CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING OR BRUSHING AND SEPARATING WOOL
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN BARING,
of Bishopsgate Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Third day of February, in the sixth year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Baring, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said John Baring, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Baring, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick upon Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR COMBING OR BRUSHING AND SEPARATING WOOL," being a communication made
to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John Baring, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Baring, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements in machinery or apparatus for combing or brushing
and separating wool consist in certain novel constructions and arrangements of
machinery for partially combing or straightening the fibres of wool, and deposit-
ing the same upon travelling combs in order that the wool of different lengths
may be severally taken therefrom in separate and distinct fillets of fibre by
taking off or conducting rollers; and the wool, having been so separated and
sorted in its respective lengths, the short wool left in the combs is afterwards
taken off by a comb or brush clearing roller. The wool being spread by hand
upon an endless feeding cloth in the first instance is delivered into the machine
through a pair of ordinary feeding rollers in a thin layer, from whence it is
taken by a revolving cylinder or drum covered with card teeth, or wires or
bristles, or a mixture of them, and deposited on to the points of a set of
travelling combs placed nearly in contact with the periphery of this combing
and brushing cylinder. The filaments of wool are drawn out from between
the feeding rollers by the carding and brushing cylinder, and carried to the
travelling combs, which move slowly along in front of the cylinder, and the
wool is taken therefrom by the travelling combs, between the teeth of which
it hangs as a fringe, and as the carding cylinder revolves much faster than the
combs travel, the pendant wool becomes combed and brushed down by the
action of the cylinder at the same time that it is depositing fresh wool on to
the combs. The combs carry the fringe of wool past two or more pairs of the
taking off or conducting rollers situate at different distances from the face of
the travelling combs, by which means the ends of the longest fibres of wool
are first presented to the pair of taking off rollers which are placed at the
greatest distance from the travelling combs in order that the first pair of rollers
may take hold of, draw out, and conduct away the longest wool. The second
pair of conducting rollers situate nearer to the combs take the next length of
fibre, and so on until the different lengths of wool are separately drawn from
the travelling combs by the different pairs of taking off or conducting rollers.
The remaining short wool or noile is removed from the combs by the action of
another cylinder furnished with cards or comb teeth or brushes, and which
cylinder is cleared of the wool by a picker cylinder or doffer in any convenient
manner.

page_text: In describing the construction and operation of these machines I shall first
refer to the diagrams, Figures 1, 2, and 3, and then proceed to the more
detailed Drawing of the machinery at Figures 4, 5, and 6. Figures 1 and 2
are diagrams to explain, one construction of these improved machines, the
travelling combs, being formed by a horizontal revolving circular rim, round,
the edge of which are set a row or rows of vertical points or comb teeth.
Fig. 3 is a diagram of another construction, in which the combs are placed.
vertically along the upper edge of a travelling belt passed around two drums:
or rollers, the same letters referring to corresponding parts in all these Figures:
A is the layer of wool spread on the feeding cloth by. hand; B; a pair of
feeding, rolls revolving slowly; C, the carding or brushing and combing
cylinder revolving rapidly, and drawing the wool from between the feeding
rollers. By the rapid rotation of this roller the fibres of the wool are thrown.
on to the teeth D of the revolving or travelling combing rim E, which
slowly in front of the roller. The wool thus received on to the points of the
combs hanging out or projecting round the comb in a sort of fringe, and its
fibres are partially straightened by the wires or brushes of the rapidly revolving
cylinder C; F is the first pair of taking off and conducting rollers, placed at
a suitable distance from the combs, to take hold of the longest fibres of tho
wool and separate them from the, short; G is a second pair of taking-off and
conducting, rollers, placed nearer the combs, for separating the next length;
and H is a third pair of similar rollers, placed still nearer the combs, for taking
off the shorter lengths of fibres; I is the clearing cylinder, furnished with
suitable comb teeth, or needle points or brushes, which takes off or clears out
of the points of the revolving heckles all the remaining short wool or noiles,
which from this cylinder is combed off or doffed in the form of a sliver.
passes
Having explained the general arrangement of the parts of these improved
machines, I shall now refer to Figures 4, 5, and 6, and more particularly describe
the construction and operation of the same. Figure 4 is a front clevation of a
machine with a revolving circular comb; Fig. 5 is a plan or horizontal view;
and Figure 6 is a side elevation of the same.. A is the framework; B, the driving
pulley on the main shaft, by which the machine is put in motion; C, C, are the
two feeding rollers, through which the wool enters the machine from the feeding
cloth; D is the combing and brushing roller furnished with wire, card teeth, or
hair brushes, and is formed hollow, as shewn in the Drawings, to suit the shape
of the rim E, which is mounted on the upright shaft K, with the comb teeth
set vertically round its outer edge, and of a proper length, thickness, and dis-
tance apart, according to the nature of the wool to be operated upon; F, F,
are one pair of drawing or taking off,rollers to separate the longer from the

