CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL OR MAY CONCERN,
I, THOMAS HENDRY, of Glasgow, in Scotland, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Charter of
Donation or Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the sixth year of
Her reign, Eighteen hundred and forty-two, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Hendry, my exors,
adiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Hendry, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
and every of us, by myself or ourselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies,
servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Thomas Hendry, my exors,
aduiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said Thomas Hendry, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or any of us, should, in my or our discretion seem
meet, and that I, the said Thomas Hendry, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity,

page_text: and advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by
reason of the said Invention, for and during the term of years therein
mentioned; in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Thomas Hendry, within six calendar months from the date of the said
Letters Patent, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery, as in and to the said
Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, it is hereby
declared that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by
the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto attached, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Improvements in Machinery for Preparing and Combing Wool and
other Fibrous Materials, consist,-
First, in an improved apparatus applicable to the preparing machine.
Secondly, in an improved apparatus applicable to the filling machine, by
which the wool is more regularly fed to the combs, and the combs heated in
the process of filling.
Thirdly, in a new application and arrangement of machinery for moving the
combs in the operation of combing; and,
Fourthly, in certain improved machinery for stripping and emptying the
combs when taken from the combing machine, and forming the wool or other
fibrous material into a sliver preparatory to spinning.
And the manner in which these four improvements are to be performed and
carried into effect will be seen by a reference to the annexed Drawings and
description thereof. In these Drawings the same letter or figure of reference
is used to indicate the same part of the same machine in the various Figures
therein delineated, and the scale to which the Drawings are made is marked
thereon.
Figure I. represents the side view of part of an ordinary preparatory machine,
with my improved apparatus applicable to it. In this Figure A, represents
part of the cylinder on which the teeth are fixed in the usual manner.
B represents the two ordinary feeding rollers of the machine, which are some-

page_text: times merely iron rollers, fluted, and sometimes covered with small teeth or
card filleting. And my improvement consists in applying two pair of feeding
rollers, the first pair next the feeding table being covered with teeth, in the
usual manner, and the second pair merely fluted or plain turned according to
the work to be performed, by which application the filling machine is more
regularly fed, the wool or other fibrous material is less likely to be drawn
through in lumps, its staple less liable to be injured, and the teeth on the
cylinder A less exposed to damage, the rollers B being weighted to such an
extent as will allow the wool, when of the proper thickness, to pass through,
and at the same time prevent too great a quantity from being drawn through
the tooth on the cylinder A
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extent as will allow the wool, when of the proper thickness, to pass through,
and at the same time prevent too great a quantity from being drawn through
by the tooth on the cylinder A
Figure II. represents a side view of an ordinary filling machine, with
the improved feeding apparatus, similar to that in Figure I., and an improved
apparatus for heating the combs when placed in it for the reception of wool.
In this Figure, A represents the revolving drum on which the combs are
supported, as seen at a, and from which they are removed to the combing
machine as soon as they are sufficiently filled with wool. On the periphery of
the drum A are placed four steam chests B, which are supplied with steam
through the axis and arms of the drum A, so that they are kept at a tempera-
ture that heats the combs which they support, and the wool contained in them,
sufficiently to cause it to work properly in the subsequent process of combing,
without requiring any heating apparatus to be applied to the combing machine.
The combs a are constructed in the usual manner for machinery of this descrip-
tion, with a toothed rack at the back; and I prefer the broaches to be set with
each row a little longer than the next following, similar to a hand comb, as
represented in the Drawing. These combs are not fastened to the steam
chest B, but are pushed in endways into the recess made for the purpose.
Figure III. represents a side elevation, and Figure IV. represents an end
elevation of a combing machine, to which my improvements or arrangements of
machinery for moving the combs are applied. In these Figures a represents
the heated combs containing wool as removed from the filling machine,
which are held by means of clamps and set screws, worked by moving
the levers or handles a', which relieves them when the combing operation is
completed.
To make the nature and operation of this machine better understood, I shall
divide it into two movements:-First, the movements of the combs F, which

