The machine now illustrated is one we have recently seen in operation in
a Salford finishing works. It is an improved form of another stretching
machine which had been turned out in considerable numbers by Mr.
Archibald Edmeston, engineer, of Salford, who makes a specialty of
calico printers' and finishers' machinery. The improvements consist
mainly of a simplification of the working parts and thoroughly
substantial construction of the machine. The principle adopted is a
well-known one. The selvages of the cloth, or more strictly the two
edges of the cloth, of a width of about two inches, are caused to pass
over and at the same time are held by the rims of two diverging pulleys.
The rims are further apart where the cloth leaves them than where they
seize it, hence the stretching is gradually, certainly, and uniformly
performed. The cloth is gripped by the pressure of an endless belt
acting against the lower half of each pulley, the edges being held
between them. In the engraving these stretching pulleys are indicated by
the letters AA; the endless leather band passes over the pulleys, CC, of
which there are a set of four provided for each stretching pulley. The
lower pair of pulleys in each case may be tightened up by a screw
for the purpose of imparting the requisite tension to the bands. The
stretching pulleys are mounted upon and driven by the same shaft, an
ingenious but simple swiveling joint in their bosses enabling them to
be set at any angle to the shaft and yet to revolve and be driven by it
without throwing any undue strain upon the working parts. The piece,
wound upon the ordinary batch shell, is placed upon the running-off
center, D; it is led off over the rails, EE, and then downward to the
nip of the bands and pulleys, AA. As explained, the selvages are here
gripped between the bands and stretching pulleys, the rims of which are
wider apart at the back than the front, and thus, in being conveyed
underneath, the piece is suitably stretched. Leaving the grip at the