IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR PRODUCING SHODDY FROM WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR SORTING THE FIBRES OF FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Baptiste Edouard Rüttre, Manufac-
turer, of Paris, Empire of France, and No. 5, Laurence Pountney
Lane, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR PRODUCING SHODDY FROM WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR SORTING THE
FIBRES OF FIBROUS MATERIALS."
led the 2nd June 1854, and dated the 9th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Baptiste
Edouard Rüttre at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 9th December 1858.
I, JEAN BAPTISTE EDOUARD RÜTTRE, Manufacturer, of Paris, Empire
of France, & No. 5, Laurence Pountney Lane, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR PRODUCING SHODDY FROM WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR SORTING THE FIBRES
OF FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in,-
1, the immediate application of steam, either alone or mixed with
other suitable vapours, at such heat and in such manner as may be

page_text: most convenient for manufacturing shoddy, which is the material
obtained by picking, unravelling, or disentangling the fibres of all sorts
of woven fabrics. The steam from a boiler is directed on the rags at
the moment they are conducted from off the travelling apron to the
feeding rollers, or from between them to the picking cylinder, by which
means the steam or fatty vapours remain adhering to the fibres, and at
the same time keeps them in a state of sufficient warmth and supple-
ness during the time they are picked by the teeth of the picking
cylinder. The steam is conducted on the rags through pipes, or tho
feeding rollers or cylinders may be made hollow, in order to allow the
steam traversing them, and to be directed by proper aportures on
the rags.
2nd, a mode of imparting to the feeding rollers a degree of pressure
varying according to the thickness of the layer of rags that is to pass
between them, whereby a uniform strain is produced on the rags to be
unravelled; this pressure is obtained by means of a number of india-
rubber washers, through which passes a rod, the under part of which
rests in the end of the axle of the upper feeding roller, which latter
may be set at more or less distance from the lower feeding roller by
means of a thumb screw fitting on the upper part of the said rod, and
pressing on the superposed washers. The consequence will be, that by
turning the said thumb screw a pressure may be had on the washers,
and thereby on the axle of the upper feeding roller, but at the same
time the elasticity of the indin-rubber will permit the upper feeding
roller yielding more or less, and according to the thickness of the layer
rags that passes between the feeding rollers.
of
3rd, an arrangement for returning to the feeding cloth those parts of
the rags taken up by the picking cylinder which would not have been
sufficiently unravelled. The said arrangement consists in a revolving
shaft situated at an adjustable distance, and parallel to the picking
cylinder, into which shaft are fixed light elastic paddles of metal or any
other suitable material, the extremities of which may be brought
sufficiently near to the periphery of the picking cylinder for permitting
them to strip off this latter those parts as should want to be submitted
again to the picking or disentangling process, whereas the unravelled

page_text: fibres remain adhering between the teeth of the picking cylinder till
they are thrown off the same at another point of its revolution.
4th, a mode of applying centrifugal force for separating from the
disentangled or unravelled fibres such parts of the rags or tissues as
would not have been entirely unravelled, and also for the sorting of the
obtained fibres according to their coarseness, which mode is also
applicable to the sorting of all kinds of vegetable or animal fibres.
5th, an arrangement for imparting a rapid revolving motion to the
picking cylinder, consisting in the application to one or both ends of
the shaft or axis of the said cylinder an endless screw gearing into a
worin wheel receiving motion from any prime mover.
6th, a mode of constructing the picking cylinder preventing its
warping, and which consists in having the wooden covering of the
cylinder formed by means of several layers of wooden boards placed
over and against each other, the fibres of the wood running alternately
in opposite directions, which boards are united together by means of
glue or any other suitable adhesive substanco, with the interposition of
straps of linen.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jean Baptiste Edouard Rüttre in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 9th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JEAN BAPTISTE EDOUARD RÜTTRE, Manufacturer, of Paris, France, and
No. 5, Laurence Pountney Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth
year of Ier reign, did, for Herself, IIer heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Jean Baptiste Edouard Rüttre, Her special
licence that I, the said Jean Baptiste Edouard Rüttre, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jean Baptiste
Edouard Rüttre, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at

