CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHEARING, DRESSING, AND FINISHING OF WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
OLDLAND, of Hillsley, in the Parish of Hawkesbury, in the County of
Gloucester, Clothworker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of March, in the second year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George
Oldland, His especial licence, that I, the said George Oldland, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Oldland,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHEARING,
DRESSING, AND FINISHING OF WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND OTHER FABRICS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said George
Oldland, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Oldland, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My present improvements in machinery or apparatus for shearing, dressing,
and finishing of woollen cloths and other fabrics, consists in certain variations
in, and additions to, my former machinery or apparatus for shearing and
dressing woollen cloths, for which His present Majesty King William the
Fourth granted to me His Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of
Great Britain, dated at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of July, in the
first year of His reign, to make, use, exercise, and vend the same in England,
the Specification of which was duly inrolled in the Rolls Chapel Office, on or
before the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-one."
By referring to my aforesaid Specification it will be seen that in the first
place I employ disc-formed cutters, working against a straight bar of steel
commonly called a ledger blade, for the purpose of shearing or cropping the pile
of the cloth. In my present improved machine I construct the said ledger
blade in a semicircular form, the cutters being made to traverse round against
its edge for the purpose of producing the said effect of shearing or cropping
the pile.
The second feature of my former Invention applies to machinery for raising
the pile of woollen cloths and consisted in so constructing and connecting the
frames or holders in which the teasles, cards, or brushes were mounted, so as
to enable them to traverse round against the face of the cloth stretched out
over a bed or table. My present improvement is designed to give elasticity to
the bearings of the said bed or table, or to the frames or carriages in which the
teasles, cards, or brushes are mounted, in order that the points of the teasles or
cards may act more equally and with better effect upon the cloth in raising the
pile or nap.
In addition to these improvements I also, after the pile of the cloth has
been raised, introduce currents of air to act upon the cloth as it passes through
an ordinary gig mill or brushing or dressing-machine, the object of which is to
promote the evaporation of the water contained in the cloth while under the
dressing operation, and to cause the nap to be laid or fixed by such drying.

page_text: Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing represents a horizontal or plan view of
the improved parts of the machine for shearing or cropping the pile of woollen
cloth. a, a, a, is the semicircular blade of steel constituting the ledger blade;
b, b, b, are the disc-formed cutters, working round upon the edge of the ledger
blade. These cutters are mounted upon perpendicular spindles attached to the
periphery of the large wheel c, c, c, c, and upon each spindle there is a toothed
pinion which, as the wheel goes round, takes into the semicircular rack d, d, d,
and thereby gives to the disc cutters a quick rotary action. The wheel c, the
ledger blade b, and the rack d, are supported by suitable means on the framing
of the machine, and the wheel is driven round by a band and pulley as shewn,
or by any other convenient means. Though I have shewn in the Drawing the
disc cutters acting in conjunction with the inner or concave edge of the ledger
blade, I do not confine myself to that precise situation, as they may be made
to act in conjunction with the convex or outer edge of a ledger blade, by a little
variation in the comparative dimensions of the parts. It is therefore to be
understood that my claim of Invention as respects the shearing machine is
confined to the adaptation and employment of a semicircular or other
segment-formed ledger blade, in connection with the rotary disc cutters.
The mode in which I apply my improvements to the machine for raising the
pile of cloth is shewn in the Drawings at Fig. 2, which represents a side view of
what I denominate a traversing gig or raising machine. a, a, a, represents the
cloth under operation, which is drawn from a scray 6 through the machine, and
delivered into the scray again as in the ordinary construction of a Yorkshire gig
mill: c, c, c, are the frames or circular carriers which hold the teasles, cards, or
brushes. These frames are fixed on spindles d, d, mounted in bearings on
longitudinal bars, extending along the machine and made fast to the standards
e, e, at each end, and in the way described in my former Specification, or by
any other inconvenient mode, but in reversed positions, the spindles and frames
being driven round by bevel gear or any other suitable means. The bed
against which the cloth is intended to bear is shewn at f, which is a bar of wood,
or it may be of metal. To the under side of this bar a brush is affixed, or an air
cushion with an Indian rubber cover may be employed, which is intended to
constitute an elastic bearing for the cloth, or an elastic resistance against the
action of the teazles, cards, or brushes. This, however, does not materially differ
from the bed described in my former Specification, and therefore is not intended
to be claimed in this. But the particular features of novelty are, the springs on
which the bar f rides, and the springs which bear up the teasle frames c, c,
either or both of which may be employed. The bar f extends across the
machine from side to side, and is elongated beyond the extent of the elastic

page_text: bed, for the purpose of being enabled to slide up and down between the side
rails of the standards, which elongations or ends of the bed bar bear upon
springs g, one such spring being placed at each end, resting upon a rail h in
the side standards. Here, however, I must remark that though I have shewn
springs made in the form of two spirals or cones united, yet I do not intend
to confine myself to such forms, as various other descriptions of springs placed
so as to support the bed, and allow of its giving way to the pressure of the
cloth and the teasles and cards, might equally well answer the purpose. As
respects the elasticity of the frames or carriages in which teasles are mounted,
I adopt two contrivances: the one is a cushion covered with indian rubber and
inflated with air, which I place under the teasles or cards as an elastic bearing;
the other is the introduction of helical springs round the spindles as at k, the
spindles being made in two parts socketed and keyed together as shewn in the
detached sectional Figure 3. By these means it will be seen that whatever
irregularity occurs in the pressure of the teazles or cards against the cloth and
the bed as they go round, the elasticity of the bearings of the bed, and also of
the teazle frames, will allow of them to give way and afford the necessary
relief. In order to limit the action of the cords or teazles upon the cloth to
diagonal directions from the middle of the cloth toward its lists, I have
constructed the bed of the traversing gig in the manner shewn at Fig. 4,
m, m, m, being those parts of the brush board which are covered with bristle,
and o, o, o, those parts of the board that are left blank or free from bristle, by
which it will be seen that the circular teazle frames or cords act upon the
cloth only at those parts above the dotted circles cover the bed m, and
consequently, as the cloth passes under them, the pile or nap will be only
raised diagonally in the way stated.
It will be obvius to all acquainted with the operation of shearing cloth, that in
a machine where the ledger blade is semicircular or other segment-shaped as in
the first Figure, that a corresponding formed bed must be adapted, and that the
cloth must be distended or kept stretched to its proper tension by means of a
counter bed or guard on the upper surface of the cloth, and also that the operative
parts of the shearing machine may be brought into action upon the surface of the
cloth by carrying the cutters and ledger blade over the cloth along its whole
length, or that the whole length of the cloth may be conducted under the cutters
and ledger blade, and that the machine may be made to cut backwards as well as
forwards. I therefore do not confine myself to either, but adopt my machinery
as above described to any other machinery by which the object may be
effected; and as respects the raising and dressing the pile of the cloths, I
claim the application of springs as above described, to relieve the irregular

page_text: action of the teasles or cards, and I construct beds as above said by removing
parts of their bearings in the manner shewn; and, in introducing currents of
air to dry the cloth, I employ tubes or pipes placed in a convenient situation
contiguous to the cloth, which tubes have air injected into them by a fan or
other means, and emit the same on to the cloth through slits or other apertures.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Oldland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.