IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL, YARN, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John McNaught and William
McNaught at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 25th May 1870.
We, JOHN MCNAUGHT and WILLIAM MCNAUGHT, junior, both of
St. George's Foundry, Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL, YARN, AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
Firstly. Our improvements relate to the mechanism for actuating the
rakes or harrows used in our improved wool washing machines, and
consist in transmitting to-and-fro motion from the driving crank to the
rake or harrow by a connecting rod combined with cams for giving the
lifting movement.
Secondly. Our improvements relate to a method of actuating and
balancing the swing rakes or forks of wool washing machines, and consist
in driving the cross crank shafts by a longitudinal shaft and skew gearing
and in placing the fly or balanced wheel and skew bevel on the extreme
end of each cross crank shaft, and outside of the longitudinal shaft.

page_text: Thirdly. Our improvements relate to arrangements for cleaning out
the sediment or mud which sinks and accumulates below the false
bottom of wool washing machines without having to remove the plates
forming such bottom, and they consist in using a frame having rakes or
teeth, to which end movement is given to agitate the mud while water
is passing through. Endless chain rakes or rotary screws or agitators
may be substituted for the reciprocating frame.
Fourthly. Our improvements relate to arrangements for giving the
wool more time to steep before passing to the washing mechanism, and
consist of an addition to or clongation of the ordinary washing trough
with a false or other suitable bottom higher than that of the ordinary
washing trough. The wool or other material is fed in by an endless
lattice and is passed slowly forward by a reciprocating rake or harrow,
and before coming to the washing trough proper the wool or fibre
may pass through a pair of squeezing rollers partly immersed in the
fluid.
Fifthly. Our improvements relate to arrangements and mechanism for
drying wool and other fibrous materials, and consist in a chamber or box
having a series of tables or floors, one above the other, formed of wire-
work or perforated plate. The material to be dried is fed to the upper
table or floor by an endless lattice and it is dragged along by a recipro-
cating rake or harrow, equal to the table in length, until it arrives at one
end of the table or floor when it falls upon the table or floor below, and
is raked in the opposite direction until it falls on the next table or floor
below, and so on. Cold or hot air is drawn or propelled in at the lower
floor of the chamber and leaves at the upper floor. The air is heated by
passing between a series of steam heated tubes. The fan used for
exhausting the air from the drying chamber is formed by a disc on a
rotating shaft, this disc has screw blades secured upon its face that work
close to a stationary surface having a hole for the air to pass to the fan
concentric with the axis of the shaft, the stationary surface also having
fixed screw blades applied. The rotating disc must be made of much
larger diameter than the central orifice for the admission of the air to
the fan.
Sixthly. Our improvements relate to mechanism and arrangements
for washing or sizing warps or yarns in the hank, and consist of a long
trough or vessel partly filled with water or other washing liquid, and
over this trough there are one, two, or more shafts or rollers passing

page_text: lengthway of the trough. We prefer two shafts or rollers and a third
roller or screw resting between the two shafts or rollers and receiving
rotating motion by contact with the two shafts. The hanks to be washed
are placed upon the end of the screw or roller, which may have either
a continuous or backward and forward motion, the latter greater than the
former, so that the hanks will be made to pass through the liquid by
the rotation of the screw or roller, and will also be traversed at the same
time in the lengthway of the trough until they are brought over an
endless lattice which will take them from the end of the screw or roller
and carry them forward to a pair of squeezing rollers.