IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Russell Donisthorpe, George Edmund
Donisthorpe, Thomas Alfred William Clarke, William Henry
Snowden, and Benjamin Dearden, all of Leicester, in the County
of Leicester; for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Russell Donis.
thorpe, George Edmund Donisthorpe, Thomas Alfred William ·
Clarke, William Henry Snowden, and Benjamin Dearden at the .
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the
15th July 1873.
We, ALFRED RUSSELL DONISTHORPE, GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE,
Thomas AlfreD WILLIAM CLARKE, WILLIAM HENRY SNOWDEN, and
BENJAMIN DEARDEN, all of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF MIXED YARNS OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRE," to be
as follows:
!
Heretofore in the manufacture of mixed yarns of wool and cotton,

page_text: the wool and cotton have in some cases been separately carded, and
the two slivers obtained have been brought together and drawn into
one yarn to produce what are called merino or angola yarns.
In other cases the wool and cotton in an uncarded state have been
mixed together, and then carded in a carding engine or engines, and
the slivers obtained formed into yarn. Mixed yarns produced in the
latter manner have however always upon their surface numerous small
knots by which the quality of the yarn is greatly deteriorated.
According to this Invention the cotton and wool are first carded
separately on separate carding engines, the cotton being carded on an
engine adapted for carding cotton, and the wool on an engine adapted
for carding wool; the slivers of cotton and wool are then laid one
over the other, and subsequently passed through a carding engine to
intimately mix the fibres, the combined sliver thus obtained after being
again carded is divided into sections and formed into yarn in the manner
now usual.
The carding engine employed for mixing together the two slivers
is arranged so that the fibres shall be but little buried into the teeth
of the card cylinders, sufficient only to effect the laying of the several
fibres parallel with one another.
Mixed yarns manufactured as above described are entirely free from
knots, and are of much better quality than mixed yarns manufactured
in the ordinary manner.
In place of the slivers of cotton and of wool being laid one over the
other, as above described, before mixing them in a carding engine, a
sliver of carded cotton may be led crosswise over the doffer of a wool
carding engine, whereby the sliver of wool just as it comes from the
carding engine is caused to entirely envelop the cotton, before it is
carried off through a revolving tube, the sliver of wool is thereby lightly
twisted around the cotton, and the mixed fibres are afterwards treated:
as above described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Russell Donisthorpe, George Edmund
Donisthorpe, Thomas Alfred William Clarke, William Henry
Snowden, and Benjamin Dearden in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th January 1874.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALFRED
RUSSELL DONISTHORPE, GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE, THOMAS
ALFRED WILLIAM CLARKE, WILLIAM HENRY SNOWDEN, and BEN-
'JAMIN DEARDEN, all of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, 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 suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Alfred Russell Donisthorpe,
George Edmund Donisthorpe, Thomas Alfred William Clarke, William
Henry Snowden, and Benjamin Dearden, Her special license that we,
the said Alfred Russell Donisthorpe, George Edmund Donisthorpe,
Thomas Alfred William Clarke, William Henry Snowden, and Ben-
jamin Dearden, our excutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Alfred Russell Donisthorpe, George Edmund
Donisthorpe, Thomas Alfred William Clarke, William Henry Snowden,
and Benjamin Dearden, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MIXED
YARNS OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Alfred Russell Donisthorpe, George Edmund
Donisthorpe, Thomas Alfred William Clarke, William Henry Snowden,
and Benjamin Dearden, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, 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

page_text: : According to this Invention we manufacture mixed yarns from wool
and cotton or other vegetable fibre in the following manner :-We
take wool of a length of staple such as is now used in the production
of hosiery yarns, and we card it upon a carding engine or engines
adapted for carding wool of this kind. The cotton or other vegetable
fibre we also card separately on a carding engine or engines such as
are used for carding this class of fibre. The slivers of wool and
vegetable fibre passing from the carding engines are separately balled,
or it might be coiled into cans, and are then placed into what is called
a bank feed, and conducted one over the other into a carding engine to
intimately mix the fibres.
Or in place of the slivers of vegetable fibre and of wool being thus laid
one over the other to be mixed in a carding engine, a sliver of carded
cotton or other vegetable fibre may be laid on to the sliver of wool
as it leaves the card, and the two conducted together through the
revolving sliver tube of the wool carding engine, whereby the sliver
of wool is doubled around and caused to envelope the cotton or other
vegetable fibre, and the combined slivers thus obtained are balled, or
it might be coiled into cans. A number of the balls or coils of theso
combined slivers are then put into a bank feeding apparatus, and are
fed forwards parallel with one another into another carding engine by
which the fibres of wool and cotton or other vegetable fibre are
intimately mixed together. The mixed slivers obtained in either of
the above ways are then fed crosswise on to the feeding apron of
3 another carding engine called a condenser, which is divided into
narrow sections to produce a number of narrow slivers, and these
as they leave the card are each subjected to a rubbing action, and
afterwards formed into yarn in the manner now usual, and as is well
understood.
The carding engines employed for mixing together the two slivers,
and forming them into yarn are arranged so that the fibres shall be
but little buried into the teeth of the card cylinders, sufficient only
to effect the laying of the several fibres parallel with one another.
By manufacturing mixed yarns in the manner herein described they
are obtained of an even substance throughout, and with the wool and
cotton or other vegetable fibre intimately and evenly mixed, and the
yarns are free from knots and suitable for being used in the production
of hosiery goods.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we claim,
the production of mixed yarns suitable for the manufacture of hosiery
goods, substantially in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Alfred William Clarke,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.