IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CONDENSING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Apperly, Cloth Manufacturer, and William
Clissold, Engineer, both of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CONDENSING WOOL AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 16th November 1858, and dated the 21st May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Apperly and William
Clissold at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 21st May 1858.
We, JAMES APPERLY, Cloth Manufacturer, and WILLIAM CLISSOLD, Engineer,
both of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CONDENSING WOOL AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention of "Improved Machinery for Condensing Wool
and other Fibrous Substances" is to produce slivers of great regularity and
uniformity of substance, to which end we construct, arrange, and operate
some of the parts of condensing machinery in a peculiar manner.
Our first improvement relates to the construction or formation of the rubbing
surfaces; and in order to produce a more decided certainty of action in the
operation of the rubbing surfaces, we propose to cover the rolls with strips of
leather placed spirally on their sides or edges, instead of covering the rolls
with either a hair or skin surface laid on or attached to the surface of the roll
in the ordinary manner. By this means a more certain operation and friction
in rubbing the sliver is produced with much less than the ordinary pressure

page_text: between the leathers, and a much slower traversing motion of the rubbers
than usual will produce all the desired effect. Rotary motion is communicated
to the rubber rolls and to the doffer and spool rollers by means of endless
chains passing round suitable cog wheels on the shafts of the several parts.
In conjunction with the above, we also propose to make use of a bar of a
peculiar kind at the feed end of the condensing machine, in order to guide the
wool equally to the taker-in rollers. The edge of this bar at its under surface
is grooved or fluted diagonally, and thereby serves to guide in the fibrous
substances more equally than is now the case.
In order to obtain the same end, we also use two straps on the feed apron,
one at each side; these straps have spikes or metal points placed at suitable
distances on their surfaces, in order to retain the sliver in any position or width
that may be required.
In order to admit of the work and operations of the machine being
examined with facility, the end framing is made with a bracket, on which is
mounted the upper spool roller and some of the other working parts. By
adopting this form of frame instead of the table frame usually employed, the
work is left more open than at present.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Apperly and William Clissold in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
APPERLY, Cloth Manufacturer, and WILLIAM CLISSOLD, Engineer, both of
Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of ler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Apperly and William Clissold, Her special license that we,
the said James Apperly and William Clissold, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Apperly and William
Clissold, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY

page_text: FOR CONDENSING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, 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 Jamès Apperly and William Clissold,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say)-
The object of this Invention is to produce slivers of wool and other fibrous
substances of an even and uniform quality throughout.
Our first improvement relates to the construction of the rubbing surfaces,
by which the condensing of the sliver is effected, the object being to secure
certainty of action in the rubbing surfaces. The rolls we propose to cover
with strips of leather coiled helically around a central metal spindle, and
arranged in such a manner that the thickness of the leather or the cross
section of the grain will be shewn on the periphery of the roll in contra-
distinction to the face of the leather, as seen on ordinary covered rollers.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in in partial section a roll thus
formed. The advantage of this mode of covering rolls is, that the friction
produced between the sliver and the rubbing surfaces requisite for condensing
the sliver as it comes from the card cylinder is obtained with much less than
the ordinary pressure betweers the 'athers, and a much slower traversing
motion of the rubbers than usu ll be required. Fig. 2 shows in plan view,
and Fig. 3 in side elevation, a condenser constructed according to our Inven-
tion. Besides the improvement in the rolls just described, which rolls are
shewn at a, a, Figures 2 and 3, we propose, in order to admit of the work and
operations of the condenser being examined with facility, to form the end
framing with a bracket to carry the upper spool roller and some of the other
working parts, which bracket is shewn at b, b, Fig. 3. The lower spool,
friction rolls, and doffer are carried by the diagonal limb c of the end frame.
By adopting this form of frame instead of the table frame usually employed,
the work is left more open than at present, and any break that may take place
in the sliver can thus be readily detected and made good. This frame, with its

page_text: appendages, may be made so as to permit of its being attached bodily to a
carding engine, to convert it into a condenser, and this is the arrangement
shewn in the Drawing. Rotary motion is communicated to the rubber
rolls a, a, the doffers d, d, and the spool rollers e, e, by means of an endless
chain f, f, passing round suitable chain wheels, as shewn at Fig. 2, the chain
wheel f receiving its motion from the main driving shaft of the engine.
In conjunction with the improvements above described, we also propose to
apply to the feed end of the condensing machine a bar for guiding the wool
into the bite of the take-in rollers, and thereby neutralizing the tendency which
these rollers have when supplied by a diagonal feed to draw the fibres endways
into the machine. This bar, which is shewn at 9, 9, in Figures 2 and 3, and
detached at Fig. 4, is provided with diagonal flutes or grooves at its under
surface, which grooves, running in an opposite direction to that to which the
sliver has a tendency to be drawn, will serve to retain it in its required position
on the feed cloth.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Condensing Wool and other Fibrous Substances," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent we claim,-
First, covering the rubbing rollers of condensers with leather, as above
described.
Secondly, mounting the upper spool and condensing rollers on a bracket or
projecting portion of the end frame for the purpose above set forth, and
driving the working parts of the condenser by an endless chain, as shewn in
the Drawing.
And, lastly, the application of the grooved bar for the purpose above
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Nineteenth day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
eight.
JAMES APPERLY.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM CLISSOLD. (L.S.)