IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND CUTTING HORN, AND PRODUCING FIBROUS BRISTLE-LIKE THREADS THEREFROM
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hughes, of 73, Sutherland Street, Pimlico, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND CUTTING HORN, AND
PRODUCING FIBROUS BRISTLE-LIKE THREADS THEREFROM."
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hughes at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st November 1881.
WILLIAM HUGHES, of 73, Sutherland Street, Pimlico, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer. "IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING
AND CUTTING HORN, AND PRODUCING FIBROUS BRISTLE-LIKE THREADS
THEREFROM."
The object of this Invention is a method of preparing horn, and in apparatus for
cutting it into bristle-like fibrous threads.
According to my Invention I first treat horn after it has been reduced to fixed
lengths to heat in a steam or hot water cylinder or other shaped vessel in order
to render it soft and pliable. The horn so treated, and while hot, is then placed
into a machine or apparatus, and subjected to the action of vertically arranged
cutters to sever it into narrow strip like filiaments, the vertical cutters acting
simultaneously and in conjunction with a horizontal cutter, which completes the
severance.
The ends of the fibros are, as soon as the cutters and knife have entered, caught
hold of by a gripping appliance, and a pulling pressure is exerted to stretch the
fibres as the cutting proceeds. The stretching operation causes the fibres to bo
gradually reduced to a point, or almost so, and that acting in combination with
the heat puts a fibrous property into the horn, and renders it specially suitable
for brooms, brushes, and other articles for which bristles are at the present
employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th May
1882.
"
WILLIAM HUGHES, of 73, Sutherland Street, Pimlico, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer. IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING
AND CUTTING HORN, AND PRODUCING FIBROUS BRISTLE LIKE THREADS
THEREFROM."
The object of this Invention is a method of preparing horn, and in apparatus
for cutting it into bristle like fibrous threads.
According to my Invention I first treat horn after it has been reduced to fixed
lengths to heat in order to render it soft and pliable. The horn so treated, and
while hot, is placed into an apparatus and subjected to the action of scoring knives
and cutters to score and sever it into narrow strip like filaments, the cutters
acting simultaneously in conjunction with gripping appliances, and a pulling
pressure is exerted to stretch the fibres as the cutting proceeds. The stretching
operation causes the fibres to be gradually reduced to a point, or almost so, and
this stretching acting in combination with the heat puts a fibrous property into
the horn, and renders it specially suitable for brooms, brushes, and other articles
for which bristles are at tho present employed.
The apparatus which I have constructed for carrying my Invention into practice
is represented in the annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is an elevation; Figure 2, a plan; Figure 3, a view at one end;
Figure 4, a view of the opposite end; and Figure 5, a detail view of the inter-
mittent rotary motion from a sliding motion of the knife plate.
A is the frame; B, B', fast and loose pullies; C, the connecting rod from the
crank D to the sliding plate E, which moves in V guides of the front plate F, this
forming part of a steam chest supplied with steam by the pipe G to keep the horn,
which is forced from the rear by the pressure plate H, under the guidance of the
sockets I, rods J, J, and descending weight K. The bottom or bed of the stoam
chest is plain, but fitted with a roller L at its mouth, and also the two side walls;
but the top portion is furnished with rollers L, L, L, which bear upon the horn
(as it moves up to the front of the apparatus) under tho action of the
springs M, M, M. The two outside rollers are geared to move round in the same
direction by the pinions N, N, N, the middle roller L being loose upon its shaft.
The front sliding plate E is slotted at P, P, and a series of knife blades is fitted
in each slot to score the horn in lines as the plate E moves to and fro across the
mouth of the steam chest, from which the horn is fed by the pressure rollers,
assisted by the pressure plate H. The sliding plate E has on its inner face, near
each slot, a knife set at an angle in the opposite direction to the other knives,
and adjustable by set screws and slots Q, Q, to sever the scored face of the horn
from the main body into slivers or filaments of corresponding thickness throughout
their length.
As the horn is being sovered the onds curl into narrow openings provided for
them in the front plate; and as the severing proceeds the ends pass through tho
openings and project from the front plate, from which they are caught by the
jaws of a nipping appliance R, which catches hold of the ends, and the onward
travel of the front plate E puts a drag upon them sufficient to lengthen them and
make them slightly tapered from the nipping jaws to almost a point by the time
the filaments are completely severed.
The nipping jaws are then, with the filaments between them, suddenly swung

page_text: away from the sliding plate E under the action of the cam S and a tappet to take
a position in front of a rack, which receives the filaments from the nipping
appliance, whose jaws open at this instant under the action of a second tappet T;
the nipping appliance then goes back to the sliding plate E for catching another
quantity of filaments to be severed in like manner.
In the upper part of the mouth of the steain chest I fit a plate provided with a
roller U, which lifts by the movement of the sliding plate, and drops by the
action of a spring with a pressure, by a sort of tapping or hammer action,
sufficient to prevent the top edge of the horn from curling up after leaving the
front roller L.
The geared rollers L, L, move intermittently through a train of wheels V, W,
from a double paul arrangement shown at Figures 1 and 5, the pauls a, a, being
actuated through a fork b by a stud on the bottom of the sliding plate E as it
moves to and fro.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
The improved method of preparing bristle like filaments or threads from horn
to render them suitable for brooms, brushes, and the like, as herein described.
Secondly. The apparatus shown in the annexed Drawings by which horn can
be heated, or kept heated, scored, severed, and stretched, or brought into fibrous
length like bristles suitable for brooms, brushes, and the like, as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hughes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1882.
ΙΤΙΑΤΙΠΑ