IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOL COMBING
Year: 1838

page_text: DE
TAINEMOREAUS SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ARMAND Lecomte de FONTAINEMOREAU, of Charles Street, City Road, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixth day of August, in the second year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Pierre
Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Pierre Armand Lecomte de Fontaine-
moreau, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Pierre
Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,*
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOL COMBING," communicated
to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Pierre Armand Lecomte de Fontaine-
moreau, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said i
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
I

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Pierre Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, do hereby declare that the
nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which it is to be performed,
are particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in the application of steam, or in the heat of steam
in the carding and preparation of wool for combing, by means of a double
drum carding engine, hereafter described; and also in the application of steam
to wool combing, as also herein-after described.
The manner in which the Invention is to be performed is as follows:-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of an improved double drum carding
engine (heated by steam), shewing one side thereof; and Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal elevation of the other side of the same machine. The wool to be
carded is introduced at the point A, by an endless feeding cloth, in the usual
manner, (the said wool having been previously well cleansed or washed, but
still in a damp state). B is the main carding drum covered with card
filletting or card teeth, in connexion with which various rollers E, E, E, &c.,
also covered with fillettings of card' teeth, work, as shewn in the Drawing.
C is a smaller carding drum, provided also with carding rollers working into
it, as before-mentioned of the main drum B, upon which the wool receives a
first preparation before passing to the main drum. D, D, are the steam boxes
or cases formed. in the shape of segments of cylinders, and large enough to be
about coincident with a third of the drums B and C, and placed in proximity
to that portion of each drum or cylinder which is lowest in the course of its
revolution. The two segmental steam cases or boxes are connected and com-
municate with each other by means of the straight piece d, d. These cases
or boxes are kept supplied with steam by the pipe e; leading from a boiler,
and the water of condensation is drawn off through the cocks and pipes o, o
The steam thus supplied to these cases or boxes gives off its heat to the wool
on the cylinders covered with fillettings of card teeth, by which the wool is
heated in a beneficial degree in the process of: carding, whereby it is capable
of a greater degree of expansion, and is rendered more elastic, allowing. its
fibres to be stretched or extended without being torn while being carded; as
also in the subsequent operations it has to undergo. The wool, having passed
through the whole carding engine,. is taken therefrom by the discharge or
doffer roller F, and doffer comb, and thence through the funnel G, falling into
the can H in a continuous sliver of patted wool. It is taken from thence to
be operated upon by the stretcher q. A line of yellow color indicates the

page_text: passage of the wool from its introduction at the endless feeding cloth A to its
exit as sliver or patted wool at Z. After the operation of carding, I further
prepare, the wool by stretching it by means of twisting in the manner following,
that is to say:-I take six or eight doubles or stands of, the sliver or patted
wool, and fix them together at one end upon the pin g of the twisting
apparatus, Figure 3, and at the other end attach the said wool by a loop or
otherwise to the hook h. On turning the handle i, in connection with the
cogged wheel and pinion j, k, the slivers of wool are twisted into a kind of
cord f. The degree of twisting to be given will vary according to the quality
of the wool, which should be less twisted in proportion as it is more fine and
the fibre more delicate, and consequently liable to break. The length of cord
twisted is usually about eight or ten feet. The object of this twisting is to
render straight and to stretch out the fibres of the wool, so that no twisting or
stretching will be required after the combing, and instead of the twisting
apparatus immediately herein-before described, a spindle, similar to that used
for spinning or twisting cotton and other fibrous substances, may be employed.
The twisted cords or bobbins of wool having been formed, as before described,
are placed for about ten minutes in a box lined with zinc, into which steam is
conducted by a pipe, having a cock, and communicating with a boiler. This
treating with steam is for the purpose of keeping the wool in the stretched or
extended state, in which the operation of twisting has put it. The wool
having remained in the steam bath for about ten minutes, is to be taken out,
dried, and put into a basket or other receptacle, and is ready to be subjected to
the process of combing, after described, that is to say:―
Figure 4 and Figure 4b are a longitudinal and an end view of my
combing bench. Figure 5 is a plan. The comb bench, Figures 4 and 4b
and 5, may have any number of sets of combing apparatus attached to it,
according to the number of combers employed, turned alternately one way and
the other for convenience and economy of room." A D-shaped pipe K
passes along the whole length of the bench, the flat part being upwards, and
which forms the steam comb heater. This steam heater is supplied by the
pipe a at one end from a boiler, and the water of condensation passes off at
the other end by the pipe b. The steam admitted must be of such a tem-
perature as to give the necessary heat to the combs placed upon the steam
heater in the manner described. The comb X is fixed immoveably upon the
steam heater K. The comb heater Y is moveable, but may be attached to the
steam heater K by means of the bridle S, under which is passed the handle r,
and is held fast by means of the spring catch or trigger at 1, Figure 5.
W is one of the comber's seats or stools. V, the can of sliver or patted wool.

page_text: The operations of combing to be performed at this bench are as follows
(that is to say)-The cord of wool, prepared in the manner herein-before
described, having been untwisted, (the wool on bobbins does not require this,)
one end of the untwisted cord is taken and passed between the rollers i and j,
Figure 4. The roller i should be of iron, but if of wood should be weighted in
proportion to the fineness of the wool to be operated upon. Leaving these rollers
the wool is taken by the comber's two hands, and forced by him into the teeth
of the fixed comb X, until the said comb is more than filled with wool, that is
to say, until the wool projects about four or five inches above the teeth of the
comb. The comber then takes the comb beater Y, heated by being placed in
contact with the steam heater K, as before described), and beats or combs
the wool until it is freed from knots, bungs, and dirt. He then takes with his
two hands the comb full of wool, and draws it out with care, so as to obtain
threads or filaments of fibres or hairs of the finest nature and greatest length,
but which qualities vary according to the wool and dexterity of the comber.
In the course of the operation just described the comb beater Y becomes
loaded with a quantity of wool not altogether waste, and to obtain from it that
which is good, the operation just described must be repeated, the comb Y
being fixed to the steam heater K, by means of a handle passing under the
bridle, as before described. All that remains after this second operation, if it
be properly performed, will be waste or short wool, and must be thrown aside.
The operations herein-before described are to be repeated continuously by the
workman or comber taking successive quantities of wool from the rollers i
and j, and putting them on the comb X, and beating them with the comb
beater Y. The manner of heating the combs by steam, herein-before
described, is more economical than the method now in use of heating them
by coal, coke, or charcoal fires; the temperature produced is also more
beneficial to the operation of combing, and healthier to the combers employed.
The combs used in the manner herein-before described may also be of a
smaller size than those ordinarily used, so that women may do the work usually
performed by men.
Having now fully described the Invention communicated to me, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what is claimed
as new is, the application of steam to the carding and otherwise preparing
wool for combing, by means of the double drum carding engine and other
apparatus herein-before described, and also in the application of steam to the
heating of combs in the manner herein-before described.
And I declare that I do not confine myself to the precise manners of opera-
tion herein-before described, or to any particular proportions or sizes of parts

page_text: of the engines or apparatus, or to the particular materials for the formation of
parts herein-before described; but I claim all immaterial and merely colorable
modifications or alterations thereof. And such my Invention being, to the best
of my knowledge and belief, entirely new and never before used within that
part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or in any
of Her said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe that this my
said Specification doth comply fully, and without reserve or disguise, with the
proviso in the said Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim
to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Armand Lecomte de Fontaine-
moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and