IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BEETLING AND FINISHING CLOTH
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Chambers, of Whitefield, near Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BEETLING AND FINISHING CLOTH."
Sealed the 6th May 1864, and dated the 13th November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Chambers at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th November 1868.
I, WILLIAM CHAMBERS, of Whitefield, near Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BEETLING AND FINISHING CLOTH," to be as
follows:-
I place a shaft containing any convenient number of oscillating levers
between two rollers containing the cloth to be beetled or finished in such a
way that each lever shall work freely upon it, and be actuated by a revolving
cam or revolving cams placed on each side of the said shaft. The cams are
placed above or below the centres of oscillation of the said levers, and the
said centres of oscillation are placed above or below the cloth rollers as may
be required. Each of the said levers has its fulcrum in the centre of oscilla-
tion, and one end of each is enlarged in the form of a hammer head, which
strikes the cloth on one roller by the action of one of the cams, and as soon
as the blow is struck another cam acts on the lever and causes it to oscillate
or move in an opposite direction and towards the other cloth roller and strike

page_text: the cloth thereon. The cams which give motion to the levers act on the said
levers either between the enlarged head and the fulcrum or near the other end
of the levers projecting past the fulcrum. The levers are either straight or
bent as required. I also actuate the said levers by means of eccentrics
coupled to sliding blocks or rods containing slots through which the levers
pass or containing projections to act on the said levers, which cause the said
levers to move in a similar manner to that before named. The heads of the
levers are made of metal or wood as may be required. I also actuate the said
oscillating levers by one or more pistons worked by the force of steam. The
said pistons act in the place of the tappets before named, and are applied
direct to the levers. The oscillating levers may be made to act upon the
cloth one after the other in succession, or in any combination, by arranging
the mechanism actuating the levers as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Chambers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHAMBERS, of Whitefield, near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Chambers, Her special license that I, the
said William Chambers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Chambers, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BEETLING AND FINISHING
CLOTH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Chambers,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Chambers, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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):-
My said Invention consists in certain improved combinations of machinery
for beetling cotton and other fabrics, which are wound upon rollers and
subjected to the action of two series of beaters acting alternately upon the
fabrics.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of the principal
parts of a beetle constructed according to my improvements. a, a, are the
two rollers on which the cloth to be beetled is wound, as usual; b, b, are the
beetle heads fixed to the levers c, c, which are loose on the shaft d; e, e, are
the cams or tappets acting on the levers c, and fixed to the shafts f, f. The
rollers a, a, are turned slowly round, and they have also a to-and-fro motion
in the direction of their axes imparted to them in the manner described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the Seventh day of October
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, Number 2152, or in any other
convenient manner. The shafts f, f, are caused to revolve rapidly by suitable
gearing from the driving shaft or from a small steam engine, or in any
convenient manner, and in revolving the cams or tappets e, acting on the
levers c, cause the beetle heads b to strike alternately on the cloth wound on
each roller a. Or the cams or tappets e may be made to operate on the ends
of the levers c, projecting below the shaft d, as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1,
or the centres of oscillation of the levers c may be placed above the rollers a,
in which case the levers would be suspended and vibrate on the shaft d.
Fig. 3 represents à modification of my Invention. The rollers a, the beetle
heads b, the levers c, and the shaft d, are similar to those above described, but
the levers c pass through the sliding blocks g, which are moved longitudinally
by eccentrics or cams similar to those marked e in Fig. 1; or the sliding
blocks 9 may be moved longitudinally by one or more pistons working in one
or more steam cylinders. The beetles may be made to act upon the cloth in
regular succession or in any required succession.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that I claim the various combinations of machinery

page_text: for giving motion to the levers and beetle heads acting alternately on the cloth
wound on two cloth rollers, as shewn and as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Chambers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, One' thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
WILLIAM CHAMBERS. (L.S.)