IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR. PREPARING, COMBING, DRAWING, AND SPINNING WOOL, FLAX, COTTON, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Whitehead, of the firm of Taylor, Words-
worth, and Company, in Leeds, in the County of York, Machine and
Tool Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR.
PREPARING, COMBING, DRAWING, AND SPINNING WOOL, FLAX, COTTON, SILK,
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 2nd June 1854, and dated the 7th April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Whitehead at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
April 1854.
I, THOMAS WHITEHEAD, of the firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, & Co., in Leeds,
in the County of York, Machine and Tool Makers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING,
COMBING, DRAWING, AND SPINNING WOOL, FLAX, COTTON, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved construction of the machinery now iu
use for the above-mentioned processes.

page_text: 1st, I propose to use indented metal, horn, bone, or ivory plates or combs
for drawing, preparing, and combing fibrous substances, in lieu of gill pins,
attached to fallers, porcupines combs, or other gills.
2d, I propose to employ fallers, nippers, and carrying combs of a convex
instead of a concave form, and also a circular travelling or passing comb, having
its teeth on its periphery or edge, instead of being fixed on the flat surface, for
the purpose of combing fibrous materials, whether in combination with any
improvement previously patented, or in any other mode of combing by
machinery.
3d, I propose to comb fibrous materials by means of a rotary gill, porcupine,
or circular filling head, armed with pins, teeth, or metal indented plates, with a
guard or shell partially surrounding it, and which is fed with slivers or sheets
of fibrous material in the usual way, but which has, in addition to its ordinary
rotary motion on its own axis, an oscillating motion, which causes it to deliver
at each oscillation a portion of the fibre on to a travelling or passing comb, in
such a manner that the action of the travelling or passing comb shall detach
the dirt and the short fibre, so that the drawing rollers may take off the fibre
from it in a combed endless sliver.
4th, I propose to introduce carrying rollers, either cold, or heated by steam
or otherwise, into hot water spinning frames, and either with or without per-
forated holes to damp the roving as it passes from the holding to the drawing
roller, and generally I propose to heat the carrying or holding rollers in draw-
ing and spinning machinery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WHITEHEAD, of the firm of "Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company," of Leeds, in
the County of York, Machine and Tool Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Whitehead, Her special license, that I, the said Thomas Whitehead,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas &

page_text: Whitehead, 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
PREPARING, COMBING, DRAWING, AND SPINNING WOOL, FLAX, COTTON, SILK, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Whitehead, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Thomas Whitehead, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates, first, to the application of a novel construction of
comb to drawing, preparing, and combing machinery, to be used in lieu of the
ordinary gill pins of such machinery.
The combs which I employ for this purpose are formed from plates of metal,
or horn or bone, natural or factitious, teeth being cut on one edge thereof in
the ordinary manner of cutting comb teeth. These combs I attach to gill bars
or fallers, or to rollers, to form porcupine rollers or otherwise, where they may
be advantageously applied.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figures 1 shew in front and end elevation
a faller constructed according to this Invention; and Figures 2, a front and
end elevation of a passing comb. It will be understood, that according
to the use to which the combs are to be applied, they will consist of one
plate, or of two, three, or more plates attached together, as shewn in the end
view, Figures 2.
This Invention relates, secondly, to the employment in combing machinery
of convex fallers, nippers, and carrying combs in conjunction with circular
travelling or passing combs, provided with radial pins at their periphery; the
object being to make the delivery of the fibres from the nippers to the passing
or travelling comb more equal than heretofore, and also to avoid the necessity
for bending the carrying or taking comb when it comes to the nippers to
receive the fibres therefrom. Figures 3 represent in side and end eleva-

page_text: tion a gill or faller, constructed according to this part of the Invention.
Figures 4 represent in elevation and cross section the nippers for receiving the
fibres under operation from the convex faller; and Figures 5 shew in front
and side elevation the carrying or taking comb, which transfers the fibres from
the nippers to the pins or teeth of the circular travelling or passing comb,
from which they are removed in a combed or drawn state by the ordinary
stripping or drawing rollers. Figures 6 represent in side and edge views my
improved circular travelling comb, which is provided with pins or teeth on its
periphery. It will be understood that the curve of the gills, nippers, and
taking comb will correspond to a segment of the circular comb in combination
with which they are to be employed, whatever diameter that comb may be,
and that by this arrangement the taking comb will take up the fibres from the
nippers without changing its curved form (as in Lister's combing machine),
to suit the flat face of the nippers, and transfer the fibres in an even and
uniform manner to the circular comb, whereby the lapping of the fibres
round the comb pins, and the consequent formation of noils or knots, is
avoided, which inconveniences are due to the ordinary filling or transferring
comb, laying some of the fibres too far over the teeth of the combs.
This Invention relates, thirdly, to a novel mode of applying rotary gill
cylinders or porcupine rollers to the combing of fibrous materials, the object
being to produce a simple and efficient combing machine. Fig. 7 represents
in sectional elevation so much of a combing machine as will serve to explain
my improved mode of operating with gill or porcupine rollers. These rollers
are shewn at a, a, as arranged in pairs and mounted in vibrating frames b, b,
on opposite sides of the central passing comb. At their lower ends these
frames carry friction bowles, which bear upon rotating cams c, c, keyed to their
respective shafts d, d, which shafts have their bearings in the main framing.
Connected to the shafts d, d, and capable of rocking thereon, are guide rods e,
which respectively enter grooves in the frames b, b, for the purpose of guiding
them in their upward and downward movements, which movements are pro-
duced by the rotation of the cams c. The frames are severally connected by
rods to a rotating crank arm f, and motion is given to these crank arms for the
purpose of rocking the frames b, and causing them alternately to approach to
and recede from a passing comb g, of any suitable construction, set in the
middle of the machine. The red circles represent the gearing for transmitting
motion from one of the shafts d (which is the main driving shaft) to the other,
and to the axles of the crank arms. Immediately above each gill roller a, and
carried by the frame 6, is a pair of feed rollers h, which receive the fibre to be

