IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING BURS, SEEDS, AND OTHER FOREIGN MATTERS FROM WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LAWSON, of Paisley, North Britain, Wollen Shawl Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of November, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Lawson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said John Lawson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said John Lawson, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING BURS, SEEDS, AND OTHER
FOREIGN MATTERS FROM WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," being a
communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Lawson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the

page_text: nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same 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
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Lawson, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, (reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
In the machines heretofore employed for burring or cleaning wool, cotton
and other similar fibrous substances, considerable loss and inconvenience have
arisen from the peculiar action of the instruments or parts of the apparatus
which separate the foreign matters from the fibrous substances, as these
instruments are extremely liable to break the fibre and injure the staple of
the fibrous substance. The object of the Invention which has been commu-
nicated to me by my foreign correspondent is as far as possible to obviate
this loss and inconvenience, and is effected by a novel construction and
arrangement of parts, and the addition of some other parts, as herein-after
described.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a top view of the improved
machine; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof from front to back;
Fig 3 is a side elevation; and Fig. 4 an elevation of the front end. At a, a,
are shewn the ordinary feed rollers, which, by the aid of an endless apron, carry
the wool or cotton to the cleaning or ginning apparatus; the feeding apron is
not shewn in the Drawing, as it does not differ from those in general use.
From the feeding apron the material passes into the picker cylinder b, b. c, c
is what is termed the tooth or saw-guard cylinder, and is constructed in the
following manner :-The required number of circular saws of the proper
diameter are placed upon a shaft, discs of wood, or other substance of about
an eighth of an inch in thickness, being interposed between them. By this
means a cylinder of saws somewhat similar to that used in the saw gin for
ginning cotton is formed, the saw plates being, however, much nearer to each
other. This cylinder and that marked d, which is called the receiver, consti
tute the most novel features of the improved machine, and render it superio
in action to any of those heretofore employed for a like purpose. The teeth o
the receiver d are hooked, and they may consist of strong cord teeth. The fin

page_text: comb cylinder is marked e, e, and is the same in its construction and opera-
tion with that known under that name and previously in use. f, f, is the fan or
cleaning cylinder; this with the picker cylinder b, b, (with the usual grating
beneath the same,) are also similar in construction and operation to those
employed in other wool-cleaning machines. In using this machine, the cylin-
ders are made to revolve in the direction indicated by the arrows on the Drawing.
For a machine of ordinary size, the picker cylinder may be about eighteen
inches in diameter, the receiver about twelve inches, the fine toothed comb
cylinder about two feet, the toothed or saw-guard cylinder about six inches,
the fan about twelve inches. The respective cylinders may be driven by bands
and pullies in the ordinary or in any other suitable and convenient manner,.
and their relative velocities should be nearly as follows:-The fine comb.
cylinder e, e, may have from three hundred to three hundred and twenty-five
revolutions in a minute; the picker cylinder b, b, may perform two revolutions
on its axis to one of the fine comb cylinder; the receiver & may make one
revolution on its axis to two of the fine comb cylinder, and the same may be
the case with the toothed or saw-guard cylinder c, c; the fan f, f, may revolve
four times to each revolution of the fine comb cylinder. These are the pro-
portions and velocities which I prefer, as they have been found to act efficiently
in practice. I do not, however, intend to confine myself thereto, as they may
doubtless be varied, and would still answer the purpose. Should, however, the
relative diameters of any of the cylinders be changed materially, their velocities
should be varied in a corresponding degree; for although it is not necessary
that their peripheries should revolve with velocities precisely the same with
those above pointed out, the proper action of the machine will in a great degree
depend upon the relative speed of the respective operating surfaces. When
the machine is in operation, the wool or cotton is, as above stated, taken from
the feed rollers a, a, as heretofore, by the picker cylinder b, b; from this it is.
taken by the teeth of the cylinder d, which I have called the receiver; from
these teeth it is delivered into the fine comb cylinder e, e, upon the teeth of
which it is spread much more evenly by the receiver than has been attained
under any arrangement of the cleaning or ginning cylinders heretofore adopted.
There may,
if preferred, be two or more receivers properly arranged with the.
picker and fine comb cylinders, each of them revolving in the same direction
and performing a like office. An additional receiver, which may be used if
required, is shewn in Fig. 2, and is drawn in red lines. The wool or cotton
may in this case be spread thinner upon each of these receiving cylinders,
and the work be still performed with equal rapidity; with some kinds of

page_text: wool such increase in the number of receivers will be found particularly
advantageous.
The teeth of the saw-guard cylinder c, c, take the burs, seeds, or other foreign
matters from the wool or cotton, which is spread upon the fine-comb cylinder
e, e, and the receiver d is sufficiently near to the said saw-guard cylinder to
disengage and clear from it any burs or other refuse matters which might
otherwise accumulate upon and choak it.
The journals of the shaft of the saw-guard cylinder c, c, are arranged in
moveable boxes or bearings, so that the teeth of the said cylinder may be
adjusted or set at different distances from the fine comb cylinder e, e, to accom-
modate the difference in the staple of the several fibrous materials. The action
of the fan or cleaning cylinder f. f, is the same as in other machines for a like
purpose.
Having thus fully described the Improved Machine for Burring, Cleaning,
and Ginning Cotton, Wool, and other Fibrous Substances, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent as aforesaid, and also shewn the manner in
which the same operates, I would observe, in conclusion, that do not intend
to confine myself rigidly to the precise construction and arrangement of parts
herein set forth, as they may be doubtless be varied in some "particulars
without departing from the nature and object of the present Invention; but
that which I consider to be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the com-
bining of a cylinder such as I have denominated the toothed or saw-guard
cylinder c, c, with the fine comb cylinder e, of a burring, cleaning, or ginning
machine, in the manner and for the purposes above set forth. I do not
claim as new the peculiar mode of constructing such cylinder, but only as
constituting, in its combination with other parts, a new and important feature
in the above described improved cleaning machine; as in the machines
heretofore employed for the burring and cleaning of wool much of the fibre
has been broken by the action of the instruments employed in the separation
of the foreign matters therefrom, whereas in the machine above described
this loss and inconvenience is in a very great measure obviated by means of the
above combination of the toothed or saw-guard cylinder c, c, with the fine-
comb cylinder e.
Secondly, I claim combining one or more cylinders, such as I have deno-
minated receivers d, with the picker and fine-comb cylinders 6 and e, so
as to operate between them in, the manner and for the purpose herein made
known.

page_text: Thirdly, I claim the combination of one of the said receivers d with the
saw-guard cylinder e, for the purpose of cleaning the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lawson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-ninth day of April,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Lawson came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Third day of May, in the year above written.