page_text: shorter fibres; one is made of metal fluted on its periphery, and the other
covered with leather; H, H, are small pullies over which a twisting or rubbing
belt is passed, and is driven by the pulley I; J, J, are two delivering rollers.
The vertical shaft K, on which the comb rim E is mounted, is made to revolve
slowly by means of the worm wheel L, which is driven by a worm or endless
screw on the cross shaft M. The brushing or combing cylinder D is driven by a
bélt passed from the pulley N; the cross shaft P is driven from the small pulley
O; R are a pair of bevel wheels for driving the taking off or drawing rollers
F S is an arm conuceted at one end to the upright shaft K by means of an
universal joint or coupling, the other end is connected to a leather belt passing
over the pullies T, T. At this end of the arm is a prong or wiper Z projecting
downward as far as the bottom of the comb teeth; one of the pullies T is
driven by the pulley U on the front cross shaft P. The arm S with the prong
or wiper on its end are put in motion by the belt for the purpose of presenting
the ends of the fibres to the rollers, so that they may take hold of them and
draw the longer fibres out of the combs; V is a conical drum or roller covered
with card teeth or needle points, and is driven from the shaft M; X is a curved
apron made of copper or other metal placed under the brush or comb cylinder
D nearly in contact with its surface, and against which the fringe of wool is
brushed or combed.
.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The wool, being first well
straightened by hand on the endless feed cloth, is passed through the feed
rollers C, and is taken from them by the combing or brushing cylinder D, the
periphery of which is placed nearly in contact with the points of the travelling
comb teeth, by which means as the combs pass slowly along the cylinder D in
its swift revolution deposits the wool which it has taken from the feed rollers
on to the comb teeth; and, further, the cylinder in its rotation takes or combs
out the short wool not at first caught in the teeth, and again brings it over to
the points of the combs, and continues this operation until the long wool is
birushed, combed, and straightened; and the short wool is deposited in the comb
teeth. This process or operation produces a fringe of long wool, combed or
brushed and partially straightened, and is caught or held together with the
short wool in the comb teeth, and extending from the teeth in proportion to
its length, whereby the operator is enabled, by placing the drawing off rollers
Fnearer to or further off from the combs, to draw out the particular length
of wool required, and leave the shorter fibres or curled wool in the combs,
which is removed in the following manner --As the travelling combs are
charged with wool, their continuous motion cause the long wool to approach
the pair of drawing rollers F, F; before reaching these rollers the wiper per-

page_text: forms its duty, which is to carry or sweep the ends of the fibres of long wool
toward the drawing off rollers, which immediately take hold of the ends of the
longer fibres, and draw from the combs the long wool, which then passes be-
tween the twisting or rubbing belt Y, where it receives a slight rubbing or
twisting, so as to collect the fibres and give it a slight consistency as a roving;
after which it is taken by the carrying rollers J, J, and delivered into cans or
boxes in a continuous sliver or roving. After the taking off rollers have drawn
the long wool from the combs, the short wool as the cylinder E revolves arrives
opposite to the drum V, by which it is taken out of the combs; from this drum
it is taken by the picker cylinder W, and thrown into boxes, or it may be
doffed in the ordinary manner. The empty combs on again coming before
the brushing cylinder D are again charged with wool, which is acted upon as
already described, and the machine kept in constant operation; and heat may
be applied to the machines in various ways, either by steam or otherwise, as
most convenient.
I would here remark, that I am aware machines for combing wool have
heretofore been constructed with revolving or travelling combing teeth whereon
wool has been combed, but in such machines the wool has been placed into a
comber or slasher, the action of the travelling combs being only to remove the
short or narled wool therefrom, the combed wool being held or retained in the
slasher. And further, in these kind of machines the slasher or comber was
supplied or charged at different times with portions of wool which were removed
after being operated upon, the machine being stopped while a fresh supply of
wool was given thereto. Therefore the claim of Invention under this Patent
is not the constructing of machines with travelling combs, nor to any part or
parts of the machine separately, nor is it intended to confine the construction
of these machines to any particular form. But that which is intended to be
claimed as the Invention secured by the above in part recited Letters Patent
is, the adaptation of the roller or cylinder armed with teeth or brushes for
drawing the wool from the feeding roller, and depositing it on to the teeth of
travelling combs, and at the same time by its rapid rotation partially combing
or brushing the wool as the comb teeth move along at a comparatively
slow speed before it. And also the adaptation of the several pairs of drawing
rollers placed at different distances from the combs for the purpose of drawing
out from the comb, and thereby separating the long from the short fibres of
the wool.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Baring, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
JOHN (L.s.) BARING.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of August, in the
seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
John Baring came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and everything therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.