IMPROVE MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BURRING OR CLEANING AND PREPARING WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richardson, of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BURRING OR CLEANING AND PREPARING WOOL,
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 25th March 1869, and dated the 30th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richardson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th September 1868.
I, WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BURRING OR CLEANING AND PREPARING
WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the use of certain apparatus whereby
the fibrous material is transferred from one part of a machine to

page_text: another, while it is at the same time deprived of seeds, burrs, or other
impurities.
The apparatus I employ consists of a series of prongs or spikes to
which a reciprocating or travelling motion is imparted, while at the
same time they are caused, during their forward movement, to rise
through a grid on which the material rests, and then to be withdrawn
therefrom.
To illustrate my Invention I will describe an arrangement I propose
to employ in connection with a burring machine. The burrs and other
impurities which are removed in the usual manner fall together with
some fibrous material upon a grid extending across the machine.
Beneath this grid is a frame carrying rows of spikes to which a recipro-
cating motion is imparted by cranks; as the frame and its spikes move
forward the latter rise through the spaces of the grid, and convey the
material onward, after which they descend free of the upper surface of
the grid and are carried backward by the cranks. The material is thus
conveyed by successive strokes of the spikes and is returned to the
working parts of the machine to be operated upon as usual, or by the
same means it may be transferred to a separate machine. Instead of
the spikes being arranged as above described the apparatus well known
as the gill motion may be employed, the spikes thereof passing through
the aforesaid grid.
I have above described as an illustration of my Invention its
application to a burring machine, but it may in like manner be adapted
to openers, carding engines, and other preparing machines wherein it
is desired to transfer or return the material from one part of the machine
to another, and the mere mechanical arrangements may of course be
varied.
Another part of my Invention relates to scutchers. In these machines
there is as is well known a grid placed below the cylinder; this grid
I continue towards the front of the machine, and below it place a roller
armed with spikes, which as they revolve pass through the spaces of the
grid and convey the material forward, freeing it at the same time from
impurities.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Richardson, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Richardson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 BURRING, CLEANING, AND PREPARING WOOL,
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
the condition (amongst
others, that I, the said William Richardson, 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.'
upon
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Richardson, 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 accompanying Drawings, that is
to say-
My Invention consists in the use of certain apparatus whereby the
fibrous material is transferred from one part of the machine to another
or to another machine, while at the same time it is deprived of seeds,
burrs, and other impurities, and is also to a certain extent opened out.
use my improved
In my Provisional Specification I proposed to
apparatus in conjunction with carding engines, but since filing the same

page_text: I have found that such application would not be of practical utility and
lay no claim thereto, but limit my claim to the use of the apparatus here-
after to be defined as my Invention to that class of machines known as
burring or opening machines, for cleaning, opening, or preparing wool,
cotton, and other fibrous materials.
The apparatus I employ consists of a series of prongs or spikes to
which a reciprocating or travelling motion is imparted, while at the
same time they are caused during their forward movement to rise
through a grid on which the material rests, and then to be withdrawn
therefrom.
In order to explain the operation of my Invention, I shall in the
first place refer in general terms to the ordinary working parts of a
burring, cleaning, or preparing machine, and subsequently point out the
application of my Invention thereto.
Fig. 1 represents in section a machine of that description. The feed
apron upon which the material is placed is shewn at 6 carried by the
frame a; this apron by its travelling motion delivers the fibrous
material to the spiked roller d and dish c, and by which it is trans-
ferred to the action of notched blades f mounted upon rotating discs e,
and the dirt separated falls through a grid g. At h is what is
commonly called the fine comb cylinder, provided with bars i on which
are mounted the combs k. Beneath this cylinder is a roller in which
is fixed a series of notched blades m extending around its circumference,
but a few of them only are shewn in the Drawing. At n is another
similar roller, and beyond this is a rotatory brush o. The cylinder / is
provided with a casing p, an extension of which encloses a drum formed
by discs q which carry cross bars r furnished with brushes s revolving
in contact with the combs k. Within the casing p are also cages t,
such as are used in scutchers and other machines of that class, and from
which air is exhausted in the usual manner, but these cages are not
necessarily used. Beyond these cages are rollers u* which deliver the
material to the travelling apron v.
The ordinary operation of the machine is as follows:-Assuming
that the various parts are driven in any usual manner, the material placed
upon the travelling apron b is conveyed thereby to the dish and
roller c, d, the latter of which passes it forward to the action of the
blades f, by which it is torn away in a partially opened state and
thrown towards the fine comb cylinder h and roller 1, the blades m of

