IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING THE NAP ON WOVEN FABRICS.
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Shepherd, of the City of Manchester, Broker,
and James Hoyle, of Heywood, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING THE NAP
ON WOVEN FABRICS.
Sealed the 19th July 1864, and dated the 22nd March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Shepherd and
James Hoyle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 22nd March 1864.
We, JAMES SHEPHERD, of the City of Manchester, Broker, and JAMES
HOYLE, of Heywood, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING,
THE NAP ON WOVEN FABRICS," to be as follows:-
nap
Our improved machinery consists of a table over which the fabric on which
the is to be raised passes in a distended state, over this table two or more
endless bands furnished with cards or other agents for raising the nap are
made to traverse in opposite directions so as to act from the centre towards
the selvages of the fabric. We prefer to use four of these endless bands,
which pass over guide rollers and act on every part of the surface of the
fabric, but the number of the bands may be varied; these bands may be set

page_text: to act on the fabric at right angles to the warp, or they may be placed
diagonally. Before the fabric arrives at the table over which the bands pass
it may be taken over a roller covered with cards or other agents for raising
the nap. The machinery may be otherwise modified according to the peculiar
description of fabric to be operated upon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Shepherd and James Hoyle in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
SHEPHERD, of the City of Manchester, Broker, and JAMES HOYLE, of Heywood,
in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said James Shepherd and James Hoyle, Her special license that we,
the said James Shepherd and James Hoyle, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Shepherd and James
Hoyle, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BAISING THE NAP ON WOVEN FABRICS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Shepherd and James
Hoyle, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Shepherd and James Hoyle, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say):-
Our improved machinery consists of a table over which the fabric on which

page_text: the nap is to be raised passes in a distended state; over this table two or more
endless bands furnished with cards or other agents for raising the nap
are made to traverse in opposite directions so as to act from the centre
towards the selvages of the fabric. We prefer to use four of these endless
bands which pass over guide rollers and act on every part of the surface of
the fabric, but the number of the bands may be varied; these bands may
be set to act on the fabric at right angles to the warp, or they may be placed
diagonally. Before the fabric arrives at the table over which the bands pass
it may be taken over a roller covered with cards or other agents for raising
the nap. The machinery may be otherwise modified according to the peculiar
description of fabric to be operated upon.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood we will proceed
to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the
figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a front elevation (partly in section) of our improved machinery
for rising the nap on woven fabrics; Figure 2 is an end elevation; and
Figure 3 a plan of the same, also partly in section.
a, a, are the upright framings of the machine, between which are bolted
the side frames b, b, and the table c; on the table c, and near each end, are
fixed two brackets d, d, which hold the rod d' over which the fabric on which
the nap is to be raised passes when it first enters the machine, after which it
is passed under the roller e, which revolves freely in bearings e¹ bolted to the
upright frames a. This roller e is covered with card teeth to insure a firm
hold of the fabric to be operated upon and to keep it distended; at one end of
the roller e is the break pulley es, the purpose of which will be explained here-
after; on the table c is a wooden rail c¹ extending the whole length of the
machine, but shewn in Figure 1 partly broken away to shew the parts behind ;
the rod d¹, the edge of the table c, and the roller e are also shewn broken for
the same purpose. The fabric to be raised next passes over the rail c', after
which it is taken under the two small iron rollers d³, d³, which have teeth
formed on their circumferences for holding and distending the fabric, a
raising roller may be placed between the rail c¹ and the rollers d³: The two
small iron rollers d², d³, revolve freely in a detached frame, the sides a² of
which extend down in front of each of the upright frames a, a, these sides a¹
of the detached frame are held firmly together and in position by the beam a²
which passes over the top of the machine, while their lower extremities move
in guides d³, d³, which are bolted to the upright frames a, a; near the top of
the sides a¹ of the detached frame are slots a³ in which are studs a*, these
studs together with the guides d³ keep the detached frame in an upright

