IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING REFUSE SILK WASTE, AND IN CONVERTING IT INTO A VALUABLE PRODUCT
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING REFUSE
SILK WASTE, AND IN CONVERTING IT INTO A VALUABLE PRODUCT."
A communication.
Sealed the 14th October 1853, and dated the 15th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th April 1853.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING REFUSE SILK WASTE,
AND IN CONVERTING IT INTO A VALUABLE PRODUCT," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in utilizing the waste or refuse silk formed
in manufacturing various fabrics, ribbons, lace, &c., and other fabrics
in which silk is employed, and in preparing and spinning the same so
as to produce a silk thread similar to that usually obtained from "floss
silk or "waste silk." This refuse is usually either thrown away, or

page_text: used merely for stuffing mattresses or cleaning machinery; whereas, by
being treated according to this Invention, it may be made to produce
as valuable a product as that ordinarily obtained from waste silk. The
machines employed for effecting this object are not new, taken sepa-
rately, as they are well known, and are usually employed in spinning
wool, flax, and cotton, and some of them even in spinning silk; the
novelty forming the subject of the present Invention consisting princi-
pally in the combination of various machines for effecting the above
object.
The mode of proceeding is as follows:--The dyed silk refuse is first
submitted to the action of a card cylinder, by which it is opened and
drawn out into a sliver, and it is then passed through combs or
heckles, which draw out the fibres, and lay them even and parallel; it
is afterwards submitted to the action of a combing apparatus, by which
the cleaned,part is separated from that. not cleaned, and these products
being combed separately, the long fibres are separated from the short
fibres. By this separation of the long from the short fibres great
advantage is obtained, as the method of treating fibrous substances,
and the machines employed for that purpose, vary according to the
length of the staple.
The long staple is submitted to apparatus by which it is spread out
even, and rendered suitable for the operation of drawing, roving, and
spinning machinery. The short staple is operated upon by heckle
bands, and from thence passes between rubbing cylinders to the spin-
ning frame. This combination of machinery is merely given as an
example; I do not, therefore, intend to confine myself thereto, as it
might be modified to suit circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton, in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 15th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of, Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting..

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her
special licence that I, 'the said William Edward Newton, my "e
"ex-
ecutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, 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 TREATING REFUSE
SILK WASTE, AND IN CONVERTING IT INTO A VALUABLE PRODUCT," being a
communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, dó
hereby declare the nature of the 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):
This Invention consists in utilizing the waste or refuse silk formed
in manufacturing various fabrics, ribbons, lace, and other fabrics in
which silk is eniployed, and in preparing and spinning the same so as
to produce a silk thread or yarn similar to that usually obtained from
floss silk or waste silk.
This refuse is usually either thrown away, or used merely for stuffing
mattresses, or cleaning machinery; whereas, by being treated accord-
ing to this Invention, it may be converted into as valuable a product

page_text: as that ordinarily obtained from waste silk, and, when so treated and
spun into yarn or thread, it may be woven into cloth, or otherwise
usefully employed.
The machines whereby these objects are effected are similar in the
principle of their construction to those usually employed in preparing,
carding, and spinning wool, flax, and cotton, and some of them even in
spinning silks the novelty forming the subject of the present Inven-
tion consisting principally in the combination of various machines for
effecting the above object.
The mode of proceeding to treat the refuse matters is as follows:-
The dyed silk refuse is first submitted to the action of a card cylinder,
by which the fibres are opened and drawn out into a sliver, and it is
then passed through combs or heckles, which draw out the fibres, and
lay them even and parallel. The silk is afterwards submitted to the
action of a combing apparatus, by which the cleaned part is separated
from that not cleaned, and these products being combed separately, the
long fibres are separated from the short fibres. By this separation of
the long from the short fibres great advantage is obtained, as the
method of treating fibrous substances, and the machines employed for
that purpose, vary according to the length of the staple.
The long staple is submitted to apparatus by which it is spread out
even, and rendered suitable for the operation of drawing, roving, and
spinning machinery. The short staple is operated upon by heckle
bands, and from thence passes between rubbing cylinders or surfaces
to the spinning frame.
In order, however, that this Invention may be clearly understood, I
have shewn, in the accompanying drawing, an arrangement of ma-
chinery which will be found convenient for converting the silk waste,
or refuse silk, into a good sliver.
This machine is drawn to a scale of one fifth the real size, and is
lenominated by the Inventor a continuous slivering machine.
Fig. 1, is a side elevation, and Fig. 2, a plan view of the machine.
A, is an endless band or cloth, for conveying the material to be ope-
rated upon to the feed rollers B, B, whereby it is fed to the large
cylinder or drum C, which is covered with wire card, and is caused to

page_text: rotate at about the speed of one hundred and fifty revolutions per
minute. D, is a roller furnished with a spiral brush, for lashing the
fibres into the card teeth of the large cylinder C; and E, is a stripping
roller for taking the silk off the said cylinder. F, is the carding
cylinder, provided with card teeth of a finer gauge than the cards of
the large cylinder. G, is a comb having a vibrating motion, for the
purpose of dofling or taking the sliver off the drum F, from whence it
is wound on to the large rotating drum H. I, is the presser roller for
consolidating the sliver on the large receiving cylinder H.
By the employment of this machine in place of the ordinary system
of combing silk waste, in order to prepare it for spinning, great advan-
tage is obtained in the preparation of fibres which are knotted or
tangled, and in the combing or carding of which difficulty is expe-
rienced. As the refuse silk waste, or the refuse of dyed silks arising
from the manufacture of stuffs, ribbons, lace, hosiery goods, or other
manufactures in which silk is employed, is ordinarily much tangled
and knotted, it is ustially sold at a very low price, and has, up to the
present time, been but imperfectly spun, and that at low numbers, and
with great loss of material; but by this improved process and machine
the silk refuse may not only be drawn out into long and serviceable
fibres, but the knots may be destroyed, and a considerable economy of
material effected, which has not been effected by any machinery
hitherto in use for similar purposes. A. valuable sliver of silk having
been obtained from the silk waste, and rolled upon the large cylinder H,
as above explained, the fibres may be subsequently operated upon by
combing or heckling, or any other suitable preparing machinery pre-
paratory to spinning.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent as aforesaid, and the best means with
which I am at present acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I
would observe, in conclusion, that I do not mean or intend to confine
or limit myself to the precise arrangement or construction of parts
herein shewn, as they may, perhaps, be varied without departing from
the nature and object of the Invention; but that which I consider to
be new in the above described improvements, and therefore wish to

page_text: claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid;
is the conversion of silk waste, or refuse silk, into a valuable product;
as above described, so that it may be spun and woven or otherwise
manufactured into an article of commerce.
I claim particularly the use of the machine shewn in the drawing,
or any mere modification thereof, consisting principally of rollers,
drums, or cylinders, covered or provided on their surfaces with wire
cards, for the purpose of operating upon silk waste, and opening or
separating the fibres thereof, and converting the waste material into
a sliver or sheet preparatory to the after processes of combing and
spinning.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness, J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane, London.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)