IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING WASTE SILK." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Machine Manufacturer, and Robert Newton, of Liverpool, in the County
Palatine of Lancaster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DRESSING WASTE SILK."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Fairbairn and
Robert Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 29th October 1856.
We, PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine
Manufacturer, and ROBERT NEWTON, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of
Lancaster, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING WASTE SILK," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of the combs and the
machinery for applying them employed in the dressing of waste silk, whereby
the in-frame now in use is dispensed with, and small presses or holders are
introduced, by which, and the proposed new arrangement of the combs, the
time lost and the manual labour required under the old process in winding up
and letting down, pulling out and wheeling in, turning round the in-frame, and
changing the books, is altogether saved.

page_text: The new arrangement consists of a series of small holders or presses on
which the fibres of silk are placed, and which are carried gradually forward by
any endless mechanical process from end to end of the machine. Whilst the
fibres of silk are thus carried through the machine, they are subjected in suc-
cession to three distinct sets of combs placed on endless sheets, the middle
sheet being driven round in a contrary direction to the other two, so as to
comb the silk in both directions without requiring the delay and labour which
are necessary to change the position of the silk in the cumbrous process now
in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PETER
FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Manufacturer, and
ROBERT NEWTON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, Her special license that
we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the-said-Peter-Fairbairn-and-
Robert Newton, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 DRESSING WASTE SILK," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, 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 we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is- to
say):—
This Invention relates to certain improvements on the well-known horizontal
machine used for dressing what is technically termed "silk waste," whereby the
carding or combing operation is greatly expedited. In this machine, as at
present constructed, the silk waste is first operated upon by the card surfaces
on one side of the upper end of the strick, and when this operation has been
continued sufficiently long, the holder containing the silk is drawn from under
the card surfaces and turned end for end, and then replaced in order that the
carding or combing operation may be performed on the other side of the
strick.
Now in order to avoid the loss of time occasioned in shifting the position of
the holder, and to keep the machine in continuous action until the combing of
the exposed end of the strick is completed, we provide three sets of carding
surfaces, one in advance of the other, and by means of a series of small
travelling holders we pass the silk under the action of these several carding
surfaces in succession, which, by reason of their rotating in opposite directions,
will operate upon the opposite sides of the silk alternately, and complete the
carding of one end of the stricks during one passage of the holders through
the machine. As the holders reach the end of the machine, the stricks or
bundles of silk are removed from the holding clamps by the attendant, and
turned end for end. The holders are then brought back to the feeding end of
the machine, and the carding operation is in like manner repeated.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our improved
machine for dressing silk; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a
transverse sectional elevation. A, B, C, are three endless webs, each carrying
These webs are held at tension
a set of combs or carding surfaces D, D, D.
by means of pairs of rollers E, E*, E, E*, the bearings of which are adjustable
for the purpose of maintaining the tension of the webs, and setting them at the
required level. The combs or carding surfaces D consist of leather sheets
filled with wire teeth and nailed upon wooden bars bolted to and extending
across the web. The rollers E, E, and with them the webs, are regulated
vertically by the screws F, F, and the tension of each web is maintained by
means of tightening screws G, with which the sliding brackets which carry

