IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING MACHINES."
"A communi-
cation from abroad by Messieurs Delannoy et Fils, of Lys, Nord,
France.
Sealed the 5th December 1874, and dated the 2nd July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mew-
burn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd July 1874.
I, JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING MACHINES," to
be as follows-
For the mechanical combing of fibrous materials, and particularly flax,
there are passed through them successively graduated combs, that is to.
say, the teeth of the combs become less and less distant from each other.

page_text: Notwithstanding this graduation of the combs the material is much
strained by this manner of working, and much tow or waste is produced.
This is because the combs, no matter how far apart the teeth may be,
have to unravel a material which is much entangled, and as the teeth
are pointed they tear all the filaments which cannot readily be drawn
out straight or parallel.
Now according to this Invention the ordinary pointed teeth in the
first combs are replaced by half or semicircular discs. The endless
travelling apron of the machine carries bars, as usual, and on these bars
the half discs are fixed. As they are semicircular they enter the
material gently and draw the filaments parallel without tearing or
breaking them. The half discs may be replaced by pins or pegs with
rounded ends.
$
By means of this Invention less tow or waste, and consequently more
combed material are produced, the half discs or round ended pins can
be placed nearer together than the jointed comb teeth, so that the
disentangling of the filaments is better from the commencement; less
repair is required, as the old comb teeth, being much taxed, frequently
break; the material being better manipulated is stronger; the tow is of
better quality, and more of the bars which carry the half discs can be
attached to the endless apron, so that the production of the machine is
augmented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM' THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Clayton Mewburn, Her special
licence that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, my executors, admi-

page_text: :
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Clayton
Mewburn, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING MACHINES," (a communication from
abroad by Messieurs Delannoy et Fils, of Lys, Nord, France,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, 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 John Clayton Mewburn, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say:-
For the mechanical combing of fibrous materials, and particularly
flax, there are passed through them successively graduated combs, that
is to say, the teeth of the combs become less and less distant from each
other. Notwithstanding this graduation of the combs the material is
much strained by this manner of working, and much tow or waste is
produced. This is because the combs, no matter how afar apart the teeth
may be, have to unravel a material which is much entangled, and as the
teeth are pointed they tear all the filaments which cannot readily be
drawn out straight or parallel.
Now according to this Invention the ordinary pointed teeth in the
first combs are replaced by half or semicircular discs of metal or wood,
as is represented in the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 being an elevation,
and Figure 2 a section on the line A, B. The endless travelling apron C
of the machine carries bars f, as usual, and on these bars the half discs
d, d, are fixed. As they are semicircular they enter the material gently
and draw the filaments parallel without tearing or breaking them. The
half discs may be replaced by pins or pegs with rounded ends.

page_text: By means of this Invention less tow or waste, and consequently more
combed material, are produced, the half discs or round ended pins can
be placed nearer together than the pointed comb teeth; so that the dis-
entangling of the filaments is better from the commencement; less
repair is required, as the old comb teeth, being much taxed, frequently
break; the material being better manipulated is stronger; the tow is
of better quality, and more of the bars which carry the half discs can be
attached to the endless apron, so that the production of the machine is
augmented.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
December, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.