IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FELTING HAT BODIES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR FELTING HAT BODIES
AND OTHER ARTICLES and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
"
This invention relates more especially to that class of felting machines in which
the felting is performed by and between two felting rollers arranged to form an
open cavity in which the hats or other articles to be felted are subjected to a
rolling motion by the rotation of said rollers. In the use of such machines for
most kinds of work it is found desirable to so space the said rollers apart that the
roll of hat bodies or other articles to be felted may enter so far in between them
that it may be very considerably flattened, the process progressing more rapidly
and being done more effectively when the roll is in that form. The principal
object of the present invention is to allow the roll to enter and pass so far between
the so spaced rollers as to assume the flat form and to retain it there against any
tendency of the rollers to carry it entirely through the space between them;
To this end the said invention consists principally in the combination with such
felting rollers, of a roller of smaller diameter arranged behind them and operated
and operating as hereinafter described to serve as a stop to prevent the roll from
passing too far between or beyond the felting rollers.
The invention further consists in certain means of adjusting the felting rollers
at various distances apart in a machine of the class hereinabove-mentioned and in
certain other details to be hereinafter particularly described.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a felting machine constructed according to this
invention.
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same.
Figure 3. is a vertical sectional view of the machine taken at right angles to

page_text: Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken at right angles to Figure 2 in the
plane indicated by the line y, y, in Figure 2 looking towards the nearest side frame.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
The machine represented is a double machine containing three felting rollers
A, A¹, A³, arranged to form two pairs with two open trough like felting cavi-
ties a a¹ between them and having the said rollers arranged with their axes in
an inclined plane.
B, B, are the side frames of the machine in which are the journal boxes b, b', b²,
for the shafts of said felting rollers, the journal boxes, 61, of the middle roller A
being fixed and those b, 63, of the upper and lower rollers being both adjustable in
plummer-blocks c, c³, on the side frames, in such manner as to provide for adjusting
and varying the spacing apart of the rollers and the width of the felting cavi-
ties a, a¹, which are formed by the said spacing apart; as will be hereinafter fully
described.
C, C, are the stop rollers which constitute the principal feature of this inven-
tion, arranged behind the felting cavities a, a¹, the stop-roller C being between the
felting rollers A, A¹, and the stop-roller C¹, between the felting rollers A¹ A¹
These stop-rollers, which are best shown in Figure 3 are of very much smaller
diameter than the felting rollers, say about one eighth of the diameter of the
latter, so that they may occupy positions in which the front parts of their peri-
pheries are a very little behind a plane passing through the axes of all the felting
rollers while their peripheries are only just out of contact with the latter rollers.
These stop-rollers may be of round, square or other suitable transverse sectional
form and either smooth or lagged. The stop-roller C, has its journals fitted to
rotate in bearings in the upper ends of two arms d, d, which are fitted to swing
on the shaft e¹ of the middle felting roller A¹, and the stop-roller C¹, has its
journals similarly fitted to bearings in the upper ends of two arms, d², d², which
are fitted to swing on the shaft, e³, of the lower felting roller A². The object of
thus supporting the stop-rollers in swinging arms is to provide for their adjustment
forward or backward as will be presently described.
The shaft of the middle felting roller A¹ is the driving shaft of the machine, and
is furnished at one end with fast and loose pulleys D, D¹, to receive the driving
belt. It is furnished at the other end with a pulley, El to receive the belt F, for
driving the other felting rollers A A', which belt runs on pulleys, E, E² on the said
rollers and over three idler pulleys G, G', G2, (see Figure 1) of which G, G¹, are
arranged to rotate on fixed studs secured to the machine framing; and G³, is
arranged to rotate on a stud, f, carried by a lever H, which is fulcrummed to
the framing at g, and is so loaded by a weight fi that the said pulley G' always
keeps the belt F tight. The pulleys E, E¹, Es are so proportioned that the lower
roller A³, rotates faster than the middle one A¹, and the middle one faster than the
top one A³, so that the roller which forms the lower and inwardly moving surface
of either of the trough-like felting cavities, a, a¹, will always move faster than that
which forms the outwardly moving surface, and so tend to carry the roll S of
hat bodies or other articles to be felted as far in between the felting rollers as is
permitted by the respective stop-roller C or C¹.
The shafts, i, i, of the stop-rollers C, C₁ are furnished with pulleys, j³, to receive
driving belts I, I¹ which run on and receive motion from pulleys J¹, J³, on the
shafts of the felting-rollers A' A'. The felting-rollers and the stop-rollers all run
in the same direction, but the peripherical velocity of the stop-rollers is more rapid
than that of either of the felting rollers, in order that it may by its friction on the
exterior of the roll S, of hats or articles to be felted have a slight tendency to
loosen the said roll and thereby prevent it from being rolled too tight by the felting
rollers.
The adjustment of the stop rollers, C, C, between the felting rollers requires to
be varied to correspond with the adjustment of the spacing between the rollers a;
narrower spacing requiring the stop-rollers to be set further forward or inward
between the felting-rollers, the-stop-roller being always so adjusted that the roll $

