IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR RECOVERING THE FIBRES OF WOOL FROM FABRICS OR MATERIALS COMPOSED OF WOOL COMBINED WITH COTTON OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Rowley, of Stafford Street, Peckham, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR RECOVERING THE FIBRES OF WOOL FROM FABRICS
OR MATERIALS COMPOSED OF WOOL COMBINED WITH COTTON OR OTHER VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES."
Scaled the 7th July 1863, and dated the 29th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by tho said John Rowley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
April 1868.
I, JOHN ROWLEY, of Stafford Street, Peckham, in the County of Surrey,
'do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR RECOVERING THE FIBRES. OF WOOL. FROM
FABRICS OR MATERIALS COMPOSED OF WOOL COMBINED WITH COTTON OR OTHER
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the recovery of the fibres of wool con-
tained in old or waste pieces of woven or other fabrics or materials composed
chiefly of wool combined with cotton or other vegetable substances by more
simple and effectual means that those hitherto employed for this purpose..
In carrying out my Invention I first cleanse and then thoroughly saturate
the woollen rags, fabrics, or other materials to be treated, by steeping them
in dilute acid (by preferenco sulphuric), the strength being varied according
to the nature of the materials to be operated upon. The rags or materials,

page_text: after having had the steeping liquor discharged therefrom in any convenient
manner, are placed (by preference for the purpose of being dried) in a
rotating drun or cylinder made of wire gauze or perforated metal or material,
and a current of hot air is forced or drawn through them from a tube or flue
suitably constructed for this purpose, by which means the rags or other
materials are readily dried. In order to economize heat I prefer to connect
the tube or flue which conducts the hot air to the drying chamber with the
escape flue of the furnace of a steam boiler before it enters the chimney or
shaft, and by employing coke or smokeless fuel for heating the furnace the
products of combustion may be withdrawn from the escape fluc, and forced or
drawn up by a fan or otherwise into and through the drying chamber, and
from thence through a condenser or purifier into the shaft or atmosphere, the
heat thus applied being regulated by a damper, or by the admission of cold
air, if required, but other means of heating air for this purpose may be
employed. The rags or materials having been thus dried they are deposited
in boxes or trucks, and as they are deposited therein they are, by preference,
intimately combined with and imbedded in heated sand previously prepared
and cleansed from all oxidizable metallic substances; at the same time I do not
confine myself to the exclusive use of sand, as other granulated substances or
materials capable of retaining and transmitting heat, such as ground glass,
silica, or other similar materials may be employed for this purpose. The boxes
or trucks are then, by preference, raised to the upper story of the building in
which the operation is carried on, and after remaining in the hot sand or other
material for a suitable length of time, according to the nature of the materials
under operation, they are discharged, and the sand is separated therefrom by
rotating sieves, or by other convenient mechanical means. The heat of the
sand or other material employed in this process may be varied from ninety to
two hundred degrees, more or less, according to the nature of the materials to
be treated. The flue or tube which conducts the heated air to the drying
chamber is, by preference, surrounded by a casing, so as to leave a space
between it and the exterior surface of the hot air flue, and into this space the
sand or other granulated material to be heated is conducted, so as to descend
into the lower part of the building to be again employed in packing the pre-
pared rags or materials, as before described, the sand or other material in its
descent having heat imparted thereto by the heat radiating from the hot air
tube or flue, or the sand or other granulated material may be heated by other
convenient means, if desired. The cotton or other vegetable substances con-
tained in the fabrics or materials after being treated as above described will
be so far destroyed as to be readily separated from the fibres of the wool

