chains p, Fig. 1, where o represents the place of a similar
notched plate and roller. These two, chains are connected by an endless cloth
which is supported by the rollers r, q, q°. Fig. 1, s is a roller on the axis of g';
t and u are similar rollers, moved by s by means of the endless cloth v, v, v,

page_text: which is stretched tight by the weight of the roller u, the axis of which moveš
in a vertical groove. The axis of this roller u may be made to support a
weight or lever for giving the requisite degree' of tension to the cloth v.
Fig. 2, y is a bar connected with a crank and axis a 2, by the connecting
rod z. 62 is a bevelled wheel on the axis a 2, 'driven by another bevelled
wheel c 2, on the axis e; all round the edges of the cloth v, Fig. 1, narrow
plates of metal are rivetted on the inner surface, and are bent like the
letter U, as at d 2 in Fig. 2. Até 2 w, Fig. 2, two similar bent plates are
rivetted on the rod y, taking in and moving d 2, parallel with Y. "The ends
of y slide in holes in the franie of the machine. Fig. 1, w, are three
boards with rounded edges, somewhat longer than the roller', in Fig. 2.
Their use is to prevent the cloth f 2 from coming in wrinkles upon the
roller t.
.The ends of the cloth f 2 are sewn together; as the cloth f*2
descends from the roller s it is carried upon the lower endless cloth, moved by
T, Fig. 2. The machine may be worked without vandy by using a padded
roller 92, dotted in Fig. 1, forced against s by a weight & lever, the cloth f
being made to pass between the said two rollers; in this case ȧ- greater
number of the pieces w will be necessary to give sufficient strain -to' the
cloth f 2, or they must be placed nearer together; or again, instead of 'w," a
pådded roller with a break 'may be made to press the cloth ƒ 2 againstt. The
moving power may be applied to the axis'e, Fig. 2, or to the similar axis Z.
The motion which the bar'y, Fig. 2, communicates to the endless cloth v
Fig. 1, is for the purpose of varying the track of the wiros K and polishers M
on the surface of the cloth f 2 during the operation of dressing." "If the axis
of the two barrels,, instead of being parallel, are placed at a small angle to cach
other, the effect will be similar, but the plan we have given above' is 'preferable!
The wires K, instead of being of the length represented in our Fig. 3, may be
only one. third part as long from their points, be woven together as before
mentioned, and attached to a light bar which is to be fixed to the outer
extremities of several flat steel springs, having their other' extremities' confined
between F and G; Fig. 3. The number and strength of the said flat springs
for carrying: the wires: must be so regulated that the acting points shall have
the same power from elasticity as those of the wires K in Fig. 3. !!
In this machine we claim as our Invention,
"
1
1st, the mode of varying the acting force of the wire points K, by varying
the situation of the supporting bar Q.
2nd, the application of wove wire to the purpose of dressing 'cloth, and, of
springs to carry such wire.
✓ :
3rd, the application of a smooth grooved for knobbed surface, free froui

page_text: cutting parts, to press against the surface of the cloth while in motion, for the
purpose of giving it smoothness and lustre; also of the separate wires for the
same purpose..
4th, the application of the cloth v, Fig. 1, to prevent too great a degree of
tension of the cloth f2.
Also, the methods above described of making the cloth f 2 pass against the
barrels without intermission..
Note. For finishing the cloth f 2 one of the said barrels may be disengaged,
by turning the handle a, Fig. 2, when the barrel so disengaged will wheel or
roll on the cloth f 2 without any further effect with regard to the dressing.
It is intended that the bearing bar Q shall be at. the place nearest to the
heel of the wires or flat springs K to begin the operation of dressing, and that
Qbe advanced towards the acting extremities of K in the course of the said
operation more or less, according to the nature of the cloth.
In witness whereof, wc, the said John Lewis, William Lewis, and
William Davis, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Sixteenth
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and