IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GINNING COTTON
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Dobson, of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, William Slater, of the same Place, Manager,
and Robert Halliwell, of the same Place, Foreman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GINNING COTTON."
Sealed the 18th June 1865, and dated the 6th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Dobson, William
Slater, and Robert Halliwell at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 6th January 1865.
We, BENJAMIN DOBSON, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, WILLIAM SLATER, of the same Place, Manager, and ROBERT HALLIWELL,
of the same Place, Foreman, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GINNING COTTON," to be as
follows:-
The nature of our Invention consists, firstly, in an improved arrangement
and combination of machinery chiefly applicable to saw gins, whether with a
single or double set of saws, consisting of the application and arrangement of-
two perforated metal cylinders, between which the cotton passes after leaving
the brush; each of these cylinders has a damper inside, so arranged as to

page_text: allow the cotton to pass freely on the delivery side, and also communicate with
a flue attached to each side of the machine; at the bottom of the machine we
place a fan, which may be driven either from the gin or from the main shaft by
means of a band or a strap. This fan is for the purpose of drawing or taking
away the dust and light impurities from the cotton, and the flues or pipes
leading from the fan may be placed either under the floor or on the ceiling of
the room in which the gins are placed.
Secondly, in attaching to cotton gins a lattice cloth or creeper to the delivery
end, so as to be able to form the cotton in a heap, or convey it into another
room separate from the ginning room, the said flexible lattice cloth or creeper
being driven from any suitable part of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Dobson, William Slater, and Robert Halliwell in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, BENJAMIN
DOBSON, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, WILLIAM
SLATER, of the same Place, Manager, and ROBERT HALLIWELL, of the same
Place, Foreman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Benjamin Dobson, William Slater, and Robert Halliwell, Her special license
that we, the said Benjamin Dobson, William Slater, and Robert Halliwell,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Benjamin Dobson, William Slater, and Robert Halliwell, our executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 MACHINERY FOR GINNING COTTON," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Benjamin Dobson, William
Slater, and Robert Halliwell, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals,
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

page_text: 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 we, the said Benjamin Dobson, William Slater,
and Robert Halliwell, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
The nature of our Invention consists, first, in applying to saw gins of the
ordinary construction two perforated metal cylinders, each furnished with an
internal damper.
And, secondly, in applying to saw gins a lattice cloth or creeper to collect
and deliver the cleansed cotton in any required position.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Drawing, which
represents in section a cotton gin of the ordinary construction with two sets
of saws to which our improvements are applied.
a, a, are the two sets of saws, and 6 the grid entering between the saws;
c is the brush for stripping the fibres off the saws, as usual; and d, d, are two
cylinders, the circumferences of which are made of wire cloth or perforated
sheet metal. A partial vacuum is formed in the cylinders d, d, by the fan e,
the ends of the cylinders being in communication with the interior of the fan
by side trunks, as in scutchers for cleaning cotton of the ordinary construc-
tion; this partial vacuum removes the loose dust from the fibres of cotton,
which are stripped off the saws a, a, and thrown by centrifugal force from the
brush c against the peripheries of the cylinders d, d, between which they pass
in the form of a fleece, and are delivered on the lattice cloth or creeper f;
the creeper may be of sufficient length to convey the fibres into an adjacent
apartment. Within the perforated cylinders d are fixed the dampers d'; the
object of these dampers is to prevent the partial vacuum above referred to,
from causing the fibres to adhere to the peripheries of the cylinders d at the
delivering end of the machine, for it is evident if these dampers were not
applied in the manner and positions shewn that the currents of air passing
from the exterior to the interior of the cylinders & would hold the fibres against
the cylinders, and would impede if not entirely prevent them from being
delivered on to the creeper f, or into a receptacle of the usual description.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described a convenient
manner of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not
intend to limit ourselves to the details given, as in some cases a single per-
forated cylinder may be used for collecting and removing the dust from the
fibres; it is also evident that this part of our improvements is equally applicable

page_text: to saw gins having only one set of saws. We would also observo that we
make no claim to any of the well-known parts of the machine. shewn in the
Drawing; but that we limit our claim,-
First, to the application of one or more perforated cylinders to cotton gins
in the manner and for the purposes described.
And, secondly, the application of a lattice cloth or creeper to cotton gins,
as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Benjamin Dobson, William Slater, and
Robert Halliwell, have hereto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
ninth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.