AN IMPROVED MODE OF FORMING A communication from BATS OF WOOL FOR FELTING PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF FORMING
A communication from
BATS OF WOOL FOR FELTING PURPOSES."
abroad by John Falconer, of New York City, United States of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th June 1870.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
5 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
FORMING BATS OF WOOL FOR FELTING PURPOSES," to be as follows:—
This Invention relates to an improved mode of carrying out the
operation of crossing the fibres of sheet sliver for the formation of
bats for felting purposes after the manner described in a Patent

page_text: obtained by William Edward Newton the 23rd day of November 1868,
No. 3560, as a communication from the-present communicant. Accord-
ing to this process the produce of two carding engines is so combined
as to present layers of wool, the fibres of which are laid alternately in
the direction of the length of the bat and diagonally across it in oppo-
site directions, one crossing being perpendicular to the other and both at
an angle of about 45 degrees. It is now proposed to make this operation
continuous instead of intermittent as heretofore, and thus greatly to
expedite the production of bats with crossed fibres. To this end the
sheet of fibres derived from one carding engine is received on to an
endless apron that has a continuous traversing motion over a stationary
table. By this apron the sheet sliver is passed beneath the traversing
rollers of laying machinery, which is supplied with a sheet of fibres
from the second carding engine placed at right angles to the first, and
by these traversing rollers the sliver from the second engine is laid upon
the first in a diagonal direction. The sheet slivers are fed continuously
on to the travelling apron, that from No. 1 engine being always in
the same direction and in the line of the apron's motion, while that from
No. 2 engine is laid in a zig-zag direction across the apron. By con-
tinuing the delivery of sliver on to the travelling apron a bat may be
built up of any desired thickness, the slivers from No. 1 engine being
interposed between the diagonal layers throughout the formation of
the bat. By this means a bat of considerable length, of even thickness,
and great strength is obtained, while a great economy as respects time
is produced in the manufacture. The endless carrying apron extends
a convenient distance beyond the table over which the laying machinery
is mounted, and it is led downwards and caused to take a serpentine
course over and under adjustable guiding, tightening, and pressing rollers
mounted in the frame of the bat forming machine. Endless belts are.
introduced between the doublings of the carrying apron to support the bat
at the parts where its position is inverted with respect to the carrying
apron. When a sufficient thickness of bat has been built up upon the
carrying apron the bat may be severed transversely and taken up by
a roller provided for the purpose. The table under the carrying apron
may be mounted on springs, and its upward pressure regulated as
desired and the carrying apron may be driven by suitable gear from
either of the carding engines as may be found most convenient.

page_text: 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 December 1870.
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 June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her.
special licence 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF FORMING BATS OF WOOL FOR FELTING
PURPOSES," being a communication to me from abroad by Jolin Falconer,,
of New York City, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that. I, the said Alfred Vincent 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 Scal 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 here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
Inreontion relates to the use of improved annaratus whereby the

page_text: purposes may be effected in a far more efficient manner than here-
tofore.
According to this process the produce of two carding engines is so
combined as to present layers of wool, the fibres of which are laid
alternately in the direction of the length of the bat and diagonally
across it in opposite directions, one diagonal crossing being perpendicular
to the other diagonal crossing, and both at an angle of about forty-five
degrees to the longitudinal layer. The sheet of fibres derived from one
carding engine is received on to an endless apron that has a continuous
traversing motion over a stationary table. { By this apron the sheet sliver
is passed beneath the traversing rollers of laying machinery, which is
supplied with a sheet of fibres from the second carding engine placed at
right angles to the first, and by these traversing rollers the sliver from
the second engine is laid upon the first in a diagonal direction. The
sheet slivers are fed continuously on to the travelling apron, that from
the one engine being always in the same direction, while that from the
other engine is laid in a zig-zag direction. At the second rotation beneath
the traversing rollers of the growing endless bat the sliver then delivered
diagonally will overlie the spaces missed by the first zig-zag delivery,
and so on throughout the production of the bat, which may be made of
any desired thickness, the sliver from the one engine being interposed
between the diagonal layers driven from the other throughout the
formation of the bat. By this means a bat of considerable length, of
even thickness, and great strength is obtained, while a great economy
as respects time is produced in the manufacture.
In the accompany Drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of the arrange-
ment of machinery used in carrying out the object of this Invention;
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the laying or bat forming
machinery, and shewing also a side view of part of one of the carding
machines; Fig. 3 is a transverse section and side elevation of the same
and side view of part of the other carding machine; and Fig. 4 is a
plan view on an enlarged scale of a part of the machinery used for
reciprocating the laying rollers.
I would here remark that in the Specification of a Patent dated
November Twenty-third, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight,
and obtained on behalf of the Inventor of the present improvements,
an arrangement is described of traversing laying rollers working above
a table, and a belt or carrying apron moving over the table first one way

