IMPROVEMENTS IN AP- PARATUS USED IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brown, of Bradford, in the County
of York, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AP-
PARATUS USED IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL."
Sealed the 11th March 1854, and dated the 1st October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st October 1858.
I, WILLIAM BROWN, of Bradford, in the County of York, Mechanic,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATE-
BIAL" to be as follows:-
My improvements relate exclusively to means for washing wool and
other fibrous material in the raw state, and consist,―
First, of arrangement and combination of apparatus for conducting
the fibre through the wash liquor, and for raising and conducting it
therefrom. The wool or other fibre, fed into one end of the apparatus
from a travelling apron or other suitable feed, is conducted down into
Di 917

page_text: and carried along the trough or cistern containing the wash liquor by
blades or plates laid transversely across an endless belt or chains ex-
tended between a pair of cylinders, and at the other end the fibre is taken
up by spikes or points projecting from an endless chain or series of
chains passing oversuitable guide rollers, one of such guide pulleys being
near the bottom of the trough orcistern, and the endless chain or series
of chains is placed at an angle, better to take up the fibre out of the
wash liquor, and to allow it to fall off as it passes over the top guide
roller. The fibre thus taken upout of the water by the chain or series of
chains of points falls over into a trough which conducts it on to a series
of travelling chains (by preference of the kind called "jack chains "),
which admit of the wash water passing between them, and conduct
the fibre to expressing rollers, there being between such last-mentioned
travelling chains, and (by preference) arranged alternately with them,
fixed plates projecting upedgewise, by which the fibre is prevented from
being held by the chains. In connection with the above I also use a
rapidly revolving frame, furnished with blades, to receive and open out
the fibre received from the expressing rollers. In place of using an
endless belt or chain of plates or blades to conduct the wool through the
wash water to the lifting apparatus, I sometimes simply use ordinary
cylinders with blades or other means for that purpose; and,
Secondly, my improvements consist in combining together cisterns or
troughs with apparatus for washing wool or other fibrous material in a
raw state, the wool being conducted from one to the succeeding cisterns
or troughs by the working of the combined apparatus without the assist-
ance of the attendant. I put the wool through an ordinary soap sud
or other washing liquor in the first cistern, from the end of which it is
delivered into the second cistern, in which is pure water, or water very
slightly charged with soap; it then passes into a third cistern which
contains a scouring sud; and,
Thirdly, this washing in pure water between the two or more scouring
processes is an important part of my Invention.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM BROWN, of Bradford, in the County of York, Mechanic, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Brown, Her special licence
that I, the said William Brown, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Brown, 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 APPARATUS USED IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Brown,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Iuvention, 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 William Brown, do hereby declare
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):
My improvements relate exclusively to means for washing wool and
other fibrous material in the raw state, and consist,-
First, of arrangement and combination of apparatus for conducting
the fibre through the wash liquor, and for raising and conducting it
therefrom

page_text: Secondly, my improvements consist in combining together cisterns
or troughs with apparatus for washing wool or other fibrous material
in a raw state; and,
Thirdly, my improvements consist in employing pure water, or water
very slightly charged with soap, as a cleansing means, intermediate of
two or more of such combined washing or scouring processes.
But that the nature of my Invention, and the means by which I
carry the same into effect, may be fully understood, I will proceed to
explain the Drawings annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, shews a longitudinal section; Figure 2, a side view; and
Figure 3, a plan of apparatus arranged according to my Invention.
a, a, is the trough or cistern containing the wash liquor, and the wool or
other fibre to be washed is fed to this trough or cistern by means of
the endless apron 6, which passes over the rollers 61,62, and by the rota-
tion of one of them has a travelling motion given to it to carry the
wool or other fibre towards the series of blades or plates c, c, by which
such wool or other fibre will be conducted down into and carried along
the cistern or trough a. The blades or plates c, c, are each affixed to
boards cx, carried by the links of a pair of endless chains o¹, c¹, (or
they may be affixed to other endless belts or chains,) passing over
suitable guide pulleys or cylinders c², to which rotary motion is given,
as hereafter explained. As the blades or plates c, travel in the direc-
tion indicated by the arrow, each as it comes into position to receive a
fresh supply from the apron 6, or other suitable feeding means, takes its
quantity of fibre, and conducts it along the lower portion of the trough
or cistern a, by which it becomes acted upon by that portion of the
wash liquor which is most thoroughly impregnated with the cleansing
matters used. The wool or other fibre having traversed the trough or
cisterna, is taken upon a series of points or spikes d, which are set in
bars or ribs d', carried by the pair of endless chains d², or these points
may be affixed to other number of chains, or into an endless cloth or
apron. The chains d³, pass over the rollers d³, by one of which they
have motion given to them in the direction of the arrow to take the wool

