AN IM- PROVED METHOD OF SEPARATING AND ASSORTING COMBED FIBRES OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles De Jongh, of Lautenbach, near Guebwiller,
in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED METHOD OF SEPARATING AND ASSORTING COMBED FIBRES OF DIFFERENT
LENGTHS."
Sealed the 25th July 1856, and dated the 21st May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles De Jongh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1856.
I, CHARLES DE JONGH, of Lautenbach, near Guebwiller, in the Empire of
France, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF SEPARATING AND ASSORTING COMBED FIBRES OF
DIFFERENT LENGTHS," to be as follows:-
In carrying out the object of this Invention, I propose to supply the combed
fibres to a series of endless chains of travelling combs, which lie parallel with
each other, but extend to different lengths, and form, in fact, a taper comb, the
width of which is proportioned to the length of fibre to be operated upon. The
fibre is laid across the comb, or at right angles to its progress, and it is taken
off at either side of the comb by a double set of nipping or drawing-off rollers.
When more than one pair of rollers is used on each side, the first pair will
seize the longest fibres, or those which project beyond the comb, at the part

page_text: which presents its full width. The second pair (which is in the rear of the
first) is set further in or nearer to the central line of the comb, the decreasing
width of the comb admitting of such setting, and it selects and takes off a
second or shorter length, and so on throughout the series, which may consist
of two, three, four, or more pairs of nippers at each side of the comb. The
action of the drawing-off rollers will be the same on both sides of the comb,
the shortest staple being drawn last. As the wool, silk, or other fibre under
operation is drawn off the endless comb, it is formed into loose slivers, and
deposited either into cans or onto bobbins. The chains of combs are mounted
on chain wheels; as usual in wool-combing machinery, and driven all at a
uniform speed.
For conducting the fibre to the combs, I eniploy an endless apron and straps,
which latter, by passing over the front chain wheel and between the chains, will
deliver the fibre on to the comb teeth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles De Jongh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DE JONGH, of Lautenbach, near Guebwiller, in the Empire of France, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles De Jongh, Her special license that I, the said Charles De Jongh, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
De Jongh, my executors, administrators, 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 Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF SEPARATING AND ASSORTING COMBED FIBRES OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles De Jongh, 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

page_text: .
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 Charles De Jongh, 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 thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to provide a means of assorting combed
fibres, with the view of separating the different lengths of fibre, and thus
rendering them suitable for the production of good yarn, The combing
machines of recent invention attain this end to a certain degree, but possess
the great defect of rejecting as waste all those fibres which do not sufficiently
assimilate in length with those for which the said machines are set or regu-
lated, whereas a considerable proportion of such rejected fibres might be
advantageously employed in the manufacture of yarn.
The old combing machines, heckling machines, dressing frames or machines,
and all others worked upon the principle of combing the fibres while gripped
in the middle by holders or nippers, and also the system of hand combing, have
one great defect in common, namely, that they unite in one and the same
strick or bundle of combed fibres, fibres of a great diversity of lengths, the
shortest of which unavoidably remain in the middle of the stricks or bundles,
owing to which it becomes almost if not quite impossible to draw out the stricks
or bundles of combed fibres, so as to form continuous ribbons, slivers, or rovings
for the purpose of being spun, without their containing lumps and inequalities.
Now, the object of my Invention is to separate the fibres composing such
combed stricks or bundles, and to assort them according to their length, and
form therewith continuous slivers, which, by reason of the uniformity of the
fibre composing such slivers, will produce better yarn than has been readily
attainable by the means at present in use. The method by which I effect this
object is as follows:-I lay the stricks of combed fibres on retaining or holding
surfaces, suitably constructed for retaining the shorter fibres, while the longer
fibres are being withdrawn, and I draw out first the longest of the fibres from
the opposite ends of the strick; I then draw out the next longest fibres, and
so continue the operation until all the lengths of fibres composing the strick
are in succession removed.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews, in longitudinal elevation, a
novel arrangement of machinery for assorting fibres according to the method
above set forth; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is an elevation of

