IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING TO BE SPUN AND IN SPINNING SILK WASTE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Cowper, of 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING TO BE SPUN AND IN SPINNING
SILK WASTE."-A communication.
Sealed the 3rd April 1855, and dated the 24th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Cowper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
October 1854.
I, CHARLES COWPER, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING TO BE SPUN AND IN SPINNING SILK WASTE
to be as follows:-
The rough silk waste is first opened by passing it one or more times through
a sheeting machine, or a machine of a similar character, by which it is
brought into the state of a fleece. This fleece is then passed once or oftener
through Heilmann's dressing machine, or any other suitable dressing machine,
so as to transform the fleece into a sliver or band. The sliver is then cut by
a cutting machine or by hand into pieces of a suitable length, to admit of the
fibres being operated upon by a combing machine. The gum is removed
from the silk by means of soap, water, or by a rotting process, either before or
after cutting up the sliver. The silk is then carded one or more times on a
carding machine, or a sheeting machine, or both combined may be used for
that purpose. It is then passed through a drawing machine or frame, fur-

page_text: nished with drawing rollers, or drawing rollers in combination with porcupine
rollers or gills, or gill boxes of any description, and this operation may be
repeated as many times as the class of fibres operated upon may require.
The slivers of silk are then to be combed by Heilmann's or any other suitable
combing machinery, and again drawn, as before stated, and the operation
repeated as often as required. The slivers of silk are then passed through
suitable roving frames one or more times, and these rovings are then spun
upon mules or throstles, or other suitable spinning machinery, such as those
employed in spinning flax or tow, in which the roving is wetted or passed
through water before being spun.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Cowper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
COWPER, of 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lanc, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Cowper, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Cowper, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Cowper, 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 PREPARING TO DE
SPUN AND IN SPINNING SILK WASTE," (communicated to me from abroad), upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Cowper, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Cowper, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: Tormed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the tonowing
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The rough silk waste is first opened by passing it one or more times
through a sheeting machine, or a machine of a similar character, by which it
is brought into the state of a fleece. The machine called Poupillier's sheeting
drum, which is used in France for preparing wool, may be employed for this
purpose. This machine consists of a drum or cylinder covered with rows of
inclined spikes or pins, and revolving rapidly in proximity to a pair of feeding
rollers. The pins are inclined forward in the direction of the motion, and
their effect is first to straighten or parallelize the fibres supplied to them by
the feeding rollers, and then to carry them away until the drum becomes
covered with the silk.
The drum is then moved away from the feeding rollers, and brought into
proximity with a pair of delivery rollers on the opposite side of the machine.
The accumulated layer of silk is cut through between two rows of pins and
entered into the delivery rollers, and the drum is made to revolve slowly in
the opposite direction to its former motion. The silk is thus drawn off as a
fleece, by the delivery rollers. This fleece is then passed one or more times
through the dressing machine described in the Specification of certain Letters
Patent granted to Josué Heilmann, and bearing date at Westminster, on or
about the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-six. Or any other suitable dressing machiné may be
employed for this purpose, so as to transform the fleece into a sliver or band.
If the machine employed for the first operation is constructed so as to produce
a sliver, this second operation may be omitted.
The sliver is then cut by a cutting machine or by hand into pieces of a
suitable length, to admit of the fibres being operated upon by a combing
machine. The gum may be removed from the silk either by soap, water, or
any other dissolving means, or by a rotting process. This operation may be
performed at any stage of the proceedings, or left undone altogether, or the
gum may be only partially removed from the silk.
After being cut, the silk is carded, for which purpose a carding machine
of any description, or a sheeting machine, or both together, may be used.
It is then passed through a drawing machine or frame furnished with
drawing rollers, or drawing rollers in combination with porcupine rollers or
gills, or gill boxes of any description, and this operation may be repeated as
many times as the class of fibres operated upon may require. The slivers
of silk are then to be combed by the combing machinery described in the
Specification of the aforesaid Letters Patent of Josué Heilmann, or by any

page_text: other suitable combing machinery, and again drawn, as before stated, and these
operations may be repeated as often as required. The slivers of silk are then
passed one or more times through suitable roving frames, with or without
twisting them, and these rovings are then spun upon mules or throstles, or
other suitable spinning machinery.
The slivers or rovings may be wetted by passing them through a bath of
water or other suitable liquid, or by any other means, and that during the
drawing, roving, or spinning processes. By treating the silk waste as herein-
before described, the fibres are first opened or separated and parallelized,
and they are then cut to a suitable length for being combed, and they are
afterwards combed."
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as
of the Invention any of the machinery herein-before mentioned, nor do I
claim generally the carding or combing or spinning of silk waste; but what
I claim is,
* . .
Firstly, the preparing silk waste by the combined and successive operations
of first opening and parallelizing the fibres, then cutting them to a suitable
length for being combed, and afterwards combing them, as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the preparing and spinning silk waste in a wet state after pre-
viously opening and parallelizing the fibres, cutting them to a suitable length,
and combing them, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the preparing and spinning silk waste by the series of combined
and successive operations herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Cowper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
THOS. TAYLOR, JR.,
7, Wellington Row,
Bethnal Green.
CHARLES COWPER. (L.S.)