IMPROVEMENTS MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Robertson, Avon Bank, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS."
Sealed the 26th July 1861, and dated the 31st January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Robertson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
January 1861.
I, JAMES ROBERTSON, Avon Bank, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICE,"
to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of machinery
or apparatus for imparting a softer as well as superior finish to those textile
fabrics which require to be subjected to operations at present in use for the
purpose of imparting a proper degree of lustre thereto.
Under one modification the apparatus consists of an open framing having
two standards at each end arranged parallel. In these standards are carried
the bearings for two pairs of wooden or metal rollers or drums arranged ver-
tically, or one above another.
The fabric to be finished passes in between the first pair of rollers which are
driven hy steam power.

page_text: From the first pair of rollers the fabric passes over a large central drum
or cylinder, round a portion of the periphery of which is arranged a series of
hollow metal rollers on which wire is wound in a helical direction. These
rollers are heated by means of steam or heated iron and are driven by means
of a suitable arrangement of gearing well known to mechanics. The heated
rollers are adjustable in their bearings so that any degree of pressure may be
exerted on the cloth passing under them. From these rollers the cloth passes
out between the second pair or delivery rollers arranged on the other side of
the central drum. The frictional contact of the wire covered rollers imparts
to the goods a soft and brilliant finish hitherto unattainable with the ordinary
finishing machinery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st
July 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ROBERTSON, of Avon Bank, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Bleacher,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Robertson, Her special license that I, the said James Robertson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Robertson, 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
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 OR APPARATUS FOR FINISHING TEXTILE
FABRICS" upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Robertson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Robertson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 relates to the arrangement and construction of machinery
or apparatus for imparting a softer as well as superior finish to those textile
fabrics which require to be subjected to operating at present in use for the
purpose of imparting a proper degree of lustre thereto.
Under one modification the apparatus consists of an open framing having
two standards at each end arranged parallel. In these standards are carried
the bearings for two pairs of wooden or metal rollers or drums arranged ver-
tically, or one above another.
The fabric to be finished passes in between the first pair of rollers which are
driven by steam power.
From the first pair of rollers the fabric passes over a large central drum
or cylinder round a portion of the periphery of which is arranged a series of
hollow metal rollers on which wire is wound in a helical direction. These
rollers are heated by means of steam, or heated irons, and are driven by means
of a suitable arrangement of gearing well known to mechanics. The heated
rollers are adjustable in their bearings so that any degree of pressure may be
exerted on the cloth passing under them. From these rollers the cloth passes
out between the second pair or delivery rollers arranged on the other side of
the central drum. The frictional contact of the wire covered rollers imparts
to the goods a soft and brilliant finish hitherto unattainable with the ordinary
finishing machinery.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements in machinery or
apparatus for finishing textile fabrics may be properly understood, I shall now
proceed to describe the illustrative Figures on the explanatory Sheet of
Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing certain
modifications under which my said Invention may be judiciously carried out in
practice, that is to say:-
Figure on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is an end elevation
showing one modification or arrangement of a finishing machine constructed
according to my improvements, and Figure 2 is a plan of the same, corres-
ponding to Figure 1.
The framing A of the machine consists of pair of open end standards
connected by longitudinal stay rods. The main driving shaft B las upon its
outer extremity a fast and loose pulley, not shown in the Drawing, but which

page_text: derives its motion from the steam engine or other prime mover. The shaft B
is carried in deep tubular bearings which are fitted in the ends of a secondary
hollow shaft C; the bearings of this hollow shaft are arranged in the upwardly
curved parts of the end standards. On the solid shaft B is keyed a grooved
frictional wheel D which is in gear with the larger grooved wheel E; this wheel
is carried on the shaft F that is arranged below the shaft C in a vertical line
therewith. The wheel E gears with the two large grooved frictional wheels
G and H, the former of which is keyed to the shaft of the lower intake roller I,
and imparts motion thereto. The upper intake roller J is driven by frictional
contact with the roller 1; the shaft of the roller J is carried in adjustable
bearings so as to admit of regulating the pressure of the roller upon the lower
one at pleasure. Resting upon the upper bearing is a metal plate K which
forms a small cross head through which are passed two tie rods L that serve
to connect it with a cross head carried on a stud projecting laterally from the
lever M. This lever extends across the end standard A, and is centred upon
a stud cast on the standard, a corresponding arrangement being fitted at the
opposite end of the machine. Parallel with the lever M, but arranged inside
the end standard, is a second and similar lever for adjusting the pressure of
the delivery rollers, and which will be referred to when describing that portion
of the machine. The pressure of the upper intake roller J on the cloth is
regulated by suspending a weight on each of the levers M, and moving them
more or less out to the extremity of the levers. The shaft F has keyed to it
inside the frictional gearing a toothed pinion, which is indicated by the dotted
circle N; this pinion gears with the spur wheel O which is fast to the hollow
shaft C. The tubular shaft C has fitted to it the large central wooden drum
or cylinder P, and which derives its motion from the pinion N and wheel O.
Extending outwards, in front of the end standards, are brackets in which are
fitted the tensional bars Q that extend across the front of the machine. The
cloth R which is to be submitted to the action of the finishing machine is
passed over and under the tensional bars Q. as indicated by the red line in
the Drawing; from these bars it passes between the intake rollers I and J,
under the tension roller S and over the main drum P. At this part of its
passage the cloth is subjected to the action of the three finishing rollers T,
which may or may not be similar in their general arrangement and construction
according to the finish required, or the nature of the fabric to be operated
upon. These rollers are, by preference, formed of galvanised iron; the rollers
are hollow, and they have hollow spindles carried in bearings arranged in the
upper parts of the end standards. The hollow spindle of each roller is fitted
with stuffing boxes at one end for the admission of the steam pipe U, and at

