IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE or FELTED CLOTH, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mitchell, of Waterfoot, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
or FELTED CLOTH, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BUCH
MANUFACTURE,"
Sealed the 9th November 1869, and dated the 19th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Mitchell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th May 1869.
1, WILLIAM MITCHELL, of Waterfoct, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED CLOTH, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN BUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows :-
This Invention relates, firstly, to making felt carpeting or cloth of
three distinct layers or strata, the central one of which is of an inferior
or different material from the front and back layers, which latter may
be both of the same quality or material, or also different from each other.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I employ three separate
carding engines and folders arranged side by side or otherwise, and cach
delivering its own sliver on to the same "batt cloth" but superposed,
[Price 8d.]

page_text: that is, one over the other, so that the upper one may be of fine wool,
the lower one of inferior wool, and the central or middle one of almost
any inferior or other fibrous material or mixture of materials capablo of
being carded. In some cases the central layer may be of such fibres,
chips, shavings, or other material or mixture of materials as will not
admit of being carded, and in such cases I propose to substitute for the
central carding engine a machine so constructed as to deliver and dis-
tribute the material in an even and uniform layer between the two
fleeces or layers of wool. These three layers of material thus superposed
1 pass together through one hardening machine, which thus incorporates
them into ono fabric.
or
The second part of the Invention consists in the application of a
revolving stripper, composed of a roller with wings or longitudinal pro-
jections, for the purpose of stripping the fleece off the "sliver cloth "
"folder cloth," more particularly in those machines where compensating
rollers are used, as described in the Specification of former Letters Patent
granted to me and Thomas Mitchell, dated March 4, A.1). 1868, No. 746.
The third part of the Invention applies to the hardening rollers used
in such machines (and more especially in making wide felts), and
consists, firstly, in building the said rollers up of wood, either in sections
so that the end of the grain is always presented to the circumference, or
in longitudinal strips or "lags" of various lengths so arranged as to
break joint and fastened on to rings of metal or other material; or,
secondly, in making them of iron cast in a tubular form (galvanized or
otherwise), with rings at intervals, and covering them with a cylinder of
zinc, or in making them of cast iron tubes of a larger diameter coated
with paper, vulcanite, cement, or other suitable material or composition;
and, thirdly, in supporting the lower rollers of wide felt hardening
machines when made in one length at two or more intermediate points
or in the centre by means of a short auxiliary roller or rollers placed
beneath the same and supported by bearings.
The fourth part of my Invention relates to a method of and apparatus
for forming the "batt" or flecce when manufacturing wide felt carpeting
(or other felted cloth) from narrow carding engines according to the
third part of the Invention, as described in the Specification of the Letters
Patent before named. For this purpose I mount transversely upon the
frame which carries the endless batt cloth a travelling carriage which
traverses to and fro from the doffer of the carding engine, and by means

