CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS MACHINES FOR SHEARING OR CROPPING WOOLLEN CLOTHS
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MILES, of Dudbridge, near Stroud, in the County of Gloucester, Cloth Dresser,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Third day of June, 1828, in the fourth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Miles, my exors, admors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Thomas Miles, my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
MACHINES FOR SHEARING OR CROPPING WOOLLEN CLOTHS," which said improve-
ments were communicated to me by certain Foreigners residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Thomas Miles, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said

page_text: Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Miles, 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 improved shearing or cropping machines for woollen cloths is a machine
extensively used in the United States of America, but which has never been
used in this part of the United Kingdom called England until I introduced the
same. Although various kinds of shearing and cropping machines for the cutting
of the knap of woollen cloths have been used in different parts of the kingdom
for a considerable period, still none combining the simplicity, efficacy, and advan-
tages of my improved machine have as yet been brought into practical operation.
My improved machine consists of a new modification and combination of in
several of its abstracts parts, which are essential to the operation of correct shear-
ing or cropping of woollen cloths, and which modification and combination I
shall hereafter particularly describe in my explanation of the annexed Drawings,
which develope the whole machine and its respective parts. Figure 1 is a
perspective view of my improved shearing or cropping machine, with a piece of
cloth wound round the longitudinal octagon winders or rollers, and presenting
a surface of cloth to the operation of the shearing or cropping frame; and the
whole of the actional parts of the machine are put into motion by giving
rotation to the spindle or shaft X, X, and which may be done by manual
power, or any other power that is more convenient. Figure 2 is an elevation
of one side of the traversing carriage D, D, D, D, and one side of the
stationary frames A, A, A, A, A, A, which is connected to its opposite side by
iron pillars and nuts at such a distance as to allow the traversing carriage
with its four metal grooved wheels B, B, B, B, to run on the ribs C, C, con-
nected with the stationary frame. To the upper part of this frame is suspended
the cutting or shearing frame Y, Y, by its pivots q, q, as shewn in Figures
2, 3, 4, and 5, and extending across the inside of the stationary frame. The
traversing carriage D, D, D, D, is moved forward in a longitudinal direction
by the pinion E working in the rack F, F, which rack is fixed to the tra-
versing carriage. The pinion E is turned by a band from the pulley H
leading to the wheel G, and the pulley H is put into motion by a band
leading from the wheel I to the pulley J. This band as a tightening roller p,

page_text: and the band from the wheel K communicates to the pulley with its spindle
L, L, which turns the crank plate N, and by means of the crank rod N unites
the spindle L, L., with the angular knife, bar, or roller O, O, at the staple or
joint t, and by the rotation of the spindle L, L, is communicated a circular
alternate motion to the angular knife O, O, which knife, with its double-
shamfered edge, may be fixed in a roller or other convenient holder that may
be selected, observing that the double-shamfered edge is the part of the knife
that shears or crops the cloth, consequently is the edge of the knife that
projects from the roller or bar. I prefer fixing this angular knife in a roller,
although a bar or many other forms will answer very well for holding the
angular knife which I use. The traversing carriage D, D, D, D, conveys
the woollen cloth which is put into the machine and wound round the octagon
winders or rollers P, P, with their ratchet wheels and catches, and which
winders or rollers are placed in a longitudinal position in the traversing
carriage, and are turned by their handles Q, Q, and which winders or rollers
are held in any required situation by their ratchet wheels and catches; and by
these means the cloth is held in any degree of longitudinal tension that may be
considered proper. The hook bars R, R, hold the cloth in a latitudinal
position by entering the list or edges of the cloth, and by means of the roller
S, S, with its straps, which are fixed to one of the hook bars R, the cloth is
stretched and held tight and secure in a latitudinal direction by the ratchet
wheel that is fixed to the roller S, S, and which wheel is prevented turning by
means of its catch when the catch is placed in any one of the teeth of wheel.
In this situation the cloth passes over a fixed covered bed, but I prefer a
cylinder or roller as at T, that is attached by its puppets w, w, to the standards
V, V, V, V, in the stationary frame, which roller passes under the flat steel-
hardened plate or bottom shear blade W, W, and which is screwed to a cast-
iron plate or other suitable substance, and which together confine and hold the
cloth down on the roller T while it is under the operation of shearing by the
angular knife moving in a circular direction backwards and forwards from its
pivots or centres U, U, and this angular knife is adjusted by means of two
screws and counter nuts, which elevate and depress the angular knife in a
paralel direction with the surface of the paralel plate or bottom shear blade
W, W; and which shears or crops that part of the cloth that is immediately
over the covered bed or cylinder T, and near to the hardened plate or bottom
shear blade W, W. The angular knife O, O, as it approaches the bottom
shear blade, forces up the knap of the cloth against the bottom shear blade,
and as the knife passes over the bottom shear blade they together perform