page_text: combed from a ball of sliver or roving i, set above them, and conduct it to the
gill roller beneath. This ball of sliver is also carried by the vibrating frame b.
Each gill roller is provided with a curved case or shield, which partially
surrounds it, and assists in laying the fibres which are carried up by the pins
of the gill roller on to the passing comb. These shields may, however, if
thought desirable, be dispensed with. Rotary motion may be imparted to the
feed rollers h and to the gill or porcupine rollers of each frame b from the
shafts & by the following means:-On each shaft d is a finger j, which, by
striking in its rotation against the pins of a stop wheel k, keyed to a shaft 1,
carried by the frames b, will impart an intermittent axial motion to the shaft 7.
If then this shaft is provided with a worm, as at m, gearing into a worm wheel n
on the axle of the gill or porcupine roller, an intermittent axial motion will
be communicated to that roller. A spur wheel on the axle of the gill roller a,
gearing into a spur pinion on the axle of one of the feed rollers h, will transmit
rotary motion to the feed rollers, and thus the sliver will be drawn down and
fed on to the gill roller.
The action of the machine is as follows:-Rotary motion being given to the
main driving shaft, the cams care caused to rotate, and alternately raise and
depress their respective frames, by acting on the bowls provided at the lower
end of the frames. When a frame is raised to its highest position by its cam,
its crank will cause it to approach the passing comb; in the meanwhile the
gill roller will have drawn down and passed out from its case a portion of sliver,
which by the forward movement of the frame will now be laid on to the passing
comb J. The brush o, which is carried by a rocking arm p, actuated by a cam
on the axle of one of the crank arms f, will next descend, and press the fibres
between the teeth of the comb g; after which the frame will make its return
vibration, and draw back the gill roller from the passing comb, in the teeth of
which the fibres which were laid on the comb will be left. The gill frame on
the opposite side of the machine will, simultaneously with the retiring of this
frame, approach the passing comb and feed it in like manner, and thus the
operation will proceed continuously, the passing comb receiving, as is well
understood, an intermittent progressive motion, whereby the fibres with which
it is charged are carried forward to the strippers or drawing-off rollers, and
empty pins come up in a line with the gill rollers to be charged with
partially combed sliver.
From the above description, it will be understood that this part of the
Invention is confined to filling the teeth of the passing comb with partially
combed fibres, and that any suitable arrangement of passing comb and drawing-

page_text: off rollers or strippers may be employed in connection with my Invention.
Thus, if, for example, it is preferred to use as a passing comb a circular
comb, rotating in a horizontal plane, the periphery of the gill or porcupine
rollers must take a curve corresponding to the line of pins or teeth of the comb.
I propose to employ in this machine gill or porcupine rollers of the
ordinary description, or to construct them according to the first part of my
Invention.
This Invention relates, lastly, to the introduction into hot water spinning
frames of a hollow carrying roller, for imparting moisture to the roving as it
passes from the holding to the drawing rollers.
In the Drawing, Fig. 8 represents in vertical section so much of an ordinary
hot water spinning frame as will serve to explain the mode of carrying out this
part of the improvements. a, a, are the ordinary roving bobbins, the rovings
from which are conducted down to and passed through the trough of liquid b;
they then pass between the holding rollers c, c, and over a hollow perforated
carrying roller d, which is supplied with liquid from the trough 6; or it may be
separately heated by steam or otherwise, as may be found practicable. The
roving thence passes between the drawing rollers e, by which it is conducted in
an elongated or attenuated state to the flyer f to be spun into yarn. The
above-described arrangement will allow of the drawing out of the fibres to a
finer sliver or yarn than by the ordinary construction of drawing and spinning
machinery.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Machinery for Preparing, Combing, Drawing, and Spinning Wool, Flax,
Cotton, Silk; and other Fibrous Materials," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the mode described under the first head of my Invention, of con-
structing combs to be used in lieu of gill pins.
Secondly, I claim the means above described with reference to Figures 3, 4, 5,
and 6, or any mere modification thereof, for effecting the transfer of the partially
combed fibres from the screw gill drawing head to the travelling or passing
comb.
Thirdly, I claim the arrangement of combing machinery, shewn at Fig. 7,
wherein rotary gills or porcupine rollers mounted on vibrating frames are
employed for straightening the fibres, and afterwards transferring them to a
passing comb.
Lastly, I claim the application to hot water spinning frames of hollow

page_text: carrying rollers, for imparting moisture to the roving just previously to its
entering the nip of the drawing rollers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Whitehead, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
THOMAS WHITEHEAD: (L.B.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
Thomas Whitehead in the presence of
J. B. WILKINSON,
Clerk to Messrs. J. & H. Richardson & Gaunt,
of Leeds, Solicitors.