IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND FINISHING FELTED GOODS AND FABRICS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING
AND FINISHING FELTED GOODS AND FABRICS."-A communication from
abroad by John Hill Prentice, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th May 1868, and dated the 28th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th February 1868.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING
AND FINISHING FELTED GOODS AND FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is more particularly the drying and
finishing of such felted goods as hat bodies, skirts, petticoats, and such
like articles.

page_text: The apparatus consists of a hollow conical form of the shape and size
of the article to be operated on. This form is made of sheet copper, and
is mounted on or attached to a hollow shaft which turns in bearings
secured to a table which supports the apparatus. The form is closed at
the bottom by a copper base that is dished out and supported by a hollow
shaft through which passes up a tube leaving a space between it and
the shaft. The inner tube is intended to convey steam into the interior
of the conical form, and the space between it and the shaft serves to
convey away the water of condensation. Fixed on the shaft is a pulley
to give it and the cone or form a rotating motion by means of a band.
The lower end of the hollow shaft rests in a socket that is pierced at
its lower end to allow of the escape of the water of condensation. To
the base of the cone is attached a ring on which (placed at regular
distances) are hooks for holding the work down tight over the cone.
When the fabric has been felted in the usual manner it is placed on
the former and brought into shape by stretching, and is secured at
the upper end by means of a cord passed round a neck or narrow part
at the top of the former. The fabric is then dried by introducing
steam into the interior of the former, and while thereon it may be
brushed and finished in the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto mic, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said. William Edward Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at

page_text: 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND FINISHING FELTED
GOODS AND FABRICS," being a communication to me from John Hill
Prentice, of Brooklyn, United States, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward 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)-
The object of this Invention is more particularly the drying and
finishing of such felted goods as hat bodies, skirts, petticoats, and such
like articles.
The apparatus consists of a hollow conical form of the shape and size
of the article to be operated on. This form is made of sheet copper, and
is mounted on or attached to a hollow shaft which turns in bearings
secured to a table which supports the apparatus. The form is closed at
the bottom by a copper base that is dished out, and is supported by a
hollow shaft through which passes a tube, leaving a space between it and
the shaft. The inner tube is intended to convey steam into the interior
of the conical form, and the space between it and the shaft serves to
carry away the water of condensation. Fixed on the shaft is a pulley
to give it and the cone or form a rotating motion by means of a band.
The lower end of the hollow shaft rests in a socket that is pierced at its
lower and to allow of the escape of the water of condensation. To the
base of the cone is attached a ring on which (placed at regular distances)
are hooks for holding the work down tight over the conc. When the

page_text: fabric has been felted in the usual manner it is placed on the former and
brought into shape by stretching, and is secured at the upper end by
means of a cord passed round a neck or narrow part at the top of the
former. The fabric is then dried by introducing steam into the interior
of the former, and while thereon it may be brushed and finished in the
ordinary manner.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical
section; Fig. 2, underneath view of the improved drying apparatus.
A is a table on which the apparatus is mounted; B is a conical form
made of tinned copper, and is of the same length and shape as the
felted article. This form is closed at the bottom by a copper base, the
centre of which is rounded to take the shape of the cup C, the form of
which will be seen on referring to the sectional view Fig. 1. This cup с
as well as the base of the cone shaped form is pierced with a hole to
admit of the passage of a pipe I, the upper part of which is screwed into
or otherwise attached to the base of the cone. In the interior of this
pipe is a tube M communicating at its lower end with a steam reservoir
and serving to conduct steam to the interior of the conical form B in
order to warm it. The condensed steam flows into the cup formed by
the hollow in the base of the cone, and from there is conducted by the
pipe I into a reservoir intended to receive it. A pulley N is mounted on
the pipe I in order to give the apparatus a rotating movement by means
of a band, if that be considered necessary; E is the safety valve for any
excess of pressure of the steam. The cup C is rivetted all round the
base of the cone, and to the base is also attached a copper ring D,
to which are secured a number of hooks placed all round and at a
short distance from the base of the cone. These hooks O are intended
to keep stretched the article that is placed on the cone B; the top of
the article is tightly bound by means of a cord around the collar
placed for that purpose at the top of the form. When the article
has been made fast to the top of the cone it is drawn down so as
to hook it on to the hooks O that are placed all round the base of
the former, then when the warmth of the former has thoroughly dried
the article the bottom edge of it is cut off from the hooks by means of
a blade that is passed round the space left between the hooks and the
base of the cone shaped former. The pipe I which sustains the former
passes through a socket in the table A and rests in a step secured below;

page_text: this step besides supporting the pipe during its rotation is hollowed
to allow the steam pipe and water of condensation to pass through.
It will be obvious that the working details of the apparatus may
be modified and altered to a certain extent without departing from the
nature and object of the Invention. I would also observe that although
some of the parts taken separately may have been used for similar
purposes, the combination herein set forth is new and constitutes an
improved and useful apparatus for drying petticoats and felted goods.
The hollow tube I which serves as the rotating shaft of the apparatus
instead of being in the centre of the form may be put excentric to it
in case it is required to give an excentric motion to the apparatus for
making particular forms of petticoats.
I may also add that the shape of the form need not necessarily be
conical, but may be made of any shape in accordance with the shape
of the article to be produced.
Finally it is understood that this apparatus may be used not only
for drying, but also for forming and finishing petticoats and other
analogous articles.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.
5
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)