IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE WHEN CONNECTING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF LEATHER FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Holden, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire
of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND DRYING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE WHEN
CONNECTING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF LEATHER FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 5th May 1857, and dated the 30th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Holden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
January 1857.
I, ISAAC HOLDEN, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND
DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE
WHEN CONNECTING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF LEATHER FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
Theimprovements in apparatus for washing wool and other fibrousmaterials
relate to an adaptation of filtering media in a separate chamber to receive the
spent wash waters from apparatus used in washing wool and other fibres, in
order to separate from such spent liquors the fibre which becomes mixed
therewith during the washing, and at the same time to facilitate the conducting
away
of the liquor from which the fibres have been separated. The filtering
media maybe perforated copper or other metal, coarse canvass, or other suitable
material applied to the upper part of a receiving chamber, and so arranged as
to present a considerable surface for receiving the matters from the washing

page_text: apparatus, the sides of which, below the filtering media, I form inclined
or of a hopper form, better to conduct away the wash liquors.
Also, the improvements relate to substituting for the endless cloths or
aprons used in feeding the fibre into such washing apparatus series of bars
or rods affixed to and supported by endless chains, the links of which are
connected together by hinge joints.
Also, the improvements relate to the adaptation of a system of railways as
a means of facilitating the bringing of any of a series of steeping cisterns
(in which the fibre is first steeped) into connexion with the first of a series
of washing apparatus used in washing fibres. For this purpose I apply the
cisterns to railway carriages or wheels, and lay rails in the wash-house or
other place used for the purpose, with turn-tables and sidings, as may be
required.
The slivers of wool or other fibre are conducted from the washing apparatus
through screw gill or other drawing apparatus in order to lay the fibres thereof,
thence to the surfaces of heated cylinders to be dried. And under this part of
the improvements the sliver is conducted by suitable funnels or guides from
one cylinder to the next, in such manner that it may be wound thereon, and
from one to the other and back in a spiral direction, commencing at one end,
and coming off at or towards the opposite, by which increased heating surface
is obtained.
Also, the improvements relate to means by which I connect together adjoin-
ing ends of leather aprons or cloths used in washing apparatus employed in
washing wool and other fibres, and the improvements consist in employing
as the connecting means a plate or plates with studs projecting therefrom,
which are of a conical form, the larger part being that farthest from the
plates, and in placing the edges of the leather to be connected in contact over
the plates, part near one edge on one set of pins, and the other part near the
other edge upon the other set of pins of each plate, and then hammering
the leather thereon till the studs have forced their way through the leather,
when a holding will be found to have been effected much more secure and
durable than when holes are first made in the leather, through which pins or
rivets are simply passed, and then hammered on, as has heretofore been the
practice.
This part of the improvements is also applicable when the ends of leather
are desired to be connected for other purposes, as, for instance, endless aprons
used in other processes, and the driving bands of machinery.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Holden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
HOLDEN,. of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Isaac Holden, Her special licence that I, the said Isaac Holden, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isaac
Holden, 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
WASHING AND DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
IS APPLICABLE WHEN CONNECTING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF LEATHER FOR OTHER PUR-
POSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Holden,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Isaac Holden, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per.
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
The improvements in apparatus for washing wool and other fibrous materials
relate to the adaptation of a system of railways as a means of facilitating the
bringing of any of a series of steeping cisterns (in which the fibre is first
steeped) into connection with the first of a series of washing apparatus used in
washing fibres. For this purpose I apply the cisterns to railway carriages or
wheels, and lay rails in the wash-house or other place used for the purpose,
with turn-tables and sidings, as may be required.
Also, the improvements relate to an adaptation of filtering media in a separate
chamber to receive the spent wash waters from apparatus used in washing wool.

page_text: and other fibres, in order to separate from such spent liquors the fibre which
becomes mixed therewith during the washing,and at the same time to facilitate
the conducting away of the liquor from which the fibres have been separated.
The filtering media may be perforated copper or other metal, coarse canvas,
or other suitable material applied to the upper part of a receiving chamber,
and so arranged as to present a considerable surface for receiving the matters
from the washing apparatus, the sides of which, below the filtering media, I
form inclined, or of a hopper form, better to conduct away the wash liquors.
Also, the improvements relate to substituting for the endless cloths or
aprous used in feeding the fibre into such washing apparatus series of bars
or rods affixed to and supported by endless chains, the links of which are
connected together by hinge joints.
Also, the improvements relate to means by which I connect togetheradjoin-
ing ends of leather aprons or cloths used in washing apparatus employed in
washing wool and other fibres; and the improvements consist in employing as
the connecting means a plate or plates with studs projecting therefrom, which
are of a conical form, the larger part being that furthest from the plates, and
in placing the edges of the leather to be connected in contact over the plates,
part near one edge on one set of pins, and the other part near the other edge
upon the other set of pins of each plate, and then hammering the leather
thereon till the studs have forced their way through the leather, when a
holding will be found to have been effected much more secure and durable
than when holes are first. made in the leather, through which pins or rivets
are simply passed, and then hammered on, as has heretofore been the practice.
This part of the improvements is also applicable when the ends of leather
are desired to be connected for other purposes, as, for instance, endless
aprons used in other processes, and the driving bands of machinery. The
slivers of wool or other fibre are conducted from the washing apparatus
through screw gill or other drawing apparatus, in order to lay the fibres
thereof, thence to the surfaces of heated cylinders to be dried.
Aud under this part of the improvements the sliver is conducted by suit-
able funnels or guides from one cylinder. to the next, in such manner that
it may be wound thereon, and from one to the other and back in a spiral
direction, commencing at one end and coming off at or towards the opposite,
by which increased heating surface is obtained.
But that the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner I carry
the same into effect, may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe
the Drawing annexed.

