IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Walton Whitehead, of Holbeck, in the
Parish of Leeds, in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm of
Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company, of the same Place, Machine
and Tool Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Walton White-
head at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th December 1872.
I, HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of. Leeds,
in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor; Wordsworth,
and Company, of the same Place, Machine and Tool Makers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My improvements are applicable to Noble's and other similar combing
machines.

page_text: One of my improvements consists in traversing the drawing or endless
sheets of wool combing and other drawing machines, whereby simplicity
of arrangement is ensured, and general wear and tear of the apparatus is
greatly reduced, and greater facility is afforded to allow the attendants
to change the wheels and other parts connected with the gearing plate of
the machine. I traverse the guide, stretching, or tightening rollers by
means of oscillating brackets. On the upper side of these brackets I fix
slot plates carrying the guide, stretching, or tightening rollers, the
brackets being actuated by a crank or eccentric from a shaft, which
receives motion from a star wheel or worm and wheel, or by a ratchet 1
wheel from a pallet or catch fixed to the under side of the rack circle,
and the article carrying the oscillating brackets and slot plates with the
guide, stretching, or tightening rollers fixed thereto is entirely fixed to
the under side of the steam chest. Each oscillating bracket may be
actuated by separate cranks, or by a connecting lever which causes one 1
to balance the other; and a modification of the same is where a worm
and worm wheel and star wheel is used when one crank or excentric is
employed to actuate the oscillating brackets.
Another improvement consists in drawing off the shortest fibres from
the large and small circular combs by means of vertical revolving nips
placed closed to the inner side of the large circular comb and the outside
of the small circular comb, so as to allow the drawing off roller to draw
off the shortest cleaned fibres along with the longest, or what is usually
called top fibres, thereby producing more top than heretofore.
Another improvement has reference to the Patent taken out by 2
Mr. Thomas Whitchead, dated 30th July 1872, No. 2285. I find it
advantageous to have all the rows of pins in the two vertical clearing
combs made flat. I also find it necessary to have the shields turned
taper so as to prevent damage to the combs, which also has a tendency
to press the fibre into the combs more casily than heretofore. I also
find it advantageous to place the bevilled vertical combs towards the
inside of the large circular comb so as to prevent "knuckling" of the
fibre between the feed boxes and the outer circular vertical comb.
E
Another improvement consists in attaching to the under side of the
feed boxes a deep rib so that a groove being cut through the large rack a
circular plate lengthwise towards the centre or interior will admit of-the

page_text: deep rib of the feed box passing through it, and thereby be actuated by
an incline fixed to the steam chest underneath the rack circlo, thereby
giving greater steadiness to the boxes as they rise and fall than hicreto-
fore. The feed boxes may be made to rise and fall either by a joint, as
heretofore, or be lifted square up by a broad incline.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Walton Whitehead in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 24th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County
of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company, of
the same Place, Machine and Tool Makers, send greeting.
HEREÀ:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Walton Whitehead,
Her special licence that I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Walton Whitehead, 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 tho
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Walton White-
head, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained 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) :—
My improvements are applicable to Noble's and other similar combing
machines.
The first part of my improvements relates to certain means of
traversing the drawing and endless sheets of wool and other combing
machines, whereby simplicity of arrangement is ensured, and the wear
and tear of the apparatus is greatly reduced, and increased facility is
afforded to the attendants for changing the wheels and other parts con-
nected with the gearing plate of the machine. I traverse the guide
stretching, or tightening rollers by means of vertically sliding brackets,
on the upper side of which I fix slot plates for carrying the guide
stretching, or tightening rollers. The brackets I actuate by a crank or
excentric from a shaft which receives motion from a star wheel and
worm and wheel, or by a ratchet wheel from a pallet or catch fixed to
the under side of the rack circle. The support for the sliding brackets
is fixed to the under side of the steam chest. Each bracket may be
actuated by separate cranks, or a connecting lever may cause one to
actuate and balance the other. A modification of the same is where a
worm and worm wheel and star wheel is used with one crank or excentric
to actuate the sliding brackets.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 shews in- partial-plan view a
Noble's combing machine, with the first part of my Invention applied
thereto. A, A, are the endless drawing belts or aprons; B, B, are the
traversing, guide, stretching, or tightening rollers; C, C, the fluted
drawing off rollers; D, the steam chest; and E, the rack circular plate.
The same letters in each Figure are employed to indicate like parts where-
ever they occur.
Figure 2 is a sectional clevation of Figure 1 through the line A, B,
shewing one mode of carrying out the first head of my Invention. G is
the sliding bracket working in a vertical guide forming part of the
bracket piece O, which is bolted to the under side of the steam chest D.

