2. Others conceived that the seesaw motion was not essential, but that it was advantageous to make the teasels or cards act in a rectilinear direction, as in working by hand; this action was attempted by placing the two ends of the teasel-frame in grooves formed like the letter D, so that the teasel should act on the cloth only when it came into the rectilinear part. Mr. Wells, machine-maker, of Manchester, obtained a patent, in 1832, for this construction.

3. It was supposed that the teasels should not act perpendicularly to the weft, but obliquely or circularly upon the face of the cloth. Mr. Ferrabee, of Gloucester, patented, in 1830, a scheme of this kind, in which the teasels are mounted upon two endless chains, which traverse from the middle of the web to the selvage or list, one to the right, and another to the left hand, while the cloth itself passes under them with such a velocity, that the effect, or resultant, is a diagonal action, dividing into two equal parts the rectangle formed by the weft and warp yarns. Three patent machines of Mr. George Oldland—the first in 1830, the second and third in 1832—all proceed upon this principle. In the first, the teasels are mounted upon discs made to turn flat upon the surface of the cloth; in the second, the rotating discs are pressed by corkscrew spiral springs against the cloth, which is supported by an elastic cushion, also pressed against the discs by springs; and in the third machine, the revolving discs have a larger diameter, and they turn, not in a horizontal, but a vertical plane.

4. Others fancied that it would be beneficial to support the reverse side of the cloth by flat hard surfaces, while acting upon its face with cards or teasels. Mr. Joseph Cliseld Daniell, having stretched the cloth upon smooth level stones, teasels them by hand. 5. Messrs. Charlesworth and Mellor obtained a patent, in 1829, for supporting the back of the cloth with elastic surfaces, while the part was exposed to the teasling action. 6. Elasticity has also been imparted to the teasels, in the three patent inventions of Mr. Sevill, Mr. J. C. Daniell, and Mr. R. Atkinson. 7. It has been thought useful to separate the teasel-frames upon the drum of the gig-mill, by simple rollers, or by rollers heated with steam, in order to obtain the combined effect of calendering and teasling. Mr. J. C. Daniell, Mr. G. Haden, and Mr. J. Rayner, have obtained patents for contrivances of this kind. 8. Several French schemes have been mounted for making the gig-drum act upon the two sides of the cloth, or even to mount two drums on the same machine.

Mr. Jones, of Leeds, contrived a very excellent method of stretching the cloth, so as to prevent the formation of folds or wrinkles. (See Newton’s Journal, vol. viii., 2nd series, page 126.) Mr. Collier, of Paris, obtained a patent, in 1830, for a greatly improved gig-mill, upon Douglas’s plan, which is now much esteemed by the French clothiers. The following figures and description exhibit one of the latest and best teasling machines. It is the invention of M. Dubois and Co., of Louviers, and is now doing excellent work in that celebrated seat of the cloth manufacture.

In the fulling-mill, the woollen web acquires body and thickness, at the expense of its other dimensions; for being thereby reduced about one-third in length, and one-half in breadth, its surface is diminished to one-third of its size as it comes out of the loom; and it has, of course, increased threefold in thickness. As the filaments drawn forth by teasling, are of very unequal lengths, they must be shorn to make them level, and with different degrees of closeness, according to the quality of the stuff, and the appearance it is desired to have. But, in general, a single operation of each kind is insufficient; whence, after having passed the cloth once through the gig-mill, and once through the shearing-machine (tondeuse), it is ready to receive a second teasling, deeper than the first, and then to suffer a second shearing. Thus, by the alternate repetition of these processes, as often as is deemed proper, the cloth finally acquires its wished-for appearance. Both of these operations are very delicate, especially the first; and if they be ill conducted, the cloth is weakened, so as to tear or wear most readily. On the other hand, if they be skilfully executed, the fabric becomes not only more sightly, but it acquires strength and durability, because its face is changed into a species of fur, which protects it from friction and humidity.

[Figs. 1214 and 1215 enlarged] (271 kB)

[Figs. 1214], [1215.], represent the gig-mill in section, and in front elevation. A, B, C, D, A′, B′, C′, D′, being the strong frame of iron, cast in one piece, having its feet enlarged a little more to the inside than to the outside, and bolted to large blocks in the stone pavement. The two uprights are bound together below by two cross-beams A′′, being fastened with screw-bolts at the ears a′′, a′′; and at top, by the wrought-iron stretcher-rod D, whose ends are secured by screw-nuts at D, D′. The drum is mounted upon a wrought-iron shaft F, which bears at its right end ([fig. 1215.]), exterior to the frame, the usual riggers, or fast and loose pulley, ff′′, f′, which give motion to the machine by a band from the main shaft of the mill. On its right end, within the frame, the shaft F, has a bevel wheel F′, for transmitting movement to the cloth, as shall be afterwards explained. Three crown wheels G, of which one is shown in the section, [fig. 1214.], are, as usual, keyed by a wedge to the shaft F. Their contour is a sinuous band, with six semi-cylindrical hollows, separated alternately by as many portions of the periphery. One of these three wheels is placed in the middle of the shaft F, and the other two, towards its extremities. Their size may be judged of, from inspection of [fig. 1214.] After having set them so that all their spokes or radii correspond exactly, the 16 sides H, are made fast to the 16 portions of the periphery, which correspond in the three wheels. These sides are made of sheet iron, curved into a gutter form, [fig. 1214.], but rounded off at the end, [fig. 1215.], and each of them is fixed to the three felloes of the wheels by three bolts h. The elastic part of the plate iron allows of their being sufficiently well adjusted, so that their flat portions furthest from the centre may lie pretty truly on a cylindrical surface, whose axis would coincide with that of the shaft F.