IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING REEDS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Timothy Winter, of Wiveliscombe, in the County
of Somerset, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
COMBING REEDS."
Sealed the 22nd October 1869, and dated the 26th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Timothy Winter at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th July 1869.
I, TIMOTHY WINTER, of Wiveliscombe, in the County of Somerset,
do hereby declare the nature of the said. Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING REEDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in machinery for the
purpose of combing reeds intended for thatching roofs, corn stacks, hay
mows, and other similar purposes.
The machine consists of a frame and body set on wheels for the sake
of portability, within which frame the working parts are arranged, con-
sisting of two combing cylinders furnished with teeth, one set at each
end of the frame, leaving a space between them for the driving drum

page_text: around which an endless band passes and extends beyond each end of
the machine to drive two smaller drums provided with teeth. Above
each of the two combing cylinders a holdfast travelling wheel is set in
bearings at right angles to the axes of the combing cylinder shafts, and
the machine being attached to a steam thrashing machine will receive
the straw from the shakers by means of the holdfast wheels, and by the
revolution of the drums and combing cylinders and the traverse of the
band the straw will be combed off by the combing cylinders and thrown
out at the side, and the reeds will be delivered at the front of the
machine, all in a condition for being tied up and taken away. The
central drum is. intended to be worked by steam power in conjunction
with a thrashing machine, which may be done by means of a driving
strap from the engine acting on a fast and loose pulley on the central
drum shaft. By these improvements a much greater quantity of reeds
can be produced per day than by the ordinary hand machines, and the
work will be performed in a more perfect manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Timothy Winter in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TIMOTHY
WINTER, of Wiveliscombe, in the County of Somerset, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Timothy Winter, Her special licence,
that I, the said Timothy Winter, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Timothy Winter, 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 COMBING REEDS," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said Timothy Winter, 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 Timothy Winter, 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 accompany-
ing Drawings, and the letters and figures marked thercon, that is to
say:-
The said Invention relates to certain improvements in machinery for
the purpose of combing reeds intended for thatching roofs, corn stacks,
hay mows, and other similar purposes.
The machine which I use for this purpose consists of a frame and
body set on wheels for the sake of portability or of facility of transport
from one place to another, within which frame the combing cylinders
and other working parts of the machine are arranged.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood and
readily carried into practice, I shall now proceed to particularly describe
the same with the aid of the Drawings hereunto annexed, in each of the
Figures of which said Drawings the same letters of reference throughout
indicate corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, the covering boards being removed to allow
of the interior of the machine to be seen, and Fig. 2 is ground plan of
the machine in section through the line Y, Z.
A, A, A, A, is the frame and body of the machine, which is mounted
(for the sake of facility of transport) on wheels B, B, and a fore car-
riage C, as represented in Fig. 1. Within this frame are mounted two
combing cylinders D, D, of the form and furnished with teeth as shewn
in the Drawing, wherein I have represented 4 combs on each combing
cylinder, but more or fewer combs may be applied. These combing

page_text: cylinders are placed at each end of the frame, leaving sufficient space
between them for the middle drum E, which is provided with short teeth
for the purpose of carrying the reeds from the one combing cylinder and
holdfast wheel to the other combing cylinder and holdfast wheel. On
this drum E are fastened two pulleys x and x¹, over which pass two
endless bands e and e¹ of leather, gutta percha, or other suitable
substance. The endless band e passes from the pulley x round the lower
portion of the holdfast wheel H' to a similar pulley on the front drum F,
and the endless band e¹ passes from the pulley y' on the drum G round
the lower portion of the holdfast wheel H to the pulley x' on the middle
drum E, and so motion is communicated from the drum G to the
holdfast wheels H, H', the middle drum E, and the front drum F. The
front drum F is provided with short teeth similar to those on the middle
drum E; but the drum G is not so provided with teeth but has a smooth
surface. The front drum F it will be seen is of smaller diameter than
the middle drum E, but is greater in diameter than the drum G. Above
the two combing cylinders D and D' are set in bearings at right angles to
the axes of the combing cylinder shafts two holdfast travelling wheels
H and H¹, one hold fast travelling wheel over each combing cylinder.
Each of the bearings of these holdfast travelling wheels is fixed within
a slot, so that the said holdfast travelling wheels may rise and fall
according to the size of the feed, the weight of the holdfast wheels being
sufficient to keep them down. It will be seen that the combing cylinders
D) and D' are made bell-ended so as to reach some way round the leaving
part of the holdfast wheels H and H. These combing cylinders are
mounted and revolve on the shafts d and d', to which rotary motion is
given by the small bevil wheels f, f, f³, and f', the bevil wheels f
and f being mounted on the horizontal shaft I, on which is mounted
the driving pulley g, to which motion is given from a steam engine or
other motive power; on this same shaft is also mounted another pulley h,
from which motion is communicated to another pulley mounted on the
shaft of the small drum G. Screens are attached to the framing on the
upper portions of the combing cylinders, as shewn at s and s¹, to prevent
the teeth of the combing cylinders in their revolution from catching the
bands, and other screens are placed attached to the framing, as shewn
at t, t, on the lower portions of the combing cylinders to allow of any
corn which may happen to be left in the straw by the thrashing machine
to fall through.

page_text: The mode of using the machine is as follows:-The machine being
attached to a steam thrashing machine, and being put in motion by
means of a strap passing over the driving pulley 7 in the direction shewn
by the arrows, will receive the straw from the shakers of the thrashing
machine by the drum G, and passing under the holdfast wheel II will be
combed off by the combing cylinder D, and the refuse will be thrown off
at the side, and the reeds will pass on over the middle drum E and under
the holdfast wheel H', where it will be again combed off by the combing
cylinder D', which revolves in an opposite direction to the combing
cylinder D. Any refuse which may have been left by the combing cylinder
D is taken out by the combing cylinder D' and thrown out at the side,
while the cleaned reeds pass on and are delivered by the drum F at the
end of the machine, all in a condition for being tied up and taken away.
By the use of this machine a much greater quantity of reeds will be
produced per day than by the ordinary machines, and the work will be
performed in a more perfect manner.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention of " Improve-
ments in Machinery for Combing Reeds," and the manner in which tho
same may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
any of the parts of which the above machine is composed separately or
apart from the combination thereof in the said machine; but what I do
claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the improved machinery for combing reeds, herein-
before described and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed, or
any mere modification thereof.
In witness whercof, I, the said Timothy Winter, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
TIMOTHY WINTER. (L.S.)