A Process and Apparatus for Separating Burrs and other Foreign Matters from Wool.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Sept., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 28th May, 1895-Accepted, 13th July, 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Process and Apparatus for Separating Burrs and other Foreign
Matters from Wool.
We,
GUSTAVE RICHE Mechanical Engineer and ARMAND RIVRET Mechanician
both of 9 Rue de la Banque Roubaix (Nord) France, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
According to this invention, the wool is treated in a carding machine provided
with certain appliances of the following kind. The wool fed in the usual way is
delivered from a carding roller in a thin layer on to an elastic travelling apron
consisting of a number of narrow caoutchouc bands provided with card dents,
travelling side by side. At one part of their travel, the bands are pushed by a
rapidly rotating eccentric against a pair of vertical plates and spring back, so that
part of the apron is kept in rapid oscillation to and from these plates. The two
plates are fitted one above the other with a very narrow adjustable space between
their edges, forming a slit behind which revolves a card roller presenting its dents
just through the slit. This roller draws wool through the slit from the travelling
apron which carries burrs or other foreign matters down to a stripping roller, which
removes them. Such of the wool as is not drawn through the slit during its first
passage is merely carried round by the apron along with fresh wool to present itself.
at the slit again.
Dated this 12th day of September 1894.
ABEL & IMKAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
A Process and Apparatus for Separating Burrs and other Foreign
Matters from Wool.
We, GUSTAVE RICHE, Mechanical Engineer, and ARMAND RIVEET,
Mechanician, both of 9 Rue de la Banque, Roubaix (Nord) France, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following:
statement:-
Our invention relates to a process of mechanical purification of wool, whether
in the carding process, or in any other machine preceding or following the carding
process, and which is equally effective, whether the fibre has or has not received
a preliminary treatment for opening out the noil or crushing the burrs or other
foreign bodies.
The invention consists mainly in causing the wool fibre to be presented in the
form of a thin layer to one side of a very narrow opening or slit through which the
fibre is drawn by a toothed roller or other device on the other. side, the slit, being.

page_text: such that it will allow of the passage of the fibre without damage thereto, but will
effectually prevent the passage through it of burrs or other foreign matter in the
wool, which will consequently be separated from the wool. The thin layer of wool
is for this purpose delivered from any part of the carding or other machine on to
an endless travelling apron having a surface formed of card dents which carries the
wool past the said narrow slit where the fibres are drawn through as described,
while the burrs &c. that are retained on the apron are carried away thereby and
are subsequently removed by a stripping roller or other suitable device.
Such of the wool fibre as may fail to be drawn through the slit is carried round
by the apron and is presented a second time to the slit together with the fresh
supply.
As the apron travels past the slit, it is subjected to a rapid movement towards
and away from it, which effects the opening out of any entangled portions of the
wool, and thus facilitates its passage through the slit and the separation of the
burrs &c. therefrom.
We will describe the means of carrying out the said process with reference to the
accompanying drawings which shew the construction of the apparatus which we
employ by preference for the purpose and which can be combined either with a
carding machine or with any other machine for preparing the wool.
Fig. 1 shews an elevation. Fig. 2 a sectional plan, Fig. 3 a side view.
The machine is carried by a transverse frame P having feet at each end by
means of which it rests upon the framing of the carding or other machine to which
it is applied. S and S¹ are brackets fixed to the frame P and which can be varied
in position owing to the slotted holes-t t' through which the fixing bolts pass. At
each end of the frame P is formed a shoulder on which the fixed brackets M are
secured.
T is a travelling apron composed of narrow bands of cards placed side by side,
which convey the wool to be purified.
J:.
A slide K mounted on the bracket M and carrying a roller bearing against the
inner face of the apron enables this to be deflected more or less for bringing it to
any desired proximity to the part of the machine from which it is to take the wool
to be treated.
The travelling motion is imparted to the apron by means of the driven pulley R
at bottom round which it passes. The stripping roller D as also the guides B and L
are mounted upon the downward extension of the supports S S¹ and can be
regulated in a horizontal and vertical direction at will relatively to the apron T.
On the horizontal arm of the bracket M is adjustably mounted a sliding plate E
which can be moved horizontally on the arm, and which carries in a vertical groove
the stretching frame F supporting by means of the bearing block I one of the ends
of the axis of the roller Ri round which the apron passes at top.
The screw Venables the frame F to be raised or lowered so as to stretch the
apron vertically to a greater or less degree, the bearing block I being held adjustably
in guides on the frame with spring action by means of a spring G through which
passes a rod fixed to the block I and bearing upon the spring with screw nuts by
means of which the compression thereof is adjusted. The frame F also carries an
inclined slide carrying a bearing H for a circular comb, not shewu, which is adjustable
both upwards and downwards and to and from the apron, and which serves to loosen
the fibres of the layer of wool carried by the apron as it passes the point J. As
both the roller R' and the circular comb carried by H are supported by the frame F
it will be seen that when this is adjusted by means of the screw. V for stretching
the apron, the said roller and comb will always maintain their relative positions.
A projection Q on the brackets S S₁ has a fork at its end with which engages
the neck of a regulating screw by means of which the support U can be
adjusted forwards or backwards. This support serves as axis to an eccentric or
cam Z which revolves at a considerable speed, so that as it bears against the inner
surface of the apron, it causes this at each revolution of the eccentric or cam to
suddenly approach two thin metal plates p p having between them a narrow

