Improvements in Apparatus for Scouring or Washing Wool and other Fibrous Substances.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 4th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 8th Sept., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPEGLETATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Scouring or Washing Wool and
other Fibrous Substances.
We, JOHN CHARLES WALKER and JONATHAN EDWARD STEPHENSON, both
trading as John Perry, of Shipley Fields Mill, Shipley, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, and ALFRED AMBLER, of Prospect Mills, Wilsden, near
Bingley, in said county, Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in that type of apparatus for washing or
Scouring wool and other fibrous substances in which the fibrous material is passed
or carried through the wash bowl by the motion or flow of the washing or scouring
liquor, and the object of the invention is to provide a simple arrangement for
applying an intermittent pressure to the fibres or for exposing them to an
intermittent squeezing action without rubbing them along the bottom of the bowl
or otherwise tending to felt or entangle them.
Our improvements consist in a rolling appliance or appliances arranged to more
or less squeeze the fibres by a rolling motion intermittently against the bottom of
the wash bowl or its equivalent whilst they are carried through the bowl by the
flow of the washing liquor therein the said rolling appliance or appliances being
more or less lifted at intervals to facilitate this flow.
The said rolling appliance may consist of one or more rollers placed within the
bowl and extending across from side to side. The roller or rollers are arranged to
be rolled to and fro whilst more or less pressing against the bottom of the bowl so
as to squeeze the fibres, and to allow the fibres to be carried by the flow of the
washing liquor through the bowl said roller or rollers is or are lifted at any suitable
part or parts of its or their motion. The roller or rollers may be connected
together by links preferably clear of the washing liquor and may be reciprocated
in any convenient manner and it or they may be lifted by inclines or equivalent
devices which may be placed within the bowl.
a
It is by no means necessary that the roller or rollers forming the said rolling
appliance should make more than a portion of a revolution as it is reciprocated
within the bowl. Nor is it necessary for said roller or rollers to be complete
cylinders, as it or they may be in the form of a rocker or rockers each having
semi-circular or other suitably curved base adapted to rock with a rolling motion
upon or close to the bottom of the bowl. In this case each of the rockers may
have an arm at one or both ends extending down outside the bowl and having a
curved row of teeth at the extremity parallel to the base of the rocker adapted to
engage a rack of teeth fixed below. When the said arms are placed at both ends
of the rockers they may engage inclines or their equivalent at any point or points
in their movement for the purpose of lifting the rockers connected thereto.
Dated this 3rd day of November 1893.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Scouring or Washing Wool and
other Fibrous Substances.
We, JOHN CHARLES WALKER and JONATHAN EDWARD STEPHENSON, both
trading as John Perry; of Shipley Fields Mill, Shipley, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, and ALFRED AMBLER, of Prospect Mills, Wilsden, near Bingley,
in said county, Spinner, 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:-
This invention relates to improvements in that type of apparatus for washing or
scouring wool and other fibrous substances in which the fibrous material is passed
or carried through the wash bowl or vessel containing the washing liquor by the
motion or flow of the washing or scouring liquor, and the object of the invention is
to provide a simple arrangement for applying an intermittent pressure to the fibres
or for exposing them to an intermittent squeezing action without rubbing them
along the bottom of the bowl or otherwise tending to felt or entangle them.
Our improvements consist in a rolling appliance or appliances arranged to more
or less squeeze the fibres, by a rolling motion, intermittently against the bottom of
the wash bowl or its equivalent whilst they are carried through the bowl by the
flow of the washing liquor therein, the said rolling appliance or appliances being
more or less lifted at intervals to facilitate this flow.
The said rolling appliance may consist of one or more rollers placed within the
bowl and extending across from side to side. The roller or. rollers are arranged to
be rolled to and fro or backward and forward whilst more or less pressing against
the bottom of the bowl so as to squeeze the fibres, and to allow the fibres to be
carried by the flow of the washing liquor through the bowl said roller or rollers is
or are lifted at any suitable part or parts of its of their motion. The roller or
rollers may be connected together by links preferably clear of the washing liquor
and may be reciprocated in any convenient manuer and it or they may be lifted by
inclines or equivalent devices.
It is by no means necessary that the roller or rollers forming the said squeezing
appliance should make more than a portion of a revolution as it is reciprocated
within the bowl. Nor is it necessary for said roller or rollers to be complete
cylinders, as it or they may be in the form of a rocker or rockers each having a
semicircular or other suitably curved base adapted to rock with a rolling motion
upon or close to the bottom of the bowl.
