IMPROVEMENTS IN PLEATING MACHINES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Grey Hill, of Nottingham, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PLEATING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Grey Hill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th July 1870.
:
CHARLES GREY HILL, of Nottingham. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLEATING MACHINES."
This Invention has for its object inprovements in pleating machines.
For the purpose of pleating fabrics I employ a machine consisting of a roller with
undercut teeth somewhat like the teeth of a ratchet wheel, but closer together,
deeper and more inclined. Two knives or blades work in connection with this
roller, and the fabric to be pleated is passed between the blades and the roller.
The operation is as follows:-One of the blades advances and carries forward on
its edge a fold of the fabric, which it forces into one of the spaces or recesses in the
face of the roller. This blade then recedes, and another blade takes its place to
retain the pleat, and at the same time the roller is turned the space of one tooth or
recess; the first blade then again advances, and forms a second pleat, and so on.
The work is retained in shape by means of gummed threads, which are laid upon
the work whilst it is still held in the recesses of the roller. The threads are pressed
against the fabric by means of a small pressing wheel. The part of the roller where
this pressing wheel bears against it (usually the middle) I prefer to make plain or
without teeth.
I also in some cases for the purpose of pleating fabrics employ an endless sheet
made up of bars. There are narrow spaces between the bars, and as the endless
sheet travels forward a knife moving to and fro tucks the fabric in between the
bars. The pleats thus formed are flattened as the sheet travels on by passing over
a stationary plate, which irons them down.
In both cases the machine when at work is heated; this is most conveniently
effected by means of gas.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Grey Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th January
1877.
CHARLES GREY HILL, of Nottingham. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLEATING MACHINES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in pleating machines.
For the purpose of pleating fabrics I employ a machine consisting of a roller
with undercut teeth somewhat like the teeth of a ratchet wheel, but closer
together, deeper and more inclined. Two knives or blades work in connection
with this roller, and the fabric to be pleated is passed between the blades and the
roller.
The operation is as follows:-One of the blades advances and carries forward on
its edge a fold of the fabric, which it forces into one of the spaces or recesses in the
face of the roller. This blade then recedes, and another blade takes its place to
retain the pleat, and at the same time the roller is turned the space of one tooth or
recess. The first blade then again advances, and forms a second pleat, and so on.
The work is retained in shape by means of gummed threads, which are laid upon
the work whilst it is still held in the recesses of the roller. The threads are pressed
against the fabric by means of a small pressing wheel. The part of the roller where
this pressing wheel bears against it (usually the middle) I prefer to make plain or
without teeth.
I also in some cases, for the purpose of pleating fabrics, employ an endless sheet
made up of bars. There are narrow spaces between the bars, and as the endless
sheet travels forward a knife moving to and fro tucks the fabric in between the
bars. The pleats thus formed are flattened as the sheet travels on by passing over a
stationary plate, which irons them down.
In both cases the machine when at work is heated; this is most conveniently
effected by means of gas.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect, I have shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed various views of machines,
arranged as above described.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a back view; Figure 2, a transverse section; and Figure 3, a
plan view of the pleating machine, herein-before first described.
a is the roller with ratchet-like teeth; b, c, are two blades working with this
roller. The blade b is carried by lever arms b¹ turning on an axis d, and the blade c
by levers c¹ turning on the same axis. On the lower arms of the levers b¹ and c¹
are trucks or rollers b, c, resting upon cams e¹ on an axis e. Springs, not shewn
in the Drawings, are coupled to the lower ends of the levers ¹, c, to cause the
rollers 62, c, to bear against the cams. The cams are so formed as to cause the
blades b, c, to advance in succession, one after the other, towards the roller a, in
the manner above described. The centre of the roller is shewn to be made plain,
that is, without teeth. f is a pressing wheel carried just above this portion of
the roller. The axes of the roller a and pressing wheel fare geared together,
as shewn, so that they revolve at the same speed. A gummed thread is led on to
the top of the pleated work, and is pressed on to it by the pressing wheel f. The
roller a may be heated by small gas jets caused to play upon its ends and through
the openings formed therein, or the gas burner may be within the roller, and be
supplied with gas by a pipe carried through the axis of the roller, which in this
case would be made hollow. As the roller revolves the pleated work is carried
round with it, and is drawn away from the teeth of the roller by an attendant.
The turning of the roller at the time when the upper blade advances may be aided
by pawls jointed to the same bar as that to which the upper blade is secured.
When this blade retires the pawls and blade both drop from one tooth to another,
so that when the blade again advances it revolves the roller a distance of one tooth,
'it

page_text: and the blade at the same time serves to retain the pleat previously formed by the
lower blade.
Figure 4 shews a vertical section of the arrangement in which an endless series
of bars is used, together with a knife descending in succession into the spaces
between the bars.
Figure 5 shews on a larger scale the knife or blade, and some of the bars.
a, a, are the bars rounded on their under side. The endless chain of bars is
carried by rollers b, to which a step-by-step or continuous revolving motion is
imparted. As each of the spaces between the bars comes in succession below the
blade c the blade descends into the space, and then again rises; d is a stationary
plate below the blade c and bars a; d' is a slot in the plate to allow the knife to
descend. The manner in which the successive pleats are ironed down between the
under side of the bars and the plate d is clearly shewn by the enlarged view,
Figure 5. The plate d and endless series of bars a may be kept heated by small
gas jets directed towards the under side of the plate d. Gummed threads may be
laid on to the surface of the pleated fabric to retain the pleats, and allow of their
being drawn up from between the bars by an attendant.
I have not thought it necessary to shew any arrangement for giving a revolving
motion to the rollers b, and a reciprocating to-and-fro motion to the blade c, as any
convenient arrangement of mechanism may be employed for the purpose.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I claim, the combined arrangements of
pleating machines, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Grey Hill, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
CHARLES GREY HILL. (L.S.)