IMPROVEMENTS IN STARCHING TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Cunningham, of West Arthurlie, in the County
of Renfrew, North Britain, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STARCHING TEXTILE FABRICS."
Sealed the 5th June 1855, and dated the 18th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Cunningham at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1854.
I, JAMES CUNNINGHAM, of West Arthurlie, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Bleacher, do hereby declare this my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STARCHING TEXTILE FABRICS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to mechanical arrangements to be used for spread-
ing or evenly distributing starch or starchy matters upon woven goods, for
the purpose of securing superior rapidity of starching action together with the
effective deposition of the starch with regularity. According to one arrange-
ment the apparatus involved consists of a frame carrying a starch chest or
reservoir, with which is connected a set of feeding and supplying rollers made
to work in the usual manner of roller feeders and distributors; or instead of
any rollers the starch may be directly supplied from a trough or reservoir by
an opening in the side. By this roller arrangement the starch is carried

page_text: upwards from the reservoir until it is finally delivered upon the surface of the
top roller of the set, which revolves at a comparatively high speed. This roller,
which may be of smooth copper or other metal, is fitted with a "doctor," (as
used in calico printing,) the object of this contrivance being the even spreading
of the starchy layer upon the roller surface. The fabric to be starched is
passed between a pair of nipping rollers or other holding or detaining arrange-
ment at one end of the frame, the course of the fabric being such as to bring
the surface in contact with the upper starch bearing roller, after passing which
roller the fabric is conveyed away in its starched condition by another pair of
rollers, or by any other convenient contrivance. The surface velocity of the
starching roller is considerably greater than the rate at which the fabric is
permitted to travel over or in contact with it; hence, an effective rubbing in
and spreading of the starch upon the fabric takes place as each increment of
the fabric's length receives a repeated rubbing-action, causing the starch to be
well worked into the fibres of the cloth, and as the tendency of the starching
roller is to cause a constant forward pull upon the fabric as held back by its
nipping rollers, the fabric is in effect carried forward through the apparatus by
the agency of the starching roller alone, and the length as starched may thence
fall away for removal from the machine; various roller surfaces may be used
in this starching arrangement. For example, the roller may be roughened or
grooved, or it may be covered with a cloth, flannel, or other rough coating;
or, instead of a mere roller, a revolving or cylinder brush may be used for the
like purpose. After leaving this starchy apparatus the goods are partially
dried in any convenient manner, and in this state, as loosely thrown into
folds, the mass of fabric is pressed in a screw or other pressure apparatus, in
order to force the starch well into the pores of the fabric; after being so
pressed, the fabric is again dried, this system being pursued until the desired
airing effect is attained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Cunningham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3
15th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CUNNINGHAM, of West Arthurlie, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3!
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Cunningham, Her special license that I, the said James
Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Cunningham, my executors, administrators, or 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STARCHING TEXTILE FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Cunningham, 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 James Cunningham, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
My said Invention relates to certain mechanical arrangements to be used
for spreading or evenly distributing starch or starchy matters upon woven
goods, for the purpose of securing superior rapidity of starching action,
together with the effective deposition of the starch with regularity. According
to one modification, the apparatus involved consists of a frame carrying a starch
chest or reservoir, with which may be connected a set of feeding and supplying
rollers made to work in the usual manner of roller feeders and distributors,
or, instead of any rollers, the starch may be directly supplied from a trough or
reservoir by an opening in the side. By the roller arrangement, the starch is
carried upwards from the reservoir until it is finally delivered upon the surface
of the top roller of the set, which revolves at a comparatively high speed.
The starching roller, which may be of smooth copper or other material, is fitted
with a "doctor," as used in calico printing, the object of this contrivance being
the even spreading of the starchy layer upon the roller surface. The fabric
to be starched is passed between a pair of nipping rollers or other holding or
detaining arrangement at one end of the frame, the course of the fabric being
such as to bring its surface in contact with the starching roller, after passing

