IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Holden, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire
of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND COMBING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
Sealed the 5th May 1857, and dated the 30th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Holden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
30th January 1857..
I, ISAAC HOLDEN, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire of France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
PARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me on the 5th of May 1856,
I described improved means for giving the requisite motions to gill comb
bars such as used in the processes of preparing and combing wool and other
fibres in order to cause such bars to travel in a square or quadrangular
direction.
And the present improvements relate to other adaptations of means to
effect such motions to gill comb bars used in these processes, and consist in
using, as the means for giving the to-and-fro motions to such bars, quad-

page_text: rangular frames (one to each end of the bars); which are more than deep
enough to receive within them the ends of the bars in both tiers, whilst
they are sufficiently wide. to bear against the outer surfaces of the two
outer bars in that tier which for the time has the most bars in it, and
admit of their moving up and down therein as so moved by the lifting
and lowering frame, whereby such bars are kept square in position inde-
pendently of aid afforded by the lifting and lowering slides or frames, and
whereby the recesses in the lifting and lowering frames into which the gill
coinb bars are shifted for the lifting or the lowering may be larger that the
breadth of a gill bar, as such will only have to operate upon such bars to
effect the lifting and lowering of them, and also the upper race or support to
the gill bars may be made rather narrower than the gill bars which are
to rest upon it.
:
Also, the improvements relate to connecting the frame which by acting upon
each end of the gill bars effects the rising of them from the lower to the upper
tier with the frame which effects the descent of them from the upper to the
lower tier, so that they may be simultaneously operated upon by one can or
tappet acting upon friction pulleys, in place of employing a cam or tappet for
each, as described in the Specification of Patent réferred to:
"
Also, the improvements.relate to connecting each of the bars or-slides which
by operating upon the ends of the gill bars effect the lifting of them from the
lower to the upper tier with the bar or slide at the same end of the gill bars
for effecting the descent of the gill bars from the upper to the lower tier, so
that each lifting and lowering bar
or slide so connected may be operated by a
separate cam or tappet with friction pulleys.
Also, the improvements relate to giving motion to one frame, or slide for
effecting the motions in one direction to the gill bars by the direct action.
'of a cam or cam's and friction pulleys on one shaft, whilst the frames or slides
for giving the motions in the other direction are operated by cams or tappets
upon the same shaft through the intervention of one set of levers carrying
friction pulleys, in place of levers having only friction surfaces for the cams
or tappets to act upon, as in the Specification of my foriner Patent before
referred to::
!
Also, the improvements relate to 'giving the requisite motions to the
horizontal frames which give the to-and-fro motions to the gill bars by
the direct action of cams or tappets, either one cam or tappet to each
moving frame operating at each of the ends of the gill bars, or one cani or
tappet to both of such-frames (when those frames are connected together);

page_text: the cams or tappets being aided in their operation by friction pulleys, and
in the adaptation of a cam or tappet upon an upright shaft, aided by friction
rollers, to operate the frames which effect the rising and falling motions to the
gill bars.
Also, in giving the to-and-fro motion to such frame, or frames, for the hori-
zontal motion to the gill bars, by one lever or pair of levers operating the
motion in both directions, in place of employing one lever or pair of levers for
the motion in one direction, and another lever or pair of, levers for the motion
in the opposite direction.
Also, to forming the, races, or supporting parts between the upper and lower
series of gill bars hollow, to receive steam or other suitable heating, media to
communicate heat to such gill bars.
Also, when forming the bottom supporting plate or race hollow to receive.
steam or other suitable heating media, to extending the surface of such plate
to a position on the one side to under the descending gill, and on the other of
the ascending, gill, to give greater heating surface thereto, and by which the
amount of descent given to the lifting and lowering. bars is not necessarily
limited to,a precise distance..
Also, the improvements relate to forming gill bars hollow at their ends, for
the purpose of giving lightness thereto.
I.
Also, the improvements relate to forming gill combs used as working combs
with some of their teeth at one end (that nearest the drawing-off roller) longer,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, fileď
by the said Isaac Holden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
HOLDEN, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing. date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her,
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, th
the.
said Isaac Holden, Her special licence that I, the said Isaac Holden, my
Isaac
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Holden, my executors, administrators,, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 AND
COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Isaac Holden, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Isaac Holden, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me on the 5th of May 1856,
I described improved means for giving the requisite motions to gill comb
bars, such as used in the processes of preparing and combing wool and other
fibres, in order to cause such bars to travel in a square or quadrangular
direction.
2
And the present improvement's relate to other adaptations of means to
effect such motions to gill comb bars used in these processes, and consist
in using, as the means for giving the to-and-fro motions to such bars,
quadrangular frames (one to each end of the bars), which are more than
deep enough to receive within them the ends of the bars in both tiers,
whilst they are sufficiently wide to bear against the outer surfaces of the
two outer bars in that tier which for the time has the most bars in it, and
admit of their moving up and down therein, as so moved by the lifting and
lowering frame whereby such bars are kept square in position independently
of aid afforded by the lifting and lowering slides or frames, and whereby
the recesses in the lifting and lowering frames into which the gill'comb bars
are shifted for the lifting or the lowering may be larger than the breadth
of a gill bar, as such will only have to operate upon such bars to effect the
lifting and lowering of them, and also the upper race or 'support to the gill
bars may be made rather narrower than the gill bars which are to rest
upon it.
1.
:
Also the improvements relate to connecting the frame which by acting
upon each end of the gill bars effects the rising of them from the lower to the

