IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Mirfield, of Tong, near Bradford, in the
County of York, Worsted Top Maker, and John Scott, of Tong
aforesaid, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Mirfield and
John Scott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 14th February 1874.
We, MATTHEW MIRFIELD, of Tong, near Bradford, in the County
of York, Worsted Top Maker, and JOHN SCOTT, of Tong aforesaid,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of combing machinery where
smaller circular combs revolve within or without a large circular comb,
and the Invention consists in this, that after the noil has been removed
from the end of the tuft by the revolving action of the comb and a

page_text: wheel or other suitable apparatus, we feed the end of the tuft with the
noil thus removed as aforesaid on to a small circle, and after a sliver has
been drawn therefrom we plough out and refeed the fibre thus left on
to the large and small circle at the tangent point of the two circles, thus
subjecting the short fibre to further processes of "recombing," whereby
the process of "recombing" by being operated upon by an additional
machine is entirely obviated, inasmuch as what requires two machines
for recombing under ordinary circumstances can by this Invention be
performed by one machine, and with more advantageous results as to
the relative quantity of "top" and "noil" than can be obtained by the
ordinary method of combing and recombing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Matthew Mirfield and John Scott in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 14th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, MATTHEW
MIRFIELD, of Tong, near Bradford, in the County of York, Worsted
Top Maker, and JOHN SCOTT, of Tong aforesaid, Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Matthew Mirfield and John Scott,
Her special licence that we, the said Matthew Mirfield and John Scott,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Matthew Mirfield and John Scott, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thercafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR
COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Matthew Mirfield and John Scott, 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 ascer-

page_text: tain 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 we, the said Matthew Mirfield and John Scott,
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 and accompanying
Sheet of Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to that class of combing machinery where
smaller circular combs revolve within or without a large circular comb,
and the Invention consists in this, that after the noil has been removed
from the end of the tuft by the revolving action of the comb and a
wheel or other suitable apparatus we feed the end of the tuft with the
noil thus removed as aforesaid on to a small circle, and after a sliver has
been drawn therefrom we plough out and refeed the fibre thus left on to
the large and small circles at the tangent point of the two circles, thus
subjecting the short fibre to further processes of recombing, whereby the
process of "recombing" by being operated upon by an additional
machine is entirely obviated, inasmuch as what requires two machines
for recombing under ordinary circumstances can by this Invention be
performed by one machine, and with more advantageous results as to the
relative quantity of "top" and "noil" than can be obtained by the
ordinary method of combing and recombing.

page_text: it comes under the action of the conical roller G carried in the bracket G¹
fixed to pillar G³, and driven by the pulley G³ from any convenient
source, and is by it transferred to the teeth of the large and small combs
at the tangent point thereof and recombed, the process of recombing
being continued so long as any portion of the tuft first fed remains in the
small circle.
Instead of the conical roller G the circular leather disc or washer
shewn at Fig. 4 may be employed to transfer the wool; H is the sliver
box feeding the tuft C on to the teeth of the two circles, the box
having a recess on opening J for admitting the teeth of the segment
comb K.
The sliver box elongated as shewn lifts the wool out of the teeth
without the aid of lifting knives as usually employed, and also assists in
depositing and placing the wool into the teeth again after having fed the
sliver, and also keeps it clear of the conical roller in passing over the
same.
It will be seen that the form of box here shewn is also applicable to
the ordinary Noble combing machine, inasmuch as it lifts the wool out of
the teeth of the combs, thus dispensing with lifting knives, and also
assists in depositing the wool therein after the sliver has been fed,
keeping the end of the sliver under better control during the time of
feeding.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Mirfield, for and on behalf
of myself and the said John Scott, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
MATTHEW MIRFIELD. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. W. TASKER,
Clerk to Tasker & Brierley,
Patent Agents,
Halifax & Bradford.