IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING, SCOURING, AND DYEING WOOLLEN AND WORSTED
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Comyn Macgregor, of Paisley, in the
County of Renfrew, North Britain, Dyer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING, SCOURING, AND DYEING WOOLLEN AND WORSTED
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 26th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Comyn
Macgregor at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 26th November 1873.
•
4
I, PATRICK COMYN MACGREGOR, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING, SCOURING, AND DYEING WOOLLEN AND WORSTED
YARNS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its objects to simplify and shorten the ope-
rations and to improve the results obtained in treating, scouring, and
dyeing woollen and worsted yarns.

page_text: Hitherto worsted yarns have been treated so as to impart to them
what is technically termed "set" by a distinctly separate operation,
consisting in immersing the yarns in boiling water whilst the hanks are
strongly stretched on a frame, the yarns having to remain stretched on
the frame after removal from the boiling water until cooled down.
By the present Invention the stretching and the scouring are com-
bined in one operation by means of an improved arrangement of scouring
apparatus, which apparatus may also be advantageously used for dyeing
the yarns.
The yarns may be in the form of hanks linked together by cords or
otherwise, or in the form technically known as "chain."
'
The improved apparatus comprises the usual scouring vat or tank,
with a pipe for injecting steam to heat the saponaceous or alkaline
scouring liquor, and with transverse horizontal rollers near the bottom
for the yarns to be passed under. Two beams are fitted above the vat,
one near each end, and the yarns are first wound on one of these, being
drawn out of a barrow in the ordinary way. From the beam the yarns
first pass between a pair of rollers, which are pressed together by means
of weights or springs, and one of which has fast on its shaft a friction or
brake pulley, encircled by a friction strap loaded to a suitable amount.
The yarns
next pass down to and under one or two of the rollers in the
liquor, then up to and over a roller placed a little above the vat... The
yarns descend a second time into the liquor, or oftener if necessary, and
finally pass between a second pair of weighted rollers to the beam at the
end of the vat opposite to that at which they entered. Power is applied
to the last-mentioned beam to draw the yarns through the liquor, and
they are stretched or strained by the retarding action of the weighted
rollers and friction strap at the entering end. The emptied beam is
next set in motion, and the yarns are passed through the liquor again in
the reverse direction, being retarded by a friction strap applied to the
weighted rollers at the end from which the yarns are then being drawn.
The yarns may be passed in this way from end to end of the apparatus
as often as may be found requisite.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Patrick Comyn Macgregor in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 26th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PATRICK
COMYN MACGREGOR, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Dyer, send greeting.
1
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Patrick Comyn Macgregor,
Her special licence that I, the said Patrick Comyn Macgregor, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Patrick Comyn Macgregor, 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING, SCOURING, AND DYEING
WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Patrick Comyn Macgregor, 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 Patrick Comyn Macgregor, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its objects to simplify and, shorten the
operations, and to improve the results obtained in treating, scouring, and
dyeing woollen and worsted yarns.
Hitherto worsted yarns have been treated so as to have imparted to
them what is technically termed "set" by a distinctly separate operation,

page_text: [
".
(
consisting in immersing the yarns in boiling water whilst the hanks are
strongly stretched on a frame, the yarns having to remain stretched on
the frame after removal from the boiling water until cooled down.
By my present Invention, which is applicable to both woollen and
worsted yarns, the stretching and scouring are combined in one operation
by means of an improved arrangement of scouring apparatus, which
improved apparatus may also be used in dyeing the yarns.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing a 1
modification of my improved apparatus, which has been found to answer
advantageously. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are
used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a sectional plan of the appa-
ratus; Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section; and Figures 3 and 4 1
are transverse vertical sections as at the lines A-A and B-B respec-
tively in Figures 1 and 2.
The apparatus comprises the usual scouring vat or tank 1, represented
as constructed of wood, with a pipe 23 for injecting steam to heat the
saponaceous or alkaline scouring liquor, and with transverse horizontal 2
rollers 2, 3, 4, near the bottom for the yarns to be passed under. Two
beams 5, 6, are fitted above the vat, one near each end, and the yarns,
which may be in the form of hanks linked together by cords or other-
wise, or in the form technically known as "chain," are first wound on
one 5 of these beams, being drawn out of a barrow and between a pair a
of rounded bars 7. From the beam 5 the yarns pass down to and under
one 2 of the rollers in the liquor, then up to and over a roller 8 placed
a little above the top of the vat. The yarns descend a second time.
into the liquor, and under an immersed roller 3, then over a second
uncovered roller 9, and after descending a third time and passing under
an immersed roller 4, finally pass up to and are wound on the second
beam 6. Power is applied in the manner herein-after explained to the
beam 6, so as to draw the yarns through the liquor, and they are
stretched or strained in consequence of the retarding action due to
friction. The emptied beam 5 is next set in motion, and the yarns are a
"passed through the liquor again in the reverse direction, and the yarns

page_text: may be passed in this way from end to end of the apparatus as often as
may be found requisite.
The beams 5, 6, are carried by cast-iron bearing brackets 10, bolted
upon the sides of the vat 1, and are driven by bevil wheels 11 fixed on
their shafts. The bevil wheels 11 are in gear with bevil pinions 12,
which are loose on a longitudinal shaft 13, and there are on this shaft 13
two clutches 14, in connection one with each bevil pinion 12, for putting
either into driving gear with the shaft as required. The middle of the
longitudinal shaft 13 is supported by a bearing bracket 15, bolted on the
side of the vat 1, and shaped so as also to support a short transverse
shaft 16, having on it fast and loose pulleys 17 for a driving belt, and
geared to the longitudinal shaft 13 by a bevil pinion 18 and bevil
wheel 19. The clutches 14 are acted on by levers, which are not shown,
but which may be arranged in any convenient way.
I formerly proposed to have the retarding strain put on the yarns for
producing the desired stretching action by passing the yarns between
pairs of weighted rollers, controlled by friction straps. I however find
that such additional rollers are not required, and that there is quite
sufficient retardation and stretching from the mere resistance to the
unwinding of the beam 5 or 6, and to the passage of the yarn through
the liquor and round the rollers 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, it being merely necessary
to prevent the beam 5 or 6 from acquiring momentum, and so letting off
the yarn from it too loosely, which may be conveniently done by
arranging a friction block 20 on a counterweighted lever 21 to bear
against a rim 22 formed on one of the end discs of each beam.
Each beam has fixed on it a rope of sufficient length to pass through
the entire course the yarns have to take through the vat 1, which course
is indicated by a blue line in Figure 2, so that the yarn may be wound
completely out of the vat at either end.
And in order to save time when changing from one lot of yarns to
another, a beam like those 5, 6, of the apparatus may be mounted on a
barrow, and the fresh lot of yarns being previously wound upon such
beam in readiness, the barrow can be set against the end of the vat 1,
and the yarns can be at once drawn off the barrow beam through the
bars 7 and into the vat without being first wound on one of the vat
beams 5, 6.

page_text: Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The stretching and scouring of woollen and worsted yarns at one
operation, as herein-before described.
2. The arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus for
treating, scouring, and dyeing woollen and worsted yarns in the improved
manner, substantially as herein described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Comyn Macgregor, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
P. COMYN MACGREGOR. (L.S.)
i