A MACHINE TO OPEN AND CLEAN TOW AND TOW WASTE FROM FLAX AND HEMP, AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND AN IMPROVED MODE OF PIECING STRAPS AND BELTS POR DRIVING MACHINERY AND A MACHINE FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
WILKS LORD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Flax and Tow Machine Maker,
and GEORGE WILSON, Director of the Flax Works of John Ferguson,
Esquire, M.P., of Prinlaws, in the County of Fife, North Britain, send
greeting:
us, the
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland; bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of
July, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant Chto
said Thomas Wilks Lord and George Wilson, our exors, adññors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority that we, the said
Thomas Wilks Lord and George Wilson, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Thomas Wilks Lord and George Wilson, our
exors, aduiors, or assignis, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might inake, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "A MACHINE
TO OPEN AND CLEAN TOW AND TOW WASTE FROM FLAX AND HEMP, AND OTHER SIMILAR
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND AN IMPROVED MODE OF PIECING STRAPS AND BELTS POR
DRIVING MACHINERY, AND A MACHINE FOR EFFECTING THE SAME;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said Thomas Wilks Lord

page_text: and George Wilson, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and scal of one of us, 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, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we have
ascertained and set forth the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, observing that the same letters indicate the same parts
in each of the Figures.
The object of the machine, which constitutes the first part of our Invention,
is to clean the dust and shive from tow waste, and also to open and clean
tow for the process of carding, and lessening the amount of dust in the carding
rooms, which is very pernicious to the health of persons working therein.
Figures 1 to 3 are representations of the machine; Figure 1 is a longitudinal
section; Figure 2, a front elevation (with the fly-wheel and pullies removed);
and Figure 3, a back elevation. a is a cage, composed of iron rods ranged
longitudinally, and surrounded by a casing b, b; c is a horizontal shaft, upon
which is mounted a series of tapered beaters or opening pins d, d, ranged
spirally round the shaft. The tow or tow waste enters the machine at an
aperture e, and is supplied to the machine by the feeding table f, which is
composed of an endless web or straps passing over rollers and having a series
of transverse battens or strips of wood attached to thein. 9 is a wire cylindor,
placed transversely at the end of the cage, and working upon the roller of the
endless web of a delivery table i, similar to the feeding table f, and driven by
straps or gearing from the other end of the shaft). The wire cylinder is open
at each end to trunks h, k, which meet in a larger trunk m, which com-
municates with a fan or other exhausting apparatus. The cylinder is covered
in (except at the side next the cage) by a casing n, which likewise closes the
back of the cage. o is the fixed pulley, which receives motion from the
driving pulley; p, the loose pulley; q, a fly-wheel to equalize the motion of
the shaft; and, a pulley for giving motion to the feeding table. The tow
upon entering the machine is carried along the cage by the action of the
beater pins, aided by the current of air produced by the velocity of the pins
and the exhausting fan, and in its advance the dirt and shive are separated
and fall through the grating or bars of the cage. The current of air then

page_text: throws the tow or tow waste upon the wire cylinder; any remaining dust is
drawn through the wire cylinder by the fan, and the tow is carried forward
by the action of the wire cylinder and delivery table (which revolve in the
direction of the arrows), and is discharged from the machine at s, where it ma
either fall into a box, or be formed into a lap.
We would remark, that if preferred, the wire cylinder, may be dispensed
with, and a large box or chamber attached to the back of the cage to receive
the tow.
First, we claim, under this head of our Invention, the general construction
and arrangement of the machine.
Second, the employment, for the purpose of cleaning tow and tow waste;
of a series of arms or pins ranged in a spiral line round a shaft, revolving
within a cage or grated receptacle, as hereinbefore described.
Third, the employment of a wire cylinder, fan, and delivery table, for the
purpose of forming the tow into a lap as it leaves the machine, as hereinbefore
described.
Fourth, the employment of a feed table to supply tow to the machine, as
hereinbefore described.
The improved mode of piecing belts or straps for driving machinery, which
constitutes the second part of our Invention, consists in uniting the pieces or
ends of such straps by means of metallic tubes or ferrules, instead of either
sewing or rivetting. The ferrules are inserted into holes made in the straps
or belts, and the ends of the ferrules are then turned down, so as to form a
small flanch on either side, producing a smooth circular face to the surface of
the belt; piecings made in this manner are much more durable, and can be
manufactured with more despatch.
:
Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent our machine for piecing straps or belts, as
above described; Figure 4, being a front elevation; Figure 5, a side eleva-
tion; and Figure 6, a plan. A is the frame or standard; B, a punching bar
(as shewn detached in Figure 7), working loosely in the standard, and fitted at
the lower end with a punch for forming the holes in the straps; D is a rivetting
bar or rod, working in a screw in the standard. The lower end of the rod
is cupped, so as to form a flange on the upper side of the ferrule, and carries
a centre point E, and a similar centre point F is inserted in a cup G, fixed
immediately beneath it on the foot of the standard. The two parts of the
piecing are placed over a hole in the frame immediately below the punching
bar, and a copper or other tube (H, Figures 8 and 9, being slipped over the
punch, the punch is then driven through the folds of the strap or piecing, and
the punch is then withdrawn, leaving the tube in the strap. The strap with