IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND DECORTICATING COTTON
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Clark, of the Rother Iron Works
Company, Ryc, in the County of Sussex, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
AND DECORTICATING COTTON."-Partly a communication from abroad by
Felix Figon, of Beyrout, Syria, Merchant.
Scaled the 20th April 1869, and dated the 24th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th October 1868.
I, SAMUEL CLARK, of the Rother Iron Works Company, Rye, in the
County of Sussex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND
DECORTICATING COTTON," partly a communication to me from abroad by
Felix Figon, of Beyrout, Syria, Merchant, and partly my own Invention,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to peculiar construction, arrangement, and

page_text: combination of machinery or apparatus for cleaning and decorticating
cotton whereby stones and such like foreign bodies are first removed
from the pods. The cotton whilst adhering to the pod is cleansed from
dry leaves, stalks, and other foreign matter, is separated or drawn from
the pod, and finally freed from the fragments of the pods and rendered fit
for the gin.
According to this Invention a perforated board or flat screen is employed
for first receiving the cotton in the pod, whereby stones and other like
bodies are separated therefrom whilst the cotton pods are being fed or
moved along the screen. From the end of this flat screen the cotton in
the pod falls into a fixed horizontal cylindrical wire screen within which
rotates a shaft carrying a number of inclined or helical blades forming a
screw, which when rotated moves the cotton and pods through the
screen, the dry leaves, stalks, and such like refuse matter falling through
the sides of the screen, whilst the cotton passes onwards and is discharged
at end of cylindrical screen into a vertical hopper or shoot, where it
encounters a revolving spiked cylinder working in combination with a
fixed concave also provided with spikes. The action of this cylinder
and spikes is to separate or draw the cotton from the pods, the whole
then falling direct into a second fixed horizontal cylindrical screen which
serves to remove the greater portion of the fragments or pieces of pods
remaining in the cotton, and within which a horizontal shaft carrying
helical or inclined blades revolves. In order to accomodate or adjust
the screen to suit the nature of the cotton, and to allow the larger sized
foreign or refuse matters to pass through when the screen is clogged, I
make the mesh or opening of this screen variable or adjustable by having
an outer and an inner screen with the wires disposed longitudinally
therein, the outer screen being capable of being more or less expanded by
the aid of inclined planes or longitudinal sliding bars acting upon guides
on the cylinder frame, thus by suitably moving the longitudinal bars
the wires of the outer screen will be separated more or less, and any
foreign bodies. adhering to the screen will be allowed to fall therefrom..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CLARK, of the Rother Iron Works Company, Ryc, in the County of
Sussex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Clark, Her special license that
I, the said Samuel Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigus,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 imight 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND DECORTICATING COTTON," partly
a communication to me from abroad by Felix Figon, of Beyrout, Syria,
Merchant, and partly my own Invention, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Clark, my executors or administrators,
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 Samuel Clark, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings.
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction, arrangement,
and combination of machinery or apparatus for cleaning and decorticating
cotton whereby stones and such like foreign bodies are first removed from
the pods. The cotton whilst. adhering to the pod is cleansed from dry

page_text: Teaves, stats, and
pod, and finally freed from the fragments of the pods and rendered fit for
the gin.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation of my improved
machine for cleaning and decorticating cotton; Figure 2 is a transverse
vertical section of the same; Figure 3 is an enlarged longitudinal
vertical section, partly in elevation, of one end of an adjustable screen;
Figure 4 is a corresponding transverse section of the same with the
wires closed or adjusted to the smallest mesh; and Figure 5 is an end
elevation of the lower part of the screen showing the mesh opened for
the purpose of removing obstructions therefrom.
A is a flat board which first receives the cotton in the pod, and with
which is connected a perforated inclined plate or flat screen B which
directs the cotton in the pod into the fixed semi-cylindrical screen C.
Stones and other like bodies are separated from the cotton pods whilst
they are being fed or moved along the inclined screen B. From the end
of this flat screen the cotton in the pod enters into the fixed horizontal
semi-cylindrical wire screen C, within which rotates a shaft D carrying a
number of inclined or helical blades E, E, forming a screw which when
rotated moves the cotton and pods through the screen C, the dry leaves,
stalks, and such like refuse matter falling through the bottom of the
screen, whilst the cotton passes onwards and is discharged at the end of
the said screen into a vertical hopper or shoot F, where it encounters a
revolving spiked cylinder G working in combination with a fixed inclined
surface H also provided with spikes. The action of this cylinder and
spikes is to separate or draw the cotton from the pods, the whole then
falling direct through the spout F into a second fixed horizontal semi-
cylindrical screen I, which serves to remove the greater portion of the
fragments or pieces of pods remaining in the cotton, and within which a
longitudinal shaft K carrying helical or inclined blades L, L, revolves.
M is a revolving fan, the edges of the blades of which are serrated so as
to pass between the teeth or spikes on the cylinder G, and remove any

page_text: cotton adhering thereto. In order to accommodate or adjust the lower
screen I to suit the nature of the cotton, and to allow the larger sized
foreign or refuse matters to pass through when the screen is clogged I
make the mesh or opening of this screen variable or adjustable by having
an inner and an outer screen N, N', shown clearly in Figure 5, with their
respective wires O, O', disposed longitudinally therein, the outer
screen N¹ being capable of being more or less expanded or opened out
cither by the aid of inclined planes on longitudinal sliding bars acting
upon guides on the cylinder frame, or, which I prefer and illustrate by my
Drawings, by means of cams P, P, fixed on shafts Q, Q, worked by
handles R, R. These cams work in open frames S, S, secured to or
formed on the outer screen N¹ which consists of moveable segments
working on pivots at n¹ (Figure 5) and carrying the outer set of wires O'.
T, T, are set screws for fixing the cams in any desired position according
to the amount of opening required in the mesh; thus by suitably
moving the cams P, P, the wires of the outer screen will be separated
more or less from those of the inner one, and any foreign bodies adhering
to the screen will be allowed to fall therefrom. The cleaned cotton is
discharged from the lower screen through the spout U (Figure 1), where
it is received into any convenient receptacle. V is a platform upon
which the attendant stands when feeding the machine. The several
parts are driven from the shaft W by the main driving pulley X, which
shaft carries the other pulleys Y, Y', for transmitting motion to the
shafts D and K respectively. The spiked roller G is fast on the driving
shaft W, from which a small pulley and belt Z serves to drive the fan M.
The whole is inclosed in any convenient outer casing or shell a of wood
or other suitable material, and may be mounted on travelling wheels b, b.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The peculiar combination and arrangement of machinery or
apparatus for cleaning and decorticating cotton, as herein-before described
and illustrated by my Drawings.
Second. The construction and use of the adjustable screens, sub-

page_text: stantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated
by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Clark, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this 22nd day of April, Onc
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
SAMUEL CLARK. (L.S.)