page_text: which feed it to the combs k. The said blades m however retain a
certain portion, and this is removed from them by the roller n and
transferred to a great extent to the combs, and any fibrous material
remaining on the said roller n is removed and fed to the combs k by
the brush o. The combs thus become charged with tufts of the
material, which arrive in contact with a roller w, and this by its rapid
rotation removes burrs and other impurities and throws them downward
from the machine; after which the rotating brushes s acting against
the material strip it from the combs k and pass it through the casing p
to the cages t, from whence it is conducted by the rollers u* to the
travelling apron v, to be removed as a lap or in any other required
condition. It will be seen by the foregoing description that as the
roller n has to strip the roller m, the surface speed of the former must
be the greater, and that the surface speed of the brush o must be greater
still, and the same remark applies to the brushes s in reference to the
cylinder h.
Having thus alluded to the working of an ordinary burring machine,
and to the several parts of which as described I make no claim, I will
proceed to point out how my Invention may be applied thereto.
It has been observed that burrs and other impurities are removed
from the material by the roller w and are cast downward, but a portion
of fibrous material is also at the same time taken from the combs k,
and the object of my Invention is to return it to the action of the
machine so that it may again be delivered to the combs, it being also
during such transference partially opened and cleaned and without being
mingled with the material which constitutes the feed.
My improved machinery is shewn at Fig. 1 before alluded to, and
also in detached views upon a larger scale at Figs. 2, 3, 4. At 14
is a grid carried by a frame 15 which is attached to the framework of
the machine; beneath this grid is a frame 16 provided with cross
bars 17 on which are mounted rows of spikes 18 capable of projecting
through the bars of the said grid. To the frame 16 are jointed connecting
rods 19 extending from cranks 20, upon the shafts of which are bevilled
pinions 21. To the frame 16 are also jointed connecting rods 22
extending from cranks 23 upon a shaft 24 which is provided with a
spur wheel 25. Upon the axis of the brush cylinder a is a pulley 26
driving a pulley 27, the axis of which carries a pinion 28 in gear with
a wheel 29 which drives the wheel 25 on the shaft 24 before mentioned.

page_text: Upon the shafts 20, 20, are the bevilled pinions 21, 21, and these two
shafts 20, 20, are geared together by bevilled pinions 31, 31, on a line
shaft 32.
The operation of my Invention is as follows:--Assuming that the
burrs or other impurities and a certain amount of detached fibrous
material fall upon the grid 14, and that the finer particles of impurities
fall at once through the said grid, the rotatory motion of the
cylinder q, will by means of the pulley 26, pinion 28, wheel 29, and
bevils 21, 31, impart rotatory motion to the cranks 20, while at the
same time the wheel 29, by driving the wheel 25, will impart motion to
the cranks 23. By the action of the cranks 20 the spikes 18 will be
caused to rise between the bars of the grid 14 and through the material,
resting thereon, while at the same time the cranks 23 will push the
said spikes forward towards the front of the machine, and then the
further rotation of the cranks 20 will pull down the prongs 18 a little
below the surface of the grid, and the cranks 23 will at the same time
convey them back ready to be again thrust upward and carried forward.
By this travelling motion of the prongs 18 when they are above the
grid, the material is to a certain extent opened and deprived of a
further quantity of impurities which fall through the grid, while at the
same time the fibrous material is carried forward by the said prongs and
fed to the blades m of the roller l, and is by them conveyed along a
shield *, and once more presented to the fine comb cylinder, so that it
may again pass into the machine without being mingled with the
incoming feed.
Although I have in the foregoing description connected my Invention
to a certain arrangement of burring or cleaning machine, and shewn
my improved apparatus as constructed in a certain manner, it will be
evident to all competent persons that the said apparatus may be adapted
to other general arrangements of machinery having the same object in
view, and that if desired it may be used to transfer the material to a
separate machine instead of from one part to another of one and the
same machine, and this may be effected by lowering the grid and
causing the spikes 18 to deliver the material to a creeper or lattice
instead of to the roller ; also that the construction of my said improved
apparatus may be varied, as, for instance, by causing the spikes 18 to
rise and fall as in the "gill" machine commonly used in the woollen
or flax manufacture,

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth, the use of travelling
spikes or analogous apparatus acting in conjunction with a grid as
illustrated at 18, 14.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richardson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON. (L.S.)