Improvements in Cloth Pressing and Calendering Machines.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application. 18th Feb., 1896-Accepted, 21st Mor., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cloth Pressing and Calendering Machines.
I ERNST GESSNER of Aue in the Kingdom of Saxony Machine Builder do.
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following"
statement:-
Machines for calendering fabrics comprise essentially two cylinders or rollers
one, viz. the main or pressing cylinder, having a roughened surface and rotating
at a slower speed than the other, or polishing cylinder or roller which has a
smooth surface, the roughened surface of the pressing cylinder assisting the.
passage of the fabric through the machine up to the line of contact between the
two cylinders, where the pressing of the fabric is effected. The superior surface.
speed of the polishing roller drawing or tending to accelerate the passage of
the fabric from this point is counteracted by the relatively slower surface speed.
of the pressing cylinder, whereby a polishing of the cloth is effected by the
rubbing of the burnished surface of the polishing roller upon it.
The roughening of the surface of the pressing cylinder is sometimes obtained by
coating the cylinder with wood fibre, cotton, felt, and such like, but in some cases,
in order to obtain the necessary amount of friction between the fabric and the
surface of the cylinder the latter is coated with fiue sand, powdered flint, or
emery. There are objections to the employment of roughened cylinders, what-
ever class of material is employed to produce the roughening, the surfaces of
rollers roughened with material of the softer kind being liable to be damaged
by any unevenness of the cloth, while, when the harder material is used, the
surface of the polishing roller is apt to become impressed or indented by the
pressing cylinder, whilst these impressions produce upon the cloth in the process
of polishing streaks or blemishes necessitating the cloth being passed a second
time or repeatedly through the machine, in order to properly finish it.
The object of my invention is to obviate these objections, and I effect this by
the employment of a device which, while permitting of the pressing cylinder being
made smooth, has the same retarding action upon the speed of travel of the cloth
relatively to the surface speed of the polishing roller as resulted from the
employment of a pressing cylinder with a roughened surface. This device may be
a cylinder or a concave presser plate bearing against the pressing cylinder so as to
nip the fabric, thus retarding its passage. If a cylinder be employed it may either
be stationary or rotated at a slower surface speed than, and in the same direction
as, the travel of the cloth, or rotated in the opposite direction. If presser plates
are used they would preferably resemble those described and shewn in the .
Specification of previous Letters Patent granted to me, No. 9477 of 1893. In
either case the cylinder or presser plate may be heated internally, like the ordinary
polishing roller, in which case the device would serve not only to retard the cloth
but also to give it a preliminary polish. It will be obvious that my invention
permits of the pressing cylinder being made of hard unyielding material not liable
to be damaged by the roughness or unevenness of the cloth and that the latter will
be finished by one passage through the machine. Consequently both the efficiency
and output of the machine will be considerably increased.
In cloth pressing machines as now made, a second pressing cylinder is sometimes
employed, but it does not smooth or calender the material because the second
roller runs at the same speed as the pressing cylinder and as the cloth and therefore

page_text: does not serve for smoothing but only for pressing the fabric. Consequently a
machine constituted according to my present invention may be regarded as combining
in one machine a calender and cloth press.
The polishing cylinder and the retarding device whether in the form of a
cylinder or presser plate would be arranged diametrically opposite one another
against the pressing cylinder, and thus counteract the distorting effect of unbalanced
pressure upon the pressing cylinder, and two or more polishing cylinders with
diametrically opposite presser plates may be employed in conjunction with a single
pressing cylinder.
In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, I have shewn such an arrangement.
P is the pressing cylinder, G G¹ the polishing cylinders, M M¹ the retarding
presser plates. The cylinder P may be driven in the usual manner. Its surface
is not burnished, as is that of the polishing cylinders, so that there will be sufficient
friction between it and the fabric to carry the latter over the surface of the
retarding cylinder or presser plate, whilst at same time ensuring (in conjunction
with the presser plates M, M³) sufficient retardation of the fabric against the
polishing cylinders G G¹ to bring about the polishing of the fabric. But the
cylinder P may be covered with a thin felt or other similar material. The
surfaces of the polishing rollers G, G', are burnished and they not merely press
the fabric but owing to their speed being greater than that of the fabric they
smooth the latter and also tend to draw it through the machine. The pressing
cylinder P is mounted in lever H³, and the two smoothing rollers G, G₁, are
journalled in adjustable lever arms H1, H2, but they may be supported in any
other manner. The presser plates M, M', have their working faces burnished or
covered with a thin sheet of argentan. They serve for pressing and smoothing
the fabric and at same time tend to retain the fabric against the drawing effect of
the polishing cylinders. One of the presser plates M is shewn as being fixed but
it may be adjustable in relation to the pressing cylinder in the same way as
presser M, which is supported adjustably in the lever arm H.
In the drawing, two presser plates M, M', are shewn arranged opposite corre-
sponding smoothing cylinders G, G¹, so as to act uniformly on the cloth passing
around the pressing cylinder and at same time prevent the cylinder from being
displaced and distorted. The arrangement may, however, be varied and I may
employ additional cylinders P and G and presser plates M as in existing calenders
several cylinders are employed for feeding and polishing the fabric and as in my
rotary steam cloth press above referred to where several presser plates are
employed. The employment of these additional smoothing or polishing rollers and
feeding cylinders and presser plates is shewn in the drawing in dotted lines
in P1, P2, G2, and M².
Instead of being positively driven, the pressing cylinder P, may be driven by
friction and thus act simply as a presser. To permit of a number of smoothing
cylinders and presser plates being arranged around the pressing or feeding
cylinders P, P', these latter would be made of greater diameter than if one or two
only were employed. In lieu of pressers, I may use smoothing cylinders either
stationary or rotating slowly in the direction of the travel of the cloth or in the
opposite direction, thus exerting a retarding effect on the cloth against the drawing
effect of the polishing cylinders. Such an arrangement is shewn in Figure 1,
where a cylinder M³ is shewn in broken lines as being used in lieu of the presser
plate M. In this arrangement the smoothing cylinder G', acts with a drawing
effect on the cloth, in opposition to the retarding effect of the cylinder M³.
A cylinder may also be substituted for the presser plates in the modifications shewn
in Figures 2 and 3. Moreover, in lieu of the smoothing cylinder G, a retaining
presser plate M, may be employed, as shewn in dotted lines, and in such case
there will be successively arranged around the pressing cylinder Pa retarding
smoothing presser plate M', a drawing polishing cylinder M³, a retarding
smoothing cylinder G', (or presser plate M',) and a drawing, pressing, and
polishing cylinder G.

