An Improved Method of Manufacturing Curled Hair.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Sept., 1891-Accepted, 3rd Oct., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by PETER WOLL, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
United States of America, Manufacturer of Curled Hair.]
An Improved Method of Manufacturing Curled Hair.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Curled hair as is well known, is used for mattresses and stuffing purposes generally,
and is made of horse hair, hog or cattle hair, or a mixture thereof. The raw hair
is usually washed and sorted according to the colours and different degrees of
hardness, in the manner adopted by those well skilled in the art, and then passed
through the ordinary cylinder picker for the purpose of thoroughly separating the
fibre or hairs and giving uniformity to the composition, which may be pure horse or
cattle hair or a mixture of either or both with a certain proportion of hog hair,
according to the grade of curled hair to be made; and in order that the composition
be thoroughly uniform or mixed, it is sometimes necessary to repeat the picking
operation perhaps three or more times.
The hair is then ready for the spinner, which operator filling his basket from the
heap or mass ejected by the cylinder picker, attaches a handful to a hook (adapted
to be revolved and thereupon set in motion) and begins the formation of a twisted
gasket the spinner feeding the hair from his basket to the said gasket as he paces
backward to the end of his "walk." When the hair has been twisted as described,
the end thereof is held by an assistant. Returning to the starting point, the spinner
passes the gasket, by one turn or loop, over the curling rod or horn, and the hook is
again revolved; the operative drawing his short rod along the whole length of the
gasket, an excess or double twist is given thereto, and a curl imparted to the
component hairs or fibres. After this stage, one end is taken off the hook and
joined to the other end by means of pins or staples, or wire wrapping, to prevent
the loss of curl and to prevent untwisting.
The next step is to steam or boil the thus far finished product, for a certain
length of time, to "set" the curl, after which it is thoroughly dried, and is then
ready to be opened by a reversed motion, and the hair, curled as described, is then
teazed or picked apart by hand ready for use.
The picker cylinder throws the material out in masses but forms no sliver, it is
therefore, obvious that the operation set forth is a slow laborious and comparatively
expensive one, and results in more or less breaking of the staple; and it is the
object of the present improvement to obviate and overcome these objections, and
also to produce a more uniform or even product than was possible heretofore, and
particularly to preserve the staple unbroken.
According to the said invention horse and other hair for stuffing mattresses
and other purposes, instead of being run through the cylinder picker as heretofore,
is passed through a set of preparers or combers, substantially such as are used in
the first stage of worsted yarn manufacture. The mixing of the hair may be
effected at this stage, by feeding to the first machine, the proportions of the different
qualities or kinds which it is desired to mix. The object of passing the hair
through the "preparers" is to comb it and to form a sliver which is adapted to be
twisted into a gasket, the latter curled or spiralled upon itself the said sliver is
formed by the last of the preparers, as in the manufacture of worsted yarns.
sliver thus produced, is passed to a curler which may be an adaptation of the
twisting devices used in the manufacture of twines, ropes and yarns this twisting
A

page_text: device and if considered necessary, a second one being so speeded as to produce the
extra twist and curl, or the sliver may be simply twisted on one machine and the
twisted sliver then attached by one end to the ordinary revolving spindle and
the curl imparted to it by means of the curling rod or horn in the manner well
known to those well skilled in the art; or the sliver formed by the preparers, may
be attached to the ordinary spindle, and twisted and curled in the usual manner,
these I consider mere modifications of my method and as not departing from the
spirit of my invention. With the ends secured against untwisting, the next step is
to set the curl of the hairs in a "setting bath" by which term I include the usual
steaming or boiling and drying processes, as also any other means for accomplishing
the same purpose. The curled hair is then opened and teazed.
The peculiar advantages of this method are, that the production is greatly
increased and cost reduced; the product more uniform, and, above all, the staple is
preserved unbroken to a much greater degrec than heretofore.
By the term "set of preparers" is to be understood such machines as may be
employed to comb and put the hair in sliver form, preparatory to twisting it into
gasket form, and then curling the gasket upon itself.
The sliver is formed upon one machine and is twisted and curled upon another
machine. In treating fibres "curling" is distinct from "twisting" in that the
latter implies turning a set of fibres or cords one upon another or others; while
curling is a spiralling of an already twisted fibrous material upon itself. Thus my
process consists of combing the fibres, forming them into a sliver, twisting the sliver
into a gasket, curling the latter, then setting the curl.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The method of manufacturing curled hair, which consists of combing the
hair, and forming it into a sliver twisting the sliver to form a gasket, curling the
gasket or spiralling it upon itself; then setting the curled product, substantially as
described.
Second. The method of manufacturing curled hair, which consists of combing
the hair, and forming it into a sliver, twisting the sliver to form a gasket, curling
the gasket or spiralling it upon itself, then setting the curled product, and then
teazing the hair, substantially as described.
Dated this 1st day of September.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.