IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR COMBING OR SPINNING.
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tongue, of Wakefield, in the County
of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR PREPARING FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR COMBING OR SPINNING.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tongue at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1866.
I, WILLIAM TONGUE, of Wakefield, in the County of York, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR COMBING OR SPINNING," to
be as follows:
The first part of my Invention relates to an improved arrangement of
machinery for opening, straightening, and preparing fibrous materials for
combing or spinning. In machinery at present employed for this purpose
the fibrous material is fed into the machine by rollers or other suitable
means, and a number of "gills" or heckles are caused to rise successively
into the material near where it is held by such rollers and to travel through
it until they arrive at the delivering rollers or apparatus, when they fall
out of the material and return to a suitable position for rising into the
material again. Now I find it desirable so to arrange and construct
machinery for this purpose that, in place of the "gills" or heckles travel-

page_text: ling through the material as above described, the gills or heckles shall be
divided into short series, so that after the feeding rollers or instruments
have drawn the material a short distance through the heckles one or more
of each of the series of heckles may fall out of the material, travel towards
the feed rollers, while the upper set of gills travel forward so as to allow
the gills or heckles to rise again, a brush at the same time pressing the
material into the gills. After the heckles have been removed from the
material the feeding rollers or instruments are caused to move forward with
the gills or heckles, and as soon as the gills or heckles are raised again the
rollers and heckles separate, thus causing the material to be straightened
and prepared. The material is thus carried towards a pair of delivering
rollers or instruments by means of which it is removed from the machine.
The feed rollers or apparatus are caused to feed a small portion of the
material forward, so that each time the material is drawn through the
heckles a fresh portion of material is operated upon in addition to that
already under operation.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I would remark that the
greater the number of heckles which can be removed from and replaced
into the material between each drawing action, as above described, the
more perfect will be the straightening and preparing action and the less
injurious on the material. I therefore prefer to remove and replace every
other gill or heckle between each drawing or combing action. This may
be accomplished in various ways, but I prefer to actuate the heckles in the
following manner:-The heckles are raised and lowered by means of a
surface actuated by cams and levers, and this surface has projections upon
it which rise between recesses formed in the heckles, so as to retain them
accurately while the drawing action takes place; at the same time a slide
carrying projections which take hold of the ends of the heckles is drawn
away from such ends and moved towards the feed rollers, and the projec-
tions are then reinserted between the ends of the heckles. At the same
time supporting surfaces travel under the heckles last raised.
the drawing or separating movement is completed the surface first
named descends, carrying with it every alternate heckle, and those last
raised are caused by the projections on the slides at the ends of the
heckles to move forward into such a position as will allow of the heckles
which have been lowered to be raised again, the supporting surface
travelling forward with the upper series of heckles at the same time, so
as to hold them up until the surface which lifts the heckles rises again,
and when the heckles move as above described the feeding rollers
As soon as

page_text: or instruments move with them, so that no drawing action may take
place till the whole series of heckles is replaced. While the upper
set of heckles is moving as above described, those which have been
lowered are caused to move in the opposite direction, so as to be in
a suitable position for rising again, and this is accomplished by means
of slides having projections which take hold of the ends of the heckles.
When these movements are completed the first-named surface is caused
to rise again, carrying with it the heckles which had been lowered,
thus completing the circle of movements. I also arrange guides between
such pair of heckles, against which they rise and fall, the heckles being
recessed at this part to allow room for the guides, and these guides may
be caused by means of cams to fall with the heckles, so as to ensure their
downward movement. The delivering rollers or instruments may move
continuously, or they may be worked by an intermittent motion. The
slides which move the heckles, after every other has been lowered as
above described, are actuated by cams and levers which cause the slides to
move against stops, the parts being arranged to work with springs so as to
press it, the slides, accurately against the stops at each end of the move-
ment, and I prefer to actuate the various parts by means of counter cams
acting against springs, so as to ensure perfect accuracy in all the move-
A "dabbing" brush is caused to press the material into the gills
or heckles when they rise into the material.
The second part of my invention consists in so arranging the ordinary
"screw gill" preparer that a series of bars placed between each row of
teeth of the heckles is caused to rise at intervals, so as to lift the material
out of such heckles, the material being afterwards pressed into the teeth
of the gills or heckles by means of a brush, the drawing or combing action.
of the gills or heckles being suspended while the material is lifted out of
the heckles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Tongue in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TONGUE, of Wakefield, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Tongue, Her special licence that I,
the said William Tongue, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Tongue, 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,
IN MACHINERY FOR
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
PREPARING FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR COMBING OR SPINNING;" upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Tongue, 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Tongue, 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 :-
The first part of my Invention relates to an improved arrangement of
machinery for opening, straightening, and preparing fibrous materials for.
combing or spinning. In certain descriptions of machinery, such as at
present employed for this purpose, the fibrous material is fed into the
machine by rollers or other suitable means, and a number of "gills" or
heckles are caused to rise successively, into the fibrous material near where
it is held by such rollers and to travel through it until they arrive at the
delivering rollers or apparatus, when they fall out of the fibrous material
and return to a suitable position for rising into the fibrous material again.
Now I find it desirable so to arrange and construct machinery for this
purpose that in place of the "gills" or heckles travelling through the
fibrous material as above described, the gills or heckles shall be divided
into short series, so that after the feeding rollers or instruments have
drawn the fibrous material a short distance through the heckles one or
more of each of the series of heckles may fall out of the fibrous material,
travel towards the feed rollers, while the upper set of gills travel forward
so as to allow the gills or heckles to rise again, a brush at the same time

