IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING OR PERFORATING DESIGNS OR PATTERNS IN FABRICS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Broel, of Garway Road, Leinster Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING OR PERFORATING DESIGNS OR
PATTERNS IN FABRICS."
Sealed the 5th December 1871, and dated the 7th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Broel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th June 1871.
I, JOSEPH BROEL, of Garway Road, Leinster Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING OR PERFORATING DESIGNS
OR PATTERNS IN Fabrics,” to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object a simple and economical mode of
punching or perforating designs in textile fabrics, paper, leather, and
other like substances, whether such perforations are intended to be
subsequently filled in by needlework or otherwise.

page_text: This Invention consists in arranging a number of punches or piercers,
according to the pattern or design required, upon a flat, curved, or
cylindrical surface much in the same manner as type is now set up in a
printing machine, each punch or piercer being separate and distinct
from the rest, or, if preferred, two or more of such punches may be united
together. In combination with these punches or piercers there are
set up a number of separate pieces which serve the purpose of what are
known as "spaces" in typography, that is to say, they serve to form
the required intervals or spaces between the punches or piercers. Or
the punches or piercers may be fitted on to or into the holding or
carrying surface without the intervention of spacing pieces in the order
or design in which they are required. The surface thus prepared with
its punches or piercers arranged or set up in accordance with the design
or pattern to be produced the fabric or other substance in one or more
folds or thicknesses is placed underneath, and sufficient pressure is
applied in any well known manner to force the punches or perforators
at one operation through the same. It is obvious that with a given
number of loose punches or perforators of different sizes and shapes a
great variety of designs may be produced or set up in one apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Broel in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th December.1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BROEL, of Garway Road, Leinster Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Broel, Her special license a
that I, the said Joseph Broel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Broel, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term

page_text: 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
APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING OR PERFORATING DESIGNS OR PATTERNS IN FABRICS,”
3 upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Broel, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 I, the said Joseph Broel, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
My said Invention has for its object a simple and economical mode
of punching or perforating designs in textile fabrics, paper, leather, and
other like substances, whether such perforations are intended to be
subsequently filled in by needlework or otherwise.
•
I arrange a number of hollow punches or piercers, according to the
pattern or design required, upon a flat, curved, or cylindrical surface
much in the same manner as type is now set up in a printing machine,
cach punch or piercer being separate and distinct from the rest, or, if
preferred, two or more of such punches or piercers may be united
together. In combination with these punches or piercers there are set
up a number of separate pieces, which serve the purpose of what are
known as 66 spaces " in typography, that is to say, they serve to form
the required intervals or spaces between the punches or piercers. Or
the hollow punches or piercers may be fitted on to or in to the holding
or carrying surface without the intervention of spacing pieces in the
order or design in which they are required, in either case the use of
a matrix being dispensed with. The surface having been thus prepared
with its punches or piercers arranged or set up in accordance with the
particular design or pattern to be produced, the fabric or other sub-
stance in one or more folds or thicknesses is placed underneath, and
sufficient pressure is applied in any well known manner to force the
punches or perforators at one operation through the same. It is obvious

page_text: that with a given number of loose punches, or perforators of different
sizes and shapes a great variety of designs may be produced or set up
in one apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for
that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation partly in section
of the simplest form of apparatus for piercing designs or patterns in
leather or other fabrics or substances, chiefly with a view to facilitating
the production of ornamental embroidery thereon, without the necessity
for employing canvas for such work, as is usually the case; Figure 2 is
an under side view of the holder with its series of loose or transposable
piercers; Figure 3 represents one of the piercers detached; Figures 4
and 5 are a plan and section respectively of the frames for holding the
work during the operation of piercing the same; and Figures 6 and 7
represent another mode of holding the piercers.
A is the body of an ordinary screw press; B is the pressing screw;
and C the actuating hand wheel or lever. The screw works through a :
fixed nut or internal screwed opening in the body of the press, and is
connected at its lower end to the holder D so as to turn freely therein.
This holder is formed with raised edges a, a, all round, and is furnished
with two moveable flat bars b, b, which are forced inwards by screws c, c,
against the "spaces" d, d, and piercers d³, d, set up together like type 2
inside the said holder so as to secure them firmly in position. The
piercers d¹ (one of which is shewn detached at Figure 3) are set up in
conjunction with the blank pieces or "spaces," in order to produce any
given design, the operator reading the pattern from an ordinary pattern
paper as he sets up the piercers and "spaces." Having arranged the a
piercers according to the design to be produced in the manner described
(see Figure 2,) and having secured them with the necessary "spaces
or blanks by tightening the screws c, c, he connects the holder to the
pressing screw B of the press by means of the screws e, e, Figure 1.
The material to be perforated is by preference held between two thin 3
steel frames E, E, (Figures 4 and 5,) each frame having tightly stretched
over it a piece of canvas / or other stout fabric held thereon by pins
or rivets. These frames with the material to be perforated between
"

page_text: them are then placed on the bed F of the press as shewn in Figure 1,
they being held down by the buttons or other fastenings k, k. On
turning the hand wheel O the pressing screw will bring down the
properly arranged piercers and force them through the canvas and
through the material, the canvas above holding down the material and
preventing it rising with or following the piercers by adhering thereto
when they are withdrawn, whilst the canvas below in conjunction with
the thickness of leather laid upon the metal bed F serves to allow
of the piercers passing entirely through the material without injury to
the points; G is an adjustable nut for regulating the descent of the
piercers, and preventing them from coming in contact with the metal
surface of the bed, the points of the piercers only just penetrating the
surface of the leather 2. If desired only one frame E need be employed
placed on the top of the material to be perforated.
In Figures 6 and 7 I have represented a mode of holding and arranging
the piercers without the use of the "spaces." The said piercers are each
formed with a head on their blunt end, and are dropped into holes in
a perforated plate m in accordance with the particular design or pattern
to be perforated, as shewn clearly in Figure 7. This plate with its
piercers arranged therein is then slid into the holding plate n, which
forms a backing or bearing for the heads of the perforators, and thus
holds them firmly during the operation of perforating the material.
In lieu of a flat perforated plate m a perforated cylinder may be
employed, and the piercers be inserted therein according to pattern.
The said cylinder will be rotated in contact with a second cylinder
having a leather covering, and the material to be perforated will be
passed between the two cylinders. Although I have represented the
piercers in Figure 1 as penetrating downwards through the material they
may be made to penetrate from below upwards if desired.
It is obvious that in lieu of piercers I may use hollow punches, a leaden
or other suitable surface being laid upon the bed of the press for the
punches to cut against. Although I have shewn the material to be
perforated as being held in a distended condition between frames, I
may sometimes place it under the piercers or punches without the frame
and canvas, and may adopt any convenient device for feeding the
material, whether in the form of long strips or otherwise, under the
piercing or punching surface.

page_text: 66
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the appli-
cation of piercers or hollow punches in conjunction with blanks or
spaces" set up either individually or in groups of two or more united
together, or inserted into a perforated metal pressing surface without
the use of "spaces" in accordance with any required design or pattern,
the said pressing surface being either flat or cylindrical and actuated 1
by a screw or equivalent mechanism or receiving a rotatory motion,
for the purpose of piercing or punching designs in fabrics as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Broel, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the First day of December 1
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.