CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU- FACTURING WOLLEN CLOTH
Year: 1830

page_text: HIRST'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENBY
HIRST, of Leeds, in the County of York, Clothier, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the eleventh
year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Hirst, His especial
licence, that I, the said Henry Hirst, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Henry Hirst; my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
FACTURING WOLLEN CLOTH;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said Henry Hirst, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Hirst, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is tö

page_text: be performed by the following description thereof (reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon),
that is to say:-
"My improvements in manufacturing woollen cloths applies to that part of
the process of finishing cloth where a permanent lustre is given to the face of
the cloth usually by a process called roll boiling, that is, stewing the cloth,
when tightly wound upon a roller, in a vessel of hot water or steam. As there
are many disadvantages attendant upon the operation of roll boiling, such as
injuring the cloths by over-heating them, which weakens the fibre of the wool,
and also changes some colours, I propose to substitute in place of it a par-
ticular mode of acting upon the cloths by occasional or intermitted immersion
in hot water, and also in cold water, which operations may be performed either,
with or without pressure upon the cloth, as circumstances may require. The
apparatus which I propose to employ for carrying on my improved process is
shewn in the accompanying Drawing.
a, a, a, is a
I prefer it
This tank
Fig. 1 is a front view of the apparatus complete, and in working order;
Fig. 2 is an end view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a section taken transversely
through the middle of the machine in the direction of Fig. 2.
vessel or tank made of iron or wood, or any other suitable material;
to the sloping at the back and front, and perpendicular at the ends.
must be sufficiently large to admit half the diameter of the cylinder or drum
b, b, b, to be immersed in it, which drum I propose to make about four feet
diameter, and about six feet long, or something more than the width of the piece
of cloth intended to be operated upon. This cylinder or drum b, b, I construct
by combining segments of wood cut radially on their edges, which I secure by
screw bolts to the rims of iron wheels, having arms with an axle passing
through the middle. The cylinder or drum being thus formed, and rendered
smooth on its periphery, and mounted upon its axle in the tank, I now wind
the piece of cloth upon it as tightly as possible, which I do by placing the
cloth in a heap upon a stool, as at c, Fig. 3, and having passed its end over
and between the tension rollers d, e, as shewn, and then secured it to the
drum, I draw the cloth progressively from the heep between the tension
rollers (which are confined by a pall and ratchet, or otherwise) on to the
periphery of the drum, by causing the drum to revolve until the whole piece
of cloth is tightly wound upon the drum, when I bind it round with canvass
or other wrappers, to keep it secure. If the tank has not been previously
charged with clean and pure water, I now fill it nearly to the brim, as shewn
in Fig. 8, and then opening the stop-cock of the pipe f, which leads from a

page_text: boiler, I allow steam to blow through the pipe and discharge itself at the
lower end, by which means I lower the temperature of the water in the tank
to about 170 deg. (Fahrenheit). Before the temperature of the water has got
up, I put the drum in slow rotatory motion, in order that the cloth may be
uniformly heated throughout, that is, I cause the drum to turn at the rate of
about one rotation per minute, and in this manner I continue operating upon the
cloth by so immersing it in the hot water, and then passing it through the cold
air, in succession for the space of about eight hours, which gives the cloth a
smooth soft furnace, the texture not being rendered harsh, or otherwise injured,
as is frequently the case with roll boiling. The means by which I have found
it convenient to give the uniform rotary motion to the drum is shewn in Fig. 1,
in which g is an endless screw or worm placed horizontally, and driven by a steam
engine, or any other first mover employed in the factory. This endless screw
takes into the teeth of and drives the vertical wheel h, upon the axis of which
the coupling box i, i, is fixed, and consequently revolves with it. At the end of
the shaft of the drum a pair of sliding clutches k, k, are mounted, which which,
when projected forward, as shewn by dots in Fig. 1, produce the coupling or
locking of the drum shaft to the driving wheel, by which the drum is put in
motion; but on withdrawing the clutches k, k, from the coupling box i, i, as in
the Figure, the drum immediately stands still. After operating upon the cloth
in the way described by passing it through hot water for the space of time
required, the hot water is to be withdrawn by a cock at the bottom, or other-:
wise, and cold water introduced into the tank in its stead, in which cold water
the cloth is to be continued turning in the manner described for the space of
twenty-four hours, which will perfectly fix the lustre that the face of the cloth
has acquired by its immersion in the hot water, and leave the pile or nap to the
touch in a soft silky state. In the cold water operation, I sometimes employ
a heavy pressing roller l, which being mounted in slots in the frame or stan-
dards, revolves with the large drum, rolling over the back of the cloth as it
goes round. This roller may be made to act upon the cloth with any required
pressure by depressing the screws m, m, or by the employment of weighted
levers, if that should be though necessary.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Hirst, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty.
HENRY (L.s.) HIRST.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED,. that on. the Nineteenth day of August, in
the first year of the, reign of. His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Henry Hirst came before our said. Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the, instrument aforesaid, and all, and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was: stamped according to the tenor, of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty.