IMPROVEMENTS IN MLOWING BAD WASHIER WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Petrie, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MLOWING BAD WASHIER WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 21st August 1866, and dated the 24th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Petrie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th.
February 1866.
I, JOHN PETRIE, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
I
My Invention refers, firstly, to a method of delivering wool or other fibrous
material from the trough in which it has been washed: For this purpose
employ an instrument which acts as a rake to collect the material, and then
throws it after the manner in which hay or other substance is pitched from a
fork or spade on to a travelling apron or other suitable receptacle: An
arrangement I at present propose to accomplish this object consists of a
compound rake, which sweeps upward close to the end of the trough, after

page_text: which one portion of it is projected by a crank or other ordinary contrivance,
and is then suddenly withdrawn, leaving the fibrous material free to fall.
Secondly, my Invention consists in the employment of a travelling surface
armed with teeth, constituting rakes, and which move onward with an
intermittent motion in the trough containing the material to be washed;
that is to say, the rakes travel when moving in the same direction, but
having moved a certain distance they pause, and then again move onward.
The mechanical arrangement for imparting the intermittent motion above
mentioned to the rakes constitutes no part of my Invention; it may be effected
by ratchet, star, or spaced wheels, or by any other ordinary means adopted for
gaining an intermittent motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Petrie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PETRIB, junior, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and in the twenty-ninth 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 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 MACHINES FOR WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said John
Petrie, junior, by an instrument 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.

page_text: 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
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and, accompanying Drawings (that is to say):
9
My Invention refers, firstly, to a method of delivering wool and other
fibrous materials from the trough in which it has been washed. For this
purpose I employ an instrument which acts as a rake to collect the material,
and then throws it, after the manner in which bay or other substance is
pitched from a fork or spade, on to a travelling apron or other suitable
.receptacle.
Secondly, my Invention consists in the employment of a travelling surface
armed with teeth constituting rakes, and which moves onward with au
intermittent motion in the trough containing the materials to be washed.
In the accompanying Drawings Figs. 1, 2, are general views of my
improved delivering apparatus, and Figs. 3 and 4 are detached views of
certain parts thereof.
A portion of the trough in which the wool or other fibrous material is
washed is shewn at 1, and is supposed to be provided with rakes for
agitating and conveying forward the material as in the case of the machine
for which Letters Patent were granted to me in conjunction with Samuel
Taylor, dated Eleventh January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
No. 75, or provided in any other known and suitable manner by which
the said agitation and transference may be attained. One of such rakes
is shewn at 2 mounted upon a crank 3, carried by a shaft 4, the upper
end of the said rake being situate within a socket 5 capable of swivelling
on a centre 6. The said rake therefore as it vibrates by means of rotatory
motion imparted to the crank 3 slides upward and downward in the socket 5,
as described in the Specification of my former Patent aforesaid. The
crank 3 receives its rotatory motion from a line shaft 7 which drives the
other rakes not shewn in the Drawing, such line shaft communicating motion
to a pinion 8 upon the shaft 4 through the medium of bevil wheels 9, 10.
The pinion 8 is in gear with a carrier 11, upon the axis 12 of which is a
paced wheel provided with teeth from 13 to 14, the other portion of the
ircumference of the said wheel being without teeth. In gear (at times)
with the spaced wheel 13, 14, is another spaced wheel having teeth from
5 to 16, and which is mounted upon a shaft 17, carrying also a smaller
paced wheel with teeth from 18 to 19 capable of entering into gear with a
paced wheel having teeth from 20 to 21 cast with the wheel 13, 14. Upou
he axis 17 is a crank 22, the end of which is connected to a rod 23, which

