IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING OR TEARING RAGS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Doctor of Laws, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING OR TEARING
RAGS." A communication from abroad by Anthony Peple, of
T11 M
TT 1
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 30th December 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton Buildings,
London, Doctor of Laws, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING OR TEARING RAGS," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declara-
tion that it has been communicated to me from abroad by Anthony
Peple, of Lowell, Massachusetts, United States of America.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Haseltine, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming
a part of this Specification :-
-
The said Invention relates to a machine for breaking or tearing one
part of a woven fabric to facilitate removing that part of the said fabric
and preserving the other. It is more especially designed for breaking or
tearing de laines and other similar compound fabrics, in which the
warp is of one material and the filling of another, in the direction of the
warp or filling as the case may be, into narrow strips in order that the
short cross threads of the said strips may be shaken, beaten, brushed,
carded, or' combed out, or otherwise separated from the long threads of
the same.
In its best form the said Invention consists mainly in two or
more breaking cylinders or breakers, each of which cylinders has annular
grooves formed in it, the said grooves being wholly or partly filled
with india-rubber or other suitable elastic material. The cylinders are
placed parallel to each other and pressed together in pairs, so that the
metallic rings projecting from each cylinder between the said grooves
shall work against the rubber rings of the other cylinder, as herein-after
described, the objects of my Invention being to stretch the cloth which
is fed between the said cylinders, and to break those threads of the cloth
which run parallel to the axes of the said cylinders.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a section of a machine embodying my Invention, and shews
two feeding aprons, one for conveying rags or remnants of cloth to the
front pair of breakers, and the other for carrying such rags from the
said front pair of breakers to a second pair of breakers; it also shews
clearing rollers or clearers, which take the cloth from the breakers.
TQ in nlan
f the com
shame tha
Samant

page_text: Figure 4 is a view of portions of two breakers grooved as in Figure 3,
the grooves of the upper breaker being filled with india-rubber, and the
lower breaker covered with a rubber tube.
Figure 5 shews the upper breaker grooved as in Figure 3, but the
grooves are not filled, and the lower breaker is not grooved but covered
with a rubber tube.
Figure 6 is a cross section of a pair of breakers grooved longitudinally
and having said grooves filled with rubber.
Figure 7 shews breakers grooved as in Figure 6, but the grooves in
the lower breaker are not filled, and the lower breaker is covered with a
rubber tube.
Figure 8 shews the upper breaker grooved as in Figures 6 and 7, but
the lower breaker is of plain rubber on a metallic axis as in Figure 5.
Figures 1 and 2 represent the form of machine which best serves the
purpose of reducing cloth to strips; and Figure 3 represents the best
form of breakers. I shall therefore first describe the machine and
breakers shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3. A is a portion of the frame of
the said machine; B is a feeding apron, being a broad endless belt of
cloth, leather, or other suitable material, carried by the rollers C, D;
E, F, are the breakers of the front pair, placed parallel to each other
and one above the other. The working surface of the breakers consists
of rings of metal H alternating with rings of india-rubber I. The said
breakers are so placed that the metallic rings upon each cylinder press
upon the rubber rings of the other breaker of the same pair. The rubber
rings are slightly wider than the steel rings.
The lower breaker E rests in a stationary bearing J, but the bearing K
of the upper breaker F is forced down by the screw M in the slot in the
upright L so as to press the breakers E, F, firmly against each other.
Similar bearings are provided at the end of the breakers. The screw M
in the strap V is bolted to the top of the upright L. Behind the breaker F
is the clearer G, the same being a roller or cylinder with narrow strips
of leather nailed along its entire length, the object of this clearer being
to clear the breaker F of the rags. Below the clearer G is the endless
apron N, which carries the rags from the front pair of breakers E, F, to
the back pair of breakers O, P. The apron N has strips of leather
secured to it and running across it in order that it may serve to clear the