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Rowley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ROWLEY, of Stafford Street, Peckham, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of IIer
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Rowley, Her special licence that I, the said John Rowley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Rowley, 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
THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR RECOVERING THE FIBRES OF WOOL FROM
FABRICS OR MATERIALS COMPOSED OF WOOL COMBINED WITH COTTON OR OTHER
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Rowley, 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 tho said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Rowley, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the recovery of the fibres of wool con-
tained in old or waste pieces of woven or other fabrics or materials composed
chiefly of wool combined with cotton or other vegetable substances by more
simple and effectual means than those hitherto employed for this purpose.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I first cleanse and then thoroughly saturato
the woollen rags, fabrics, or other materials to be treated by steeping them in
dilute acid (by preference sulphuric), the strength being varied according to
the nature of the materials to bo operated upon. The rags or materials, after
having had the steeping liquor discharged therefrom in any convenient manner,
are placed (by preference for the purpose of being dried) in a rotating drum
or cylinder made of wire gauze or perforated metal or material, and a current
of hot air is forced or drawn through them from a tube or flue suitably con-
structed for this purpose, by which means the rags or other materials arc
dried.
In order to economize heat I prefer to connect the tube or fluc
which conducts the hot air to the drying chamber with the escape flue of the
furnace of a steam boiler before it enters the chimney or shaft, and by employ-
ing coke or smokeless fuel for heating the furnace, the products of combustion
may be withdrawn from the escape flue, and forced or drawn up by a fan or
otherwise into and through the drying chamber, and from thence through a
condenser or purifier into the shaft or atmosphere, the heat thus applied being
regulated by a damper, or by the admission of cold air, if required, but other
means of licating air for this purpose may be employed. The rags or materials
having been thus dried they are deposited in boxes or trucks, and as they
are deposited therein they are, by preference, intimately combined with and
embedded in heated sand previously prepared and cleansed from all oxidizable
metallic substances; at the same time I do not confine myself to the exclusive
use of sand, as other granulated substances or materials capable of retaining and
transmitting heat, such as ground glass, silica, or other similar materials, may
be employed for this purpose. The boxes or trucks are then, by preference,
raised to the upper story of the building in which the operation is carried on,
and after remaining in the hot sand or other material for a suitable length of
time, according to the nature of the fibrous materials under operation, they
are discharged, and the sand is separated therefrom by rotating sieves, or by
other convenient mechanical means. The heat of the sand or other material
employed in this process may be varied from ninety to two hundred degrees,
more or less, according to the nature of the materials to be treated. The flue
or tube which conducts the heated air to the drying chamber is, by preference,
surrounded by a casing, so as to leave a space between it and the exterior
surface of the hot air flue, and into this space the sand or other granulated
material to be heated is conducted, so as to descend into the lower part of the
building to be again employed in packing the prepared rags or materials, as
before described, the sand or other material in its descent having heat imparted
thereto by the heat radiating from the hot air tube or flue, or the sand or

page_text: other granulated material may be heated by other convenient means, if desired.
The cotton or other vegetable substances contained in the fabrics or materials,
after being treated as above described, will be so far destroyed as to be readily
separated from the fibres of the wool previously combined therewith, the latter
being unaffected by the process employed.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into practice, I will proceed to describe more in detail the means and
apparatus which I prefer to employ in carrying my Invention into practice,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed.
.
I would in the outset remark that the object of my improvements in the
recovery of the fibres of wool from rags or waste pieces of fabric composed of
wool and cotton, or other vegetable fibres, is so to arrange apparatus that the
processes employed for this purpose may be carried on continuously without
the aid of manual labour, except so far as is required to superintend the
working of the apparatus. The processes as hitherto conducted for the above
purpose have required the aid of a considerable amount of manual labor,
rendering such processes far more costly than by the means employed by me.
By means of the improved apparatus and the arrangement of the successive
processes or operations which I prefer to employ in carrying out my Invention,
the rags or fibrous materials to be treated by the several processes required
for destroying the vegetable fibres combined with the wool are first fed into a
tank of considerable length, containing a solution (by preference) of sulphuric
acid, of sufficient strength to produce a destructive action upon the cotton or
other vegetable fibres combined with the wool, without acting injuriously upon
the fibres of the wool. The tank is, by preference, formed with a chamber at
one end, within which a wheel rotates, formed with chambers or recesses on
tho periphery for raising the liquid up from the chamber at the end of the
tank, and delivering. it over a division into the steeping tank at the point
where the rags or fibrous materials are fed into it. By the continuous flow of
liquid from one end, the rags as they are fed in are carried to the other end of
the tank, out of which they are raised by means of a revolving wheel, which
is furnished with a series of pins carried by bars which are alternately pro-
jected and withdrawn, so as to take up and then deliver the rags on to an
endless belt, which conducts and delivers them to suitable wringing; or
expressing rollers, the naturo of which is well understood for discharging
liquids from fibrous materials. The tank is so constructed and arranged-that
the liquid or
solution employed will flow back by a separate channel- into
the supply chamber previously described, to bo raised continuously, and
delivered over the partition into the steeping tank by the revolving wheel

