IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING COTTON AND WOOL FROM SEEDS, BURRS, OR OTHER SUCH EXTRANEOUS MATTERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Platt, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, and William Richardson, of the same Place,.
Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING COTTON AND WOOL FROM SEEDS, BURRS, OR OTHER
SUCH EXTRANEOUS MATTERS."
Sealed the 16th February 1864, and dated the 20th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Platt and William
Richardson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents with their
Petition, on the 20th August 1863.
We, JOHN PLATT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, and WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING COTTON AND WOOL FROM SEEDS, BURRS,
OR OTHER SUCH EXTRANEOUS MATTERS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention refers to improvements upon machinery for cleaning cotton,
for which Letters Patent were granted to us bearing date 6th June 1861,
No. 1439, and for cleaning wool under another Patent granted to us bearing
date April 15th 1862, No. 1087. In both of which arrangements a trans-
ferring comb was employed to convey the fibrous material to the operating

page_text: parts. Our present improvement consists in the employment for the same
purpose of a roller armed with spikes or teeth, which by its rapid revolution
seizes the material and dashes it towards the usual rollers or roller and
reciprocating blade or blades, when on the "McCarthy" principle, which
transmission is also effected by the current of air generated by the rapid
motion of the revolving surface. In order that the fibrous material may be
brought into a loose condition previously to its delivery, we cause the teeth or
spikes of the above-mentioned apparatus to pass between other teeth, which
may be similar to those of the spiked rollers described in the Specifications of
our Patents above mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Platt and William Richardson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
PLATT, of Oldam, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, and
WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us; the said
John Platt and William Richardson, Her special license that we, the
said John Platt and William Richardson, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Platt and William
Richardson, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING COTTON AND WOOL FROM SEEDS,
BURRS, OR OTHER SUCH EXTRANEOUS MATTERS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that we, the said John Platt and William Richardson, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seal, 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 said was to be performed, and cause the

page_text: 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 William Richardson, 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, and accompanying Drawing (that is to say):-
Our Invention refers to improvements upon machinery for cleaning cotton,
for which Letters Patent were granted to us bearing date the Sixth day of
June One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, No. 1439, and for cleaning
wool under another Patent granted to us bearing date the Fifteenth day of
April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, No. 1087. In both of these
arrangements a transferring comb was employed to convey the fibrous material
to the operating parts. Our present improvement consists in the employment
for the same purpose of a roller armed with spikes or teeth, which by its rapid
revolution seizes the material and dashes it towards the usual rollers or roller
and reciprocating blade, when the machinery is on the "McCarthay" principle,
which transmission is also assisted by the current of air generated by the
rapid motion of the revolving surface. In order that the fibrous material may
be brought into a loose condition previously to its delivery, we cause the teeth
or spikes of the above-mentioned apparatus to pass between other teeth.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents our improved arrangement
in section, and as applied to a McCarthay gin or burring machine for wool,
and Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.
At a is the usual McCarthay roller with its fixed blade 6 and moveable
blade c. The feed apron is at d, above which are two spiked rollers e, applied
upon the principle of our previously patented machines above mentioned.
These spiked rollers deliver the cotton or wool to a rapidly revolving drum f
armed with teeth g, which beat it downwards between two rows of fixed
teeth h, and project it upon the roller a, where it is operated upon as usual by
the reciprocating blade c. This rapid revolution of the drum also causes a
current of air to be generated, which by passing in at the feed end of the
machine, and also at openings i, assists in conveying the material forward, and
thus it is transferred from the spiked rollers to the operating parts by a con-
tinuous rotatory motion in place of the reciprocating motion of a comb,
described by us in the Specifications of our Patents aforesaid.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood
that we claim as secured to us under the above iu part recited Letters Patent,

page_text: and for the purpose aforesaid, the application of a revolving drum armed with
teeth or other projections.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON. (L.S.)