IMPROVEMENTS IN tur Co Do in Duw
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Whitehead, of Holbeck, in Leeds, in the
County of York, Machine and Tool Maker, and Nicholas Nussey, of the
same Place, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
tur
Co Do in Duw Woor
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Whitehead and
Nicholas Nussey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th April 1865.
We, THOMAS WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in Leeds, in the County of York,
Machine and Tool Maker, and NICHOLAS NUSSEY, of the same Place, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING, PREPARING, AND DRAWING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIAL," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of a feeding head, from which the fibre is carried. by
a nipper or other holder to and placed upon a circular comb of the ordinary
construction, from which it is delivered or drawn off in the separated forms of
top nippings and noil in manner herein-after described.
The wool or other material having been formed into a sheet or slivers, is fed
into the machine by means of the feeding head, which consists of a fixed
conductor plate and of a series of travelling combs, or a travelling plate
studded with rows of pins placed beneath such fixed conductor plate. The
conductor plate has openings let through it, and immediately, underneath it
the sheet or slivers of fibrous material are made to pass. Beneath the con
ductor plate and the fibrous material is the series of travelling combs, or a

page_text: travelling plate studded with rows of pins herein-before mentioned. The
travelling combs or travelling plate have a motion imparted to them by a cam,
which thrusts or pushes them forward in the machine, but at the same time
lifts them upwards (the motion being something analogous to that of the
Jower ruler of a pair of parallel rulers, supposing the upper ruler to be fixed).
The conductor plate and rows of pins are made so as to have the same curve
as the circular. comb & curvilinear nippers hereafter mentioned, the one
being convex and the other concave. When the fibrous material is put
through the conductor plate a pair of curvilinear nippers or other curvilinear
holders advances to the front of it, takes hold of the material which is there
presented and draws a portion forward. When the nip takes place the tra-
velling combs or travelling plate beneath the conductor plate advance, and the
teeth or pins enter into the sheet or slivers of fibrous material above, and pass
into the recesses or openings in the conductor plate, so that as the nippers or
other holders move towards the circular comb from the feeding head there are
one or more rows of pins between each bar of the conductor.plate, or within
each recess or opening of the conductor plate, through which pins the fibrous
material has to be drawn. By these means the fibrous material is cleaned at
one end of it. The first row or bar of pins is made to work in front of the
first bar of the conductor plate, and enters the material close behind the nippers
or other holder when they have just drawn the portion of fibrous material
away from the conductor plate. The nipper or other. holder continues its
forward movement towards the circular comb, but before it reaches it a
segment comb or bar of the same curve as the. circular comb, but working
inside of the circular comb, takes hold of the fibrous material on the face of
the nipper or other holder and then descends to the circular comb, placing
the material upon it. A brush is made to descend upon the pins of the
circular comb at the time this is done, thereby pressing the uncleaned ends of
the fibrous material into the teeth of such comb.. This segment comb or bar
may be applied to the present screw ġill nip machine with the gill bars or
fallers made of a suitable curvilinear shape. After the teeth or pins of the
segmented comb have taken off the fibrous material from the face of the
nipper or other holder for the purpose of placing it on the circular comb," the
nipper or other holders open and return to the feeding head for a fresh supply.
of material. As they return the pins fall out of the recesses in the conductor
plate so as to allow the sheet or sliver beneath it to be drawn forward. The
nipper or other holders again draw out the requisite material, and the pins
beneath the conductor plate once more enter the fibre, as before, described.
By the before-described operation. the clean ends of the fibrous material are