In the drawing,
Figure 1, represents a side elevation of such parts of a washing bowl as are
necessary to illustrate the application of our improvements thereto.
Figure 2, represents a plan view of the same."
Figure 3, represents a cross section of Figure 1 on the broken line a, ↳ of the
latter figure.
Figure 4, is a view of a detail on a larger scale hereinafter referred to.
The fibrous material to be washed is fed in any ordinary way into the feed end A
of the wash bowl A' and the washing liquor, as usual in this type of machine, is
constantly flowing from the feed end to the delivery end A2 of the bowl carrying
the fibrous material with it. At the delivery end the washing liquor falls into the
lower vat or vessel B (Figure 1) whilst the fibre is delivered in the usual way and
the liquor from the lower vat B is pumped back into the feed end of the bowl to
create the current therein, but this construction and arrangement is well known.
To intermittently squeeze the fibrous material as it is carried through the bowl

page_text: we introduce the rockers C, C1, C2 and C³ placed within the bowl and extending
across from side to side. These rockers have an arm or crutch D on each side
bolted to the top of the rockers and extending down outside the bowl and their
extremities are provided with a row of teeth E the pitch line of which is approxi-
mately parallel to the underside or acting face C of the rockers. These arms
have also a plain rocking face F parallel with the pitch line. Brackets G are
secured to the exterior of the sides of the bowl which brackets are provided with
plain faces F for said rocking faces F to ride upon and also a toothed rack E¹ to
engage the teeth E. The said plain faces are preferably slightly above the level
of the bottom of the bowl so as just to keep the faces C of the rockers off the
bottom H of the bowl as shown by C2 (Figure 1) where the side of the bowl is
broken away to show a cross section of C. The rocking face F of the arm D of
the rocker C and the plain face F1 of the bracket are shown broken away so as to
give a full sectional view of the teeth behind. The face F and the teeth E' are
inclined or curved up at one end J (as shown on a larger scale by Figure 4 which
represents an inside view of one of the arms D and brackets G) so that each time
the rockers are oscillated in that direction they are more or less lifted thereby away
from the bottom of the bowl thus allowing the fibrous material to flow with the
washing liquor whilst the rockers are lifted in this manner.
The rockers are linked together by the links K hinged to the top of the rockers
and are oscillated by the rod L connecting the link between (and C³ to the crank
pin M of the crank disc N mounted upon the shaft O. The shaft O is mounted in
bearings formed in the standards P fixed upon the cross piece Q supported by the
standards R bolted to the sides of the bowl. The shaft O is driven by the spur
wheel S engaging the toothed wheel T driven by the driving pulley U to which it
is connected.
It is obvious that the rotation of the disc N will oscillate the rockers, as shown
by the broken lines representing C (Figure 1) at the extent of its oscillation in
each direction. And that this oscillatory movement will squeeze the fibres against
the bottom of the wash bowl excepting when said rockers are raised by the inclined
ends J of the brackets G.
The bottom of the bowl between the rockers is preferably perforated to allow
sediment to fall into the receptacles V formed beneath. The brackets Gare
bolted to the web Y or extension of the sides of the bowl below the bottom between
the receptacles V, and the screws X are provided to allow the height and
inclination of the said brackets to be adjusted.
It is obvious that the form of the rockers and the method of mounting and
oscillating them may be varied without departing from the nature of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. In apparatus for washing fibrous material in which the material is passed
through the bowl by the flow of the washing liquor therein, the improved means or
method of intermittently squeezing the fibres against the bottom of the bowl or its
equivalent by means of an oscillating roller or rocker or the like having its acting
face moving to and fro upon or in close proximity to the bottom of the bowl and
adapted to be more or less lifted therefrom at intervals, substantially as herein
shown and described.
2. In apparatus for washing fibrous material in which the material is passed
through the bowl by the flow of the washing liquor therein, the combination with
an oscillating roller or rocker or its equivalent situated within the bowl, of an arm
at each end of said rocker or its equivalent extending down outside the bowl and
having each a row of cog teeth at its lower extremity adapted to engage a rack
fixed outside each side of the bowl, substantially as herein shown and described.
3. In apparatus for washing fibrous material in which the material is passed
through the bowl by the flow of the washing liquor therein, the combination with

page_text: an oscillating roller or rocker or its equivalent situated within the bowl, of inclined
faces or their equivalent adapted to support and intermittently lift the said rocker
or its equivalent, substantially as herein shown and described.
Dated this 2nd day of August 1894.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.