CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING, DRYING, AND FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, THOMAS.
RIDGWAY BRIDSON, of Great Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher,
and WILLIAM LATHIAN, of Little Bolton, in the same County; Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Ridgway Bridson. and William Latham, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Thomas Ridgway
Bridson and William Latham, our executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as we, the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson and William Latham,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should agree with, and no other,
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 and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING,
DRYING, AND FINISHING WOVEN FABRICS;" in which Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that we, the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson and William Latham,
shall cause a particular. description of the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
Iligh Court of Chancery within six calendar montlis next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Thomas Ridgway Bridson and William Latham, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, is particularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings
hereto annexed, and the following explanation thereof, that is to say:
These Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Stretching, Drying,
and Finishing Woven Fabrics, consist in a novel arrangement of mechanism,
designed for the purpose of effecting these objects in a superior and more
complete manner by mechanical means than has heretofore been accomplished,
and with peculiar advantage, owing to the extreme elasticity of finish which is
by such means imparted to the goods. In order that these improvements may
be perfectly understood and more definitely explained, there is attached to these
Presents a Drawing of the apparatus constructed necessary for the purpose of
stretching, drying, and finishing fine piece goods, such as plain, or checked, or
figured muslins, lace, lenoes, and other similar light fabrics; similar letters of
reference being marked upon corresponding parts of the mechanism in all the
Figures.
Two
Figure 1 is a horizontal or top view of the machine, .in which a. piece of
muslin is represented distended upon tension pins, in which situation the
goods may be supposed to be under the improved. operation.; Figure 2 is a
longitudinal or side elevation; and Figure 3 is an end view..of the same.
longitudinal rails or framings a, a, extend the whole length. of, the piece of
goods and carry at their extreme ends, by means of brackets, the pulleys b, b,
upon the peripheries of which are placed small pins or studs c, c, at equal
distances from each other; and these pins c take into corresponding holes
pierced in endless straps or bands d, d. Upon the outer surface of these straps,
near their inner edges, are fixed very fine needle or tenter points c, e, for
the purpose of holding the selvages of the fabric distended. as it
passes through
the apparatus. The longitudinal bars or frames a, a, are attached to several
transverse framings f, f, f, which carry the rack bars g and chains h, h. These
racks are well understood to be for the ordinary purpose of distending
or stretching the cloth breadthwise in its wet state immediately after it
has been introduced. The framings f, f, upon which the whole of the
improved apparatus is carried are supported upon central bearings i, i, and.
allowed to turn or swivel upon the centre pins j. j. These framings are
to be placed at any convenient distance apart throughout the entire length
of the machine, which is supposed to be of the same length as the piece of

page_text: goods, although each end of the same is only shewn in the Drawing for the
sake of convenience. Now supposing boys to be holding the end of a piece of
muslin or other fabric at each selvåge or side, and standing at that end of
the machine shewn at the right hand of the Figures 1 and 2; they first place
the extreme ends of the piece upon the rails or stretchers o, o, in order to keep
the end of the cloth square and firm, and after guiding each selvage on to the
fine points or needles e, c, of the endless straps, the pressing rollers e*, e*, which
are covered with felt or flannel, cause the needles e, e, to enter the selvages,
and to hold the length of muslin or other goods securely. The attendant
then throws the toothed pinions k, k, upon the driving shaft 1, 1, into gear with
the spur wheels m, m, which wheels are fixed upon the same studs or shafts
that carry the pullies b, b, and as the pinions k, k, slide upon feathers or keys
formed upon the driving shaft, they are thrown in and out of gear by any
suitable clutch box attached to the driving wheels which give motion to the
main shafting. These pulleys b, b, as they revolve, cause the straps to travel
and carry the muslin or other goods entirely over the machine, and extend it
from end to end as represented in Figure 1. The pinions k, k, are then to be
thrown out of gear with the spur wheels m, m, and consequently this operation
of the mechanism ceases. The muslin or other material being now stationary
in the wet state, just as it had come from the squeezers or other wet process,
and held in a slight state of tension in the machine, the winch-handle n is to
be turned. This winch is keyed fast upon the stud that carries the pinion p in
gear with the wheel 2 fixed upon the end of the central shaft r, r, and by
means of small rack pinions drives the racks g, and through the agency of
the chains h, h, causes the rails a, a, and with them the straps carrying the
selvages of the muslin, to be drawn farther apart, and consequently to stretch
or distend the muslin to the desired width. The frames are held in this state
by means of the ratchet wheel and pall s, s, upon the winch n, while the cloth
is undergoing the operations of drying and finishing. We may now observe,
that any suitable number of these machines may be ranged side by side, or
one above the other, and heated by hot air flúes, or any other convenient
mode.
We now proceed to describe the further process of finishing the goods for
the purpose of taking out the rigid stiffness of the piece and causing it to feel
soft and pliant, which is accomplished by bringing other parts of the mechanism
into operation while thost just described are set at rest, which is effected by a
vibratory apparatus causing the goods to be stretched diagonally by repeated
operations of the vibratory apparatus during the process of drying. It will
be perceived that the lever t, t, has two notches u, v, formed in it, anl when

