IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Holden, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Machine Wool Comber, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
Sealed the 12th June 1863, and dated the 18th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Holden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1862.
I, ISAAC HOLDEN, of Bradford, in the County of York, Machine Wool
Comber, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," to be
as follows:-
My improvements relate to means by which the fibres are operated upon
whilst being conducted through the trough of wash liquid by prongs, grates,
or other surfaces adapted to conduct the fibres in effecting the washing thereof.
And my improvements have for their object to effect an intermittent forward
and partial retrograde action to such means. For this purpose the prongs,
grates, or other instruments may be applied to plates or bars or carriers,
which are controlled to move in irregular courses, or in courses with alternate
progressive and retrograde action, by which such instruments during their
progressive motion will effect a forward and partial backward action to their
points or operating ends upon the fibre.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Holden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
HOLDEN, of Bradford, in the County of York, Machine Wool Comber, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Isaac Holden, Her special licence that I, the said Isaac
Holden, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Isaac Holden, 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
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Holden, my executors or
administrators, 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 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 Isaac Holden, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements relate to when employing prongs, grates, or other surfaces
adapted to conduct wool and other fibres through a trough of wash liquid for
the washing thereof; to effecting at the same time an intermittent forward
and partial retrograde action to such means. For this purpose the prongs,
grates, or other instruments may be applied to plates or bars or carriers,
which are controlled to move in irregular courses, or in courses with alternate
progressive and retrograde action by which such instruments, during their
progressive motion, will effect a forward and partial backward action to their
points or operating ends upon the fibres.

page_text: But that the Invention may be better understood, I will, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawing, proceed more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a transverse section of
apparatus for washing wool and other fibres with parts arranged according to
my Invention.
a, a, is the bowl or trough of wash liquid in which is placed the fibre to be
cleansed. The wash liquid is supplied to this bowl or trough by any suitable
means, and the fibre to be washed is fed thereto at the point A by a feed cloth,
or by other suitable means; b, b, are prongs, or they may be grates or other
surfaces adapted to conduct the fibres through the bowl or trough a in effecting
the washing thereof. These prongs b are affixed to bars 6', which are at their
ends formed into necks, which pass into links of the chains c, c, by which
those prongs may have progressive motion given to them with progressive
motion given to the chains c. Each end of each of the bars b' is also provided
with a truck or bowl be, which passes between fixed guides a¹, a¹, and are
thereby correctly supported whilst traversing through the trough a. These
bars are also provided with arms 6s, with trucks or bowls 6', which pass into
grooves formed between the fixed but curved bars a, a, by which the points
of the prongs b, in addition to their progressive motion imparted by the
chains c, will have given to them, according to my improvements, an inter-
mittent or forward and partial retrograde action. The chains c, c, pass over
drums or pulleys d and e, and are affixed respectively to shafts d¹ and e¹,
supported so as to be capable of revolving freely in suitable bearings. The
axis d' of the drum d has motion given to it by a steam engine or other
suitable power to give motion to the chains c, in the direction of the arrow.
The fibre having been carried through the trough a from the point A to the
point B by means of the prongs b, or by grates or other suitable surfaces
operated, as described, it is thence raised out of the trough a by means of a
lifting drum f with arms capable of protruding for a time, and then of receding
within the periphery of such drum during its revolution, such as is now well
understood, or by other suitable means, and thence by the endless apron g to
between the squeezing and expressing rollers h, h. The action of the instru-
ments causes the fibre under operation to be alternately drawn upon or
pushed forward, and then relieved from such pressure in its passage through
the wash liquid whilst a slight agitation will also be obtained, by which the
wash liquid employed will be capable of acting more freely on all parts of the
fibre, thereby facilitating cleansing without stringing or felting it.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and means adapted
to carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details shewn and described, as these may be varied
without departing from the peculiar character of the improvements; but what
I do claim is, the giving an intermittent forward and partial retrograde action
to prongs, grates, or other surfaces whilst they are employed in conducting
wool and other fibres through a trough of wash liquid to facilitate the washing
of such fibres, substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Holden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
ISAAC HOLDEN. (L.8.) ·