IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Illingworth, Alfred Illingworth, and
Henry Illingworth, of Bradford, in the County of York, Worsted
Spinners, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Illingworth,
Alfred Illingworth, and Henry Illingworth at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 25th June
185%.
We, DANIEL ILLINGWORTH, ALFRED ILLINGWORTH, and HENRY ILLING-
WORTII, of Bradford, in the County of York, Worsted Spinners, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows: -
In a process of combing now commonly practised the material is
held by a series of pointed instruments, from which a tuft or portion
is taken by a moveable clamp or jaw, and from thence it is transferred

page_text: to travelling combs, to be subsequently drawn off by the revolution of
rollers. According to this method the foremost holding points descend
through the fibres within the tuft to be drawn off, leaving a projecting
portion for the action of the clamp, in which portion a quantity of
accumulated impurities are transferred to the travelling combs; the
object of one part of our Invention is to cleanse the whole of the tuft,
and this we effect by causing certain of the holding instruments to pass
through, so as to comb out that projecting portion thereof which is
ordinarily left in front of the "faller "; or, instead of this arrangement,
we apply an additional combing apparatus, which operates upon the
said projecting fibres previously to the clamp closing thereon. Another
part of our Invention consists in combining the usual holding points
and tuft-detaching apparatus with a "gill" or other receiver travelling
in the direction of the length of the fibres laid thereon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Illingworth Alfred Illingworth, and
Henry Illingworth in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
24th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
DANIEL ILLINGWORTH, ALFRED ILLINGWORTH, and HENRY ILLINGWORTH,
of Bradford, in the County of York, Worsted Spinners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing late the Twenty-fifth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Daniel Illingworth, Alfred Illingworth, and Henry Illing-
worth, Her especial license that we, the said Daniel Illingworth, Alfred
Illingworth, and Henry Illingworth, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Daniel Illingworth, Alfred
Illingworth, and Henry Illingworth, our executors, administrators, 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,

page_text: 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 MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Daniel Illingworth, Alfred Illingworth, and Henry Illingworth, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, 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 Alfred Illingworth, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (and accompanying Drawings):
Our Invention relates, firstly, to a process of combing wool, in which
the material is held by a series of pointed instruments, from which a
tuft or portion is taken by a moveable clamp or jaw, and from thence
is transferred to travelling combs, to be subsequently drawn off by the
revolution of rollers. According to this method the foremost holding
points descend through the fibres within the tuft to be drawn off;
leaving a projecting portion for the action of the clamp, in which
portion a quantity of accumulated impurities is transferred to the tra-
velling combs; the object of this part of our Invention is to cleanse
the whole of the tuft, and this wc effect by causing certain of the
holding instruments to pass through, so as to comb ont that projecting
portion thereof which is ordinarily left in front of the faller; or, instead
of this arrangement, we employ an additional combing apparatus, which
operates upon the said projecting fibres previously to the clamp closing
therein. Secondly, our Invention consists in combining the usual
holding points and tuft-detaching apparatus with a "gill" or other
receiver travelling in the direction of the length of the fibres laid
thereon.

page_text: Having thus stated the leading features of our Invention, as set
forth in our Provisional Specification, we will proceed to describe cer-
tain arrangements of machinery by which they may be carried into
effect. In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, represents a sectional
view of a machine with the two portions of our Invention combined,
but at as they are not of necessity used together we shall describe then
separately. The general arrangement and construction of the parts
constituting the machine are precisely the same as in wool-combing
machinery now in ordinary use; it will not be necessary for us,
therefore, to allude to them, excepting in so far as they affect the
operation of our improvement, and we would remark that we have
shewn the same combined with that method of receiving and trans-
ferring the fallers which is the subject of Patent Right granted to
P. K. Westly. a, are the "gills," carried forward through the material
by the two screws b, b, which are caused to revolve by means of bevil
gear placed upon the front shaft c. A portion d,, of these screws is
cut upon bosses c, mounted loosely upon the axis f, but caused to
revolve therewith by a feather; the said portions, however, when
in the position shewn in Fig. 2, forming continuations of the main
parts b, b*, of the screws. The bosses e, are provided with grooves h,
with which are situate the pins of forked levers (one of which
is shown at i) turning upon a fixed centre j, and occupying a position
at its other end over a cam k, (shewn by dots) mounted upon a shaft 7,
which receives rotatory motion by means of the gearing denoted by the
red lines. The levers i, are weighted at m, so as to turn towards the
shaft ; as, therefore, the cam k, revolves, the said lever is caused to
turn to and fro upon its centre, and to slide the bosses e, and portions
of screws d, d, backward or forward upon the shafts f. A similar
arrangement of lever i, and cam k, to that we have described, is at
either side of the machine, and, consequently, both portions of screws d,
and will partake of the same motions. The "gills" employed in
this instance are formed with double rows of points, and as cach faller
drops it is received into the interior periphery of the toothed ring n,
and carried upward by the projecting parts o, again to be taken by the

