IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL AND OTHER. MATERIALS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Belle Sauvage Yard,. Ludgate
Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL AND OTHER. MATERIALS."
。
Sealed the 15th November 1867, and dated the 18th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,. with his Petition, on
the 18th May 1867.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL AND OTHER MATERIALS," to
be as follows:-
The first part of my improvements relates to machines in which the wool or
other material is agitated and moved forward in the washing liquid by
revolving inclined blades or screw propellers. Instead of making the blades
of these screw propellers all inclined in one and the same direction, and
making them all revolve in one direction, as has heretofore been customary,
I make them as follows:-I use a number of separate propellers placed on
one common axis, and I make the blade of every alternate propeller inclined
in the reverse direction to the others, so that the blade of the first, third, and

page_text: fifth propellers will be set in one direction, and the blades of the second,
fourth, and sixth propellers in the other direction, and all those the blades of
which are inclined in one direction are made to revolve in such a direction
as to cause a tendency to a forward motion of the water in the trough; the
other propellers are caused to revolve in the reverse direction to these, but
as they also have their blades inclined in the reverse direction they also cause
a tendency to a forward movement in the water. The screw propellers may
be revolved in various manners; every second one may be keyed on the axis,
which is driven round by means of a pulley, and the others may be driven
by means of chains running round chain wheels formed on their bosses and
actuated by a shaft running in the reverso direction to the axis on which
the others are keyed. The washing is conducted as at present in a suitably
formed trough; the wool or other material being fed in at one end of the
machine will be carried by the screw propellers from side to side of the
trough, and will at the same time be gradually moved forwards towards the
other end.
The next part of my improvements also relates to the agitating and moving
forward of the material in the washing trough, and consists in arranging a
number of forks on rakes to work in the trough, and suitably connecting these
forks with mechanism so arranged that they shall have a swinging or rocking
action, and at the same time be moved forward in the trough until they shall
have arrived at the end of the forward stroke, when they are lifted up
(partially or entirely) out of the water during the return stroke, and as they
arrive at the end of the backward stroke they are again let down into the
water, and the swinging action imparted to them as they again move forward.
The forks may each be jointed at a point intermediate of its length to a
crank on a rotating axis, the upper end of the stem of the fork being jointed
to a rod which connects it with another crank or excentric of comparatively
short throw and revolving with greater rapidity. This action possesses the
advantage of well agitating the wool in the liquid, and at the same time
passing it forward through the trougb.
The next part of my improvements consists in an arrangement for lifting
the wool out of the troughs after it has been washed. For this purpose I use
a fórk to which motion is imparted by means of a crank to which the fork is
jointed; the fork is also connected to levers or instruments which govern its
inclination so that the fork shall be gradually inclined more and more towards
a horizontal line as it moves forward, and in going back it is lifted by the
crank out of the water. A wiper, which may also be in the form of a smal
fork or rake, may be arranged in connection with the lifting-out fork, so tha

page_text: when the fork arrives almost at its most forward position with the fibre upon
it this wiper throws the wool off the fork. A rising and falling scraper may
also be used in conjunction with a fork for wiping off. Forks arranged some-
what similar to the one above described for lifting the wool out of the trough
may also be applied for washing the wool and may be so arranged that in the
backward stroke they are not lifted clear of the water, but still remain partially
submerged and carry a portion of the wool back with them so as to produce a
good washing action. In the forward stroke they are almost totally submerged:
The forks may have a vibrating motion whilst traversing the lower part of
their course, so as to increase the amount of agitation given to the fibre.
Also, according to my Invention I arrange tanks or troughs for soaking
and washing wool and other fibrous material in such manner that the
material after passing on for a time in one direction is caused to pass round
and return by another passage, tank, or trough parallel or nearly so to the
first, and afterwards again to pass round into a third passage, tank, or trough
parallel or nearly so with the other passages, tanks, or troughs.
For drying wool and other material 1 employ a casing by preference of a
cylindrical form and placed horizontally, a current of heated air is caused.
usually by means of a fan or steam jet to pass through the casing from end to
end, and the casing is caused to revolve. The material is fed in at one end of
the casing and is discharged at the other, the material traversing the casing in
the opposite direction to the current of heated air. The continuous motion of
the material through the casing is produced by means of a number of shelves
on the interior of the casing, which as the casing revolves raise the material
from the bottom of the casing, and when it gets nearly to the top allow it to
fall back, and in falling it comes against inclined directing plates mounted on
an axis passing through the casing. The inclination of the directing plates is
made adjustable to allow of the due regulation of the time during which the
material is subjected to the drying operation. I would remark that a
similar revolving cylinder or casing has heretofore in some cases been used as
a drying apparatus, but it has been heated externally only by a furnace in
place of by a current of hot air passing through it, which renders it in-
applicable to the drying of many materials which would be injured by the
high heat to which the casing has to be raised when this method of heating is
resorted to. In place of employing a revolving casing the casing may be
stationary, the shelves or-lifters being carried round within it.
In place of
employing inclined directing plates to cause the material to travel onwards
the casing may less conveniently be set in the inclined position. Spikes fixed'
inside the casing may sometimes be substituted for shelves to take the

