IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Walton Whitehead, of Holbeck, in the
Parish of Leeds, in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm of
Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company, of the same Place, Machine and
Tool Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Walton White-
head at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd January 1872.
I, HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds,
in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth,
and Company, of the same Place, Machine and Tool Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, Silk, and other FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be
as follows:-

page_text: My improvements consist in an alteration which dispenses with the
lids or weights of the feed boxes used in the well-known Noble's
combing machines, or other combing machines that are similarly fed.
In lieu of the said lids or weights I fix a runner (made of brass or
other suitable material at the delivery end of the feed boxes. This
runner being allowed to run very freely on its axis causes sufficient
weight to grip or press the wool together, with the assistance of the
dabbing brush, to force the wool or sliver properly into the comb or
combs. The advantages thereby gained are more even feeding of the
wool or sliver, as well as a great saving in waste; and as the wool or
sliver of a ball is about to be worked out or fed off by this means, it may
be pieced during the time that it is just leaving the comb.
I do not confine myself to one runner, as the same advantages may be
gained by a series of runners placed both at the top and bottom of the
feed boxes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Walton Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County
of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company,
of the same place, Machine and Tool Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term thercin expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain

page_text: box. The proportions of the diameter of the pin D and of the inner
diameter of the cylinder C are such as to allow of the latter being lifted
sufficiently by the attendant to lay the wool easily below it, and thus
avoid the waste caused by the use of the old style of lids. Below this
runner is mounted a smaller runner E, which will facilitate the passage
of the short wool to the combs.
Fig. 2 shews an arrangement in which a solid runner C is used. This
runner is mounted in swinging arms D, which are pivotted to the
feed box, and will allow of the runner being lifted to pass the sliver
under it.
the feed box
This runner
Fig. 3 shews another mode of mounting the solid runner at the
delivery end of the feed box. In this example the sides of
are slotted to receive the ends of the axle D of the runner.
may be readily lifted out of its guides and replaced by one of greater or
less weight to suit the fibrous material under treatment. It will be free 1
to press on the wool with a force duo to its weight, and to rotate as in
the former examples under the draft of the wool.
In some cases I propose to apply two or more pressing surfaces to the
feed box.
Fig. 4 shews a feed box fitted with a runner in combination with a
dead weight presser. This arrangement therefore illustrates the com-
bination of the old and new methods of pressing the feed or sliver. The
runner is similar to that shewn at Fig. 1, and like it is mounted at the
delivery end of the box. At the front end of the box the weight F is
situate. This weight F is free to swing on a transverse pin G fixed to a
the sides of the box.
By the arrangement shewn in Fig. 4 the sliver is subjected to two
kinds of pressure, the short fibres being passed forward with the same
facility as at Fig. 1, while the weight F acts in the same manner as the
lids or weights commonly used.
Fig. 5 shews a further modification in which three runners are used.
These runners are mounted one at each end of the box, and the other
at or near the middle. If thought desirable the small runner E, shewn
in Fig. 1, may be placed under each of the runners.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements
in machinery for combing wool, cotton, flax, silk, and other fibrous

page_text: substances, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, applying to the feed boxes of combing machines runners
or pressing rollers operating in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-fifth day of June One thousand eight hundred and
sement two
or pressing roners operating in the manner and for the purpose avOVE
described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-fifth day of June One thousand eight hundred and
seventy two
HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said Henry Walton Whitehead in
the presence of
EDWARD WHITELEY,
Clerk to Mr. Tho*. Turner,
Sol.,
Leeds.