page_text: the rollers Eare provided. The first and last webs A and C turn in the
same direction as shewn by the arrows, while the middle web B turns in a
contrary direction; the object of this arrangement being to comb, as before
mentioned. the opposite sides of the silk successively as it is passed under the
three sets of combs. I rackets which carry the roliers E, E, are secured
to the frame sides II, II, of the machine by means of bolts which pass through
slots cast on the top of the frame sides. The tightening screws G for tho
webs are also carried by the frames II, and they take into hollow screws or
tapped boles at the lower part of the sliding brackets mentioned above. On
each frame side are bolted regulating shelvings S, S, for the purpose of guiding
the combs. The three webs are geared as follows:-J are tho pulleys for
receiving the driving band; these pullies are mounted on a stud axle, and on
the boss of the fast pulley is a pinion K. Into this pinion gears a wheel L on
the end of the roller E of the web A. Into the same driving pinion K gears
an intermediate pinion M carried by a stud axle, and in gear with this pinion
is a wheel N on the end of the roller E of the web B. On the other roller E
of the web B is a wheel O, which, through a pair of intermediate pinions P, P,
carried by a radial bar Q, drives a wheel R on the end of the roller E of the
web C. Fitted to each side of the frame are guides T, T, T, for the purpose of
supporting and guiding the silk holders U, U, (Fig. 3.) These holders U, U,
are made in lengths of, say, two feet six inches, and so arranged that they
can be placed on the ends T of the guides T, T, close together end to end, so
as to form as it were a continuous holder extending from end to end of the
guides, when the niachino is in-full-operation; in other respects they are made
like the ordinary clamp holders. A forward traverse motion is given to the
holders by means of endless chains V, V, (Fig. 1,) which are driven by chain
wheels W, W, at the feeding end of the machine, and further supported at
the other end and underneath by plain pullies X, X. These chains V, V,
carry antifriction bowles, and slide at top in grooves Y, Y, (Fig. 3,) cast in
the guides T,T. Attached to the lower side of each of the holder clamps
is a pair of saddle pieces or catches which take on to two of the bowles of
the chains, and thus connect the holders with the traversing chains, by the
movement of which the holders are severally pushed from one end to the other
of the machine under the three webs of combs successively. The guides T, T,
are made fast to the several ribs of the frame sides, where there are set screws
for the purpose of adjusting the relative distance between the holders and the
combs. The space between the said holders and combs, when once ascertained,
is rendered permanent, but it is arranged so as to gradually lessen from the

page_text: feeding to the opposite end of the machine, for the purpose of graduating the
action of the combing surfaces upon the silk. The chain wheels W, W, which
drive the chains V, V, are mounted on a shaft Z, on one end of which is a
worm wheel A. Into this wheel gears a worm B', carried by a short shaft,
to which a bevil wheel C' is keyed; this wheel C¹ gears into a bevil wheel D'
on a stud affixed to the framing H. On the boss of the bevil wheel D¹ is
keyed a ratchet wheel E', into the teeth of which works a catch, which is
operated by means of a connecting rod Fpendent from an excentric G¹ on
the end of the roller E of the web A. This catch is jointed to a slotted piece
H provided with a screw and handle, which permit of the regulation of the
feed of the holders while the machine is at work. The worm B and worm
wheel A are introduced to insure the regular working of the chains and
holders, which, without them, would have a tendency to be carried off by the
pull of the combs. At the delivery end of the machine regulating screws K'
are provided for the purpose of keeping the chaius V, V, at tension. The
framing of this machine is composed of three pairs of frame sides I, II, H,
which are bolted together and strengthened by four stretchers J', one at each
end of the machine, and one at each joint of intermediate frame sides.
It should be remarked that we prefer to drive the several sets of comb or
carding surfaces at different speeds, in order to ensure the proper combing of
the fibres. Thus we have found that a gradually progressive speed of the
carding surfaces, in the ratio of fifteen, eighteen, and twenty-one, will produce
a good result, the first set of combs having the slowest, and the last sot the
quickest motion. An advantage of great importance incidental to our system
of combing the opposite surfaces of the strick or bundle of fibres during one
continuous operation is, that the fibres, by reason of their traversing in the
direction of their length, are so presented to the cards that the point at which
the cards strike into the bundles or stricks will continually change, and there-
fore the combing operation will be equalized throughout the length of the
fibres, and less breakage will consequently ensue.
Having now explained the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in
Machinery for Dressing Waste Silk," and described the manner of carrying
the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim,-
First, combining in one machine sets of travelling carding surfaces for tho
purpose of operating upon the silk consecutively in the manner set forth.
Secondly, traversing the holders containing the silk through the machine in
a direction parallel to the line of action of the carding surfaces (by the aid of

page_text: endless chains or their equivalent), in order to present the silk to the action of
the carding surfaces.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eighteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
P. FAIRBAIRN.
(L.B.)
ROBERT NEWTON. (L.B.)