page_text: position; attached to the sides a¹ of the detached frame are the racks d'
which are actuated when required by the spur segments d³ fixed on the
shaft de which moves in brackets bolted to each of the upright frames a, a;
on one end of the shaft de is the handle d'; by depressing which the whole
of the detached frame carrying the rollers d³, d³, can be elevated; when the
handle d' assumes the position shewn in dotted lines in Figure 2, it is held by
the catch de falling into a notch in the handle d', as shewn in the Drawing.
The object of this arrangement is to allow the fabric to be passed easily under
the rollers d², d³, when these rollers are down the fabric is pressed against the
endless bands 65 by which the nap is raised, as will be described hereafter, the
fabric when operated upon is taken under the roller f and carried away by
guide rollers g, suspended to the ceiling of the room, or otherwise, to any con-
venient place. The roller f is covered with card teeth for taking firm hold
of and keeping in a distended state the fabric on which the nap has to be
raised, and it is also made to revolve in its bearings, motion being communica-
ted to it from the driving pulley i by means of the wheel i¹ fixed on the
driving pulley shaft carrier is, wheel i³, shaft i, pulleys and i, pinion i",
and wheel is, to which is attached one part of the clutch box i, the
wheel runs loose on the shaft f¹ of the roller f, the other part of the clutch
box revolves with the shaft f¹³, but slides upon it. The shaft f¹ being
furnished with a key, and the moveable part of the clutch box with a key
bed for that purpose, as will be readily understood by referring to the
Drawings. The lever f³, by which the clutch box is thrown in or out of
geer, is fixed to the shaft f³, which is supported by the bracket f*, bolted to
one of the upright frames a, the weighted lever f' on one end of the shaft f
keeps the clutch box i' in position when it is either in or out of
geer. When
the clutch box is in geer, and the machine is in motion the roller f draws
the fabric to be operated upon gradually through the machine, and the
required amount of tension is given to the fabric by means of the break e
acting on the break pulley e² before mentioned. The weight may be moved
backwards or forwards on the break lever e, thus increasing or decreasing the
power of the break es on the roller e according to the nature of the fabric
under operation, so that it will be held in a suitably distended condition to be
acted upon by that portion of the machinery which effects the raising of the
nap, and which we shall now proceed to described. On the side frames b, b,
are four pedestals, marked 6' in which the cross shafts 63, 62, revolve, on each
of which are keyed the pulleys and 6 which receive motion from the shaft i'
by means of the bevil wheels 10 and keyed on the shaft i and cross
shafts 6, the pulleys 6 have each a flange in the centre, on each side of which

page_text: run endless bands or straps 65 covered with card teeth or other agents for
raising the nap; these bands pass over guide rollers or pulleys be which revolve
freely in bearings in the table c of the machine. The directions of motion of
the pulleys are indicated by arrows in Figure 1, on reference to which it will
be seen that the bands 65 traverse from the centre towards the outside of the
machine, also that two of the bands &, one from each pulley, extend past each
other and past the centre of the machine, returning in their respective direc-
tions as indicated by the arrows, thus insuring a proper or sufficient applica-
tion of the card teeth or other raising agent to the centre of the fabric on
which the nap has to be raised. We wish to observe here that although the
bands 65 are shewn moving in the direction of the weft of the fabric, they may
be made to move diagonally if found more effective or better adapted for
raising the nap on certain kinds of fabrics. The card teeth on the bands
6 in acting on the fabric soon become filled with fibres of the woven
fabric under operation, and these fibres are removed as quickly as they
accumulate by the clearing rollers ; which are made to revolve with a rapid
motion by means of straps passing around the large pulleys b' on the cross
shafts 63 and the small pulleys k which are fast on the shafts of the clearing
rollers j, these rollers are covered with card teeth, and their bearings / are
made adjustable by the aid of set screws m passing through the upright
frames a, a, so that as the card teeth wear the rollers j can be set up to the
required distance for effecting the stripping or clearing of the card teeth on the
bands 6.
The mode of operation is as follows:-When the attendant has passed
the fabric, on which the nap has to be raised, into the machine, as already
described, that is, when he has passed it over the rod d³, under the roller e,
over the rail c¹, and under the rollers d³, d, and f, as shewn by a dotted
line in Figure 2, he withdraws the catch ds from the notch in the handle d',
allowing the sliding frame with the rollers d to descend until its beam a
rests on the adjustable set screws n, when the teeth on the iron rollers d³, d³,
come in contact with the fabric under operation, and hold it against the card
teeth on the bands with the requisite amount of pressure; when more
pressure is required for a stronger fabric the set screws n can be lowered, and
vice versa; the attendant now traverses the driving strap from the loose to
the fast pulley i by means of the strap. fork o, when motion is communicated
to the different parts of the machine in the manner already described, and
the fabric is drawn slowly through the machine by the roller f, while the
card teeth on the bands b³, against which the fabric is held by the rollers d³
pass rapidly from the centre towards the selvages of the fabric, thus effecting

page_text: the raising of the nap. When any part of the fabric on which the nap is not
required to be raised is about to pass through the machine, such, for instance,
as the fringe on cotton blankets, or when any obstacle presents itself, such as
the places where the pieces of fabrics are tacked together to form a con-
tinuous length, the attendant by depressing the handle d' allows such portions
to be drawn through the machine by the roller f without being subjected to
the action of the raising cards on the bands 65, and if tho attendant finds it
desirable to arrest the progress of the fabric without stopping the machine
for the purpose of adjusting it, or for any other purpose, he throws the clutch
box is out of geer, thus stopping the roller f which ceases to draw the fabric
through the machine until the clutch box i is again thrown into geer.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the details given as they may be modified, but what we do claim
is the improved combination of machinery shewn and described, or any modifi-
cation of the same, for raising the nap on woven fabrics by endless bands of
card fillets, or other equivalent agents, acting on the fabric at right angles or
diagonally to the warp threads.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Shepherd and James Hoyle,
have hereto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fifth day of August
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES SHEPHERD. (L.s.)
JAMES HOYLE.
(L.S.)