IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING, COMBING AND DRAWING WOOL, SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1852

page_text: WHITEHEAD'S SPECIFICATION..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN,
WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County of York,
Machine Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her,
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the fifteenth year of. Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the,
said John Whitehead, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and;
authority, that I, the said John Whitehead, my exors; adfiiors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said John Whitehead, my exors, admors, or assigns,;
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all.
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of,
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING, COMBING AND DRAWING WOOL, SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso; obliging:
me, the said John Whitehead, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be.
inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
Paine 71

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said
John Whitehead, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereunto, (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of
machinery for carrying out the several operations of preparing, combing, and
drawing wool, silk, cotton, and.other.fibrous substances requiring such opera-
tions. In Sheet 1. of the accompanying Drawings my improved preparing
machinery, which constitutes the first head of the Invention, is represented
under three modifications.
Fig. 1 shews one arrangement in longitudinal section; a, a, is an endless
feeding sheet passing round to rollers a¹, a², and on this sheet the staple to
be operated upon is spread by hand. The forward movement of this sheet
causes the staple to pass under a heated flnted roller b, mounted in the slotted
bearings which carry the roller a², and by this fluted roller the staple is
delivered on to a rotating porcupine or card roller c, situate contiguous to a
cylinder d, the periphery of which is covered with card teeth, or wire, or
bristles. Immediately above the porcupine roller, and extending over its
whole length, a plate e, having a smooth edge, is fixed for the purpose of
preventing the cylinder d from taking the material direct from the fluted
rollers; and thereby ensuring the action of the porcupine roller upon the staple
under operation. On the opposite side of the cylinder d a screw gill drawing
head fis situated, and on to the combs or gills of this drawing head of the staple
is lashed by the rotating card cylinder. The staple is theu carried by the
travelling gills to the drawing rollers g in a prepared state to be delivered out
of the machine into cans, or rolled up into balls, as shewn in the Drawing.
The gills are actuated by screws in the ordinary manner of screw gill machinery,"
or'they may be actuated by the arrangement hereafter to be described under
the third head of my 'Invention, and the movements of the several parts may"
be taken from the main driving shaft h by means of the gearing indicated by
the pitch lines in red, and by the bands or straps shewn in the Drawing.
Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of another arrangement of preparing machine.
The feeding sheet a; a, carries the staple as before under a heated fluted roller b,
whence it passes between a pair of ordinary card feeding rollers e, e, which
deliver it to an ordinary arrangement of carding engine, consisting of a main
ад

page_text: card cylinder d, with the usual workers and strippers surrounding it. The
staple having been subjected to the action of these card surfaces, is stripped off
the cylinder d by the doffing cylinder e, and delivered on to the teeth of the
combs of the screw gill drawing head by means of the reciprocating brush h.
It is then straightened or partially combed by the action of the gills, and is
drawn into an endless sliver through a conductor by the drawing rollers 9, in
which state it is delivered out of the machine.
Fig. 3 is a modification of this arrangement, in which the combs or gills are
inverted, that is, they work with their teeth downwards instead of upwards,
which is the usual position.
The second head of my Invention consists in certain novel arrangements of
machinery, whereby the two operations of preparing and combing may be
effected simultaneously.
In Sheet II., Fig. 1 represents in cross section one arrangement of double
action machine for preparing and combing wool and other fibrous substances.
This machine is provided with two sets of preparing machinery, similar to that"
shewn at Fig. 1, Sheet I, and between these an endless travelling comb is
situated, which is intended to receive the staple from the two sets of gill
machinery and carry it under a drawing-off head, by which it is to be drawn
off in the usual way of cleaning such travelling combs. In this Figure a, a, are
the feed aprons or sheets for carrying in the staple to be acted upon; b, b, are
heated fluted rollers; c, c, porcupine rollers; e, e, the smooth edged plates for
guiding the staple; and d, d, the card cylinders which lash the staple on to their
respective gills f,f. The transference of the staple from the gills to the
endless travelling combs is effected by two reciprocating combs g, g, in the
manner that I will now proceed to describe. These reciprocating comb
their appendages are shewn in cross section at Fig. 1, and the partial
view, Fig. 2, shews the more clearly the means whereby they are sustained and
actuated. Each comb g is attached to two sliding pieces h, which work in
guides in a pair of rocking arms i, carried by a stationary axle k. These arms
are furnished with an anti-friction bowle, against which a cam l, keyed to an
axle m works, and affixed to opposite ends of the same axle is a pair of crank
arms 7, which are severally connected to an arm o, jointed loosely to a sliding
piece h. By the rotation, therefore, of the axle ma traverse motion is com-
municated to the comb g. In front of each drawing gill head is a stationary
brush P, the use of which will be presently explained. The combs are each
provided with a hollow brushg, which surrounds its comb, moves with it, and
is capable of receiving an independent up and down motion. These brushes
have a tendency to retain their highest position (as respects their comb) by