page_text: material to the top of the casing, and allow it to fall back, the onward
progression through the casing being obtained by inclined directing plates
by setting the casing in an inclined position as before. Also in some cases
I make the casing of wire gauze or other openwork material, and I cause the
current of air to pass through it transversely. Sometimes I use one open-
work cylinder within another; the space between them is divided longitudinally
into a series of chambers; it may be four or other number, into which the
material is placed, and there are also radial shelves on the exterior of the
inner cylinder. As the apparatus revolves the material falls from one cylinder
on to another and so every part of it is thoroughly exposed to the current of
air passing through the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Lee Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Lee Norton, Her special licence that I, the said James Lee Norton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Lee Norton, my 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, 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 FOR WASHING AND DRYING WOOL AND OTHER MATERIALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Lee Norton, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Lee Norton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:
The first part of my improvements relates to machines in which the wool
or other material is agitated and moved forward in the washing liquid by
revolving inclined blades or screw propellers. Instead of making the blades
of these screw propellers all inclined in one and the same direction, and
making them all revolve in one direction as has heretofore been customary,
I make them as follows:-I use a number of separate propellers placed on
one common axis, and I make the blade of every alternate propeller inclined
in the reverse direction to the others, so that the blade of the first, third, and
fifth propellers will be set in one direction, and the blades of the second, fourth,
and sixth propellers in the other direction; and all those the blades of which
are inclined in one direction are made to revolve in such direction as to cause
a tendency to a forward motion of the water in the trough. The other
propellers are caused to revolve in the reverse direction to these, but as they
also have their blades inclined in the reverse direction they also cause a
tendency to a forward movement in the water. The screw propellers may be
revolved in various manners; every second one may be keyed on the axis,
which is driven round by means of a pulley, and the others may be driven by
means of chains running round chain wheels formed on their bosses and
actuated by a shaft running in the reverse direction to the axis on which the
others are keyed. The washing is conducted as at present in a suitably
formed trough; the wool or other material being fed in at one end of the
machine will be carried by the screw propellers from side to side of the
trough, and will at the same time be gradually moved forward towards the
other end.
Figure 1 is a side view of a machine made in this manner, and Figure 2 is
a cross section of the same.
A is the trough; B, B, B, are the screw propeller blades, which are
keyed on to the shaft C; D, D, D, are screw propeller blades, which are
inclined in the contrary direction to the screw propellers B, B, B, and also
driven in the contrary direction. The driving of the blades D, D, D, is
effected by means of the chains E, E, E, passing around pulleys on the
shaft F, which by means of the cross belt G receives its motion from the
shaft C. H, H, are the main driving pulleys on the shaft C.
The next part of my improvements also relates to the agitating and moving
forward of the material in the washing trough, and consists in arranging a

