Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Nov., 1886
Complete Left, 24th Aug., 1887
Complete Accepted, 7th Oct., 1887.
We GEORGE BOTTOMLEY of Bradford in the County of York, Wool Sorter, and
WILLIAM HORSFALL GREENWOOD of Bradford in the County of York, Commission
Wool Comber, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
It is usual for bales of foreign wools to come into this country in a highly
compressed and hardened state, and great difficulty is experienced in getting the wool
into a fit state for sorting and washing.
The wool sorter has hitherto been in the habit of using a wooden club or beater to
loosen the bales, but, by this means only a small quantity of wool can be dealt with
at one time, and the preparation of a whole bale is therefore a tedious and laborious
process.
Heating the bales by steam has been tried, but the process is too long and
expensive, and on this account is not much resorted to, so that the club and fingers of
the sorter are practically the only means now in use in the preparation of the wool
for sorting and washing.
The object of the present invention is to obviate the difficulty by providing
apparatus which will quickly soften and break up a bale, and render the wool easy to
sort, and more ready to be acted upon by the sud when placed in the washing bowl.
The apparatus which is the subject of our invention consists of a horizontal framing
provided on its underside with beater bars. This frame is mounted in guides, and is
capable of sliding in an up and down, or vertical direction. The frame is raised,
and a bale of wool is placed beneath the same, whereupon the frame is allowed to fall
of its own weight, and the bale, after repeated blows on all its sides, becomes
completely disintegrated, and the wool fit for the sorter's hand.
The operation of the beating frame is preferably effected in the following manner :-
In close proximity to the vertical guides in which the beater framing slides, are a
pair of pulleys, situate one above the other. Around these pulleys passes an endless
belt, upon the outer side of which are, say, two projections equal distances apart.

page_text: One of these pulleys is mounted upon a counter shaft, which receives intermittent
rotary motion from a main driving shaft, by means of a friction pulley, the normal
position of which is in contact with a permanent brake block, but which may be
tipped into contact with, and receive rotary motion from a friction pulley on the main
shaft driven directly by any suitable motor.
A cord or lever is provided for throwing the counter shaft into action, and thus
communicating a travelling motion to the endless band above named. As the travel
of this band proceeds in the proper direction, the projections thereon come alternately
into contact with, and raise the beater framing, which will fall again upon the bale as
soon as the projection reaches the upper pulley, to be again raised for a fresh blow by
the projection which follows.
The beater framing thus operated is only in action while the attendant's hand is on
the starting lever, and stops immediately the friction pulley upon the counter shaft is
allowed to take its normal position against the brake block, where it is held by a
suitably arranged weight.
The apparatus above described is therefore completely under control, and can be
made to beat a bale to pieces in a few minutes, the weight of the framing and the
weight of its fall being of course suited to the work in hand.
The wool thus prepared can be readily sorted in the usual way, and when placed in
the washing bowl, will be in an open state, and fit to be immediately acted upon by
the sud.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Preparing Bales of Wool for Sorting and
Washing.
We GEORGE BOTTOMLEY, of 85, College Road, Bradford in the County of York,
Gentleman, and WILLIAM HORSFALL GREENWOOD, of Upper Castle Street, Bradford,
aforesaid Commission Wool Comber, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
It is usual for bales of foreign wool to come into this Country in a highly compressed
and hardened state and great difficulty is experienced in getting the wool into a fit
condition for sorting and washing.
The wool sorter has hitherto been in the habit of using a wooden club or beater to
loosen the bales, but by this arrangement only a small quantity of wool can be
dealt with at one time, and the preparation of a whole bale is therefore a tedious and
laborious process.
Heating the bales by steam has been tried but the process is too long and expensive
and on this account is not much resorted to, so that the club and fingers of the sorter
are practically the only means now in use in the preparation of the wool for sorting
and washing.
The object of the present invention is to obviate this difficulty by providing
apparatus which will quickly soften and break up a bale, and render the whole
comparatively easy to sort, and in a better condition to be acted upon by the sud
when placed in the washing bowl.
The apparatus which is the subject of our invention consists of a horizontal frame
provided on its underside with beater bars. This frame is mounted in guides and is
capable of sliding in and up and down or vertical direction.
The frame is raised and a bale of wool is placed beneath the same, whereupon
such frame is allowed to fall by its own weight upon said bale which after repeated
blows applied in a similar manner upon all its sides becomes completely disintegrated
and the wool fit for the sorters hand.
In order to fully describe our Invention reference is to be had to the accompanying
drawing forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1, represents a front elevation of our improved apparatus. Figure 2, is a
section of the same through the line 1, 2, in the former figure, and Figure 3 is a plan
of the same.
The frame A consists of a casting provided on the underside with wooden beater
bars B, and having slide pieces C embracing the vertical guides D. The bottom of
the said guides are secured to the floor E and at the top to the beams F fixed in the
wall G. A shaft H is mounted accross the beams F provided with a flanged pulley J
and also the fast and loose pulleys K for driving the same. A belt L passes over

page_text: the pulley J and is attached at one end to the frame A, and the other end is secured
to the cross bar M. A small pulley N is mounted between arms O projecting from
the rocking shaft P, and is capable of pressing the belt L against the pulley J when
such rocking shaft is actuated by moving the lever R, secured thereto, to the position
indicated by the dotted lines in figure 2. A catch T is hinged to one of the guides D,
and is normally held in such a position by the weight S that the slide piece C is free
to pass, but if raised to the position occupied by the dotted representation in figure 1
it engages the underside of the slide piece C when the frame A is raised and supports
it in that position.
Motion is communicated to the
The apparatus is used in the following manner.
shaft H by means of the pulleys K in any convenient manner. The pulley N is
moved by the lever R so as to press the belt L against the pulley J with sufficient
pressure to cause such belt to be drawn round by the pulley J and thereby raise the
frame A above the catch T which is then lifted to support such frame and the lever R
released. The wool to be operated upon is now placed beneath the frame A and the
said frame slightly raised, so as to free the catch T, and afterwards allowed to drop
with its whole weight upon the wool. The blows can then be repeated in rapid
succession by merely moving the lever L until the wool is sufficiently opened out.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare what we claim is :-
The construction and application of the apparatus for preparing bales of wool for
sorting and washing, substantially as heroin shown and described.
110077