page_text: pressing the fibrous material into the gills. After the heckles have been
removed from the fibrous material the feeding rollers or instruments are
caused to move forward with the gills or heckles, and as soon as the gills
or heckles are raised again the rollers and heckles separate, thus causing
the fibrous material to be opened, straightened, and prepared suitably for.
being afterwards combed or spun. The fibrous material is thus carried
towards a pair of delivering rollers or instruments, by means of which it is
removed from the machine. The feed rollers or apparatus are caused to
feed a small portion of the material forward, so that each time the material
is drawn through the heckles a fresh portion of fibrous material is operated
upon in addition to that already under operation.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I would remark that the
greater the number of heckles which can be removed from and replaced
into the fibrous material between each drawing action, as above described,
the more perfect will be the opening, straightening, and preparing action,.
and the less injurious on the material. I therefore prefer to remove and
replace every other gill or heckle between each drawing or combing action.
This may be accomplished in various ways, but I prefer to actuate the
heckles in the following manner :-The heckles are raised and lowered by
means of a surface actuated by cams and levers, and this surface has pro-
jections upon it which rise between recesses formed in the heckles so as to
retain them accurately while the drawing action takes place; at the same
time a slide carrying projections which take hold of the ends of the heckles
is drawn away from such ends and moved towards the feed rollers, and the
projections are then reinserted between the ends of the heckles. At the
same time supporting surfaces travel under the heckles last raised. As
soon as the drawing or separating movement is completed, the surface
first named descends, carrying with it every alternate heckle, and those
last raised are caused by the projections on the slides at the ends of the
heckles to move forward into such a position as will allow of the heckles
which have been lowered to be raised again, the supporting surface
travelling forward with the upper series of heckles at the same time, so as
to hold them up until the surface which lifts the heckles rises again; and
when the heckles move as above described the feeding rollers or instru-
ments move with them, so that no drawing action may take place till the
whole series of heckles is replaced.. While the upper set of heckles is
moving as above described those which have been lowered are caused to
move in the opposite direction, so as to be in a suitable position for rising
again, and this is accomplished by means of slides having projections which

