rying shaft, and this will be seen by reference to figure 9, which is a horizontal section of the wheel, with its boss attached to the shaft. There is also another pair of auxiliary toothed wheels or pinions g, g, placed about the centre of the machine, taking into the racks in order to assist in pushing forward the consecutive series of tentering pieces.

Having described the general and leading features of the improved machinery, we will now proceed to show the mode of putting the same in operation. It is to be understood that the cloth is first brought in a wet, and consequently shrunken, state to the system of hollow copper cylinders h, h, h, which are heated by the admission of steam to their interiors through their hollow axes, or otherwise, as may be found convenient, for the purpose of submitting the fabric under operation to a slight or gentle heat, previously to introducing it into the stretching machine. The fabric is passed from thence under the two wooden guide rollers i, i, which are suspended beneath the flooring, immediately under the feet of the workman attending the front, or feeding end, of the machine; it is thence passed over and under the tension bars or rails j, j, j, which bars have a slight lateral motion imparted to them by the feet of the operator working the treadles k, k. These lateral movements of the tension rail are for the purpose of slightly shifting or drawing the cloth sideways, that its edges or selvages may be accurately brought over the teeth or points of the tenter pieces by the hands of the workman. It will be perceived that the grooves of the rails or checks c, c, are placed upon a slightly inclined plane at the feeding end of the machine, by which means the teeth will very gradually rise into the selvages of the fabric, until they have taken firm hold;

their points or ends will then appear through the upper surface of the cloth. Power being applied to the driving pulley 7, by means of a strap in connexion with a pulley upon the ordinary line shafting in the building wherein the machine is constructed, that power is communicated through the pair of mitre wheels n, n, to the longitudinal shaft m, m, and then by means of the three pairs of bevils o, o, o, to the transverse shafts ƒ, f, f. These shafts f, f, f, impart the rotary motion to the toothed pinions g, g, g, which being in gear with the rack formed upon the under side of the tenter pieces d, causes them to proceed in their course through the machine, as the cloth or piece of goods is placed upon the points of the tenters at the feeding end of the machine, while in its shrunken or narrow state. The front or entering ends of the cheeks or bars c, c, c, c, are required to be slightly brought toward each other, and this is effected by constructing the frames of the bars with joints at the parts marked p, p. By these means the progressive motion of the tentering points, with the cloth securely held upon them, moving along the expanding rail, causes the fabric to be gradually stretched until it has arrived to the part p, whence it proceeds in parallel lines throughout the remaining length of the machine: the required distance apart of these parallel bars, frames or cheeks c, c, having first been adjusted by means of the screwed shafts b, b, b, b, in the following manner. There is a longitudinal shaft q, q, q, mounted upon suitable pedestals or bearings on the opposite side of the machine to the driving shaft, upon which shaft q, are keyed the bevilled pinions r, r, r, taking into corresponding wheels s, s, s, fixed upon the ends of the screwed shafts b, b, b, b; and by means of the winch t, which is placed upon the square of the

shaft q, q, at the feeding end of the machine, the workman in attendance is enabled to set the cheeks or frames c, c, to the required distance apart, that is, to the width which the cloth is intended to be when finished: and he is also enabled to set the frames c, c, at the entrance or feeding end of the machine, to the width of the piece, whatever that may be, which is entering the machine in its shrunken and contracted state. This is done by turning the hand wheels v, v, keyed upon the first screwed shaft b*, having first put the pinion on the longitudinal shaft q, q, out of gear with the wheel on the end of the screwed shaft b*. It will now be perceived, that if the interior of the chamber formed by the plates a, a, has been previously heated by the furnace below, or by hot air passing up the opening or flue u, u, the cloth, in passing, will become dried while in the extended or stretched state, being all the time held upon the parallel row of points or tenters; and that in so drying, it will consequently retain the width it has acquired or been stretched out to in passing through the machine.

Now, when the cloth has arrived at the further or delivering end of the machine, the tenter pieces, with the points, will descend, by passing under the wheel g, and the points will leave the selvages of the cloth. The cloth having become dried, as above, proceeds over the wedge-shaped pieces or inclined planes w, w, which are placed immediately under the lists; and, as the piece of cloth advances, these inclined planes assist the rise of the cloth, and effectually release it from the tentering points or pins, and it thence proceeds under the guide roller x, up to the pair of delivering rollers y, y, mounted in a cast iron framing above this end of the machine. The cloth is now delivered upon rolls, or upon the ordinary frame or table placed ready to receive

it, by passing through openings, or between rails in the vibratory delivering frame z, s, which is governed and made to reciprocate by the crank wheel and connecting rod, as shown in the drawings.

Having above described the particular features of our improved machinery for stretching cloth or other woven fabrics, and shown the manner in which we should prefer to put the same in operation, we wish it to be understood, that we do not confine ourselves to the precise plan of working the said continuous or endless tenter pieces and racks, as shown in the drawings, as it will be very evident that they may be worked with similar effect in cylindrical, elliptical, or even eccentric races or grooves, instead of the horizontal manner, as shown in the drawings. And their ranges may be expanded or contracted by right and left handed screwed shafts, or by any other convenient means; or levers may be introduced for the same purpose, which mode of adjustment we do not claim; and it will also be evident that, should a machine be required to operate upon a certain quality of cloths, which shall be invariable in their finished width, the grooved rims or races (if constructed upon a cylindrical machine) for governing the travelling of the tenter pieces, with the points, may be made without the means of adjustment; that is, these grooved rails or races may be formed as eccentric curves, round the periphery of a cylinder, should such a machine be preferred: but we have shown the plan we prefer, and have found it to be the most practicable and advantageous; and although we have shown all the figures in the drawings upon a scale as before mentioned, we do not mean to confine ourselves to the precise form or dimensions therein laid down, nor to the materials of which any of the parts shall be made; but we claim,

as our invention, the parts or pieces carrying the tentering points or pins for the purpose above described; and to the continuous or endless rack formed by their immediate or consecutive contact; and also the mode of working them in grooved plates, cheeks, or frames, by which the said tenter pieces are governed and conducted through a stretching machine.”—[Inrolled in the Rolls Chapel Office, February, 1837.]

Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Berry.

TO NATHAN BAILEY, of Leicester, in the county of Leicester, framesmith, for his invention of certain improvements in, or additions to, machinery for manufacturing of slocking fabric. —[Sealed 1st August, 1836.]

THESE improvements in, or additions to, machinery for manufacturing stocking fabrics, consist in certain apparatus to be attached to the ordinary construction of stocking frames, for the purpose of carrying the thread longitudinally over the bearded needles by means of mechanism, instead of performing that operation by the hand of the workman as heretofore. In the wide stocking frames, commonly used by the manufacturers of the present day, several stockings or gloves, or distinct widths of such fabric, are made at one operation or movement of the machinery. But it is necessary, in some description of goods, occasionally, as the work goes on, to vary the distance or number of needles over which the thread of each stocking or distinct piece of work is thrown, for the purpose of producing the shapes; that is, widening and narrowing the fabric; as in the