page_text: 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 MACHINES FOR PRODUCING SHODDY FROM WOVEN
FABRICS, AND FOR SORTING THE FIBRES OF FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jean Baptiste Edouard
Rüttre, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Baptiste Edouard Rüttre,
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 :-
My Invention consists in improvements in machines for producing
shoddy from woven fabrics, and for sorting the fibres of fibrous materials.
My first improvement in machines for manufacturing shoddy from
woollen or other sorts of woven fabrics, which machines are also known
by the name of rag-picking machines, consists in the immediate or
direct application of steam, either alone or mixed with any other
suitable vapour or vapours, to the materials to be picked or disentangled,
and in the manner herein-after described. I am aware that steam has
already been applied for the same purpose, that is to say, for warming
the rags or other materials to be picked, and imparting to them a
certain degree of moisture to enable the fibres to glide with greater
facility over each other, but such steaming was not effected in the way
I propose, and by which its beneficial results are highly increased.
According to the old method, this steaming of the rags was effected
either in a separate steam chamber, or if done in the picking machine
it was performed at such a distance from the picking cylinder that the
rags the moment they were acted upon by the said cylinder had already
lost the greater part of the heat and moisture of the steam, and
consequently of the suppleness the steam is required to impart to the

page_text: fibres. According to my Invention the steam employed, either alone or
mixed with any other suitable vapour or vapours, comes in contact with
the rags or other materials to be acted upon at the moment these enter
between the feeding rollers, and also when they pass from them to the
picking cylinder or cylinders, the effect of which is that the said
materials are submitted to the picking, disentangling, or unravelling'
process in such a state of warmth and suppleness as was never obtained
before by any of the processes heretofore in use, and that the dis-
entangling of the fibres takes place with much more facility and less
tearing of the fibres, they gliding more easily over each other. In'
the annexed Drawing, Fig. 1 and 2 represent longitudinal sections of
those parts of a rag-picking machine to which the first part of my
Invention is applied. Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section over
the middle part of a rag-picking machine. Fig. 4 represents another
longitudinal section of such a machine over one of the side ends. Fig.
5 & 6, contrivances for separating the not sufficiently picked materials
from those reduced to fibres and for sorting the fibres. In all these Figs.
corresponding parts are indicated by the same letters of reference.
I will now describe more particularly the first part of my Invention.
Fig. 1 represents one of the arrangements I make use of. T, feeding
apron for carrying the rags or other materials from which shoddy
is to be manufactured between the feeding rollers A, A, which latter
present them to the teeth of the picking cylinder E. The feeding
apron I prefer making of wire cloth. In the interior of the same, close
to the feeding rollers, and also immediately before and behind the
feeding rollers C, C, C, steam pipes are situated in such manner as to
drive the steam, either alone or mixed with any other suitable vapour or
vapours, on the rags or materials, by suitable apertures formed in these
pipes C, which are fixed in a parallel direction to the axis of the feeding
rollers, and through which pipes steam, either alone or mixed with
any other vapour, is made to pass. It will be observed that by this
contrivanco the rags or other materials to be picked will have the full
action of the steam the moment they are seized by the feeding rollers
and pass from them to the pickling cylinder. Fig. 2 shews another
arrangement. Instead of projecting, as in Fig. 1, the steam or other'

page_text: vapours on the rags by means of special pipes, the feeding rollers
themselves answer for this purpose. T, is the feeding apron; A, A, the
feeding rollers; and E, the picking cylinder. In order that the feeding
rollers may serve for projecting the steam on the rags, they are made
hollow, and each of them furnished inside with a metal pipe fitting
exactly into this inner pipe, which is kept in a fixed position. Parallel to
the picking cylinder E, A, are made suitable apertures, B, B, B, directed
towards the rags on the travelling apron, and towards the space left
between the feeding rollers and the picking cylinder. Between the
teeth or serrations of the feeding rollers are also made suitable apertures,
and if therefore steam or any other vapour is made to pass through the
ioner pipes, and at the same time the feeding rollers are revolving on
these inner pipes, the steam or other vapour will be projected through
the apertures of the inner pipes, and those of the feeding rollers, whenever
those apertures correspond, and this steam or vapour will be thrown on
the rags or other materials at the moment they are seized by the
feeding rollers and delivered by them to the picking cylinder. Tho
entire machine may be enclosed in a suitable casing, provided with
proper moveable lids or openings. The steam, either alone or mixed
with any other suitable vapour or vapours, may be employed at such a
degree of heat and of moisture or dryness as may be found most
suitable.
A second part of my improvements in rag-picking machines consists
in an arrangement for imparting to the feeding rollers a degree of
pressure varying according to the thickness of the layer of rags or
other materials that is to pass between them, in order to impart
to these latter a uniform strain or traction. This arrangement is
represented also in Fig. 1, and consists of a series of a superposed india-
rubber washers D, D, D, between which are alternately interposed
iron washers G, G, G; a holo is pierced through the centre of these
washers through which is inserted a vertical rod R. The entire series
of washers rest on a small block G, pressing on the journal of the axis of
the upper feeding roller, this latter being provided on both journals
with such an arrangement. By means of a screw V, pressing on a cap
D', resting on the upper washer, the pressure of the washers on the

