ROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING WOOL, SILK, AND FIBRES FROM FABRICS, AND RENDERING THEM SUITABLE TO BE AGAIN EMPLOYED
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, of Upper Char-
lotte Street, Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING WOOL,
SILK, AND FIBRES FROM FABRICS, AND RENDERING THEM SUITABLE TO BE
AGAIN EMPLOYED."
Sealed the 26th July 1858, and dated the 19th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lambert Adolphe
Beauvais at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 19th April 1853.
I, LAMBERT ADOLPHE BEAUVAIS, of 30, Upper Charlotte Street,
Fitzroy Square, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING WOOL, SILK, AND FIBRES
FROM FABRICS, AND RENDERING THEM SUITABLE TO BE AGAIN EMPLOYED," to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists of combining two circular revolving surfaces

page_text: bottom of a revolving vessel, and the upper one is carried by an axis,
and is caused to revolve in an opposite direction to the lower surface,
such revolutions of the two surfaces being communicated thereto by
suitable gearing. The upper and lower revolving surfaces are caused
to be separated, or to come nearer together by a screw acting on the
axis of the upper revolving surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 18th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
LAMBERT ADOLPHE BEAUVAIS, of Upper Charlotte Street, Fitzroy
Square, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, Her
special licence that I, the said Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, my ex-
ecutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Lambert Adolphe Beauvais; 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 MACHINERY FOR
OBTAINING WOOL, SILK, AND FIBRES FROM FABRICS, AND RENDERING THEM
SUITABLE TO BE AGAIN EMPLOYED," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: 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 Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, 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, reference being had to the drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
My Invention of Improvements in machinery for obtaining wool,
silk, and fibres from fabrics, and rendering them suitable to be again
employed, consists in the employment of a novel or improved
arrangement or construction of machinery for separating the fibres of
woollen or other rags. The apparatus consists principally of a large
round tub or other vessel, the bottom of which is provided with teeth,
rasps, or notches, so as to render the surface uneven or rough. In this
tub (which may be moveable or fixed) is made to rotate a frame which
carries other roughened surfaces or rasps, that are also made to act on
the rags placed in the tub, which is supplied with certain chemical
ingredients, such as soda, carbonate of soda, potash, lime, and oil or
grease. These matters are mixed together, and combined with a
suitable quantity of water. The mixture should be maintained at a
temperature of from ninety to one hundred degrees of Fabrenheit, by
means of a jet or jets of steam which should be allowed to enter
therein, and will materially assist in cleaning the wool, and also in
separating the fibres, and softening and improving the quality of the
fibre that will be obtained by the process.
.
Having thus briefly set forth the object of my Invention, I will now
proceed to describe the mechanical arrangements whereby the Improve-
ments may be carried into effect.
The Figure in the accompanying drawing represents a vertical
section taken through the apparatus, and shews the construction,
arrangement, and mode of operating the principal parts. «, is a round
moveable tub or vessel, through the middle, of which passes a vertical
axis i, that may either turn round with the tub a, or be fixed to two
cross pieces or traverses j. fixed at the lower part of the apparatus;

page_text: these traverses j, are fixed to the four posts or standards k, and there-
fore form part of the framing. A ledge or shelf h, h, is secured to the
upright standards k, k, and carries antifriction rollers 1, 7; upon which
an iron circle b, b, placed under and secured to the bottom of the tub a,
is made to rest. On the under side of the bottom of the tub or vessel a, a,
is also fixed a bevilled tooth wheel m, m, whereby motion is transmitted
to the tub a, from the wheel w. The upper part of the bottom of
the tub is furnished with a rasp having more or less strong notches,
as shewn in the drawing. Two other rasps, blades, or roughened sur-
faces u, are carried by a frame o, which may be made to rise and fall
in the tub a, by means of a screw p, which passes through a screw
box q, q, mounted in guides s, s, which are connected in any convenient
way to the fixed framing.
It will now be understood that by turning this screw p, the two
rasps u,, may be raised up from the notches or roughened surface of
the bottom of the tub a, when required.
Motion is communicated to the several parts through the horizontal
shaft n, on which are mounted two pulleys v, v, one of which is loose
on, and the other fixed to the shaft n. This shaft is furnished with two
wheels u', and u². The wheel u, gears into the wheel m, fixed under
the tub a, and transmits thereto a circular motion; the wheel ², gears
into a similar wheel, at the lower extremity of the vertical shaft a',
the upper part of which carries a pulley y, from which motion is com-
municated, by means of an endless strap or band, or by suitable gearing,
to the pulley, fixed on the hollow shaft w, which receives the upper end
of the vertical shaft i, before mentioned. To this hollow shaft w, is
connected the frame o, which carries the rasps u, u. By means of this
arrangement of parts, it will be perceived that if motion is transmitted
to the tub a, so as to make it rotate to the right, the rasps u, will turn
to the left, and vice versâ, which will be found convenient and advisable
in order to cause a proper current or draught for the dissolution of the
chemical ingredients, and to drag along and wash or cleanse the rags
and fibres at the same time.
Having now described my Invention, and the best means with which
I am at present acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would

page_text: observe in conclusion, that I do not mean to confine myself rigidly to
the precise arrangement of parts herein shewn and described, as they
may doubtless be varied without departing from the nature and object
of my Invention. But that which I consider to be new in the above
described machine, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured
to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, is the combination of the tub or
vessel a, with the rotating frame and rasps or notched surfaces u, u.
I also claim the employment with the machine or apparatus above
described, of the mixture of chemical ingredients above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lambert Adolphe Beauvais, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three
15 Witness,
LAMBERT ADOLPHE BEAUVAIS. (L.S.)
W. E. NEWTON.