page_text: and then back again, on which a sheet sliver is delivered from one
carding machine in the direction of the movement of the belt, and
another sheet sliver is delivered on the first sliver (while moving with
the belt) from another carding machine set at right angles to the belt,
which sliver is laid diagonally on the first sliver by traversing laying
rollers.
It is now proposed to employ an endless belt or carrying apron on
which to build up the bat in connection with the table, the two carding
machines and the traversing laying rollers, and to cause the apron to
move with its burden always in the same direction.
A represents the table, and B the endless belt on which the bat is
built up; C represents the carding machine (or a part thereof from
which one sliver C₁ is delivered to the said apron in the direction of its
movement; E represents the carding machine standing at right angles
to the one C and to the endless belt; and E¹ is the sheet sliver to be
laid on the sliver C¹ to form a bat D; F represents the traversing laying
rollers. The belt B is arranged on the rollers G, H, I, K, and L, and
has a continuous movement over the same in the order they are named,
passing above the table from G to H.
The endless belts M, N, are introduced under the belt B, where the
bat is carried under it to prevent the bat from falling so as to stretch
too much as would be the case if it became detached by its weight from
the belt while inverted. The sheet sliver C¹ from the machine C is
carried by an endless belt or apron O up to the endless carrying apron B
and delivered to it so as to be carried along with it, the sheet sliver E¹ is
carried by the endless aprons P, Q, R, and R¹ to the laying rollers F
between which it passes and by which it is laid on the sheet sliver C¹ to
form therewith the bat D. The carrying apron P works over rollers S
mounted on the fixed supporting frame T; the carrying apron Q works
over rollers U supported in the frame V jointed at one end to the top of
the frame T and at the other to the top of the frame W. This frame W
carries the rollers for the belts R, R', also the bars y which support
the rollers F, the said bars being pivotted to the lower end of the
frame W at the same point where it is jointed to the sliding blocks z
which are moved back and forth between the bars 1, 2, to impart the
to-and-fro motion to the laying rollers F. The traversing laying rollers
are driven by an arrangement of gearing which receives its motion from

page_text: one of the carding engines, and it may be here stated that the endless
carriers B, P, Q, R, R', and O should all be driven by gearing connected
positively with the gearing which causes the traversing motion of the
laying rollers, as in that case neither will gain or lose relatively to the
other, for the endless carrier B must be so speeded relatively to the
speed of the laying rollers that the sheet sliver C¹ will have a forward
movement equal to the breadth of the sheet sliver E' diagonally while
the sliver E' is carried across the bat D, and also so that at each
successive round of the carrier B the diagonal layers will be laid between
those previously laid which are as far apart as the width of the sheet
sliver E¹. This arrangement is necessary in order to make the bat of a
uniform thickness throughout, and effects the same by running two,
four, six, or other even numbers of times around. Commonly the bat is
run around four times, but it may be two or six, according to the nature
of the goods to be produced. The motion for driving the endless carriers
and giving the traverse to the rollers is shewn as taken from the doffer
roller of the carding engine E. A bevil pinion on the axle of this
roller drives through a similar pinion a horizontal shaft 1. This shaft
carries a spur pinion in gear with a spur pinion on the axle of the
roller G, and through that connection drives the carrier B on which the
bat D is formed. A second spur pinion on the shaft 1 drives through
an intermediate wheel a spur pinion 2, the boss of which carrics a bevit
pinion 3; into this pinion 3 gears a pair of bevil pinions 4, 4*, which
are mounted loosely on a transverse shaft 5 furnished with a feather to
receive a sliding clutch 6 which is capable of engaging clutch teeth on 2
the bosses of the bevil pinions 4, 4*. On this cross shaft is keyed a
pair of pinions 7, 7, which take into a pair of racks 8, 8, made fast to
the blocks z, 2, and by the rotation of these pinions the racks with their
sliding blocks receive an endway motion which gives the traverse motion
to the laying rollers F, F. The reversing of the traverse is effected by 3
means of a rod 9 which slidos in fixed guides, and is provided with two
adjustable stops or tappets. Fitted to one of the blocks is a finger
which as the block is nearing the end of its traverse strikes one or other
of these stops and gives an endway motion (alternately in opposite
directions) to the rod 9.

page_text: which embraces the clutch 6 and is intended to slide it on its shaft.
It will now be understood that as the laying rollers are completing
their course over the bat D the block carrying the finger will, through
the sliding rod 9 cause the clutch to be shifted out of gear with one bevil
pinion 4, and into gear with the other, and thus reverse the rotation
of the shaft 5. The pinions 7, 7, will now move the racks 8, 8, in the
opposite direction and reverse the traverse motion of the laying rollers,
the rotation of which will, however, be maintained in the same direction:
On the shaft 1 is a bevil pinion 10, which drives a bevil pinion keyed to
a short shaft 11, that carries a small band pulley 12.
This pulley
receives the band 13, which passes up to a pulley 14 on the axle of the
upper roller S, and from this roller the endless carriers P, Q, R, R¹,
receive their motion by driving belts 15 and gearing 16, as shewn in
the plan view Fig. 1. The carrier O may receive its motion directly
from the axle of the roller G. The vibrating frames V, W, are
connected where they are jointed together, or thereabout, to weighted
cords a working over pulleys a² suspended from the ceiling or any
suitable support for the purpose of counterbalancing the weight of the
said frames, the carrying aprons on them, and the laying rollers, and
regulating the pressure of the rollers on the bat and the carrying
apron B. The part of the table under the carrying apron B where the
crossing is done, is to be arranged on a springing support as further
means of regulating the pressure.
It will be observed that if the two sheet slivers be of the same width
the diagonal crossings of one will be laid on the other at an angle of
forty-five degrees, and the alternate diagonal crossings will be perpen-
dicular to each other. But if the crossing sheet be narrower than the
other the angles will be slightly though not materially changed.
The bats built up in this way have the fibres crossed in so many
directions and with such uniformity that the felted fabric produced
therefrom is very durable and its tensile property is alike in all
directions.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Mode of Forming Bats of Wool for Felting Purposes," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, forming

page_text: endless bats with crossed fibres in the manner and for the purpose above
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.