CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Parker, of the City of Manchester, Cotton
Dealer, and William Martin, of the same Place, Manager, for the Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND
PREPARING COTTON."
Sealed the 30th June 1857, and dated the 15th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Parker and
William Martin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th January 1857.
WC, GEORGE PARKER, of the City of Manchester, Cotton Dealer, and
WILLIAM MARTIN, of the same Place, Manager, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention' for " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING,
CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON," to be as follows:-
In the machinery for opening, cleaning, and preparing cotton at present in
use, the cotton is carried by the beaters or other parts of the machinery over
grates or grids, which have hitherto been made of smooth-edged bars or rails
of wood or metal. Now, our Invention consists in making the edges of the
said bars or rails with V-shaped or other shaped notches or grooves, the object
and effect of which is to open and clean the cotton more effectually in passing
through the machine to which these improved grids are applied, and to reduce
the amount of cotton wasted or carried away with the dirt that drops through.
the grids.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Parker and William Martin in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
PARKER, of the City of Manchester, Cotton Dealer, and WILLIAM MARTIN, of
the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Parker and William Martin, Her special licence that we,
the said George Parker and William Martin, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Parker and William
Martin, our 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON,
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said George Parker and
William Martin, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their or one of our or their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the samic 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 we, the said George Parker and William Martin,
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:-
In the machinery for opening, cleaning, and preparing cotton at present in
use, the cotton is carried by the beaters or other parts of the machinery over
grates or grids, which have hitherto been made of smooth-edged bars or rails
of wood or 'metal. Now, our Invention consists in making the edges of the
said bars or rails with V-shaped or other shaped notches or grooves, the object
and effect of which is to open and clean the cotton more effectually in passing
through the machine to which these improved grids are applied, and to reduce

page_text: the amount of cotton wasted or carried away with the dirt that drops through
the grids.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a sectional clevation of part of a machine for opening, cleaning,
and preparing cotton, known as a beater or scutcher. The Drawing only
represents such parts as are requisite to illustrate the mode of applying our
improvements. a is the feeding apron; b, b, and c, c, the feeding rollers; and
d, the beater. All these parts of the machine and the other parts not shewn
are constructed in the usual manner. e, e, are the grid
e, e, are the grid bars, the edges of
which, instead of being smooth as heretofore customary, are serrated or notched,
as shewn full size in the detached view, Fig. 2, which represents a front view
of part of one of the grid bars. In placing these grid bars in the machine, it
is essential that the notches of the upper bar should coincide with the spaces
between the notches of the lower bar. We wish to remark, that all the bars
of the grid may be serrated or notched, as shewn, or only a part thereof.
When two or more beaters are employed in the same machine, we prefer to
apply the serrated bars to each. When the beater strikes the cotton the dirt
passes between the grids in the usual manner, but the fibres being caught by
the serrated edges of the bars are carried forward, and consequently less cotton
is wasted than when the grid bars are smooth, as now customary.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, we declare that we claim, making the bars or rails of the
grids used in machinery for opening, cleaning, and preparing cotton with
notches or grooves, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Parker and William Martin,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM MARTIN. (L.S.)