IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FELTING HAT BODIES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FELTING HAT BODIES."
-A communication from James Seeley Taylor, of Danbury, in the State
of Connection Tinital Chabro of h
Sealed the 10th October 1856, and dated the 14th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th April 1856.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FELTING HAT
BODIES, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the employment of a novel arrangement of felting
rollers for facilitating the process of felting hat bodies. For this purpose.four
concave rollers are mounted in a felting vat in such a manner that a central
space is left between them for the purpose of receiving at one end thereof
rolls of felt to be operated upon, and of propelling it (by. their revolution)
through this central space or chamber, and discharging it at the opposite end

page_text: thereof; these rollers are suspended to their journals by hooks or shackles,
and they receive rotary motion by means of a chain that passes from a chain
wheel on the main driving shaft, and over chain wheels keyed respectively to
the arbors of the rollers. The rollers are so arranged that, instead of their
axes being parallel with each other, they are set obliquely, the axis of the right
hand top roller crossing the axis of the left hand bottom roller, and vice versa.
The journals of two of the rollers (at the opposite end of the machine to that
where the chain wheels are situate), instead of working in fixed bearings like
the other journals, are carried by a box, which is supported on the main
framing, in such a manner as to admit of its sliding horizontally to a limited
extent; this frame is fitted with a yoke, in which works a cam that receives
rotary motion from the main driving shaft. By this means a vibratory motion
sliding box, at the same time that
is imparted to the rollers connected to the
they are receiving an axial motion. Instead of smooth rollers, corrugated
rollers may be used when thought desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others' as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FELTING HAT BODIES," being a communication
from James Seeley Taylor, of Danbury, in the State of Connecticut, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred

page_text: Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to the arrangement in a suitable frame or vat of a set of felting rollers
in such a manner as to form between the said rollers a chamber or cavity for
receiving the hat bodies when rolled up, after having been partially felted by
some previous operation. By a rotary movement of these rollers while the hat
body is in the said chamber or cavity, the necessary action is produced on the
hat body to effect the felting process.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine complete ;
Figs. 2 and 8 are opposite end elevations of the same; Fig. 4 is a transverse
vertical sectional view of the same at about the middle of its length looking in
the same direction as at Fig. 2; Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrams representing
transverse sections of the rollers taken close to their ends, looking in the same.
direction as at Figs. 2 and 4; Fig. 7 is a longitudinal view of a roller of a
somewhat different character to those represented in the machine. Similar
letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is a framing supporting the vat B; C', C, C3, C4, are four rollers,
which may be of wood or metal, supported in bearings at opposite ends of the
vat, the said bearings at either end being arranged in or nearly in a circle.
D is the centre cavity or chamber formed by the rollers, represented in
Figs. 4, 5, and 6 as containing a hat body. The journals a, a, a, a, at one
end of the several rollers, are furnished each with a chain wheel b, around
which passes an endless chain c driven by a chain wheel d on a shaft E, which
is placed in bearings on the framing A; above the rollers. This shaft is the
main shaft of the machine, and is intended to receive rotary motion through a
belt running from some driving shaft over its pulley F, or through other
suitable agency, for the purpose of communicating through the endless chain c
rotary motion (in the same direction) to all the rollers.
The rollers C³, C2, C3, C4, are not placed parallel with each other, but