page_text: Ex-
screws b, according to Westly's Patent before mentioned.
tending across the machine is a rotatory brush p, caused to revolve
by any suitable gearing, and so situate as to pass in contact with
the gills as they are carried upward by the projecting parts o. In
contact with this brush is an endless belt of cards q, to which
a travelling motion is imparted from any convenient part of the
machine. The material to be operated upon is passed, as usual,
between the rollers 1, 2, and from them is received by the travelling
gills a. According to the usual operation of this description of machine
the faller would descend as at a, and leave a tuft to be drawn off, the
forward end of which had not been passed through by the pointed
instruments; according to our improvement, however, the cams k, are
so situate that upon the arrival of the faller within the portions of
screws d, d, the lever i, is caused to turn upon its centre, so as to
slide the bosses e, upon the shafts f, and bring the parts into the position
shewn at Figs. 1, and 3; by this movement the points will have been
carried thro and out of the fibres in the direction of their length,
and a cleaned tuft will remain to be detached. This motion of the
faller will have carried it beyond the bars (one of which is shewn at S),
upon which it has rested in its travelling motion, and it will then be
free to descend into the rings n, to be carried upward to the other end
of the screws as usual, during which time the rotation of the cam k,
will have allowed the lever i, to turn on its centre by means of the
weight m, so as again to bring the portions of screws d, d*, into the
position shewn at Fig. 2, ready to receive and carry forward another
faller. The gill carried forward by the pieces o, contains the "noil"
extracted from the combed out tuft; but upon its arrival at the position
shown in red the points are operated upon by the revolving brush p,
and cleared of the impuritics, which are subsequently transferred to the
travelling cards q, and extracted therefrom by a reciprocating comb t.
The tuft thus combed out is detached by the usual clamp u, worked by
the cam v, and may be transferred from thence by the ordinary carry-
ing comb w, to any of those arrangements of travelling combs now in
use. According to another plan of clearing a tuft of fibres we employ
an additional combing apparatus, so arranged in its movements as

page_text: to pass thro' it at a time between the descent of the faller and the
operation of the clamp, and these additional combs are caused to move
in contact with brushes or other such apparatus, in order to clear
them of the "noil" they extract. Fig. 1, also shows our second im-
provement, in which a, are the ordinary gills of a double screw
machine; on to these we transfer the material by means of the carry-
ing comb w, instead of on to the combs which travel in a circle or at
right angles to the machine, from which it is detached by the clamp u.
Above the gills, we place a brush y, attached to a lever a, mounted
upon a centre, and caused to rise and fall by means of a rod connected
to a crank on the shaft v, so as to press the material down, as is now
practised in other machines. The operation of this gill machine is
precisely similar to those now in use in other applications, and will not,
therefore, need further description. We have in the foregoing descrip-
tion alluded particularly to machinery used for operating upon wool;
we desire it, however, to be understood that we also claim the applica-
tion of our improvements to cotton, silk, and other fibrous substances.
In reference to the first part of our Invention we would observe, that
we have shewn a particular method of carrying the holding points or
gills thro' the tuft of fibres; we do not intend, however, to confine
ourselves thereto, as the same effect may be produced by other arrange-
ments of machinery; for instance, instead of using that construction of
apparatus patented by Westly as aforesaid, the more ordinary double
screw gill may be adopted, and the faller caused to pass through the
projecting tuft by carrying the screws sufficiently forward, and making
them quicker in the pitch at that end. As to the second part of our
Invention we would also observe, that we do not intend to limit our-
selves to the use of an ordinary gill for the second machine, as other
apparatus acting in a similar manner may be adopted; that which we
claim as secured to us being,-
Firstly, in reference to the description of machine above referred to,
causing pointed instruments to pass through the fibres in the direction
of their length, so as to comb out that end of the tuft which presents
itself to the clamp.
Secondly, the use of a gill or other receiving machine with pointed

page_text: instruments in combination with a machine from which tufts of material
are taken, such "gill" or other machine being caused to convey the
fibres in the direction of their length.
In witness whereof, T, the said Alfred Illingworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
ALFRED ILLINGWORTH. (L.S.)