A METHOD OF CLEANSING, GUMMING, AND SCOWERING WHALEBONE
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SIMPSON, of the Parish of Sutton, in the County of York, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of July last, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said John.
Simpson, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said John Simpson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and every of them,.
by myself and themselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said John Simpson, my exors, adñiors, or
assigus, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OF CLEANSING,
GUMMING, AND SCOWERING WHALEBONE," found out and invented by me, the
said John Simpson; in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said John Simpson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
Diy said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Simpson, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the Plans or
Drawings in the margin of these Presents, and the following description thereof,
that is to say:
After the blades of the whalebone have been separated from each other, and
partly freed from the gum and hair, in the usual manner, they are put into a
cistern or other proper vessel containing water, where they are left to steep
from six to twelve hours, and are then taken out and passed through the first
set of cleansers herein-after described, by the action of which they are scraped,
brushed, and cleansed from slime, gum, and other matter, observing that saw-
dust is strewed on them as they pass through the machine, to prevent the
grease and dirt from clogging up the scrapers and brushes.
After this they
are passed through a second, and, if necessary, a third pair or set of cleansers
or polishers, when, as they pass through, they are by the action of the machine
brushed with brushes fixed to a frame in one side of the machine, and rubbed
with flannel or other proper materials fixed on the other side of the machine,
by which means the bone is cleaned and polished; it is then warehoused, being
fit for manufacturing into any of the various articles of trade for which it may
be found useful. The great advantage to be obtained by my Invention is,
that by it as much whalebone may be cleaned, with only the assistance of two
boys of twelve or fourteen years of age, as can be done in the common way by
thirty men, one boy putting the bone into the machine on one side, and the
other boy taking it out on the other, so that two boys are necessary to each set
of cleaners, viz, one for each side. I have only mentioned or alluded to the
method of using two or three sets of cleaners; but as many may be used as
circumstances may require. I at present use four sets, and they are driven by a
steam engine of twelve horses' power, which I use for carrying on the other
branches of my business. They may also be drove by any other power, as wind,
water, or horses. I use sawdust. in the operation of cleansing bone; and
though I have yet only fixed scrapers, brushes, and flannels to the machines,
yet I claim the privilege of fixing and using any other materials that may be
found preferable; and I claim the merits of my Invention for the method of
doing by machinery what was before done by hand; and I also claim the
privilege of altering the size, shape, and materials of my machinery as circum-
stances may require, adhering to the principle herein-before mentioned.
Figure the First represents a vertical section of the first set of cleansers, and

page_text: is as follows:-A, A, is the base or frame of the machinery, secured to the
ground floor. B, B, a pair of cast-iron rollers, eight inches diameter and
twenty-seven inches long, making twenty revolutions per minute, and secured
by their frame to the base A, A. C is a fixed block, containing the proper
number of steel cutters or scrapers 1, with the springs 2. D is a vertical piece
of timber moving in the guides a, a, a, a, and suspended at the top to the lever
E. The piece D contains in its bottom end a number of steel cutters or
scrapers 3, and springs 4, and is moved upwards to admit the bone to be
passed to the rollers by the first boy putting his foot on the end G of the lever
F, as seen in Figure First. The piece D is sufficiently weighted, and all the
cutters or scrapers are made very narrow, that they may the more readily
apply themselves to the different curves and thickness of the different sizes of
the whalebone. G, G, is a frame, the lower part of which contains a number
of narrow brushes or flannels, as seen in the Figure fixed thereon, and the
upper part of the frame also contains a simular number of simular brushes or
flannels, which may be curved or otherwise, as occasion requires.
The upper
and lower part of the frame G, G, is secured together by iron work, and each
part contains a number of springs acting on the brushes or flannels. The
frame G, G, is moved horizontally backward and forward in the base A, A, by
a crank H, of two inches and a half, which crank makes one hundred and
sixty-four revolutions per minute. The operation is as follows:-The first boy
takes a blade of bone, and setting his foot on G, raises the piece D, with its
row of cutters or scrapers, and placing the bone between the rollers lets fall
instantly the picce D, the rollers drawing the bone through the scrapers, and
at the same time carrying it through the brushes or flannels on the other side,
which brushes or flannels are at the same time moving by means of the crank
before mentioned, backward and forward, five inches every revolution of the
crank, or eight hundred and twenty-inches per minute. The bone is then
taken from the side H of the machine by the second boy, and passed by him to
the boy who attends the second set of cleansers, and so until finished. b, b,
represents a section of a blade of bone passing through the machine in the
direction from I to H, where it is taken out.
Figure the Second is a section of the second pair or set of cleansers, and
only differs from the first in having two frames G, G, and g, g, one on each side
of the rollers, instead of having only one frame on one side and a set of
scrapers on the other.
Both frames G, G, and g, g, are secured to each
other by iron work, 1, 2, and are driven by the crank, as in Figure the First.
The upper part of the frame g, g, is lifted up to admit the entrance of the bone
in a simular manner to the piece D, Figure the. First.

page_text: Figure the Third shews the manner in which four sets of cleansers (the
number I work at present) are placed, being a section of the rollers length-
ways, with their axis e, c, e, and couplings d, d, d. The frames containing the
scrapers and brushers are omitted in this Figure, and the spectator is supposed
to stand at I, in Figure First. a, a, b, b, c, c, d, d, are four pair of rollers
before mentioned, and are driven by the spur wheel A, fixed to the tumbling
shaft B of the steam engine. The shaft B and wheel A also drive the crank
shaft situated behind the rollers, and therefore not seen in this Figure. This
shaft contains as many cranks as there are sets of cleansers. 1 to 8 are
sections of the frames in which the rollers work, and are firmly fixed to the
base A, A.
Figure the Fourth is a plan of the lower part of one of the frames and
roller where the flannels or brushes are fixed, and consists of a number of
narrow pieces of wood ////////// covered with flannel, or they constitute so
many narrow brushes //////, and are all moveable on a rod at one end, A, B,
and are pressed upwards by a strong spring. The upper part of the frame is
made in the same manner. A lower and upper part connected is what I term.
one frame. The sawdust, which is from wood, is strewed on the bone as it
passes through the machine. I also make use of cylindric scrapers, cutters,
brushes, and flannels, or scrapers, brushes, and flannels made or formed into
cylinders, which cylinders I work by any of the well-known means or methods
of working such machinery, and which I also claim as a part of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth
day of September. One thousand eight hundred and twelve.