August i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



385 



BRITISH RUBBER MACHINERY. 



AMONG the British manufacturers of machinery adapted 

 especially for the India-rubber industry, a prominent po- 

 sition is held by Messrs. David Bridge & Co., of the Castleton 

 Ironworks, Castleton, Manchester, successors to the late John 

 Mills, Oldham. The list of products of this long established 

 business is extensive and varied, and selections from their cat- 

 alogue cannot fail to prove of interest to the trade in America, 

 owing to the differences in practice prevailing on the two sides 

 of the Atlantic. It is natural that, in view of the great develop- 

 ment of the waterproofing trade in Great Britain, an important 

 section of the Messrs. Bridge's catalogue should be devoted to 

 appliances in this branch of the rubber industry, for which 

 reason our first selections from the list relate to the water- 

 proof manufacture. 



SPECIAL POLISHING, CURING, AND PASTING MACHINE. 



The first of the machines illustrated herewith (Figure 1) is 

 really a combination of three machines in one. It consists 

 mainly of two independent frames fixed a little distance apart 

 on the floor, and a wooden drum fixed to the ceiling. When 

 the machine is in use for polishing, the cloth, which is wrapped 

 on a wooden roller on removable conters fitted with brake ar- 

 rangement on the front of the left hand frame, is passed under 

 a wooden carrier roller immediately behind the same and over 

 two iron carrier rollers fixed on the top. between which a doc- 



the top. When all the cloth is wound on to this front roller, it 

 is ready fixed for polishing, or the roller can be brought to the 

 back ready for curing. 



COLD CURE AND ELECTRIC FINISHING MACHINE. 



The coated cloth to be treated by this machine (Figure 2) is 

 coiled on a roller fitted on a loose center a 

 little to the right of the tall center standard, 

 from which it is conducted under carrier 

 rollers, over a slate liquor roller revolving 

 in a box, provided 

 with a quick rais- 

 ing arrangement 

 of levers to raise 



FIG. 2.— COLD CURE AND ELECTRIC FINISHING MACHINE. 



tor with rubber face depresses the cloth, and in front of which 

 any polishing material may be placed. This doctor is shown 

 raised in the illustration, but in use for polishing would be in 

 the position indicated by the dotted line. The cloth then 

 passes over the large wooden drum or roller fixed to the ceil- 

 ing, and down to the back of the steam drying cylinder on the 

 right hand frame, which it tightly grips for about half the cir- 

 cumference, then passes oves a guide pulley on the tall stand- 

 ard, and is wrapped on a wooden batching roller driven by 

 frictional contact with a larger roller fixed in front of the right 

 hand frame. This roller is driven by a belt through a cone 

 pulley and a pair of strong wheels. 



When the machine is used for curing, the cloth roller is fixed 

 in the brackets behind the left hand frame, and the cloth is 

 passed under the guide rolls fixed on the bottom of the frame, 

 and over the liquor box between them, in which is a slate roller 

 made to revolve by friction of the cloth. On the side of this 

 box a lever arrangement is fixed by which the cloth can instant- 

 ly be lifted out of range of the liquor so as to avoid damaging 

 the wrapper cloth. The cloth then passes over the iron carrier 

 roller on the top of the frame and direct on to the drying cylin- 

 der on the right hand frame, from which it is wound on by the 

 same arrangement as used for polishing cloth. 



When the machine is used for pasting the cloth, the roller is 

 carried by the same brackets at the back of the left hand frame, 

 and is wound by hand on to the roller in front of the same 

 frame over a steam heated pasting chest fixed at the back on 



FIG. 1.— POLISHING, CURING, AND PASTING MACHINE. 



the naked wrapper out of contact with the roller. The cloth 

 then passes over the carrier roller at the back top corner, and 

 down an incline, and under a steel bladed doctor in front 

 of which the farina is evenly laid by the attendant. The 

 cloth next proceeds under a second doctor of wood with 

 smooth edge, and away over the carrier roller on the tall 

 standards, round the steam drying cylinder at the left, 

 and, guided by a carrier or guide roller, over a quickly 

 revolving adjustable brush, and thence, guided by two 

 wood guide rollers on to the winding-on roller, a little 

 to the left of the tall standard, driven by cone speed belt 

 pulley and spur gearing. Sometimes the brush is en- 

 closed in a box to prevent the waste of farina. The ma- 

 chine is provided with strong claw clutch and striking 

 gear arrangement to stop and start instantly. 



When this machine is used for curing only, the cloth does 

 not pass under the two doctors, nor does it come in contact 

 with the brush, but passes over the doctors on its way to the 

 drying cylinder, and direct from the cylinder to the winding- 

 on roller. 



THE CHALKING MACHINE. 



This is an almost necessary adjunct for all India-rubber 

 works, and particularly so where such classes of goods are 

 manufactured on the spreader or calender as require afterwards 

 to be stripped from the cloth upon which the material is 



-THE CHALKING MACHINE. 