page_text: journals of the upper feeding roller may be increased or diminished,
these journals sliding in a slit formed in the standard H, and by this
means the axis of the upper feeding roller will be permitted to yield
according to the thickness of the layer of rags or other materials
passing between this roller and the under feeding roller, which latter
turns in bearings fitted in the standard II. By this arrangement the
strain on the rags or other materials passing between the feeding
rollers, which are not kept at a fixed distance, will be rendered more
uniform.
.
The third part of my improvements consists in an arrangement
for separating those parts of the rags or other materials as would
not have been sufficiently unravelled from those reduced to the
fibrous state; for this purpose I make use of centrifugal force. It
will be clear that a great velocity being imparted to the picking
cylinder, those parts of the rags that would not have been sufficiently
unravelled, being heavier than those entirely reduced to a fibrous state,
will be thrown off the teeth of the picking cylinder in a tangential
direction much earlier than the fibrous parts, these latter not having
acquired in the same time a velocity equal to that of the not entirely
unravelled parts. If, therefore, (as is shewn in Fig. 5,) a board K. be
placed over the picking cylinder in a slanting position, the heaviest or
coarsest parts of the fibrous materials, such, for instance, as would not
have been entirely unravelled, having obtained the greatest centrifugal
force, will be thrown off the teeth of the picking cylinder upon the
upper side of this board, in the way shewn by the lines x, y, =; whereas
the lighter or finer parts, being those entirely reduced to a fibrous state,
will be thrown under the board, as shewn by the lines a¹, y', '. The
principle just described I apply to my rag-picking machines in the
following manner:-Fig. 6 represents a longitudinal section of the
principal parts of the arrangement; E, the picking cylinder; T, the
feeding apron; and A, A, feeding rollers; M, M', is a boarding or casing
of wood, metal, or any suitable material concentric with the picking
cylinder, of which it covers but a small portion near the feeding rollers.
At some distance from this casing M, M, another similar casing, K,
K', K", envelopes a much larger portion of the cylinder. The distance

page_text: between M', and K, and the distance left between these casings and tho
teeth of the cylinder, may be greater or less, according to the rags or
other fibrous materials to be acted upon, and the velocity with which
the picking cylinder will be made to revolve. It will be evident that, a
sufficient velocity being given to the picking cylinder, those parts of the
rags or other materials to be acted upon, which, though not sufficiently
unravelled, would have been carried away by the teeth of the picking
cylinder, will be projected from off' these teeth through the space M', K,
left open between the casings, and being thrown in the direction of the
lines. y, will fall on the outer side of the casing K; K", K;
whereas the pure fibres, or those parts as have been sufficiently un-
ravelled, being much lighter than those not entirely unravelled, will not
have obtained a sufficient contrifugal. force, and being carried away
through the casing K, K, K", will be thrown off on emerging from
under, this casing, where they may be gathered in a proper receiver,
whilst the parts that have fallen on the outer side may be brought back
on the feeding apron, in order to be submitted again to the picking
process. If I should further wish to sort the fibres according to their
weight or coarseness, I may effect this by having proper apertures made
-suitable distances in the casing K, K', K", and at each of these
epertures fibres of a different sort (relative to their weight) will be
projected through, and may be gathered in proper receivers.
Having thus described the nature of my improvements, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I declare that I do not confine
myself to the precise details of the arrangements described, provided
their general character or mechanical equivalents be retained; but that
what I claim as my Invention is,—
1**, the application of steam, either alone or mixed with other
vapour or vapours, and at such degree of heat and moisture or dryness
as may be found most suitable to rags or other sorts of woven fabrics,
whatever may be their nature or composition; and for the purpose of
reducing them to a fibrous state, in such manner that the steam acts
on the rags or other woven fabrics just before or at the moment they
are seized by the feeding rollers, and during their passing from these
latter to the picking.cylinder.

page_text: 2dly, the arrangement described for giving a variable pressure to the
feeding rollers of so-called rag-picking machines, in so far only as this
arrangement being applied to these said machines.
Thirdly, the application of the centrifugal force in so-called rag-
picking machines, for the purpose of separating from the parts of the
rags or other woven materials that have been reduced to a fibrous
state those parts as should not have been sufficiently reduced to the
fibrous state; and also the application of this centrifugal force to
the sorting or separating of the fibres according to their weight.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Baptiste Edouard Rüttre,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
15 Witness,
JEAN BAPTISTE EDOUARD RÜTTRE. (L.S.)
A. G. BRADE.