page_text: reason of a helical spring interposed between. the frame of the brush and.the
comb, as shewn.at. Fig. 1, but when brought under the bowle of a rotating
arm 7; keyed.to a shaft s, the bristles of the brush are depressed below the
teeth of the comb, and will thereby,thrust off from the teeth. of the comb any.
staple it may contain. When this comb has been thus cleared it will be ready.
to return to its screw gill drawing head for a fresh supply. To.effect this:
operation the pressure ofthe arm on the brush is (by reason of the continued
rotation of its shaft s) first removed. The increasing radius of the cams / then.
coming under the bowles.of the arms i raises the comb g to the proper eleva
tion for striking into the staple, which is carried by the teeth or pins of the
last gill of the drawing head, and, at the same time, the rotation of the shafton
causes the crank arms n to propel the comb towards the drawing head. When,
the comb g has arrived immediately over the brush p the smallest diameter of
the cams will be presented.. This will cause the arms i to fall; and thereby the
comb g will be made to strike into the staple which projects from the drawing,
head. The brush 2 being situate immediately, below, the staple will have thei
effect of thrusting the staple in between the teeth of the comb. The comb g;.
now charged with staple, is carried back by reason of the rotating crank armsn
to the centre of the machine, and the brushq, which surrounds the comb, being
depressed by the means already described, the staple will be forced from the
comb into the travelling endless, comb twhich is situate midway between
the two screw. gill drawing heads. In this way the prepared,staple will; bei
transferred from the two drawing heads alternately to the central comb, the
staple being laid thereon so as to project from both sides of the comb, asshewn
the Drawing. This comb is composed of short bars 1, (see the detailed
Fig. 3,) connected together by links 2, and carrying a brass plate, filled.
I
standing ght angles therefrom. The endless chain of combs
over and under a cast-iron bed u, which is, countersunk. at its upper,
and lower edges to receive and guide the chain and hold it up to its work..
Each end of this bed is forked, as shewn at fig. 1, Sheet III.,, in order to form
bearings for a pair of chain wheels, by which the chaiu is rotated... The.
mannerin which motion may be communicated to the several moving parts is:
indicated by the red lines in the Drawing, but any other arrangement capable
of effecting the same result may be adopted if thought desirable:
Fig. 4 represents in sectional elevation, a modification of this double action
machine.. In this instance, prepared slivers are fed. on to the screw gill
drawing heads by means of a pair of heated fluid rollers 4, 4, in lieu of the:
staple being lashed on the gills by rotating card; cylinders, as in the last
described arrangement. Inother respects this preparing and combing machinei

