AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING OR FREEING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS OF BURS AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HICKES, late of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, but now of Hudders-
field, in the County of York, Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of August, in the fifth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Hickes, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Hickes, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, and every of them, and such others as I, the said
George Hickes, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING
OR FREEING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS OF BURS AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS
SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said George Hicks, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Hickes, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention of
an Improved Machine for Cleaning or Freeing Wool and other Fibrous
Materials of Burs and other Extraneous Substances consists in the con-
struction and application of certain mechanical arrangements, by which wool
and other similar fibrous materials are cleansed and freed from burs and other
extraneous substances without injuring the staple; and in further compliance
with the said proviso, I, the said George Hickes, do hereby describe the man-
ner in which the said Invention is to be performed and carried into effect, by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the annexed Drawing,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, similar letters and figures of
reference being used to indicate similar parts throughout, and the Drawings
being made to a scale of one inch and a half to a foot.

page_text: which the first bevil of the d train of geering commences.
Similar drawing
rollers to those seen at D and D¹ will be seen at D and D³, and these in
like manner are driven by a train of bevil geering, marked d', the strap E'
imparting motion to the pinion e³, and spur wheel e', which carries the first of
the bevil train d', as there represented. Each set of drawing rollers D, D', D',
and D, are provided with a feeding cloth, as are seen at C. F, F¹, and F",
which receive motion respectively from the front roller of each set, and each
of the four beaters supported by the shafts a, a¹, a², and a³, are provided with
open gates, as seen at G, G, G', and G. From what has been described of
the machine as represented at Figures 1 and 3, it will be seen that when put
in operation the feeding cloths C, F, F, and F, will move in the same direc-
tion, and that the beaters placed on the shafts a, a', will revolve at the same
speed, while the beaters on the shafts a and a revolve rather faster; the
drawing rollers likewise correspond in movement, and deliver to each beater
according to their respective speeds. Thus, supposing wool or other fibrous
material to be opened and spread on the feeding cloth C, it is first received by
the rollers D, where it is slightly drawn and delivered to the action of the first
beater on the shaft a, which partly frees it from burs, and such other extra-
neous substance as it may contain, delivering the wool or other fibrous material
over the grate G, as indicated by the arrow, and on to the second feeding
cloth F; from this cloth it proceeds forwards to the succeeding drawing rollers
D', where it is drawn, beaten, and again delivered to the cloth F, and so
forward in succession till it is finally delivered from the last beater on the shaft
a³, and received in a finished state into a hopper, or other suitable receptacle,
and in the progress of this operation the burs and other extraneous matter fall
through the grates G, G¹, G, G³, each of which has a space or opening near
the roller at z, Figures 5 and 6, out of which the greater portion of the ex-
traneous matter falls before it is carried over the grate. In Figure 5 is
represented a transverse section of the second drawing.roller D' and the parts
annexed, for the purpose of shewing the general construction and arrangement
in this Figure. It will be observed, that the space between each blade of. the
beater 6 is filled up by sheet iron, wire gauze, or other suitable material, to
prevent the wool or other fibrous material from lapping round or adhering to
the blades of the beater, which blades must also be sufficiently far apart to
prevent the staple of the fibrous substance reaching from one to the other
during the operation, and should therefore vary according to the length of
staple. The plate marked y is placed immediately beneath the delivering roller
of each set, and on it the wool is beaten or dressed as it is delivered, the burs
and other extraneous matter falling through the space z between it and the

page_text: grate, and through the grate as they are struck out and freed from the wool by
the beating action.
Figure 4 represents detached parts of the movement for producing an
alternating, traverse, or end motion to a doctor or straight edge X, with
which the under drawing roller of each set is provided. The position of this!
doctor will be best seen at Figure 5, where it will be observed that the under
rollers are smooth, and the doctor is held against the second of the set by means
of a small weight h, which is hung on a tail-piece proceeding from the doctor
over the fulcrum on which it is supported, so that it has a constant tendency
to press the doctor against the under side of the smooth roller, and clean or free
it from any dirt or extraneous matter which may adhere to it, and might cause
the wool to lap and impede the action of the machine. The whole of the
apparatus for supporting the doctor, and causing it to press against the under
side of the drawing roller, is traversed backwards and forwards by a small
crank or eccentric, as seen at i and i, at the end of the drawing rollers
D2, D3, at Figure 3 (this movement being omitted from the drawing roller D
and D' for the purpose of shewing some parts below). The slow revolution of
the shaft I, which carries the excentric or crank i and 7, is produced from a
worm H placed on the shaft, which carries the pinion e; this worm working
into a worm wheel which is on the perpendicular shaft K, conveys motion to
the horizontal shaft I by bevil gearing, as seen at Figures 4 and 2. The
part L at Figure 4 is the doctor, broken off to show the way in which it is
attached to the crank or excentric i, from which it receives the alternating
motion, as already explained.
Figure 6 represents a different arrangement for delivering the wool from
one beater to another, in which the carrying cloth F is put in an inclined
position, and a moving grate f, f, f, which is also seen at plan, Figure 7, is
placed immediately over it; against the upright sile W of this moving grate
the wool or other fibrous material is received when delivered from the beater
behind it, the burs and other extraneous matter passing through the upright
side and falling on the tray V, while the wool or other fibrous material is drawn
down by the motion of the moving grate, and is carried forward between it
and the feeding cloth U beneath to the succeeding rollers, as there represented;
and I would remark that although I have shown the beaters to have each
three blades, that may be varied, and when for long staple wool, the width of
the blades should be encreased.
Having now explained the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I do not claim as my
Invention separately any of the common or well-known parts of the machinery

page_text: herein represented and described, which are not hereafter specifically set
forth. But I do claim,-
First, the general construction and arrangement of my improved machine,
as regards the beaters being used in combination with a curved rack and drawing
roller, as already set forth and described.
Second, the particular construction of the beaters, as shown at Figures 5
and 6, and the application of the doctor X, as described in Figure 5, used in
combination with a curved rack and drawing rollers.
Third, the plate y, on which the wool is dressed, or subjected to the action
of the beaters.
And, fourth, the whole of moving grate W, with its roller and tray V, on
which the wool is thrown on leaving the beaters, as described at Figures 6
and 7, and applied as aforesaid.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called. England, Her said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or dis-
guise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege
to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hickes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.