IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING MACHINERY
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COMBING MACHINERY."-A communication from abroad by Firmin
Natalis Thuillier-Gellée, of Amiens, France.
Sealed the 21st August 1868, and dated the 7th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th March 1868.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COMBING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to circular combing machinery in which the
combing is effected by means of a large and a small rotating circular
comb, which receive the end of a sliver or bundle of wool or material
to be combed at a point at which they are in tangential contact; by the

page_text: effect of their progress the combs become separated and break or divide
the fibre, each carrying off some of it which they have respectively
combed; the two portions of combed fibre are drawn out of the combs
by drawing cylinders, which conduct them to a funnel or can, where
they are united into a sliver. A special apparatus removes the short
wool, the noils, and other waste. A great defect in this system of
combing, which is generally known as Noble's system, is that the
portion of fibre drawn by the small comb is badly combed and contains
knots and dust, which injure the final sliver of combed wool.
Now it is the object of the present Invention to remedy this defect.
The improvements mainly consist in the employment of an additional
circular comb inclined or oblique to the small comb in order to effect,
as it were, a supplementary combing, which removes the knots and other
impurities from the fibre on the small comb; a small additional brush
is annexed to the oblique comb to press or "dab" the fibre into it.
The pins of the oblique comb are inclined a little outwards. Projections
on the side of this comb enter and slide in the teeth of the small comb,
which thus impart movement to the oblique comb without interfering
with its obliquity. The supports of the oblique comb have vertical
openings, by which it can be adjusted to any required inclination.
At the point of contact of the two ordinary combs the pins of the
oblique comb are below those of the small comb, and they are at the
same level at the point, where the combed fibre is drawn off. A small
circular brush presses the fibre into the pins of the oblique comb, as
before stated. The teeth by which motion is given to the large comb
are vertical, and are put in gear with those of the small comb by inter-
mediate pinions; but in case this mode of driving the large comb should
not leave sufficient room for introducing the oblique comb and should
cause obstructions I have devised the following arrangement for driving
the large comb:-I place its teeth horizontally on its under side; a
vertical driving shaft drives by bevel gearing a horizontal shaft which
carries a toothed wheel in gear with a wheel on another horizontal
shaft; a second wheel on this shaft drives a wheel which gears into
and drives the teeth of the large comb; the small comb is in this case
driven by a toothed wheel which gears laterally with its teeth.
By modifying the mode of driving, the form and movement of the small
additional brush are also changed. A bent arm, one end of which is
fixed to the ordinary brush, carries at the other end a small brush, to

page_text: which it transmits the rapid alternating or reciprocating motion of the
ordinary brush. The small brush is at the same level as the ordinary
brush, and is placed near the drawing apparatus.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The fibre carried off by the
small comb at the point of contact with the large comb passes over the
oblique comb, which is at a lower level at this point. The knots and
other impurities drawn with the fibre are suspended in the annular space
separating the small and oblique combs. In turning, the pins of the
oblique comb gradually reach the level of those of the small comb, and
they tend to raise the fibre, which being pressed by the additional bush
resists; the fibre is thus held in the space between the combs. The
knots at the time of drawing are stopped by the oblique comb, and the
fibre issues from the small comb completely freed from impurities and
perfectly combed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company,
of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her
special licence that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 law-
fully 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 COMBING MACHINERY," (communicated to me
from abroad by Firmin Natalis Thuillier-Gellée, of Amiens, France,) upon

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman, 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 Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to circular combing machinery in which the
combing is effected by means of a large and a small rotating circular
comb, which combs receive the end of a sliver or bundle of wool or
material to be combed at a point at which they are in tangential contact;
by the effect of their progress the combs become separated and break or
divide the fibre, each carrying off some of it, which they have respectively
combed; the two portions of combed fibre are drawn out of the combs
by drawing cylinders which conduct them to a funnel or "can," where
they are united into a sliver. A special apparatus removes the short
wool, the noils, and other waste. A great defect in this system of
combing, which is generally known as Noble's system, is that the portion
of fibre drawn by the small comb is badly combed and contains knots
and dust which injure the final sliver of combed wool.
Now it is the object of the present Invention to remedy this defect.
The improvements mainly consist in the employment of an additional
circular comb inclined or oblique to the small comb in order to effect,
as it were, a supplementary combing, which removes the knots and other
impurities from the fibre on the small comb; a small additional brush
is annexed to the oblique comb to press or "dab" the fibre into it. The
pins of the oblique comb are inclined a little outwards. Projections
on the side of this comb enter and slide in the teeth of the small comb,
which thus impart movement to the oblique comb without interfering
with its obliquity. The supports of the oblique comb have vertical
openings, by which it can be adjusted to any required inclination. At
the point of contact of the two ordinary combs the pins of the oblique
comb are below those of the small comb, and they are at the same level

