IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUR USED IN WASHING OR SCOURING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and Jonas. Crab-
tree, all of Kidderminster, in the County of Worcester, Worsted
Spinners, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUR
aled the 6th October 1866, and dated the 11th April 1866
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Crabtree, Joseph
Crabtree, and Jonas Crabtree, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th April 1866.
We, JAMES CRABTREE, JOSEPH CRABTREE, and JONAS CRABTREE, all of
Kidderminster, in the County of Worcester, Worsted Spinners, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR
APPARATUS USED IN WASHING OR SCOURING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," to ba
as follows:-
In carrying out our improvements the fibre or material after being agitated
and cleansed in the wash liquid is taken out of the trough by means of an
inclined endless delivery apron composed of a series of bars linked together.
Some of these bars are perforated to admit of the passage through them of
teeth or projections fixed in other bars travelling with the bars of the apron.
These other bars have motion given to them by guides, so that their teeth or

page_text: projections may be projecting through the surface of the apron at the time of
lifting the fibre, and then recede within it at the upper part thereof, so as to
admit of the fibre being freely taken by the squeezing rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and Jonas Crabtree in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
CRABTREE, JOSEPH CRABTREE, and JONAS CRABTREE, all of Kidderminster, in
the County of Worcester, Worsted Spinners, send greeting.
- WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and Jonas Crabtree, Her special
licence that we, the said James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and Jonas Crab-
tree, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and Jonas Crabtree, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS USED IN WASHING OR SCOURING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and Jonas Crabtree, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should par-
ticularly 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.
34
.
NOW. KNOW YE, that we, the said James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and
Jonas Crabtree, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following: statement thereof, that is to say :-
....In.carrying out our improvements the fibre or material after being agitated
and cleansed in the wash liquid is taken out of the trough by means of an

page_text: inclined endless delivery apron composed of a series of bars linked together.
Some of these bars are perforated to admit of the passage through them
of teeth or projections fixed in other bars travelling with the bars of the apron.
These other bars have motion given to them by guides, so that their teeth or
projections may be projecting through the surface of the apron at the time of
lifting the fibre, and then recede within it at the upper part thereof, so as to
admit of the fibre being freely taken by the squeezing rollers.
the
Figure 1 shews a section of parts arranged according to our invention.
Figures 2, 3, and 4 show some of the parts separately, in order to their
construction and mode of operation being more clearly understood.
a, a, represents a portion of the delivery end of a wash bowl or trough of
the kind ordinarily employed for washing wool and other fibres. We have
not thought it necessary to show more of this trough or any means for acting
upon the fibre to aid in effecting its cleansing in this trough, as our improve-
ments only apply to means by which such fibre may be lifted out of such
trough after it has been acted upon for cleansing or scouring it therein. A is
the lifting means arranged according to our improvements, consisting of a
series of bars or plates b, b, which are fastened at each of their ends to links
c, c, which are connected together so as to form chains, which are supported
by the conducting and guide rollers d, e, and the bars f. The rollers or
pulleys d on each side of the apparatus are affixed to the axis d', upon which
is also affixed a pinion receiving motion by suitable gear driven by a steam
engine or other suitable power. The surfaces of the wheels or pulleys d, d,
are formed with teeth to take hold of and draw upon the chains or series of
links c, c, and thereby give motion to the series of bars 6 forming the endless
apron A. Some of the bars 6 are perforated for the passage through them of
pins or projections g which are set in other bars h. The ends of these bars h
do not extend so far as to come on to the rollers or pulleys d, but as they
travel round with the bars 6 they are capable of being acted upon by the
inner edges of the bars f, one at each side of the apparatus, to act on each
end of each of the bars h, so as to raise those bars towards the bars b, and
thereby cause the pins g to project through the holes in their bars 6, and in so
doing to be in position to act upon the fibre and draw it up from the trough a
up the incline formed by the endless apron A, until the fibre gets near the

page_text: point of delivery from the apron A, when the ends of the bars h cease to be
supported by the bars f, and they fall down, taking back the points 9 nearly
through the bars 6, and so on. The fibre being then free to leave the apron A
may be allowed to fall off from the upper part of the inclined apron A into a
.suitable receiver; or it may, as shown, be taken between a pair of delivery
rollers,, which may at the same time act by pressure applied to the axis
of the upper of them to squeeze out from the fibre the wash liquor held in it.
The ends of the bars are formed with holes to slide on the guide pins b¹
affixed to the bars or plates 6; g', g', are pins standing up from each of the
bars h, and passing freely through holes provided for them in the plates b
carrying such bars h. These pins 9¹ are formed with blunt outer ends, and
the object of them is by those blunt ends coming against the surface of either
of the squeezing rollers to protect those rollers from being injured by contact
with the sharp points of the pins g, and also to protect those points from
injury.
Having thus described our improvements, and means which we adopt in
carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details shown and described, as these may be
varied without departing from the peculiar character of the Invention; but
what we do claim is, the arranging lifting aprons in connection with apparatus
used in washing or scouring wool and other fibres with teeth or projections
acting in manner substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Crabtree, Joseph Crabtree, and
Jonas Crabtree, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth
day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
JAMES CRABTREE.
(L.B.)
JOSEPH CRABTREE. (L.S.)
JONAS CRABTREE.
(LS.)
JAMES CRABTREE.
(L.B.)
JOSEPH CRABTREE. (L.S.)
JONAS CRABTREE.
(LS.)