page_text: the feeding of the machine, and
end.
an Civation of the opposite
The machine, it will be seen; consists mainly of a series of endless chains of
travelling combs, which lie parallel with each other, but extend to different
lengths, and form, in fact, a taper comb of a width proportioned to the length
of fibre to be operated upon. By means of a feeding cloth or apron set in
front of the taper comb, the stricks or bundles of combed fibres are laid across
the chains of combs (or at right angles to their line of progress), and the fibres
are taken off at either side thereof by a series of nipping or drawing-off rollers,
which seize the prejecting ends as the fibres are carried past them by the
travelling combs, and deliver them out of the 'machine in the form of ribbons
or slivers; and as the middle of such stricks or bundles of combed fibres must
unavoidably contain the shortest fibres, I place such stricks or bundles in such
a way on the feeding cloth that the middle of such stricks or bundles may be
'carried on to the longest chain, or as nearly as possible to the middle point
between the two opposite sets of nipping or drawing-off rollers..
.
A, A, is the main framing of the machine, on which are mounted in suitable
bearings the chain barrel B, and chain wheels C, C, C². The bearings of the
wheels C, C', &c. are affixed to a horizontal table D, to which are also attached
the bracket bearings for the shafts of the system of nipping and drawing rollers,
to be presently described. E, E, are the travelling combs, composed of endless
chains; each of which is fitted with one, two; or more lines of comb teeth.
These chains I construct of links jointed together, and I make the barrel and
chain wheels over which they are extended polygonal, in order that the links
may fit closely against the periphery of the wheels and barrel. The chain
combs are made of different lengths, as shewn best in the plan view, Fig. 2;
and as they all pass round and receive their motion from the barrel B (which
may, if desired, be provided with pins, as shewn at Fig. 5, to take into the
links, and thus prevent the chains from slipping), it follows, that the chain
wheels C, C, C, &c. must be set at different distances along the table D, in
order to keep the different lengths of chain combs at tension. This variation
in the length of the endless chains is made in order to decrease the breadth of
comb surface gradually from the feeding to the opposite end of the machine,
ánd permit of the nipping rollers or strippers being set nearer and nearer to
the middle of the comb surface as they recede from the feeding end of the
machine.
The chains of combs are arranged in parallel lines, with their upper surfaces
in the same horizontal plane, and they are placed at a little distance apart, in
order to permit of a series of endless bands a, a, (by which the fibres are fed

page_text: .
to the combs) passing between them. These bands a, a, are made of leather
or other suitable material, and they pass over the rollers 1, 2, which carry the
feeding apron b, thence over discs or flanges 3, 3, that project upwards from
between the chains, then under the chain barrel B, and up over a guide wheel 4
to the roller 1.
It will now be understood, that if the combed fibre 'to be assorted is laid
across the feeding apron b, it will, on rotary motion being communicated to the
chain barrel B, be carried forward and deposited by the bands a, a, on to the
comb teeth ready to be drawn off, the longest fibres first, and then the longest
remaining fibres in succession.
F, F, are the nipping rollers, for selecting and drawing off the fibres from
the comb surface. They are mounted in pairs on vertical spindles c, c', and
are driven, the one by gearing and the other by friction of contact. The roller
on the spindle c¹ is made of metal and fluted, and the other roller is coated
with leather or other like yielding substance, to ensure a proper hold on the
fibres, as is well understood. This roller is pressed up to the metal roller by
an arm d, projecting from a tubular piece d', which is supported by and turns
on a pin fixed in a bracket piece upon the table D. An arm d², from the lower
part of the tubular piece d', is connected to a weighted chain d, which hangs
over an antifriction pulley d', and thus by the drag of this chain the required
nip is obtained. The like arrangement is provided for the whole series of
nipping or drawing-off rollers.
I will now describe the means for transmitting rotary motion to the chain
barrel B, and also to the nipping rollers. G is a shaft, which receives rotary
motion through its driving pulley from a band from any first mover. On the
inner end of this shaft is keyed a bevil pinion, which gears into a pinion on a
central shaft H, extending from end to end of the main framing. To the front
end of this shaft a worm e is keyed, and into it gears a worm wheel e', keyed to
a cross shaft. This shaft carries a spur wheel e³, which, through a train of
spur wheels, gives rotary motion to a spur wheel e' on the axle of the chain
barrel B. The rotary motion thus obtained is transmitted by the chain barrel B
to the apron by means of the bands a, which, as before explained, pass over
the rollers of the apron, and the speed of the continuous feed motion is thereby
made to depend on the rate of rotation of the endless chains of combs, the
quantity of combed fibre fed on to the teeth of the combs being, of course,
dependent on the supply put upon the apron by the attendant. A driving bandf
passes from a pulley f' (which is keyed to the axle of the barrel B) to a pulley
on the axle f. This axle extends across the machine, and carries a series of
pressing wheels or discs f³, which in their rotation press the fibres as they are
b