page_text: at the point where the combed fibre is drawn off. The teeth by which
motion is given to the large comb are vertical, and are put in gear
with those of the small comb by intermediate pinions.
The improvements before described will be understood by Figures 1, 2,
3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings, which represent so much of
a combing machine as is necessary for a proper explanation of the
Invention.
Figure 1 is a plan; and Figure 2, a section through the line 1, 2, of
Figure 1; Figure 3 shows the arrangement of the additional comb with
the small comb; and Figure 4 is a section of one of the supports of
the additional comb.
A is the small additional comb, which is circular and inclined or
oblique; a, a, are the pins of this comb, which are inclined a little
outwards; b, b, are projections to drive the oblique comb; these pro-
jections enter and slide in the teeth of the small comb, which thereby
moves the oblique comb while allowing it to preserve its obliquity.
C, C, are the supports of the oblique comb; they have vertical
openings c, c, which after the oblique comb has been placed over the
small comb allow of the adjustment of the guides c³, c', so that the
oblique comb may turn at the desired inclination. As is seen in the
Drawings, at the point of contact of the two ordinary combs the pins a, a,
of the oblique comb are below those of the small comb, and they are at
the same level at the point where the combed fibre is drawn off. D is
a small circular brush to press the fibre into the pins of the oblique
comb; E is the large comb; e, e, its pins; and p its teeth, which are
vertical; F is the small comb; ff, its pins; and q its teeth, which for
the transmission of the movement are connected by pinions g, h, with the
teeth p of the large comb.
But in case this mode of driving the large comb should not
leave sufficient room for introducing the oblique comb and should
cause obstructions I have devised the arrangement shown in Figures 5,
6, and 7 for driving the large comb. Figure 5 is a plan, and
Figures 6 and 7 are elevations taken at right angles to each other.
I place the teeth P on the large comb E horizontally on its under
side. A vertical driving shaft drives by bevil gearing U, V, a
horizontal shaft t, which carries a toothed wheel T in gear with a
wheel S on another horizontal shaft r; a second wheel R on this shaft

page_text: drives a wheel Q which gears into and drives the teeth P of the large
comb. L represents the feed boxes. The small comb is in this case
driven by a toothed wheel which gears laterally with its teeth.
By modifying the mode of driving, the form and movement of the
small additional brush are also changed. Figures 8 and 9 show in side
view and plan respectively a new arrangement. A bent arm C, one
end of which is fixed to the ordinary brush A, carries at the other end
a small brush B, to which it transmits the rapid alternating or recipro-
cating motion of the ordinary brush. The small brush B is at the same
level as the ordinary brush A, and is placed near the drawing apparatus.
The action of the machine herein-before described is a follows:-The
fibre carried off by the small comb F at the point of contact with the
large comb E passes over the oblique comb A, which is at a lower level
at this point. The knots and other impurities drawn with the fibre aré
suspended in the annular space separating the small and oblique combs.
In turning the pins of the oblique comb gradually reach the level of
those of the small comb, and they tend to raise the fibre, which being
pressed by the additional brush resists; the fibre is thus held in
the space between the combs. The knots at the time of drawing are
stopped by the oblique comb, and the fibre issues from the small comb
completely freed from impurities and perfectly combed.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the
Improvements in Combing Machinery" of the system or class herein-
before referred to,-
66
First. The employment of an additional comb oblique or inclined to
the small comb together with an additional brush, substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.
Second. The arrangements for driving the two ordinary combs to
facilitate the adjustment of the additional comb, substantially as hercin-
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The arrangement for or mode of driving the additional comb
from the small comb to allow the former to turn in an oblique plane,
substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.

page_text: Fourth. The arrangement for or mode of driving the additional brush
from the ordinary brush, substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Fifth. The general arrangement or combination of parts of combing
machinery, as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
C. E. BROOMAN. (L.s.)