IMPROVE- THMANGOD ADDADARING BOD COMPING WOOD AND ORDER WIDE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Whitley, of Holme Lane, Tong, in the
Parish of Birstal and County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
THMANGOD ADDADARING BOD COMPING WOOD AND ORDER WIDEO
Sealed the 7th August 1866, and dated the 13th February. 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Whitley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th February 1866.
I, THOMAS WHITLEY, of Holme Lane, Tong, in the Parish of Birstal
and County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER
FIBRES," to be as follows:-
In carrying out my improvements I employ a pair of travelling receiving
combs which at one part come close to or near together. For this purpose
I prefer to employ two circles of teeth of different diameters, one working
within and eccentrically of the other, but such" arrangements of receiving
combs are well known, and separately form no part of my improvements.
My improvement consists in depositing the fibre to be combed over the
teeth of one or both of such pair of receiving combs in detached tufts, so
that such detached tufts may be taken by the teeth of both combs. These
detached tufts are by preference supplied from gill or other tooth-feeding
apparatus, from which they are detached by nipping means and deposited

page_text: over parts of one or both of the receiving combs. If the tufts are laid
on simultaneously over both combs I sometimes apply a plate, or series of
them, or other suitable guard, to support such fibre and keep it from at once
going into the teeth of the inner comb, as well as from going into the
inner row or rows of the outer comb until it has arrived at the point where
the teeth of the two combs are nearest each other. When the tufts of
fibre are first laid only on the outer comb then the guard or guards
will serve to conduct the fibre on to the other comb. The fibre after
being laid into the teeth of one receiving comb may be lifted in part
therefrom by an inclined plate or plates, and thence conducted on to the
teeth of the other comb, and in some cases a drawing off of fibre from the
first comb may be effected before the lifting action. A brush or brushes
or other suitable pressing means are employed to force the fibre into the
teeth of both receiving combs. The outer row or rows of teeth of the
outer comb project by preference higher than the inner row or rows thereof;
As the teeth of the two.combs separate from each other a combing action
takes place between them. The fibre is drawn off in the ordinary way from
both sides of the outer receiving comb and from the outside of the inner
The noil is lifted out of and removed from both combs in the
ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Whitley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS, SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WHITLEY, of Holme Lane, Tong, in-the Parish of Birstal and County of
York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her, most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year, of our
Lord One thousand; eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for, Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Whitley, Her special licence that I, the
said Thomas, Whitley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others, as I, the said Thomas Whitley, 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Whitley, 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 Thomas Whitley, 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 :-
In carrying out my improvements I employ a pair of travelling receiving
combs which at one part come close to or near together. For this
purpose I prefer to employ two circles of teeth of different diameters, one
working within and eccentrically of the other, but such arrangements of
receiving combs are well known and separately form no part of my iniprove-
ments.
My improvements consist in depositing the fibre to be combed over the'
teeth of one or both of such pair of receiving combs in detached tufts, so
that such detached tufts may be taken by the teeth of both combs. These
detached tufts are by preference supplied from gill or other tooth feeding'
apparatus from which they are detached by nipping" means and deposited
over parts of one or both of the receiving combs. If the tufts are laid on'
simultaneously over both combs I sometimes apply a plate, or series of
them, or other suitable guard; to support such fibre and keep it from at
once going into the teeth of the inner comb, as well as from going into the
inner row or rows of the outer comb, until it has arrived at the point where
the teeth of the two combs are nearest each other. When the tufts of
fibre are first laid only on the outer comb then the guard or guards' will
serve to conduct the fibre on to the other comb. The fibre after being
laid into the teeth of one receiving comb may be lifted in part therefrom
by an inclined plate or plates and thence conducted into the teeth of the
other comb, and in some cases' a drawing off of fibre from the first comb
may be effected before the lifting action. A brush or brushes, or other
suitable pressing means, are employed' to force the fibre into the teeth of
both receiving combs. The 'outer row or rows of teeth of the outer comb
project; by preference; higher than the inner row or rows thereof. As the
.

