IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Briggs, of Castleton Mills, near Rochdale, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, and William Souter, of the same
Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Briggs and
William Souter at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 1st December 1854.
We, EDWARD BRIGGS, of Castleton Mills, near Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, and WILLIAM SOUTER, of the same Place, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR GASSING YARN AND THREAD" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the saving of time and labour in gassing
yarn and thread, and consists in supporting a hank of yarn or thread upon
two rollers, one of which revolves in moveable bearings so as to be able to
vary the distance between the rollers, thereby imparting the requisite tension
to the yarn or thread to be operated upon. The yarn or thread, being
distributed over the surface of the rollers, is gassed by means of a series of
jets or burners acting on all the yarns or threads of the hank at once.
The yarn or thread is made to pass over a pad or rubber, to cleanse the same
as it comes from the gassing; and for some descriptions of yarn or thread
moisture is applied either previous to or during the operation.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Briggs and William Souter in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 31st May 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,, we, EDWARD
BRIGGS, of Castleton Mills, near Rochdale, in the County of Laucaster, Manu-
facturer, and WILLIAM SOUTER, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand, eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Edward Briggs and William Souter, Her special license that
we, the said Edward Briggs, and William Souter, our executors, adminis-
trators,, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Briggs and
William Souter, 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
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR GASSING YARN AND THREAD," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Edward Briggs and William Souter, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of either of us, 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 we, the said Edward Briggs and William Souter, 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 Specification thereof, reference_being_had_to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings (that is to say):-
Our said Invention consists in the combination and arrangement of
machinery and apparatus for gassing yarn or thread in the hank, in contra-
distinction from the method commonly practised of gassing yarn or thread
as it is unwound from one -bobbin and wound on another, the said improve-
ments being more especially applicable to dyed yarns or threads. - ..
We have in the said Drawings given Figures to show how our improve-

page_text: ments may be constructed, similar parts in each of the views being marked
with similar letters of reference.
Fig. 1 of the said Drawings is an elevation of a machine, constructed
according to
g to our improvements; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.
In these views, a is the hank of yarn to be gassed; 6 is a roller, supported
in stationary: bearings, and c is a roller supported in moveable bearings
around which rollers-the-hank-a-passes; -d-is-a-gas-pipe, with burners,
through which the gas passes for removing, when ignited, the fibres pro-
jecting from the yarn under operation; e is a rubber, either stationary or
revolving, covered with plush or other-suitable material, the action of which
on the
yarn serves to remove the impurities adhering thereto; the brush or
roller e is cleansed by the card roller f, from which the dust or other impurities
are struck by the comb g. Above the gas burners d'is the tube h, in which a
partial vacuum is formed by the fan in the case i; the object of this has
been before described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to said
Edward Briggs, on the Twelfth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four, and forms no part of our present Invention. The same fan is also
made to remove the dust struck out of the yarn by the rubber e, by means of
the spout j, reaching from the said rubber to the fan.
The mode of operation is as follows:-When the attendant wishes to place
a fresh hank in the machine, he turns the handle k round, thereby giving
motion to the screws and to the bearings m, in which the roller c revolves;
by this means the roller c is made to approach the roller b. When the hank has
been put on, the attendant turns the handle k in the contrary direction, thereby
moving the roller c into its original position, and at the same time giving the
requisite tension to the yarn. The driving strap is then put on the driving
pulley, on the shaft of the roller b, by which means the various parts of the
machine are set in motion, the rubber e being driven by a worm, worm wheel,
and bevil wheels, clearly shewn in the Drawings. The gas from the burners d
is then ignited, and the processes of gassing and cleansing the yarn proceed
until the yarns or threads are sufficiently free from fibre. The yarn may
either be moistened before, or when it is distended over the rollers b and c;
when it is moistened on the rollers, we propose to place a trough containing
the moistening liquid near the roller b, and place a roller, whose surface touches
the roller b, in the said trough.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not claim any
of the elements of the machinery or apparatus as forming any part of our

page_text: Invention apart from the combination and application thereof for the purposes
above described; and that what we do claim is, the combination and arrange-
ment of machinery and apparatus for gassing yarn and thread in the bank.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Briggs and William Souter,
have hereunto, set our hands and seals, this Thirtieth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
EDWARD PRICCS