page_text: which roller the fabric is conveyed away in its starched condition by another
pair of rollers, or by any other convenient contrivance. The surface velocity
of the starching roller is considerably greater than the rate at which the fabric
is permitted to travel over or in contact with it; hence an effective rubbing in
and spreading of the starch upon the fabric takes place, as each increment of
the fabric's length receives a repeated rubbing action, causing the starch to be
well worked into the fibres of the cloth, and as the tendency of the starching
roller is to cause a constant forward pull upon the fabric, as held back by its
nipping rollers, the fabric is in effect carried forward through the apparatus
by the agency of the starching roller alone, and the length, as starched, may
Various roller surfaces
thence fall away for removal from the machine.
may be used in this starching arrangement. For example, the roller may
be roughened or grooved, or it may be covered with a cloth, flannel, or other
rough coating; or, instead of a mere roller, a revolving or cylinder brush
may be used for the like purpose. The fabric may be subsequently treated
in any convenient manner, according to the special use to which it is to be
applied..
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the explanatory Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a longitudinal vertical section, and
Figure 2 is a plan, of one arrangement of starching apparatus as designed for
working out my said Invention. The starching apparatus is carried on two
frames connected together, each frame consisting of a pair of cast-iron side
standards A, connected together by a series of transverse tie rods B, the con-
nection between the two frames being by the two longitudinal tie rods C. The
starching roller D is carried in bearings in the side standards, and in this
instance is made to work through the trough E containing the starch. This
trough is supported at its ends by the side standards, and is open to the roller
D at one side. It is made capable of adjustment up against the roller by
means of screws F, so that the edges of its ends and bottom may be kept in
close contact with the roller surface, and thereby prevent the oozing out of the
starch. The roller D revolves in the direction of the arrow, and passing
through the starch carries up a film thereof, which film is rendered uniform in
thickness and free from superfluities by means of a doctor G, placed a little
above the surface of the starch, and made capable of adjustment by screws H
in such a manner as that its edge may be set at any distance from the surface
of the roller according to the thickness to which the film of stach is to be

page_text: reduced. The fabric to be starched is unwound from a roller I, and first
passes over a pair of breadtheners J, K, in order to render it smooth and free
from creases. The breadthener J is of the ordinary fixed kind, consisting of a
rounded wooden beam, with inclined grooves cut upon its surface and running
in opposite directions on each side of the centre. The breadthener K is also
of a well-known kind, consisting of a cylinder, composed of staves divided at
their centres and made to separate lengthways by means of oblique guide
discs on a fixed spindle. I may, however, remark that any kind of breadthener
may be used. The fabric L next passes over a guide roller M, and thence
round and between a pair of nipping rollers N, passing first below the lower
roller N, then between them both, and finally over the upper roller. It next
descends and passes under a pair of guide rollers O, P, placed in such a posi-
tion as to make the fabric pass in contact with the starching roller D at Q
between them, at which point it receives the starchy application. The fabric
afterwards passes over the guide roller R under the steam-heated drying can S,
over the guide roller T, under the second steam-heated drying can U, and
finally over the delivery roller V. The starching roller D is driven by means
of a belt, its spindle carrying a pair of pulleys W to receive it. The other end
of this spindle has fast on it a pulley X, a belt from which passes to a pulley
Y fast on the spindle of the delivery roller V, and so drives this last. The
spindle of the roller V also carries another pulley Z, from which a belt passes
to a pulley a, on the spindle of one of the nipping rollers N, and by these
The
means the fabric to be starched is passed through the machine.
several details of the machine may be driven in various ways, but it is
essentially necessary, in carrying out the Invention, that the starching roller
D be driven at a considerably faster rate than that of the fabric passing over
it, so that the starch may be well rubbed into the pores of the fabric.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
5 herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means to be employed in starching textile fabrics, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of starching or applying starchy matter to

page_text: textile fabrics, by passing such fabrics in contact with a roller or rotatory
distributor, supplied in any convenient way with starch, and made to revolve at
a greater surface velocity than that of the fabric being starched, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cunningham, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
JAMES CUNNINGHAM. (L.S.)