page_text: of an endless cloth extended around suitable guide rollers discharges the
sliver as it is stripped from the carding engine on to the endless "batt
cloth." The journals of the upper pair of guide rollers are mounted in
bearings or slides working in slots or grooves in an inclined frame, a
cord or chain being attached to the said bearings or slides, which after
passing over a pulley has a weight attached to its other end, the action
of the latter having a constant tendency to draw the rollers upwards and
thus keep the endless sliver cloth at one uniform tension during the
traversing to and fro of the carriage.
Or I raise the carding engine by fixing it on a strong and suitable
platform so as to admit of a travelling batt frame traversing to and fro
underneath the carding engine. With this view I connect an endless
cloth with the carding engine immediately in rear of the doffer cylinder,
which receives the sliver as it is stripped from the doffer and discharges
the same at a regular speed on to the travelling batt frame, and at
one uniform distance from the doffer. The travelling batt frame is
mounted on wheels and run on a railway extending through the
open space provided by the elevation of the carding engine. A
reciprocating rectilinear motion is given to this carriage by ordinary
and well known means, and the traverse of the same is regulated
by the width of the cloth required to be made. The slivers fall
on to a batt cloth mounted on the said carriage and having a slow
and regular motion at right angles to the traverse of the latter. A
roller is carried on the end of the travelling batt frame, round which the
batt is gradually coiled or lapped as it leaves the batt cloth.
Also to make even lists I attach a rod lengthways to the folder, with
two pieces or wood so fixed on the rod that they can be set nearer or
further apart at pleasure, according as the width of the cloth may vary.
A slow reciprocating motion is given to this rod by means of a crank
attached to the doffer shaft, and after the pieces of wood have been
secured to the shaft they will alternately press against each selvedge and
keep it straight and even.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Mitchell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th November 1869.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Mitchell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MITCHELL, of Waterfoot, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her leirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Mitchell, Eler special license
that I, the said William Mitchell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Mitchell, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF FELTED CLOTH. AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN
SUCH MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Mitchell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of 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 Patont Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Mitchell, do hereby
declare the nature of the snid Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say):-
This Invention relates, firstly, to making felt carpoting or cloth of
three distinct layers or strata, the central one of which is of an inferior
or different material from the front and back layers, which latter may bo
both of the same quality or material or also different from each other.
This part of my Invention is illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2, on the
accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 being a plan view, and Fig. 2 a side
view of the arrangement I employ three separate carding engines a, a, u,
and folders b, b, b, arranged side by side or otherwise and each delivering
its own slivor on to the same "batt cloth" c, c, but superposed, that is,
ono over the other, as shown at Fig. 2, so that the upper one may be of
fine wool, the lower one of inferior wool, and tho central or middle one
of almost any inferior or other fibrous material or mixture of materials
capable of being carded. In some cases the central layer may be of

page_text: such fibres, chips, shavings, or other material or mixture of materials as
will not admit of being carded, and in such cases I prop: se to substituto
for the central carding engine a machine so constructed as to deliver
and distribute the material in an even and uniform layer between the
two fleeces or layers of wool. This machine may be detached from the
folder if deemed desirable, and the material may be formed into separate
rolls or laps, which may be afterwards placed on the folder cloth and
distributed in the ordinary way. These three layers of material thus
superposed I then pass together through one hardening machine, which
thus incorporates them into one fabric. The first set of rollers of the
hardening machine is shown at d, d in Figs. 1 and 2.
The second part of my Invention consists in the application of a
revolving stripper composed of a roller, with wings or longitudinal
projections for the purpose of stripping the fleece off the "sliver cloth" or
"folder cloth," more particularly in those machines where compensating
rollers are used, as described in the Specification of former Letters Patent
granted to me and Thomas Mitchell, dated the Fourth day of March, A. D.
1868, No. 746.
This part of my Invention is shown at Fig. 3, wherein a, a, is the "sliver
cloth" and b, b, the revolving stripper, having longitudinal projections
c, c, for stripping off the fleece and preventing any portion of it from
adhering to the sliver cloth.
The third part of my Invention, applies to the hardening roilers used
in such machines (and more especially in making wide felts), and consists,
firstly, in building the said rollers up of wood, either in sections, as
shown at Fig. 4, so that the end of the grain is always presented to
the circumference, or in longitudinal strips or "lags" of various lengths
so arranged as to break joint and fastened on to rings of metal or other
material, as seen at Fig. 5; or, secondly, making them of iron cast in a
tubular form (galvanized or otherwise) with projecting rings, and
covering them with a cylinder of zinc, as represented at Fig. 6. (I
also propose to cover old wooden rollers with zinc, previously turning
shallow grooves in their circumference, and binding them round such
grooves with wire), or in making them of cast-iron tubes of a larger
diameter coated with paper, vulcanite, cement, or other suitable material
or composition, as seen at Fig. 7; and, thirdly, in supporting the

