IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FIBROUS 19 A communication.
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FIBROUS
19
A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th August 1856.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
In combing machines, as heretofore constructed, it has not been found prac-
ticable to employ more than one circle of teeth at a time, owing to the difficulty
of so arranging the rolls with reference to them that they shall draw the
material through the teeth and not off their points. To overcome this difficulty,
and permit of the use of an indefinite number of rings of teeth, the Inventor
arranges the teeth in rings around a cylinder, and in a direction inclined to its
axis. At the instant the fibres are about to be drawn from them the points of
the teeth pass under suitable guards, which keep back the noils, while a

page_text: pair of draught rolls, lying parallel with the cylinder, strip off the combed fibre.
The fibre to be operated upon is delivered to this comb cylinder by a brush
cylinder, placed with its axis inclined to that of the comb cylinder, that it may
the more perfectly brush the fibres into the inclined teeth of the combs, or if
not so inclined, it should receive a slight endway motion. The material, when
placed upon the comb cylinder, is subjected to the operation of a carding
cylinder, by which the fibres are disentangled and straightened out, and it is
after this operation has been effected that the teeth pass under the guards, and
the fibre is drawn off by the stripping rolls.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord, One thousand cight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "In-
PROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Efforts have been made to prepare long staple cotton by combing it upon
machines having a single circle of teeth, as in the ordinary wool combers; the
operation of such machines is, however, too slow, and the amount of work of
which they are capable too limited to render them of any practical value,
except for the most costly fabrics. Now, the present Invention has for its
object to increase the capabilities of such machines by certain modifications and
improvements, which enable them to perform a much greater amount of work
than they have ever before been capable of, and this is effected by placing the
comb teeth in an inclined position upon the surface of a cylinder, and by
operating them in conjunction with a guard, which will be hereafter more fully
explained, whereby an indefinite number of circles of comb teeth may be
employed, and the product of the machine greatly increased.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan; Fig. 2 a vertical longi-
tudinal section upon the line x, x, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical section upon
the line Z, Z, of Fig. 1; Figures 4 and 5, details to be referred to hereafter;
Fig. 6, section on y, y, of Fig. 5. O, in the several Figures, is the feed apron,
upon which the raw cotton is spread, and by which it is carried into the
machine. From this apron it is received by the licker in A, the top card C
opening the bunches and separating the fibres before they are delivered to the
main cylinder B; this cylinder is constructed of brushes, as shewn in the
Drawings. From the main cylinder the cotton is transferred to the comb
cylinder D, the construction of which will now be described.
In combing machines, as heretofore constructed, it has not been found prac-
ticable to employ more than one circle of teeth at a time, owing to the difficulty
of so arranging the rolls with reference to them that they shall draw the
material through the teeth, and not off their points.
To overcome this difficulty, and to permit of the use of an indefinite number
of teeth, the Inventor arranges the latter so that they shall be within the
surface of a cylinder, and in a direction inclined to its axis. At the instant the
fibres are about to be drawn from them the points of the teeth pass under
suitable guards, by which construction and arrangement a single pair of draught
rolls may be adapted to a cylinder of indefinite length, and the axes of these
rolls may be placed perpendicular to the direction of motion of the teeth,
whereby any number of circles of teeth may be employed upon the cylinder,
and a proportionate amount of work may be performed.
In Fig. 4 is seen the combing cylinder detached, and in Fig. 5 a portion of

page_text: its surface enlarged; each circle of teeth having its guard 6, which is repre-
sented as covering the points of the teeth during the time that the draught is
being made. The main cylinder B, which transfers the cotton on to the comb
cylinder, is placed with its axis inclined to that of the latter, that it may the
more perfectly brush the fibres into the inclined teeth of the combs; this incli-
nation is such that the brushes shall revolve in planes parallel with the teeth,
or very nearly so. This position of the main cylinder has been found the best
in practice, though it is not absolutely necessary to the proper operation of the
machine, as the two cylinders may be parallel to each other, and the machine
will still operate very satisfactorily. There are, however, advantages of con-
struction which will, probably, lead in the majority of cases to placing the brush
cylinder parallel to the comb cylinder; in such cases, however, it becomes
necessary to traverse the brush cylinder in the direction of its axis a distance
at least equal to the distance between the circles of points. After the material
is placed upon the comb cylinder, it is subjected to the operation of the carding
cylinder E, by which the fibres are disentangled and straightened out, they are
then drawn out from the comb teeth in the manner following:-I, I', are rolls
revolving in stationary bearings, and carrying the apron P; K is a weighted
roll, which operates with the roll I, to draw the fibres from the comb teeth.
At the point where these rolls operate the teeth pass beneath guards b, which
prevent the noil knobs and uncombed cotton from being drawn off with the
straightened fibres, as before explained. The separate slivers thus produced are
led off by the apron P, and are united into a sliver R by the tunnel M, which
delivers it to the calender rolls N. Immediately above the rolls I' and K lies
the clearer L, the object of which is to prevent the cotton from lapping round
the rolls K. The carding cylinder E is cleaned by the rapidly revolving brush
F, which is itself kept from clogging by the stationary teeth G. The comb
cylinder is cleansed of any knots or dirt which may remain as noil within its
teeth, after the cotton is withdrawn, by the rapidly revolving brush H, which is
itself cleared by the scraper S. About one-half of the cotton is thus rapidly
drawn out, forming a beautiful and even sliver, superior to that produced upon
carding engines as now constructed, while the amount of work of which the
machine is capable exceeds that which can be done upon cards occupying an
equal space upon the floor. The remainder of the cotton which is thrown off
the comb cylinder by the brush H, and which is already partially opened and
carded, is to be finished upon the ordinary carding engines, and devoted to
purposes not requiring the longest of the staple.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Combing Fibrous Substances," as communicated to me by my foreign corre-

page_text: spondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it
to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim
inclining the comb teeth to the axis of the cylinder or drum by which they are
carried, and covering them with the guard at the point of draft, in the manner
substantially as herein set forth, and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)