page_text: carried by the circular comb to the ordinary drawing-off head of the machine,
at which point a brush or other suitable contrivance is employed to thrust or
push the material into the teeth of the circular comb whilst the fibres are
being drawn out by the drawing-off rollers. The very short fibres or nippings
and the noil still left in. the circular comb are carried forward upon it. The
short fibres or nippings may be carried to another pair of nippers placed either
tangentially to or at any curve not having a less radius than the circular
comb, and placed on the side of it, which will pull or draw out the short clean t
fibres or nippings, and which fibres may, if needed, be made to pass through
or wind upon rollers. The noil is carried further by the circular comb and
taken off in the usual way. The latter nippers may also have a brush or
other contrivance working upon the pins of the circular comb at the point
where such nippers work, so as to prèss the material down into the teeth.
The nippers are made to open and shut by any ordinary means, and if desirable
an oscillating. motion may be given to them. When the feeding head is
required to be used as a preparer or drawing head the conductor plate is taken
away, and in its place is put a comb similar to the head comb before described,
or the conductor plate itself may be adapted for the purpose. By giving a
motion to the upper comb similar to that given to the lower or head comb, but
so arranging the motions that one set of combs or pins shall enter into the
material before. the other set pass out of it, thereby constituting an inter-
secting. comb, a more even sliver is obtained than has been heretofore got by
gill bars or fallers, and a coarser gill or gills may be used in the feed part'
than in the delivery part, as heretofore done. In the preparing or drawing
process; however, instead of the nipper or holder we draw the material off by
rollers, as in the ordinary preparers or drawing frames. We do not confine
ourselves to the circular comb, as chain combs, or combs made in segments,
gill.combs, travelling aprons, or cylinders with suitable pins may be used, and
the filling head. and nipper or other: holder made to suit either straight or
curved combs, as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Whitehead and Nicholas Nussey in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS:
WHITEHEAD, of, Holbeck, in Leeds, in the County of York, Machine and Tool
Maker, and NICHOLAS NUSSEY, of the same Place, Machine Maker, send..
greeting

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Whitehead and Nicholas Nussey, Her special licence that we,
the said Thomas Whitehead and Nicholas Nussey, our executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Whitehead and
Nicholas Nussey, 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, 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 COMBING, PREPARING, AND DRAWING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIAL, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas
Whitehead and Nicholas Nussey, our exécutors or administrators, by, an
instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Thomas Whitehead and Nicholas:
Nussey, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say)
Our Invention relates to a novel construction of feeding head, from which
the fibres are carried by a nipper or other holder to and placed upon a circular
comb of the ordinary construction, from which they are delivered or drawn off
in the separated forms of top nippings and noil.
The wool or other material having been formed into a sheet or sliver is fed
into the machine by means of the feeding head, which consists of a fixed
conductor plate and of a series of travelling combs, or a travelling plate
studded with rows of pins placed beneath such fixed conductor plate. The
conductor plate has slots or openings let through it, and through the plate the
sheets or slivers of fibrous material are made to pass: Beneath the conductor
plate and the fibrous material is the series of travelling combs, or a travelling
plate studded with rows of pins; herein-before mentioned. The travelling
combs or travelling plate have a motion imparted to them by a cam, which

page_text: thrusts or pushes them forward in the machine, but at the same time lifts
them upwards. The conductor plate and rows of pins are made so as to have
the same curve as the circular comb and curvilinear nippers hereafter men-
tioned, the one being convex and the other concave. When the fibrous
material is put through the conductor plate a pair of curvilinear nippers or
other curvilinear holders advances to the front of it, takes hold of the material
which is there presented, and draws a portion forward. At the time the nip
takes place the travelling combs or travelling plate beneath the conductor
plate advance; and, the teeth or pins enter into the sheet or slivers of fibrous
material above, and pass into the recesses or openings in the conductor platė,
so that when the nippers or other holders move towards the circular comb
from the feeding head, the pins of the travelling comb or travelling plate will
have entered between each bar of the conductor plate, or within each recess
or opening of the conductor plate, through which pins the fibrous material has
to be drawn. By these means the fibrous material is cleaned at one end of
it. The first row or bar of pins is made to work in front of the first bar of
the conductor plate, and enters the material close behind the nippers or other
holder, when the draw commences. The nipper or other holder continues its
forward, movement towards the circular comb, but before it reaches it a
segment comb or bar of the same curve as the circular comb, but working
inside of, the circular comb, takes hold of the fibrous material on the face of
the nipper or other holder, and (the jaws of the nipper then opening) descends:
to the circular comb, placing the material upon it. A brush is made to
descend upon the pins of the circular comb at the time this is done,
thereby pressing the uncleaned ends of the fibrous material into the teeth of
such circular comb. This segment comb or bar may be applied to the present
screw gill nip machine with the gill bars or fallers made of a suitable curvi-
linear. shape. After the teeth or pins of the segmented comb have taken
off the fibrous material from the face of the nipper or other holder and
placed it on the circular comb, the nipper or other holder returns to the
feeding head for a fresh supply of material.
In the accompanying, Drawing Fig. 1 represents. a sectional elevation of a
combing machine constructed according to our Invention, and. Fig. 2 a plan.
view, Fig. 3 is a detached sectional view of the; feed head, and Fig. 4. an
end view of the conductor plate detached from the machine.
A, A, is, the frame of the machine;. B is a fixed conductor..plate, which
consists of a series of bars 2, 2, 2, (Figures 1 and 3) attached to the under
side of the plate, which latter has corresponding, openings let into it between
the bars (see Fig. 2), the conductor plate forms, therefore, a kind of grate:

