IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
PREPARING COTTON AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communication
from Charles Leyherr, of Laval, in the Empire of France, Spinner.
Sealed the 29th June 1855, and dated the 25th January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson `at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1855.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR PREPARING COTTON AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS," a communication
from Charles Leyherr, of Laval, in the Empire of France, Spinner, to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a cylinder or drum, set with
sharp points or teeth over its entire surface, and revolving at a very high
velocity. In juxtaposition with this cylinder is placed a small fluted roller,

page_text: corresponding in length to the length of the toothed cylinder, and working in
a suitable trough or reservoir. By this arrangement, the cotton or other
material to be prepared is brought close up to the toothed cylinder, the action
of which is to draw down the fibres, which are fed in underneath the small
fluted roller in the trough, such fibres falling on to a curved plate beneath the
cylinder, whilst the dust and dirt falls down through the space between the
cylinder and the edge of the trough. The cotton or other similar material,
after being subjected to the action of this apparatus, will be quite free from
dust and other extraneous matter; and, therefore, when subsequently sub-
jected to the carding process, this operation will be more readily accomplished
without the injury to the card teeth which arises from the cotton or other
similar material not being thoroughly cleaned from foreign bodies. This
apparatus may be employed with slight modifications and additions as a
second carding machine, the additions requisite being grooved drawing rollers
for forming a web.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON AND SIMILAR FIBROUS
MATERIALS," a communication from Charles Leyherr, of Laval, in the Empire

page_text: of France, Spinner,.upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to an improved system or mode of effecting the
cleaning, scutching, and lapping of cotton and other fibrous substances before it
is submitted to the subsequent operations of carding, doubling, and spinning,
whereby the filaments are more effectually loosened and cleansed from extraneous
matter with less waste of material than can be effected by the ordinary beating
or scutching machines at present in use. The improvements consist in sub-
mitting the cotton or other fibrous material to the action of a cleaning drum
or cylinder, set with long sharp needles or spikes over its entire surface, and
revolving at a very high velocity inside a suitable covering or case of sheet
metal or other suitable material. In juxtaposition with the cleaning drum is
placed a pair of grooved feeding rollers, or one small grooved or fluted feeding
roller, corresponding in length to the drum, and working in a suitable trough
containing water for damping the fibrous material as it proceeds to the cleaning
drum. The fluted feed roller and trough being close to the cleaner, the cotton
or other fibrous material to be prepared is brought close up to the spiked drum,
the action of which is to comb out, loosen, and draw down the filaments which
are fed in between the under side of the feeding roller and the bottom of the
trough. These fibres or filaments are carried by the drum over a curved plate
placed beneath it, whilst the dirt and other extraneous matter falls down
through an opening left for that purpose at the front end of the curved plate.
The fibrous material perfectly cleansed and well opened out is thrown from the
spiked drum by its centrifugal action on to an endless travelling apron, which
carries it beneath a pressing drum, whence it is passed between a pair of
drawing rollers in the form of a web, which is then lapped on to a roller or
beam carried in the same machine.
And in order that the said Invention may be more readily understood, I
shall now proceed to describe and refer to the Drawing hereunto annexed,

page_text: which represents a longitudinal vertical section of the improved machine for
cleaning and preparing cotton and other fibrous substances.
The spiked
cleaning or opening drum A, which revolves at the rate of from 1,500 to 2,000
revolutions a minute, is fed by the small grooved or fluted roller B. This
roller rotates in the trough E, which keeps it constantly moist. In leaving the
drum A, the fibrous material is thrown by centrifugal force from the spikes.or
needles into the closed chamber h, covered by a metal or other casing k. The
bottom of this chamber is formed by the endless travelling apron D, which
carries the material beneath the drum g, and thence to the rollers E. These
rollers prepare. the material in a suitable manner for being wound in the form
of a web on to the roller or beam U, which is effected by the aid of, the rollers
ff, thereby completing the operation. An opening M is left in front of the
curved plate N, for the grains or other impurities or extraneous matter to fall
through as it is driven out of the fibrous material by the action of the spiked
drum A. A current of air is allowed to enter the machine at O, and, from the
length of the spikes and needles on the drum, it is enabled to enter between
the periphery or surface of the drum and the cotton or other fibrous material
on the points of the needles, thus preventing the needles from becoming
choked or clogged up with waste fibres.
I may here observe that I do not confine or restrict myself to any particular
mode of forming the drum, or fixing the needles or spikes thereto, so long as
the main principle of this Invention be adhered to, namely, the use of a spiked
drum, studded with sharp pointed and inflexible needles, for cleaning. &
⚫opening the fibres of cotton and other similar fibrous materials; neither do
I. confine myself to the use of this drum in any one particular machine, as it
may be advantageously employed in carding engines with the simple addition
of a pair of drawing rollers for forming the web or slivers. It may also be
fitted into any of the existing scutching or blowing machines at a trifling cost,
thereby greatly expediting the preparation of the fibrous material, as delivering
it in a perfectly clean state to the carding engine, the cards of which will not
be liable to be injured by any extraneous matter contained therein, as is
frequently the case in using the ordinary beaters or scutchers.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider to

page_text: be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
The system or mode of loosening, cleaning, and otherwise preparing the
fibres of cotton and other fibrous materials by the employment of a spiked
drum or cylinder revolving at a high velocity, the fibrous material being thrown
off at the back of the spiked drum by the centrifugal force of the same, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)