page_text: or other fibre up out of the troughor cisterna; and the chains of spikes
or points d, are placed at an angle, the better to take up the fibre out of
the wash liquor; and when the wool or other fibre thus taken out of
the cistern or trough a, is passing over the upper of the rollers d³, it
falls off the points or spikes d, through the trough e, by which it is
conducted on to a series of travelling chains f, which chains I prefer to
be of the kind commonly called "jack chains," and there are arranged
between and (by preference) so as to alternate with these chains f, sta-
tionary plates g. The chains and plates thus arranged admit of the
wash water from the fibres passing down between them, whence falling
on the trough A, it is conducted back to the trough or cistern a. The
series of chains f, conduct the fibre to the expressing rollers k, whilst
the intermediate stationary plates g,prevent the fibre being held by the
chains. The expressing rollers, turn in suitable bearings carried by
the framing, as shewn, and the upper one has pressure put upon it by
means of the weighted arms k³, as shewn. The wool or other fibre as
it comes from the expressing rollers is acted upon by blades i, carried
by the rapidly revolving frame i¹, by which it is opened out, and it is
thence received into any suitable receiver; or it may, according to the
second part of my Invention, be received from the apparatus i, on to
another apron b, b, (similar to the apron b, before described); or it
may be at once deposited from the apparatus i, into the next cistern,
without the intervention of the apron b, b, to go through like treatment
in a series of apparatus. Motion is given to the various parts of this
apparatus in the following manner:-Upon the main shaft or axisj, is
affixed a drum or pulley ji, which is driven by means of a strap or
band from a steam engine or other power, and upon this shaft j, is also
affixed the pinion 12, which takes into and drives the toothed wheel k²,
upon the axis of the lower of the expressing rollers k. Upon the axis
j, are also affixed pulleys ³, and 2, which, by means of bands 1³, and 12,
drive the pulleys i4, and 2, respectively affixed on the axis of the frame
¹, and of the axis 18. Upon the axis 13, is also affixed the pinion 14,
which takes into and drives the toothed wheel 15, affixed on the axis of
the upper roller d³, upon which axis is affixed the pulley f¹, which, by
means of the strap or band f³, drives the pulleys, on the axis of one of
the rollers f, carrying the chains f, to give motion to them. The chains

page_text: c¹, have motion given to them from the axis ³, by means of a pulley c³, on
that axis, around which, and a pulley 4, on the axis of one of the pulleys
or cylinders c², passes the band or strap c5. Upon the axis of the other
pulley c², is afhxed the pulley 63, around which passes a strap 64, by
which motion is give to the pulley 65, affixed to the axis of the roller b
In place of using an endless belt or chain of plates c, c, to conduct the
wool through the wash waters to the lifting apparatus, I sometimes
simply use ordinary cylinders, with blades or other means for that pur-
pose, as shewn by the longitudinal section, Figure 4. As, however, in
this arrangement the parts are otherwise but slightly modified from
what I have already described, I have thought it unnecessary to do
more than apply the same letters to the like parts wherever they
occur.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention I connect together
several washing apparatus, preferring for this purpose such as described
under the first head of my Invention, and the wool or other fibre is
conducted from one to the succeeding cisterns or troughs, after being
acted upon by suitable apparatus in connection therewith by the working
of the combined apparatus, without the assistance of the attendant.
Figure 5, shows a small diagram of three cisterns or troughs and
their apparatus arranged according to this part of the Invention. I
put the wool or other fibre through an ordinary soap sud or other
washing liquor in the first cistern or trough A, from the end of which
it is conducted into the second cistern or trough B, containing pure
water, or water very slightly charged with soap; it then passes into a
third cistern or trough C, which contains a scouring sud. The third
cistern C, is elevated above the cistern A, in order to facilitate the
drawing off of the partially used sud from the cistern C, to supply the
first cistern.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details
herein shewn and described; but what I claim is,―
First, the arrangement and combination of and mode of working
apparatus as described in respect of Figures 1,2,3, and 4, for washing
wool and other fibrous material in the raw state.
Secondly, I claim the combining together several cisterns or troughs

page_text: and their apparatus to work in combination for washing wool and other
fibrous material in the raw state, as herein explained; and,
Thirdly, I claim for the washing of wool and other fibrous material
in the raw state in pure water, or water very slightly charged with soap,
between two or more scouring processcs, as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
10 Witness,
GEO. HARROWBY,
Bradford,
York 50.
WILLIAM BROWN. (L.S.)