IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING SILK, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Knight, and Robert Newton, of Leeds, aforesaid, Commercial
Traveller, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING SILK,
FLAX, AND OTHER FIBRES."
Sealed the 2nd March 1860, and dated the 29th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sir Peter Fairbairn and
Robert Newton, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 29th December 1859.
We, Sir PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Knight, and
ROBERT NEWTON, of Leeds, aforesaid, Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING SILK,
FLAX, AND OTHER FIBRES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation of combing silk,
flax, and other fibres, and at the same time to simplify the construction of the
machinery employed. To this end we provide a pair of endless combs, which
we mount upon drums made adjustable to. draw the combs to tension, and
these combs we set a little on the incline, and so that they will work abreast of
each other. The fibre to be combed we feed on to the teeth of the parallel
sides of these combs (to which a continuous traverse motion is given) by means
of a rotating gill, which receives an intermittent action. This gill takes the
fibres from the feed table, and delivers it to a pair of feed rolls, which have a

page_text: continuous motion, and therefore draw it out of and clear of the gill pins to
deliver it on to the endless combs. A brush then descends and thrusts the
-fibres into the teeth of these travelling combs. The fibres are carried 'forward
by a pair of endless combs, until these combs part by reason of their passing
round over their respective drums. At this point an underlying endless comb
fitted with inclined teeth strikes into the fibres, and draws them out of the
'teeth of the pair of combs, leaving the noils and dirt behind. This transfer of
'the fibre is assisted by a pair of short endless belts, set one on either side of
this central comb, which belts are caused to hold the fibres against the sides
of the comb. As this comb travels it brings the fibres to a pair of stripping
rollers, which strip off the fibres projecting from one side of the comb, and
another similar pair take hold of the fibres projecting from the other side of
the comb. An endless band passed over the lower of each of the pair of
strippers carries down the fibres to an arrangement of travelling endless belts,
on to which the fibres are delivered to form.a lap.. On this belt-the fibres aro
allowed to accumulate until a sufficient thickness of lap is obtained; the
.machine is stopped, and the lap is removed in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sir Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton in the Great Seal
-Patent Office on the 29th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Sir PETER
FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Knight, and ROBERT NEWTON,
of Leeds, aforesaid, Commercial Traveller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Sir Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, Her special license that we, the
said Sir Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Sir Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton,
our 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING
SILK, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,

page_text: the said Sir Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sir Peter Fairbairn (on behalf of
myself and of the said Robert, Newton) do hereby declare the-nature-of our.
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to-be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and?
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
.
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation of combing silk;
flax, and other fibres, and at the-same-time to simplify, the construction of the
machinery employed. To this end we provide a pair of endless combs, which
we mount upon drums made adjustable to draw the combs. to tension. These
combs we set a little on the incline, and so that they will work abreast of each
other. The fibre to be combed we feed on to the teeth of the parallel and
adjacent sides of these combs (to which a continuous traverse motion is given)
by means of a gill, which receives an intermittent axial motion, for the pur->
pose of detaching portions of the fibrous material from the feed table, and
delivering the same to a pair of feed rolls, which have a continuous motion,
and therefore draw it out of the gill pins, and in turn deliver it on to the
endless combs. A reciprocating brush then descends and thrusts the fibres
into the teeth of these travelling combs. By the forward movement of these
endless combs the fibre is brought to a point, where an underlying, endless.
comb fitted with inclined teeth strikes into the fibre and draws it out of the
teeth of the pair of combs, leaving the noils and dirt behind. This transfer
of the fibre is assisted by a pair of short endless belts, set one on either side of
this central comb, which belts are caused to hold the fibres against the sides of
the comb. As this comb travels forward it is stripped by pairs of stripping.
rollers, which transmit the now cleaned fibrous material to a travelling endless
belt, on which it is allowed to accumulate until a lap of the desired thickness;
is obtained.
Having thus described generally the construction of our improved combing
machine we will proceed to explain its parts more in detail.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents the machine in end.
elevation; Fig. 2 is a side view; and Fig. 3, a plan view of the same; and
Fig. 4 shows the feeding part of the machine detached.
.

page_text: .
A, A, are a pair of endless combs made of bands of steel, somewhat like an
endless band saw, and fitted with pins at their upper edge, which pins stand up
at right angles to the band. These endless combs are carried by pulleys B, B¹
which are mounted on stud axles, supported in brackets, attached to the main
framing of the machine. The combs A, A¹, are placed close together and set
at an inclination, so as to carry down the fibre fed on to their teeth and deliver
it on to the teeth of an endless comb C, which moves in a horizontal plane
and travels between the depressed portion of the pair of combs A, A¹, to
receive the fibre therefrom. This comb C consists of an endless band of steel
with teeth inclined from the vertical in the direction of its line of progress, and.
like the other combs it is carried by pulleys D, D', which turn on stud axles
secured to the main framing of the machine. Cast with or attached to
the pulleys B' and D' are rings of spur teeth for driving the same, and thereby
giving.motion to the combs situate above the combs A, A', and about mid-
way between the pairs of comb pulleys'; B, B', is the feeding apparatus ;
a is a rotary gill, which by an intermittent motion takes up tho-material
to be combed from a table 6 and delivers it in detached portions, into the
bite of a pair of rollers c, c', which, with the assistance of the reciprocating
Brush d, transfer it to the combs; this apparatus is supported by an inclined
frame e, e, which stands up from and is bolted to the main framing of the
machine. Before describing the parts by which the fibre drawn out of the
teeth of the combs A, A', free of -noils and dirt by the passing conib C, is
taken off the comb C and formed into a bat, it may be as well to shew how
the motions are communicated to the feeding apparatus and to the combs.
On the main driving shaft E (which receives motion through the driving
pulley F, from any first mover) bevil wheels G, G1, G2, are keyed, which wheels
gear respectively into bevil wheels II, I, and I. The wheel H is mounted
on one end of a horizontal shaft H which lies at right angles to the main shaft
and carries at its other end a similar bevil wheel H; this wheel takes into and
drives a bevil wheel on the vertical shaft H, the upper end of which is fitted with
a spur pinion for gearing into and driving the ring of teeth on the pulley D¹ of
the comb C. The bevel wheels I, and I are mounted respectively on the inclined
shafts to K K¹ the upper ends of which shafts carry spur pinions in gear respec-
tively with the rings of spur teeth attached to the pulleys B¹, B¹, and by this
iñeans therefore rotary motion in the direction of the arrow is communicated to
the combs A, A¹. At the upper end of the shaft K¹ is a bevil wheel k which
drives & bevil wheel on the boss of a spur pinion ³ carried by a stud axle
secured to the frame e; this spur pinion gears into and drives a spur wheel k³
(see Fig. 4) carried by a stud axle on the same frame e, and the wheel k³

