THE MANUFACTURE OF CAP FRONTS, AND APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES AND RIBBON TRIMMINGS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Wheatcroft, of No. 14, Brudenell Place,
Hoxton, Parish of Shoreditch and County of Middlesex, for the Inven-
tion of "THE MANUFACTURE OF CAP FRONTS, AND APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES AND RIBBON TRIMMINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Wheatcroft at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th March 1858.
I, SAMUEL WHEATCROFT, of No. 14, Brudenell Place, Hoxton, Parish of
Shoreditch and County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "THE MANUFACTURE OF CAP FRONTS, AND APPLICABLE TO. THE
MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES AND RIBBON TRIMMINGS," to be as follows:--
In the accompanying Drawings, A, A', A", represent three slabs of metal,
resting and working freely upon the ends B, B, and B¹, B. Between these
three slabs are the two grooves C, C, and C¹; C, working thro brackets
attached.to the under side of the three slabs is the screw H. This screw is of
a (Fig. 4th) peculiar construction; it is divided into three sections, upon the
two extreme of which the thread runs from right to left, and upon the centre
section in a contrary direction from left to right. This screw acts in such a-

page_text: manner that the same motion which opens the groove C, C, closes the groove
C¹, C', and vice versa. D, D, are two uprights, with a slit down the middle in
which the knife E works. The knife is supported by the elastic bands F, F.
The bases from which the uprights rise work upon the slides G, G, and G¹, G',
in such a manner that the knife can be brought at pleasure over either of the
two grooves. I, I, represented in Fig. 3rd, are two heat boxes running parellel
with and exactly beneath the two grooves. These boxes are traversed by a
perforated gas pipe, which, when lighted up, keeps the groove sufficiently hot
to dry rapidly the work placed within it. In the grooves there are two
metal slips running the whole length of the grooves, and leaning against the
sides of the grooves, as represented in Fig. 5th. These slips are kept in
their places by india-rubber springs J, J.
The mode of working is this:-The band of a cap front prepared as usual
is placed in the groove C, C ; a length of goffered blond joined at both edges is
then placed over the groove and between the guides k, k. The knife E is then
brought down, by which the middle of the blond is carried into the band. The
screw H is then worked up, and thus the band and the blond are tightly.com-
pressed and united. The groove C, C, being now closed, the groove C', C', is
opened (as before explained); the work is then put into this second groove,
during which time the work in the first groove C, C, is sufficiently dried to be
ready to take out; the screw is now reversed; the groove C¹, C¹, is closed,
compressing and uniting the work within it as before, and by the same motion
the groove C, C, is opened, and the work removed from it by the hand; the
same operation is then repeated with the groove C, C.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Samuel Wheatcroft
in.the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th September 1858..
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
WHEATCROFT, of No. 14, Brudenell Place, Hoxton, in the Parish of Shoreditch
and County of Middlesex, sends greeting.
: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, béaring date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Wheatcroft, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Wheat-
croft, my 'executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tlie said

page_text: Samuel. Wheatcroft, 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 "THE MANUFACTURE
OP CAP FRONTS, AND APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES AND RIBBON
TRIMMINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Wheatcroft, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 perforined, 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 Samuel Wheatcroft, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement-
In the accompanying Drawings, A, A, A, represent three metal slabs, with
polished surfaces, resting and moving freely upon the ends B, B. Between
these three slabs are the two grooves C, C. These two grooves are each of
them furnished with two slips of metal resting obliquely against the sides of the
grooves, and retained in their places by four elastic bands. A sectional view
of this arrangement is represented in Fig. 5th. D is a wheel and handle
attached to a screw passing through bearings connected with the under sides
of the three metal slabs A, A, A. This screw is of a peculiar construction,
being made in three sections, whereof the two extremes have the thread cut in
a direction contrary to that of the middle one (Fig. 4th). The result of this
arrangement is, that a turn of the wheel D, which will open one of the
grooves C, C, will at the same instant close the other below; and parrellel to
and of equal length with the grooves C, C, are the heat boxes H, H, each
traversed by a length of perforated gas tubing. F is a metal knife, suspended
by elastic bands from the hooks I, I, and moveing in slots in the uprights E, E,
which in their turn are capable of traversing the rods G, G, in such a manner
as to bring the knife at pleasure over either of the two grooves C, C. Upon
each side of each of the two grooves C, C, is the moveable guage J. These
guages are capable of being brought nearer to or removed farther from their
respective grooves, according to the width of the material to be operated
upon.
The method of working this machine is as follows:- A band composed of

page_text: highly dressed bobbin nett, and folded in the usual way, is first wetted with
water, or with a weak solution of gum, or other adhesive substance, and then
placed within one of the grooves C, C. A length of double blond joining
previously goffered is then placed over the groove and between the guages J, J.
The uprights E, E, are now moved along the bars G, G, till the knife Fis
brought exactly over the groove, into which it is then pressed down by the
hand. By this action the knife carries the goffered blond into the band. By
a few turns of the wheel D the groove is closed, and the band and the inserted
blond tightly compressed and united. The knife F is now moved till it is
brought over the other of the two grooves C, C, with which the same process
is repeated. While this is being done the work in the first groove is suffi-
ciently dry to be removed. The work is thus continued alternately and
without interuption, and as much turned out in one minute as could by hand
pleating be turned out in lialf an hour, and in a manner very far superior to
anything possible to mere hand labour.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Wheatcroft, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord Eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.
SAMUEL WHEATCRUFT. (L.S.)