IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, COMBING, AND HACKLING FIBROUS MATTERS
Year: 1849

page_text: WHITEHEAD, 01 Leeus, Danufacturers, for
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, COMBING, AND HACKLING FIBROUS
MATTERS," bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, to which a Specification was
duly enrolled, and which said Letters Patent have been duly
assigned and are now vested in the said GEORGE EDMOND DONIS-
THORPE and SAMUEL CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Bradford, in the County of
York.
DISCLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATION proposed to be
entered by the said George Edmond Donisthorpe and Samuel Cunliffe
Lister as such Assignees as aforesaid, with the Clerk of the Patents of
England, pursuant to the Statutes in that case made and provided.
WHEREAS the said Specification described the Invention as relating to
ertain machinery for preparing and combing fibrous matters, and also as
elating to certain machinery for hackling fibrous matters: And whereas, since
he granting of the said Letters Patent, those parts of the Invention which
elate to machinery for hackling fibrous substances have not come beneficially
to use, for which reason we wish to disclaim and do hereby disclaim all parts
f the title, and also all parts of the Specification and Drawings which relate

page_text: "
"
"
"WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
"Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
"of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day
"of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of
"Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto
us, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe and John Whitehead, our exors,
adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that we, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe and John White-
head, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George
"Edmond Donisthorpe and John Whitehead, our exors, adiñiors, or assigns,
"should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
"times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
"make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND
"COMBING FIBROUS MATTERS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that we, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe and John White-
head, or one of us, should cause a particular description of the nature of
our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
"instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the band and
"seals of one of us, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
"of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the sanie, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
"
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"
"NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
George Edmond Donisthorpe and John Whitehead, do hereby declare that
"the nature of our said Invention and the manner in which the same is to be
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performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following
"statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexod,
"and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-."
"One part of our Invention consists of a process of preparing wool by
"drawing out and straightening the wool by taking hold of small quantities at
a time, and causing such small quantities so straightened to be laid one on
"the other, and by thus accumulating such small quantities in layers to obtain
"comparatively even slivers or quantities, and thus to facilitate the after
process of combing.
"This part of our Invention may be likened to a person with his finger and
"thumb taking hold of comparatively a small quantity of the ends of a much
larger quantity of wool held between two rollers or other holding surfaces,
"and drawing out such fibres as are between the finger and thumb; such

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small quantity may be drawn out readily by the fibres slipping out of the
mass, the holding of the mass not being such as to cause the fibres to be
broken, whereas if the whole mass were taken by the fingers, and the hold
of the other ends was complete, the fibres would be broken.
"Now, this part of our Invention consists of so arranging machinery that a
"comparatively large quantity of wool being held by one holder (and we
prefer rollers for such purpose arranged so as not to deliver continuously,
"but at regulated intervals), and that in place of the finger and thumb that a
"mechanical holder shall be employed, and which we also prefer to be rollers
revolving continuously at comparatively high speeds, delivering the product
" on to a travelling aprou; we do not, however, confine ourselves to such
"apparatus, so long as the mechanical arrangement is such as to obtain the
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"The Drawing shows so much of a machine for carrying out this part of
"our Invention as will enable us to describe the means of working. The
"fibrous matters are to be fed on to the endless. travelling apron a, so as to
pass between the pair of rollers b, b, and in order to facilitate this we make
use of another endless conducting apron, which passes over a roller j, as
"well as over the upper roller 6. Part of the fibrous matter which will be
"carried forward at each partial revolution of the rollers b, is received in
"between the rollers d, d, which travel at a velocity high compared with that
"of the rollers 6; thus, supposing we make each motion of the rollers 6 to
"deliver a.quantity equal in length to one-eighth of an inch, and supposing
"the wool to be operated on to be about six inches in length of staple, we
"cause the rollers d to move with a surface speed between each movement
"of the feeding rollers 6 of between fifty and sixty eighths of an inch, and so
"on, in proportion to the length of the staple, having reference to the speed
"at which the feed rollers deliver; but we do not confine ourselves to the
relative speed of these rollers. The fibrous material is carried forward by
"the apron f, and is thence received on to the roller g, which we prefer to
" consist of bristles or brushes, so as to accumulate the fibrous matters to any
"extent desired, or, in place of fibrous matters being allowed to accumulate
on to the brush, they may be conducted to and received on suitable combs
"moving slowly past the apron, for which purpose. that end of the apron
"should have a rising and falling motion given to it, so as to place on and
"accumulate the small quantities of wool in the teeth of the travelling or
receiving comb. The pressure on the rollers band & is. to. be regulated as