page_text: breaker E. The apron N is not absolutely necessary as its place may be
supplied by a clearer, in which case the back pair of breakers should be
placed as close to the front pair of clearers as possible without touching
them.
The breakers O, P, are precisely like the breakers E, F, and are i
supported in the same manner. They are pressed together in the same
manner as the breakers E, F, and are cleared by clearers G¹, G", in the
same way as the breaker F is cleared. The breakers of the back pair
move very slightly faster than the front pair, in order to take out folds
that may be formed as the rags drop from the front pair of breakers to
the apron N; but the speed of the breakers O, P, should not be great
enough to break the threads which run lengthwise of the strips of cloth.
All the clearers may be in the form of revolving brushes. R is a driving
pulley by which power is communicated to the machine. The different
moving parts are connected by gear wheels Y, as shewn in Figure 2, and
move respectively in the directions shewn by the arrows.
The operation of the machine shewn in Figures 1 and 2 is as follows :—
Rags or remnants of cloth are smoothly spread upon the apron B, the
threads of the cloth which are to be broken lying parallel to the breakers
by the said apron; the rags are carried back to the breakers E, F, which
draw them in, and the said rags are pressed one way by the metallic
rings H on one breaker E, and in the opposite direction by the metallic
rings H on the breaker F, and are at the same time kept from any lateral
motion by being clamped between the rubber rings I on each breaker
and the metallic rings H on the other breaker. The said rags are there-
fore stretched to nearly twice their width, so that those threads which
run lengthwise of the breaking cylinders are broken, and the said rags
are generally delivered behind the first pair of breakers in very narrow
strips, or in such a condition that a slight shaking separates them into
strips. But in order to make the result certain and to open the rags they
are passed through a second pair of breakers. The rags being cleared
from the breakers E, F, by the clearer G and the apron N are carried by
said apron N to the back pair of breakers O, P, through which they
pass. The breakers are then cleared by their clearers G, G", and the
rags are delivered so broken into narrow strips that they will fall apart
by their own weight. The short cross threads of these rags may then be
beaten or shaken out. With regard to the other forms of breakers
herein shown it may be said that the upper breaker need not have the

page_text: rubber packing in the grooves, as scen at the right of the upper breaker
at S, in Figure 3.
Instead of the rubber packing in the grooves the lower breaker may
be covered with a continuous rubber tube W, as in Figure 4, or the
lower breaker may be made without grooves, as shewn at X, Figure 5,
and covered with rubber. The breakers may be grooved longitudinally
parallel to the axis of the breakers, as in Figure 6, where the grooves of
both breakers are filled with rubber I', or as in Figure 7, where the
grooves of the breakers are not filled with rubber, but the lower breaker
is covered with a tube of rubber W¹; or as in Figure 8, where the lower
breaker is not grooved but is covered with rubber X, while the upper
breaker is grooved longitudinally, but not packed with rubber.
With longitudinally grooved breakers great care must be used in
feeding the cloth to be broken, so that the said cloth will enter the
breakers in the right direction, and of course the cloth must be placed
between the breakers in such a way that the threads which it is desired
to save shall run lengthwise of the breakers. Where the lower breaker
is grooved and covered with india-rubber, and where the lower cylinder
is smooth and covered with rubber the rubber tube and rubber cover are
liable to be cut and worn rapidly, so that although their first cost is not
great their use is not economical. In all the breakers above described
where a grooved metallic cylinder presses on a plain rubber cylinder or
tube the elasticity of the rubber causes it to form ridges in the grooves
of the other cylinder, and over these ridges as over the metallic rings the
cloth is broken.
Instead of grooved cylinders grooved flat plates or racks of parallel
bars may be used with the same effect, but with less rapidity, the
grooves in the plates and the spaces between the bars being nearly or
quite filled with some elastic material.
The breakers having annular grooves, as above described, may be
turned from a solid bar of metal, the india-rubber rings being stretched
over them; or the breakers may be formed of alternate discs of rubber
and metal, secured upon a shaft which runs through their centre. The
shaft may be square where it passes through the discs to keep the latter
from turning on said shaft; or the discs may be kept from turning on
the shaft by a spline or key; or the said breakers may be formed of
alternate large and small discs of metal, secured on a shaft by nuts at

page_text: each end of the shaft, or otherwise, and rubber rings stretched over the
large discs, and into the spaces between the large discs. I do not
confine myself to the use of india-rubber, as other suitable substances
may be used.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The combination of a pair of cylinders of metal or other hard
material, both cylinders being grooved, and the grooves of one or both of
the said cylinders being filled or partly filled with india-rubber or other
elastic material, as and for the purpose herein described.
Second. The combination of a pair of cylinders of metal or other hard.
material, both of said cylinders being grooved, and one of the said
cylinders covered with an india-rubber or other elastic tube, as and for
the purpose herein described.
Third. The combination of a pair of cylinders, one consisting of metal
or other hard material and grooved, and the other of india-rubber or
other elastic material, as and for the purpose herein described.
Fourth. The combination of two or more pairs of cylinders of any of
the forms above described, for the purpose herein set forth.
Fifth. A ridged or grooved metallic or other hard surface combined
with and pressed against a surface of india-rubber or other elastic
material, or against strips of india-rubber or other elastic material, as
and for the purpose herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
W. ROBT. LAKE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
GEORGE HASELTINE: (L.S.)