IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Wright Wilkinson, of Stockport, in the
County of Chester, Cotton Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 25th May 1866, and dated the 5th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Wright Wilkinson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th December 1865.
I, SAMUEL WRIGHT WILKINSON, of Stockport, in the County of Chester,
Cotton Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON-AND- OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in constructing a machine for opening
and cleaning cotton and other fibrous substances with a horizontal, spiked, or
toothed drum or beater partly surrounded by grids of the ordinary con-
struction, and with a cover furnished with diagonal grooves or channels.
The fibrous substances to be opened and cleaned are supplied at one end of the

page_text: drum or beater, either with or without feed rollers, in the ordinary manner, and
when the machine is in operation the fibrous substances are gradually worked
or shunted to the opposite end of the drum or beater, and delivered between
two perforated cylinders in which a partial vacuum is formed by a fan in the
nsual manner, or the fibrous substances may be taken from the machine in
any other convenient manner.
By means of the diagonal grooves or channels above described the fibrous
substances are constantly being taken over fresh portions of the grid, and the
impurities are thus effectually loosened and removed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Wright Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
WRIGHT WILKINSON, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Cotton Spinner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Wright Wilkinson, Her special license that I, the said Samuel
Wright Wilkinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Samuel Wright Wilkinson, 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 OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Samuel Wright Wilkinson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Wright Wilkinson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: 'be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
The nature of my Invention consists in constructing a machine for opening
and cleaning cotton and other fibrous substances with a horizontal spiked or
toothed drum or beater, partly surrounded by grids of the ordinary con-
struction, and with a cover furnished with diagonal grooves or channels.
The fibrous substances to be opened and cleaned are supplied at one end of
the drum or beater, either with or without feed rollers in the ordinary manner;
and when the machine is in operation the fibrous substances are gradually
worked or shunted to the opposite end of the drum or beater, and delivered
between two perforated cylinders, in which partial vacuum is formed by a
fan in the usual manner, or the fibrous substances may be taken from the
machine in any other convenient manner. By means of the diagonal grooves
or channels above described the fibrous substances are constantly being taken
over fresh portions of the grid, and the impurities are thus effectually loosened
and removed.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation; Figure 2
a front view; and Figure 3 a plan of a machine for opening and cleaning
cotton and other fibrous substances, constructed according to my improve-
ments.
a is a horizontal spiked or toothed drum or beater, which is partly
surrounded by grids b; this drum and the grids are of the ordinary con-
struction. Above the drum a is the cover c, the internal surface of which
is provided with the diagonal partitions d, forming grooves or channels between
them, the fibrous substances to be operated upon are supplied through the
opening e, and when opened and cleaned they are thrown out of the passage
f against the perforated cylinders 9 and h, in which a partial vacuum is
formed by a fan as usual. The cleaned fibres after passing between the
cylinders 9 and h are delivered on to the endless creeper i, or otherwise
disposed of. As the drum revolves rapidly in the direction of the arrow, the
fibrous substances fed into the opening e, either by hand or by feed rollers
are first carried over the grids b, and then into the grooves or channels
between the partitions à, by which they are traversed or shunted towards
the opposite end of the drum a. The fibres are continually supplied at the
opening e, and as continuously delivered through the passage f, the diagonal
grooves or channels in the cover c guiding every portion several times over
fresh surfaces of the grids b, before they are ultimately discharged, con-

page_text: sequently the dust and loose impurities are effectually loosened and removed
from the fibres in passing through the machine. As in some cases it may
not be necessary to traverse the fibres over the entire surface of the drum
and grids, I make the opening in a plate fitting in a slide, by which
arrangement the opening can be set in any convenient position nearer
to the delivering end of the drum, as shewn by dotted lines in Figure 8.
Figure 4 is a plan of a compound machine in which two drums or beaters
are employed, the fibres are fed in at e to one end of the drum a, and
traversed to the opposite end thereof by the diagonal grooves or channels in
the cover c; they are then delivered through the passage f to one end of
the drum a', and then traversed to the opposite end thereof by the grooves
or channels in the cover c, when they pass through the passage f¹ to the
perforated cylinders 9 and h, and thence to a creeper, or they are made
into a lap.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and described the manner 1
of performing the same, I declare that I claim the diagonal grooves or
channels in the cover of a spiked or toothed drum or beater, as shewn and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Wright Wilkinson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
S. W. WILKINSON. (L.S.)