IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING AND COMBING FLAX, Wool, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
HACKLING AND COMBING FLAX, Wool, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.”—A
communication from abroad by Joseph Compton Todd, of the City
and State of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,. with his
Petition, on the 27th August 1878.
.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
5 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
HACKLING AND COMBING FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to
be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the employment of two or more circular
comb cylinders of peculiar construction. They are mounted on a frame

page_text: closely adjacent to each other, and revolve vertically at different surface
speeds.
The fibrous substance to be operated upon is fed forward by means
of feeding rollers and is received therefrom by the first or hackling
cylinder, and after undergoing the operation of preparing, hackling, and
combing is drawn off the comb cylinder by another pair of drawing
rollers.
The first or hackling cylinder which receives the fibres from the pair
of feeding rollers consists of a drum or cylinder the periphery of
which is pierced with lines of holes through which project in radial.
lines from the interior rows of hackle pins carried by longitudinal bars.
These bars are made to project their pins through the rim of the
cylinder as they arrive in front of the feeding rollers where the fibres
are presented to them, and are pierced and carried forward by the
hackle pins and are transferred to the second or combing cylinder.
The pins of the first cylinder are caused to withdraw into the interior
of the cylinder after the delivery of the sliver to the second or comb
cylinder. This comb cylinder is similarly constructed and is provided
in like manner with a perforated periphery, but its pins are set
tangentially or in an inclined position and are projected from the
interior of the drum through the periphery (to receive the fibres that
are to be transferred to them) before the pins of the first or holding
cylinder are withdrawn.
The second or combing cylinder revolves at a greater surface speed
than the hackling cylinder, and therefore a combing, hackling, or drawing
action on the fibres will take place between the two cylinders, and after
the pins of the combing cylinder have combed out or straightened the
fibres a convenient distance they may be withdrawn to allow the sliver
of combed fibres to be delivered from this cylinder by means of taking
off or dilivery rollers.
The projecting and retracting of the combs or pins may be caused,
either by springs or by their bars being furnished with friction rollers
working against cam surfaces, or other convenient or known means.
$
In place of removing the fibres from the comb cylinders by the
retraction of the pins I may employ fixed; pins with intermediate
strippers consisting of slats or bars between the rows of pins, and by
4

page_text: moving these latter outward after the fibres have been acted upon they
will strip the comb teeth in a similar manner as above indicated with
respect to the moveable pins.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, .
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward, Newton, Her-special.
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, 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 HACKLING AND COMBING FLAX, WOOL, AND ·
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," being a communication to me from abroad
by Joseph Compton Todd, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Newton, my executors' or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of 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 filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, 'reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
This Invention relates to that class of hackling machines in which two
comb cylinders are used in connection with feed rollers and delivery.
rollers. These comb cylinders, are of peculiar construction and are
mounted on a frame closely adjacent to each other and revolving
vertically at different surface speeds. The comb cylinders aré adjustable
with reference to their distance from each other for the purpose of 1
regulating the initial penetration into the sliver of the teeth of the
secondary comb, so that the machine may be adapted to operate upon
different kinds and different lengths and qualities of fibre.
The fibrous substance to be operated upon is fed forward by means of
feeding rollers, and is received therefrom by the first or hackling.
cylinder, and after undergoing the operation of preparing, hackling, and
combing, is drawn off the comb cylinder by another pair of drawing
mollers

page_text: the slats inward so as to expose the pins d¹ in time to enable them to
re-engage the sliver (as shewn at g', Fig. 1). The sliver passes from
the secondary cylinder d into the trunk h, and between the delivering
rollers i and i².
The moveable slats or stripping bars e constitute a preferable means
of freeing the sliver, because their use permits. the secondary comb
pins (upon which most of the strain comes) to be immovably and
substantially secured or fixed to the periphery of the cylinder, thus
making the machine superior in durability and strength, but at Fig. 5*
I have shewn another means of effecting the object of delivering the
sliver from the comb teeth. In this instance the teeth are made
moveable and are thrust out by means of cam grooves through holes
made in the cylinder for the purpose. This is simply a modification of
the plan shewn at Fig. 1. In the one case the teeth being fixed the
slats e, e, are thrust forward by the cam grooves so as to push the fibres
off the teeth; in the other the teeth are drawn back by the cam
grooves, and the fibres are pushed off by the teeth retreating into the
drum or cylinder.
The primary cylinder and the feed rollers are mounted upon a sliding
bed K, as seen at Fig. 1, to permit of adjusting or regulating the
distance between the cylinders. If a short fibre is to be treated the
cylinders are placed as near together as may be necessary. In the case
of a long fibre or a badly snarled material, the primary cylinder may be.
moved back from the secondary cylinder in order that the secondary
comb teeth &¹³ may take a light hold of the sliver at first and draw out
the fibres, so as to attenuate the sliver instead of engaging the entire
mass as it comes from the primary cylinder.
The longitudinal adjustment of the sliding bed K is effected by means
of the stationary screw bolt L which acts upon the nut / rigidly secured
to the bed.
:
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode herein set forth of constructing,
combining, and arranging the combing cylinders so that their distance
from each other may be regulated and adjusted according to the nature
or quality of the fibre to be operated upon; I also claim the means

page_text: herein set forth of stripping the fibres off the comb teeth of machines of
the class shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand. eight hundred
and seventy-four.