page_text: fed on to the chains down between the comb teeth. The rotary motion of the
shaft II is communicated to the nipping rollers by the following micans:-
A bevil wheel g on the shaft H gears into a bevil wheel g¹ on a verticle stud
axle carried by the end framing; on the same axle is a spur wheel, which,
through a pair of intermediate spur pinions, drives a pair of spur wheels g
(one on either side thereof) mounted on stud axles supported in bracket bear-
ings, as shewn best at Fig. 2. Keyed to each of these axles is a bevil pinion h,
which pinions gear respectively into a bevil pinion h¹ on the pair of long hori
zontal shafts I, I, which turn in pendent brackets attached to the under framing
of the machine; to these shafts I are keyed a series of bevil wheels i, i; 1, 2,
corresponding in number with the pairs of nipping rollers to be driven; a
bevil wheel c³ on the several spindles c¹ takes into one of the wheels i on the
shafts I, and thus rotary motion is imparted to the several pairs of nipping
rollers F. These rollers will, therefore, as the combed fibres are traversed
forwards, seize the protruding ends of the fibres, draw them off the combs,
and pass the fibres into a trumpet mouth K, set in the rear of each pair of
rollers, and supported in that position by a bracket attached to the table D.
Through the trumpet mouths the fibres are drawn by a pair of drawing rollers
k, and passed out of the machine in the form of a continuous sliver. Each
side of the machine is provided with these drawing rollers k, one pair for every
sliver that is intended to be made in the machine; they are keyed to their
respective shafts or axles and ³, which turn in bearings carried by standards
affixed to the table D. The upper rollers k run by friction of contact with
the lower rollers, and their axles k¹ rest in bracket bearings, and are weighted
as is usual in drawing and roving machinery, The shafts are driven by an
arrangement of gearing shewn at Fig. 4, which receives motion from a spur
pinion keyed on the shaft, H. It will now be understood how the fibres as
they are traversed forward are assorted, the longest staple being drawn out of
the taper comb (formed by the endless chains of various lengths) by the first
pair of nipping rollers, and delivered out of the machine in a continuous sliver,
the next length of staple being then taken by the second pair of rollers and
delivered out of the machine in like manner, and the third length by the third
pair, and so on, throughout the length of the machine. The whole of the useful
fibres being thus removed from the comb, there will be left in the teeth of
the longest comb short broken fibres or waste. In order to remove this from
the comb teeth, a pair of rotary brushes L, L, is provided at the rear end of the
machine, one at each side of the comb, which brushes, as they rotate in the
direction of the arrows,. Fig. 4, will wipe out the waste from the comb teeth
and deliver it on to a pair of card rollers M, from which it is doffed by a pair

page_text: of doffers N. A band from a pulley on the shaft H passes round pulleys ³
on the brush axles, and thereby imparts rotary motion thereto. The card
rollers are driven by a pinion m on the shafts, gearing respectively into
carriers m, which gear into a wheel m' on the axles of the card rollers. The
doffers N are connected together by levers n, n, (see Fig. 4,) and they receive
a reciprocating motion from a connecting rod n', attached to a crank shaft n³,
which is driven by a band ³ from a pulley on the shaft H.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Method of
Separating and Assorting Combed Fibres of different Lengths," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details above described and shewn, but
reserve to myself the right of modifying the mechanism so long as the principle
of my Invention is retained. What I claim is,―
First, the method of treating combed fibres as herein-before described.
Secondly, the use of a tapering comb surface for presenting combed fibres
in succession to a series of nipping or drawing-off rollers arranged on opposite
sides of the taper comb, for the purpose herein-before explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles De Jongh, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.