Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Extracting Suint or Yolk from Wool.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1893--Accepted, 5th Aug., 1893
COMPL LTD
[Communicated from abroad by EMILE RICHARD-LAGERIE, of 296, Grande Rue,
Roubaix, in the French Republic, Chemical Engineer.j
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Extracting
Suint or Yolk from Wool.
I, RIDLEY JAMES URQUHART of 57 Barton Arcade, Manchester in the
County of Lancaster, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, 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 :-
This invention relates to the extraction of yolk or suint from raw wool and
consists in improvements in the method of and apparatus for effecting such
extraction, the object of my invention being to do so in a more rapid and perfect
manner and to obtain the suint at any degree of concentration desired as well
as to reduce the space required by the apparatus and render the same removable.
Ordinarily the raw wool is for one or two hours immersed in tanks or cisterns,
the liquor after having acted in one tank on one lot being usually transferred
to another to act on another lot and becoming more concentrated, while the wool
is first entered into the more concentrated liquor, then successively treated with
weaker liquor from other tanks, and at last with water. This method requires a
large area for the tanks and takes a considerable time, besides which the wool,
being soaked and thereby softened, when introduced into the first tank containing
the concentrated and dirtiest liquor, becomes impregnated with the dirty and
discolouring particles in suspension therein, which discolour it and cannot be
removed by subsequent washing. This defect is avoided and space economized by
my improved method, which consists in treating the wool without steeping it in
small quantities in movable receptacles mounted on carriages by pouring from
different compartments of a tank or different tanks, liquors of gradually decreasing
definite strength in more or less divided spray upon the top of the wool, and
exhausting it from below the same by a pump, the vacuum or suction produced by
the pump being made variable by an adjustable snifting valve and the pressure on
the wool and liquor and velocity of percolation and the extraction of suint
regulated thereby, after which the liquor is raised again and re-distributed to
the different compartments or tanks according to the strength of concentration
indicated by a graduated hydrometer, arranged in a cistern inserted into the conduit.
In order that this invention may be readily understood and carried into effect,
I have hereunto appended five sheets of drawings on which,
Fig. 1 shows a front view.
Fig. 5 details.
These drawings are intended to show the general arrangement of apparatus
suitable for carrying the method herein before described into effect, but I do not
confine myself to the special arrangement or the details thereof shewn, as these
may be varied without departing from said method or the general arrangement of
apparatus.
The apparatus consists of a frame or staging formed of two floors or platforms A
and B, connected by columns or uprights a a. The lower platform is raised
slightly from the floor. The upper platform supports the tank C and the various
operating mechanisms. The lower floor A is arranged so that one or more
carriages D, supported on wheels, can be run upon it, a receptacle or vat d
being mounted on each carriage either in a fixed position but preferably pro-
vided with pivots held in brackets attached to the carriage or mounted in any
other suitable way so that the vat can be tilted or inclined for removing the wool
[Prios 8d.

page_text: therefrom. The wool in grease may be charged into the vats d before they are
run upon the platform A, or through tapering shoots b attached to the upper
platform B. On one side at the bottom of each vat d a pipe d' is arranged, with
an internal elbow dipping into a recess d2 of the bottom, or connected to a
perforated pipe extending along said bottom or other device for collecting the
liquor that has percolated through the wool. The pipe d' is provided with a union
of any suitable kind for connecting it to a flexible pipe e, attached to the suction
pipe e of a lifting pump E. This pump is fixed upon the lower platform A and
may be of any sort. It is shewn on the drawing as a single lift pump with conical
piston and leather valves e³, with a cover et with stuffing box and a lateral
delivery pipe e, which allows of ready access to the piston. The pump is driven
from a crank disc g (Fig. 1) fixed on a shaft g² which is driven through spur
wheels gg from the driving shaft m² on which a fast and loose pulley m m³ are
mounted, the shaft g2 carrying another disc for actuating the other pump connected
to the second vat d. The pumps may be driven in any other convenient way.