page_text: Figure 2 shews two pressing cylinders P, P₁, with a polishing cylinder G
interposed between them and a presser plate M pressed against cylinder P.
Motion is imparted to the cylinders P and G in the same or in similar manner to
that shewn and described with reference to Figure 1. V is a running felt partly
encircling the three cylinders and protecting the fabric from damage.
In Figure 3 the cylinders P, G, P, G', are shewn arranged horizontally. The
two pressing cylinders P, P1, are provided with presser plates M, M', which may
either be stationary or adjustable. The polishing cylinder G may either be
arranged in line with the cylinders P, P, or at a higher level as shewn in dotted
lines at G. The cylinders may be driven, and the presser plates adjusted, in a
similar manner to that above described, or otherwise. The cylinder G³, shewn in
broken lines in Figure 3, may be employed either as a polishing cylinder or as a
pressing cylinder.
In Figure 4 there are two pressing cylinders P and P1, two polishing cylinders G
and G, with drawing effect, and two smoothing cylinders M, M', with retarding
and pressing effect, which latter may either be stationary or rotated slowly either
with the travelling cloth, or in the opposite direction, to counteract the drawing
effect of the two cylinders G, G¹. Instead of these retaining smoothing rollers,
presser plates may be employed as shewn in dotted lines.
Figure 5 shews a combination of pressing cylinders P, P1, P2, polishing
cylinders G, G', and of smoothing cylinders with retarding effect M, M', M², or
presser plates as before. The fabric is fed and the cylinders so arranged that
alternately drawing and retarding effects are produced upon the fabric.
The modifications or arrangements shewn in Figures 4 and 5 will allow of
pressing and polishing the cloth on both sides simultaneously.
The retarding effect of the smoothing cylinder M, is effected by the mechanism
shewn in Figure 6. which mechanism however I do not claim as my invention.
The mechanism comprises two distinct appliances, the one consisting of a friction
clutch F, F, whereby through the usual means the cylinder M may be positively
driven in a direction contrary to that of the travel of the cloth, and at any desired
speed, the other appliance being a brake strap and pulley r whereby when the
cylinder M is not required to be driven positively in the contrary direction, but
rotates as an idle roller in the same direction as the travel of the cloth, the surface
speed of cylinder M may be reduced to any desired extent below that at which the
cloth is travelling.
My invention may be applied to calenders at present constructed and pressing
machines with presser plates.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
clairo is :-
1st. In a calendering machine, the combination, with the pressing cylinder and
polishing roller, of a device adapted to press the fabric against the pressing cylinder
so as to tend to retain it in contact with the surface thereof and thus to retard the
passage of the fabric through the machine and simultaneously smooth or polish
the fabric, substantially as specified.
2nd. In a calendering machine, the combination, with the pressing cylinder and
polishing roller, of a concave plate adapted to press the fabric against the pressing
cylinder so as to tend to retain it in contact with the surface thereof in opposition
to the accelerating tendency of the polishing roller, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
3rd. In a calendering machine, the combination, with the pressing cylinder
and polishing roller, of a roller rotating in contact with pressing cylinder
either in the opposite direction to that in which the cloth travels or in the
same direction but at a lower surface speed, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
4th. A combined cloth pressing and calendering machine, comprising a

page_text: continuously rotating pressing cylinder and a polishing roller, in which the
drawing effect or pull on the cloth due to the rotation of the polishing roller in
contact with the pressing cylinder is resisted by a device, of the character specified,
tending to hold the fabric against the surface of the pressing cylinder, substantially
as specified.
Dated this 18th day of February 1896.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.