page_text: opening or slit through which the wool is to pass. The above described spring
action of the roller R allows this to yield under the strain put on the apron T by.
the eccentric Z, in compressing the spring G, which raises R' again as soon as the
eccentric recedes.
By this means the apron is made to effectually perform the work of disentangling
the lap of wool that is being drawn off it and that max momentarily accumulate
behind the slit between p and p'.
The supports S S₁ carry on their dressed outer faces two wedge shaped blocks C C¹
on which are soldered the plates p p' of hardened cast steel which form between
them the narrow slit or drawing die for the layer of wool to pass through. The
upper wedge C can be adjusted in position by means of the screws bb¹ so as to
adjust the size of the slit.
Blocks X X carrying the adjustable bearings Y which carry the axis of the
toothed roller R" which draws the wool fibre through the slit; these blocks X X¹
fit against the V-shaped seats formed by the inclined faces of the wedges C C
The adjustment of C C¹and consequently of ppl and XX' having been effected,
these parts are fixed in their position by means of two screw bolts d d' passing
through slotted holes, which bolts secure the said parts against the dressed face
of S and S¹.
It will be seen that by the above means the axis of the roller R" will always be
exactly opposite the slit or die whatever the size of this may be.
Two regulating screws ff, the collars of which are held in the forks of the
blocks XX, enable the roller R" to be adjusted to or from the slit.
The apparatus is shewn at Fig. 3 as being situated between the feed rollers and
the card cylinder of a carding machine, but, as before stated, its mode of appli-
cation may be greatly varied.
The operation is as follows:-The wool to be purified being taken up from
the feed roller by the apron T is conveyed thereby to the slit or die, where the
eccentric or cam Z causes the apron to present the wool through the slit to the
teeth of the roller R which seizes it and draws it through, while the rapid to and fro
motion of the apron effects the disentanglement and opening out of the wool
behind the die. The foreign bodies such as burrs &c. are carried downward by
the apron as they are separated from the wool by the said opening out process,
and they are readily removed by the stripping roller D. Any wool fibres that
may not have been taken up by the roller R are carried round by the apron T
and again presented through the drawing die, together with the fresh supply.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The process of separating burrs and other foreign matters from wool by
presenting a thin layer of the wool to be purified to a narrow slit or die that will
allow the fibre to be drawn through without damage by a toothed roller or other
appliance on the other side of the opening, but will not allow of the passage
through it of the burrs or other foreign matters, which are thus separated from the
wool, substantially as described.
2. For carrying out the process referred to in the first claim, the use of apparatus
consisting of two thin plates so arranged as to form between them a very narrow
slit constituting a drawing die through which the wool fibre is drawn by a toothed
roller or other appliance while the burrs and other foreign matters are retained by
the plates substantially as described.
3. In combination with the narrow slit or opening constituting a drawing die
referred to in the second claim, the use of an endless travelling feed apron, com-
posed of narrow bands of cards fixed side by side and a rapidly revolving eccentric
or cam shaped roller operating behind the apron as it passes the narrow slit, for
the three-fold purpose of facilitating the passage of the wool fibre through the slit,

page_text: for effecting the disentanglement of the layer of wool as it passes through, and for
ensuring the separation and removal of the burrs and other foreign matter from the
wool, substantially as described.
Dated this 28th day of May 1895
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.