Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Softening, Opening, and otherwise Treating or Preparing Flax, Hemp, China Grass; Silk, or the like for Combing and Spinning.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Jan., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 7th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 7th Jan., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Softening, Opening,
and otherwise Treating or Preparing Flax, Hemp, China Grass;
Silk, or the like for Combing and Spinning.
We GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE of 12 Oat Lane in the City of London
Merchant and TAYLOR BURROWS of 88 Upper Kennington Lane London in the
County of Surrey Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
"
Our present invention relates to machines of the character known in the trade
as "gill boxes or "drawing frames" that is our improvements relate to machines
or apparatus for drawing off after softening piercing and opening the fibre (such
as flax, hemp, china grass, silk etcetera) heretofore usually effected by means of the
well known gill box or gill head and then "drawing off" such fibre-after being so
pierced-by tearing it off (i.e. drawing it from the drawing off end) through the
pins or comb teeth of the gill box.
In these old and universally used machines as is well known the "drawing off"
strain is put upon the fibre as it comes off the gills or comb teeth that is after the
fibre has been weakened by being pierced and opened by the pins of the gills.
Also the resulting sliver has been usually passed directly into a sliver can or vessel
in which it is removed.
Now our present invention consists in obtaining a softening and drawing or
"lashing" and opening action-on the fibre while on or in the pins of the gills-
from the feed end of the machine so that the drawing strain is on the unweakened
fibre and giving other advantages as will hereinafter be set forth and also we provide
a taking off device or "lapper" arrangement instead of running the sliver into
cans if so desired.
To a suitable gill box or gill head machine (or set of combs operating in a
suitable framework or standard and driven or actuated as well understood) we add
one (or more) pairs of feed and softening rollers at the feed end of the machine.
For the sake of brevity and clearness we will describe one pair of such rollers
only it being distinctly understood however that more than one pair may be used
if desired for instance we consider four pairs to be very advantageous for some
purposes.
The two rollers are advantageously fluted or corrugated the flutes or corrugations
intersecting with one another.
The top roller (which may or may not be driven) is pressed down on the lower
one by its own weight or by springs or weights if desired.
The other or lower roller is rotated forward a certain distance to feed forward
the-fibre on to the gills or combs and then has a reverse motion given to it (about
be bodily
may
half its forward motion-or more or less) or the pair of rollers
drawn backwards intermittently (that is a reciprocating motion towards and away
from the gills or combs may be given to the pair of rollers) our object being to
feed forward the fibre on to the pins or combs of the gill box and then intermittently
pull back or draw back the body of the fibre from behind that is to draw it back
by the grip of the feed rollers on the fibre and thus "lash" open or straighten
(and to a certain extent comb) the fibre on or in the pins gills or combs.
To obtain this back and forward motion various mechanical arrangements may
be adopted but we will describe suitable arrangements which we have contrived.
A toothed wheel fixed on the axis of the lower roller is rotated in the forward
direction by a pawl or finger on a swinging arm or lever actuated by a crank (or
crank pin) on a wheel in the train of mechanism.,

page_text: This swinging arm has a second pawl or finger on the other side which engages
and rotates the said toothed wheel in the opposite direction but does not rotate
said wheel so far back as the other pawl rotates it forward owing to the said second
pawl by means of a catch (or other suitable contrivance) being kept out of gear with
the toothed wheel during part of the return motion of the swinging arm-thus the
roller is rotated forwards a greater distance than it is rotated backwards.
Another method of obtaining this motion (and especially where several pairs of
rollers are used) is as follows:-
The toothed wheel fixed on the axis of the lower roller is revolved by a worm or
screw suitably revolved so that an endwise reciprocating motion which is also
imparted to such worm or screw shaft will cause the driven roller to be intermittently
turned backwards-the worm or screw however being continually driven in the
forward direction only by any suitable means for instance a pulley sliding on the
key which connects it to the worm or screw shaft.
Or the whole frame carrying the feed rollers may be made to be bodily moved to
and fro to obtain the same effect.
The feed rollers may be made to break and soften the straw or woody part of
flax or hemp or to soften china grass or other fibres or separate and special rollers
for this purpose may be added if desired.
If desired the fibre may be softened or otherwise subjected to a preliminary
treatment (on a separate machine) before being fed to our improved machine.
The fibre is suitably drawn off from the gills or combs and will be found to be
so far combed or prepared that it may be caused to lap round a drum or an endless
leather band (arranged horizontally or otherwise) and then as the lap accumulates
it may be removed from the "lapper" from time to time by the attendant without
stopping the machine.
With some fibres where only required for coarse yarns the fibre will be found to
be so far prepared that it may be taken direct from our improved machine to the
drawing and roving frames and then spun without any separate combing.
For still more coarse work such as binder twines for harvesting purposes the
fibre coming from our machine (particularly flax or hemp) may be twisted up or
spun at once into a coarse twine or strands for binding sheaves or other purposes.
Dated this 7th day of January 1892.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Softening, Opening,
and otherwise Treating or Preparing Flax, Hemp, China Grass,
Silk, or the like for Combing and Spinning.
We, GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE of 12 Oat Lane in the City of London,
Merchant, and TAYLOR BURROWS of 88 Upper Kennington Lane, London in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, 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 :—
66
"
Qur present invention relates to machines of the character known in the trade ag
gill boxes or "drawing frames" that is our improvements relate to machines or
apparatus for softening piercing and opening the fibre (such as flax, hemp, china
grass, silk, et cetera) heretofore usually effected by means of the well known gill
box or gill head and then "drawing off" such fibre-after being so treated-by
tearing it off (i.e. drawing it from the drawing off end) through the pins gills or
teeth of the gill box.
In the old and universally used machines as is well known the "drawing off"
strain is put upon the fibre as it comes off the gills pins or teeth that is after the

