IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and Joseph Amédée
Francis Tavernier, 213, Rue Saint Dominique, St. Germain, Paris, in
the Empire of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR COMBING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Scaled the 22nd September 1858, and dated the 1st April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferdinand Raphael
Tavernier and Joseph Amédée Francis Tavernier at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 1st April 1858.
We, FERDINAND RAPHAEL TAVERNIER and JOSEPHI AMÉDÉE FRANCIS
TAVERNIER, 213, Rue Saint Dominique, St. Germain, Paris, in the Empire
of France, do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY POR COMBING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
These improvements in machines for combing or preparing wool or other
fibrous materials relate to the kind in which screw gills or bars provided
with proper combing teeth are used, and consist in having a series of these
combing gills moving in the same direction parallel to each other, but with
increasing instead of uniform speed, for which purpose the ends of the bars of
the gills are inserted in the worms of two parallel square-threaded screws, the
height of thread of which increases gradually, and as the two screws rotate
with uniform speed, the gills will be pushed forward over a gradually increasing
distance, and thus obtain a gradually increasing speed. The return motion of
the gills takes place in a similar manner by means of two square-threaded
The apparatus is provided with proper feed and discharge rollers,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and Joseph Amedée Francis
Tavernier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th September
1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FERDINAND
RAPHAEL TAVERNIER and JOSEPH AMEDEE FRANCIS TAVERNIER, 213, Rue Saint
Dominique, St. Germain, Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and Joseph Amedée Francis Tavernier, Her
special licence that we, the said Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and Joseph
Amedée Francis Tavernier, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and Joseph Amedée
Francis Tavernier, our 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 COMBING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and Joseph
Amedée Francis Tavernier, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier and
Joseph Amedée Francis Tavernier, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:―

page_text: The characteristics of our plan of combing are as follows:-
First, taking the sliver of wool (or other fibrous or filamentous material),
keeping it at a fixed level, and lashing it with a lashing comb; that is to say,
a comb is caused to enter or strike into the sliver smartly or sharply (vivement)
such comb then remaining in a fixed position with respect to the sliver.
Secondly, lashing the sliver with a second and similar comb striking or
entering into it in like manner tangentially to and within the first comb, and
remaining like it in the same position with respect to the sliver.
Thirdly, lashing the sliver with a third comb acting in a similar manner;
that is to say, striking or entering briskly into the sliver, and taking a position
tangential and interior to the second.
Fourthly, causing these three combs to advance in a direction parallel to each
other, but at different velocities, the first moving forward more rapidly than
the second, and the second than the third, so that the sliver bead is torn and
combed front and back at the same time without fracture or waste, there
being no point of detention nor looping over the back of the comb.
.
Fifthly, the work is to be continued by the successive introduction into the
sliver of fresh sets of combs acting in a similar manner, and having a like
differential motion to the three first named, the combing being completed by
means of drawing rollers working with regular and continuous action.
The accompanying Drawings represent the arrangement of machinery which
we employ.
Figure 1 is a top view, and Figure 2, front view. P is a driving rigger, to
which motion is communicated by any suitable means; A, A', are grooved
feed rollers for delivering the slivers to the combs or gills; B, B, are screws
cut with unequal threads or with a gradually increasing worm, as shewn, for
causing the three lashing combs before mentioned to advance in a parallel
direction with respect to each other, the ends of the comb bars entering in
the furrows or channels of the threads of the screws; the edges of the combs
are higher than their needles. B', B'; are two other screws of equal or uniform
thread for bringing the combs back to the feed, after they have been cleared of
the combed fibres; C is a brush (to which to-and-fro motion is communicated
by crank L, connecting rod J, and rigger M,) for engaging the fibrous material
in the combs on their reaching the screws B, B; D, D, are grooved guide-
ways for guiding the combs from the screws B to the screws B¹; these guide-
ways are opened and closed at the proper intervals by levers D', D', actuated
by excentrics E, E, at the ends of the screws B¹, B'; H, H, are fluted rollers
for doffing the fibrous matters from the gills or combs, as they come down tho
guideways D, D; G is an urchin or card toothed roller for receiving the