page_text: or other lifting apparatus employed for this purpose. The arrangement of the
wheel or apparatus for raising the steeped rags out of the steeping tank and
delivering the same on to the endless band, or other means for conducting
them to the expressing rollers, may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention.
From the expressing rollers the rags are conducted into a hopper ax, which
delivers them through the hollow axis into the interior of a revolving drying drum
or cylinder a, supported in an inclined position, the arrangement and construc-
tion of which is shown in longitudinal and transverse sections at Figures 1, 2,
and 3 of the Drawing. The circumference of the drum a is covered with wire
gauze, except at the lower end, which part is left uncovered for the purpose of
delivering the rags when they arrive at that end. The drum a is supported on
hollow axes a', and revolves within a chamber or casing 6, hot air (obtained
from the boiler furnace or other convenient source) being forced or drawn
through the hollow axes and interior of the drum, by which means the rags
are dried as they travel slowly through the drum, which is placed in an inclined
position for this purpose. The hot air and gases in their passage to the
chimney shaft and outer atmosphere are caused to pass through the chamber c,
in which water is arranged to fall from a tank d in the form of rain, so as to
condense the steam and vapour caused by the hot air acting upon the wet rags,
the water and condensed vapour being carried away by the troughs or
channels c. The rags as they fall from the drying drum a drop into a hopper,
which conducts and delivers them into boxes, into which highly heated sand or
other granulated substance is delivered simultaneously with the rags, so as to
intimately combine and embed them in the boxes as they are filled. The boxes
containing the rags and hot sand are, by preference, raised to the upper part
of the building where the combined processes are carried on, and after the
rags have remained in the heated sand or other bighly heated materials em-
ployed for this purpose for a sufficient length of time for the heat to produce the
desired destructive action upon the vegetable portions of the fibrous materials,
the contents of the boxes are discharged into a rotating sieve or other suitable
sifting apparatus, in order to separate the sand, &c. from the rags. The
length of time, together with the temperature of the heated sand or other
heated granulated materials employed, will greatly depend upon the nature of
the fibrous materials under treatment; but the requisite time and temperaturo
will be readily ascertained by first experimenting upon a samplo of the fibrous
materials to be treated, prior to operating upon the entire bulk thereof. The
sand, as it is separated from the rags, falls into a hopper, which conducts it to

page_text: a suitable apparatus for re-heating it in its passage to the lower part of the
building; and Figures 4 and 5 shew a vertical section and plan of an arrange-
ment of apparatus such as I prefer to employ for this purpose. This apparatus
consists of a series of flues or tubes a, a, fixed in the chamber b; the upper
ends of the tubes are open, to receive the sand conducted thereto from the
hopper below the separating sieve previously described, and the sand, as it falls
in a heated state from the lower ends of the tubes, is conducted down a flue or
passage surrounded by a casing to the situation required for refilling the boxes.
Dividing or intercepting platos b¹; b, are fixed in the chamber b, to conduct
highly heated air from a furnace in a circuitous route through the chamber,
suitable inlet and outlet passages being applied to the chamber for this purpose.
The heated air is, by preference, forced or drawn through the chamber by a
revolving fan or by other suitable means,. the heat being transmitted to tho
sand in its passage through the tubes or flues. The tubes may, if desired, be
placed in an inclined position, or be of serpentino or zig-zag form, to retard
the passage of the sand, if required. The heated air is, by preference, for
economy, first drawn through the sand beating apparatus, and from thence is
conducted through the revolving drying drum and chamber, the vapours
generated therein being condensed; as previously described. The rags or other
fibrous materials after being separated from the sand are afterwards conducted
to suitable cleaning, scrubbing, and scouring apparatus, in order to removo
and separate the carbonized vegetablo fibrous materials from the woollen
fibres, which are thus rendered suitable for being manufactured into cloth, or
employed for the various purposes to which wool is applicable.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Rowley,' have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 24th day of October, in the year of our Lord' One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildgs.,
Chancery Lane.
JOHN ROWLEY. (L.S.)