page_text: desired. We would remark that although this part of our Invention will at
"first appear to be similar to the operation of ordinary drawing machinery or
"machinery having what is called a draft, this process is nevertheless very
"different in effect, for the object of drawing is to obtain an uniform but
"extended sliver, whereas by this Invention the drawing out produces at
first great irregularity, and it is only by accumulating these irregularities,
by placing a succession of the parts so drawn out, that uniformity is obtained.
"We will now describe another part of our Invention.
"
"
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DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS B.
"Figure 1 shows a plan of a machine for preparing and combing wool;
Figure 2 is a side view thereof; Figure 3 is another side view; Figure 4
"is a longitudinal section; and the other views of these Drawings show
"detached parts of the machinery, in order that the construction of the parts,
"
b
as well as the arrangement of the same, may be more readily understood.
"In each of these Figures the same letters are used to indicate the same parts.
"a is the main or driving axis, which receives motion from a steam engine
"or other power, and by means of a pinion 6 gives motion to the axis c. The
"axis c carries a drum or cylinder d, within which the arms hereafter explained
"which carry combs work, they being governed by excentric guides for
causing the combs to act as hereafter described. On the axis c is fixed the
C
pinion e, which takes into and drives the cog wheel f, which takes into and
gives motion to the cog which g, which is fixed on the axis of one of the
"feed rollers h, h. The wool to be prepared and combed by this machine is
"to be fed on to the endless apron or cloth j, and motion is communicated to
"such apron or cloth by means of a cog wheel i on one of the rollers through
the intermediate wheel j', driving a cog wheel, on the axis of one of the-
"rollers of the apron or cloth j. In front of the mouthpiece through which.
"the wool passes from the feed rollers, there are fixed brushes k, l, and
"between them the wool is urged by the rollers, the combs hereafter described
taking the wool near the end of the bristles of the brushes, the upper brush
"aiding to press the wool into the comb. On the axis c is also fixed a cog
"wheel l, which takes into and drives the cog wheels m and n. The cog
"wheel m is for giving motion to the receiving comb from which the wool is.
"drawn, the wool according to part of our Invention being received or taken
by one comb and drawn out, and then deposited or received on another.
comb to be combed or drawn off in place of drawing it off or combing it
out when in the comb which first receives it. The wheel m gives motion
to the cog wheel m² on the axis m³, on which axis,is fixed a screw, which.

