IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING AND DRAWING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY ROSS,
of Leicester, Worsted Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of February, in the sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Ross, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Ross, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry Ross, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING AND DRAWING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES;"
;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Henry Ross, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Ross, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-

page_text: tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):-
My Invention relates, first, to the construction of the heads of combs, in
order to guide off the teeth of the combs in the event of their bending to
such an extent as to touch, and by such arrangement the working combs may
come closer up to the holding or saddle comb; and for this purpose I cause the
front of each comb, at the part in which the front row of teeth are set, to be
formed into an inclined plane, or have an inclined plane applied thereto.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A.
Figure 2 shows a
Figure 1 represents part of a front view of a comb.
transverse section thereof. It will be seen that the comb shown has the
shorter row of teeth in front, but these improvements are equally applicable
when the longer teeth are in front. a, a, is the head of the comb, and b is
the inclined plane for guiding off the points of the teeth should they touch,
which they are often liable to do; and it is applying or forming an inclined
plane or surface 6 to the fronts of combs which constitutes the first. part of
my Invention.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which relates to giving
motion to the drawing rollers, or other instruments by which wool or other
fibrous substances is drawn off combs., And in order that these improvements
may be fully understood, I will first shortly explain how the machines now
used work in drawing off wool from combs. The combs, full of combed-out
wool, are ordinarily successively introduced at the upper part of the machine
between guides, and as the combs are progressively slided or lowered between
the guides, a pair of drawing rollers, continuously revolving, draw off the wool
from amongst the teeth of the combs, and the rollers at all times remain at the
same distance from the combs. Hence, although there have been variations in
the construction of drawing machines, there is generally a continued move-
ment of combs through the guides of the machine, and a continued rotation
of the rollers. Now, according to the present improvements, the combs are
stopped by preference at intervals, and the rotation of the rollers is stopped at
intervals, and the rollers have movement given to them to and from the combs
in addition to their rotatory motion, by means of which the drawing rollers,
when nearest the combs on the wool or other fibrous substances of which they
are for the time being operating, will take hold of the wool or other fibrous
substances, and then without revolving they will draw the wool or other fibrous
substances out of the combs by the rollers, passing away from the combs, and

page_text: having arrived at the extent of their moveinent outwards, the rollers will
revolve and pass back towards the combs, and they will again lay hold of the
wool or other fibrous substances near the comb, and again pass away from the
combs, thereby drawing out the wool or other fibrous substances from the
combs.?
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS B.
c, c, are
. Figure 1 represents a right-hand end view of a machine 'arranged for
carrying out- these improvements; Figure 2 is a left-hand end view of the
machine; Figure 3 is a plan; Figure 4 is a transverse section of the machine;
and Figure 5 is a front view of the machine, the delivering rollers' being
removed. In all these Figures the same letters of reference are used to indi-
cate the same parts wherever they occur. a, a, is the framing of the machine,
the nature of which is clearly shewn in the Drawings: b, b, are the guides,
between which the combs with wool in them are introduced, and guided in:
their downward movement in the same manner as heretofore practised, and as
is well understood. The machine is constructed wide enough for having three
combs operated on at the same time; but'a machine may be made suitable for
only one or more combs, according to the wish of the manufacturer.
the drawing rollers; and it is the giving to them, or other instruments, the
peculiar movements herein described; which constitute the improvements.
These rollers have a rotatory motion given to them at intervals, and a motion
to and from the combs, from which they are drawing wool or other fibrous
substances: The bearings of the axes of the rollers c, c, are carried by the
levers d, d, which move on an axis; consequently the rollers can be caused to
move to and from the combs, as will be hereafter explained. d² is a bar
which connects the levers d, and it will be seen that the brasses d³ of the
levers d are capable of sliding in an opening formed in each of the levers d, by
which the length of the levers d beyond their axis of motion can be varied and
adjusted. The upper roller c is pressed down on to the lower roller c by means
of springs e, e, which are affixed to the projections d'affixed to the levers, they
consequently swing to and fro with the levers d. The springs e press on the
rods e', which pass through the projections d', and through the pressing levers f,f,
as is shown, there being adjusting screw nuts screwed on to the lower ends of
the rods e', to adjust the pressure of the springs. g, g, are rubbing surfaces
covered with cloth or other suitable material to keep the upper roller clean.
h is an endless belt of leather, or other suitable material, one to each of the
under drawing rollers c; these cloths move on rollers h¹, below, as is shown.
The machine receives motion by means of an endless band or strap, moved by
a steam engine or other power, such endless strap or band acting on the drumj,

