IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF CLEANING WOOL FROM BURRS, THISTLES AND THE LIKE AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE THEREFOR A
Year: 1882

page_text: an
LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson of the Agencies for Foreign
Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the county of Lancaster and
323 High Holborn in the county of Middlesex Civil Engineer for
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF CLEANING WOOL FROM
BURRS, THISTLES AND THE LIKE AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE THEREFOR
A communication to him from abroad from Auguste Frayssé of Anvers in
the Kingdom of Belgium
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd August 1882.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON of the Agencies for Foreign Patent Solicitors
6 Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn
in the County of Middlesex Civil Engineer " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
OF CLEANING WOOL FROM BURRS, THISTLES AND THE LIKE AND IN APPARATUS
APPLICABLE THEREFOR a communication to me from abroad from Auguste Frayssé
of Anvers in the Kingdom of Belgium.
"
Up to the present time numerous machines and chemicals have been employed
to separate the La Plata thistle from wool, but they have always had to wash the
wool previous to dethistleing.
The following process applies equally to raw wool, and to wool more or less
washed, and presents this advantage that it does not injure the staple, the nature,
nor the flossy nature (nuance) of the wool, while at the same time it increases its
value by a thorough washing in pure water, and the extraction from it of all
extraneous matters in breaking up the fleeces without weakening the wool and
thus rendering it more susceptible to a thorough washing and to a perfect carding
The following is a description of the process and of the machinery employed
therefor. Upon a convenient framework is placed a travelling table moved by
belt or otherwise from a driving shaft. This feeds the fleeces to two feed rolls
garnished with teeth or grooves these deliver the wool to a large roll garnished

page_text: with needles or projecting wires or teeth according to the quality of wool to be
worked being assisted in delivery by a powerful sheet of water caused to fall from
a slit tube which water forces the wool in among the needles and washes it at the
same time clearing it from thistles which remain spiked upon the circumference of
the roll and are removed into a trough by a roll garnished with blades and
running at a thousand revolutions a minute The large roll is driven very much
faster than the feed rolls, and in contrary direction, it consequently divides up the
wool and carries it along with it till it comes under a 2nd slit tube which
projects a sheet of water upon it and transfers the wool onto an intermediate roll
which transmits it to a second large roll being again assisted by a sheet of water.
From this second large roll the wool is forced by a sheet of water from a split tube
falling with a head of about 60 lbs. on the square inch.
A brush revolving the inverse way to the second large roll and at say 1200
revolutions a minute throws the wool into a water tank below. This tank has
a perforated false bottom which allows the sand and other like materials to pass
and settle these can be drawn off as required through a mud cock. This tank
which receives the various sheets of water hereinbefore mentioned is provided with
an overflow spout or weir. The water carrying the wool with it falls from this
spout onto a revolving disc. This disc is preferably formed of a hexangular frame-
work of bars about 3 millemetres in diameter, and say 2 millemetres apart, each of
these bars is armed with a series of wires fixed or coiled to it and each with its
ends sticking straight up like the wires of a card. A series of deeply fluted small
rollers lie in a frame immediately below the disc near the point of overflow These
rollers are geared to each other and are driven by a grooved pulley on the axis of
one of them and are each 1', centimetres in diameter, by 30 centimetres long
and placed parallel to the tanks side.
The wool carried by the current falls upon the projecting wires At the same
time a thin sheet of water at four atmospheres pressure is caused to fall upon the
disc thus causing the wool to pass through to the fluted rollers below. The thistles
and burrs left on the points of the wires can be brushed off from time to time.
Fine metallic wire can be used instead of the bars in case of very short staple wool
The wires being placed just close enough to allow the wool to pass yet retain the
extraneous vegetable matters.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Phillips Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office.on
the 2nd February 1883.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON of the Agencies for Foreign Patent Solicitors,
6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
OF CLEANING WOOL FROM BURRS, THISTLES, AND THE LIKE, AND IN APPARATUS
APPLICABLE THEREFOR." A communication to me from abroad from Auguste Frayssé,
of Anvers, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Up to the present time numerous machines or chemical products have been
employed to remove the thistles contained in La Plata or other wools, but
to operate mechanically the wool has always had to be washed previous to de-
thistleing.
My process applies equally to raw wool and to wool more or less washed, and
presents this advantage that it does not injure either the staple, or the nature or the
tint (nuance) of the wool, while at the same time it increases its value by a
thorough washing in pure water, removes from it all extraneous matters, breaks up
the fleeces without weakening the wool, and thus renders it more susceptible to a
thorough washing and to a perfect carding.
The following is a description of my system and of the machinery which I employ
with reference to the annexed drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2
a plan view of my apparatus. Figs. 3 and 4 are detached appliances.
Upon the framework A A is placed a travelling table B moved by the counter
shaft (renvoi) K which receives motion in its turn from the shaft D' of the roll D;
this table is for the purpose of spreading out the wool and feeding it to two feed
rolls C C provided with teeth or grooves. These latter feed the wool to the roll D,
running in the direction shown in the drawing furnished with teeth or needles,
according to the qualities of wool to be worked. As the roll D revolves faster than
the feed-rolls it divides up the wool and carries it along with it but at the same
time a sheet of water is projected through a longitudinal slit in the tube R forcing
the wool among the needles and at the same time washing it and clearing it from
its thistles, which remain spiked upon the circumference of the roll and are thus
brought under the doffer cylinder E moved by the countershaft (renvoi) K' and
provided with longitudinal blades. This doffer E turns at the rate of a thousand
revolutions a minute and doffs the thistles or other substances discharging them
into the trough S destined to receive them.
The intermédiate roll F is controlled by the fast and loose pulley U and transmits
motion on one side to the roll D by means of pinion Y and gearing L carrying
pulley M, and on the other side to the roll G by the two pulleys Z Z'. This roll F
receives the wool which has been disengaged from the needles by the sheet of water
escaping under pressure from the tube R' and striking the needles from the top
downwards and carries it on to feed it to the second roll G the finer teeth of
which operate on the wool in a similar manner to those of the first roll D. The
wool is forced off the roll G at the point G¹ by a sheet of water escaping under a
pressure of four atmospheres from the tube Ri
The brush H revolving in the opposite direction to the roll G and moved by the
countershaft (renvoi) K³ through T and T' at a velocity of 1200 revolutions a
minute, throws the wool into the tank oooo provided with a false bottom V of
perforated sheet iron which permits the sand or other impurities to separate; these
can be drawn off from time to time as required through the mud cock X. This

