IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hetherington, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hetherington
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th May 1853.
I, JOHN HETHERINGTON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING" to be as follows:-
My Invention refers to such preparing machinery as operates upon
the material by pointed instruments, for the purpose of effecting a pro-
cess of combing or carding, and consists in causing the material to be
received and kept upon and also discharged from such pointed instru-
ments by an artificial current, or by a pressure of air. In order to

page_text: illustrate this principle I will suppose that cotton is fed by suitable
apparatus on to the periphery of a cylinder furnished with a number of
points; to adapt my improvements to such an apparatus I divide the
said cylinder into two portions, exhausting the air from the one so as to
cause a draft through suitable perforations, and compressing it in the
other portion, but allowing it to escape therefrom at a certain point.
With such an arrangement the material will be drawn on to the surface
of one part of the cylinder, and the fibres retained there as received;
but at that point where the air is allowed to escape from the other half
the material will be expelled from the points to be received by another
cylinder or cylinders of similar construction, and treated again, according
to my improvements, or by any ordinary apparatus. I have spoken of
cylinders provided with combing or carding points; I do not, however,
confine myself thereto, as surfaces of other forms, the gills of flax
machinery for instance, may be provided with means for drawing the
material towards the points, or blowing it therefrom by the action
of air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hetherington in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 5th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN HETHERINGTON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Hetherington, Her special licence that I, the
said John Hetherington, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Hetherington, 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

page_text: term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, ex-
ercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING " upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Hetherington, 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
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hetherington, 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 and the accompanying Drawing
(that is to say):
My Invention refers to such preparing machinery as operates upon
the material by pointed instruments, for the purpose of effecting a pro-
cess of combing or carding, and consists in causing the material to be
received and kept upon and also discharged from such pointed instru-
ments by an artificial current, or by a pressure of air. This principle
of operation may be embodied in various arrangements and construc-
tions of machinery, which have for their object the straightening or
cleaning of fibrous substances; but in order to explain fully the effect
I contemplate I have appended to this my Specification a Drawing
illustrative of a machine suitable for combing, and thereby opening out
and cleaning the fibres of cotton, either from the tangled mass in which
they are imported by this country, or after they have been submitted to
the willowing or other such process. Fig. 1, is a longitudinal section of
the machine. Fig. 2, a cross section. In the arrangement of machine
selected, for example, there is a series of cylinders at 1, 2, 3, 4, provided
with points, which are intended successively to receive the material; the
cylinders are caused to revolve at various velocities, gradually increasing
towards the delivery end of the machine, so that the fibrous material, as
it is removed from one by the teeth of another, becomes drawn out and

page_text: straightened. The method by which the material is transferred from
one surface to another and retained thereon, according to the principle
of my Invention, is as follows:-The framework a, of the machine
carries at its upper part two longitudinal chambers b, c, the one con-
municating by means of a passage d, with a fan or blower e, the other
through a second passage f, with another blower g; the passage d,
enters the blower c, at the centre, and will therefore exhaust air from
the chamber b; the centre of the blower g, is in communication with
the atmosphere, and will therefore draw air therefrom, and propel it
from its circumference along the passage f, into the chamber c; accord-
ing to this arrangement, therefore, there are two compartments, the one
from which air is constantly withdrawn, and the other into which it is
constantly forced; and the arrangement to be described is for the pur-
pose of bringing suitable parts of the operating teeth alternately into
communication with these two compartments, so as first of all to draw
the material on to the combing instruments, and subsequently to discharge
it therefrom. The cylinders h, which carry the combing pointed instru-
ments, are provided with a number of perforations on their peripheries,
and are mounted so as to be capable of turning in sockets formed
within two series of boxes i, j, each one being enclosed by sides so as
to form independent chambers, but the whole being in communication
by means of orifices k, l, with the longitudinal chambers b, c. One end
of each cylinder h, is provided with a disc m, upon which is formed a
shaft n, for the purpose of carrying the necessary gear; and in these
discs are formed apertures o, o, by which a communication may be
established with the interior of the boxes i; the other ends of the
cylinders are left open as regards their own construction, but are
partly closed by the inside of the series of boxes j, which communicate
by means of apertures 7, with the longitudinal chamber c. As these
ends of the cylinders, however, are not entirely closed, a communication
between the interior thereof and the boxes j, is established, as at p.
Within the cylinders h, are placed partitions 7, fitting the interior
periphery thereof, and carried at one end by spindles », which are
secured to bosses formed on the boxes j, by screws s; the other ends of
the partitions are provided with pins t, which project loosely into the

page_text: bosses of the flanges m; by this arrangement the partitions q, are held
in one position during the revolution of the cylinders, which are, there-
fore, constantly divided into two compartments, the lower being in con-
nection with the exhausting chamber b, and the upper with the blowing
chamber c. As the cylinder, however, revolves, it is evident that the
orifices P, thereof would arrive at the exhausting side of the partition,
and that the operation, therefore, would be reversed; but this is pre-
vented by the lower portion of the area being closed up by the sides
of the boxes j, as before mentioned. In like manner the apertures o, of
the exhausting compartment, when they have revolved so as to occupy
a position above the partition 1, will be closed by the sides of the
boxes i, so that the upper compartment is always submitted to a pressure
of air, and the lower to an exhaustion. The main driving pulley of the
machine is shown at u, communicating motion by means of a pinion u,
to a toothed wheel w, and from thence to the train of wheel-work
represented by the red lines; the gearing, however, may be arranged
in any convenient manner, so as to cause the cylinders to revolve in the
direction of the arrows, and at separate rates, increasing towards the
delivery end of the machine. The material is placed upon an apron a,
which derives a slow travelling motion froin suitable gearing; from
this it is taken by the dish and roller y, usually termed the "patent
feeder," and by it presented to the teeth of the first cylinder 1. The
lower compartment of this being exhausted through chambers 6, i, the
material will be drawn on to the teeth by the current of air passing
through the perforations of the cylinder, and will by them be carried
downward in the direction of the arrow until it shall have arrived
above the partition q, at which situation it will be exposed to a current
of air propelled through the perforations of the cylinder from the
chambers c, j, and upper compartment, so as to be forced across a
stationary blade, on to the teeth of the cylinder 2, which, as it revolves
in the direction of the arrow, and at a velocity superior to that of the
cylinder 1, will effect a combing and cleansing of the fibres. In like
manner the material will be transferred from the cylinder 2, to the
others of the series; the exhausting of the lower chamber constantly
keeping the fibres upon the pointed instruments until they become

page_text: exposed to the upper or blowing compartments for the purpose of
removal to the succeeding teeth. From the last cylinder 4, the
material is expelled by the blast, so as to be received by a pair of
rollers A, and subsequently by the others B, which may deposit it into
a can or other receptable, or cause it to be wound into a lap, again to
be fed into a similar machine for another operation of combing, or to
be submitted to any other ordinary process of preparation.
I have in the foregoing description alluded to a particular construction
and arrangement of machinery, but I desire it to be understood that I
have only selected it as illustrative of my Invention, the same principle
being applicable to other machines in which pointed instruments are
used for the like purpose, as, for instance, in the combing machines
ordinarily employed for operating upon wool, or the "gill" machinery of
the flax manufacture; that which I claim as secured to me under the
above in part recited Letters Patent being the application of an
artificial current of air for the purpose of drawing fibrous materials on
to pointed instruments, which operate upon the fibres, and also for
transferring or expelling the same therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hetherington, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the y r
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty three.
JOHN HETHERINGTON. (L.S.)