Rotary Shearing Machine - Patent 4196

Specification of the Patent granted to JOHN LEWIS, Clothier, WILLIAM LEWIS, Dyer, and WILLIAM DAVIS, Engineer, all of Brimscomb, in the County of Gloucester; for certain Improvements on Shearing Machines, for shearing or cropping Woollen and other Cloths, that may require such Process; the same being further Improvements on a Patent obtained by JOHN LEWIS, for an improved Shearing Machine, dated the 27th of July 1815.

Dated January 15, 1818.

With a Plate.

To all to whom these presents shall come, &c. Now KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said viso, we the said John Lewis, William Lewis, and William Davis, do hereby declare, that the nature of our said invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained in and by the drawing hereunto annexed, and following description thereof; that is to say: A (Plate XVII.) is a true cylinder, of metal, on which is fixed a triangular steel wire. This wire is previously bent round the cylinder A, in the form of a screw, as represented at B, in Fig. 1, and is hardened. In every figure of the annexed drawing the same letter marks the same part of the machinery. The two extremities of the wire B are passed through oblique holes in the ends of the cylinder A, and fastened by nuts screwed on the ends of the said wire, one face of the wire being in contact with the cylinder A. The axis of A turns in sliding pieces C, adjustable in the piece D by the screw E. D is screwed to the pieces F, which are adjustable in H by the screw G, and made fast by the screw I. H turns on fixed centre-pins K, which are adjustable in rectangular holes in T, and fixed by nuts. T is adjustable on the carriage V by means of nuts on each side of the pieces U, which are fixed in V; and T is fixed to V by the nut X. V is made fast to S by the screws. W. J is a steel blade, hardened and screwed to the metal bar t, which is fixed by screws to H. N and O are a number of thin flat springs of metal, fixed to the bars PQ; which bars PQ are made fast by screws to the piece S. The said springs, Fig. 4, require to be covered with a thin piece of leather, or other suitable substance, to prevent them from catching in any holes or inequalities in the cloth which is intended to be shorn. The springs NO may be made in the form represented in Fig. 4, or Fig. 5, drawn in a plane at right angles to that of Fig. 3. L is a part of D, formed into a handle, for the purpose of raising J from N, by turning the piece Han the centre-pins K. The distance of J from N is adjustable by the screw R, which bears on P. A spring M is screwed to P, for supporting the handle L by a shoulder, when the handle is raised to the place of the dotted lines crossing M. The carriage V is moveable backwards and forwards on the frame Y, by the line Z being wound alternately on the rollers or drums a. V is drawn toward f, by the worm c working in the teeth of the wheel b, which wheel has a handler on its axis, for the purpose of bringing V back from f to d, the worm c being first disengaged from 6 by depressing the han- dle q. The worm c is fixed on the axis of the rigger or pulley d, which is turned round by an endless line e pass- ing round the riggers gf h. The axis of h is moveable in a vertical groove in the frame Y, and is drawn down- wards by a weight i, to give sufficient tension to the end- less line e. The axis of the rigger f carries the rigger j, to which the moving power is applied. j turns the axis off by means of a clutch, and is disengaged when the carriage V arrives sufficiently near to the end of the ma- chine at fj, by means of a projecting bar fixed and ad- justable on V. The rigger g is fixed on the axis of the cylinder A. o, is a roller at each end of the machine: a piece of cloth is fastened by the one end to o, and the other end of the said cloth is furnished with a number of hooks, for holding, as in the common way, the cloth in- tended to be shorn. The rollers o are adjustable by the handles x, and fixed by ratchet-work p. k, are two pa- rallel cylinders, on which the cloth to be shorn is rolled: they are turned round by the handle m, and fixed as re- quired by the rachet-work 7. Two parallel bars of wood, n, are fixed, by screws, at their extremities, to the frame Y of the machine. The cloth to be shorn is wound on one of the rollers k, passed over one of the bars n, then between ON and N J, and next made fast to a piece of cloth, which is fixed to the other roller or cylinder k, and brought over the other bar n. The lists or edges of the cloth to be shorn are to be fastened to the hooks before described, moved by the rollers o. A narrow strip of plush is fixed on the surface of A, parallel with the wire

B, to answer the purpose of a brush, for raising up the wool which is to be shorn off the cloth; or, instead of the plush, bristles may be inserted in the cylinder A with similar effect.

The form of the machine now described is for shearing cloth across, from list to list.

Figs. 6 and 7 represent the form of the machine when it is intended to shear cloth lengthwise, or from end to end. The width of the frame Y, Fig. 7, must exceed the width of the widest cloth intended to be shorn. On one end of the axis 1, of the cylinder A, is a worm, turning the wheel 2, and the axis 3, and the worm 4. The worm 4 turns the wheel 5, and the roller 6, which is covered with wire cards. On the axis of the roller 6 is a rigger 7, which turns the rigger 9 by means of an end- less line 8, crossed. A roller 10 is fixed on the axis of the rigger 9, to receive the cloth 11 from the card-roller 6, after it has been drawn out of the trough 13, and shorn in passing between O and N, and between N and J. When a considerable part of the cloth 11 is wound upon the roller 10, the line 8 will slip, so as to avoid injuring the cloth by too great a degree of tension. The bar O, in Fig. 6, is designed to guide the cloth 11 near to the fixed part of the spring-bed, in order that the tension of the cloth shall be as much as possible in the direction of the length of the spring or springs, and consequently that the cloth shall have no power to remove the spring- bed from the cutting edges. In order to protect the lists of the cloth 11 from being shorn, two thin pieces, or bent plates, of metal 12, in Fig. 6, are placed, by hand, on the moveable end of the spring or springs N, exactly over each list, the lists being between N and the plates 12.

In the machinery which we have now described, we claim as our invention, first, the application of the flat spring NO, Fig. 3, and of the spring or springs N, and the bar O, in Figs. 6 and 7, for directing and pressing the cloth to be shorn against the cutting edges, so that the strain of the said cloth shall be as much as possible in the direction of the length of the spring or springs N, in order that it may have no power to remove the spring- bed from the cutting edges. Secondly, the application of the triangular steel wire B on the cylinder A. Third, the application of a proper substance, fixed on or in the cylinder A, to brush the surface of the cloth to be shorn. And, fourth, the described method of shearing cloth across from list to list by a rotatory cutter. Observe, it is advisable to shear fine cloths from list to list; but, as for coarse cloths, and for wrong sides in general, it will be advantageous to shear them from end to end. 

Figs. 1 (an end view) and 2 (a side view) represent a machine for shearing cloth across from list to list.

Figs. 6 (an end view) and 7 (a side view) represent a machine for shearing cloth from end to end. 

Fig. 3 represents the carriage and end view of the cutters J. B.

Figs. 4 and 5 are different forms of the spring-bed. In witness whereof, &c.

OBSERVATIONS BY THE PATENTEES.

It will be found that our present machine is the first and only instance of the application of a rotatory cutter to shear cloth crosswise from list to list. Its advantages are now so well known in the trade as to render any further remarks unnecessary.