IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING WOOL, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLI- CABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Horace Brandon, of 13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING WOOL, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLI-
CABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES."-A communication from Jonathan Holden,
Sealed the 12th November 1867, and dated the 18th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Horace Brandon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th May 1867.
I, ALEXANDER HORACE BRANDON, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, in the Empire
5 of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING WOOL, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO
-APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," à communication from Jonathan Holden, of
Reims, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, to be as follows:-
Machines for washing wool are generally composed of a vat in which the
O washing is performed, and of certain mechanism for expelling the greater

page_text: part of the water remaining in- the wool, this mechanism consisting in an
endless apron on which the wool is charged, and which conducts it to two
large revolving cylinders through which it passes.
These improvements relate to the said apron or feeding mechanism,
which I construct of a series of horizontal and parallel rollers revolving in
the same direction, in such a manner that the wool or other material charged
upon the same is conducted towards the compressing rollers, the speed of
these feeding rollers being alike as regards their revolutions in a given
time; but in order that the wool or other material should not accumulate
unduly at different parts I give to them a gradually increasing circumferential
speed by making each successive roller of a larger diameter as they approach
the compressing cylinders.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Horace Brandon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HORACE BRANDON, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, in the Empire of France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and sixty-seven; in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Horace Brandon, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander
Horace Brandon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alexander Horace Brandon, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING WOOL, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," a communication from Jonathan Holden, of
Reims, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Horace Brandon, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in 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 the same was to be performed, and cause the

page_text: samė 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 Alexander Horace Brandon, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Machines for washing wool are generally composed of a vat in which the
washing is performed, and of certain mechanism for expelling the greater part
of the water remaining in the wool, this mechanism consisting in an endless
apron on which the wool is charged, and which conducts it to two large
revolving cylinders through which it passes.
These improvements relate to the endless apron or feeding mechanism, which
I construct of a series of horizontal and parallel rollers revolving in the same
direction, in such a manner that the wool or other material charged upon the
same is conducted towards the compressing rollers, the speed of these feeding
rollers being alike as regards their revolutions in a given time; but in order
that the wool or other material should not accumulate unduly at different parts
I give to them a gradually increasing circumferential speed by making each
successive roller of a larger diameter as they approach the compressing
cylinders.
In order that my improvements be clearly understood I will describe them
conjointly with the three Figures of the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 a side elevation, and Figure 3 a lateral elevation
of the other side of a machine representing part of the vat in section and
containing my improvements.
A, A, are the side frames of the machine; B, B, the two large compressing
rollers revolving in the direction indicated by the arrows; and C, the vat.
c, c, c, are the charging and feeding rollers which I substitute to the usual
endless apron, and which revolve in bearings attached to or forming part of
the cast-iron arms b, 61, bolted to the brackets a, a, radiating from the framing;
the arrows serve to indicate the direction in which they rotate the arm. 6¹ is
also provided with lugs l, l, in which are fitted studs e³, e¹, for receiving
intermediate pinions e, e; k, k, are two fixed metal sheets embracing about
one-half of the circumference of the rollers c, c, c, and adapted for preventing
the wool deviating laterally or from winding round their axes. The rollers c, c, c,
are of cast iron with wrought-iron axes turned and polished; pinions d, d, are
keyed on one of their extremities and work into the intermediate gears e, e,
with the view of causing all the rollers c, c, to revolve in the same direction.
Motion is transmitted to these feeding rollers c, c, by means of a spur wheel f

page_text: keyed on the end of the axis of the lower compressing cylinder B, an inter-
mediate loose gear 9, and a spur wheel h on the axis of the feeding roller c*,
thus all the cylinders c, c, revolve in the same direction, and as all the inter-
mediate pinions d, d, are of the same diameter they make the same number
of revolutions in the same space of time; but in order that the wool should not
remain stationary or accumulate at any part of its travel, I give to each
successive feeding roller an increased circumferential speed, and for this
purpose it is merely necessary that the diameter of each successive roller be
somewhat larger that its neighbour, the largest one being nearest to the
compressing cylinders, thus for instance the roller c, the most distant from the
cylinders, may be three inches diameter, the one nearest to them four inches,
and the intermediate ones of diameters increasing progressively from three to
four inches. It will thus be seen that this arrangement of the rollers c, c, c,
forms an inclined plane on which the wool is charged, and that by the
motion transmitted to them the wool is fed forward towards the compressing
cylinders B, B.
Having thus explained the nature of the improvements, I claim as the
Invention, the arrangement of rollers above described, feeding forward the
wool or other textile material either from one part of a machine to another,
from one machine to another, or for any other useful purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Horace Brandon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
D. H. BRANDON,
13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris.
A. H. BRANDON. (L.s.)