page_text: number of forks on rakes to work in the trough, and suitably connecting these
forks with mechanism so arranged that they shall have a swinging or rocking
action, and at the same time be moved forward in the trough until they shall
have arrived at the end of the forward stroke, when they are lifted up
partially or entirely out of the water during the return stroke, and as they
arrive at the end of the backward stroke they are again let down into the
water, and the swinging action imparted to them as they again move forward.
The forks may each be jointed at a point intermediate of its length to a crank
on a rotating axis, the upper end of the stem of the fork being jointed to a
rod which connects it with another crank or eccentric of comparatively short
throw and revolving with greater rapidity. This action possesses the advantage
of well agitating the wool in the liquid and at the same time passing it forward
through the trough.
Figure 3 is a side view, partly in section, of this machine.
A is the trough; B, B, are the forks, to which a backward and forward
motion is imparted by means of the cranks C, C. The upper ends of the
forks B slide through sockets carried by the cranks D. The cranks D, D, are
of shorter throw than the crauks C, C, and work at a greater speed. The
cranks C are driven by bevilled gear from a shaft E, on which are the main
driving pulleys, and this shaft by an endless band drives a shaft F, having
bevilled pinions upon it gearing with other pinions on the axis of the
cranks D. Figure 4 is an enlarged view of one of the cranks D with the
socket which it carries.
The next part of my improvements consists in an arrangement for lifting
the wool out of the troughs after it has been washed. For this purpose I
use a fork to which motion is imparted by means of a crank to which the
fork is jointed; the fork is also connected to levers or instruments which govern
its inclination so that the fork shall be gradually inclined more and more
towards a horizontal line as it moves forward, and in going back it is lifted by
the crank out of the water. A wiper which may also be in the form of a small
fork or rake may be arranged in conuection with the lifting out fork, so that
when the fork arrives almost at its most forward position with the fibre upon
it, this wiper throws the wool off the fork. A rising and falling scraper may
also be used in conjunction with a fork for wiping off.
Figure 5 is a view of a lifting out apparatus arranged as above described.
A is the end of the trough; B is the lifting out fork driven by the crank C;
the upper end of the fork is jointed to the link D, which causes the fork as it
moves forward in the trough and rises out of the liquid to be inclined more
and more towards a horizontal line. E is the wiper, it works on a centre F;

page_text: as the crank C revolves the cam G on its axis raises the wiper E by means of
the lever H and connecting rod I, and the cam is so regulated that when the
fork B arrives in the proper position the wiper E is released and is caused to
fall by the weight K which is attached to a cord passing around a drum on
the axis of the wiper.
Figure 6 is a front view of the wiping fork with the rising and falling
scraper L arranged to slide upon it. The stops M, M, in the outer prongs
of the wiper fork prevent the scraper sliding off. As the wiper descends
the scraper I rides upon the prongs of the lifting out fork B and removes
the wool from them; forks arranged somewhat similar to the fork B above
described for lifting the wool out of the trough may also be applyed for
washing the wool, and may be so arranged that in the backward stroke they
are not lifted clear of the water, but still remain partially submerged,
and carry a portion of the wool back with them so as to produce a good
washing action. In the forward stroke they are almost totally submerged.
The forks may have a vibrating motion whilst traversing the lower part of
their course, so as to increase the amount of agitation given to the fibre.
Also according to my Invention I arrange tanks or troughs for soaking
and washing wool and other fibrous material in such manner that the material
after passing on for a time in one direction is caused to pass round and return
by another passage, tank, or trough parallel or nearly so to the first, and
afterwards again to pass round into a third passage, tank, or trough parallel
or nearly so with the other passages, tanks, or troughs; a tank so arranged is
shewn in Figure 7 in plan. The simplest and most convenient mode of moving
the material forward is by means of small revolving forks placed in the posi-
tions and driven in the manner shewn in the plan. The wool is placed into the
tank at A and is traversed in the direction of the arrows until it arrives at B:
For drying wool and other material I employ according to another part of
my Invention
a casing by preference of a cylindrical form and placed
horizontally. A current of heated air is caused, usually by means of a fan or
steam jet to pass through the casing from end to end, and the casing is caused
to revolve. The material is fed in at one end of the casing and is discharged
at the other, the material traversing the casing in the opposite direction to
the current of heated air. The continuous motion of the material through
the casing is produced by means of a number of shelves on the interior of the
casing, which as the casing revolves raise the material from the bottom of
the casing, and when it gets nearly to the top allows it to fall back, and in
falling it comes against inclined directing plates mounted on an axis passing
through the casing. The inclination of the directing plates is made adjustable