page_text: is similar to that, shown at Fig; 1, and as the same letters of reference are
applied to the like parts, no further description will be required:
1
Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet III., exhibit an arrangement of preparing, and.
combing machinery, in which the screw gill drawing heads and their feeding
apparatus receive a reciprocating motion for the purpose of feeding the staple
on to the central endless band of combs without the intervention of the recipro-
cating combs g, g, Fig. 1, Sheet II. Fig. is.a plan view of this arrange-
inent; Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same;. and Fig. 3 is a side view of one
of the drawing heads and its appurtenances. a, a, is a cast-iron frame which..
carries the screw gills b, b,.aud the rollers c, c, for feeding the same. This.
frame slides in horizontal guides, inade in a table d, d,which itself receives an..
up and down motion by means of a pair of cams e, e,,which are keyed to the.
main driving shaft f,and work in contact with a pair of bowles g,g, with which..
the table is provided. This table.slides in vertical guides formed in the main
framing, h, which also carries the gearing and other mechanism for com
municating motion to the drawing head. As the various parts are analogous for..
the two drawing heads,aud the action of both drawing heads is precisely alike
I shall content myself with explaining the means whereby the staple is laid,,
over the endless comb,, with reference only to one drawing head. I would,
however, remark that the drawing. heads which approach the central.comb.
from opposite sides advance alternately,and lash the wool on to.the comb teeth,).
the endless travelling comb being constructed and sustained incits placesin,
the manner already described. With reference to the arrangement shewn in
Sheet II, and driven in the like or any other convenient way,it is intended to.
transfer the staple directly from, the drawing head to that comb, and then.to.
draw off the staple therefrom by means of an ordinary drawing-off head, and
deliver it out of the machine in the form of a roving or sliver. To effect this; .
rotary motion is given to the main driving shaft f in the direction of the arrow,
whereby the cam e is caused to raise and lower the table d,, and. with, it the
drawing head. At the same time, a cog wheel 1,, keyed to the shaft fand.,
gearing into a wheel 2, carried by the joint stud of a pair of vibrating arms,i, i, .
drives that wheel 2, which in turn drives a wheel 3, keyed to a horizontal,
shaft k, which runs in bearings attached to the table. The arms i, i,, are
respectively supported by the shafts and k. Ou the inner end of the shaftyle.
is a crank arm, which is connected by a rod m to the frame a of the drawing,
head. At every revolution, therefore, of the shaft the drawing.headis caused,
to advance towards and recede from the endless.comb. Rotary motion is com-
municated from this shaft & by, means of a bevil pinion 4.to, a pinion 5, which
is keyed to a shaft 6. This shaft, has its bearing in a rocking bracket.7,carried
'

page_text: by the shaft, and its upper end slides freely in a bracket bearing, which is
carried by a shaft 8. A feather on the shaft 6 takes into a grove, cut in the
boss of a bevil pinion 9, and thereby that pinion is caused to rotate, which
gearing into a pinion 10 on the shaft 8 rotates that shaft, and with it the gill
screws by means of the gearing shewn in the Drawing. The feed rollers are
caused to rotate, and feed in the staple from the ball (which rests in suitable
supports attached to the frame a) in any convenient way. It will now be under-
stood that as the drawing head advances towards the central comb it will be
raised by means of the cams e, in order that it may attain the proper position for
lashing the fibre upon the teeth of the comb. When it has reached the end of its
course the smallest radius of the cams e will suddenly come in contact with the
bowles g,g, and cause the table, and with it the drawing bead, to fall into their
lowest position. By this means the staple which projects from the last gill
will be lashed into the teeth of the central comb, and, if desired, a brush n,
situate immediately above the comb, (see Fig. 2.) may be made to descend
and thrust down the staple between the comb teeth. The drawing head will
now retire and, at the same time, the drawing head at the opposite side of the
comb will advance, and in like manner lash the staple (which its screw gills
have opened out) on to the con'b, the endless chain of combs having in the
meanwhile advanced in its lined progress towards the drawing-off head.
should be remarked that the r cess of the chain of combs is continuous, and
that by this double feedir tion the comb is charged with two layers of
staple, which admits of
ng-off being carried on simultaneously on
both sides of the c
better result will be obtained than hereto-
fore, in consequ's and
id friction of contact which is setup between
rpose the endless chain of combs t,t,is pro-
vided on either side the..
rawing-off head q,q, consisting each of two
pairs of rollers,which are driven in any ordinary manner,and take off the staple
from either side of the chain of combs and pass it to a trumpet mouth r
which, through the action of a pair of drawing rollers 3, 8, will condense the
now combed staple into a sliver or coarse roving, which may be received into
cans or wound'into balls as thought most couvenient. The combs are cleared
of the noils and waste by means of strippers u,u, as usual in such machinery.
Instead of the compound vertical and horizontal motion's being given to the
screw gill drawing heads, I propose in some cases to effect the lashing of the
staple on to the endless chain of travelling combs by giving the drawing heads
a simple backward and forward motion, and raising and lowering one end of
the travelling comb's to meet the advancing gills.
the fibres of the "lan
It
Fig. 4, Sheet III., shews in diagram a modification of the above-described

