Im- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING WOOL OR OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Holden, of Laurel Mount, Baildon,
near Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING WOOL OR OTHER FIBRES."
Sealed the 27th April 1869, and dated the 4th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Holden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th November 1868.
I, EDWARD HOLDEN, of Laurel Mount, Baildon, near Leeds, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING WOOL OR OTHER FIBRES,"
to be as follows:-
In preparing wool or other fibres by mechanical means it has been.
customary to operate upon such fibre by passing it through series of
separate apparatus. In thus working the whole accumulation upon the
apron of one apparatus is in a mass fed into the succeeding one, which I
find to be objectionable; and the object of my Invention is to operate
more effectively upon the fibre and reduce the number of operations

page_text: upon it by passing it through apparatus arranged to effect a draft on
such fibre between sets of gill combs; and I find it convenient to
employ drawing rollers as the means of effecting such draft between the
sets of gill teeth, though I do not confine myself thereto. The gill teeth
receiving the fibre from such drawing means will as occasion require be
speeded to effect draft. Drawing rollers will also be applied to receive
the fibro from the last of the gill teeth, and in passing from these last
drawing rollers the fibre may be received on to an apron or into cans
as desired. Aprons are used with the drawing rollers,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Holden in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HOLDEN, of Laurel Mount, Baildon, near Leeds, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Holden, Her special
licence that I, the said Edward Holden, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward 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,
excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING WOOL OR OTHER FIBRES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Holden, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In preparing wool or other fibre by mechanical means it has been
customary to operate upon such fibre by passing it through series of
separate apparatus, each apparatus being furnished with a single set of
bars of gill combs. By thus working the whole accumulation upon tlie
apron of one apparatus is in a mass fed into the succeeding one, which I
have found to be objectionable; and the object of my Invention is to
operate more effectively upon the fibre and at the same time to reduce
the number of operations upon it by passing it through apparatus
arranged to effect a draft on such fibre between sets of gill combs, and
I find it convenient to employ drawing rollers as the means. of effecting
such draft between the sets of gill teeth, though I do not confine myself
thereto. The gill teeth receiving the fibre from such drawing means will
as occasion require be speeded to, effect draft. Drawing rollers are also
applied to receive the fibre from the last of the gill teeth, and in passing
from these last drawing rollers the fibre may be received on to an apron
or into cans as desired. Aprons are used with the drawing rollers.
But that the Invention may be better understood I will, by the aid of
the accompanying Drawing proceed to describe means pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing shews a sectional view of so much of the operating parts
of the apparatus as will serve to illustrate to persons acquainted with
apparatus used in the process of preparing wool and other fibro the
nature of the Invention.
a is the feed apron on which the fibre to be operated upon is laid, and
by which it is conducted to between the rollers b, b, and thence to the
first set of gill combs c, by which it is partially opened or straightened, as
is well understood. The fibre carried forward by these combs c is thence
taken between the drawing rollers d, d, and by the increased speed of
these rollers as compared with that of the combs c it is drawn or
straightened. The fibre thence passes to the combs e, which are caused
to travel at a speed greater than that of the rollers d, d, by which it is
further opened out or straightened; from the combs e it is conducted to
the delivery rollers, and apron g.

page_text: In operating upon ordinary English wool I find it useful for the speed
of the rollers d to be about three times that of the combs c, and for the
speed of the combs e to be about three times that of the rollers d, but
these speeds may be considerably varied to the class or character of fibre
for the time under operation, as will readily be understood by persons in
the habit of working wool and other fibres requiring to be operated upon
by gill combs. The pitch of the screws or otherwise the means employed
for giving the progressive motion to the respective sets of gill combs
may correspond one with the other or be varied, as will also be readily
understood.
Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, the arranging or combining apparatus for preparing wool or
other fibres whereby draft is effected on the fibre between separate sets
or series of gill combs, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Holden, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
EDWARD HOLDEN. (L.S.)