page_text: •
the operator lifts the notch from off the piece w, and places the notch v on
to the pin or stud-at-the-top of the vibrating lever y, this part of the
mechanism is put into action. An upright shaft connected with the main
driving power carries the excentric I which, by revolving, vibrates the lever 2,
keyed upon the same shaft 3 as the lever y. This connection causes the lever
y to slide the lever t, t, backwards and forwards through the same length of
traverse as the diameter of the excentric. Now as this lever t, t, is attached
to the framings ff, (or it may be to the rails a;a, if more convenient)
it will cause these reciprocating frames to vibrate upon their centres
i, i, as shown by red lines in Figure 1, and to slide the rails longi-
tudinally, which will draw the weft threads of the cloth alternately into
oblique positions as shewn in. the Drawing, thus causing the threads of
the fabric to be strained into alternate diagonal positions at every
revolution of the driving shaft z, the effect of which will be, that by
thus alternately shifting the oblique directions of the threads the stiffening
or starch which filled the interstices will become broken between the meshes
of the fabric, and thereby the desired elasticity will be imparted to the cloth,
every thread being thrown up full, round, and independent of the adjoining
threads, which will be found to give a remarkable degree of brightness to the
cloth, and much improve the softness of its quality. This diagonal stretching
process being repeated until the cloth has become entirely dry, the attendant
raises the lever t, and releases the notch u from off. the pin x on the
vibrating lever y, and places the notch upon the catch piece w, which will
throw this vibrating apparatus out of gear, and at the same time by putting
the pinions k, k, into gear again with the wheels m, m, and driving them the
reverse way, will cause the strap pullies and straps to deliver the finished
cloth into the hands of the attendants at the right-hand end of the machine
in the same manner that it was taken from them in commencing the
operation.
We would further remark, that we are perfectly aware that many simple
contrivances might be devised for effecting the object of our improvements,
namely, giving vibrating motion to the selvages of the cloth for the purposes
above stated; but as it is not practicable to describe every possible method in
detail, we desire it to be understood that any mode,. even of moving one side
or selvage of the cloth whilst the other remains stationary, we shall consider
to be an evasive imitation of our Invention; if for the purpose of drawing the
threads into diagonal. positions by mechanical means instead of manual labor.
For instance, the goods may be stretched upon "clamp tables" (well known
in the trade), and one side made to vibrate or reciprocate.backwards and

page_text: forwards while the cloth is drying thereon; or the straps and pins, as described
in the apparatus and shewn in the Drawings, instead of travelling together
may very easily be made to travel independently of each other, and to progress
by alternate advancing movements; or the whole apparatus may be con-
structed of a cylindrical form instead of horizontally, as is represented in the
Drawing, and have either a continuous or interrupted rotary motion, and still
be so contrived as to give a reciprocating action to the selvages of the cloth
distended thereon; but any of these or similar modifications of the apparatus
above particularly set out would be merely mechanical variations of the pro-
posed improvements in stretching, drying, and finishing woven fabrics.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson and William
Latham, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-second
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight.
THOMAS RIDGWAY (L.S.) BRIDSON.
WILLIAM L.S. LATHAM.
WILLIAM
L.S. LATHAM.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of November,
in the second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said
Thomas Ridgway Bridson and William Latham came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her 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.