page_text: which turns on the axis i. To the drum j is affixed the cog wheel k, which
takes into and drives the cog wheel 1, which turns freely on the axis m. To
the wheel is affixed the cog wheel n, which takes into and drives the cog
wheel 0, which is affixed on the axis p, of one of the drawing rollers c, by
which means the requisite rotatory motion will be communicated to the
rollers c. At the opposite end of the axis of one of the drawing rollers c is
affixed the cog wheel r, which takes into and drives the cog wheel s. The
axis of this wheel is affixed to the lever t, which moves at its lower end on an
axis w, in order that the wheels may at all times work in the wheel r, and be
driven thereby. The wheels takes into and drives the cog wheel v, which
moves on an axis affixed to the lever t, and this wheel v takes into and drives
the cog wheel U, affixed on the axis w, which turns in suitable bearings at w¹.
The upper end of the lever t is connected with the axis of the upper drawing
roller by means of the bars x, such bars having screw nuts at x', by which the
bearing or brass which the rods carry are screwed up and adjusted to the proper
position, so that the lever t may follow the to and fro movements of the draw-
ing rollers, the bars x being affixed to a plate or boss a through which the axis
of the wheels is passed. The bearings of the drawing rollers c, c, are carried by
the levers d, d, as before described, and motion is communicated to the drawing
rollers to and from the combs, from which they are drawing wool or other
fibrous substances by means of crank axes y, which receive motion from the
wheel l, which takes into and drives the cog wheel y', which is an intermediate
wheel, the position of the axis of which can be varied in a slot formed in the
framing of the machine, as is shown. The wheel y¹ takes into and drives the
cog wheel y³, affixed on the crank axis y, there being two cranks formed
thereon, which are embraced by collars or brasses y³, through which the con-
necting rods pass, and by means of screw nuts the lengths of the rods are
adjusted, as will readily be understood on examining the Drawings; and the
rods pass through similar collars or brasses, which embrace the necks of the
upper of the drawing roller c, and the rods have similar screw nuts to affix
and adjust them at that end. By. this arrangement the drawing rollers will
have a motion to and from the combs, from which they draw off wool or
other fibrous substances, and they will also have rotatory motion at intervals
to deliver the wool or other fibrous substances which they have drawn off
the combs, for it will be understood, on tracing the movements of the parts
above described, that the rollers will be retarded or stopped in their rotation
when the rollers are moving out from the combs in consequence of the cog
wheel o rolling on the cog wheel n, so that the cog, wheel n will not drive it.
The slivers from the combs are formed in a roving by the tube A, and the

page_text: roving is conducted away by the rollers B, which receive motion from the
drum C, affixed to the main or driving drum j, which gives motion to the
drum D, on the axis of which is a cog wheel E, which takes into and drives
the cog wheel F, affixed on the axis of the lower roller B, and the axes of the
I two rollers B are geared together. The combs are progressively lowered
through the machine by means of the cog wheels G, one to each set of guides
for combs affixed on the axis w, such cog wheels G taking into the toothed
racks formed on the combs. The backing of the wool or other fibrous sub-
stances from the combs is performed by means of rollers H, H, which receive
motion in the following manner:-On the axis m is affixed a cog wheel m¹,:
which takes into and is driven by a cog wheel m², affixed on the axis w, and
on the axis m is also affixed the cog wheel I, which takes into and drives the
cog wheel J, affixed on the axis of one of the rollers H, and each of the
rollers has an endless cloth K, between which the backings of wool or other
fibrous substances are received, and they are progressively wound on to the
cylinder L, from which they are broken from time to time. I would here
remark, that although I prefer rollers c, c, as the means of drawing off the
wool or other fibrous substances from the combs, yet it will be evident, that
if two surfaces were caused to nip the wool or other fibrous substances, and
then move away from the combs, in a similar manner to that described in
respect of the rollers, a like result would be obtained of drawing out the wool
or other fibrous substances, and then to approach the combs, and then again
to be closed, to again nip and hold; and the wool or other fibrous substances
would require to be drawn or carried away when the surfaces are open..
I would remark that, although I have described the machine for working
with separate combs successively supplied into the machine from above, this
arrangement may be varied, so long as the relative movements of the working
parts be retained, according to this, the second part of my Invention; and the
means of working may be applied to draw off wool or other fibrous substances
from combs which are continuous and rotate about an axis, the peculiarity of
this part of the Invention not depending on the nature of the combs used, or
the machinery which receives or carries them. And I would have it under-
stood that I make no claim to any of the parts separately, nor do I confine
myself to the details shown, so long as the peculiar character of my Invention
herein described be retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Ross, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
HENRY (L.S.) ROSS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Henry Ross came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained- and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose...
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three."