IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIAL." A communication from abroad by Frederick George Lange, of
St. Acheul-les-Amiens, France.
1
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th March 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL." [A communication from abroad by
Frederick George Lange, of St. Acheul-les-Amiens, France.]
ย
This Invention relates to improvements in or in connection with the well known
* Rawson” wool combing machines, and is designed to provide means whereby the
noils which remain after the first combing operation has been performed may be
combed over again, and thus an additional yield of long stapled wool or other.
fibrous material may be obtained.
The use of the aforesaid "Rawson" machines has been heretofore restricted for
the reason that they produce too much noil, but by the present Invention this
objection is obviated.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I provide a set of knives by means
of which the wool remaining in the large or outer circular comb after the drawing
off is removed. I also provide a guide arranged above the two combs, and over
which the said remaining wool passes being drawn forward by revolving discs
driven by toothed gearing or otherwise. This action places the said wool at the
point of junction of the larger and smaller circular combs, at which point there is a
brush for pressing the wool upon the pins to the proper depth. The separation of the
combs in the operation of the machine effects the second combing of the wool or
other fibrous material which is drawn out by means of vertical drawing rollers.
The remaining noils are removed from the smaller comb by means of a set of
knives.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL." A communication from abroad by
Frederick George Lange, of St. Acheul-les-Amiens, France.
In the "Rawson" and similarly operating wool combing machines the wool from
the feeding head is deposited in a circular receiving comb, and the fringe of clean
wool projecting from the outside of the comb is drawn off in the form of a sliver
by drawing off rollers, as is well understood.
Such machines so worked produce too much noil in an economical point of view.
This Invention relates to improvements in connection with wool combing machinery of
this kind, whereby the noils which remain after the first combing operation are them-
selves combed, an additional yield of long stapled wool or fibre being thus produced.
For this purpose the feeding head is caused to place the wool so far over the
circular receiving comb that the ends of the sliver project inside the comb, such
ends being already in a clean state owing to their having been drawn (during the
previous stroke of the machine) through the teeth of the circular comb. A brush
is caused to press down on the wool as soon as the feed head has deposited the
ends of the sliver onto the comb, and then the feed head retiring separates the
slivers from the wool in the comb, and draws the extreme ends of the slivers so.
separated through the teeth of the circular comb, thus clearing them ready for the
next stroke of the feed head.
The top or clean wool is usually drawn off from the outside by horizontal rollers.
In the arrangement about to be described it is also drawn off from the inside of
the circular comb by vertical rollers, these last being placed a little further round
the comb than the horizontal rollers so that the two pairs of rollers may not pull
against each other.
The noil remaining in the circular comb now passes on in the comb for a short
distance, and instead of being lifted out and treated as noil which is of small value
as compared with the top or clean wool, it is according to this Invention so treated as
to obtain from such noil such further quantity of wool as is fit to produce top or clean
wool, and this is done by carefully lifting the noil up out of the circular comb and
conducting it in a small trough or guide a small distance sideways out of its course,
and then pressing it down partly on to the inside teeth of the main or large circular
comb, and partly on to the teeth of another smaller or secondary circular comb
placed close inside the first one, so that the noil is in fact in both combs at the
same time; then as they separate in their revolutions the noil is separated and
part goes forward in the large circular comb, and part in the small circular comb,
whilst such fibres as are capable of forming top or clean wool project in a clean
combed state from the inside of the large circular comb, and from the outside of
the small circular comb.
The portion carried by the large circular comb passes on in it until the comb receives
its supply from the feeding head, and such portion as is capable of forming top
or clean wool is drawn off along with a portion of the fresh wool by the vertical
drawing off rollers inside the large circular comb.
The portion carried by the small circular comb has the top or clean wool drawn
off from it by another pair of vertical drawing off rollers placed a little further
round the circle, and such top runs through a tweedler (or revolving tube) and
joins the top or clean wool from the other parts of the machine. The noil still

page_text: remaining after this operation is lifted by noil knives and dropped into a noil can,
being in fact nothing but actual noil, as all the top or clean wool has been taken
out of it.
The second or smaller comb may be arranged outside the main comb.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate these improvements as applied to a
"Rawson" wool combing machine.
