IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bernoulli Barlow, of the City of Manchester,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communication.
Sealed the 27th February 1855, and dated the 2nd September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd September 1854.
I, HENRY BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," being a com-
munication from a foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improved combinations and arrangements of
known parts of machinery for removing the dust and other impurities from
fibrous materials. The fibrous material to be operated upon is spread on a
feeding apron, and delivered by rollers to a revolving drum covered with teeth;
this drum takes it to another drum, which strikes it into the teeth of a wire
drum made according to the principle secured by Letters Patent to Francis
Alton Calvert, in One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine. This wire drum
is furnished with a working guard or beater, and the fibrous material is
removed from it by a revolving brush, which delivers it on a grid, from whence
it falls into a suitable receiver, or is made into a lap.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Bernoulli Barlow, Her special license that I. the said Henry Bernoulli
Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, 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, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATE-
RIALS," which Invention has been communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bernoulli
Barlow, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, 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, that is to say :-
The nature of the said Invention consists in certain improved combinations
and arrangements of machinery for cleaning or removing the dust and other
impurities from cotton and other fibrous materials.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures, letters, and arrows
marked thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation, and Figure 2 a plan view, of the improved
combinations of machinery suitable for cleaning cotton. a is the feeding

page_text: apron; b, b, the feed rollers; c, the first picking cylinder or drum, covered with
strong teeth or spikes. This drum strikes the cotton as it is brought forward
by the feed rollers, and the dust that is loosened drops through the grid c',
which is constructed in the usual manner, and may be varied according to the
material under operation. d is the second picking cylinder or drum, covered
with teeth or fine spikes, by which the cotton is stripped from the first picking
cylinder, and delivered to the wire drum e, the partition being placed near
the circumference of the picking cylinder d, in such a position that it guides
the cotton from the picking cylinder c to the wire drum e. This wire drum
is constructed in the manner described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to Francis Alton Calvert, on or about the Eighteenth day of January,
One thousand eight hundred forty-nine. This wire drum is furnished with a
revolving guard or beater f, by which the motes or other impurities projecting
from the teeth of the drum e are struck down, and fall on the first picking
cylinder c. The cotton is cleaned from the teeth of the wire drum e by the
brush g; this brush strikes the cotton on to the grid g', between the bars
of which the loosened dust or other impurities drop on to the second picking
cylinder d; by this means the fly or fibres of cotton that descend with the dirt is
carried forward to the wire drum e, and the dirt and other impurities are dis-
charged through the grating c. The cotton, after passing between the wire
cages h and i, drops on the incline j, from whence it falls into a suitable receiver,
or is made into a lap, by a lapping machine similar to those usually applied
to blowers. The requisite rotary motion is communicated to the various parts
of the machine as shewn in the Drawing, or in any other convenient manner.
The relative velocities of the various parts are as follows: four revolutions of
the feed rollers to four hundred and fifty of the first picking cylinder c; six
hundred revolutions of the second picking cylinder d to two hundred and fifty
of the wire drum e; one thousand revolutions of the brush g and guard f to
ten of the lower cage i. It is, however, necessary to remark, that although
the above relative velocities have been found in practice to give good results,
they may be varied according to the quality of cotton under operation and
the result desired to be obtained. The second picking cylinder d may in
some cases be dispensed with, and the fibrous material to be cleaned
would then be conveyed to the wire drum e by the first picking cylinder. In
cleaning wool or other fibrous material having longer staple than cotton, it is
necessary to reduce the velocity of the wire drum e.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any of the parts
separately, but what I claim is,-

page_text: First, the application of the wire drum e in combination with the machinery
shewn and described for cleaning cotton and other fibrous materials.
And, secondly, the grid marked g¹ placed under the brush 7 when used in
the manner and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February; One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five..
H. B. BARLOW. (L.S.)