page_text: cam
upper tier with the. frame which effects the descent of them from the upper to
the lower tier, so that they may be simultaneously operated upon by one
or tappet acting upon friction pulleys, in place of employing a cam or tappet
for each, as described in the Specification of Patent referred to.
:
Also, the improvements relate to connecting each of the bars or slides which
by operating upon the ends of the gill bars effect the lifting of them from the
lower to the upper tier with the bar or slide at the same end of the gill bars
for effecting the descent of the gill bars from the upper to the lower tier, so
that each lifting and lowering bar or slide so connected may be operated by a
separate cam or tappet with friction pulleys.
Also, the improvements relate to giving motion to one frame or slide, for
effecting the motions in one direction to the gill bars by the direct action of
a cam or cams and friction pulleys on one shaft, whilst the frames or slides
for giving the motions in the other direction are operated by cams or tappets
upon the same shaft through the intervention of one set of levers carrying
friction pulleys, in place of two sets of levers having only friction surfaces.for.
the cams or tappets to act upon, as in the Specification of my former Patent
before referred to.
Also, the improvements relate to giving the requisite motions to the
horizontal frames which give the to-and-fro motions to the gill bars by
the direct action of cams or tappets, either one cam or tappet to each
moving frame operating at each of the ends of the gill bars, or one cam
or tappet to both of such frames, when those frames are connected together;
the cams or tappets being aided in their operation by friction pulleys, and
in the adaptation of a cam or tappet upon an upright shaft, aided by friction
rollers, to operate the frames which effect the rising and falling motion to
the gill bars.
Also, in. giving the to-and-fro motions to such frame or frames, for the
horizontal motions to the gill bars, by one lever or pair of levers operating
the motions in both directions, in place of employing one lever or pair of
levers for the motion in one direction, and another lever or pair of levers for
the motion in the opposite direction.
Also, to forming the races or supporting parts between the upper and
lower series of gill bars hollow, to receive steam or other suitable heating
media to communicate heat to such gill bars.
Also, when forming the bottom supporting plate or race hollow, to receive
steam or other heating media, to extending the surface of such plate to a
position on the one side to under the descending gill, and on the other of the

