IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO INDICATING DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY VEHICLES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Allen Turner, of Lawrence Pountney Lane,
in the City of London, and Thomas Townsend Coughin, of King's Place,
Stone's End, Borough, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS,
PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO INDICATING DISTANCES TRAVELLED
BY VEHICLES."
Sealed the 17th April 1863, and dated the 20th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Allen Turner and
Thomas Townsend Coughin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 20th October 1862.
We, WILLIAM ALLEN TURNER, of Lawrence Pountney Lane, in the City of
London, and THOMAS TOWNSEND COUGHIN, of King's Place, Stone's End,
Borough, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING CLOTHS AND OTHER
FABRICS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO INDICATING DISTANCES TRAVELLED
BY VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of certain apparatus by the use of which cloth,
calico, linen, carpets, silk, and other manufactured fabrics may be measured
with rapidity and certainty, and their measurement known by means of an
indicator; portions of this apparatus are also adapted to indicate the distances
travelled by vehicles of all descriptions.
The apparatus for measuring cloth consists of two upright standards of
wood or iron mounted on a base plate, and kept at the requisite distance

page_text: apart by tie rods, one at the top and the other at the lower part of the
standards. About midway the standards support an iron or wooden horizontal
roller working in bearings, the shaft being extended at one end so as to be
fitted with a small driving pulley. Another corresponding roller is set between
the standards just above and resting on the first roller, this upper roller works
in vertical slots cut in the standards so as to permit of its rising and falling
according to the thickness of the goods to be measured, and which are caused
to pass between the rollers either by being drawn by hand or by being wound
by machinery. The passage therefore of the fabric between the rollers causes
them to rotate, and motion is communicated from the bottom roller to the
indicator, which is fixed to the top of the standard above the driving pulley by
means of a vulcanised india-rubber band, which being stretched so as to reach
the driving pulley of the indicator will actuate the same in the most perfect
and correct manner, since no slip of the band can occur such as exists when
leather bands are used. In some cases toothed or other gearing may be
substituted for the driving band. The indicator consists of a circular dial
having numbers thereon indicating yards, and another series of numbers
indicating tens of yards up to any desired number. There are two hands or
indicating pointers turning in the centre, one for each series of figures, behind
the dial a series of toothed wheels and pinions are set in bearings actuating
each other after the manner of clockwork, the first wheel receiving motion
by means of a worm or endless screw set on the shaft of the upper driving
pulley driven by the india-rubber band. It is thus evident that by regulating
the number of teeth in the various wheels and pinions of the indicating appa-
ratus, the measurement of cloth passing through the rollers can be accurately
defined even to the fractional part of a yard. When measuring paper of
exceeding lengths it is necessary to use more than one indicator.
With respect to the 'application of parts of the foregoing apparatus to the
indicating.of distances travelled by vehicles, we propose to detach the indicator
and both the driving pullies from the measuring machine and the india-rubber
driving band, and to place the lower driving pulley on the inner side of the
axle box of the vehicle, and to place the indicating apparatus in the interior of
the vehicle, or on the exterior above the axle box, with the driving pulley pro-
jecting on the outside of the vehicle. In these applications it will of course be
necessary to alter the arrangement of the toothed wheels, and pinions and
their number of teeth, in order to indicate miles, furlongs, and yards, the
principle of this part of the Invention being in all respects identical with the
first part. A very great advantage will be afforded by the use of the extended
vulcanised rubber band in vehicles where from the jolting and springing

