CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING, COMBING, AND DRAWING WOOL, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machinist, and John Hargrave, of Kirkstall, in the said
County, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING, COMBING, AND DRAWING WOOL,
FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 5th January 1853 and dated the 6th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Fairbairn
and John Hargrave at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 6th November 1852.
We, PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist,
and JOHN HARGRAVE, of Kirkstall, in the said County, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR OPENING, COMBING, AND DRAWING WOOL,
FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the combination of a series of circular
or barrel gills or excentric rotary gills, which are so arranged and
actuated that by progressive increased velocities given to the several
gill barrels in the range or series, the fibres of material under operation
may not only be separated or opened and combed, but also the sliver be
drawn or elongated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Fairbairn and John Hargrave in the
Great Seal Patent Office ou the 6th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, and
JOHN HARGRAVE, of Kirkstall, in thes aid County, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said Peter Fairbairn and John
Hargrave, Her special license that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and
John Hargrave, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Peter Fairbairn and John Hargrave, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, an Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING, COMBING, AND
DRAWING WOOL, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and John
Hargrave, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and John
Hargrave, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:

page_text: The object of this Invention is, to open out or loosen the fibres of
wool and other short staple, and to comb and draw it into a sheet or a
sliver, preparatory to its being operated upon by the drawing frame or
the combing machine, according to the nature of the staple under
treatment. This is effected by the use of two or more rotary gill
cylinders, the foremost one of which will take up the staple from a pair
of feed rollers, and present it to a second cylinder, which, by rotating at
an increased speed, will take up the staple and will deliver it to a pair
of stripping rollers, from which the staple may be conducted through a
trumpet mouth, and delivered thence in the form of a sliver. Or, if
thought desirable, a third cylinder may be interposed between the
second cylinder and the stripping rollers.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, shews in plan view, and
Fig. 2, in longitudinal vertical section, the improved machine which
forms the subject of the present Invention. a, a, is the main framing
for supporting the various parts constituting the improved machine.
b, b, is an endless feed apron carried by rollers c, c, and intended
to supply the staple to the rotary gill cylinders. The staple, as it
leaves the apron, is taken up by a pair of rollers d, d, and trans-
mitted by them to a second pair of rollers e, e, whence it passes
to the gill cylinder f, which turns in bearings in a pair of adjust-
able brackets g. 9. This cylinder is furnished on its periphery with
a series of grooves, which extend from end to end thereof, and form
radial guides for the reception of a series of gill bars h, which are
intended to work up and down therein. The cylinder f, rotates between
end plates i, i, (shewn detached at Figs. 3,) which plates are bolted to
the main framing, and severally carry two flat rings,, forming
together an excentric groove to receive pins projecting from the ends of
the gill bars h. These excentric grooves, as the cylinder rotates in the
direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, will drive out the gill bars, and cause
them to take up the staple from the rollers e, e. A rotating brush j,
mounted immediately above these rollers, will then press the staple down
between the gill pins, and by the continued rotation of the cylinder the
staple will be carried round to a second gill cylinder f*, which runs at
an increased speed, and in an opposite direction to the cylinder f. This
cylinder f*, is in like manner fitted with gill bars, the end pins of which

page_text: work in eccentric grooves, similar to that shewn at Figs. 3. The staple
is delivered from the cylinder f, to the cylinder f*, by the gills of the
former cylinder being drawn within their grooves, and the gills of the
latter cylinder projected (at about the line of centres) beyond its
periphery, which movement of the gills is effected by means of the
eccentric grooves formed by the rings on the fixed end plates acting
upon the end pins of the gill bars. The staple is taken off the gills
of the cylinder fx, by means of stripping rollers k, k; the staple is
then conducted through a trumpet mouth 7, and so passed out of the
machine, it being balled or received into cams, according to the staple
of which the sliver is composed. The axle of the cylinder f, runs in
boxes which slide in guides in the brackets g, and are capable of being
adjusted vertically by means of screws ; and the cylinder fx, is
mounted on adjustable brackets m, for the purpose of determining its
most efficient working position as respects its degree of proximity to the
cylinder f, and the stripping rollers k, k, respectively. The arrangement
of gearing for driving the various parts of the machine is shown by blue
lines in Fig. 2.
When operating this machine, say for the purpose of
opening out, combing, and drawing wool, the staple is thrown on to
the apron b, in the state of compact locks, and by the movement of the
apron in the direction of the arrow the staple is carried forward to the
rollers d, d, thence to the rollers e, e, after passing between which it is
taken up by the gills of the cylinder f, the gills for this purpose being
forced forwards beyond the periphery of the cylinder, by reason of the
groove in the plates i, taking an increasing diameter at a point near
about on a level with the bite of the feed rollers. When the groove has
attained its greatest diameter, which is reached at the point 1, it takes a
circular course until it reaches the point 2; the diameter then diminishes
until at the point 3, it again takes a circular course, which it loses by a
divergence at about the point 4, to the point 1. The gills when charged
with staple carry it past the brush j, (which, as before stated, presses it
down between the pins,) and deliver it on the cylinder. To effect
this transference of the staple the gills of the cylinder f, should, as they
make their nearest approach to the circuit of the gills of the cylinder f*,
recede within their grooves, and tho gills of the cylinder f*, should
advance at an equal rate; for this purpose, therefore, it is important to

page_text: set the eccentric grooves of the two pairs of end plates in relative
positions, in order to ensure the proper advance and retrogression of
the gills of the respective cylinders. It will be understood that as the
gills retire into their grooves the staple will be pushed off the gill pins
by the edges of the grooves, and thus prevent waste of material or
clogging of the gills with short staple or noils. The cylinder f*, by
reason of its rapid rotation, will draw or spread the staple as it receives
it from the cylinder f, and comb and partially straighten its fibres. It
is then stripped off from the gills (at the opposite side of the cylinder to
that at which it was taken up) by means of the rollers k, k, the gills
retiring into their grooves to assist in the discharge of the staple; and
it may then be drawn into a sliver, as shown in the Drawing, or wound
on to a lapping roller, if thought desirable. From the foregoing
explanation it will be understood that two, three, or more gill cylinders
may be set in the same machine, and made to take up the staple
consecutively, and comb and draw it into a sliver or lap.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do
not confine ourselves to the precise arrangement of machinery as
described with reference to the Drawing; but that, under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, we claim as of our Invention of improve-
ments in machinery for opening, combing, and drawing wool, flax, and
other fibrous materials, combining in one and the same machine two or
more rotary gill cylinders fitted with advancing and receding gills, and
rotating at different speeds, for the purposes above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Fairbairn and John
Hargrave, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Third
day of May. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM NAYLOR.
PETER FAIRBAIRN. (L.S.)
JOHN HARGRAVE.
(L.S.)