page_text: of the horizontal slides e. The upper race g, in place of being formed simply
of projections from the side of the machine, as is usually the case, stretches
across the frame from side to side under the upper row of gill bars, and
is made hollow, so as to be heated by steam: The position and form of this
race are shewn by the dotted lines. g, g, on the separate plan view, Figure 4.
By making this provision for a second steam or hot water beating surface g,
in addition to the like heating surface h, I am enabled to obtain a much more
intense heat to the gill bars. The lower race h is similarly formed, but accord-,
ing to one part of my present improvements it spreads out on each side.to about
the breadth of a comb bar wider than the race.g, by which when the slides d; d,
descend. to bring one of the gill bars of the upper tier to rest upon one extended.
part of the race h, it may even descend a little lower than that race h, and
when the slides d. rise to raise a gill bar, to the upper tier at the other side,.
those slides & may rise with the bearing surface d thereof for the gill. bars a
little higher than the race g. In employing lifting and lowering slides to raise
the gill bars from the lower race to the upper races, and to lower them from
the upper races to the lower race, as described in my former Specification,
already: referred to, the slides for lifting were independent of those for,
lowering, and one part, of my present improvements, as illustrated by this;
Drawing, consists in combining the lifting parts or frames d with the lowering
parts or frames d³, as shown separately by Figure 5, so that they may be simul-,
taneously operated by the same arrangement of cam or moving surfaces. By
the arrangement of the slides e, above described, the rising and falling comb
bars are kept square in their position without the aid of the upright slides.d,
and by making the upper race g narrower than the breadth of the two combs
resting on it, and the recesses d',.d', in the frames d, larger than the breadth
of a comb, bar, I am saved the necessity of fitting and pushing with the precision,
otherwise needed. By the combination of means for effecting a square motion,
to.gill comb bars already described, as well as in those hereafter referred.to,.
the action of pushing and lifting of the combs, is transmitted through the,
medium of friction rollers..
I will now describe another modification of square-motion gill machine,
which is shown, by side and front view at Figures 6 and 7. a, as in the pre
vious Figures, is the main shaft, which receives its motion from a steam engine.
or other power, acting by a strap or band upon the fixed pulley a fixed upon.
that shaft a. In this case there is a separate upright slide frame d on each side,
of the machine, and each of them is raised and lowered, by a separate cam:b,
fixed on the cross shaft b', which receives motion by the bevilled pinions,

page_text: from the axis a.. Each cam 6 acts on its frame d by means of two friction
pulleys c; c, carried by such frames. Motion is conveyed from the shaft b¹ to
the shaft k by means of the tooth wheels m, m, m, and on this' shaft are fitted
two cams, one on each side of the frame, which give the desired to-and-fro
motions to the two horizontal slides e, e, (one on each side of the machine)...
Each cam acts on its slide e by means of the two friction pulleys n,.n, carried
by such slides. In this modification of apparatus the lifting and pushing are
effected by the frames d and e, by direct action' through friction pulleys, without
the intervention of levers or cross bars.
Figure 8 and Figure 9 represent another adaptation of parts for effecting
what I call a square motion to gill bars. a is an upright shaft or axis,
receiving motion from a steam engine or other power acting by a strap or band
upon a pulley a affixed on the shaft a; b is a cam affixed upon this shaft a,
and embraced by friction wheels c, c, carried by the side frames d, d; m is a
toothed wheel affixed upon the shaft a, and taking into the toothed wheel m¹
affixed upon the shaft, 'thereby conveying motion from the shaft a to the
shaft. On the shaft k is affixed a cam 1, which acts upon the friction pulleys.
in, supported by pins n', carried by the cross plate o, connecting the two
horizontal slides e, e. The arrangements and adaptations of the other parts are
for the most part similar to those employed in the modifications already
described.
:
Figures 10 and 11 show a side 'and end' view of a gill bar constructed
according to another part of my improvements, whereby I obtain lightness to
such bars by forming them hollow at their ends f¹, one of which is in Figure
10 shewn in section, the other in full. Figure 10 also shews another of my
improvements, where towards one end, say, to about 3 of the entire length of
the comb, it is provided with pins higher than the others. This end f of the
combs, when using such gill comb apparatus as working combs, is when at
work that nearest the drawing-off' rollers; and by this application of extra
lengths to some of the teeth of gill bars I find the beard of the fibre being
cleared is less liable to slip over the points of those gill teeth as the bars recede
from the carrying comb.
I would state that although I have in these, Figures shewn the gill comb
apparatus to which my improvements are applied as employed for the purpose
of working wool or other fibres in combing machinery, the improvements are
equally applicable when using gill combs in other of the preparing processes
where gill combs are applicable..
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the best means

page_text: I am acquainted with for effecting the several improvements referred to;. I
would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details
shewn and described, as these may be varied; but what I do claim are the
several arrangements, adaptations, and combinations of means as adapted to
preparing and combing wool and other fibres, substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Holden, have hereunto set iny
hand and seal, this. Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eiglit hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES, Patent Agent,
73, Chancery Lane, London.
ISAAC HOLDEN. (L.s.)..