page_text: On reference to Figures 1, 3, and 4, it will be seen that slots or openings 3, 3,
are made through the bars 2 from the back to the front'; into these openings
the sheets or slivers of fibrous material are fed and pass through. C is a
travelling comb or travelling plate with pins fixed upon it at 4, 4. D, D,
Fig. 3, are links (which work on the axes 5, 5,) connecting the travelling
comb or plate C with the fixed conductor plate B; these links are at both
sides of the plates; the travelling comb or plate C will therefore be slung
beneath the conductor plate, and when the former is thrust forward it will
have a motion analogous to that of the lower ruler of a pair of parallel rulers,
the upper ruler being stationary. E, E, are cams mounted on the shaft F;
G is a bracket fastened to the under side of the carrying comb or plate C at
each side, and carrying pulleys b, b, (shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 1). When
the cam E revolves its periphery works against the pulleys 6, b, and the effect
will, therefore, be to move the travelling comb or plate C forward, whilst by
the same action it will rise upwards, and the teeth or pins 4, 4, fixed upon it
will be thereby made to enter the fibres in the conductor plate B by passing
between the bars or openings thereof. G¹ is a standard for gas burners
beneath the travelling plate for the width thereof for warming the pins,
Gare burners, and G³ the supply pipe. H is the nipper of our combing
machine, and.is worked in a similar manner to the ordinary nipper. a is the
upper jaw, 6 the lower one, which is worked by the cylindrical arm c sliding
upon an enclosed spindle d (which carries the upper jaw, and is shewn in
dotted lines in Fig. 1), and is lifted up to the bite and allowed to recede
therefrom by the came working against the pulley f, which is attached to the
cylindrical arm C. The rocking motion of the nipper is obtained by a crank
movement obtained by connecting the top of the nipper bar to the arm of the
wheels G. When the curvilinear nippers or other holders are brought up to
the feeding head the travelling comb or plate C by the action of the cams E
and the pulleys G will be pushed forward, and the pins will enter the recesses
in the conductor plate, as before described. When, therefore, the nippers or
holders recede, the material carried away by them will be combed at that end
of it which passes through these combs.. The nipper or other holder then
continues its forward movement towards the circular comb to deposit it
thereon, whilst the pins of the travelling comb or plate will fall out of the
material. The front row of teeth in the travelling comb or plate consists of
three close rows of pins working in advance of the first bar of the conductor
plate, as shown in the Drawing, and are of finer pitch than the rows behind,
which. are shewn as single. Of course the pitch of the pins and number of
rows may be regulated to suit the material. Between the front set of teeth

page_text: and the next succeeding row of single teeth a flat rod h passes from side to
side of the combs (see Fig. 5) and rests upon the travelling plate. At the
points 7, 7, 7, shown in. Fig. 5, are pins i, fastened to it, which pass through
guide holes in the travelling comb or plate C, and the lower ends of these pins
are connected or braced to another rod k extending across the machine and
parallel to the flat rod h (see Figures 1, 3, and 5); 7 is a rest made of two
short arms, one at each side of the machine. The rest turns upon the pin m,
so that the upright arm can move back or yield as far as the top of the socket n,
in which the rest is set. The ends of the rod k extend to these rests, and
when the machine is in the position shewn in Fig. 1 it is at rest upon the
horizontal arm of the rest . When the travelling comb or plate moves
forward the flat rod h and the rod k are also carried forward. On the rod k
reaching the upright arm of the rest 7 the latter gives way and allows it to
pass forward until when the highest position of the travelling comb or plate
is reached the rod will have reached the top of the rest 1, the upright arm of
which having then fallen to its perpendicular position will hold the rod k,
and consequently the flat rod h in position, as shown in Fig. 1; but when
the travelling comb or plate returns or descends, the rods h and k will be kept
in that position, that is, at the same height at the top of the rest 1, whilst the
pins are falling, until, by the lateral motion of the travelling comb or plate C,
the rod. k drops off the upright arm of the rest l. The effect of this is that the
rod h until the rod k drops off the rest will gradually rise within the space
between the first set of teeth and the second row, thereby lifting up the
material out of the pins and cleaning the pins from all dirt which they may
have received. It is evident that this cleaning rod may be also applied to
screw gill apparatus, as shewn in Fig. 6. The lifter is not shewn in this
Drawing, but it may be easily applied.
We would observe that we are aware that rods have been used for pushing
wool out of combs, but not for cleaning combs in the manner herein set
forth. After the nip has been obtained the curvilinear nipper takes it towards
the circular comb.
In Figures 1 and 2 J is the ordinary circular comb ; K is a bar or lever, of
a curvilinear shape at its end, in which are fixed pins or teeth. This bar or
lever rocks on its fulcrum'o, which is held by the bracket p. On the under
side of this bar or lever K is fixed another bracket, in which is carried the
axis r, and to this axis is attached the connecting rod L fixed within the
adjusting socket or slide M, and which' socket or slide is also connected to the
excentric N (shewn in dotted lines) mounted on the shaft P (shewn in dotted
lines), and thereby works the bar or lever K up and down. The connecting
<