page_text: have been filled in the filling machine, placed with their points downwards,
and held by means of clamps and set screws, similar to those above described,
and attached to the connecting bars 6, 6; and, second, the movement of the
heated combs a, which have been also filled at the former machine, and are
now placed, with their points upwards, at both extremities of the present
machine. The first movement is performed as follows, and is coloured pink in
Figures III. and IV. :-C is the driving pulley of the machine, which imparts
motion through the pinion c to two spur wheels D, D, in the direction of the
arrows, marked on the periphery, is best seen at Figure III. The wheels D, D,
are keyed on the crank shafts d, d, which impart a reciprocating motion to the
connecting rods b, b, the opposite extremities of which are held by the vibrating
levers E, which move freely on a transverse shaft e, and accommodate their
position to the rotation of the crank shafts d. Thus it will be seen, that the
connecting rods b, b, and the combs F, partake of a compound motion derived
from the rotation of the crank shafts d, and the reciprocating motion of the
levers E, the direction of which is marked in a dotted line in Figure III., which
assimilates to the motion of the ordinary connecting rod of a steam engine,
and to the combing action of the human hand, moving the combs F forward
over the wool or other fibrous material in the opposing comb a, and then
making it descend nearly in a perpendicular direction, till the two combs F
and a are mutually connected with the wool or other fibrous material con-
tained in each other, at which time the retiring action of the crank d
separates the combs and effects the combing action on the fibrous material
they contain. The second movement, or that of the heated combs a, is
coloured blue, and proceeds from the pinion G placed on the outside of one of
the crank shafts d, which is represented in Figure III. by a red dotted line.
This pinion G imparts a decreasing motion to the spur wheels g, g', and g², the
latter of which is placed on the cam shaft H, seen in Figure IV., and also at one
end of Figure III. This cam shaft H is provided with two cams h, h, one on
each side (of the) of the machine, against which the sliding carriage H¹ is
held by means of the counter weights h¹, h', attached to it by means of straps
or bands passing over the shaft H, the cams being so constructed that by their
rotation they allow the action of the weights to make the carriage H', with the
combs a, approach nearer to the combs F during the combing process, and
when that is completed, to remove the carriage H' back again to the position
where the combs, with the finished wool or other fibrous material, are taken
out, and replaced with other combs direct from the filling machine. The
carriage H¹, on which the heated combs a is supported, rests on each side of
the framing, and partakes of the reciprocating movement dependent on the

page_text: cams on the shaft H, as already described; and upon this carriage H' is placed
another carriage I, in which the combs a is held by the clamp and action of
the handle a'. This carriage I moves transversely in a groove, so that the
various parts of the wool or other fibrous material is more regularly combed by
the action of the combs F during the process. This transverse movement of
the combs a proceeds from a pinion N on the crank shaft d, which gives
motion to the train of wheels n, n¹, the latter of which drives the shaft M,
see the section view at one end of Figure III. The shaft M is provided with
two eccentrics M, M, one at each end, which impart a continuous alternate
vibration to the levers O, one of which is placed on each side of the machine,
and moving freely on their fulcrums at P. The upper carriage I is connected
to the levers O by straps passing over small guide pulleys, so that the vibra-
tion of the levers O traverse the combs a transversely, at the same time that
they are allowed to advance by the cams on the shaft H. The movement of
the combs a, a, is alike at both ends of the machine, where the same letters,
indicating similar parts, show the nature of the movements. As soon as the
wool or similar fibrous materials is sufficiently combed by the action of the last
machine, the combs are removed, and the wool or other fibrous material is
taken from them in the following manner, which I shall now proceed to
decoribe a

page_text: or other fibrous material has a tendency to lap round the roller D, 1 intro-
duce two rollers & and e, round which an endless strap moves in the direction
of the arrow, and the strap being placed so as to touch in its motion the
roller D, and also to travel near to the endless strap on the roller E, as shewn
in Figure VI., it carries down with it the wool or other fibrous material which
might otherwise lap round the roller D. The brush G I place, as shewn in
the Drawing, at the bottom part of the machine, in order that the wool or
other fibrous material which it gathers from the endless strap may be easily
removed by the worker who takes charge of removing the combs when the fibrous
material is drawn off them. The backing rollers H, h, are placed in the usual
position; but, in order to get these rollers as small as possible, and thereby to
back close to the combs, I construct them as shewn in Figure IX., where it will
be seen (the) the roller H has only journals at m and n, by which construction
I obtain the object above mentioned. The roller H is driven by wheels from
the main shaft of the machine, and the roller h may be driven either by the
surface motion of the endless strap, or in any other way most suitable.
Having now described, under four heads, my Improvements in Machinery
for Preparing and Combing Wool and other Fibrous Material, with reference
to the annexed Drawings, together with the manner in which the same is to
be performed and carried into effect, I proceed to disclaim any of the well-
known parts of the machinery which I have described, for the purpose of
making the nature and application of my improvements understood. But I do
claim,―
First, the application of the two pair of feeding rollers to the preparing and
filling machines, as set forth and described.
Second, the application of heat to the combs in the filling machine during
the operation of filling the combs with wool or other fibrous material, as set
forth and described.
Third, the general construction of the combing machine, particularly the
new application and arrangement of machinery by which the combs F are
moved in a similar direction to that produced by the ordinary connecting rod
of a steam engine, while the combs a are gradually moved forward and trans-
versely, so as to effect a proper combing of the wool or other fibrous material;
and,
Fourth, the improved method of drawing off the wool or other fibrous
material by traversing the comb in an oblique position to the drawing rollers.
Fifth, the improved method of milking the combs by the introduction of the
rollers d and e with the endless strap, as set forth and described.
Sixth, the improved method of backing the combs by the novel construction

page_text: of the rollers H and h, as set forth and described. All which improvements,
being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, new, and never before used in
England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I deliver
this as my true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hendry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, at Glasgow, the Twenty-third day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three years.
THOMAS (L.S.) HENDRY.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Thomas Hendry, be-
fore and in presence of,
D. FORBES,
of Glasgow,
Clerk-at-Law.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of William Henry Ritchie,
the Specification aforesaid was enrolled, word for word, as above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day. of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.