IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF VEGETABLE FIBRES USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR HORSEHAIR OR BRISTLES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Shaw and Thomas Shaw, of Dukinfield,
in the County of Chester, Brush Makers, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF VEGETABLE FIBRES USED AS SUBSTITUTES
FOR HORSEHAIR OR BRISTLES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH.
"
Sealed the 9th January 1872, and dated the 12th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Shaw and
Thomas Shaw at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 12th July 1871.
.
We, GEORGE SHAW and THOMAS SHAW, of Dukinfield, in the County
of Chester, Brush Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF VEGETABLE FIBRES USED
AS SUBSTITUTES FOR HORSEHAIR OR BRISTLES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to those vegetable fibres which are now used
in the manufacture of brushes, hair seating, and for other purposes as
substitutes for horsehair or bristles, and which in the brush-making

page_text: trade pass by the general name of fibre. These fibres we submit to the
action of revolving brushes by means of which loose particles are cleared
away and a lustre put upon the fibre. Previously to this brushing
action we propose to apply to the said fibres a dressing consisting of
flour, size, wax, or other such polishing substance which increases the
lustre and may render the fibres waterproof. We propose to employ
two revolving brushes acting on opposite sides of a tuft of the material
which is held by clamps, and the said clamps being drawn forward the
whole length of tuft is operated upon, or the same effect may be pro-
duced by causing the brushes to travel bodily. The brushes may be
parted by means of a treadle to allow the tuft to enter between them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 12th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
SHAW and THOMAS SHAW, of Dukinfield, in the County of Chester,
Brush Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw, Her
special license, that we, the said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw,
our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw, our 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 ""IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
VEGETABLE FIBRES USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR HORSEHAIR AND BRISTLES, AND IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition,
amongst others, that we, the said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals (or under
the hand and seal of one of us) should particularly describe and ascertain
.

page_text: 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings,
(that is to say)
-
Our Invention relates to those vegetable fibres which are now used
in the manufacture of brushes, hair seating, and for other purposes,
as substitutes for bristles and horsehair. These fibres we treat with a
dressing of sizing or polishing material, and then submit them to the
action of brushes, whereby a lustre is put upon each fibre, and to a
certain extent it is rendered waterproof. The composition of that sizing
or polishing material may be varied to a considerable extent, but the
following we have found to answer the purpose. We take of white wax,
one and a half parts; refined wax, nine parts; refined parafin, one
and a half parts, and spermacitti one and a half part. These substances
are melted together and allowed to cool into a cake which may be kept
for stock. When required for use we take three and a half ounces of this
composition and dissolve it in a quart of water to which a little soap
has been added to assist the solution; we now take twenty ounces of
farina and mix a small quantity of water therewith, so as to bring it to
a pasty mass as in the preparation of starch for the laundry, and we then
add water according to the degree of thickness which we wish the size to
be, say eight quarts of water, and to this we then add the. dissolved
cake above mentioned. The fibre to be treated according to our Inven-
tion having been drafted into lengths, as is now the practice, is steeped
in the above mentioned composition, the superfluous quantity of which
is removed by passing the said fibres between rollers or by other
convenient means, and they are then ready for the mechanical polishing
operation, an arrangement for effecting which is shewn in the accom-
panying Drawing, and to which we now refer.
Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the machine, and Fig. 2 a plan view
thereof; the framework is shewn at 1, and the driving shaft at 2, having
the usual fast and loose pullies thereon. Upon this shaft is a pully 3
which by means of a cross strap 4 drives another pully 5 upon a shaft 6;

