US11756A - Making hat-bodies - Google Patents

Description

lwork better.

UNiTEn sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

ANDREW RANKIN, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MAKING HAT-B ODIES.

Specification of Letters Patent N o. 11,756, dated October 3, 1854.

To all whom z' may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW RANKIN, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain. new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Hat Bodies, Naps, &c., and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character which distinguishes them fromall other things before known, and of the usual manner of making, modifying, and using the same.

My method of forming hat bodies is, by first making the hats, and then setting them up, as is practised in hand making; in fact I follow all the processes of hand work in making hats; but I employ machinery therefor, so that a girl or boy can perform more labor than a journeyman, and do the My apparatus is constructed as follows: Figure l, showing a vert-ical section through the machine. In a proper frame (a,) I place a suitable endless feeding apron (6,) such as is used for similar purposes upon fur-blowing machines; on this apron is placed a proper quantity of fur by weight, for a hat, which by the revolution of the apron is fed forward, and passes between two small rollers (c), and then is it opened up and picked by a rapidly revolving cylinder, (03,) just in front of said rollers; this cylinder is armed with rows of straight small wire teeth, and it differs from other similar picker cylinders, in having deep flutes cut in it between the rows of teeth,

l which causes it to act more effectually upon the fur at this point; beneath, and at a little distance from this cylinder, there is a wire gauze or grating (d), through which the dust and coarse hairs are driven, and separated from the fur, they fall below; the fur is thrown from the cylinder (CL) forward upon a second endless apron (6,), over which there is a cover of wire gauze (e,) to prevent the fur from blowing away; it passes forward between a second pair of feeding rollers (f,), and is brought in contact with another rapidly revolving picking cylinder (g,); this cylinder is still different from thev first, being hollow, with staves extending from end to end, a little distance apart, so as to afford a greater current of air outward than the first, and it is armed with teeth in a similar manner; this opens up the fur, throwing into conductors, (h,) through which it descends into the next story of the building in which it is situated; aboutl half way the conductor there is a bowing apparatus, whichmay consist of a shaft (1,) with arms projecting `from it near either end; there are strings stretched from the arms at one end to those at the other, as many in number as there are arms (in the drawing four), these form the bow strings, reaching from side to side of the conducto-r; as the shaft is turned, these strings revolve around it, and each in succession strikes a pin, performing upon the falling fur the same operation as` the hand bow; the fur is guided to the center of the conductor by a hopper, (h,) placed above the bow so as to cause it to be struck by the string at the point o-f greatest vibration; from thence the fur descends to the former below. A modification of this bowing apparatus, is to place a row of strings across, from side to side of the conductor attaching them thereto, and passing their ends throu h the sides of the conduct-or, so as to strain them tight; these strings are struck by a pin on a revolving wheel, as shown in F ig. 2. The conductor rests with its lower end on a chest (z',) which is a chamber of sufficient size for the purpose intended; there is a door (77,) in this chest on.` each side and opposite to each other; these doors are for the purpose of admitting a succession of` hurdles (70,) to slide into the chest horizonally, the hurdles being for the purpose of forming the bats upon; it is constructed as follows: a piece of wire gauze is stretched upon a frame (v,) see F ig. 3, and over this is stretched a piece of paper, large'enough to cover it; upon this paper I draw two lines, at right angles to each other, and crossing in the center, from this guide, I cut out the paper to form curves, shown by black lines (fr), in Fig. 3, which is the proper shape for two bats, such as are made by hand, and enough for one hat body. It is necessary t-o make these bats thicker in the part to form the rim than elsewhere, and the edges mustA gradually diminish in thickness for purposes hereafter seen; to effect these modifications of thickness, I resort to the following means: I put all around the edge of the paper, at (a) a thin strip of silk, shown by red lines (see A, Fig. 3,) extending inward from the paper about half an inch; over this I put another wider piece, that reaches further inward; and again a `logs third, fourth, or more layers, each piece bethey are pricked do-wn withk the hattersV ing carried further inward so as to make Va regular gradation of thicknesses; the effect of which is, the more layers of silk there are, the less proportionally will be the quantity of fur deposited upon the parts covered; over all these I put a piece of silk, covering the whole space, except that part (y) which is to form the rim of the hat, over all this should be another wire gauze,