page_text: combed fibres from the rollers H, H', and from which roller G they are trans-
ferred to grooved cylinders K, K', and thence wound on to a reel I; F is a
revolving brush for clearing the combs and removing any noils left therein,
which are carried away by grooved rollers O, O', to a noil can Q. The action
of the machine is as follows:-The sliver being kept at the proper level is
nipped by the grooves A, A', and as soon as its head protrudes beyond them,
the lashing comb propelled by the cams of the screws B', strikes its teeth
right into the sliver, being brought a little forward on the screws B with the
same velocity as the sliver is delivered by the feed grooves, so that the
comb's forward motion and that of the sliver are mutually neutralized or
balanced; a second comb is immediately afterwards caused to strike right
into the sliver in a similar manner to and beside the former (to its left) or
within it; and next, the third comb is similarly struck in (and so on). As
soon as the third comb has reached the screws B, B, the first will be at x, and
as it continues its progress, will move away from the second; when the latter
is at x, it will separate from the third, the first being at a¹; the sliver head is
torn and thereby combed front and back, and the operation is continued by
fresh relays of combs.
It may be remarked that the first comb, in separating from the second,
combs the tips of the fibres engaged in it, while the second, separating from
the third, combs the tail ends thereof; but as these ends hold somewhat firmly
to the uncombed fibres (in the third comb) while the second separates from
the third, the tips of the combed fibres are returned into the latter, so that
there is only a single fringe of combed material on each comb, although both
ends of the slivers have been combed. When the first comb is at 11, at the
end of the screws B it comes down the ways D, D, and is stopped at y; while
there, the sliver is nipped by the rollers H, H', and drawn so as to complete
the combing, and is thence transferred to the roller G, which thus delivers a
continuous sliver of combed material to the cylinders K, K', which carry it to
the reel I; there being thus no breaking or joining of sliver because the
rollers H, H turn so. slowly, that they do not abandon the ends of the one
sliver before they nip the head of the next, and so on. When the comb is
cleared of its fibres, the levers D' allow it to continue its descent to the screws
B', which bring it back again to the screws B, B. As each comb moves down,
the noils are discharged on the brush I, and thence carried away by the rollers
O, O', to the can Q.
We do not restrict ourselves to the exact mechanical parts or details herein-
before described and represented in the Drawings for carrying our Invention
into effect, but, where desirable, substitute suitable mechanical equivalents;

page_text: thus, for example, instead of the guideways D, notched or recessed plates may
be employed, and the guiding screws B and B' may be conical, with varying
or with uniform thread, or instead of such screws, cranks and connecting rods
may be employed. Our mode of combing may be carried into effect by means
of two combs only, the first travelling on a horizontal stationary chain, where
it receives the sliver, the second coming beside it, following it momentarily,
and immediately separating therefrom to effect the combing.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we declare that we claim,―
First, the mode of combing herein-before described, according to which ȧ
first comb is caused to enter smartly into the sliver with the same speed as the
sliver is delivered, and then a second and a third comb are caused to enter in
like manner, and next, all the combs have imparted to them a forward motion
parallel to each other but with different velocities, such mode being operated
by the machine herein-before described, and we claim the arrangement and
combination of parts of the machine for carrying this mode of action into
effect as herein-before described with reference to the Drawings, although we
disclaim the mechanical parts thereof, separately considered.
Second, combing on the back of the comb for preventing waste.
Third, combing the tips and tail ends of the tuft while supporting it at the
middle, allowing it to remain on that comb wherein it is most retained.
Fourth, the double combing of each sliver in the same machine, first, by the
action of one comb on another, and then by the drawing action of grooves.
Fifth, the means of obtaining a lashing without outer fringe of raw
material.
Sixth, the employment of combs with edges higher than their needles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferdinand Raphael Tavernier, for myself,
and on behalf of the said Joseph Amedèe Francis Tavernier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
BRESSON, F. Ingénieur Civil,
à Paris.
F. R. TAVERNIER. (L.S.)