page_text: the other for a pipe and stop cock to carry off the water of condensation; this
latter portion of the details is not delineated in the Drawings, as such an
arrangement is well understood. The several rollers T, or a portion of them,
are covered with wire for the purpose of producing a soft, thready, clastic,
and watered finish on the cloth, thereby avoiding the hard papery finish pro-
duced by the use of ordinary calenders. This wire is wound in a helical
direction on the roller, commencing at the centre of the roller, and winding
the wire closely out to the end, then winding again from the centre out to the
opposite extremity of the roller. In this way, when operating upon the cloth,
these rollers tend to smooth or extend the cloth out upon either side on the
drum P, and at the same time they impart a very superior finish to the cloth.
The steam for heating the rollers passes into them through the triple-branched
pipe U, and in each roller is arranged a pipe for carrying off the water of
condensation; this pipe passes from the hollow spindle down to the inner
surface of the roller; the pressure of the steam forces the water of condensation
through the outlet pipe, which is carried out beyond the driving gear and
terminates in an ordinary cock. Rotatory motion is communicated to the
finishing rollers T from the large frictional wheel V on the end of the hollow
shaft C; the periphery of this wheel gears into the three frictional pinions W
which are fast to the spindles of the rollers T, so that the rollers T when in
gear rotate at a much higher velocity than the drum P. The pinions T are
made with single grooves, as shown in Figure 2 of the accompanying Drawings,
and these grooves are adjustable by means of loose end plates, and are lined with
vulcanised india-rubber so as to admit of different thicknesses of cloth passing
through the machine, as well as the tensional arrangement of the several
rollers being adjusted without the wheel V getting out of gear with the
pinions W. One or more of the rollers T may be ungeared as required so as
to suit the particular kind of finish to the fabric under operation, the roller or
rollers ungeared being driven by frictional contact with the cloth and the
drum P. These finishing rollers, or a portion of them, may, if preferred, be
formed of glass; the peripheries of these glass rollers may be either smooth
or corrugated in manner similar to the corrugations produced by covering the
roller with wire. In some cases it may be desirable to impart to the rollers T
a lateral reciprocatory movement; this may be conveniently done by suitably
clongating the hollow spindles of the rollers, and fitting on one extremity a
disc set at an angle; two antifriction rollers which are carried in a forked arm
projecting laterally from the end standards press against the faces of the
angularly set disc. The rotatory motion of the rollers causes the discs, by
their angular arrangement on the spindles, to move the rollers to and fro in a

page_text: lateral direction; this lateral movement of the rollers may also be accomplished
by means of various other mechanical arrangements. After being subjected
to the operation of the rollers T, the fabric passes under the tensional roller X
and out between the rollers Y', which are arranged in all respects in manner
similar to the intake rollers I and J, the lower one being driven by the frictional
wheel H which derives its motion from the wheel E. Although I have
described and shown an arrangement for heating the rollers T, this may not
be necessary in all cases, as the high velocity at which the finishing rollers
when in gear are driven may render the heating of them superfluous. Finally
the cloth is carried through the delivery rollers Z; the lower one of these
rollers is driven by an endless belt which derives its motion from a pulley on
the shaft of the lower roller Y. The cloth as it issues from between the
rollers Z is laid in folds beneath by the reciprocatory movement of the
folder a, which is actuated from a crank b on the extremity of the shaft of
the upper roller Y. By preference I connect and gear the pressing, stretching,
and finishing rollers of the machine with the forms of wedge and grooved
frictional wheels patented by Jame's Robertson, of Glasgow, and now well
known as "Robertson's frictional gear," as the advantages of smooth con-
tinuous action which this gearing gives is of importance for these purposes;
but may also use any other form of wheel for transmitting motion to the various
revolving parts as may be found most advantageous. With these improve-
ments the finishing of textile fabrics of various kinds is accomplished in a very
superior manner, and with great rapidity and ease.
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 novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and combination of parts forming the
machinery or apparatus for finishing textile fabrics, as herein-before described
and delineated in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification of the
said arrangement.
Second, the application to and use in machinery or apparatus for finishing
textile fabrics, of wire covered or glass rollers, and their movement in a lateral
direction, as herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawings,
or any mere equivalent therefor.
Third, the system or mode of finishing textile fabrics by means of machinery
or apparatus in which the finishing rollers, or a portion of them, move over
the cloth at a much higher speed than the cloth is passing through the machine,

page_text: so as to produce the finish by means of a light and rapid frictional movement,
in contradistinction to the heavy pressure of the ordinary calendering rollers.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Robertson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, 1861.
JAB. ROBERTSON. (L.s.)