page_text: to allow of the due regulation of the time during which the material is
subjected to the drying operation.
I would remark that a similar revolving cylinder or casing has beretofore
in some cases been used as a drying apparatus, but it has been heated
externally only by a furnace in place of by a current of hot air passing
through it, which renders it inapplicable to the drying of wool and of many
materials which would be injured by the high heat to which the casing has
to be raised when this method of heating is resorted to.
Figure 8 is a longitudinal section and Figure 9 a cross section of a machine
made in accordance with this part of my Invention; Figure 10 is a side view
of the same. A is the cylindrical chamber provided with shelves A', A', A',
which if the machinery is to be worked with wool may advantageously be
made of latticework; B, B, are stationary or fixed ends of the chamber A;
C, C, C, are the directing plates; they are fixed on an axis D; a small handle
E is fastened on to the axis D, and by turning this axis partly round the
angle of inclination of the directing plates to a vertical line may be regulated.
As the directing plates are represented in the Drawings they are at their
maximum inclination to the vertical; it will be evident that by turning the
axis one quarter round the plane of each directing plate will be brought to a
vertical position, and that then the plates will have no directing action on the
material in the casing; by approaching one or other of these extreme positions
the directing action of the plates may be increased or diminished us may be
required. F is the hot-air flue receiving suitably heated air from any
convenient source; G is the chimney by which the moist air passes away; a
draught may be maintained in this chimney by a fan, or by a steam jet, or
'otherwise. The material to be dried is fed into the machine through the
hopper H, and when dry it is thrown out or withdrawn at I. K, K, K,
"are toothed bands on the cylinder A, by means of which it is revolved;
.L, L, L, are pinions which work into these toothed bands; these pinions are
fixed on the shaft M, which is driven by means of the gearing and pulleys N.
The machine is supported on friction rollers 0, 0, O; or according to my
Invention in place of employing a revolving casing, the casing may be
stationary, the shelves or lifters being carried round within it.
Figure 11 is a cross section, and Figure 12 a longitudinal section, of a
machine made in this way. A is the outer fixed casing, and B, B, the
shelves which are attached to frames C¹, C, and these frames turn upon
the axis D, which carries the inclined directing plates E, E; the axis D
projects through a boss on the frame C, and bas a handle E' fastened
on it, by means of which the axis may be turned and secured, and the

page_text: angle of the directing plates regulated. The bevil wheel F is fixed on a
continuation of the boss on the frame C', and by means of the driving pulleys
Ga revolving motion is imparted to the frame C¹, C, and the shelves or
lifters B; or according to my Invention in place of employing inclined
directing plates to cause the material to travel onwards, the casing may but
less conveniently be set in an inclined position.
Figure 18 is a side view of a machine in which the cylindrical casing
is itself inclined. A is the casing, and B the driving pulleys actuating revolving
shelves or lifters as in Figure 12. The machine is supported on a centre C,
and can be raised or lowered by means of the chains D.
According to my Invention also in some cases I make the casing of wire
gauze or other openwork material, and I cause the current of air to pass
through it transversely. The apparatus may be of either of the forms above
described, but with the outer casing of openwork material, and omitting the
air pipes; such an apparatus is enclosed in a flue or casing in which a current
of air is maintained in such manner that the air may pass through the open-
work casing in at one side and out at the other side, or otherwise, so as to
traverse the casing.
According to my Invention also I sometimes use one openwork cylinder
within another, the space between them is divided longitudinally into a series
of chambers (it may be four or other number), into which the material is
placed, and there are also radial shelves on the exterior of the inner cylinder.
As the apparatus revolves the material falls from one cylinder on to the other,
and so every part of it is thoroughly exposed to the current of air passing
through the apparatus.
Figure 14 is a cross section of a chamber thus formed of two gauze
cylinders A and B, the shelves C, C, are fixed on the inner one.
The two
cylinders may revolve together, and the progress of the material from end to
end may be maintained by inclining the apparatus, or otherwise I prefer to
obtain a current of air through the openwork casings by connecting the space
within the inner one with the chimney in which a draught is maintained by a
fan, a steam jet, or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lee Norton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
J. L. NORTON. (L.S.)