page_text: On the top of this bracket is pivotted a pair of slot plates F, which carry
the said stretching rollers B, B. The bracket G receives its traverse
motion from the eccentric H, which is keyed unto one end of a shaft I.
At the other end of this shaft is keyed a worm wheel J, which re-
ceives motion through the worm k keyed on the lower end of the
upright stud L. On the upper end of this stud is fixed a star wheel M,
which is driven by a pin or runner N fixed to a slot plate N', carried by
the revolving rack circular plate E. In this example, where the slot
plates F, F, with their guide stretching or tightening rollers B, B, are
carried by one sliding bracket G actuated by one excentric H, it is
necessary to provide some means for preventing the running down of
the rollers B during the working of the machine. To this end a spring
stop R, fixed to the bracket O, is caused to engage with the teeth of the
ratchet wheel S, carried by the star wheel M, and offer just sufficicut
resistance to the rotation of the star wheel M as will counteract the
weight of the bracket and its attachments, and prevent them from
running down during the working of the machine. When however a
pair of sliding brackets is used to carry the guide stretching, or tighten-
ing rollers B, and these brackets are each actuated by a crank or
excentric H, the one may balance the other. An arrangement of this
kind is shewn in sectional elevation at Figure 3, in which G¹ is the.
additional bracket sliding in a bracket guide O¹, made fast to or forming
a portion of the bracket guide O.
The shaft I is extended and fitted with an additional excentric H' for
operating the sliding bracket G₁. The gearing for driving the shaft I is
the same as in Figure 2, but the spring stop R and ratchet wheel S are
omitted, there being no tendency for the rollers B to run down.
Figures 4 and 5 shew another arrangement for actuating a pair of
sliding brackets G, G'. In this arrangement the brackets carrying the
tightening rollers are connected together by a rock lever. Figure 4 is a
sectional elevation of so much of a combing machine as will illustrate
the application of the connecting rock lever, and Figure 5 is a side view
of Figure 4. In Figure 4 T is the rock lever, which is connected at its
opposite ends to the slides G, G'; this lever is pivotted to the bracket
guide piece O, and the slide G is connected at its lower end by a link to
a crank plato I on the shaft I. W is a ratchet wheel keyed to the
opposite end of the shaft I, and driven by the pawle or catch V, which is

page_text: pivotted to a rock lever U, having for its fulcrum a stud affixed to the
steam chest D. The rock lever U is actuated by a stud X, carried by a
rotating circular rack plate E, as in the first-described arrangement. In
this arrangement it will be seen that the weight of the one slide will
balance the other, and thus the tendency of the tightening rollers to run
down during the working of the machine will be neutralized.
The second improvement relates to the drawing off of the shortest
fibres from the large and small circular combs by means of vertical
rotating nips placed close to the inner side of the large circular comb
and the outside of the small circular comb, so as to allow the drawing off
rollers to draw off the shortest cleaned fibres along with the longest, or
what is usually called top fibres, thereby producing moro top than
heretofore.
In Figures 1 and 2 the vertical rotating nips are shown by dotted lines
at X, X; they may be driven by suitable means from the drawing off:
rollers C, C, or otherwise, as found most convenient. It will be seen
that by placing the vertical rotating nips, as at Figure 1, inside the large
circular comb A, and outside the small circular comb A' respectively,
and just before the drawing off rollers C, C, the short fibres will be
carried forward and be drawn off with the longer fibres by the action of 1
the rollers C, C, thereby producing more top than heretofore.
The third improvement has reference to the Patent taken out by
Mr. Thomas Whitehead, dated Thirtieth July One thousand eight hun-
dred and seventy-two, No. 2285. I find it advantageous to have all the
rows of pins in the two vertical clearing combs made flat. I also find it :
necessary to have the shields turned taper so as to prevent damage to
the combs; this gives them also a tendency to press the fibre into the
combs more easily than heretofore. I also find it advantageous to place
the inclined circular clearing combs towards the inside of the large
circular comb, so as to prevent "knuckling" of the fibre between the
feed boxes and the outer circular vertical comb.
These improvements are illustrated at Figure 6, where A is the large
outer circular comb; D, D', a pair of clearing combs; and F, F, the
shields made with tapered edges. These shields, it will be understood,
rotate between the pins of the circular clearing combs, and cause the a
sliver to be pressed on to the pins, from which it will be removed by

page_text: fixed knives, as in the former Patented arrangement. The clearing
combs D, D¹, are fitted with flat instead of rounded pins, as heretofore,
and the inner clearing comb is inclined more to the centre of the
machine than heretofore, in order to increase the space between the two
combs at the point where the knives take the fibre out of the combs.
The effect of this change of position of the inner comb D is to prevent
knuckling" or doubling of the fibre between the two combs, and thus
to keep the fibre straight. A cause of waste is thus avoided, as the fibre
does not get damaged or broken by the action of the large and small
circular combs, these combs being free to comb straight through the
fibre lengthwise.
The last part of the Invention consists in attaching to the under side
of each feed box a deep rib, which passes through a radial groove cut in
the large rack circular plate, and bears upon an incline fixed to the
steam chest. This arrangement is shewn at Figure 7, where J is the feed
box formed with a deep rib J¹, which passes through a radial slot J³ in
the circular plate E, and bears upon an incline J³, fixed to the steam
chest D. As therefore the circular plate E rotates, the feed boxes will
be actuated by the incline J³, but they will move with greater steadiness
than heretofore, the slotted plate E serving to guide the boxes during
their rising and falling motions. The feed boxes may rock on a joint J*,
as shewn at Figure 7, or they may be lifted square up, as shown at
Figure 8, by a broad incline J³.
.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements
in Machinery for Combing Wool, Cotton, Flax, Silk, and other Fibrous
Substances," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,―

page_text: And lastly. The improvement described with reference to the feed
boxes, and illustrated at Figures 7 and 8 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, has herc-
unto set his hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said Henry Walton Whitehead, in
the presence of
EDW. WHITELEY,
Clerk to Mr. Thos. Turner,
Solicitor,
Leeds.