page_text: arrangement; the only difference being that, instead of taking the staple from
balls of prepared silver, the staple is fed into the machine by means of
endless aprons; which have a reciprocating motion with the drawing head. In
this arrangement a porcupine or card roller is interposed between the feed
rollers and the screw gills.
}
The third head of this Inventionconsists in a novel arrangementof apparatus
to be used for raising and lowering the fallers of the screw gill drawing head,
instead of the tappets or cams hitherto employed. This improvement is shewn
in Sheet I. of the Drawings, Fig. 4 being a cross section of a drawing head,
and Fig. 5 a sectional elevation at right angles thereto; a, a*, are two pairs of
vertical sliding rods, set at opposite sides of the drawing head, the one pair to
raise and the other to depress the gills or fallers. These rods a, a, are each
provided with a projecting shoulder, which in one pair serves to lift the fallers,
and in the other to drive them down to the lower table, when they have arrived
at the end of their course.
The rods are jointed loosely to rocking levers b, b, keyed to a rock shaft 'c,
which, through a connecting rod and arın d, receives its motion from the
crank shafte, and thus an up and down motion is communicated to the lifting
and depressing rods a,.a*. At the lifting side of the drawing head a vertical
spring is provided, which serves to sustain each faller when it has attained
its highest position prior to being propelled on to the top table, and thereby
greatly assists in the transference of the fallers from the lower to the upper
table. The elasticity of the spring will allow of the free upward passage of
the fallers, but when theyhave passed it the spring will flyforwards and sustain
the faller in the manner stated.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and 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 :-
.
First, the arrangement of machinery shewn at Fig. 1, Sheet I., or any modi-
fication thereof, for preparing wool, silk, cotton, and other fibrous substances,
when such operation is effected bylashing the staple on to a screw gilldrawing
head by means of a rotating cylinder covered with teeth, combs, or brushes;
and I also claim the combination of carding and screw gill machinery, as shewn
at Figures 2 and 3 of Sheet I., or any modification of such combination of
machinery for effecting the like operation.
Under the second head of my Invention I claim the several arrangements of
machinery shewn in Sheets II. and III. of the Drawings for preparing and
combing wool,silk, cotton, and other fibrous materials; I also claim the filling
a central travelling comb bymeans of two or more traversing or: reciprocating

page_text: combs or screw gill drawing heads, set one or more; on each side of the
travelling comb ; and also the application of two or more drawing-off heads,
set one or more on each side of the travelling comb, whereby the advantages
above set forth may be attained.'
Under, the third head of my Invention I claim the arrangement of appa-
ratus, shewn in Sheet 1. of the Drawings, for raising and depressing the gill
fallers; in lieu of the cams heretofore employed for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Whitehead, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
JOHN (Ls.) WHITEHEAD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid John Whitehead came before our
said Lady the Queen in her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and-all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for; that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two."