CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF MAKING PAPER IN SEPARATE SHEETS
Year: 1807

page_text: WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of
December, in the forty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me,
Thomas Cobb the younger, of Calthrop House, near Banbury, in the County
of Oxford, Paper Maker, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, His Majesty's
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Thomas Cobb the younger, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF MAKING PAPER
IN SEPARATE SHEETS" within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Thomas Cobb, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent should cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the said
Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Cobb, do particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by this
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, as follows, that is to say :-
In the sketches comprised in the margin of these presents, the letters
A, B, C, D, in Figure 1, denote a vat, in which a due mixture of the paper
stuff or pulp is to be made; and E, F, represents another smaller vat into
which the said pulp is to be from time to time admitted by means of a cock or
otherwise for the immediate purpose of manufacture. Agitators or hogs,
represented by the Figures 4, 5, 6, are placed in tho said vats to keep the
pulp duly suspended, "and on one side of the smaller vat at G, the pulp is
admitted to flow out through regulated appertures into a small trough, where
its motion is checked by an inclined or sloped piece, and from which the
said stuff flows over another inclined surface to a paper mould of the usual or
of any other form represented at H. I, I, represent two rollers situated at the
extremities of an horizontal frame, and serving to carry an endless web; or, in
preference, two or more pieces of girting or other suitable material or chains,
operating in the manner of straps, which said endless web or girting or chains
is or are moved along in the direction of the small arrow at L; or otherwise,
though not by preference, instead of the said endless web or girting, or straps
or chains, a series of rollers may be placed in the said frame parallel to I, I,
and of the same height, and moving with the same velocity and direction
altogether; and the said horizontal frame is, during the working of the
machinery, kept in a constant state of short and rapid horizontal agitation by
means of a crank or snail wheel and re-acting spring, or by any other fit
means, in order to which effect I do support the said frame between sliding
grooves, or upon rollers, or by jointed arms, or by other well known con-
trivances.
The method of using the said machinery doth consist in a workman placing
paper moulds in succession on the said web or girting or chains or
rollers at the end K, whence the same are carried regularly to receive the
flow of pulp at G, in a state of constant agitation, and are afterwards taken off
and couched in the usual or in any other manner by another workman at the
end of the said web or girting, or chains or rollers, towards L, and the empty
moulds are then returned by means of a sliding frame or circulating web, or
in any other manner to the workman at K.
Figure 2 represents machinery for facilitating the operation of couching and
pressing, which may be used in the common process of paper making or other-
wise along with the machinery sketched at Figure 1. A and B represent two
rollers upon which an endless web of felt is made to circulate in the direction
shown by the arrow at F; and the same is secured from riding sideways by

page_text: any of the well known contrivances adopted for the like purpose in other
machinery. E represents a table or platform faced with felt, and placed in
contact with the circulating web; it serves to support the pressure of the face
of the mould, which a workman applies to the circulating web in the act of
couching, during which act the said web remains motionless by being thrown
out of gear or connexion with the first mover, which may conveniently be done
by a treadle, upon which the workman may set his foot, or it may move slowly
on during the operation of couching. C and D are a pair of cylinders, (the
upper one of which is clothed with felt,) which act against each other and
press the sheet in its way towards F, where a workman takes it off and lays it
in the usual way. And in some cases it may be adviseable to use more than
one pair of cylinders, applied in like manner. The said last-described
machinery may be worked in conjunction with the machinery Figure 1,
without requiring the assistance of a coucher; and in this case I place the said
machinery, Figure 2, in such a manner with regard to Figure 1, that the
roller I of the agitable frame of Figure 1, which is also represented by the
same letter in Figure 2, shall deliver its mould H upon an intermediate roller
or cylinder M, which revolves with so much greater velocity than I, as to
enable it to conduct the mould speedily to N, one of the rollers of another
conducting web, by which the said mould is carried beneath the web of A, B,
into the position H, where by the descent of a pressing platform G, the said
last-mentioned web is made to apply itself to the sheet of paper and take it up,
and thence by the course of circulation the said sheet is carried round to F,
and there taken off by the workman and laid in the usual manner. The
letter O represents a support beneath the web conducted by the rollers N, 1,
which enables the mould to sustain the pressure; and generally in all cases
wherein I make use of a web or strap required to support a weight or pressure,
I do dispose and fix beneath the said web or strap a fit piece of the nature of
a bar or platform to support the same; and farther, with regard to the
machinery in Fig. 2, I do not confine myself to the use of the flat piece G to
produce the couching pressure; but I do, as occasion may require, avail
myself of a cylinder or cylindrical piece, acting by a rotatory or rolling motion,
or of any other mode of pressure; and in the case where the said machinery
for couching is used in the manner last described, the table or platform E
becomes unnecessary.
Figure 3 represents machinery for couching and pressing, in connection with
Figure 1, but different from that exhibited in Figure 2. M is a roller moving
with greater speed than I in Figure 1, and serving to convey the moulds to N,
where an endless web N, P, or a sett of straps, or chains, or rollers of the