page_text: together of the wheels and shaft with the carriage body, a continual variation
of space between the indicator and axle box must take place, which would
preclude the use of toothed gearing or even of a leather band, since the india-
rubber will always accommodate itself to the existing space, however rapidly
it may vary, and will never slip on the driving pullies which actuate the
indicator by means of a clutch, so as to prevent the backing of the vehicle
from turning the indicator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Allen Turner and Thomas Townsend Coughin in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
ALLEN TURNER, of Lawrence Pountney Lane, in the City of London, and
THOMAS TOWNSEND COUGHIN, of King's Place, Stone's End, Borough, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said William Allen Turner and Thomas Townsend Coughin,
Her special licence, that we, the said William Allen Turner and Thomas
Townsend Coughin, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said William Allen Turner and Thomas Townsend Coughin, our
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
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS, PARTS OF WHICH APPA-
RATUS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO INDICATING DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY VEHICLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Allen Turner
and Thomas Townsend Coughin, our executors or administrators, by. an instru-
ment in writing under our, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Allen Turner and Thomas
Townsend Coughin, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:
This Invention consists of certain apparatus by the use of which cloth,
calico, linen, ribbons, silk, paper, and other manufactured fabrics may be
measured with rapidity and certainty, and their measurement known by means
of an indicator; portions of this apparatus are also adapted to indicate
distances travelled by vehicles of all descriptions.
In order that our said Invention may be completely understood, we now
proceed to detail the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, as follows:-The apparatus consists of two upright
ornamental standards formed of iron, strengthened by tie rods. The upper
parts of the standards contain bearings, in which a metal or wooden roller is
set, the axis of which is extended so as to be fitted with a crank handle and
with a small driving pulley. Another similar roller, of different diameter, is
set in bearings working in slots in the standards above the former roller, on
which it rests; this latter is likewise fitted with a pulley, and is enabled to
rise and fall in the slots according to the thickness of fabric to be passed
between the two in course of measuring. The top of the standards supports
a cross bar, on the centre of which is fixed an indicator consisting of a circular,
dial, having numbers thereon indicating yards or metres, or other measures,
and another series of numbers indicating tens of yards or metres up to any
desired number. There are two hands or indicating pointers turning in the
centre, one for each series of figures. Behind the dial a series of toothed
wheels and pinions are set in bearings actuating each other, after the manner
of clockwork, the first wheel receiving motion by means of a worm or endless
screw set on a shaft worked by a pulley at its extremity, the shaft extending
from the indicator along the cross bar, so that its pulley may be exactly
vertical above the former pullies described. Around the driving pulley and
the uppermost pulley a vulcanised india-rubber band is to be stretched, so
that as the goods to be measured pass between the two rollers turning the
same, the indicator will be actuated and correctly register on the dial the
quantity of fabric which has been drawn through the apparatus. The lower
roller must be so arranged with regard to its circumference as to indicate
yards on the dial, but the upper roller must be of such dimensions as to cause
the dial to register metres or other required foreign measure, and when such
foreign measures are required to be ascertained the india-rubber band must be
detached from the lower roller, and a shorter one, but crossed, may be adjusted

page_text: so as to be stretched around the pulley of the upper roller and that of the
indicator. In front of the apparatus, on the opposite arms of the standards to
those which contain the foregoing portions of the machine, a shaft is set in
bearings turned by a handle. Upon this shaft the goods may be wound or
rolled up as they come through the measuring rollers.
Where the apparatus is not required to roll goods, but only to measure and
examine them, the shaft and handle may be dispensed with, and the machine
may only consist of the two rollers set in standards, with the indicating appa-
ratus; then, by turning the handle of the measuring roller, the goods will be
passed through the rolls, and may be examined and measured thereby, either
for English or foreign measures. The lower portions of the standards serve
to contain or support in bearings tightening or friction rollers, over and under
which the fabric passes, and whereby a stress is laid upon it so as to cause it
to be tightly rolled up. The apparatus, in addition to being an examining and
sworn measuring machine, will roll up and measure every description of roll
goods. The goods may be rolled tightly or otherwise by securing the middle
tightening roller by a screw. .
With respect to the application of parts of the foregoing apparatus to the
indicating of distances travelled by vehicles, we propose to apply the indicator
and both the driving pullies, as used in the measuring machine, and the india-
rubber driving band, and to place the lower driving pulley on the inner side
of the axle box of the vehicle, and to arrange the indicating apparatus in the
interior of the vehicle above the axle box, with the driving pulley projecting
on the inside or outside of the vehicle. In these applications it will of course
be necessary to alter the arrangement of the toothed wheels and pinions and
their number of teeth, and to regulate the diameter of the driving pulley to
that of the wheels, in order to indicate miles, furlongs, and yards; the principle
of this part of the Invention being in all respects identical with the first part.
A very great advantage will be afforded by the use of the vulcanised rubber
band in vehicles where from the jolting and springing together of the wheels
and shaft with the carriage body a continual variation of space takes place,
which would preclude the use of toothed gearing, or even of a leather strap or
band, since the india-rubber will always accommodate itself to the existing
however rapidly it may vary, and will never slip on the driving pulleys.
To prevent the indicator from being affected by the backward motion of the
vehicle, any of the well-known methods of detaching gearing may be adopted, so
that the indicator will only be actuated by the forward motion of the carriage.
space,
Having now described our said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, we would remark in conclusion, that we do not limit

page_text: ourselves to the precise details we have described, as the same may easily be
varied or modified without in any way departing from the principle of the
Invention; but what we claim and desire to be secured to us by the herein in
part recited Letters Patent; are the general arrangement and combination of
parts, including the application of the English and foreign measuring rollers
in one and the same machine, and the application of the india-rubber driving
band to actuate the indicator, constituting the "Improvements in Apparatus
for Measuring Cloths and other Fabrics, Parts of which Apparatus are also
applicable to Indicating Distances Travelled by Vehicles."
In witness whereof, we, the said William Allen Turner and Thomas
Townsend Coughin, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Sixteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,..
L. J. WETHERELL,
WILL. A. TURNER. (L.s.)
THOS. T. COUGHIN.
Clerk to Messrs. Prince, Hammond, & Prince,
Agents for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
(L.s.)