IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS REQUIRING SIMILAR TREATMENT
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Petrie, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS REQUIRING SIMILAR TREATMENT."
Sealed the 31st December 1861, and dated the 3rd July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Petrie, at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd July
1861.
I, JOHN PETRIE, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Iron-
monger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL, COTTON,
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS REQUIRING SIMILAR TREATMENT," to be as
follows:-
My Invention refers, firstly, to a method of driving such feed aprons of
machines for washing wool and other fibrous materials as are caused to travel
by means of rollers, which act independently of those over which the apron
passes, and consists in causing the said rollers to act upon strips of leather,
india-rubber, or other flexible material, so as to prevent them from biting the
said aprons direct.
Another part of my Invention relates to drying cotton, and consists in
causing a current of air, heated, or at the ordinary temperature, to be drawn

page_text: or driven through the material by the exhausting or blowing action of a fan
or fans.
A special arrangement which I employ, and which I propose to claim as
applied to wool, cotton, and other fibrous materials, consists in the use of one
fan, so arranged as to exhaust the air from or drive it through two or more
chambers, so that the drying process may go on in connexion with one while
another is being charged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Petrie, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PETRIE, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Ironmonger, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Petrie, junior, Her special license that I, the said John Petrie,
junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Petrie, junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 WASHING AND DRYING WOOL, COTTON,
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS REQUIRING SIMILAR TREATMENT," upon the con-
dition, amongst others, that I, the said John Petrie, junior, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner 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 John Petrie, junior, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention refers, firstly, to a method of driving such feed aprons of
machines for washing wool and other fibrous materials as are caused to travel
by means of rollers, which act independently of those over which the apron
passes, and consists in causing the said rollers to bite upon strips of leather,
india-rubber, or other flexible material, so as to prevent them from acting
upon the said aprons direct.
In the accompanying Drawing this part of my Invention is shewn at Figs. 1
and 2, in which the apron is shewn at a, passing over rollers b, which are
merely guide rollers, and are not concerned in the driving of the said apron ;
at c are rollers mounted upon axles, one of which axes is driven by the motive
power; these rollers press upon strips of leather or other elastic material d
fastened to the apron, and extending throughout the length thereof. The
apron shewn in the Drawing is supposed to be constructed with transverse
bars, but it may be of any usual arrangements, and may be employed for
delivering wool or other fibrous material to any ordinary washing machine.
Another part of my Invention consists in drying cotton, by causing a current
of air heated, or at the ordinary temperature, to be drawn or driven through
the material by the exhausting or blowing action of a fan or fans.
In Figs. 3 and 4 the arrangement I employ is shewn in transverse section
and partial side view. At a is a chamber, formed air-tight, or nearly so,
excepting at the roof (as it may be called) 6, which is constructed of wire
gauze. At c is an opening in the chamber a, which, for the purpose of this
part of my Invention, I will suppose to be a complete circle, altho' shewn
partly in dotted lines. This aperture communicates with a fan d, which may
be driven through the medium of one of the pullies e. The cotton to be dried
is placed upon the perforated roof b, and on the fan being put in motion,
the chamber a will become partially exhausted, so as to cause a current of air
to pass through the cotton, and thus deprive it of moisture. Or, instead of the
above arrangement, which acts by exhaustion, the fan may be so arranged as
to force a current of air through the cotton. I have hitherto supposed that
the air to be drawn or forced is of the natural temperature, but if desired, it
may previously be heated by passing over steam pipes, or other ordinary
heating apparatus.
Another part of my Invention consists in a peculiar arrangement of
apparatus for drying cotton, wool, and other fibrous materials, in which the
aforesaid principle of causing a current of air to be drawn or forced through
the material is carried out. This is shewn in Figs. 3 and 4 before referred to.
The chamber a above mentioned is, according to this part of my Invention,
divided into two compartments A, B, by a partition g, which also separates the

page_text: circular opening c communicating with the fan into two channels. Each of
these channels is capable of being opened or closed by one of two sliding
shutters h, h, which can be caused to effect such opening or closing by rods i, i,
extending through the chambers A, B. The wool, cotton, or other fibrous
material to be dried is placed upon the perforated roof b, say, of the com-
partment A, and is dried by the current of air, heated or not, caused by the
rotation of the fan, such current being drawn through one half of the circular
opening c, the other half being at this time closed by the shutter h¹. During
this drying operation, the attendant is placing the wool, cotton, or other fibrous
material upon the roof of the compartment B, and when the said operation is
completed, the shutter h will be closed, and that at h¹ opened, so as to allow
the fan to draw tir through the material upon the roof of the compartment B,
and so on, the one side being charged while the operation of drying is going
on upon the other. As in the former part of my Invention, the current of air
may be heated if desired by any known means.
Having hus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,
→
Firstly, the method above described of driving feed aprons of machines used
for washing wool and other fibrous materials.
Secondly, the drying of cotton by causing a current of air heated, or at the
natural temperature, to be drawn or driven through the material by the
exhausting or blowing action of a fan or fans.
Thirdly, as applied to wool, cotton, or other fibrous material, dried by the
above-mentioned driving or exhaustion of air, the use of one fan capable of
communicating at pleasure with two or more compartments upon which the
material is placed..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Petrie, junior, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN PETRIE, JR. (L.S.)