Upon the suction pipe e' a vertical pipefis fixed communicating with the same and
carrying at a convenient height above the upper platform B a snifting valve F
Fig. 2, opened or closed in any convenient manner, for instance by means of a
balanced lever f¹ Fig. 1, fulcrumed on a bracket f2. By opening this valve more
or less, more or less air is drawn into the suction of the pump and the vacuum
produced in the suction varied from complete vacuum to none, the pressure upon
the liquor and wool contained in the vat being correspondingly varied from
atmospheric pressure to none and the liquor forced through the wool with corre-
sponding velocity or remaining stationary. Thus by the arrangement of suction
pump and snifting valve it is possible to vary the duration of the passage of the
liquor through the wool or allow the latter to soak more or less according as may
be required by the more open or matted nature of the wool and the quantity of
suint contained therein.
Upon the platform B a longitudinal tank C is placed towards the back, which is
divided into a number of compartments, for instance, six, by partition plates c.
The compartments contain suint solutions of regularly graduated strength
increasing from compartment 1 to (5, 6), compartment ( containing pure water,
and the partitions are gradually decreasing in height, so that the weaker solution
overflows into the stronger. The strength of liquor contained in each is regulated
in the following manner: To the front of the tank C a cistern N is attached,
which is divided into three compartments by two partitions n n', the former having
openings near the bottom end and the latter near the top. The liquor drawn from
the vat a by the pump E is forwarded through the pipe e into the first com-
partment passing thence through the openings in n into the middle one, thence
through those in ' into the end compartment which is provided with an outflow n² the
object of the arrangement being to prevent the frothing of the suint and to produce
a quiescent state of the liquor in the middle compartment. In this a large metal
hydrometer O floats, marked with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, corresponding to the numbers of
the compartments of the sextuple tank. The outflow n empties into an annular
trough Q, which can be rotated on a centre pin q, being supported on rollers 9'q'
or in any other suitable way. The trough Q has a hole q' in the bottom through
which it empties itself into one of the compartments of the tank according to its
position. The outer edge is marked 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, so that when any number is
placed to the front or against a pointer, the hole g² is above the correspondingly
numbered compartment. The trough Q is set according to the indications of the
hydrometer O so that each division receives a liquor of definite strength, the
difference between each two succeeding compartments being conveniently made
equal to three degrees Beaume, but any other difference in the specific gravities
may be adopted. When placed at No. 6 the liquor is discharged into the out-
flow c', arranged in the last compartment (5, 6,) the liquor then having a strength
of 18° Be., but if a stronger concentration is desired, it can be returned again into
the compartment by setting the trough g accordingly and used again upon the raw
1

page_text: wool.
Besides determining the strength, the divisions determine the quantity of
liquor to be used for each succeeding extraction, the volume of each compartment
being from three fourths to five sixths or thereabouts of the volume of the vat d.
The contents of the compartments of the tank are emptied over the wool in the
vats d in the following manner. Each compartment has an outlet in the bottom
closed by a valve t, the outlets being connected to a pipe T by branches t¹, one
such pipe being arranged for each vat a. The pipe T has attached to it an elbow
pipe R by means of a swivel joint, the end of the pipe being formed with another
short elbow the outlet of which is obstructed by a baffle plater adjustable by means
of a thumbscrew . According to the position of the plate, the jet of liquid
issuing out is spread into a larger or smaller cone and poured over the wool as
required; the pipe R being turned up into the position shewn in full lines on the
drawings for filling the vat d through the shoot b. The six valves in the com-
partments are opened in succession preferably from one shaft H, supported in
brackets on the tank sides and operated by a hand wheel h. The shaft carries six
lifting levers' or their equivalents Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, set at an angle of 60 degrees
to each other, which act in succession on tappets or cams 12, Fig. 5, fixed to the
spindles of the valves t similarly to the lifters of stamping machines, the tappets
and lifters being so formed that the opening and closing of a valve takes place in
less than one sixth revolution-from a to y on Fig. 5. The handwheel his marked
on its circumference with figures corresponding to the compartments, and by moving
the wheel by one sixth turn according to this indication one valve is closed and the
next one opened for pouring the contents of the respective compartments over the
wool in vat d.
The manner of using the apparatus described is as follows:-The raw wool in
the grease having been placed into a vat d and the outlet pipe of the same con-
nected to the suction pipe of the pump E, the contents of compartment (5, 6) are
emptied over the wool and pumped up again and delivered to the outflow c¹.
Compartment 4 is then emptied over the wool and the liquor re-delivered to com-
partment 5, and so on, the water from compartment 0 being lastly used to rinse the
wool or extract the last part of the suint.
