IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR COMBING COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS BAZLEY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Bazley, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege, and authority that I, the said Thomas Bazley,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas
Bazley, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR COMBING
COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Bazley,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso I, the
said Thomas Bazley, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
to consist, Firstly, in certain improved combinations of machinery for
detaching portions of a sliver or band of cotton, flax, silk, or other
fibrous materials through comb teeth; for conveying such detached
portions in combs fixed on the periphery of a drum; for drawing the
said detached portions from the combs; and forming the long fibres of
the same into another sliver or band. And, secondly, in the applica-
tion of certain improved combinations of machinery to other machinery
now known and in use for combing.
And in further compliance with the said proviso I shall now proceed
to describe the manner in which the said Invention is to be performed,
reference being had to the two Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
On Sheet 1, Fig. 1, represents a sectional elevation of my improved
machinery adapted for combing cotton; and Fig. 2, is a front view of
part of the same. The cotton to be operated upon is supplied in the
form of slivers or bands which pass between the feed rollers a, a,
placed in front of the gill combs b, b; these gill combs convey the
cotton forward, and present it to one of the combs c, twelve of which
are fixed on the periphery of the drum d; a greater or less number of
combs may be used if found more convenient. The drum d, rotates
in the direction of the arrow, and motion is given to it by the inter-
mittent wheel d', having twelve notches in it, in which the pin e, pro-
jecting to the disk e', enters; by this means the drum moves quickly
through the twelfth part of a revolution, and then it remains at rest
during the time required for pressing the cotton between the teeth of
the comb c, and for taking hold of the cotton projecting from the
comb c, near the delivering end of the machine. The combs c, are

page_text: fixed into brass rulers c', which are wide enough to allow room for the
plate f, between the comb c, and the last of the gill combs b; the office
of the plate f, is to press the cotton against the rulers c', and to draw
and detach a portion of it through the gill combs &, when the drum d,
is in motion. To the back of the plate f, is attached a brush, as seen in
Fig. 1, by which the fibres of cotton are pressed between the teeth of
the combs c, or the same effect may be obtained by the instrument
shewn on a larger scale in Fig. 3. This instrument consists of blades of
metal or other suitable material, which enter between the rows of teeth
in the comb c. The plate f, is fixed at each end to the pieces g,
actuated by the cams h, on the shaft h; these cams act on antifriction
rollers g, working on a stay g', connecting the two pieces g, which
slide on the guide bars g. The narrow platek, has an upward and
downward motion imparted to it by an excentric ', on the shaft k".
This plate is up when the last gill comb is close to the drum d, as now
shown in Fig. 1; but when the plate f, has been brought down on to
the cotton between it and the ruler c', and the drum d, begins to move
upwards in order to detach a portion of the cotton, the last gill comb
descends into the position shewn in red, and the narrow plate k, is then
brought down by the action of the excentric k¹, until it bears upon the
cotton; by this means the upward motion of the comb c, is prevented
drawing the cotton out of the preceding gill combs, and the requisito
portion of cotton is detached from the sliver or band, and is carried
forward by the comb c. During the time that the foregoing operations
are taking place the detached portions of cotton in the combs c, are
being removed in the following manner :-i, is a stationary plate, and j,
is a moveable plate forming with the plate i, a pair of nippers; the
plate j, is moved once up and down at every move of the drum d, by the
cams j, on the shaft j', in the same manner as has been above described
in reference to the plate d; the nippers i, and j, are shewn open in
Fig. 1, and the fibres of cotton projecting from the comb c, are supposed
to reach over the plate i, and to touch on the surface of the doffer 1;
the plate j, is now brought down into the position shewn in red, so as
to take firm hold of the cotton between it and the plate i, and at same
time the brush attached to the plate j, is pushing the fibres of cotton

