AN IMPROVED MACHINE TO BE USED FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène Pasquier, Engineer, of Rheims, France,
and of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MACHINE TO BE USED FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
Sealed the 24th August 1855, and dated the 11th April 1855.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Eugène Pasquier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 11th April 1855, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
I, EUGÈNE PASQUIER, Engineer, of Reims (France), and of 32, Essex Street,
Strand, London, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "AN IM-
PROVED MACHINE TO BE USED FOR DRYING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the drying of wool and other fibrous materials, or
absorbing and removing the moisture which these materials contain, after being
washed, scoured, or dyed, combed, spun, and even woven, the means at present
used for that purpose being liable to injure the fibres to a considerable extent.
Thus the high temperature commonly employed for drying during the winter
season, and the length of time during which woollen materials, for instance,
must be left in contact with heat, renders the fibres hard, brittle, and takes

page_text: away their brightness, by destroying their natural unctuosity. Drying in the
solar rays labours under similar disadvantages, whilst this operation carried
on in the shade requires too much time, and the means tried hitherto for
accelerating this latter mode have remained unsuccessful. The main features
of the present improvements, which are intended to remedy these evils, by
effecting the aqueous evaporation, without affecting the quality and appear-
ance of the material, are the combined application of dry air, which is
chambered or shut up, and of a powerful ventilation; the use of an endless
cloth or web for receiving the wool or other materials, and travelling at a slow
rate, and also the application of a chain armed with hooks, which chain slides
in steps or bearings, and may be used for folding the fabrics as they are dried.
The machine in which these improvements are or may be carried out is
shewn on the annexed Sheet of Drawings; where Fig. 1 is a longitudinal
elevation; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the centre of the machine, and
parallel to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section; and Fig. 4, an end view.
This machine consists of a casing which is composed of two very thin cast-
iron plates or cheeks a that are strengthened by back ribs. Each plate or
cheek a is made of several pieces which are firmly united together by internal
bolts. These cheeks also have at their lower parts a row of small trapdoors or
slides b, which are opened more or less, so as to form a current of air, of which
a fresh supply is continually poured into the apparatus. These traps may be
opened one after another, and all those on one side may be secured to a single
rod, so that by moving this rod they can all be opened or shut at once. The
openings a contain bearings for the spindles of the ventilators c to turn in, the
ventilators being set in motion by means of two straps d, which pass over small
pulleys, secured externally on each ventilator spindle. The straps & are acted
upon by two pulleys e, which are fast on the shaft f, carrying also the pulley g,
which is driven by any motive power. The endless cloth or web h is made of
network or wire gauze, and serves to carry the material to be dried; for this
purpose it is fed in at i, and is delivered at j, where the partition k and the
ventilator are placed. The endless cloth is carried in its whole length by a
rope or a band-chain, or any other suitable chain, which is wrapt up or clothed
on both sides with sackcloth, having selvages on each side. These selvages
are sewn together, so as to form on each side a rib or projection, which slides
and is guided in a slot cut on the inside of each cheek. Two or more pipes m
are heated by steam, or in any other suitable way, taking care to keep their
temperature at or below about eighty-six degrees, Fabrenheit. These pipes
which are placed in the apparatus are for heating and dryeing the air, which
enters the same through the openings b. This air is set in motion by the venti-

page_text: lators c, and forced by means of draught chimneys n through the layer of wool
which is put on the endless cloth h, thus carrying off the moisture through the
chimneys. The machine is driven by means of a strap passing over the pulley
9, whose shaft carries two other pulleys for driving the ventilators c by means
of straps & contained in the casing; moreover, the ventilator 1, which is for
refreshing the wool before it leaves the machine, is set in motion by a strap
that passes over a pulley keyed on its shaft, and a pulley similarly keyed on the
next ventilator shaft. The shaft carrying the pulley 9 has at its opposite end
a pinion n', which gears into a wheel o, whose boss carries a small wheel
gearing into the wheel p, on whose boss a small bevel wheel is fixed, gearing
into another bevel wheel which is fixed on the shaft q, this latter having at
each end a small bevel gearing into another on the shafts of the roller i and j,
thus communicating to them the required slow motion for the endless web h
which carries the wool. This slow motion is for allowing the wool to get
properly dried before it is delivered by the machine; however, notwithstanding
this slow motion, 30 to 35 per cent. of its weight can be evaporated in a
few minutes without the wool getting more than tepid and without altering
the fibres.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I do not limit myself to the treatment of any particular kind
of wool or other fibrous material, nor to any particular material to be employed
in the construction of the machine, nor to any particular mode of ventilating,
and description of ventilating apparatus; but what I claim as novel, and being
therefore secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
the combined application of dry air, which is shut up, and of ventilation,
causing this air to pass through an endless cloth upon which the wool or other
moist material is fed, substantially as described above.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugène Pasquier, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
PASQUIER. (L.S.)