page_text: Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section; Figure 2, a plan; and Figure 3,
a transverse section of apparatus arranged according to one part of my
Invention. In each of these Figures the same letters indicate like parts
wherever they occur. a, b, c, are successive pairs of expressing rollers,
between which the fibre is passed as it comes from the first steeping chamber
and the subsequent baths. d,d,d, are the feed cloths, for feeding the fibre to
these expressing rollers. A portion of one of these feed cloths is more clearly
shewn by the enlarged Drawing. Figures 4 and 5, e, e, are other rollers
(such as ordinarily employed), the surfaces of which are caused to rotate in an
opposite direction to the surfaces of the lower expressing rollers with which
they are in contact; and is another endless belt, which takes the fibre from
the expressing rollers to deliver it into the trough of suds g. g,g, and h
are the sud baths.
The baths are the steeping chambers in which the fibre is first steeped,
and they are each supported on railway carriages or wheels, so as to be
capable of running on a railwayj.j,so that any one of these cisterns may readily
be brought under the feed cloth d of the first of the series of washing apparatus,
to be emptied of its fibre, while fibre is in process of being steeped in other
baths or steeping cisternsh. Three only of these baths or cisterns are shown
by the Drawing, but their number may be varied. The railway j is of an
ordinary kind,and may be provided with turn tables,sidings, &c., of a character
such as is generally employed on railways, in order to facilitate the transit or
change of the baths or cisterns ; and it is the adaptation ofthe railway system
to facilitate the shifting of such baths or steeping cisterns containing the supplies.
of steeped fibre for the washing apparatus which constitutes one peculiarity of
my Invention. B is the separate chamber, provided with filtering media to
receive the spent wash waters, and separate therefrom any fibres which may
have escaped therewith. The exhausted suds from the bath g pass, first, into
the bath g' by the pipe and thence with the exhausted suds from that bath g¹
to the receiver B by the pipe . The filtering chamber B is formed with
inclined sides n, n, as also a cover or filtering media m, which is secured to
the sides n, n, and the end of the chamber, permanently or otherwise, so as
to avoid openings for the passage of the suds, except through the filtering
material or the holes formed therein for the purpose, so as to prevent the
passage of particles of fibre. This cover m I form of metal, perforated all
over with small holes in such manner that whilst the suds may freely pass
through it the fibres of wool or other matters which may have escaped from

page_text: the washing baths are retained on the surface thereof, and thereby separated
from such suds. The filtering media, in place of being formed of metal
perforated, may be of canvas or other suitable material. The bottom of the
bath B is open, as shewn, freely to deliver the suds into the drain o. The
feed cloths d are composed of solid links d', (Figures 4 and 5,) to which the
bars d, e, are at each end rivetted. These bars de, de, are about the same
length as the pressing rollers a, b, or c. And it is the forming of these feed
cloths of chains of bars which constitutes another pecularity of: my improve-
ments. The endless cloth or belt f, which takes the fibre from the pair of
expressing rollers b, is formed of two or more leather belts, with wooden or
iron rods or bars placed transversely across them and rivetted thereto. These
endless belts are (as more clearly shown by the enlarged views, Figures
6.& 7) united in the following manner is a plate of metal of a length
corresponding with the breadth of the belt to be united.
In this plate are
rivetted two rows of conical pins or rivets f*, the two ends of leather belt f³
which are to be united are placed together over these rivets, so that each end
is upon one row of the rivets, when the leather is to be hammered at the parts
over the rivets till the rivets are thereby forced through the leather, as shown;
by which means it will be found that a more secure and lasting connection to
the two ends of leather will be obtained than is obtained by first perforating
the leather and then passing the rivets through such previously formed holes.
This mode of connecting leather belts or aprons is also applicable to con-
necting lengths of leather for other purposes. And it is the means explained
of connecting together ends of leather aprons, to be used for the purpose
explained, and the application of such means for connecting together the
ends of other leather bands, which constitutes another peculiarity of my
improvements.
Another part of these improvements applies to an adaptation or combination
of means for effecting the drying of wool or other fibres carded or combed in
slivers after it has been scoured. Previous to submitting such fibre to this
part of the process I prefer to pass it in sliver to the action of back washing
rollers, and then through a suitable drawing head, as, for example, a screw gill,
and then to feed it into a machine, according to this part of my improvements,
one of which is represented by side and end views at Figures S and 9. The
fibre to be dried passes from the creel i between a pair of rollers g to the
surface of the drying cylinder e, partly around which it passes,and thence on
to the cylinder e¹, around which it passes to a guide fiby which it is guided
again on to the cylinder e, but in a-somewhat inclined direction, so that the
coil next formed on the cylinder e may lie by the side of the first, and the fibre

page_text: in the second coil having passed round the cylinder e, it is again passed on to
the cylinder e¹, and around that to another guide f, by which it is again con-
ducted back on to the cylinder e in an inclined direction, and so on till the
sliver by being wound spirally from one to the other cylinder, and in a
direction from one end to the other of them, it will be found to be dried;
and the sliver having arrived at the opposite end of the cylinders e, e¹, to
that at which it was fed on them, is thence conducted by another pair of
rollers to a can or other receiver.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
which I have found to answer in carrying out the same, I would have it
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details shewn and
described, so long as the peculiar character of any part thereof be sub-
stantially retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Holden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES, Patent Agent,
73, Chancery Lane, London.
ISAAC HOLDEN. (t.s.)