page_text: between the wires on the doffer which revolves slowly in the direction
of the arrow.
The nippers i, and j, remain closed, until the drum has
performed so much of the next twelfth of a revolution as is sufficient to
detach those fibres of cotton that are now held by the nippers from
those remaining in the comb c. The nippers are then suddenly opened
by the cams J', in order to allow the doffer to carry away the fibres
that are now combed, and to remove the plate j, out of the way of the
fibres projecting from the next of the combs c. The short fibres are
brushed out of the teeth of the combs c, by the revolving brush t, or by
any other suitable instrument; by this means the combs are cleaned
before they are again brought into position for taking the cotton from
the gill combs b. The speed of the doffer I, is so regulated that the
fibres of each detached portion of cotton overlap those of the preceding
one. By this means a continuous fleece is formed on the doffer which is
taken off by the rollers m, and then slightly elongated by passing
through the drawing rollers n, and calender rollers o. The mode of
communicating motion to the various parts of the machine is indicated
by the dotted circle p, which represents the driving pulley, and by the
red circles representing the wheels. And I wish to observe here that in
combing flax, silk, and other fibrous substances similar machinery may
be employed, due allowance being made for the length of staple under
operation.
I will now proceed to describe how certain parts of the above-
described improvements may be used in combination with machi-
nery now known and in use. On Sheet 2, Fig. 4, represents a
sectional elevation of a machine for combing cotton. Fig. 5, is another
elevation of part of the same machine. The cotton to be combed is
supplied in the form of slivers or bands, as in the machine before
referred to; the sliver or band passes between the feeding rollers a, a;
it is then taken forward by the gill combs b, b, and presented to the nip-
pers g, 'q, which close upon the fibres projecting from the last gill comb,
and detach a portion of the sliver or band by the receding action of the
nippers; the detached portion of the cotton is carried by the comb 1,
from the nippers q, to the combs c. The nippers q, and comb r, are
similar to those described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted

page_text: to Samuel Cunliffe Lister on or about the Twenty-fourth day of
February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. The cotton
having been deposited on the teeth of the combs c, which are fixed!
on the drum d, is pressed between the teeth of the combs c, by
the brush 8, in the manner described in the Specification before re-
ferred to of the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister. The long fibres of
cotton are drawn out of the combs c, by the nippers formed by the
plates u, and v, which recede from the drum as soon as the cotton
has been taken hold of by them, deliver it to the comb w, by which
it is deposited on the doffer 1; the circumference of this doffers
revolves slowly, so that each portion of cotton deposited on it overlaps
the preceding one, by this means a fleece is formed on the doffer which
is taken off by the rollers m, as before described. The mechanism for
opening and closing the nippers u, and v, and for moving them towards
and from the drum d, consists of the following parts: , is a shaft, to
which a constant rotary motion is given by the train of wheels indi-
cated by the red circles in Fig. 4. To the bearings of this shaft are
fitted the sockets a', in which are keyed the guide bars x²; on the
shaft x, are fixed two cams u¹, acting on anti-friction rollers u², revolv-
ing on studs in the cams u³, which are jointed above to the plate u;
this plate is made with eyes fitting on the guide bars a³, and it is
pressed down by the springs a³, the object of which is to compensate for
inequalities in the thickness of the cotton taken hold of by the nippers u,
and v. The lower plate v, is operated upon by the cams v³, acting on
the anti-friction rollers v³, revolving on a cross stay ³, connecting the
two brushes v', to which the plate v, is fixed; the bushes v', slide on
the guide bars a². The nippers u, and v, are moved towards and from
the drum d, by the excentric a³, which is connected to the lever y', by
the link x. The lever y', is fixed on the shaft y, to which are also
keyed the levers y³, connected above to the plate u, by the links y³.
The comb w, is also put in motion from the shaft x, by the cam w³,
acting on an anti-friction roller at the end of the bar w, by which the
comb is elevated and depressed, and by the cam w², which acts on an
anti-friction roller at the end of the slot lever w', by which the comb is
mado to move towards and from the doffer l. The red circles in Fig. 4,
represent the gearing suitable for moving the drum d, through the

page_text: twelfth of a revolution after every action of the comb r; by this arrange-
ment each comb c, will receive one detached portion of cotton from the
gill combs b, and the same quantity will be removed by the nippers u,
and v. If it should be found desirable to increase the quantity of cotton
on each comb c, the speed of the disk e', can be increased so as to
perform two or more revolutions for each revolution of the shaft q', by
which the nippers q, and comb r, are worked, thereby giving time for
two or more portions of the cotton from the gill combs b, to be.
deposited on each of the combs c, between each motion of the drum d.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that.
I do not confine myself to the details herein shewn and described; but
what I claim is, first, the combination of machinery for combing
cotton, flax, silk, and other fibrous materials, as shewn and described
in reference to Figs. 1, and 2. And, secondly, the application of the
drum d, and doffer 1, to machines for combing, as shewn and described.
with reference to Figs. 4, and 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Bazley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December,