A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING, PURIFYING, AND PREPARING FEATHERS AND DOWN FOR DOMESTIC USES, AND IN THE PROCESS OR METHOD OF EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEODORE
LYMAN WRIGHT, of Sloane Street, in the Parish of Saint Luke, Chelsea, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
..WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth.
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and in the sixth year of
His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Theodore Lyman Wright, His especial licence, full power, solo
privilege and authority, that I, the said Theodore Lyman Wright, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Theodore Lyman
Wright, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an
Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING, PURIFYING, AND PREPARING FEATHERS AND DOWN
FOR DOMESTIC USES, AND IN THE PROCESS OR METHOD OF EFFECTING THE SAME,"
being a communication made to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad,
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, "the said
Theodore Lyman Wright, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Theodore Lyman Wright, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, is fully described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :--
These improvements in machinery or apparatus for cleansing, purifying,
and preparing feathers and down for domestic uses, and in the process or
method of effecting the same, consist in the construction of a peculiar
apparatus in which feathers or down are to be submitted to the operation
of heat, and also, if requisite, to the action of steam, gases, or liquids. The
apparatus is a cylindrical box or vessel pierced with holes for the escape of
moisture or vapours arising from the feathers under operation, and is made to
revolve slowly, it being heated to the required degree of temperature by any
convenient means, that is, either by a fire situate near it or by the cylindrical
vessel being placed within an oven or closed stove. Within the box or vessel
are placed shafts with projecting arms on them, and are made to revolve in
different directions, by which the feathers are constantly agitated while under
operation, and the axle of the box or chamber is made hollow, and pierced
with holes for the purpose of admitting steam, gases, or purifying vapours or
liquids when requisite. When old feathers are to be dressed which are very
foul and much matted together, they will require to be washed, and when about
half dry will be in proper order for dressing in the apparatus; but this is
seldom requisite, in most instances they will only require wetting more or less
according to the condition they are in. A proper quantity of feathers having
been placed in the vessel, they are subjected to the operation of heat, and are
constantly agitated by the beaters within the cylindrical box, it being kept
revolving slowly, until the feathers are dry, which may be known by the steam
ceasing to escape through the holes in the box; purifying vapours or fluids or
gases may be also introduced into the cylinder through its hollow shaft or axle,
to assist in the preparing and cleansing new feathers, or of disinfecting old
feathers and rendering them fit for domestic uses. By this improved manufactory
and process.new feathers are easily eleansed and perfectly dried, and the animal
oil evaporated and carried off with the steam; and old feathers which have
been used in beds and have become matted together from long use, or have
been infected by diseased patients in hospitals or otherwise, may be perfectly

page_text: The
cleansed, purified, separated, and rendered light and fit for new beds.
apparatus will admit of considerable variation, but that form which I most
approve consists of a hollow cylinder or drum, mounted on an axle with a
door for introducing and withdrawing the feathers, the axle of the cylinder
being made hollow for the purpose of allowing the steam or gases or purifying
vapours or liquids to pass to the interior, to act upon the feathers, which axle
has projecting arms or pins placed vertically round it. Within the cylinder are
also mounted longitudinally other axles, each having projecting pins or arms
placed round them, which are also made to revolve, and in different directions
to the cylinder and its shaft, by the agency of toothed wheels and pinions or
by any other convenient means. The feathers are thus kept in a constant
state of agitation during the whole time that they are subjected to the
operation of the heat and the purifying process is going on, and are beaten,
stirred, and thrown about during the time they are drying, in order that they
may be all equally acted upon by the heat and the vapours.
The several Figures in the annexed Drawings represent one of these improved
apparatus, consisting of a cylinder and drum, mounted upon an axle in a
wheeled carriage placed upon railways within an inclosed fire place or stove,
and is capable of being withdrawn from the stove when a quantity of
feathers have been operated upon, and a fresh supply is required to be
introduced.
Figuro 1 is an end view of the stove, in which the apparatus is inclosed.
Figure 2 is a front view of the apparatus, part of the casing of the stove being
removed to expose the drum or cylinder. Figuro 3 is another end view of the
apparatus, the casing at the end of the stove being taken away, and its edges
shewn in section; and Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the drum or
cylindrical vessel, shewing the manner of arranging the radial agitators upon
the longitudinal shafts and axle. a, a, is the outer casing or stove; b, the fire
place; c, the chimney; d, the cylindrical vessel or drum, which may be
constructed of sheet iron or copper, in any convenient manner, and furnished
with a door k. This vessel has a number of small holes perforated in it, for
the purpose of allowing the escape of the steam, and the vapours or dust
which may arise while the feathers are under operation. The cylinder is
mounted upon the hollow axle e, and revolves with it in bearings on the
carriage f. f. One end of this axle is open and is connected in any convenient
manner, by a steam-tight box or joint, to a pipe 9, leading from a steam
generator; or it may be a conductor of gas or purifying vapours, the other end
being closed and furnished with a winch handle h, by which the cylinder is
made to revolve. The hollow axle c has a number of small holes formed in it,

page_text: for the passage of steam or gases into the cylinder, and in it is inserted a
number of projecting pins or agitators i, i. Two other axles k, k, are also
furnished with agitators 7, 1, which axles turn in bearings in the ends of the
cylinder and are made to revolve independently, as they are carried round with
the drum, by means of the toothed wheels m, m, at their ends, which gear into
the fixed toothed wheel or circular rack n attached to the side frame of the
carriage f. o, o, are railways or ledges upon which the wheels of the carriage f
travel. p is a door in the stove or part of the casing which is turned up into
the position shewn by dots in Figure 3, when the cylinder is required to be
removed. is also a door which must be opened when the cylinder is required
to be drawn out or the fire attended to. r is the door for removing the ashes
from under the fireplace. s is a shield to protect the cylinder from the
immediato contact and intense action of the fire, and to prevent the possibility of
the feathers being scorched or burned through the holes in the cylinder. This
shield is mounted by a hinge joint to the frame tat the back, and is suspended
by a hook in the front. When a proper quantity of feathers has been placed in
the cylinder, the door is to be shut and securely fastened; the carriage is
then run back into the stove, and, the doors p and q being closed, the steam or
gas pipe is then to be connected to the hollow axle; the cylinder may be now
put in rotary motion by turning the winch handle, when the agitators,
immediately beginning to revolve, will separate, beat and throw up the feathers,
constantly agitating them as long as the operation continues. When the
feathers are sufficiently cleaned, purified, and prepared, the pipe g and the
axle c are to be disunited and the door 9 opened, when the carriage with the
cylinder is run out into the position shewn by dots in Figure 3; the shields is
then let down, and the door of the cylindrical box opened and turned round so
as to let the feathers fall into a basket or receptacle placed underneath to
receive them. I would remark that although I have shewn this apparatus
placed in a closed stove, yet the same may be used with good effect, by merely
placing it over a fire, either with or without a flue, like an ordinary coffee
roasting apparatus; nor is it positively necessary that the axle e should be
made hollow for the introduction of the steam, gases, or purifying liquids, as
chloride of lime in solution or other purifying liquids may be sprinkled over
the feathers previous to putting them into the cylindrical vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theodore Lyman Wright, have here-
unto set my hand and, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
THEODORE LYMAN (L.s.) WRIGHT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of January,
in the sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Theodore Lyman Wright came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the
Third
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.