IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SO AS TO REWORK WASTE YARNS OF COTTON, SILK, FLAX, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBRE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cunliffe Lister, of Bradford, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SO AS TO REWORK
WASTE YARNS OF COTTON, SILK, FLAX, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBRE."
Scaled the 12th February 1856, and dated tho 30th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th November 1855.
I, SAMUEL CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Bradford, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SO AS TO
REWORK WASTE YARNS OF COTTON, SILK, FLAX, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBRE," to bo
as follows:-
My Invention has for its object so to treat hard waste, that is, waste which
has the twist in it, such as is made in spinning, also weaving, winding, &c., so
as to render it more adapted for manufacturing purposes, and consists as
follows:-I first pass it through a machine similar to the one recently patented
by me for cutting and tearing old ropes; the waste is cut in this machine to
suitable lengths, which depend upon the fibre, also the amount of twist; as a
general rule, the harder the twist the shorter should be the lengths into which
it is cut. After cutting the waste into lengths, I pass it through a beating
machine, and then place it in a steam bath, or otherwise boil it for a time;
I then pass it through a carding engine, and if the fibres are not then
sufficiently opened I again beat and also boil or steam it, and again card
it; the object being to destroy the twist, and to set the fibres at liberty, and
then comb or hackle it. When treating some descriptions of waste, especially

page_text: flax, I
pass it through a species of pulping machine, that is, a beating machine
working in water, or it may be damped and then crushed or beaten. Also,
when using some descriptions of waste, especially worsted, instead of cutting it,
I find that by passing it through two pairs of rollers, set at a suitable distance,
and having a long draft it may be plucked into suitable lengths, so as to
preserve the fibre better than by cutting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Bradford, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Cunliffe Lister, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe
Lister, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as. I, the
said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time. agree with, and .no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iы-
PROVEMENTS IN. TREATING SO AS TO REWORK WASTE YARNS OF COTTON, SILK, FLAX,
WOOL, OR OTHER FIBRE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what. manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
.
My Invention has for its object so to treat hard waste, that is, waste which
has the twist in it, such as is made-in spinning, also weaving, winding, &c.,

page_text: so as to render it more adapted for manufacturing purposes, and consists as
follows:-I first pass it through a machine similar to the one recently patented
by me for cutting and tearing old ropes; the waste is cut in this machine to
suitable lengths, which depend upon the fibre, also the amount of twist; as a
general rule, the harder the twist the shorter should be the lengths into which
it is cut. After cutting the waste into lengths, I pass it through a beating
machine, 'and then placo it in a steam bath, or otherwise boil it for. a time; I
then pass it through a carding engine, and if the fibres are not then sufficiently
opened I again beat it, and also boil or steam it, and again card it; the object
being to destroy the twist, and to set the fibres at liberty, and then comb or
hackle it. When treating some descriptions of waste, especially flax, I pass it
through a species of pulping machine, that is, a beating machine working in
water, or it may be damped and then crushed or beaten.. Also, when using.
some descriptions of waste, especially worsted, instead of cutting it; I find that
by passing it through two pairs of rollers, set at a suitable distance, and having
a long draft, it may be plucked into suitable lengths, so as to preserve the fibre.
better than by cutting.
Having described the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to explain
the method I adopt in carrying out the same. When treating waste made
from silk or cotton, I prefer to pass it through a machine made similar to the
one patented by me for tearing up old ropes, (or instead of that, it may be
carded on a carding engine with strong wire cards;) after tearing or cutting
it into suitable lengths, I pass it through a cotton or other beater to knock out
the dust and dirt, and then boil it for a time, and sometimes I pass it through
soap and water to wash and cleanse it from dirt; such machines as are now
used for wool-washing will answer the purpose. After being washed or boiled;
it should-be dried or partially so, and then carded into slivers suitable for
combing; but some kinds of waste it is scarcely possible to reduce to fibre at
one operation; these I pass a second time through the process of carding. The
kind of combing machines now most commonly in use for wool combing, known
as Lister & Donisthorpe's nipping machines, are not so well adapted to combing
this kind of waste. I prefer to use such machines as admit of the fibre being
held whilst card or other fine teeth work it; unless this is done it is very
difficult to sufficiently open out the twisted fibres. The machine which I
prefer to use has a circular travelling comb, into which the prepared fibre is
lashed or filled in the ordinary way, as is well understood; and as the comb
moves round, it is worked by card rollers or other fine pointed surfaces both
on the upper and under. side, so as to thoroughly open out any portion of the
waste that may still continue in a state of thread, that is, with the twist in.

page_text: If once combing is not sufficient, I comb it a second or even a third time.
When working hard: flax waste, such as is made in weaving, spinning, &c., I
find, after cutting or tearing it into suitable lengths, that it should be steeped
or boiled in water, and then passed through crushing rollers, that is, rollers
having a great power of squeesing and crushing the fibres. I prefer to steep
and pass it through rollers several times before carding it preparitory to
combing it. After being thoroughly carded, it should be combed upon
machines, as before described. When working worsted waste, such moro
particularly as mohair or. alpacca waste, I prefer to use plucking rollers (as
such descriptions of waste are longer in the fibre, and open out more readily
than cotton or flax); by plucking rollers, I mean rollers so arranged that there
shall be a great draft betwixt them, so as to pull the waste yarn into lengths
instead, of cutting it. As the rollers require to be set at some distance from
each other, say, from seven to twenty inches, depending upon the length of the
fibre, carrying rollers should be used betwixt the drawing rollers when required,
and the waste should be fed up upon a feed cloth, as is well understood.
The waste when plucked or drawn may be accumulated upon a lap cloth in
the same way that wool is now treated before being combed, or it may be
allowed to fall into a box or other receptacle; but in that case the rollers
used should be of large diametre to prevent lapping, and rubbers should be
used, or a revolving brush or other surface working close up to the rollers, to
brush off the waste and prevent it adhering to the rollers. Instead of using
plucking rollers for hard worsted waste, I sometimes treat it in a similar way
to cotton, as above described, and then comb it in a similar manner..
What I claim is, treating hard waste of cotton and silk generally, as described,
and combing it; also mohair,, alpacca, and, other worsted waste; also such
descriptions of flax hard waste as are made in spinning, weaving, winding, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred & fifty-six.
Witness,
JAMES HAMILTON,
of Manningham.
S. C. LISTER. (L.S.)