IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND CLEANSING VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles James Pownall, of Jermyn Street, in the
City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
AND CLEANSING VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles James Pownall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
.22nd October 1863.
I, CHARLES JAMES POWNALL, of Jermyn Street, in the City of Westminster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING AND CLEANSING VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in preparing and cleansing vegetable fibres by
passing them between rolls, the lower of which simply revolves round its axis,
while the upper roll not only revolves round its axis but by means of cranks
and a connecting rod or rods, or by means of cams, has also a to-and-fro
motion in the direction of its axis imparted to it.
To feed the rolls I use an endless belt passing round rollers, one of which
receives motion from the power employed to drive the rolls.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles James Pownall in the Great Seal Patent Office.
on the 22nd April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JAMES POWNALL, of Jermyn Street, in the City of Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles James Pownall, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
James Pownall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles James Pownall, 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 PREPARING AND CLEANSING VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN
MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Charles James, Pownall, 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles James Pownall, 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 thereof, reference. being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention. consists in preparing and cleansing vegetable fibres by
passing them between rolls, the lower of which simply revolves round its axis,
while the upper roll not only revolves round its axis, but by means of cranks
and a connecting rod or rods, or by means of cams, has also a to-and-fro
motion in the direction of its axis imparted to it.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan, Figure 2 a side elevation,
and Figure 3 an end elevation of a machine for preparing and cleansing
vegetable fibres constructed according to my Invention.
A, A', are two rolls, the axle of the lower roll A¹ rests in fixed bearings B',

page_text: and that of the upper roll A in movable or sliding bearings B, so that the
upper roll may be free to approach to or recede from the lower roll, according
to the thickness of the layer of fibre fed into the machine, but in no case do
the rolls come in contact, the distance to which they are kept apart being
regulated by nutts a, a, on the standards D, D. The bearings B' of the lower
roll are carried by standards C, C, and the bearings B of the upper roll by
two independent frames or standards D, D, hinged or jointed to the standards
C, C. The frames D, D, are coupled by a horizontal bar E working upon
studs. The upper roll A is pressed down towards the lower roll A' by spiral
springs F, or otherwise. The rolls A, A', may be solid or hollow, and I prefer
to form the surfaces thereof with grooves or ridges of various degrees of
fineness, either plainly turned in the rolls or spirally; or the rolls may be
covered with staves or bars of steel, having file-cut surfaces, and fastened to
the body of the roll by screws or otherwise. The rolls A, A', are coupled
together by toothed wheels G, G¹, of such form as to admit of the rolls
approaching nearer to or receding from each other without getting out of gear.
The wheel G on the shaft of the upper roll A is made with a wider perephery
than the wheel G₁, in order to permit of the roll A receiving a to-and-fro
motion in the direction of its axis; it is for the same reason that the bearings
of the roll A are carried by hinged standards or frames, as before described.
His the main driving shaft of the machine; it carries two loose pulleys I, J,
and a fast pulley K, which are driven by one crossed band and one open band;
the bands are alternately shifted on to the fast pulley K by means of suitable
forks, carried by a bar L, and according to which band is on the pulley K,. so
will, the shaft H be driven in one direction or the other. The motion is
transmitted from the shaft H through the intermediation of a level pinion. M
to a level wheel N on the shaft of the lower roll A¹, to which rotary motion is
thereby imparted, and from which it is transmitted by the toothed wheels G, G,
to the upper roll A. Supposing the open band to be on the fast pulley K,
and the crossed band on the loose pulley I, the shaft H will be driven from
right to left; when the rolls have been caused to revolve sufficiently long in
one direction, and it is desired to reverse the motion in order to pass the fibre
through between the rolls in the opposite direction, the forks carried by the
bar L are caused to shift the open band from the fast pulley K to the loose
pulley J, and the crossed band from the loose pulley I to the fast pulley K
and the motion of the shaft II, and consequently of the rolls A, A', will be
reversed.
In order to avoid shifting the strap forks by hand, the shaft H has a

page_text: worm O thereon, which engages into a worm wheel P; the shaft of the
wheel P is made hollow to allow of a bar Q being passed through it (see
Figure 4). To one end of the bar Q is keyed a weighted tumbler level R,
which presses alternately against two pins S, S, on the bar L, carrying the
shifting forks. A lever T is keyed to the other end of the bar Q. The worm
wheel P carries one or more pins or projections U, which as the wheel revolves
come in contact with the lever T, and thereby give motion to the bar Q and
weighted lever R. Thus as the shaft H revolves motioni s given to the worn
wheel P, in the course of the revolution of which one of the pins U will come
in contact with the lever T, which, as well as the weighted lever R, it
gradually raises until they have assumed a vertical position, or have gone
slightly beyond it. The weight on the lever R will then cause that lever to
fall, carrying with it the bar L, which, with its forks, will be moved sideways,
and the bands on the pulleys will thereby be shifted and the motion reversed.
The same operation is then repeated, but in the opposite direction. By
altering the position of the pins U in the worm wheel the revolution which
the shaft H, and therefore the rolls A, A', make in each direction may be
regulated as required. V, V, are stops on the quadrant piece W, which forms
the bearing of the worm wheel P in order to receive the shock of the lever R.
To-and-fro motion is imparted to the upper roll A as follows:-X is a shaft
carrying fast and loose pulleys Y, Y¹, by which rotary motion is imparted
thereto from a driving band. Z is a plate on the end of the shaft X; and Z
is another plate, which is slotted and connected to a connecting rod Z³,
attached to one of the hinged frames D, D. By altering the position of the
plate Z the length of the to-and-fro motion imparted to the roll A. may be
regulated as required.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I déclare that I do not confine myself to
the arrangements herein-before described and shewn in the Drawings for
driving the rolls, and for imparting to-and-fro motion to the upper roll; but
I claim,-
First, preparing and cleansing vegetable fibres by passing them between
rolls, the lower of which simply revolves upon or round its axis, while the
upper roll not only revolves round or upon its axis, but has a to-and-fro motion
in a line parallel with its axis imparted to it, substantially as herein-before
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
And, second, the machinery for preparing and cleansing vegetable fibres,
consisting of an upper and a lower roll, one, and by preference the former, of

page_text: which is made to move in a line parallel with its axis, as well as upon or round
it, while the other simply rotates upon or round its axis.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Pownall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
CHAS. J. POWNALL. (L.S.)