page_text: lower rollers in wide felt hardening machines (when made in one longth)
at two or more intermediate points or in the centre by means of a short
auxiliary roller or rollers placed beneath the same and supported by
bearings.
This part of my Invention will be readily understood on reference to
Fig. 8, in which a, a, represent a pair of wide hardening rollers, the
lower one of which ax, is shown as supported at its centre and resting
upon a short auxiliary roller b, b, which latter is carried in bearings c, c,
fixed on a cross rail d, d, attached to the frame and raised above the
floor in order to allow of the return of the sliver cloth boneath it.
The fourth part of my Invention relates to a method of and apparatus
for forming the "batt" or fleeco when manufacturing wide felt carpet-
ing or other felted cloth from narrow carding engines according to
the third part of the Invention, as described in the Specification before
named, and is represented at Fig. 9 on the Drawings, which is a
partial sectional elevation of this arrangement. Upon the frame
which carries the endless "batt cloth" a, a, I mount transversely a
travelling carriage &, b, which traverses to and fro from the doffer of
the carding engine c, c, and by means of an ondless cloth d, d, extended
around suitable guide rollers e, e, discharges the sliver as it is stripped
from the carding engine on to the endless "batt cloth" a, a. T'he
journals of the upper pair of guide rollers, ex, ex, are mounted in bearings
or slides working in slots or grooves in an inclined frame,, a cord or
chain g, g, being attached to each of the said bearings or slides, which
after passing over a pulley h has a weight attached to its other end,
the action of the latter having a constant tendency to draw the rollers
upwards and thus keep the endless sliver cloth at one uniform tension
during the traversing to or fro of the carriage.
Or 1 raise the carding ongine by fixing it on a strong and suitable
platform so as to admit of a travelling "batt frame" traversing to and
fro underneath the carding engine. This arrangement is shown on the
Drawing in side elevation at Fig. 10, and end view at Fig. 11. a, a,
representing the carding engine, and b, b, the frame or platform on
which it is raised and supported.
In carrying out this modification I connect an endless cloth c, c,
with the carding engine immediately in rear of the doffer cylinder,
which receives the sliver as it is stripped from the doffer and discharges

page_text: the same at a regular speed on to the travelling "batt frame" d, d,
and at one uniform distance from the doffer. The travelling "batt
frame" d, d, is mounted on wheels which run on a railway extending
through the open space provided by the elevation of the carding engine.
A reciprocating rectilinear motion is given to this carriage by ordinary
and well known incans, and the traverse of the same is regulated by the
width of the cloth required to be made. The sliver falls on to a "batt
cloth" mounted on the said carriage and having a slow and regular
motion at right angles to the traverse of the latter. A roller e, e, is
carried on the end of the travelling "batt frame," by means of which
the "batt" is gradually coiled or lapped as it leaves the "batt cloth."
The advantage of this modification is that it only requires one-half of
the room of the ordinary travelling "batt frame" for the same width
of cloth.
The arrangement which I propose to employ for making even lists
is represented at Fig. 12 on the Drawing. I attach a rod a, a, lengthways
to the folder, with two pieces of wood b, b, so fixed on the said rod that
they can be set nearer together or further apart at pleasure according
as the width of the cloth may vary. A slow reciprocating endwise
motion is given to this rod by means of a crank attached to the doffer,
shaft or in any other convenient manner, and the pieces of wood b, b
being secured to the rod in the position required by the width of the
piece they will alternately press against each selvedge and keep it straight
and even.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention
for "Improvements in the Manufacture of Felted Cloth, and in the
Machinery or Apparatus employed in such Manufacture," together
with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood that
1 claim as my Invention,―
Firstly. The manufacture of felted cloth by the superposition of
the three distinct layers of material, and then passing them through
one hardening machine, substantially in the manner and by the
means described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. I claim the application of the revolving stripper with
longitudinal projections for the purpose herein-before described with
reference to Fig. 3 of the Drawings.

page_text: Thirdly. I claim the methods of forming the hardening rollers, as
described with reference to Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, and the manner of
supporting such rollers by an auxiliary roller or rollers placed beneath,
as described with reference to Fig. 8.
Fourthly. claim the method of and apparatus for keeping the
endless sliver cloth at one uniform tension, as described with reference
to Fig. 9.
Fifthly. I claim the method of and apparatus for forming wide felts
by raising the carding engine upon a platform and allowing the "batt
frame" to traverse to and fro beneath it, as shown at Figs. 10 and 11.
And, sixthly. I claim the apparatus shown and described with reference
to Fig. 12 on the accompanying Drawings for making even and regular
lists.
In witness whereof, 1, tho said William Mitchell, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witnessed by
GEORGE DAVIES, C. E.,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
WILLIAM MITCHELL. (L.s.)