page_text: fibre has been weakened by being pierced and opened by the pins of the gills.
Also the resulting sliver has been usually passed directly into a sliver can or vessel
in which it is removed.
Now our present invention consists in obtaining a softening and drawing or
"lashing" and opening action-ou the fibre while in or on the pins or gills-from
the feed end of the machine so that the opening and lashing strain is on the unweakened
fibre and giving other advantages as will hereinafter be set forth-the fibre coming
off such machine being advantageously taken off by any suitable "
device or "lapper" arrangement.
taking off"
With a suitable "gill box" machine (or set of gills or combs operating in a
suitable framework or standard and driven or actuated as is well understood) we
use one (or several) pair of feed and softening rollers at the feed end of the
machine.
For the sake of brevity and clearness we will describe one pair of such rollers
only it being distinctly understood however that more than one pair may be used
if desired for instance we consider four pairs to be very advantageous for some
purposes such as when treating china grass according to our present invention.
The two rollers are advantageously fluted or corrugated the flutes or corrugations
intersecting with one another but we do not limit ourselves thereto.
The top roller (which may or may not be driven) is pressed down on the lower
one by its own weight or by springs or weights if desired.
The other or lower roller is rotated forward a certain distance to feed forward the
fibre on to the gills and then has a reverse motion given to it about half its forward
motion or more or less.
And in order that our present invention may be easily understood and readily
carried into practice we will proceed to fully describe same with reference to the

page_text: &is a pawl on the lever arm o.
t is a pin or projection on the pawl s.
u is a cam surface or fixed plate for the purpose of engaging the pin t and tripping
the pawls out of the teeth of the ratchet wheel p during part of the oscillating
movement of o.
v is a spring which normally keeps the pawl t pressed into teeth p until disengaged
therefrom by u.
w is a second pawl hung loosely to arm o and by gravity always resting in the
teeth of the wheel p which it forces round in the direction of arrow z and rides over
said teeth freely when arm o is moved in the opposite direction.
y is a feeding apron-of any suitable form or same may be dispensed with or
replaced.
It will thus be seen that an oscillating or rocking action is imparted to the rocking
armo (loosely pivotted on c) by means of the crank k and crank pin and connecting
rod m and this loose arm o having the pawl to operating on one side thereof thereby
forces the wheel p round in the direction of the arrow 2 say eight teeth and thereby
revolves the axis c and the roller b (which axis c or roller b may or may not have a
toothed wheel thereon meshing with a toothed wheel on the axis of the roller a to
identically revolve same-or a may simply revolve by friction).
While the loose arm o was thus moving in the direction of the arrows A
(Figure 2) the pawls rides loosely over the teeth of p until about half way when
the pint of said pawls strikes against the fixed plate u and rides up against same
and thus lifts the pawls out of the teeth p into about the positions shown in dotted
lines in Figure 2.
The crank pin and connecting rod m next move the loose arm o in the opposite
direction to the arrow A and the pawl w then rides back loosely over the teeth of
the wheel p while the pin t now rides down the cam surface u until the arm o has
been rocked (or moved) about half of its journey back whereupon the pawls engages
into the teeth of the wheel p and revolves the latter back in the opposite direction
to arrows z and so revolves the roller b backwards about half the distance it had
just previously been pushed forward as just described-and so on continuously.
It will be obvious that we do not limit ourselves to any exact proportion of back
motion to forward motion as the relative amount of back and forward motion may
be varied as required-(according to the fibre under treatment) and such variation
readily obtained by altering the shape or the position of the cam surface u so that
the pawl is permitted to come into gear with (i.e. to engage) the teeth of the
wheel p at an earlier or later moment according to whether a greater or less amount
of backward motion respectively is required.
The operation is as follows:-
The fibre is fed between rollers a and b and pierced by the pins or gills of the gill
box e and thereby dragged forward-as is well known and understood.
After the feed rollers have revolved forward certain distance they are reversed
(in the manner just previously described) for about half the distance fed forward
and thereby drag back the fibre on the gills (i.e. in the opposite direction to that in
which the gills are travelling and carrying the fibre) and thereby we obtain a very
effective and beneficial "lashing" opening and softening action on the fibre.
The fibre is again fed forward between a and b for a given distance and again
pulled back a part of (that is less than) the distance it was fed forward, and
so on.
The feed rollers may be made to break crush and soften the straw or woody part
of flax or hemp or to soften china grass or other fibres or separate and special rollers
for this purpose may be added if required.
We think it desirable however that the fibre should be usually softened and
crushed or otherwise subjected to a preliminary treatment decorticated or scutched
(on a separate machine or machines) before being fed to our hereinbefore described
machine.

page_text: The fibre is suitably drawn off from the gills e by quickly revolving drawing off
rollers and it may be caused to lap round a drum or an endless apron such as g
(arranged horizontally or otherwise) and then as the "lap" accumulates it may be
removed from such "lapper" from time to time by the attendant without stopping
the machine.
With some fibres where only required for coarse yarns the fibre-after treatment
on this machine-will be found to be so far prepared that it may be taken direct
from our said machine to the drawing and roving frames and then spun without any
separate combing.
For still more coarse work such as binder twines for harvesting purposes the fibre
coming from our machine (particularly flax or hemp) may be twisted up or spun
(after drawing) into a coarse twine or strands for binding sheaving or other
purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said present
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
The combination of (1) the feed rollers a and b (2) the means of giving such feed
rollers a backward and forward movement (less backward than forward) (3) the
gill box"
ee and (4) the drawing off rollers fall constructed combined and
arranged in the manner and for the purposes herein before described and illustrated.
66
Dated this 7th day of October 1892.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.