The hydrometer 0 serves to show whether the liquor from one compartment
has extracted the amount of suint desired for delivery to the next compartment,
for instance the liquor from compartment 4 should indicate 5 when pumped up; if
it does not, the action of the pump is retarded by opening the snifting valve F to a
greater extent; or if notwithstanding this the strength 5 should not be obtained,
the liquor may be returned to compartment 4 to be used over again for the next
lot of wool. If on the other hand the hydrometer should indicate a strength
above 5, the action of the pump is accelerated by closing the snifting valve. By
treating the wool with successive solutions of a definitely or regularly decreasing
strength and under an adjustable air pressure, the extraction of the suint is effected
much more rapidly than by the ordinary steeping process, a tauk C of about 100 cubic
feet capacity and two vats d of about 20 cubic feet capacity each being capable of
extracting the suint from about 10 tons of wool in the grease in 24 hours, the wool
in one vat being treated with the liquors in compartments 5 to 3, while that in the
other is treated with those in compartments 2 to 0. Besides this the suint is
obtained finally in a definite state of concentration which allows the further chemical
processes for separating the fatty substances therein to be conducted in a systematic
regular manner. The apparatus can be readily taken apart and shifted from one
wool shed to another if desired.
I do not confine myself specially to the arrangements or details shewn on the
drawings and described, but these may be replaced by equivalent arrangements
effecting the same object, for instance, the circular revolvable trough Q may be
replaced by a straight trough fixed across the tank C and provided with an outlet
to each compartment closed by a valve or its equivalent and these valves or their
equivalents opened and closed by means of lifters fixed on a shaft similarly to the
outlet valvest of the compartments.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The method of extracting suint or yolk from wool in the grease by irrigating
the wool in vats successively with suint liquors of regularly graduated definite
strength and finally with water from compartments in a partitioned tank or their
equivalents and drawing off the liquors from said vats by means of a pump the
suction of which can be regulated by means of an air snifting valve, and redistri-
buting said liquors into the compartments of the tank, or their equivalents, according
to the strength of the liquors, substantially as described and for the purposes
set forth.
2. For carrying out the method of extracting suint or yolk from wool in the
grease herein before described and claimed in the preceding claim, the use and
arrangement of apparatus consisting of a tank supported on the upper platform of
a staging and divided into compartments fitted with means for successively
delivering the liquors contained in said compartments into one or more outlet pipes
with adjustable openings, one or more vats mounted on carriages arranged so that
they can be placed underneath said outlet pipes and each fitted with a pipe and
union at the bottom for connecting this to the suction pipe of a pump, a pump for
each vat fixed upon the staging, and means for actuating the same, an adjustable
air snifting valve on the suction pipe of each pump and a delivery pipe discharging
the liquors, in combination with means for redelivering the liquors to any one of
said compartments, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated.
3. In apparatus for extracting yolk or suint from raw wool by irrigating the
wool in vats with liquors of graduated strength from compartments of a tank or
their equivalents and pumping up the liquor from the bottom of said vats and
returning it to the compartments or their equivalents, the arrangement of a
cistern (N) through which the liquor passes on its return flow divided by partitions
with openings and a hydrometer (0) marked with the numbers of the compartments
and floating in said cistern, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated
and for the purpose set forth.
4. In apparatus for extracting yolk or suint from raw wool by irrigating the
wool in vats with liquors of graduated strength from compartments of a tank and
returning the liquors to said compartments by means of a pump the arrangement
of an irrigating pipe with branches connected to said compartments closed by valves,
a shaft with lifters or their equivalents for opening and closing said valves set at
regular angular intervals on said shaft and a handwheel marked with numbers
corresponding with those of the tanks for operating said shaft, substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
5. In apparatus for extracting suint from raw wool by irrigating the wool in vats
with liquors of graduated strength from compartments of a tank and returning the
liquor to said compartments by a pump the arrangement of delivering the liquor
into a revolvable trough (Q) above said compartments with an outflow opening in
the bottom and marked with numbers corresponding to the numbers of the com-
partments and the marks on a hydrometer floating in a cistern through which the
liquor passes before being delivered to said trough substantially as described and
illustrated and for the purpose set forth.
6. The general arrangement or combination of parts of an apparatus for
extracting suint from wool substantially as herein before described and illustrated by
the drawings.
Dated the 22nd day of June 1893.
R. J. URQUHART,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, and 5, Clayton Square, Liverpool,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.