IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING INTO DOWN OR FIBRES, CAPABLE OF BEING SPUN, THE REMNANTS OR CUTTINGS OR OTHER WASTE PIECES OF SILK OR OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rudolph Bodmer, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CONVERTING INTO DOWN OR FIBRES, CAPABLE OF BEING SPUN, THE REMNANTS
OR CUTTINGS OR OTHER WASTE PIECES OF SILK OR OTHER FABRICS."-A
communication from abroad by Charles Luvandoski, of Paris, in the
Empire of France
Sealed the 10th July 1863, and dated the 3rd February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rudolph Bodmer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
February 1860.
I, RUDOLPH BODMER, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING INTO DOWN OR FIBRES, CAPABLE OF BEING SPUN. THE
REMNANTS OR CUTTINGS OR OTHER WASTE PIECES OF SILE OR OTHER FABRICS," (a
communication from Charles Luvandoski, of Paris, in the Empire of France,)
to be as follows:-
The remnants, cuttings, or other waste pieces of silk or other fabrics are.
placed upon one or more travelling belts which conduct them between
press rollers, on issuing from under which they are brought in contact with a
ravelling cylinder armed with teeth. This ravelling cylinder revolving at a
Prion 8d.1

page_text: great velocity reduces the fabrics presented to its action into a fibrous or
downy state, and is itself in contact with a revolving brush, the object of which
is to detach the down or fibres from its teeth, whence they drop upon an
incline plane, and are carried forward by another travelling belt. This
travelling belt is in contact with and passes under a drum made of sheet
metal, or of wire gauze, heated internally, and by pressing the down against
the drum causes it to open. The fibres, which are carried upwards by the
drum above mentioned, are detached by another revolving brush, and the
whole mass is carried forward by the same travelling cloth or belt to a pair of
press rollers, which deliver the fibres into an air flue, from whence they are
discharged into receivers. The ravelling cylinder and its revolving brush, as
well as the metallic drum and the rotary brush acting upon it, are surrounded
by a casing of wood, or other suitable material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rudolph Bodmer in the Great Sea! Patent Office on the
3rd August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RUDOLPH
BODMER, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Rudolph Bodmer, Her special licence that I, the said
Rudolph Bodmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Rudolph Bodmer, 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 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING INTO DOWN OR FIBRES, CAPABLE OF
BRING SPUN, THE REMNANTS OR CUTTINGS, OR OTHER WASTE PIECES OF SILK OR
OTHER FABRICS," (a communication from Charles Luvandoski, of Paris, in the
Empire of France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Rudolph Bodmer, my executors or administrators, by an instrumentin 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

page_text: 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 Rudolph Bodmer, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
he performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This Invention consists principally in the application of a cylinder armed
with teeth, to the operation of which the remnants, cuttings, or other waste
pieces of silk or other fabrics are submitted. The remnants or cuttings are
spread upon a travelling belt or cloth, and by it carried forward towards a set
of feeding rollers, which hold them fast whilst the teeth of the ravelling
cylinder, which rotates at a considerable velocity, act upon them and tear them
up into down or fibres. Those fibres, which adhere to the ravelling cylinder,
are disengaged by means of a rapidly revolving brush, and the whole of the
fibres drop or are precipitated upon a travelling belt or cloth, which conducts
them under a press roller and through between a set of feeding rollers into
an air-flue, when they are drawn along by a current produced by a fan or
ventilator, and thus purified and assorted, and finally discharged into a
receiver.
In order that this Invention may be better understood, and more readily
carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the same, reference being
had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of a machine or apparatus adapted to
the purpose of reducing or converting the remnants, cuttings, or other waste
pieces of silk or other fabrics into down or fibres capable of being spun. The
material to be so converted is spread upon the travelling belts or cloths a, a,
and conducted by them between the feed rollers f¹, f, and f¹, f, respectively
towards the travelling cylinder A, which is armed with teeth, and revolves at
700 revolutions per minute, or thereabouts. In proportion as the teeth of the
cylinder A take hold of the remnants or cuttings which are presented to them
by the feed rollers, they reduce them to a more or less fibrous state. Those
fibres, which adhere to the teeth of the ravelling cylinder are detached or
disengaged by the brush B, which revolves in the opposite direction at about.
900 revolutions per minute, and the whole of the fibres drop or are pre-
cipitated upon the inclined plane e, and from thence carried by the travelling
cloth or belt E towards the drum F. This drum F, which is made of per-
forated sheet metal, or of wire gauze, and which may be heated internally,

page_text: presses upon the fibres as they are being carried forward by the cloth or belt E,
and those fibres which adhere to the circumference of.the drum and are carried
round with it are detached by the rapidly revolving brush G, and thrown back
upon the cloth or belt E. The whole of the fibres are then carried forward
by the cloth or belt E, in the shape of a fleece, towards the feeding rollers
f2,3, which deliver them into the air flue H, in which a current is produced by
the fan or ventilator I, and where the impurities drop to the ground, whilst
the useful and well prepared fibres are separated and assorted, and ultimately
collected in suitable receivers.
The manner in which motion is communicated to the various parts of the
machine is not shown in the Drawing, as various ways in which this can be
done would at once suggest themselves to parties conversant with such
matters; besides which they form no part of this Invention.
It will be seen on reference to the Drawing, that the whole of the machinery
which is instrumental in converting the materials into down or fibres, and in
transferring the same from the reach of one operation to that of another, is
cased or boxed in in the usual manner.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood, that,
without confining myself to the precise arrangement of parts, I claim as the
Invention intended to be secured to me by the above in part recited Letters
Patent, the general combination of machinery as shown and described with
reference to the annexed Sheet of Drawing, in its application to the purposes
herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rudolph Bodmer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
RUDOLPH BODMER. (L.S.)