IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINES FOR BURRING OR CLEANING WOOL
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richardson, of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINES FOR BURRING OR CLEANING WOOL."
Scaled the 18th September 1868, and dated the 25th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richardson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th March 1868..
I, WILLIAM RICHARDSON,. of Oldham; in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BURRING OR CLEANING WOOL," to.
be as follows:-
My Invention refers to those machines for burring or cleaning wool,.
in which there is what is commonly called a fine comb cylinder. or.
similar apparatus, and consists in causing the material to be drawn to
the said cylinder by pressure of air. For this purpose I propose to place
a fan or equivalent apparatus in connection with the interior of the
cylinder, by which means air is exhausted therefrom and the wool is

page_text: drawn on to the combs until it has been cleaned and brushed off in the
usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, 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 William Richardson, Her special license
that I, the said William Richardson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Richardson, 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
MACHINES FOR BURRING OR CLEANING WOOL," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said William Richardson, 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 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 William Richardson, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:-
My Invention refers to those machines for burring or cleaning wool,
in which there is what is commonly called a fine comb cylinder, that

page_text: is, a cylinder provided with combs or teeth which detain the material
while it is deprived of burrs, and is otherwise cleaned by brushes, combs,
rollers, or other such mechanism, and consists in causing the material
to be drawn to the said cylinder by pressure of air. For this purpose I
place a fan or equivalent apparatus in connexion with the interior of the
cylinder, by which means air is exhausted therefrom and the wool is
drawn on to the combs until it has been cleaned and brushed off in the
usual manner.
The mechanical arrangement for carrying out my Invention may be
varied, as will be evident to all competent persons, but I will describe
a method which I have found to be convenient.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents the fine comb
cylinder and exhausting apparatus in cross section, and Fig. 2 in longi-
tudinal section.
The cylinder is at a provided with openings b, which are partially
overlapped by the fine combs e extending as usual around the cylinder,
but three only are shewn in the Drawing. The axis of the cylinder is
a d. Enclosing this shaft and extending upward are wind truncks f, f*,
united at top by a cross trunk, which is provided with a chamber g
containing a fan h driven by a strap * proceeding from any suitable
source of rotatory motion, the bearings of the shaft of the said fan being
carried by the wind trunk at i, i*. Atj is the outlet of the fan chamber.
On ratotory motion being communicated to the cylinder a, and at the
same time to the fan h, the wind trunk f, f*, becomes partially
exhauxted, and the air passing through the spaces & between the arms
of the cylinder enters the trunk through the openings 1, and passes
outward at j, drawing the material into contact with the combs c, and
it is thus held by them until the usual process of burring and cleaning
has been effected, while at the same time dust and other impurities are
discharged with the air into any convenient situation. The Drawing
does not shew the feeding apparatus, the combs and rollers by which
the material is cleansed, and the brush or other apparatus by which the
material is removed; these may consist of any arrangement now in use
and constitute no part of my Invention. At m are doors through which
any loose fibres which accumulate in the cylinder may be withdrawn.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I

page_text: desire it to be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, and in reference to such machines as
aforesaid, the application of a fan or equivalent apparatus for withdrawing.
air from the comb cylinder..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richardson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-
eight.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON. (L.S.)