IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING JUTE AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Fairweather Low, of Monifieth, in the
County of Forfar, North Britain, Machine Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING JUTE AND SIMILAR
FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 21st August 1868, and dated the 28th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Fairweather
Low at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th February 1868.
I, JAMES FAIRWEATHER LOW, of Monifieth, in the County of Forfar,
North Britain, Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING JUTE AND
SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for preparing jute and similar
fibrous materials by submitting them to a scutching, teasing, hackling,
combing, snipping, or similar action; and it consists principally in
adapting to such apparatus certain improved means or appliances for
holding the fibrous materials whilst conveying or feeding them progres-
sively through the apparatus.

page_text: The improved holding appliances comprise a drum or cylinder
mounted so as to revolve nearly in contact with a shell or casing, and
between these pass the parts of the fibrous materials by which those
materials are held, whilst the remainder projects or hangs out from
the end of the drum, by the slow revolving of which it is gradually
carried across the space, wherein it is acted upon by the scutching,
hackling, or other preparing apparatus.
The fibrous materials are laid transversely on an endless apron
arranged to feed them in between the holding drum and casing, and
a similar endless apron receives them at the other end of the casing.
Two or more of the holding drums may be used, the fibrous materials
passing in contact with them in succession. The surface of the holding
drum may be corrugated, pinned, or otherwise formed or fitted to
increase its hold upon the fibrous materials. If a large revolving
cylinder fitted with steel pins is used for hackling or preparing the
fibrous materials the holding drum may be arranged at right angles or
at some other. suitable angle to the hackling cylinder, and the surface
of the latter may be cylindrical (that is straight longitudinally) or more
or less curved longitudinally.
The holding appliances may however be used with any of the ordinary
forms of scutching, hackling, combing, or other preparing mechanism,
and produce a continuous automatic feed of the fibrous materials, so
that a much larger quantity can be dealt with in a given time than
can be operated upon in the ordinary preparing machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent 2
filed by the said James Fairweather Low in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FAIRWEATHER Low, of Monifieth, in the County of Forfar, North
Britain, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Fairweather Low, Her
special licence that I, the James Fairweather Low, my executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns,. or such others- as I, the said James
Fairweather Low, 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. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING
JUTE AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I,.the said James Fairweather Low, 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 James Fairweather Low, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed,. to be particularly described and ascertained. in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say --
My said Invention relates to apparatus for preparing jute and similar
fibrous materials by submitting them to a scutching, teasing, hackling,
combing, snipping, or similar action, and it consists principally in
adapting to such preparing apparatus certain improved means or
appliances for holding the fibrous materials whilst conveying or feeding
them progressively through the apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I have hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing,
by way of example, a jute snipping or fibre preparing machine as
constructed with a modification of my improved holding and feeding.
appliances.
Figure 1 is a plan of the machine; Figure 2, a side clevation, and.
Figure 3, a back end elevation. The same reference numerals are used
to mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.
In this example, a large revolving cylinder 1 fitted with steel pins is
used for snipping, hackling, or preparing, the fibrous materials being.
fixed on a horizontal shaft 2 mounted in bearings in two cast-iron

page_text: frames 3, 3, which form the sides of the machine. The shaft 2 has
on one end fast-and-loose pulleys 4 to receive a driving belt from a
convenient shaft overhead, and on the other end a pulley 5 for a belt 6
which imparts motion to the feeding appliances. The side frames 3
are connected by various transverse frame bars and tie rods, and a
casing 7 is provided to receive the tow or snippings and dust separated
by the operation of the machine.
My improved holding appliances comprise a drum or cylinder 8 which
in the example shown in the Drawings is mounted on a horizontal
shaft 9, so as to revolve nearly in contact with a concave shell or
casing 10, and between these pass the parts of the fibrous materials 11,
by which those materials are held, whilst the parts to be acted on
project or hang out from the end of the drum 8, by the słow revolving
of which they are gradually carried across the space wherein they are
acted upon by the hackling cylinder 1 or other preparing apparatus.
The shaft 9 of the feeding drum 8 is mounted in bearings on the under
sides of three transverse frame bars 12 fixed across the tops of the side
frames 3, and it is disposed at right angles to the shaft 2 of the main
hackling cylinder 1, but at a higher level than that shaft; whilst it is
driven by means of a worm wheel 13 fixed on it and actuated by a
worm on a transverse horizontal shaft 14. The worm shaft 14 has fast
on it a pulley 15 which receives the belt 6 from the pulley 5 on the
main cylinder shaft 2, that belt being carried round two guide pulleys
16, 17, revolving on studs fixed in one of the side frames 3. The
concave shell or casing 10 which encircles the lower part of the holding
and feeding drum 8 is fixed on a transverse frame piece 18 and is
formed with horizontal entering and removal tables 19, 20. The fibrous
materials 11 are laid over the entering table 19, being pushed forward
by the attendant until taken hold of by the holding and feeding drum 8,
and after being operated upon they are delivered by that drum upon the
table 20, from which they are removed as they accumulate.
When applying for the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent I
proposed to employ endless travelling aprons for leading the materials to
and from the holding drum 8, but I find them to be unnecessary; they
may however still be used, if preferred. The surface of the holding
drum 8 is represented as pinned, so as to increase its hold on the fibrous
materials; it may however be corrugated or otherwise roughened with
that object. Two or more of the holding drums 8 may be used in
connection with one main hackling cylinder or other piece or set of

page_text: preparing apparatus, the fibrous materials passing in contact with them
in succession. A cover which is indicated by dotted lines at 21, in
Figure 2, is applied to keep the fibrous materials down upon the
hackling cylinder 1; this cover being hinged at one end to the end of
the cover of the casing 7, and having its other end next the holding
cylinder 8 adjusted by means of a screwed rod; the corners of this
cover 21 arc turned up so that the fibrous materials may enter easily
under it.
The holding and feeding drum 8 when fitted with pins, as herein-1
before described, may be conveniently made with a wooden surface; it
may however be made of iron or other material, if preferred; it
may also
be arranged with its shaft at any suitable angle relatively to the main
hackling cylinder 1, and it may be made cylindrical (that is, straight
longitudinally), as shown, or more or less curved longitudinally. The
main hackling cylinder 1 may also be made straight, as shown or more
or less curved longitudinally.
My improved holding appliances may be used with any of the ordinary
forms of scutching, hackling, combing, or other preparing mechanism,
and produce a continuous automatic feed of the fibrous materials, so
that a much larger quantity can be dealt with in a given time than can
be operated upon in the ordinary preparing machines.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated,
but that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the holding and feeding of jute and similar fibrous materials
in preparing apparatus by means of improved appliances, substantially
such as are herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Fairweather Low, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-cight.