page_text: upon each of the shafts 2, 6, are drums 7, 8, upon which are fixed strips
of wood 9, 10, carrying brushes 11, 12, which extend along their whole
lengths, but they are only partially drawn in Fig. 2. Upon the shaft 2
is a bevilled pinion 13 taking into another 14 mounted on a shaft 15,
the other end of which carries a worm 16 in gear with a worm wheel
17 mounted on a shaft 18. Upon the face of the worm wheel 17 is
a crank pin 19 connected with a rod 20 the other end of which has
a fork 21 fitting on to a pin 22, which projects from a sliding bar 23.
On the other side of the machine the shaft 18 is provided with a crank
24 jointed to a rod 25, which at its other end is provided with a fork 26
fitting on to a pin 27, projecting from the bar 23 before referred to,
which bar has a block 28 at each end, situate within guides 29, 30,
carried by the frame 1. At 31 is a treadle turning upon a fixed
centre and jointed to a rod 32, which at its upper end is connected to a
lever 33 mounted on a shaft 34 provided with another lever 35, which
has a roller 36 upon its other end. This last arrangement of levers
refers to one side of the machine, but they are repeated on the other
side, and are described by the same numbers of reference, with the
addition of an *, and the rollers 36, 36*, are situate beneath the rods
20, 25.
Fig. 3 represents in end view detached the holder for the fibre to be
operated upon; it is formed, as we use it, of two strips of wood 37, 38,
with metal plates on their exterior surfaces and with india-rubber strips
on their inward surfaces, thus forming two jaws which may be tightened
together by bolts as shewn in the Drawing. The fibres having been.
prepared as above described are placed in a thin layer between the jaws
37, 38, which, as seen in Fig. 2, extend across the machine, and the
two parts of the said jaws being then tightened by the bolts they are
placed upon studs 40 projecting from the bar 23 and slidden forward
against hooked ends of the said studs, as seen in Fig. 2. Motion now
being communicated to the machine so that the wheel 17 revolves in
the direction of the arrow, the cranks 19, 24, will, by means of the rods
20, 25, cause the bar 23 to slide forward carrying with it the jaws or
clamp 37, 38, and fibre A held thereby being of sufficient rigidity to
maintain a nearly horizontal position will then arrive between the two
sets of revolving brushes 11, 12, which will, as the clamp 37, 38, still
advances, act upon the whole length of fibres with the exception of a
certain portion thereof to be subsequently brushed, as will hereafter be

page_text: mentioned. In order however to secure a position of the fibres for
entering the bushes we adopt beneath them a plate B upon which they
slide if they fall and are conducted thereby to the brushes, and this plate
also serves the purpose of protecting the fibres from a draft generated
by the revolution of the bushes.
It will be seen that the tendency of the revolving brushes is to draw
the fibrous material towards them, and this tendency therefore keeps the
said fibres distended by drawing forward the clamp against the hooks 40,
which hooks prevent however its being drawn from the bar 23. The
cranks 19, 24, having performed a half revolution slide backward the
bar 23, and thus by means of the hooks 40 convey backward the clamp
37, 38, and fibres therein, they being still submitted to the action of
the brushes 11, 12, and this backward and forward motion of the clamp
37, 38, may be repeated as often as may be found necessary, after
which the enclosed ends of the fibres have to be operated upon. To
accomplish this the machine is stopped and the workman takes another
clamp and adjusts it to the outward ends of the fibres.
He then reverses
the fibres, end for end, by removing the clamp now in the hooks 40 and
substituting that just adapted to the fibres, and the first clamp being
taken therefrom the operation proceeds as before; the ends of the fibres
which were formerly in the clamp being submitted to the action of the
brushes. It may happen that it is necessary to stop the operation of
the machine as regards the feed motion and which will be found
sufficient for changing the clamps.
To effect this the workman depresses
the treadle 31 thereby through the connexions above described,
elevating the rollers 36, 36*, and these by arriving in contact with the
rods 20, 25, will elevate them and lift their forks from the pins of the
bar 23 which will thus be disconnected' from the driving power. The
crank pins 19, 24, are adjustable in slots in order to regulate their
throw and the pins 22, 27, are adjustable in slots 41, 41*.
By the above described operations the fibres have a lustre put upon
them which affords an appearance similar to bristles or horsehair, while
at the same time they are to a certain extent rendered waterproof.
The fibres previously to being treated according to our Invention may
be dyed or bleached if desired, such processes however being now in
common use for fibres of the above mentioned description.
We have above stated a certain composition which we have found to
answer as a size or polishing material, but other substances of like

page_text: properties, animal, or vegetable, or mineral, may be employed, we have
also described a certain arrangement of machinery which we have
found to answer, but we do not confine ourselves to the exact con-
struction thereof, that which we claim being the combined operations
of preparing the fibres by sizing substantially as described, and sub-
sequently submitting them to the action of a revolving brush or
brushes.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Shaw and Thomas Shaw,
have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Eleventh day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-two.