page_text: drives in its turn a spur pinion fou one end of the short shaft g. Keyed. to
the opposite end of the shaft 9 is a spur wheel h having on its periphery a'
group of say from five or six teeth according to the length of fibre to be
operated upon, the other portion of its periphery being blank'; these teeth
gear into a pinion i on the axle of the gill a and give an intermittent rotary
motion thereto. To prevent the gill from turning when not driven by the
wheel ha pawl h¹ is caused to take into the teeth of a ratchet wheel h
keyed on the gill axle and retain the gill in a fixed position. A pin projecting
from the side of the wheel h will come in contact with the pawl h' and'
lift it clear of the ratchet teeth just prior to the teeth of the wheel h coming
again into gear with the pinion i for the purpose of effecting a further
partial rotation of the gill a. In gear with the pinion f is a smaller
pinion on the axle of the lower of the feed rollers; the upper roller
c¹ receives its motion from friction of contact, it being forced down upon
the lower roller by elastic or other pressure. Brackets projecting from
the front of the frame e form bearings for a rock shaft d' on which the
brush d; for pressing the fibres into or between the teeth of the combs A, A¹, is
mounted; this rock shaft receives its motion from a slotted arm d³ keyed'
thereto and connected by a rod d³, with a crank pin d projecting from the
pinion f. It will now be understood that as the fibre to be combed is taken.
up from the table b, by the rotary gill a and stripped from this gill and fed
on to the combs A, A, it will be carried forward to a point represented by the
red line X, X, in Fig. 3 where the combs begins to separate. The comb C
now.strikes in, and taking hold of the fibres at the middle of their length draws
them out leaving the noils and refuse in the combs A, A', which are afterwards
cleaned by the well-known means of revolving brushes not shewn in the
Drawing. As the fibre is carried forward by the comb C, it passes between
a pair of endless belts m, m, mounted on rollers' n, n', which serve.to support
the comb and assist in drawing out and combing the fibre. The filled teeth
of the comb next pass in front of a pair of stripping rollers o, o, which draw
off the fibres projecting from the inner face of the comb. An endless sheet
L, passing over the lower of these rollers and held at tension by a roller p
serves to conduct the cleaned fibre as it is taken up by the rollers o, o, to a
horizontal endless sheet M which is carried by pulleys N, N¹; as the comb C
passes round it meets with a second pair of stripping rollers o', o' which draw off
the fibre projecting from the outer face of the comb, and by means of the endless
sheet L' moving over the roller o² and tension roller p¹ deliver the same on
to the endless sheet M; rotary motion is given to this sheet M to enable
it to accumulate the cleaned fibre on its surface and form a lap. To give

page_text: support to the lap during its formation a sheet O, O, is provided, which is
carried by a series of pulleys P, P, Q, Q, the former of which are made
adjustible to keep the sheet at tension, and in close contact with the lap of
combed material. The sheet O rotates by friction of contact against the
travelling sheet M, and this latter sheet is rotated by means of a spur pinion
on the shaft H' taking into a wheel R, (Fig. 1) which drives the spur wheel.
S on the axle of the pulley N. Bearing on the sheet M and rotating by
friction of contact therewith is a roller 2 which drives by friction of contact
the roller p¹ and consequently through the belt or sheet L. the stripping
rollers o¹, o¹; on the axle of the roller p³ is a spur pinion p³, which through a
train of wheels p³, p', p", and p², (the latter of which is keyed on the axle of
the roller p) gives motion to the first pair of strippers o, o. When the
machine has remained in action a sufficient time to allow of an accumulation
on the endless sheet M of combed fibre sufficient to form a lap of suitable
thickness the machine is to be stopped and the lap is then to be removed
in the ordinary way.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of improved machinery.
for combing silk, flax, and other fibres, and explained the manner of carrying.
the same into effect, we would have it understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, we claim arranging endless combs to receive silk,
flux, and other fibres, to be combed; and the mechanism for feeding and stripping
the same in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Peter Fairbairn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed and sealed in the presence of
JA. W. HAMILTON RICHARDSON, Solicitor,
Leeds.
P. FAIRBAIRN. (L.S.)