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"takes into and drives the screw wheel o on the hollow axis o¹, on which is
"affixed the pinion o², which takes into teeth formed on the inside of the
receiving comb P, which is a rotatory comb as is shewn, and the manner of
" its receiving the wool will be hereafter described. The wool will be drawn
"from this comb by means of drawing rollers 9, 2, one of which is carried by
"the axis m². The cog wheel n gives motion to the wheel n', which takes
"into and gives motion to the cog wheel n², on the axis of one of the rollers t
"of the endless belt u, carrying combs u', which are so timed in their move-
"ment as to come into position and receive the ends of the wool in the combs
"carried round by the cylinder, and thus to allow of the wool being slightly
"drawn out as the two combs separate, and then the wool will be received
" from these two combs by the receiving comb from which the wool is drawn
by the drawing rollers, so that it will be perceived that the receiving comb
" is only for the purpose of receiving the wool from other combs working in
"the same machine, and thus to allow of the wool being drawn therefrom
more conveniently and advantageously than if the combs which receive or
"which have the wool combed through them should have the wool drawn off
by rollers, as has heretofore been the case. And this transfer of wool from
"
6
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a comb which has been the means of drawing out the fibre when receiving
"wool in amongst the teeth is an important feature of our Invention, and the
"transfer of wool is also important when from a comb in which the wool has
"been combed out, because in each case the fibres which are bent round the
"teeth of the combs, if forcibly acted on, tends to break the fibres and create
noil, whereas by such transfer the bent fibres are, as it were, lifted off the
teeth, and stand off from or at a distance from the teeth of the comb, into
the teeth of which the wool is received, whether such transfer be with
"reference to allow of drawing off the wool by rollers, or for the purpose of
allowing those parts of the fibres which are in the previous operation looped
"or bent over the teeth of the previous comb being drawn through the teeth-
"of another comb."
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"We will now proceed to explain how wool may be received in one comb
"from the feeding apparatus shown, or other suitable feeding apparatus, and
แ having drawn out the fibres from the feeding, so as to clear one end of each
"fibre by moving from the feeding apparatus, the wool may then be received
or taken by another comb, and when thus transferred, the other ends of the
"fibres may be combed out before and when delivering the wool on to the
"receiving comb before referred to. We would, however, here state, that
although the machinery here shown combines the use of these two principles
"of transferring from comb to comb, in order more readily and usefully to
E
"

page_text: "
"
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"deal with the bent parts of the fibre, whether for combing out those bent
"portions by the aid of another comb, or for the simple purpose of drawing
"off the wool by rollers, still we do not confine ourselves to the use of these
"two principles of action combined, as the same may be usefully employed'
"separately when preparing or combing according to these parts of our
"Invention. w, w, are combs mounted on framed arms c', which arms are
"shown separately as well as in their places in the other Figures, by which
"their construction will readily be traced. These arms are connected by
"means of axes to the bosses c² affixed to the axis c; hence, when that axis
"revolves, the.arms will be carried round therewith, and in their revolution
they will be governed by the excentric guides a fixed or formed on the inner
"surface of the fixed plate d', such plate d' forming one end of the drum or
cylinder d, but it does not revolve therewith, the plate d' simply acting as a
cover to the end of the cylinder or drum d, and is, as before stated, the
means of carrying the guides a, as shewn. Each of the framed arms c' has
a truck or wheel c³, which enters between the guides a, hence is the motion
"of the framed arms governed, and they are caused to act in the manner we
will now proceed to describe. There are openings through the periphery of
"the cylinder or drum d for the passage of the bent ends of the framed
arms c', so that the arms with the combs w may at times be protruded out
beyond the cylinder, and at other times during a revolution be drawn within
"the circumference of the cylinder. The combs w we prefer to be composed
"of fine and short teeth, the object being to obtain a considerable holding in
"the wool, so that in taking the wool from the feeding apparatus it may draw
"the wool out from amongst the fibres still remaining in the holder, allowing
"of as little slip of the wool amongst the teeth of the comb as possible, and
"owing to the arrangement of the machinery, a comb w having entered the
"wool offered to it by the feeding apparatus, the comb will not be carried
"round with the cylinder at the same rate with the cylinder; on the contrary;
"the arm c¹ carrying such comb will, by the eccentric guides, be caused to
4.
"
"
"
move away from the wool in the feeding apparatus, and thus draw it out,
by which one end of the fibres will be drawn out and straightened; and
"this drawing out or straightening will be accomplished by a comparatively
slow motion of the head of the comb tu, as will readily be traced on
"examining of the Drawings, and during this straightening the other
end of the fibres will be held in the comb w, and the fibres therein
will, in most cases, be more or less bent round the teeth of the comb;
"and, if in this state it were attempted to draw them out, more par-
"ticularly when using fine combs, there would be great liability to break