page_text: the same duty as that of an ordinary pair of hand shears when they are in the
act of shutting, and the retrogade motion of the angular knife as it recedes
from the paralel plate or bottom shear blade produces the same effect as the
opening of a common pair of shears; the more correctly the angular knife
comes in contact in its advanced motion upon the face of the bottom shear
blade the more accurately they will cut, shear, or crop. Figure 6 shews the
lever apparatus for throwing the pinion E out of gear of the rack F, F, which
stops the advance of the traversing carriage, and also by the weight a, a, lifts
the cutting frame from off the surface of the cloth, and thereby stops the effec-
tive operation of the machine. Straight lever b, b, is suspended from the pivot q
of the cutting frame Y, Y, and on the inside of the stationary frame, and the
ascent and descent of this lever is determined by the iron staple in Fig. 9, r, r
which is fixed to the stationary frame, and which also keeps the lever in its
proper position between the stationary frame and the traversing carriage, by
the lever b, b, being suspended from one of the pivots 9 of the cutting frame.
When this frame is disengaged from the spring latch d, d, the weight a, a,
arises the cutting frame from off the cloth, and when the frame is brought
down again on the surface of the cloth by the latch d, d, holding the lever
arm b, b, at e, it is obvious that the angular knife O, O, and the cutting
frame Y, Y, are kept to the cloth merely by their weight pressing on it; and
if their weight should not be sufficient, they may be loaded with any further
weight as may be found necessary. The weight a, a, being heavier than the
cutting frame Y, Y, and its apparatus, when the lever b, b, is disengaged by
the spring latch d, d, being forced back by the long screw Z in the hook bar R,
the lever b, b, at the opposite end to the weight a, a, rises and strikes the pin
or half staple, which is fixed to the cutting frame, and consequently lifts the
cutting frame from off the surface of the cloth. This operation is effected by
the traversing carriage bringing up the point of the long screw Z, and forcing
back the spring latch d, d, thus releaving the pin e near to the handle c and a,
and of the lever b, b, and at the same time stopping the spindle and pulley L, L,
by the band from K becoming slack, and also lifting the pinion E out of the
rack F, F, which stops the advance of the traversing carriage. Although the
rotary motion of the spindle X, X, is continued, still no mischief or injury will
take place by the motion of this spindle, or any other spindle, or other thing
that it can move. f is the arm of the balance or lifting weight a, a, at h;
this arm is suspended from the stationary frame. The pivot 9 connects the
upright arm i, i, of the lever apparatus to the lever b, b, at k. m, m, unites
the arm n at S, and with the lever b, b, at c. Thus the mechanical operation

page_text: of this apparatus is clear and obvious, and the duty of which, in relation to the
performance of my improved shearing machine which I have before described,
and which forms an essential protection to the cloth, while that part of the
cloth which has been sheared is winding round the receding winder or roller,
and passing off the feeding winder or roller; but before this operation of
winding can commence it will be necessary that the hooks in the list bars
should be disengaged from that part of the cloth that has been sheared or
cropped; then another length or portion of the cloth must be hooked by the
list edges, and so on under every fresh operation of shearing until the whole
piece of cloth is properly sheared. When the cloth is thus correctly fixed in
the traversing carriage and ready for shearing, it is only requisite, to put the
machine in operation, to press down the handle c of the lever b, b, the pin e,
which enters into the latch d, d, which brings the pinion E into gear with the
rack F, F, and the cutting frame down on the cloth, which tightens the band
that drives the spindles L, L, and thus conveys motion to the angular knife
and all the actional parts of the machine the moment the moving power is
applied to the spindle X, X. As the cloth is sheared in my improved machine
from list to list, it is evidently clear that the greatest quantity of cloth that can
be sheared at one operation or change of the cloth is in extent just the length
of the bed or cylinder T. A piece of cloth to be sheared or cropped must be
shifted in the machine as many times as the cloth exceeds the length of the
bed or cylinder. Figures 7 and 8 are views of the angular knife O, O, fixed
in a roller to shew the different positions of the knife in its spiral form.
My improved shearing or cropping machine for woollen cloths consists in
the general modification and combination of its parts as arranged and specified
in the foregoing description and the annexed Drawings, and not for any of the
abstract parts of which it is composed; nor do I confine myself to the precise
minutie of parts, or to the way there laid down and here explained in the
minor arrangements of my improved shearing machine, but to the general
important and substantial parts of its modification and combination in reference
to the whole and to each of the respective branches of the machine, as herein
described, and by which I attain a simple, economical, and effective machine
for the purposes of shearing and cropping of woollen cloths.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Miles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
THOMAS (L.s.) MILES.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Thomas Miles came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.