page_text: tank is provided with an overflow spout or weir O¹ and the water falling over
it carries the wool with it to the apparatus I, N, of which the following is a
description.
N is a disc of bars, round or otherwise, about three millimetres in diameter, each
bar carrying one or two rows of blunt needles or projecting wires fixed at intervals of
two millimetres and perpendicular to the bar. These bars are placed horizontally so
as to leave between each a space of a millimetre and a half. They are arranged in six
divisions on a disc forming segments of about twenty square centimetres each as
represented in plan N N. This disc is supported on an axis and turns as required
so as always to have one of the divisions under the overflow o¹ and over the
apparatus I. This latter is fixed to the side of the tank and consists of a series of
deeply fluted rollers of steel or other material about one centimetre and a half in
diameter and thirty centimetres long and arranged to form a square with a side of
thirty centimetres as shown in plan at I I. These rollers are pressed against each
other by two springs placed at each extremity of the axes and thus gear into each
other. The grooved pulley V¹ fixed on the first roller and receiving motion from K'
turns at the rate of 300 revolutions a minute, and gives a continuous movement to
each roller. The wool brought by the current of water falls upon the needles
whilst at the same time a sheet of water at a pressure of four atmospheres escaping
from R forces it among the needles, so as to make it fall upon the bars which
support them and compels it to pass more or less across the spaces of a millimetre
and a half which there are between each bar, and it is thus fed perpendicularly to
the fluted rollers I which draw it rapidly through and pass it to J. In its passage
through this apparatus, any thistles which may remain will have been left on the
points of the needles or between the bars whence they can be removed by a brush
or in any other manner.
For wools of short staple, the bars N N may be replaced by very fine metallic
wires at distances of a millimetre and a half, and stretched longitudinally so as to
form a metallic cloth with longitudinal threads at just such a distance apart as to
allow the wool to pass whilst retaining the extraneous matters.
I further reserve to myself another arrangement of the apparatus which consists,
First, In the suppression of the tubes R and R, the intermediate roll F the
rolls G and doffer cylinder E and consequently also the mechanism actuating these
pieces; the brush H is then placed just in front of the roll D and brushes the wool
direct from it into the tank oooo, which preserves its original position. Second. In
replacing in case of need or any other restriction, the apparatus I N on which the
wool is treated a second time after it comes out of the tank o ooo by the apparatus
which I am about to describe and which is represented in the drawings in which
Fig. 5 is a side elevation Fig. 6 a longitudinal section, Fig 7 a plan view,
Fig. 8 shows bars for coarse wools, Fig. 9 bars for fine wools of short staple and
Fig. 10 bars for fine wools of long staple. These bars are represented in transverse
section and in longitudinal elevation and of full size.
At the extremity of the tank o o at the overflow, there is placed an agitator S,
(Figs. 1 and 3) which serves to draw forward the wool in the water progressively
with the current of water in the tank, whence it is conducted to the hollow
cylinder L M furnished on its outer surface with one of the sets of bars according
to the quality of the wool under treatment. A pipe A slit longitudinally and
arranged horizontally above the spiked cylinder (cylindre an hérisson) L M, at the
moment when the wool falls upon the needles at the point A' of the cylinder, projects
a sheet of water under pressure upon the wool, and forces it between the needles
the points of which stick up into the air and spike the thistles which may still
remain in the wool. The cylinder L M turns by means of Vancanson chain gearing
and presents the needles at the point T to a brush of horse hair or other material
or doffer which doffs the thistles spiked upon the needles throwing them into the
trough J; the brush rotates rapidly on its axis by means of a strap passed over the
countershaft (renvoi) K¹ of the original machine. The cylinder LM continuing
its movement of rotation conducts the wool to the point B₁ underneath a pipe B

page_text: situated in the interior of the cylinder parallel with its inner or generating side,
and fixed on the central pipe B which passes through the hollow axis of the
cylinder and brings water under pressure to the lower pipe which is also slit longi-
tudinally and projects a sheet of water coming from the interior of the cylinder
onto the wool, which completely freed from thistles is disengaged from the needles
causing it to fall into the basket K.
Having now described this invention as communicated to me I wish it to be
understood that what I desire to protect under the hereinbefore in part recited
Letters Patent is :
1 In accordance with the description and the annexed drawings, I claim
generally the apparatus which I have represented and its special working, my
invention consisting specially in the combination of one or more cylinders furnished
with needles with the fall of a sheet of water sometimes in the direction in which
the needles point sometimes in the opposite direction in such manner as to force
the wool among them or disengage it from them.
2nd For replacing the apparatus I, N, the employment of a hollow cylinder
composed of two circular ends on which are fixed the bars with needles forming
the outside surface of the cylinder and in its interior the arrangement of tube B B
projecting a sheet of water from the interior of the cylinder upon the wool, for
disengaging it from the needles as described above and represented in the
accompanying drawings.
In witness whereof I the said William Phillips Thompson have hereunto
set my hand and seal this twenty sixth day of January in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty three.
W. P. THOMPSON
(L.S.)