page_text: rod L can be adjusted in its length by the adjusting screws shewn upon the
adjusting socket or slide, M.. Q is another connecting rod which with its
, adjusting slide is connected at one end to the crank plate R, and at the other
end to the lever S, which carries a curvilinear brush T. The crank plate R
is also mounted on the shaft P. The fulcrum of the lever S is upon the axis
carried by the bracket V; and W is a guard, of tin or other metal, in front
of the brush T. When the nipper or other holder has arrived at the point
shewn in Fig. 1 the segment comb K meets it in the position shewn in that
Figure, and the pins of which enter the fibrous material on the face of the
nipper or other holder. The nipper then opens, and the segment comb, by
the action of the connecting rod Land excentric, then descends to the circular
comb and deposits the material upon it. Just as this is done the brush T
descends upon the pins of the circular comb, thereby pressing the uncleaned
ends of the fibres into the teeth. This position is shewn in dotted lines in
Fig. 1. By adjusting the position of the. brush T it is caused to dwell or
pause for a moment after the segment comb has begun to rise in order that
the fibres may be completely thrust into the circular comb. By the before-
described operation the clean ends of the fibrous material will be carried by
the circular comb to the ordinary drawing-off head of the machine, at which
point a brush or other suitable contrivance is employed to thrust or push the
material into the teeth of the circular comb whilst the fibres are being drawn
out of the comb by the drawing-off rollers.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 7 shews this part of our Invention in
elevation, and Fig. 8 shews a plan view. à is a circular comb; 6 is a
standard suitably fixed to the machine to support the circular brush d, which
revolves by friction of contact with the pins of the circular comb; e is one of
the drawing-off rollers, and the position of the brush d is at the point of the
comb, where it is drawn off, as seen in the plan view. The very short fibres
or nippings and the noil still left in the circular comb are carried forward
upon it, to a pair of nippers placed either tangentially to or at any curve not
having a less radius than the circular comb, and placed on the side of it.
These nippers will pull or draw out the short clean fibres or nippings. In
Fig. 8 is shewn a plan view of this last-named nipper. a¹ is the upper and
moveable jaw which works on the axis b' held on a standard from the bracket c'
by a crank movement at d', and an oscillating motion may be given to the
nippers by means of an excentric or other suitable mode. The nippers may
also have a brush or other contrivance working upon the pins of the circular
comb at the point where such nippers work, so as to press the material into
the teeth. The noil is carried further by the circular comb and taken off in

page_text: the usual way. When the feeding head is required to be used as a preparer
or drawing head the conductor plate is taken away, and in its place is mounted
a travelling comb or plate similar to the travelling comb or plate c before
described, or the conductor plate 6 itself may be adapted for the purpose.
By giving a motion to the upper travelling comb or plate similar to that of
the lower travelling comb or plate, but so arranging the motions that one set"
of combs or pins shall enter the material before the other passes out of it,
thereby constituting an intersecting comb, a more even sliver can be obtained
than has been heretofore produced by gill bars or fallers, and a coarser
gill or gills may be used in the feed part than in the ordinary delivery part,
as heretofore done. In the preparing or drawing process, however, instead of
the nipper or holder we draw the material off by rollers, as in the ordinary
preparers or ordinary frames.
The Invention is not confined to the circular comb, as chain combs, or
combs made in segments, gill combs, travelling aprons or cylinders with
suitable pins, may be used, and the filling 'and nipper or other holder made to
suit either straight or curved combs, as required.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Whitehead and Nicholas
Nussey, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Fourteenth day
of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five
Signed and sealed by the said Thomas
Whitehead and Nicholas Nussey in
the presence of
J. B. WILKINSON,
THOMAS WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)
NICHOLAS NUSSEY. (L.S.).
27, East Parade, Leeds.