and the hurdle is ready for' use; when slipped into place, it is surrounded by a paper guide (L) aiiixed to the upper edges of the chest, and the lower edges brought into the form of the bats; this arrangement admits ofany variety of form of bats, being made in the same machine; below the hurdle there is an exhaust fan at (01%,) and a pipel terial as the fur is entirely inclosed, which is not the case with any other known'ma-` chine for making hats; the bats, when' withdrawn from the chest upon a table, where lbasket, and covered with a damp ycloth paratus is constructed as; follows: I form av Y whichY adheres to the bats that are thus taken upand removedto a hardening table; as one hurdleis taken out of the machine, another is put in, so as to continue the operation; at the hardening table,six bats, more or less,

are hardened ataftime by a friction board, and then the bats are taken through the process of sett-ing up, for which my apchest, or close table shown at Fig. 4; this table has anrelevation (05,) at its rear end, which extends up, covering a portion of'a window, as shown in the drawing; on the front and level part of the t-able Vthere Vis a transparent cone, made of glass or other suitable material, this transparent cone is placed over an opening through the table top,r

and can be revolved by the operative at will, moving on frictionA rollers; the interior surface of the table is colored white, for the better reflection of light; a dark uurtainVV hangs at the window above, that can be raised or lowered, so as to darken the room as required. The operative takes one of the bats after it has been formed as above de` scribed, and trimmed, and irstdampening the glass cone with a wet sponge, puts the bat around, covering` somewhat more than half Vof the cone, and bringing itv smoothly down into place, ,the ycone isthen turned around, and the other bat put on and united down to it; the dark curtain is then dropped and the light only admitted from below through the glass cone, which atonce ydiscovers to the workman the thin places, which are stopping olf by putting small pieces of fur upon them; and after the body is made equal in thickness and perfect,fa damp cloth is put around it, and avsmall piece on the top, then a stout felt cone is dropped down upon it; two studs pro-ject, one from either side of this cone; and to them two arms or pitmans V(0,) are attached, which extend back to alcrankmshaft (29,), on which the two cranks are opposite to each other, so

that by its revolution itcauses the conical I felt to make a short vibratory revolution on the axis of the cone, and by the friction thus produced, the body is suiiiciently hardcned; the advantages of this mode of procedure are obvious, and highly yimportant toy y a person thoroughly acquainted with the manufacture, either of 'hand or machinery, as heretofore conducted; the ordinary and only mode of setting up a body with two bats, is to lay a piece of paper, cut to the proper shape, upon one bat, and then fold over carefully the edges of the bat; another bat is then laid upon them and worked down a little; they are then turned over,andthe edges of the other bat is folded over, and the whole united; then it is carefully raised, and by looking through it from the interior, the thin plac'es are stopped oif, a work of some care and difficulty that is obviated by my glass cone. And again, in machine made hats that are Vformed on a wiregauze cone, they have toy be submerged in water before they can be removed; this materially injures the stock, for the reason that it washes out the chemical preparation with which it is prepared before felting, and renders it comparatively unfit for felting; but in my process I wet no further than is done by the damp cloth, in which it is Ahardened sufficient to be taken off uninjured. Y

The naps are @formed in a manner similar to the bodies, the whole apparatus being the same, except kthe hurdle, for Vwhich an endless belt is substituted, as shown in Fig. 5; this endless belt or apro-n l(a,)ris perforated, atl` proper intervals, with oval or circular holes, 'eachof sufficient size for two orV four,`more or less plates, which perforations are covered with mire gauze; when one of these spaces is brought under the conductor and receives its quantum of fur for a flake of nap, it is run out, and another brought under in its place, the first passing out over a table at (5,), when a friction board (6,) is brought down upon it; this friction board is moved back and forth in short quick vibrations .till the flake is sufficiently hardened, by means of a pitman (d,) connecting it with a short crank (a), turned with any convenient power.

I-Iaving thus fully describedk my new apparatus for making hat bodies and naps,

10 layers of silk or other material between the upper and lower perforated material around the edges as described.

3. I also claim the employment of the transparent Cone for setting up and stopping oil' hat bodies, as herein specified.

ANDREW RANKIN.

Witnesses:

HENRY D. I-IEDDEN, wWM. N. CARR.

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