page_text: "
"the fibres so bent round the teeth, and noil would be produced, for which
"reason we employ combs v, v, which we prefer to make of a coarser guage,
"and such as will allow of the other ends of the fibres of wool to those
"which have been drawn out, as above explained, to be drawn readily through
"the teeth of the combs v, and one of these combs v overtakes its comb w,
" and enters into the drawn out or straightened part of the wool in the
"comb w, (in doing which it may be aided by a brush or other instrument, as
" is well understood, and to which no claim is made,) so that as the comb w
"recedes into the cylinder or drum, the wool will remain on the comb v; that
portion or end of the wool which is not straightened out, and which will to
"more or less extent be looped or bent, will project beyond the inside of the
"comb, whilst the straightened part or end will protrude on the other side of
"the comb, as is shown in the Drawings; and in this condition the wool in
"the comb v will remain till it arrives near the endless belt with combs
"before described, the combs on such belt being of fine guage, such as those
"at w, in order that they may hold the straightened portion of the wool
"carried by a comb v more tightly when the same is deposited therein, which
"is accomplished in the following manner :-y, y, are brushes, carried by the
cylinder d, they being caused to lio on the surface of the cylinder until they
come round to the fixed guide d, fixed on the inner surface of the fixed
plate d', when the end of the lever arm on which each brush is carried will
"come against the guide d², and be caused to move and assume a radial
position behind the wool carried by its comb v, and thus offer strength to
"the back of the straightened portion of the wool, and thus cause that portion
of the wool to enter well amongst the teeth of the comb on the endless belt
"and the comb v, and the one on the endless belt will travel in the same
direction, but the comb v will move the fastest, so that the wool therein will
"
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be partially drawn through amongst the teeth thercof, owing to the greater
holding of the finer toothed comb. And when the two combs so containing
"the wool between them descend and separate, they will be on either side of
"the rotatory receiving comb, and transfer the wool (so straightened and
"combed out) into such receiving rotatory comb, and such wool will be drawn
"off by the drawing rollers before mentioned into a sliver. The Drawing
"shows there to be four combs w, each having its comb v and brush, and
also a comb on the endless belt, and they all work alike, so that the
description above given of one is applicable to each and all, and it will
readily be understood that the number of combs wand the other parts
working therewith may be varied, and the general arrangement might be
" modified without departing from this part of our Invention. And although

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we prefer to use combs w for the purpose of taking successive quantities of
wool from the feeding apparatus in order to draw out and straighten the
same before transferring such quantities to the combs v, other holders might
"be substituted therefore capable of nipping or holding such quantities, and
drawing the same from the feeding apparatus in the manner above described,
"but we prefer to use fine combs, as explained. And although we have
"mentioned wool. only in the above description, the improvements above
"described are applicable to other fibres requiring like processes."
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We would remark that we make no claim to any of the mechanical parts
separately, nor to their combination, except so far as the combined working
of two combs v, w, in such manner as to transfer the contents of one into
the other when passing by reason of the teeth of both combs pointing in the
same direction.
"In witness whereof, I, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, have
"hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of November,
"in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-
"nine."
G. E. (L.s.) DONISTHORPE.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe and
Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this
Sistoonth day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand oight

page_text: Edmond Donisthorpe and John Whitehead, of Leeds, Manufacturer, under
the Great Seal of Great Britain, dated at Westminster, the Eight day of May,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, and the Specification of which
was enrolled on the Eight day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-nine. And on considering the said application, I directed them to
advertise their said Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration, which was
accordingly done in the London Gazette on the Twenty-sixth, in the Times
newspaper on the Twenty-seventh, and in the Bradford Observer and the
Leeds Mercury on the Twenty-eight of April last, and no objection having
been made to the said application, I have accordingly granted leave to the said
George Edmond Donisthorpe and Samuel Cunliffe Lister to file their said
Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration pursuant to the Statutes in such
case made and provided.
FITZROY KELLY.
KIDEHALGHI, Comm.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1859, the aforesaid George Edmond Donisthorpe and Samuel
Cunliffe Lister came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and
acknowledged the Disclaimer aforesaid, and all and everything therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Disclaimer aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enselled the Thirty-first day of May in the rear of our Lord One