IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHING FOR HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS AND IN APPARATUS USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1885

page_text: I ROBERT JOHN CHADWICK MITCHELL of Waterfoot near Manchester in.the
County of Lancaster Felt Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHING FOR HORSES
AND OTHER ANIMALS AND IN APPARATUS USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE" to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of felt clothing to be used for horses,
fat cattle or other animals, the object of the invention being to produce a seamless
horse cloth and to dispense with the necessity for cutting or shaping the cloth in
two or more pieces and afterwards stitching them together as hitherto practised.
I take a piece of felted cloth of the required length, breadth and thickness and
after having dyed or printed the same and whilst it is in a wet state I give it the
requisite shape during the process of drying and by means of an apparatus
constructed as follows.
Upon a suitable floor I mount a number of iron castings, such as are ordinarily
used in the process of tentering. These castings or tentering posts are placed
about two yards apart and the number of such posts will be determined by the
length of the cloth which has to be shaped. These tentering posts stand upright
from the floor and are fixed to the same by ordinary means.
On the top of the posts a strong iron flat bar is fixed from one end to the other.
Upon this iron bar are fixed small pieces of cast metal which have been made to
the exact shape required and which are placed at intervals, according to the size of
the horse cloth. These pieces of cast metal are soldered to the iron top bar, in such
positions and at such distances from each other as the shape requires.
Underneath this top bar I then place the ordinary wooden tentering bars which
are slotted to receive the vertical iron posts so that they can be raised or lowered
as may be required, the vertical iron posts being perforated with holes so that the
wooden tenter bar can be fixed at any given point, which may be required by the
width of the cloth.
The wooden tentering bar is considerably broader than the top bar and on each
side there is a row of tenter hooks running from end to end of the bars.
CD CI

page_text: In tentering therefore a piece of (say) seventy two inches in width, the piece
would be thrown over the top bar, in such a manner that the selvages would hang
down one on each side, so that it could be attached to the tenter hooks.
After the piece has been secured by the tenter hooks the lower bar is forced down
by means of levers, and as the pressure is increased the shape will be gradually
developed.
I then dry the cloth by means of current of hot air which is discharged at one
end into the inverted A shaped mouth of the piece, and when the piece is dry the
cloth will be found to be exactly shaped according to the pattern that may have
been used.
By these means I produce felt clothing for horses and other animals without
cutting and seaming which has the advantage of fitting closely to the form of the
animal and is not liable either to get out of shape or to come unsewn.
GEORGE DAVIES,
Agent for the Applicant,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.

page_text: I ROBERT JOHN. CHADWICK MITCHELL of Waterfoot near Manchester in the
County of Lancaster Felt Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of..my
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHING FOR HORSES AND
OTHER ANIMALS AND IN APPARATUS USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to the manufacture of felt clothing to be used for horses
fat cattle or other animals the object of the invention being to produce a seamless
horse cloth and to dispense with the necessity for cutting or shaping the cloth in
two or more pieces and afterwards stitching them together as hitherto practised.
I take a piece of felted cloth of the required length breadth and thickness and
having dyed or printed the same and whilst it is in a wet state I give it the
requisite shape during the process of drying and by means of an apparatus con-
structed as follows, reference being had to the drawings annexed in which Fig. 1 is
a side elevation of one end and Fig. 2 a cross section of the apparatus.
Upon a suitable floor I mount a number of iron castings a, a such as are
ordinarily used in the process of tentering. These castings or tentering posts α, a
are placed about two yards apart and the number of such posts will necessarily be
determined by the length of the cloth which has to be shaped.
These tentering posts a, a stand upright from the floor and are fixed to the same
by ordinary means.
On the top of the posts a strong iron flat bar b, b is fixed from one end to the
other.
Upon this iron bar are fixed small pieces of cast metal c, c which have been inade
to the exact shape required and which are placed at intervals according to the size
of the horse cloth. These pieces of cast metal are soldered to the iron top bar b, b
in such positions and at such distances from each other as the shape requires or
they may be made adjustable to suit various sizes.
Underneath this top bar b, b I then place the ordinary wooden tentering bars d, d
which are slotted to receive the vertical iron posts a, a so that they can be raised
or lowered as may be required, the vertical iron posts a, a being perforated with
holes so that the wooden tenter bar d, d can be fixed at any given point which
may be required by the width of the cloth.
The wooden tentering bar d, d is considerably broader than the top bar b b (see
Fig. 2) and on each side there is a row of tenter hooks e, e running from end to to
end of the bars.
In tentering therefore a piece of (say) seventy two inches in width, the piece
would be thrown over the top bar b, b in such a manner that the selvages would
hang down one on each side so that it could be attached to the tenter hooks e, e on
the bars d, d.
After the piece has been secured by the tenter hooks e, e the lower bar d, d is
forced down by means of levers, and as the pressure is increased the shape will be
gradually developed.

page_text: I then dry the cloth by means of a current of hot air which is discharged at one
end (or at both ends) into the inverted V-shaped mouth of the piece and when the
piece is dry the cloth will be found to be exactly shaped according to the pattern
that may have been used. The hot air being forced in by means of a fan or
otherwise through the flexible pipe f f which is provided with a cut off valve.
By these means I produce ready made felt clothing for horses and other animals,
which is ready for use without shaping cutting and seaming, and which has the
advantage of fitting closely and accurately to the form of the animals and is not
liable to get out of shape or come unsewn.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The improved seamless clothing for horses and other animals, in which the shape
is solely obtained in the process of manufacture in contradistinction to the method
of shaping cutting and stitching as heretofore practised.
Secondly I claim the process and apparatus herein before described and illustrated
by the annexed drawings, which process and apparatus are employed in the
production of said manufacture.