IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Walton Whitehead, of Holbeck, in the
Parish of Leeds, in the County of York, a partner in the Firm of
"Taylor, Wordsworth, & Co.," of the same Place, Machine and Tool
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
Sealed the 3rd August 1869, and dated 20th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Walton White-
head at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th February 1869.
I, HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds,
in the County of York, a partner in the Firm of "Taylor, Wordsworth,
& Co.," of the same Place, Machine and Tool Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
My improvements consist in the application to the machine well
known as "Noble's Combing Machine" of two rotating circular

page_text: combs placed respectively at an acute angle from the point where the
fibre is drawn off from the smaller and inner circular combs, the teeth
or combs of the acute angular comb being made to protude on the
outside of the small circular combs. The acute angular comb is so
placed over the small circular comb as to allow of the free motion of
the dabbing brush, and may be placed at such an angle as may be found
requisite or necessary for the purpose required.
By the present mode of combing by Noble's patent combing machine
there are certain noil nips, burrs, and other impurities which get
between the large and small combs, and are not cleared in consequence
of the separation by revolution of the two combs.
My improvements effect the clearing of these noil nips and any
other impurities by means of the teeth or combs of the circular acute
angular comb, which might also be called a noil nip intersecting comb,
working between the small circular comb and the drawing-off rollers,
and thereby preventing the noil nips or other impurities from
escaping with the combed top or sliver band, and a cleaner fibre is thus
obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Walton Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the
County of York, a partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, & Co., of
the same Place, Machine and Tool Manufacturers, sent greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-ninė, in the thirty-.
second year of Her reign, did for Herself; Her heirs and successors;
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, Her
special licence that I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Walton
Whitehead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should- at any

page_text: 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Henry Walton Whitehead, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 inmediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereɔn (that
is to say) :-
:-
This Invention relates to improvements on the machine well known
as "Noble's Combing Machine" wherein two horizontal circular combs
are employed set one within the other and in tangential contact at
the point where the fibre to be combed is supplied to the comb teeth
This machine has from time to time undergone several changes, but
by the present mode of combing in Noble's machine there are certain
noil neps, burrs, and other impurities which get between the large
and small combs, and are not cleared in consequence of the separation
by revolution of the two combs.
Now the object of my improvements is to effect the clearing of the
fibre from the noil and other impurities, and this I do by causing the
teeth of an inverted circular comb (which may be called a noil inter-
secting comb) to work between the inner and smaller circular comb
and its drawing-off rollers. By this means I prevent the noil neps
or other impurities from passing off with the combed top or sliver
band, and thus obtain a cleaner fibre.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in sectional elevation so
much of the improved combing machine as will serve to explain the

page_text: nature of my Invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same,
the section being taken in the irregular line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
A, A, is the large eircular comb affixed to an annular plate A', A',
which slides on an annular bed B carried by the framing C of the
. machine. Within this comb A are mounted two small circular
combs D, D, which virtually touch the outer and surrounding comb
tangentially at opposite points of its inner periphery. These combs D
are affixed to annular slides D' which rotate on annular beds B¹ carried.
by the framing. The slide A' is cast with rack teeth on its inner
periphery, and the slides D' have spur teeth on their outer periphery
for the purpose of receiving rotary motion from gearing, as will be
presently explained. Through the centres of the circular combs D
and through hollow pillars C₁ concentric therewith pass vertical
shafts E, which turn in suitable bearings in the framing C. These
shafts are each fitted at top with a bevil wheel into which gear bevil
pinions carried by the horizontal driving shaft F. The rotation, therefore
of this shaft by a belt passing over its fast driving pulley will give
rotary motion to the shafts E, E. A spur pinion on these shafts below
the level of the combs serves by means of a train of gearing 1, 1, (see
Fig. 2) to drive the comb A and the combs D, D, in the direction of
the arrows and at a uniform surface speed. Mounted on circular tilted
beds affixed to the pillars C¹ are the inverted circular combs G, G.
These combs overlie the combs D and work at such an angle thereto
as to allow of the free motion of the dabbing brush H which strikes
vertically into the teeth of the combs A and D to press the fibres (as
they are fed to the machine) well into the combs. The combs Garc
made conical and of a somewhat larger diameter than the combs D,
so that they may respectively overlap the teeth of the combs D at
the point opposite which the drawing-off rollers I are situated, and
by that means intercept the noils and other impurities in the fibre
contained in the combs D. The comb plate G is secured to a conical
annular slide G¹ cast with teeth on its periphery, which teeth when
they arrive near the drawing-off rollers assume a vertical position.
Into these teeth gears a pinion 2 keyed to a short vertical shaft 3
supported in suitable bearings, and which carries also a second pinion 4
in gear with the teeth on the comb slide D'. Thus rotation is trans-
mitted from the comb D to the comb G, and the gearing is so arranged

page_text: as to ensure an uniform surface speed to the two combs. The dabbing
brush stems slide in guides in brackets K on the framing (one of which
is shown at Fig. 1); pivotted to this stem is a rod L hung on a crank
pin projecting from a pulley M. A band from a pulley N on the shaft F
drives this pulley M, and thus a rapid up and down motion is given
to the dabbing brush. This mode of driving greatly. diminishes the
wear and tear of the brush, which owing to the teeth of the combs
(in their continuous rotation) dragging through the depressed brush
have heretofore been rapidly deteriorated. At Fig. 1 I have shewn
an arrangement for feeding the combs, which arrangement is to be
provided in duplicate so as to feed at opposite sides the comb A, but
as this forms no part of my improvements further reference thereto
will be unnecessary.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The wool or other fibre
to be combed as it is laid on the combs (at points coinciding with the
line of their centres) is pressed down into the teeth by the dabbing
brushes, and a continuous rotary motion being imparted to the combs
in the direction of the arrows the adjacent teeth of the combs A
and D laden with fibre will gradually recede, each set of teeth retaining
a portion of the fibre supplied thereto. Those fibres which are carried
round by the large comb A will be taken up by the drawing-off rollers O
and delivered to a pair of condensing rollers P which serve to condense
into one roping all the combed fibres taken up by the several sets of
drawing-off rollers. In like manner the fibres carried round by the
combs D are removed from the comb teeth by their respective drawing-
off rollers I and led to the condensing rollers P. Before however
this stripping of the combs D commences the inverted combs G will
in their rotation have come down over and in front of the comb teeth
carrying the fibres, and thus the fibres when seized by the rollers I
will be drawn through the combs G, the teeth of which will intercept
the noils and the burrs or other extraneous matters contained in the
fibres, and thus ensure the delivery of cleaned fibres to the rollers I.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Machinery for Combing Wool, Cotton, Flax, and other Fibrous Sub-
stances," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent I claim, the application to combing machinery of inverted rotary
combs constructed and operating in the manner and for the purpose
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-
nine.
HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed and delivered by
the said Henry Walton
Whitehead, in the presence
of
Clerk to Messrs., Richardson & Turner,
Solicitors,
Leeds.
CHARLES WHITEHEAD,
Holbeck,
Leeds.