page_text: same description as in the agitable frame I, I, serves to carry the said molds.
(one of which is represented at S) beneath the couching roller R, and a web
of felting passes round the cylinder or roller R, and the leading rollers X, X,
and between one or more pairs of pressing rollers Y, Y, and Z, Z, and over
the roller, &c. And when the mould S comes to be applied to R, the sheet of
paper becomes couched upon the web, and after passing between the pressing
rollers it is taken off by a workman standing upon the platform W, who lays it
in the usual manner, and the moulds proceed onwards to P, where they pass
forward and rest upon the roller T, until the rotatory motion of P has entirely
conducted the end of the mould beyond its bearing upon the said roller P;
and thereupon the end of the mould nearest P, being made somewhat lieavier
than the other end for that purpose, tilts downwards and passes between
P and T to the web, strap, or chain conducted by the rollers U, V; by means
of which the said mould and all the succeeding moulds in their regular order
are returned to the workman at K (the same letters, T and U, designate the
like contrivance in Figure 2). The letter a represents a channel for con-
veying off any water which may drain from the platform W or the felt in its
descent; and in all situations where the nature of the case requires it, I place
a small trough or receptacle to receive such water as may be pressed out of
the paper during the operations herein-before described. And further, for
the ordinary purposes of paper manufacturers, and more especially for the
purpose of manufacturing paper by the machinery herein-before described,
I do make the deckle or rim of my mould of a different construction from
those at present used, and do likewise considerably alter the external framing
of my mould; that is to say, instead of the usual thick frame of wood, in which
the cross bars of the mould are tenanted, and on which the covering of wire is
nailed, I make the frame equally thick at the bottom part to receive the hand
of the coucher and ends of the cross bars, and bring them quite to an edge on
the upper part, so as to allow the water to pass off; and instead of nailing
the wire at top, I turn it down the side and fasten it there, and cover tho
whole outside of the frame of the mould with thin metal, on which I place
another square frame of wood or metal which slides up and down and forms
the deckle, which, by pressure or reaction from the bearing parts of the agitable
frame, is made to stand a little above the face when the said mould is placed
in the situation to receive its charge, and is suffered to slide back for want of
the like pressure or reaction when the mould arrives at the web of the couching
machinery; and morcover the series of the moulds thus constructed and fitted
up do apply more closely to each other when placed upon the agitable frame, and
do thereby prevent a considerable waste of stuff which would otherwise ensuë.

page_text: And, lastly, the fixed framework for supporting any said machinery, and the
manner of connecting the several parts together, so that their motions may be
properly adapted to the purposes herein-before specified and described, in order
to shew the nature of my said Invention and the means by which the same is to
be carried into effect, together with the methods of driving the said machinery
by any of the powers usually employed to give motion to machines; and also
the several materials to be used in constructing the same may be made, used,
adopted, and applied in different manners according to the choice or judgment
of the maker, and any workman of competent skill in the construction of mill-
work or the like machinery will find no difficulty in framing, making, and
completing the same from the general instructions here given.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Cobb the younger, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Third day of June, in the year of our