IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR SINGEING OR FIRING COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thom, of Birkacre, near Chorley, in the County
of Lancaster, Calico Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS POR SINGEING OR FIRING COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS."
Sealed the 18th May 1855, and dated the 9th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thom at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th December
1854.
I, JOHN THOM, of Birkacre, near Chorley, in the County of Lancaster,
Calico Printer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SINGEING OR FIRING COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS
to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to economise fuel and to consume the smoke
caused by singeing or firing apparatus. In my improved apparatus, the
singeing or firing plate is arched over with brickwork, and the smoke from
the fabric under operation is conveyed by suitable flues to the under side of
the grate bars supporting the fire, by which the singeing or firing plate is
heated. The external air is excluded by dampers.
5
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thom in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOM, of Birkacre, near Chorley, in the County of Lancaster, Calico Printer,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lor
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of le
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unt
me, the said John Thom, Her special license that I, the said John Thom
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Thom, 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, with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR SINGEING OR FIRING COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Thom, 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 John Thom, 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 Specification
thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My said Invention consists in the application of an arch, flues, and other
apparatus to the apparatus now in use for singeing or firing cotton and other
fabrics, by which the sparks, dust, and smoke about the firing plate are
conveyed to the under side of the fire grate for the purpose of being consumed.
I have in the said Drawings given Figures for shewing how my improved
apparatus may be constructed, similar parts in each of these Figures being
marked with similar letters of reference.
Fig. 1 of the said Drawings represents an elevation of a singeing apparatus
to which my improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is a side view, and Fig. 3 a
plan, of the front part of the same. These views are all in section; Fig. 1
being a section through the line A, B, in Fig. 2, looking towards the firing end
of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the centre of the
apparatus; and Fig. 3 is a section through the line C, D, in Fig. 1. a is the
firing plate supported on the brickwork b, and heated by the fire on the grate
bars c. The fabrics to be singed or fired are deposited on the floor under or
near the roller d, and after passing under the guide roller e, over the rod f and
plate a, over the second rod g, and under the second guide roller h, are wound
on the roller i in the usual manner.

page_text: My improvements consist in preventing the escape of the heated air, sparks,
dust, and smoke rising from the fabrics under operation by means of the arch
j and side doors k, k, which are hinged to the cast-iron frame 7, by which the
archj is supported, and in conveying the said sparks, dust, and smoke to the
under side of the fire-grate c by the flues m, m, in order that they may be
consumed by passing through the fire, the current of the air from the space
above the firing plate to the under side of the grate bars being indicated by
the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2; the products of combustion pass through the
flue to the chimney in the ordinary manner. The front of the apparatus is
provided with three moveable doors or dampers, marked n, o, and p, by means
of which the external air is excluded, but which can be opened or removed
when required. The object and effect of my improvements is to economise
fuel, and to prevent or diminish the escape of the sparks, dust, and smoke
which rise from the fabric under operation, whilst doing away with or greatly
lessening the injurious and dangerous effects arising from the ordinary mode
of singeing previous to my Invention.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself
to the precise details given, as they may be considerably modified without
departing from the peculiar character of my Invention; but that what I do
claim is, conveying the sparks, dust, and smoke rising from fabrics under the
operation of singeing or firing to the under side of a fire grate for the purpose
of being consumed, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thom, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
Signed in the presence of
H. B. BARLOW,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN THOM. (L.S.)