IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS, GILLS, AND HACKLES USED IN THE PREPARING AND MANUFACTURING OF FLAX, SILK, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN COMES FOR COMBING THE HUMAN OR OTHER HAIR."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richards Harding, of Leeds, in the County
of York, Hackle, Comb, and Gill Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS, GILLS, AND HACKLES USED IN THE PREPARING AND
MANUFACTURING OF FLAX, SILK, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN
COMES FOR COMBING THE HUMAN OR OTHER HAIR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richards Harding
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on 'the
17th October 1855.
I, THOMAS RICHARDS HARDING, of Leeds, in the County of York, Hackle,
Comb, and Gill Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS, GILLS, AND HACKLES USED IN THE
PREPARING AND MANUFACTURING OF FLAX, SILK, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES, AND IN COMBS FOR COMBING THE HUMAN OR OTHER HAIR," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction of combs, gills, or hackles with
flat or other shaped pins inserted into corresponding nicks, suitable for the pins
used, made in the stocks or faller bars, by cutting and dividing machinery, and
in rivetting the spaces between the nicks so as to close up the void over the

page_text: pins, or soldering the said pins into the said nicks. I also, where it is desirable,
solder the pins on to plain surfaces of gill bars and hackles where more than
one row is required, and so construct the hackle stock that any number of
rows may be obtained.
I also construct combs for combing the human or other hair with cast-steel
teeth, hardened and tempered, or with other detached teeth inserted into the
back, in the manner above described, or into holes suitably drilled to receive
them, and make such combs with one or more rows of teeth, as may be
desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richards Harding in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICHARDS HARDING, of Leeds, in the County of York, Hackle, Comb, and
Gill Manufacturer, send greeting.
. WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Richards Harding, Her special license that I, the said
Thomas Richards Harding, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas, Richards Harding, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS, GILLS, AND HACKLES USED IN THE
PREPARING AND MANUFACTURING OF FLAX, SILK, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES, AND IN COMBS FOR COMBING THE HUMAN OR OTHER HAIR," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW. YE, that I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, 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) :-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the mode of manufacturing.
gills, hackles, and other combs, whereby I am enabled to effect a great economy
in the manufacture of such combs, and thus to bring a superior article within.
the means of the manufacturer.
My Invention applies equally to the construction of gills and hackles with
flattened as with round pins or teeth, and, unlike the ordinary mode of manu-
facture, it admits, of the fixing of flattened pins to their bars at as little cost as
round pins.
The main feature of my Invention consists in indenting or grooving the face
or faces of the bar or strip of metal intended to receive the pins, so that
recesses will be provided for the pins, which when inserted therein may be
secured in position by soldering, or by mechanical pressure applied to the
face of the bar.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figs. 1 represent a common gill bar or
faller, in the opposite sides of which grooves or recesses of a size corre-
sponding to the diameter or width of the pins to be attached to the bar are
formed (by any suitable cutting machinery) to receive the pins. These grooves
are made sufficiently deep to allow the pins, whether round or flattened, when
inserted to sink below the face of the faller bar, in order that by hammering,
the metal forming the edges of the grooves may be caused to lap over or
enclose the pins. This method is particularly advantageous for fixing flattened
pins, which, notwithstanding their superiority in strength to round pins of the
same weight, have been little used, owing to the difficulty of making the holes
or sockets to receive them. Figures 2 shew, in plan, side, and edge views, a
faller so constructed.
Instead of fixing the pins in gill bars by the means described, I sometimes
solder them into the grooves or indentations in the bar. To this end, I first
insert the points of the pins in a holder, suitably provided to keep the pins at a
distance apart; corresponding to the pitch of the grooves or indents made in the
gill bar to receive them, and having fitted the pins into their respective grooves
(whether on one or both sides of the bar, as the case may be), I apply over the
pins a cramp, so as to hold, the row or rows fast in their places, and then
proceed with the soldering. It will be understood that the solder runs round

page_text: the pins, and adheres firmly to the bottom and sides of the recesses, at the
same time covering the stems of the pins, and completely. filling, up the
recesses. The solder is then filed off; so as to leave a continuous straight
surface throughout the bar, as shewn by the left-hand side of Figures 1:
When making fine combs, the pins of which are required to be setivery.
closely together, I make the indents or recesses of a V form in plan view, so
that even if the pins were in contact with each other, the recesses would still
act as guides to retain them in their proper position while being soldered:
I also apply the principle to the formation of "hand hackles or other. combs
in which the rows are numerous, placing any required number of- comb. bars,
made as above described; side by side in grooves formed in the hackle stock, or.
fixed on to plain plates, as represented in plan and elevation at Figures.3:
In constructing circular hackles or porcupines, I fix the pins by means of
solder to thin bars or strips of metal, the V-indents of which may be con-
veniently formed by the pressure of ribbed or fluted rollers instead of rotary or
other cutting tools. These strips I then insert into grooves-cut at the proper
angle in the barrel, and retain them-in their places by-the ends or caps of the
porcupine, as represented at Figures 4. I also fix the pins into such strips or
thin bars by drilling holes to receive the thick end of the pin, and subject the
bar when it is filled with pins held in the proper position, as formerly described,
to a process of hammering; or I use pressure to close the metal round the pins;
and hold them firmly when the clamp which holds. the pins in position is
removed. This mode is also applicable to the construction of doffing: or..such
like combs.
When making rotary hackles or porcupines of a fine pitch, and calculated
for light work, I sometimes solder the pins to smooth or unindented bars
'or strips, as I find that the strength of combs thus formed will, when fixed in
the grooves of the barrel, be equal to the work to which they are to-be-applied.
In some cases, instead of cutting recesses in the metal which is to carry
the hackle pins, I propose to use thin corrugated plates, as represented at
Figures 5, which also show the mode of combination by which I obtain any
number of rows that may be required.
In the construction of combs for the combing the human or other hair, I
'prefer, when using round pins or teeth; to drill a row of holes in the back of
the comb to a certain depth for the reception of the teeth, and to fix them
in their place (see Figs. 6) by pressure, as above described. But when
employing flattened pins for the teeth, I use -a strip of indented--metal to
form the back of the comb, which strip when folded across the indents will

page_text: present recesses of a suitable shape to receive the flattened pins; I then
secure them in place by solder.
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of "Improve-
ments in Combs, Gills, and Hackles used in the Preparing and Manufacturing "
of Flax, Silk, Wool, or other Fibrous Substances, and in Combs for Combing
the Human or other Hair," and having explained the mode of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, manufacturing gill combs by inserting round or flattened pins or teeth
in the recesses of grooved or indented bars or plates, and securing them in
position by solder or by pressure, as described.
Secondly, the improved construction of rotary hackles, as described.
And, thirdly, the mode of securing comb teeth in the backs of combs, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
THOS R. HARDING. (L.S.)