Improvements in Machinery for Cleaning and Preparing Wool
Year: 1836

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause tlie same to
be inrolled in His 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
Joshua Bates, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are 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 thereon
(that is to say) ==
This Invention of Improvements in Machinery for Cleaning and Preparing
Wool consists in a novel and improved. construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus, by means of which the burrs or seeds of wild plants,
small pieces of vegetable matter, dirt, or other foreign materials, mixed or
mingled with certain descriptions of wool, can be removed therefrom, and at
the same time the fibres of the wool are partially prepared or combed and laid
straight, and delivered from the machine in the form of a thin layer or sliver
of wool, fit for the further operations of carding or combing and otherwise
preparing for spinning, and which improved machinery or apparatus is more
particularly applicable to cleaning South American wool, or wool from other
countries where the flocks of sheep during the greater part of the year are
allowed to range over extensive plains or tracts of uncleared lands, whereby the
burrs or seeds of plants or other foreign material which adhere to the fleece
of the sheep become so entangled and intermingled with the wool as it grows
that it requires considerable trouble to clean the wool therefrom by hand
after the shearing.
In this improved machinery or apparatus the wool to be operated upon is placed
upon a feeding cloth, and drawn from thence between two or more-rollers,-and
is presented from them in a gradual and nearly uniform and regular manner
to the action of a cylinder covered with elastic wire teeth, or cards, or strong
bristles, whalebone, and other materials; and as this cylinder revolves at a
greater speed than the feeding or delivering rollers, the fibres of the wool are
taken hold of by the teeth of the cylinder, and are partially drawn out or
combed straight, the fibres of the wool passing into and between the elastic teeth
or wire cards, while the burrs, seeds of plants, bits of wood, or other extraneous
matters, are pushed from out of the fibres of the wool by the ends of the teeth or
wire cards, and presented on the suface thereof, the teeth being placed sufficiently
close together to prevent the burrs and foreign matters entering between them,

page_text: whereby the burrs, seeds of plants, and other matters are exposed to the action
of a rapidly revolving heliacal or coiled cutter or beater, fan, brusher, or scraper,
placed very near to or slightly in contact with the periphery of the cylinder, the
burrs, seeds of plants, and other extraneous matters, being arrested in their
progress with the cylinder by a ledger blade, so placed and adjusted to the
periphery of the cylinder and to the beliacal or coiled cutter or scraper, or fan,
beater, or brusher, that the seeds, burrs, or other matters are stopped thereby
on the surface of the cylinder, and presented to the action of the heliacal
cutter, beater, fan, brusher, or scraper, which immediately knocks, pulls, cuts,
brushes, or scrapes them off, and removes them from the wool without impairing
or breaking or cutting its fibres, which are protected by the elastic teeth or
wire cards, as the wool lies in between them, the elastic or card teeth yielding
to any extraordinary pressure in the operation. The wool passing round with
the teeth of the cylinder, is taken therefrom by the action of another drum or
cylinder covered with card teeth similar to that of a common carding engine,
from whence the wool is taken off in the form of a continuous thin layer or
sliver, by means of a doffing roller or cylinder and doffing comb, in the usual
manner of carding engines; or it may be removed by rollers or cylinders
covered with wire teeth, which will take hold of the fibres of the wool and
draw them out of the cylinder, or the wool may be removed in any other
convenient manner.. And in order that this novel and improved construction
of apparatus may be better understood, I have hereunto annexed several
Figures or Drawings of one of these machines, although I do not mean
or intend to confine myself to the precise arrangement there shewn, as
there are many parts of the same which may be varied to suit different
kinds or qualities of wool, or different speeds of working, the novel feature,
as before stated, consisting in protecting the fibres of the wool by the
clastic teeth of wire cards, or other fit and proper material, while the burrs,
seeds of plants, and other extraneous matters are being removed therefrom by
the action of a rapidly revolving coiled cutter or fan, beater, brusher, or
scraper working against or in combination with the stationary ledger blade,
the burrs and other extraneous matters being pushed from out of the wool by
the teeth of the cylinder and exposed to the action of the heliacal or coiled
cutter, beater, brusher, or scraper, and its ledger blade.
Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the machine complete; Fig. 2 is
a side elevation; Fig. 3 is a front end view; and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal
vertical section taken through the same; similar letters of reference being
marked on corresponding parts in all the Figures. a, a, is the framework and
standards of the machine. b, the endless feeding cloth, passed over rollers in

