IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING COTTON SEEDS FROM FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND IN PREPARING SUCH SEEDS FOR THE PROCESS OF DECORTICATION." PROVISIONAL SPFICATION
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Herbert Gossage, of Widnes, in the
· County of Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CLEANING COTTON SEEDS FROM FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND IN PREPARING SUCH
SEEDS FOR THE PROCESS OF DECORTICATION."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Herbert Gossage
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
'15th March 1866.
I, FREDERICK HERBERT GOSSAGE,. of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN CLEANING COTTON SEEDS FROM FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND. IN PREPARING
SUCH SEEDS FOR THE PROCESS OF DECORTICATION," to be as follows:-
زاد
My Invention consists in submitting cotton seeds to the action of flame, or
highly heated air, whereby the fibrous material adhering to cotton seeds after:
the ordinary process of ginning is destroyed.
In carrying out my Invention the seeds may be placed in a vessel provided
with wire gauze at the bottom, through which a gas flame may be caused to

page_text: pass, but other methods of submitting them to the action of flame or heated
air may be adopted. I propose to keep the seeds in motion by hand or by
any suitable and ordinary mechanical motion. The husks of cotton seed
thus treated become brittle and the seeds are prepared for more ready and
effectual decortication.
And I therefore as another part of my Invention submit cotton seeds
which have been cleaned of fibrous material by any known method to the
action of flame or highly heated air. The decortication may be effected by
roller's, stones, or other known means adopted for that operation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
"by the said Frederick Herbert Gossage in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th September 1866...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HERBERT GOSSAGE, of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, send
greeting.
✓ WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto' me,
the said Frederick Herbert Gossage, Her special license that. I,, the said
Frederick Herbert Gossage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Frederick Herbert Gossage, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING COTTON SEEDS FROM FIBROUS
MATERIAL, AND IN PREPARING SUCH SEEDS FOR THE PROCESS OF DECORTICATION,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Frederick Herbert
Gossage, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Frederick Herbert Gossage, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Inyention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in submitting cotton seeds in the state in which
these are usually obtained; that is, with fibrous material adhering to them
after the ordinary process of ginning to the action of flame or highly heated
air whereby such fibrous material is destroyed by combustion. The husks of
cotton seed thus treated become brittle and are thus prepared for more ready
and effectual decortication.
:
I therefore as another part of my Invention submit cotton seeds which
have been deprived of fibrous material by any known process to the like
action of flame or highly heated air.
:
The apparatus to be used in carrying out my Invention may be varied in
form, but I will now give certain examples which will be sufficient for the
instruction of all competent persons.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents the most simple arrange-
ment.. At a is a gas pipe with an upright branch 6 projecting into the tube
of metal c. At d' is a trough with inclined sides and furnished with a wire
gauze bottom e. A supply of seeds having been placed in the trough d'it is
held over the flame issuing from the pipe a and is then tilted upward and
downward so as to cause the seeds to run up and down the two inclined sides
alternately. They are thus caused to pass through the gas flame, and the
adhering fibre is destroyed by combustion, Figs. 2 and 3 represent in
longitudinal and transverse sections another arrangement of apparatus; in
this instance, a trough-f is suspended by chains g; and to which a vibratory
motion is imparted by a crank or excentric g¹ or other such ordinary con-
trivance; and thus the said trough receives a shaking motion. The bottom
of the trough at intervals is provided with wire gauze i, beneath which are
chambers inclosing ge burners k, connected with the supply pipe, which
pipe! is connected with the main by a flexible joint pipe. Cotton seeds'having
been placed in the trough fat its upper end are caused by the vibration of the
crank to travel downward and to roll over so as to present fresh surfaces to
the action of the flame or heated air passing through the wire gauze i, and
they are then discharged at the lower end of the trough.
1
1. Another method by which my Invention may be carried into effect is shewn
at Fig. 4. At is an upright shaft provided at top with a cone m, surrounding
which is a similarly formed casing n. This casing is continued so as to form
a chamber ó beneath and a chimney p above. At-q is a gas pipe provided
with a series of burners disposed around the cone m and projecting into
the casing n..The shaft. and consequently, cone m are caused to revolvė

page_text: and the cotton 'seeds to be cleaned äre then féd througli the hopper s.. As
they fall they are thrown by centrifugal force against the conical casing n
from whence they again fall, and are in like manner returned until they
eventually reach the chamber o, having in their passage passed through
the flames or heated air which proceed from: the burners and between the
two conical surfaces n, m. Some cotton seeds as these occur in commerce
have more adhering fibres. than others, and require, therefore, a greater
amount of exposure to flame or heated air. This exposure may be regulated
by causing the trough f of Figs. 2 and 3, to reciprocate slower of faster, or
in the case of Fig. 4 by rotating the cone,m at a speed which will by more
frequently throwing off the seeds retard them, or at a lower speed which will
permit them to fall more quickly. The same variation it is evident may
also be obtained by enlarging or contracting the supply of gas. In Fig. 4
the burners are shewn of the ordinary Bunsen construction with a slide.*
for regulating the admission of air.
.:.
I have particularly mentioned in the above description the use of gas as
the source of flame or heated air, but coke or other suitable fuel may be
employed to produce the required flame or heated air by means of ordinary
furnaces and flues.
In carrying out the next part of my Invention I employ similar apparatus
to that above described, or I place the seeds which have been cleaned by
any ordinary process upon a bed of brickwork or metal, provided with a flue
beneath by which it may be heated. In this case the seeds are placed upon
the said bed and raked about until they have become sufficiently heated, the
time necessary for which must be decided by experience and will be readily
ascertained. It will be found that seeds treated in this manner are brought
into a condition which is favorable for decortication. The process of decorti-
.cation is then effected by rollers, stones, or other ordinary means. I may
remark that the cotton seeds having been heated by my process should be
allowed to become cool before being stored, but for decortication it is
preferable to conduct the said seeds in their heated state at once to the
decorticating apparatus.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, submitting cotton seeds in the state in which they are usually obtained
by the ordinary process of ginning (that is, with fibrous material adhering
to them) to the action of flame or highly heated air, for the purpose of
depriving them of such adhering fibre by combustion; and also. submitting

page_text: cotton seeds to the action of flame or highly heated air for preparing them
for the process of decortication.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Herbert Gossage, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
FRED. H. GOSSAGE. (L.S.)