page_text: of hat bodies or other articles to be felted will be allowed to enter far enough
between the felting rollers to to flattened as shown in Figure 3.
The simultaneous adjustment of the spacing of the felting rollers and the
corresponding adjustment of the stop-rollers are provided for and effected in the
following manner :-
The journal boxes b, b' of the upper and lower felting rollers A A', are connected
by rods h, h¹ with two similar levers K K, which work one at each side of the
machine on the shaft e¹, of the middle felting roller A¹ as a fulcrum. These levers
have on their rear ends toothed sectors k, which gear with two pinions, k¹, fast on
a shaft k, which works in bearings in the standards L, erected in one of the side
frames B; this shaft has fast to it a hand wheel k³, by which it may be turned to
produce the operation of the pinions on the toothed sector and so move the lever K,
in one direction or the other to make it move both the journal boxes, 6, 63, of the
upper and lower felting rollers towards or from the fixed journal box, b¹, of
the middle felting roller, and so contract or widen the cavities a, a¹; between
the felting rollers.
The levers K, have connected with them two rods i, which work in guides, m
pivoted to the framing but otherwise fixed; and these rollers ? have firmly but
adjustably secured to them arms; n to each of which is pivoted a guide o, through
which passes one of the arms, d, containing the bearings for the upper stop
roller, C.
The shaft e³ of the lower felting roller "A has loosely fitted to it at each side of
the machine one of two levers p, which are connected by rods q with the levera K
hereinabove described, so that the said levers, move with the levers K. The said
levers p have connected with them rods A, similar to those hereinabove described,
the said rods, 1, 1, working in guides m¹ pivoted to the framing, and having firmly
but adjustably secured to them arms n¹ to which are pivoted guides o' through
which pass the arms, d' containing the bearings for the lower stop-roller C¹.
The arms and n¹ are of such length that their respective rods and A, and
arms d, and d³, are always at a slight inclination to each other as shown in Figure 4,
so that by the upward and downward movement of the rods 7 and 1, and their
arms n, n¹ and guides o, o¹, with the levers K and p, the guides 0,
01 are caused
to operate with a wedge-like-action on the arms d, and d³, which contain the
bearings for the stop-rollers and so to move the said rollers in or out between the
felting rollers.
By the above described system of connections and gearing between the bearings
of the journals of the stop-rollers, and the levers, K which adjust the bearings of
the upper and lower felting rollers when the felting rollers are brought nearer
together, the stop rollers are moved further in between them and vice versa.
The felting rollers in a machine constructed according to this invention may have
a straight or a concave longitudinal profile, and the longitudinal profile of the stop-
rollers should be the counterpart of the longitudinal profile of the felting rollers,
for instance if the felting rollers have a straight profile the stop rollers would also
be straight, but if the felting rollers have a concave longitudinal profile the stop
rollers will have a convex longitudinal profile as shown in Figure 2, to allow the
latter rollers to come in as close as practicable to the felting rollers throughout
their whole length.
The felting rollers may have their peripheries either smooth or lagged or furnished
with protuberances like the rollers of any of the previously known roller felting-
machines.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
First. The combination with two felting rollers having between them an open
trough like cavity, of a stop-roller of smaller diameter than the said felting rollers
arranged between them, substantially as, and for the purpose, herein described.

page_text: Second. The combination with two felting rollers having between them an open.
trough-like cavity of an interposed stop-roller of smaller diameter than the said
felting rollers and having a higher peripherical velocity, substantially as herein
described.
Third. The combination with two felting-rollers having between them an open
trough like felting cavity, of an interposed stop-roller of smaller diameter than
said felting rollers and adjustable inwards and outwards between the said felting
rollers substantially as, and for the purpose, herein described.
Fourth. The combination with two felting rollers having between them an open
trough like cavity and having unequal peripherical velocities, of an interposed stop-
roller, substantially as herein described.
Fifth. The combination with two felting rollers of curved longitudinal_profile
having between them an open trough-like cavity, of an interposed stop-roller the
longitudinal profile of which is the counterpart of the curved longitudinal profile
of the felting rollers, substantially as herein described.
Sixth. The combination with two felting rollers having between them an open
trough like cavity and having their axes so arranged in an inclined plane that the
lower of said rollers projects in front of the upper one, of a stop-roller arranged
between and behind the said felting rollers, substantially as, and for the purpose,
herein described.
Seventh. The combination with two felting rollers having between them an open
trough-like cavity and having bearings which are adjustable to vary the width of
said cavity and a stop roller interposed between the said felting rollers, of connections
between said bearings and stop-roller whereby the adjustment of the said bearings
nearer to each other brings the stop-roller further in between the felting rollers,
substantially as herein described.
Eighth. The combination of the middle felting roller A¹, the lever K fulcrummed
on the journals of the said roller, the inovable journal boxes b, b' of the upper and
lower felting rollers and the connections h, h¹ between the said lever and the said
journal boxes, substantially as, and for the purpose, herein described.
Ninth. The combination of the felting rollers A, A1, A2, the lever, K fulcrummed
⚫ on the journals of the middle roller A¹ and the movable journal boxes, b 6º of the
upper and lower rollers, A, A³, the arms d d' carrying the stop-rollers C C¹, the
rods, connected with said levers K, the guides m, m³ for said arms, the arms, n n¹,
and the guides, o, o¹, for the arms d, d, attached to said arms l, l', for producing
the simultaneous adjustment of the upper and lower felting rollers and the stop
rollers, substantially as herein described.