page_text: obliquely, as shown in Fig. 1. This will also be understood by a reference to
Figs. 4, 5, and 6, and comparison of the relative positions of the several rollers
at the points where the sections are taken; in other words, this arrangement
of the rollers is such that the axis of any one roller, if continued, would cross
the axis of any other roller of the series. By this means not only is a rotary
motion of the bat body between the rollers produced by the rotation of the
rollers, but a longitudinal movement is produced by a screw-like, action of the
rollers, and thus a hat body being inserted at one end of the cavity or chamber
moves continually towards and is finally discharged at the other end. Without
this oblique arrangement of the rollers it would be necessary to remove one of
the rollers to insert the hat body within, and take it from the chamber: To
make the cavity or chamber D between the rollers of uniform size, or of a
gradually diminishing size from one end to the other,, when the rollers are
arranged obliquely, it is necessary to give the longitudinal profile of the rollers:
a concave form, as shewn in Fig. 1, or in other words, to make them smaller
in the middle than at the ends. The length of the rollers should generally be
about four feet, and their diameter at the ends about three inches. They are
arranged so as neraly to touch each other at that end of the machine at the
right of Fig. 1, which is the same end shewn in Figs. 3 and 6, but the rollers
are arranged farther apart at the ends, which are shown to the left land, of
Fig. 1, which is the same end shown in Figs. 2 and 5, to give the cavity or,
chamber Da tapering form, thereby facilitating the insertion of the hat bodies
at one end thereof, and allowing for its gradual condensation as the felting,
process progresses. The journals a, a, a, a,. of the rollers are not rigidly.
attached to the rollers, but are connected by hook and eye, or link connections
d, d, d, d, as shewn in Fig. 1, for the reason that these connections allow all
the journals to be arranged parallel with each other, so as to be conveniently
geared while the rollers are oblique to each other, and are capable of having
their positions varied, if desirable; but rigid journals could not be parallel while
the rollers were oblique, and would not, therefore, 'allow the rollers to be so
conveniently geared.
.
The journals of two of the rollers (C₁ and C) at the opposite end to the
chain wheels b, b, do not work in fixed bearings like the other journals, but
turn in bearings in a box G (see Fig. 3), which is so fitted to the framing A
as to be capable of a limited horizontal sliding movement, and is furnished
with a yoke e, e, which receives within it an excentric cam f; fitted to 'turn
freely on a fixed stud 9 secured to the framing A. This cam has attached to
it a small spur wheel h, which gears with a larger spur wheel i on the main
>

page_text: shaft E, and receives rotary motion therefrom, and imparts it to the cam,
which, by its action within the yoke, gives the sliding box G a horizontal
reciprocating movement. A vibratory motion is thus, communicated.to the
rollers C and C, calculated to produce a rubbing effect on the hat bodies,
something like what would be produced by rubbing with the hand. The
journals which have their bearings in the box G are so fitted as to allow the
rollers to move outwards from the cavity or chamber D, and springs j,j, are
applied to them to make the rollers act with an elastic pressure. Instead of
rollers with smooth surfaces, corrugated rollers may be used, like that repre-
sented in Fig. 7.
The vat B may contain hot water or other liquids used in the manufacture
of bat bodies, in which the hat bodies will be kept partially submerged during
the process; or the operation may be performed without applying water
or liquid to the vat by introducing the hat body in a moist state to the
machine.
The hat bodies, previously to their being introduced to this machine, should
be partially felted, or at least hardened (by some well known or commonly
employed means) to such a degree as to bear the rolling and rubbing action
of the machine, and in this partially felted state they are rolled up and placed
one at a time at the widest end of the chamber D, from whence they are
carried, while being subjected to the rolling and rubbing action of the rollers,
to the other end of the cavity or chamber, where they are discharged. They
are then unrolled and rolled up in a different direction, and put through the
machine again. The process is repeated as often as is necessary to felt or
shrink them sufficiently. A sufficient number to fill the whole length of the
chamber or cavity D may be under operation at the same time.
Having now set forth the nature and object of the Invention of "Improved
Machinery for Felting Hat Bodies," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine
myself to the particular arrangement of or mode of hanging the rollers, nor
to the particular number of rollers employed, nor to the precise details of the
mechanism by which their movements are produced, nor yet to the precise
form of the rollers, as herein described; but what I claim under the above
in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, arranging a number of rollers in such proximity and in such manner
with respect to each other as to form a chamber in which the hat body to be
felted is operated upon by the said rollers during their revolution, substantially
as herein described.

page_text: Second, giving two or more of the rollers a vibrating motion simultaneously
with their rotary motion, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane,
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)