page_text: carries the lifting rake 24 at its lower end. To the rod 24 is jointed an arm
25, connected at its other end to a second rod 26, which is capable of
vibrating upon the shaft 17. Upon this rod 26 is a socket 27 connected to
a crank 28 carried by a shaft 29, which is caused to revolve by the carrier 11
being in gear with a wheel 30. Upon the spaced wheel 15, 16, is roller 31,
the axis of which is situate within a slot 32 in which it is capable of sliding.
This roller 31 arrives at a certain time hereafter to be mentioned against a
fixed stop 88. The spaced wheel 15, 16, is also furnished with another
slot 34 formed at right angles to the first-mentioned slot, and at a certain
period this slot 34 is penetrated by an incline 35 fixed to the spaced wheel 20,
21, and then the said incline lifts the axis of the roller 31 free from the
fixed stop 33 so as to permit the wheel 15, 16, to be driven. Connected to
the spaced wheel 15, 16, is a short lever 36, provided with a finger 37, which
at a certain period arrives opposite to and enters a slot 38 formed upon the
face of the wheel 20, 21.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-Motion being communicated
to the shaft 7 the ordinary system of rakes is caused to agitate the material
and pass it onward to the delivery end of the trough 1, the last of the rakes 2
being caused by the crank 3 to convey the said material to the delivering
apparatus. During this operation the spaced wheels 18, 14, and 15, 16,
will have been in gear and will, by means of the crank 22, have caused the
lifting fork 24 to descend into the fluid in the trough and to have moved
forward to the position shown in the Drawing, by which it will be seen that
the spaced wheels 13, 14, and 15, 16, are just passing out of gear and that
the roller 31 has almost arrived in contact with the fixed stop 33. When it
has arrived in contact with the said stop then the weight of the lifting rake is
prevented from turning the wheel 15, 16, (now out of gear) beyond a certain
point, and registers its position for the gearing (hereafter to be mentioned) of
the spaced wheels 18, 19, 20, 21. The spaced wheels 18, 14, and 15, 16,
being thus out of gear, and the wheel 15, 16, consequently ceasing to revolve,
the crank 22 will no longer impart motion to the fork 24, but it will continue
to move forward turning upon the crank pin 22, and will rise lifting with it
the wool or other material, such motion being now effected by the crank 28,
which revolves continuously through the medium of the gearing 8, 11, 30, it
being remembered that the rod 26 can slide through the socket 27. This
elevation of the rake 24 will continue until it has arrived about the position
shewn by the dotted line, by which time the spaced wheel 20, 21, which has
continued to revolve will arrive in gear with the small spaced wheel 18, 19
and then the shaft 17 being caused to revolve suddenly at considerable speed

page_text: will, by means of the crank 22, jerk forward the rod 23 and fork 24, tossing
the material which it has lifted on to the usual travelling apron 40, or other
receptacle, such jerking operation being permitted by the link 25 turning
upon the centre pin 41. It will therefore be seen that the wool or other
material is gradually moved forward in the trough lifted therefrom, and, then
pitched on to the apron after the manner in which hay or straw is pitched
from an ordinary fork.
The operation above described could not have taken place had the
roller 31 remained in the position shewn, for as it is against the fixed stop
33 the wheel 18, 19, would be prevented from revolving; just, however, as
the teeth of the two wheels 18, 19, and 20, 21, are about to enter into gear
the incline 35 enters the slot 34, and by acting against the axis of the said
roller 31 raises it free from the fixed stop 33. At the same time, also, the
slot 38 passes on to the pin 37 and brings the teeth into correct position for
gearing. The revolution of the shaft 17, caused by the gearing of the wheels
18, 19, and 20, 21; will after the above-mentioned tossing forward of the
material carry back the rake 24 by the continued revolution of the crank 22,
and then when they have passed out of gear the wheels 18, 14, and 15, 16,
will arrive in gear causing the crank 22 now moving at a slower rate to
thrust the rake 24 into the fluid and move it forward into the position shewn
in the Drawing, during which movements, however, the two cranks 22 and 28
have a combined operation in moving the rake 24 backward. After this the
same operations as those above described are repeated. In concluding the
description of this part of my Invention I would remark that it is specially
adapted for short stapled wools, but may be used for those of longer staple.
The second part of my Invention is shewn at Fig. 5, in which a represents
the trough of a wool washing machine, from which the material may be
raised when washed by the drum 6 of my former Patent aforesaid or by other
means. At c, c', are two rollers, around which is passed an endless chain,
belt, or other such ordinary travelling surface d, and to this is attached a
series of prongs e. The surface d may extend to nearly the width of the
trough and the prongs e placed at a similar distance apart to rakes commonly
employed in machines for washing fibrous materials. A pulley f is driven by
the motive power, and upon its axis is the pinion g' of an ordinary star wheel
arrangement for obtaining intermittent motion. The star wheel h is on the
axis of the pulley c³, when, therefore, rotatory motion is communicated to the
pulley, the roller c¹ and series of prongs e will be caused to travel forward
in the direction of the arrow with an intermittent motion and convey the
material towards the lifting apparatus.

page_text: Having thus 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, and for the purposes above set forth,-
Firstly, the use of delivering apparatus, which by variations in speed pitches
For tosses the material after the manner above described.
Secondly, the use of an endless surface armed with teeth and advancing
with an intermittent motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Petrie, junior, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN PETRIE, JR. (L.S.)