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan showing the second comb arranged inside the
main comb; and Figure 2 is a similar plan shewing the second comb arranged
outside the main comb. The noil shifting apparatus is shewn on an enlarged scale
by Figure 3, which is a.plan, and Figure 4, which is a longitudinal section. A is
the large circular receiving comb; B is the ordinary feeding apparatus; C, the
horizontal, and D the vertical drawing off rollers. E is the small circular comb
which is adjusted to run very close to the inside of the large circular comb, its
outside circumference running at the same speed as the inside circumference of the
large circular comb. F is a trough for conducting the noil from the position which
it occupies immediately over the large circular comb (at the moment it is lifted out
of it) to a position immediately over the point where the outside of the small
circular comb comes nearest to the inside of the large circular comb, so that it may
be at once deposited partly into one comb and partly into the other, and be pressed
down on them by a "dabbing brush "G, worked rapidly up and down. The sides
of the trough are made with a slight bend or curve in them so as to receive the
noil and curve it sideways, and then again allow of its being passed forward so as
to lie in a fair line with the two combs before being pressed down into them.
There are a series of small "sun wheels " H, H, arranged inside the trough for the
purpose of passing the noil forward without breaking it, as it is important for the
purpose of this Invention that the noil should not be broken up, but that it should
as far as possible form a fair unbroken line as it proceeds forwards.
In place of the "sun wheels" small bands of leather or other material may be
used either on the sides of the trough, on the bottom, or both, or a series of small
rollers may be used to urge the noil forward, but I prefer the said " 'sun wheels."
The apparatus operates as follows:-
-
On the continued rotation of the two circular combs a portion of the noil
remains in each as they separate. A certain portion of top or clean wool projects
in a fringe from the inside of the large circular comb, and from the outside of the
small circular comb. In order to draw off this top or clean wool projecting from
the outside of the small circular comb I place a pair of drawing off rollers K with
a tweedler L at a suitable point outside of the periphery of the said small circular
comb. A "sun wheel" may also be employed to smooth the wool forward ready
to be drawn off. A continuous sliver of top or clean wool is drawn off by the
drawing off rollers K. The noil then remaining in the comb after such second
quantity of top or clean wool has been drawn from it is lifted out by noil lifters
or knives M and passed away into a noil can in the usual way.
The top or clean wool remaining on the inside of the large circular comb is left
in it to be drawn off by the drawing off rollers D inside the large circular comb
together with the top or clean wool received in the first instance from the feeding
head.
Thus two additional quantities of top or clean wool are obtained from the noil
remaining after top or clean wool has been drawn off from the outside and inside
of the large circular comb, the whole of this top or clean wool is run between and
united by the horizontal rollers C, and represents a larger percentage of top or
clean wool on the original bulk of wool than can be obtained by an ordinary
combing machine, and such wool so treated is not broken, as it would be if
manipulated or worked in a wool combing machine working by means of a positive
nipping apparatus, as the wool is not subjected to severe strains and consequent
rupture of a portion.
It may also be mentioned that not only is the top more valuable, but the noil
also, as it is not "distressed" or broken.

page_text: The objection hitherto holding against there being a large number of rows of
teeth in the circular receiving comb, viz., that more noil would thereby be created
(although cleaner top could by such an arrangement be produced) now no longer
holds good, as according to this Invention all top or clean wool can be effectually
drawn off from the central portion of the wool left in the comb as noils after top
or clean wool has been drawn off from the outside and inside of the circular
receiving comb, so that not only is all the top cleaner and better, but in consequence
of there being a large number of rows of teeth in the circular receiving comb a
larger quantity of uncombed wool may be placed on it at each stroke of the feeding
head.
The smaller comb may be arranged outside the larger comb, as shewn in Figure 2,
the action being similar. Also instead of a single comb inside or outside the main
or large comb two circular combs may be employed to act as in a "Noble"
combing machine. In this case the noil is shifted entirely out of the main comb
and placed in the junction of the two smaller combs.
Although this Invention has hereinbefore been described and shewn as applied.
to a "Rawson" wool combing machine, it is obvious that by applying noil shifting
apparatus such as has been described to circular combing machines that operate in
a manner similar to Rawson's machine, the like advantages can be secured.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I
claim,―
In a
"Rawson" or similar wool combing machine the use of one or more
secondary circular combs in combination with noil shifting apparatus, whereby the
noil left in the comb after the drawing off of the top or clean wool is continuously
transferred to the junction of the combs to be operated on, substantially as
and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
X7M DODT TAVE