IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Holt, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Holt at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd June
1864.
I, JAMES HOLT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in making the spikes of willows and openers and
other machines of the like nature oval, angular, oblong, or flat in shape,
instead of cylindrical or conical as heretofore, and in setting the said oval,
angular, oblong, or flat spikes diagonally on the arms or drum of the
willow or opener, so that in revolving the currents of air produced by the
sides of the spikes may cause the fibres to move laterally between the sets:
of spikes.

page_text: Another part of my Invention consists in making the spikes of willows and
openers of cast iron instead of wrought iron as now customary. The screw
for securing the spike to the drum is of wrought iron cast into the spike.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Holt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HOLT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Holt, Her special license that I, the said James Holt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Holt, 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 OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Holt, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 James Holt, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say)
:-
My Invention consists in making the teeth or spikes of willows or openers
and other machines of the like nature oval, angular, oblong, or flat in shape,
instead of cylindrical or conical as heretofore, and in setting the said oval,

page_text: angular, oblong, or flat teeth or spikes diagonally on the arms or lags of the
drum of the willow or opener, so that in revolving the currents of air
produced by the sides of the teeth or spikes may cause the fibres to move
laterally between the sets of teeth or spikes.
Another part of my Invention consists in making the teeth or spikes of
willows or openers of cast iron instead of wrought iron as now customary.
The screw for securing the teeth or spikes to the drum is of wrought iron cast
into the spike or tooth.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1, 2, & 3 being made
about the full size, and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, being made upon a scale of
about one inch to the foot, having similar letters of reference marked
thereupon.
Figs. 1 and 2 represents a front and side elevation of the improved "willow
tooth," and Fig. 3 a plan of same; Fig. 4 is an end section of the cylinder
and cylinder cover, shewing the arrangement and position of the teeth
on the cylinder, also the inverted stationary ones attached to the cylinder
cover; Figs. 5, 6, & 7, are Diagrams shewing the usual number and position
of the front, middle, and back inverted teeth, attached to the cylinder cover,
and Fig. 8 is a Diagram shewing the full circumference of the cylinder on a
plane or bevil, having the teeth placed and arranged thereupon according to
our improved method for giving an irregular course to the draught and cotton
or other fibrous material under operation.
In Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, a, a, are the teeth secured into the
cylinder c by the wrought-iron screw a¹ (sen in Fig. 1), the tooth a being
cast metal. The sets of teeth a and are arranged and secured on the
cylinder c and cylinder cover d in various positions (as seen in Fig. 8), causing,
as the cylinder revolves, a draught, the current or course of which is lateral or
irregular between the sets of spikes or teeth a and b, the teeth being
O stationary and inverted, secured in the cylinder cover d.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim,-
First, the novel and peculiar form or configuration of the teeth as shewn
5 and described, and placing the same at any angle required to impart an
irregular course to the draught of the cotton so as to suit the different quality
of cotton or other fibre operated upon and employed on the cylinder and
cylinder cover.

page_text: Secondly, I claim manufacturing willow teeth of cast iron with wrought
iron shank or bolt, as shewn and described in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Holt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES HOLT. (L.S.)