IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL AND OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE MATTERS, AND IN DRYING WOOL AND OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Holland Street, Blackfriars,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL AND OTHER
ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE MATTERS, AND IN DRYING WOOL AND OTHER
ANIMAL FIBRES."
Sealed the 25th September 1855, and dated the 11th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
April 1855.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Holland Street, Blackfriars, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL AND OTHER
ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE MATTERS, AND IN DRYING WOOL AND OTHER
ANIMAL FIBRES," to be as follows:-
Several classes of wool and animal fibres are found mixed with vegetable
matters, which require to be separated before the wool or animal fibre can be
spun or employed in manufactures. When the wool or animal fibre is greasy,
it is first steeped in hot water and then cleansed by washing; it is next
steeped in dilute acid, and afterwards the solution of acid is removed from the
fibres, which may be most conveniently done by centrifugal machines now in

page_text: use for other purposes. The wool or animal fibre is next either dried and
subjected to steam in a chamber or vessel under pressure, or dried only, and
this is done in a room or chamber fitted or arranged with several horizontal
endless webs, in such manner, that the moist fibres being laid on to the upper
endless web (which extends beyond the interior of the room or chamber), the
fibres are carried into the upper part of the chamber, and as they arrive at the
end of the upper web they fall on the web next below, which is moved in an
opposite direction to the one above it, and in this manner are the fibres moved
to and fro in the chamber, descending from web to web till they come to the
lowest web, which also extends out of the chamber or room. The endless webs
are kept distended by weighted levers or otherwise, and the chamber is heated
at the lower part by heated and dry air being admitted in divided streams at
or near the floor or otherwise. In this manner may other wool and animal
fibre be dried, and it is found desirable in some classes of wool and other
animal fibres to cause the lower endless web as it passes out the chamber
with the wool or animal fibre thereon to pass between pressing rollers to crush
the lumps of extraneous matter, if any. The several endless webs may be
caused to travel at different speeds. The wool or animal fibre is next opened
out by a willow or other machine, and then washed in water or subjected to
ammoniacal vapour or gas to neutralize the acid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Lee Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LEE NORTON, of Holland Street, Blackfriars, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Lee Norton, Her special licence that I, the said James
Lee Norton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Lee Norton, 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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL AND OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE MATTERS,
AND IN DRYING WOOL AND OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Lee Norton, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 James Lee Norton, 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 (that is to say):-
Several classes of wool and animal fibres are found mixed with vegetable
matters, which require to be separated before the wool or animal fibre can be
spun or employed for manufacturing purposes.
In the first place, when the wool or animal fibre is greasy or dirty it is first
cleansed by washing; I then steep it in dilute sulphuric acid, the strength
of the dilute acid to be varied according to the material to be operated
upon, but I prefer to use a strength such as indicates 2 to 12 degrees on
Twaddle's hydrometer, and when well soaked I extract the superfluous acid
liquor from the wool or animal fibre by means of a hydro-extractor or centri-
fugal machine; after which the wool or animal fibre is gradually dried, then
steamed in a close steam box under pressure until the vegetable matter is
destroyed; or the wool or animal fibre is exposed to a high temperature of
dry heated atmospheric air, varying from 180 to 240 degrees, until the
vegetable matter is destroyed, that is to say, until the vegetable matter is in
such a state as to crumble or fall away as dust, when the wool or animal fibres
are opened out by a willow or other suitable machine. If the dilute acid bo
strong, the temperature of 180 or 190 degrees will be sufficient; if weak, a
higher temperature is required. The wool or animal fibre is next opened out
by a willow or other machine, for the purpose of shaking out the dust or
vegetable matter when necessary. In some cases washing alone is sufficient to
The wool or animal fibre is then
clear the wool of the vegetable matter.
washed or steeped in alkaline liquor to neutralize the acid; then the water or
other liquor is extracted from it, and it is dried as hereafter mentioned; or, in
place of washing or steeping in alkaline liquor, I subject the wool or animal
The mode I adopt
fibre to ammoniacal vapour or gas to neutralize the acid.
for subjecting the wool or animal fibres to the action of the ammoniacal
as follows:-
gas is

page_text: I spread the fibres of wool or animal fibre lightly upon shelves of open lath-
work, or I hang the fibres upon rods, and then place the shelves or rods with
the fibres upon them in a close chamber; I then dissolve sal-ammoniac in
water, and add to it about an equal weight of slacked lime, and stir them
together; heat is then applied to the vessel to cause the gas to ascend from
the vessel containing the sal-ammoniac and lime into the chamber, into which
it is conveyed by a suitable conductor or pipe. The chamber has a small
opening at the top to allow the atmospheric air in the chamber to escape,
which opening is closed so soon as the gas has forced out the air. The
quantity of gas to be used is regulated to the size of the close chamber and
the quantity of wool or animal fibre to be operated upon, are when the material
is thoroughly impregnated with the gas, it is removed from the chamber and
exposed to the air.
The means I use for drying are as follows:-I form a chamber of wood or
other material having a floor perforated all over with numerous holes, and
below this floor I form a chamber into which I force a current of air, either at
ordinary temperature, or heated to the temperature required to cause the acid
to act upon the vegetable matter, so that when the wool has passed through
the heated chamber and is opened out by machinery, as before named, the
vegetable matter will fall away as dust, and leave the wool quite free from
vegetable matter. Inside the drying chamber I place a series of endless
aprons or bands horizontally one above the other, having spaces between them.
The rollers carrying the endless aprons are about four inches diameter, and
the upper surfaces of the succeeding aprons are caused to move by suitable
machinery in opposite directions. The upper or feeding-on apron is partly
interior and partly exterior of the chamber, there being a suitable opening
or openings near the upper part of the chambers for the passage in of the
endless apron, and for the passage out of the lower surface of the endless
apron. The wool or other material to be dried is to be continually and evenly
spread by a workman on that part of the upper surface of the endless apron
which is exterior of the chamber, and by the continued movement of the
endless aprons throughout the chamber, the wool or other material will be
carried to and from the highest or feeding-on apron down to the lowest endless
apron in the chamber, the upper surface of which is arranged to pass out at
the back or front of the chamber through a pair of metal rollers, for the
purpose of reducing to dust and crushing or pulverizing any lump or pieces
of hard vegetable matter mixed with the wool; and the lower surface of the
apron passes into the chamber again also through rollers, for the purpose of
preventing the heat from escaping from the chamber. In place of forcing

page_text: heated atmospheric air into the chamber, an exhausting apparatus or fans may
be employed for withdrawing the moisture from the chamber, and the air
is heated by passing throug a series of tubes, the outer surfaces of which are
heated by steam or fire. The endless webs are arranged so that they are kept
distended by weighted levers or otherwise, and the chamber is heated at the
lower part by heated air being admitted in divided streams at or near the floor.
I would here remark that the process of drying above described is also
applicable for drying wool and other animal fibre after scouring or washing.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described; but what I claim is, the treating raw or un-
manufactured wool or animal fibre with acid in the manner described, to
destroy the vegetable matters with which they may be mixed, also the drying
wool and other animal fibres in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lee Norton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JAMES LEE NORTON. (L.S.)