AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Rawson, of Leicester, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Rawson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
September 1857.
I, HENRY RAWSON, of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the
5 Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER
FIBRES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in machinery for combing
wool and other fibres; and the Invention consists in applying drawing rollers.
in a horizontal position, or nearly so, within circular or endless combs used in
combing wool and other fibres.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Rawson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
RAWSON, of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year of our Lord One.

page_text: thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Rawson, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Rawson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry,
Rawson, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Rawson, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Rawson, 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:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in machinery for combing
wool and other fibres; and the Invention consists in applying drawing rollers
in a horizontal position, or nearly so, within circular or endless combs used in
combing wool and other fibres.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 a front view or elevation, and Figure 3 a
vertical section of a portion of a circular or endless comb, with horizontal
drawing rollers applied thereto. a, a, is the portion of a circular or endless
comb, which is supposed to form part of a combing machine of the description
ordinarily known as "Noble's machine," that is to say, so arranged that the
cleaned ends of the fibres in the circular or endless comb project inwards
towards the centre of the comb. In this description of machine it has been
usual heretofore to employ vertical drawing rollers, but rollers so placed
subject the fibres to a greater strain during the drawing operation than that
to which they are subjected when horizontal rollers are used, and are therefore

page_text: more liable to break the fibres; b, b, are the drawing rollers, which may be
driven in any convenient manner; c is an endless belt of leather passing round
the lower roller; d is a plate for supporting the fibre as it comes up to the
drawing rollers; e is a revolving disc driven by a band passing round the
pulley e. On the edge of the disc e are a series of teeth, which, as the disc
revolves, enter among the fibres and bring them forward, so as to be properly
taken by the rollers b. The plate d is cut away under the disc e to allow its
teeth to pass. f is a screen to prevent the fibres being taken too soon by the
drawing rollers. This screen is adjustable, and may be placed so as to screen
a greater or less length of the drawing rollers, as may be required. g is a
stop placed at the other end of the drawing rollers to stop the drawing action,
and prevent the fibre getting into the bearings of the rollers. Heretofore the
stops which have been used for this purpose have been straight, but I make
such stops to conform to the curve of the rollers, as is shown at Figure 3, and
stops so made may be used with advantage whenever horizontal drawing
rollers are used. h is a revolving funnel or tube, through which the sliver
passes as it is drawn by the rollers; it is afterwards wound on a bobbin.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Rawson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JOHN T. N. Cooper,
of Leicester.
HENRY RAWSON. (L.S.)