IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Illingworth and Henry Illingworth, both of
Bradford, in the County of York, Spinners, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES."
Sealed the 12th May 1863, and dated the 15th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Illingworth and
Henry Illingworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th November 1862.
We, ALFRED ILLINGWORTH and HENRY ILLINGWORTH, both of Bradford, in
the County of York, Spinners, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," to be as
follows:-
In the washing of wool and other fibres various means have been resorted
to for carrying the fibre through the wash liquid, and amongst others it has
been proposed to employ blades or plates applied to endless travelling bands
or chains, but it was found that the tendency of such blades or plates by the
continuity of their surfaces was to produce a felting or matting effect.
Our improvements consist in substituting for such blades or plates prongs
or teeth or grates, which may be of a curved or other suitable form adapted,
when applied to continuous travelling surfaces, or when in operation. upon
the fibre, to be continuously travelling in the same direction, to carry forward
the fibre through the wash liquid, and facilitate the washing thereof without

page_text: producing a felting or matting thereto. We also apply a series of prongs to
the feed end of the wash trough to act as guides or conductors to facilitate the
complete immersion of the fibre in its passage to the series of prongs, teeth,
or grates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Illingworth and Henry Illingworth in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALFRED
ILLINGWORTH and HENRY ILLINGWORTH, both of Bradford, in the County of
York, Spinners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Alfred Illingworth and Henry Illingworth, Her special licence that we, the
said Alfred Illingworth and Henry Illingworth, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said 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, 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
WASHING WOOL AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Alfred Illingworth and Henry Illingworth, our executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 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:-
In the washing of wool and other fibres various means have been resorted
to for carrying the fibre through the wash liquid, and amongst others it has

page_text: been proposed to employ blades or plates applied to endless travelling bands
or chains, but it was found that the tendency of such blades or plates by the
continuity of their surfaces was to produce a felting or matting effect.
Our improvements consist in substituting for such blades or plates, prongs
or teeth, or grates, which may be of a curved or other suitable form adapted.
when applied to continuous travelling surfaces, or when in operation upon the
fibre, to be continuously travelling in the same direction to carry forward the.
fibre through the wash liquid, and facilitate the washing thereof without felting
or matting it. We also apply a series of prongs to the feed end of the wash
trough to act as guides or conductors to facilitate the complete immersion of
the fibre in its passage to the series of prongs, teeth, or grates.
But that our improvements may be better understood we will, by the aid of
the accompanying Drawing, proceed more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of apparatus for washing wool or
other fibres with parts arranged therewith according to our improvements;
Figures 2, 3, and 4 show parts separately.
a, a, represents the box or trough containing the wash liquid; b, b, endless
chains, or it may be bands, supporting series of prongs or teeth c; these
teeth c are affixed in bars c¹, which are supported with capability of turning
in links of the chains b, b, whilst they are carried forward by those chains.
Upon one end of each of the bars c' is affixed the cross bar c³, carrying trucks
or bowls c³, c³, which during part of the motion of the chains b, run on the
upper surface of a stationary bar d, which thereby serves as a guide to control
the direction of the teeth c when those teeth are acting on the fibre in the
trough a. d' is an additional stationary guide to act on one of the trucks or
bowls c³ of each row of teeth or tines c to cause them to incline slightly in
entering the fibre; d² is another stationary bar or guide to act on such trucks
or bowls in order to guide the teeth or tines in leaving the fibre at the
delivery end. The links of the chains b, b, pass over and are supported by a
pair of drums or pulleys e, f, at each end of the trough a.
The pulleys or
drumse are provided with teeth e' to take into the links of the chains b, and
they are affixed to an axis or shaft e², to which rotary motion is given in the
direction indicated by the arrow by a steam engine or other suitable power, by
which means motion will be given to the chains 6; 9 is the feed apron for
carrying forward the fibre to be cleansed; h are a series of
prongs placed
across the apparatus intermediate of the teeth or tines c to guide or conduct
the fibre to be washed, and insure its being thoroughly taken down into the

page_text: wash liquid by the teeth or tines c. The fibre is thence carried along the
trough a by the tines c until it arrives at the delivery end of that trough,
when it is taken up by the teeth or prongs of a rotating lifting drum or
wheel i, such as shown and described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to John Petrie, jun., of Rochdale; and Samuel Taylor, of the same
place, bearing date the 11th day of January 1853, No. 75. By these' or
other suitable means the fibre is delivered to the apron j and conducted" 'to
between the squeezing rollers k, k.
1
Having thus described the. nature of our said improvements, we would'
have it understood that we do not confine ourselves to the form of the teeth
or tines as shown, or to other of the precise details shown and described, as
these may be varied; but what we do claim is the employment of prongs,
teeth, or grates acting in manner and for the purpose substantially as
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Illingworth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
ALFRED ILLINGWORTH. (L.S.),