page_text: teeth of the two combs separate from each other a combing action takes
place between them. The fibre is drawn off in the ordinary way from both
sides of the outer receiving comb and from the outside of the inner one.
The noil is lifted out of and removed from both combs in the ordinary
way.
But that the Invention may be fully understood I will, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe means pursued by me in
into affent
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a section, and Figure 2 a plan view of some of the
working parts of a combing apparatus, arranged so as to carry out my
improvements.
a, a, are the feed rollers between which the fibre to be combed passes to
the gill feed and straightening combs b, b, by which the fibre to be combed
whilst being straightened or laid is carried forward to between the jaws of
nipping apparatus c, c. The nipping apparatus takes hold of the fibre, and
in its movement detaches tufts of fibre from the gill teeth and delivers them
to the carrying or porter comb d, by which it is laid into the teeth of the
carrying or working comb e, all which is well understood by persons
acquainted with the manufacture, as being according to the arrangements
of combing machines worked under Letters Patent granted to Samuel
Cunliffe Lister, dated the 24th of February 1851, and which machines
are commonly called "Lister's machines;" but according to my present
improvements in addition to the receiving comb e there is also another
receiving comb finto which the fibre to be combed may be laid; this
comb fis also formed into a circle, but of diameter smaller than that of the
circle e, and it is applied so as to work eccentrically to it with some por-
tion of the teeth of the comb falways working in contact with or close up
to the teeth of the combe, and so that the teeth of both combs may at one
part range with each other, as is more clearly indicated by the separate
enlarged sectional view thereof, Figure 3. The teeth of the comb e are of
varying lengths; the teeth of the inner rows thereof are the shortest,
those of the outer row are longer. The alternate teeth of the second
row from the outside are of the same length as those of the outer row,
whilst the intermediate ones are longer. This arrangement may, however,
be varied, but I prefer that the teeth of the outer row or rows of the combe
be longer than those of the inner rows. The fibre to be combed is
according to the arrangement shown laid by the carrier or porter comb d

page_text: into the two outer rows of teeth e, and it is prevented from being at once
laid into the inner or shorter of the rows of teeth of that comb or into the
comb teeth f until it comes over where the teeth of the two combs are
close to or nearly close to each other, and it is supported in the interval by
means of a plate g, which is placed so as to cover the inner or shorter
rows of the teeth of the comb e and the teeth of the comb f at the part
where it is applied. The fibre laid by the comb d into the teeth of the
travelling combs is pressed down therein by a brush h, separate views of
which are shown at Figure 4. The bristles of this brush are formed shorter
at the part h³, so as only to press the fibre into the longer teeth of the
comb e, standing in front of and above the plate g, and at the bristles of
the brush are formed longer so as to press that fibre fully into the teeth of
each row of the comb e, as well as into the teeth of the comb f, as those
combs move forward in the direction of the arrow. The tufts of fibre will
thus be laid across and into the teeth of both circles of combs, and as in the
further movement of those combs the teeth of one of them separate from
those of the other a separation and combing of the fibres will be effected,
part of the fibres being retained by the teeth of the combe and part by the
combf. The circles of combs e and f are both caused to travel at the
same surface speed, as is well understood, by means of pinions i and j,
the teeth of which take respectively into the teeth of the circles e and f;
k are drawing off rollers for drawing the fibre from the outer surface of the
teeth of the circle e; is a travelling apron to guide the points of the fibres
to these drawing rollers k; m is a supporting plate to support the fibres whilst
passing to the rollers k; n, n, are drawing rollers for drawing the fibre from
the inner surface of the teeth of the comb e; o, o, are drawing-off rollers
for drawing off the fibre from the comb f. The separate slivers thus
obtained may by suitable tubes or conductors be combined into one sliver,
or they may be separately removed and collected in cans or otherwise;
P, P, and 9, 9, are rollers for drawing off noil from the respective combs
e and f. I have not thought it necessary to show the framing for supporting
the various parts or the gearing for giving motion to them, as these are
well understood by persons acquainted with this class of machinery.
I would remark that I do not confine myself to this method of working,
and in carrying out my improvements the fibre may be laid fully into the
teeth of one receiving comb, and after being so laid may be lifted in part
therefrom by an inclined plate or plates acting between the rows of such
teeth, and then the part so raised may be pressed into the teeth of another
comb in position to receive it, and thus the fibre will become laid into

page_text: the teeth of both combs and may be combed by the separation of such
combs, as already explained, and in some cases a drawing off of fibre from
the first comb may be effected before the lifting and transferring action.
Having thus described my improvements, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
make any claim to obtaining detached tufts of fibre and laying them wlien
detached on to comb teeth, nor do I make any claim to the employment of
receiving combs arranged in pairs in eccentric circles, such that the teeth
of the two combs may in their motion approach towards and then recede
from each other when separately considered, nor do I confine myself to the
arrangement or combination of parts as shown and described, as such may
be varied without departing from the peculiar character of my Invention ;
but what I do claim is the arranging or combining apparatus for combing
wool and other fibres, whereby such fibre in detached tufts is deposited in
the teeth of two sets of combs at or near the point of the closest contact
of such two sets of teeth, so that such fibre may be combed by the separa-
tion of such two sets of comb teeth, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Whitley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
THOMAS WHITLEY. (L.s.)