page_text: the usual manner, and actuated from any convenient moving part, and at the
requisite speed, according to the rate at which the wool requires to be fed
into the machine. Upon this feeding cloth the wool, in its rough or unclean
state, is spread out evenly by hand, and in proper thicknesses or quantities
according to the foulness of the wool and speed at which the machine is
working. c. is a receiving roller armed with wire teeth, which take the wool
from the feeding trough and delivers it to the cylinder d, when the operation
of removing the burrs and other matters takes place, the roller c being assisted
in that operation by the other rollers c, c, also armed with wire teeth (and
mounted in adjustable bearings) which partially loosen or open the fibres of
the wool and prepare it for the operation of the rapidly revolving coiled cutter
fan, beater, brusher, or scraper f, which is mounted in adjustable bearings
to regulate its distance from the cylinder. g is the ledger blade which arrests
or stops the burrs or other foreign matters on the surface of the cylinder, and
presents them to the operation of the cutter, beater, fan, or brusher, and is ad-
justable to the cylinder and to the heliacal or coiled cutter, fan, beater, brusher,
or scraper, by the set screws h. i is a larger drum or cylinder covered with
card teeth, which receives the wool from the cylinder d, and carrying it round
deposits it on the doffer cylinder k, from whence it is removed in the form of
a continuous thin layer or sliver by the doffer or comb 7, in the usual manner
of carding engines, or by any other convenient means, the wool being partially
raised out of the cards of the cylinder i by the teeth of the cylinder m,
in order to assist this operation. It will be seen that as the wool is delivered
from the roller c to the cylinder d the teeth of the latter take hold of the fibres
and partially comb them straight, and carry them round past the heliacal
coiled cutter, fan, beater, or scraper f, which, revolving in the direction of the
arrows, strikes, bents, cuts, brushes, or scrapes off the burrs and other
matters arrested on the surface of the cylinder d by the stationary ledger
blade 9, the teeth of the cylinder, being elastic, giving way to any extraordinary
pressure of the heliacal or coiled cutter, fan, beater, or scraper. I would here
remark, that the coiled cutter, fan, beater, or scraper in this instance is com-
posed of a roller or shaft of steel or other metal or other material, in which
are inserted several heliacal or coiled projecting ribs or blades, composed of
steel or other metal or composition of metal coiled round it in a similar manner
to the ordinary rotary cutters of a cloth shearing machine, the heliacal or coiled
ribs and the ledger blade, which is also composed of steel or other metal or com-
position of metals, forming what may be called a continuous pair of pincers.
But this cutter, fan, beater, or scraper may be composed of rows of strong
bristles, whalebone, wire points or teeth, or ribs of wood, or any other material,

page_text: according to the quality of the wool to be operated upon; and the blade or
projections of the cutter, beater, or brusher may, under some circumstances, be
put on its roller or shaft in straight lines, although I prefer the heliacal or
coiled blades or projections. Also that, from the same circumstance, the teeth
of the cylinder d may be of any suitable substance and form, so as to be
elastic and protect the fibres of the wool in such a manner as not to allow the
cutter, fan, beater, or scraper, cutting or breaking them. And further, the
ledger blade may be made elastic, if thought desirable, therefore I do not
intend to confine myself to any precise materials. It will be seen, by inspec-
tion of the Drawings, that the various rollers and cylinders, and other parts,
are put in motion in a somewhat similar manner to those of a common card-
ing engine, the machine receiving its motion from a strap passed from the
steam engine or first mover to the pulley or rigger n, on the shaft or axle of
the drum i, the cylinders d and m, and the crank o of the doffer, being
actuated by a strap p, p, passed round the drum g, also mounted on the shaft
of the drum i, and that the coiled cutter, fan, or beater or scraper, is worked
by a band r from the rigger s, placed at the end of the drum i, the rollers c
and e, together with the feeding coth b, being moved by toothed gear set in
motion from the rigger u by band passed over the rigger v, turning on
a fixed pin or stud, and actuating by a pinion on its hollow axis the spur
wheel w, mounted on the end of the axle of the upper roller e; the doffer
cylinder, being actuated by the band passed from the rigger x, and over
another rigger y, which gives motion through a pinion to the toothed wheel
on the end of the axle of the cylinder.
In conclusion, I would remark that the above-described apparatus for
removing burrs, seeds of plants, pieces of vegetable materials, and other extra-
neous or foreign matters, from wool, may be adapted and put into operation in
various ways. For instance, it may be connected on to a carding or combing
engine, the wool being fed or conveyed thereto from the doffer 1, and passed at
once through its various after processes of combing and preparing or sorting for
spinning. Or it may be connected with the card cylinder of a common carding
engine, and the ledger blade and coiled cutter, fan, beater, brusher, or scraper
brought to act upon the card teeth of that cylinder or drum, instead of using a
separate cylinder; all of which may be found practicable, and answer the pur-
pose. Therefore I do not intend to confine myself to the application of the said
apparatus in a separate machine, but claim, as this Invention, the removing the
burrs, seeds of plants, pieces of wood, or other foreign matters mixed or con-
mingled with wool, from the surface of any kind of elastic teeth, or wire cards
or brushes, whalebone, bristles, or a mixture thereof, by means of the ledger

page_text: blade and revolving cutter, fan, beater, or brusher, either with coiled or straight
blades or projections, as above described.
hand
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Bates, have hereunto set my
and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
JOSHUA (L.S.) BATES.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of October,
in the seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth,
the said Joshua Bates came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of Ilis late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.