Improvements in Combing Wool and similar Material.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Aug., 1897-Accepted, 9th Oct., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Combing Wool and similar Material.
I, JEAN DEJONGHE, of Croix, in the Republic of France, 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:-
Lister's combing machine as improved by Sir Isaac Holden consists in a large
ring a Figure 1 mounted horizontally and having vertical comb teeth its entire
circumference parallel to the axis and pointing upwards. This ring has a slow and
regular rotating movement imparted to it in the direction indicated by the arrow.
At 6 is an apparatus which feeds wool or other similar substance to be combed, into
the teeth of the circular comb as they pass before it. Another apparatus c combs
and cleans every portion of the wool which projects from the circular comb.
Mechanism not shown in the drawings, actuates sectors and causes them at the
required time, to nip the wool and retain it during the action of the cleanser c.
Afterwards the segments are lifted and leave the wool free; this is then taken by
a pair of grooved cylinders which draw it from the teeth of the ring leaving between
them not only the noil and the short fibres but also all the ends of the long fibres
locked in the comb, this is a great defect and may be avoided.
The improvements herein described have for their object to avoid this loss and
to this extent increase the output of combed wool.
This process consists in the employment in addition to the ring a of a second
ring a similar in all respects to the former, and placed tangentially to it, in a plane
parallel to but a little above that of the first, but with the circular comb on the
underside, the needles pointing downwards.
Figures 2, 3 and 4 show upon a larger scale, a portion of the two rings, at the part
at which they are nearest to each other.
Figure 2 is an elevation, Figure 3 a plan, and Figure 4 a transverse section of
the two large combs, which show their respective positions.
The action of the first ring is the same as heretofore except that in place of the
wool being drawn off by a pair of grooved rollers, it is made to pass on into the
teeth of the second ring engaging into these teeth the portion already combed
and leaving free the portion which was engaged in the teeth of the first ring that
is to say the uncombed portion.
:-
The wool is transferred from one ring to the other as follows:-
The two drums a and a run at the same angular speed but in opposite directions.
A blade e Figures 2, 3 and 4 fixed at one end to the framing of the machine in an
inclined position with respect to the plane of rotation of the rings is first of
the same curvature as the ring a until its point of divergence and then as of the
curvature of the ring a¹. Owing to its inclined position, this blade first forces the
wool to disengage from bottom to top, from the teeth of the ring a and then causes
ts combed portion to penetrate into the teeth of the ring a¹. This is accomplished
wing to the simultaneous rotation of the two drums and to the inclination of the
lade e which may, if desired, be forked its branches embracing the ring of teeth
of the circular comb a¹.

page_text: To aid in disengaging the wool, I utilize an arrangement already in use in
existing machines and which consists in a piece of having the same curvature as
the ring a and which receives a short and rapid to and fro vertical movement
between the circumference of this ring and the blade e. This piece, inclined like
the blade e, is carried by a vertical rod supported in guides and connected by a
connecting rod to a small crank the axis of which carries a pulley actuated by a
strap.
When the wool has been taken into the circular comb of the ring a¹, segments
similar to those of the ring a but placed below, seize it and it is then submitted to
the action of a cleaning comb e similar to that of the ring a; after which the
wool is drawn off at d by a pair of drawing off rollers. This latter operation takes
place without any difficulty and without breaking any fibres for the portion engaged
in the circular comb being already combed comes out without resistance.
By this means the fibres of the combed materials retain their natural length
and are at the same time separated from short fibres and impurities.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. A process which consists in combing wool or other similar material con-
secutively at both ends by employing for this object two circular combs the material
passing from one to the other in the manner above described.
2. The arrangement of the two combs substantially as described.
3. A. blade e inclined in the plane of rotation of the drums, for the purpose of
causing the material treated to pass from one drum to the other.
Dated this 20th day of August 1897.