IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW GILL BOXES' FOR PREPARING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Reuben Ackroyd, of Ovenden, near Halifax, in the
County of York, Commission Wool Comber, and William Maud, of
Halifax, aforesaid, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SCREW GILL BOXES' FOR PREPARING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES.".
Sealed the 4th June 1867, and dated the 6th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Reuben Ackroyd and
William Maud at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 6th December 1866.
We, REUBEN ACKROYD, of Ovenden, near Halifax, in the County of York,
Commission Wool Comber, and WILLIAM MAUD, of Halifax, aforesaid,
Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW GILL BOXES FOR PREPARING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Heretofore when wool or other fibre is being worked out or through screw
gill boxes and wound on to an endless cloth to form a lap there has always
been a considerable amount of waste of the fibre in consequence of its tendency
to spread out or expand during its transit or passage on the endless cloth, and
getting beyond or projecting over the sides or edges of the said cloth, when
such projecting portion fall to the ground or become entangled in the working
parts of the machine.

page_text: To remedy this evil is the object of our Invention, and the improvements
consist in the employment of two levers working upon studs fixed in a bar or
rail supported by the framing of the machine; also a rotary cross shaft is
employed, on which are fixed two cams, tappets, eccentrics, or fingers which
act against a friction pulley at one end of each of the said levers to give
motion in one direction thereto, whilst by springs or weights a counteracting
motion is given; at the other end of each of these levers is a suitably formed
plate or finger, which when motion is given to the levers strikes the wool
together and keeps it within the limits of the endless cloth, thereby preventing
its falling off, and consequently unnecessary waste of the fibre is avoided.
These cams, tappets, eccentrics, or fingers may be so arranged as to cause
the levers to act together or alternately in the same or opposite directions; or
we may employ one lever having two projecting arms, to each of which is
fixed a plate to act on the fibre as in the previous case; or we may employ a
sliding or reciprocating bar carrying fingers to actuate the lever or levers
instead of the rotary shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Reuben Ackroyd and William Maud in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 6th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, REUBEN
ACKROYD, of Ovenden, near Halifax, in the County of York, Commission
Wool Comber, and WILLIAM MAUD, of Halifax, aforesaid, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 'Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, 'the said
Reuben Ackroyd and William Maud, Her special licence that we, the said
Reuben Ackroyd and William Maud, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Reuben Ackroyd and William
Maud, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SCREW GILL BOXES' FOR PREPARING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS

page_text: SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Reuben
Ackroyd and William Maud, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of our or 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 mouths next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Reuben Ackroyd and William Maud,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings
(that is to say) :-
Heretofore when wool or other fibre is being worked out or through "screw
gill boxes" and wound on to a travelling endless cloth to form a lap there
has always been a considerable amount of waste of the fibre in consequence of
its tendency to spread out or expand during its transit or passage on the
endless cloth and getting beyond or projecting over the sides or edges of the
said endless cloth when such projecting portions fall to the ground or become
entangled in the working parts of the machine.
To remedy this evil is the object of our Invention, and the improvements
consist in the employment of two levers working upon studs fixed in a bar or
rail supported by the framing of the machine; also a rotary cross shaft is
employed, on which are fixed two cams, tappets, eccentrics, or fingers which
act against a friction pulley at one end of each of the said levers to give
motion in one direction thereto, whilst by springs or weights a counteracting
motion is given; at the other end of each of these levers is a suitably formed
plate or finger, which when motion is given to the levers strikes the wool
together and keeps it within the limits of the endless cloth, thereby preventing
its falling off, and consequently unnecessary waste of the fibre is avoided. These
cams, tappets, eccentrics, or springs may be so arranged as to cause the levers to
act together or alternately in the same or opposite directions; or we may
employ one lever and a sliding bar having two projecting armis, to each of
which is fixed a plate to act on the fibre, as in the previous case; or we may
employ a sliding or reciprocating bar carrying fingers to actuate the lever or
levers instead of the rotary shaft.

page_text: Drawings, wherein Figs. 1 and 2 are side and end elevations of part of a
machine for preparing wool and other fibrous substances, technically known as
a "screw gill box," with our improvements applied thereto.
A and B are the ordinary fluted rollers, through which the wool passes after
leaving the gill combs or fallers, and C, D are the two endless travelling cloths
which receive and conduct the wool after coming out or through the said
fluted rollers, and upon one of which it is formed into a lap, all of which parts
are as usual; E and F are two levers working upon studs fixed in a cross
rail or bar G, which levers have an oscillatory motion given to them by means
of cams H and I fixed on a rotary cross shaft J, and by springs K and L
attached to the said rail. Motion is communicated to the rotary shaft J by a
strap M from the shaft N, which also gives motion to the endless cloth C.
On each of these levers is fixed a friction pulley for the cams to act upon,
and a plate or finger P and Q, which as the levers oscillate act upon the edges
of the lap of wool as it is carried along by the travel of the endless cloth, thus
they are constantly striking and pushing the edges inward and compressing it
to a certain arranged width at each stroke of the levers, and thereby preventing
it projecting over or falling off the sides of the cloth and getting entangled in
the working parts of the machine. It will be observed that these cams may
be set or adjusted on the shaft, so as to actuate the levers to strike the lap of
wool either alternately or simultaneously, and by varying the relative sizes
of the strap pullies they may be caused to strike quicker or slower; also it
will be seen that by making these cams double or grooved, as shewn at Fig. 3,
the springs may be dispensed with.
Fig. 4 shews another mode or means of performing or working this Invention,
wherein R is a sliding bar carrying two arms, to which are attached the
plates or fingers P and Q; motion is given to this bar by a lever S hinged
on a stud T and actuated by a cam U fixed on the shaft N, by which each
rotation produces a reciprocation of the bar, consequently causing the plates to
act on the edges of the lap.
Fig. 5 also shews another modification of means for operating the plates or
fingers, where the levers are hinged on a cross rail V (as in the first case) and
are connected by a rod W, to which the lever S is also jointed. In each of
these illustrations provision is made by slots, so as to adjust the levers or set
them at any desirable distance apart according to the width the lap is required
to be made.
Having now shewn and described the nature of our said Invention, and
various means of performing or carrying the same into effect, we however
would have it understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details

page_text: or means herein shewn and described, as still further modifications thereof
may be made therein without departing from the main features of the Invention ;
what we claim and wish to secure by Letters Patent is, the application and
use of self-acting apparatus for keeping wool or other fibrous substances
within the limits of the endless cloth as it is being worked or operated upon
by such machinery, substantially as herein shewn and described."
In witness whereof, I, the said William Maud, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Reuben Ackroyd, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fourth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
seven.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Maud, in
the presence of
ARTHUR B. CROSSLEY,
Clerk to W. Tasker,
Patent Agent,
WILLIAM MAUD. (L.S.)
Halifax and Bradford.