page_text: take hold of the ends of the heckles. When these movements are com-
pleted the first-named surface is caused to rise again, carrying with it the
heckles which have been lowered, thus completing the circle of movements.
I also arrange guides between each pair of heckles, against which they rise
and fall, the heckles being recessed at this part to allow room for the
guides, and these guides may be caused, by means of cams to fall with the
heckles so as to insure their downward movement. The delivering rollers
or instruments may move continuously, or they may be worked by an
intermittent motion. The slides which move the heckles, after every other
has been lowered as above described, are actuated by cams and levers
which cause the slides to move against stops, the parts being arranged to
work with springs so as to press the slides accurately against the stops at
each end of the movement, and I prefer to actuate the various parts by
means of counter cams acting against springs, so as to insure perfect
accuracy in all the movements. A " dabbing" brush is caused to press
the material into the gills or heckles, when they rise into the material.
. And in order that this part of my Invention may be most fully under-
stood, and readily carried into practice, 1 will proceed to describe the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of so much of a machine for
preparing fibrous materials for combing or spinning as will enable me to
describe this part of my Invention, Figure 2 being a transverse section,
and Figure 3 a side view of some of the parts. a, a, is the framing of the
machine; b, b, are the feed rollers; c, c, a series of heckle bars; and d, d,
the delivering rollers, which I prefer to have fluted in the ordinary manner;
e is a dabbing brush or instrument for pressing the fibrous material into
and amongst the teeth of the heckles. The heckle bars are raised and
lowered by means of surfaces g actuated by cams and levers, and the
surfaces g have projections g thereon, which rise between recesses formed
between the heckle bars so as to retain them accurately while the drawing
action on the fibrous material takes place. The surfaces g are carried by
slides moving in guides g³ carried by the framing of the machine; g
is a cam on the cam shaft h, which acts upon a truck carried by the lever
gmoving on the axis g*, and motion is communicated from the lever g
to the slides by means of the connecting rod g' and cross rail g³;
a counter cam not shown in the Drawing acts upon a truck g carried by
the lever g³ to insure the descent of the slides g. When the surface g

page_text: and instruments g³ have moved the heckles into the fibrous material
a slide i carrying projections i¹ (which take hold of the ends of the heckle
bars) is drawn away from such ends and moved towards the feed rollers,
and the projections are reinserted between the ends of the heckle bars c.
At the same time supporting surfaces k carried by the slide 3, travel
under the heckles last raised. The slides i move in guides carried by
the slides moving in guides i carried by the framing of the machine.;
is a cam on the axis f; the cam acts on a truck carried by the lever
1 fixed on the axis 7, and the axis 17 by means of levers and connecting
rods gives motion to levers moving on studs on the framing of
the machine. The levers give motion to the slides by means of the
connecting rods in the direction to and from the delivering rollers d.
The return movement of the slide is effected by means of a counter
cam on the axis f acting upon a truck is carried by the lever i fixed on
the axis ; is a cam on the axis facting on a truck carried by the
lever fixed on the axis, and the axis gives motion by means of
levers and connecting rods " to the axes 18, which by means of the pro-
jections act upon the slides i so as to withdraw the instruments i¹ from
between the ends of the heckle bars c, and reinsert them from time to
time as required. A counter cam on the axis facts on the truck 20
carried by the lever is to effect the return movement of the slide i. When
the teeth of the whole series of heckle bars are inserted into the fibrous
material the feed rollers b, b, (which are supported in a sliding frame
carried by the framing of the machine) are caused to travel a short distance
away from the series of heckles, so as to produce a combing action upon
the fibrous material, and this movement of the feed rollers is effected in
which acts on a
the following manner :-6 is a cam fixed on the axis
truck carried by the lever b fixed on the axis 6', the lever 63 by means
of the connecting rod 65 gives motion to the slide which supports the feed
rollers b, and the return movement of the feed rollers is effected by a cam on
the axis h which acts upon a truck 66 carried by the lever 67 moving on the
axis 6', and the lever 67 by means of springs on the rods 6s communicates
motion to the levers 63, and so to the slide supporting the feed rollers b,
the springs on the rod 68 acting to keep the trucks 63 and 66 constantly
As soon as the drawing or
pressed against the surfaces of the cams.
separating movement is completed the surface g and instruments g
descend, carrying with them every alternate heckle bar c, and those heckle
bars last raised are then caused (by the projections i¹ on the slides i at the
ends of the heckle bars) to move forward into such a position as will allow

page_text: of the heckle bars which have been lowered to be again raised, the
supporting surfaces k travelling forward with the upper series of heckles
at the same time so as to hold them up until the surface g. which lifts the
heckles rises again, and when the heckles move as above described the
feeding rollers or instruments b, b, move with them so that no drawing
action may take place until the whole series of heckles is reinserted into
the fibrous material. While the upper half set of heckle bars is moving
as above described, those which have been lowered are caused to move
in the opposite direction, so as to be in a suitable position for rising again,
and this is accomplished by means of slides m having projections m' which
take hold of the ends of the heckle bars c. Motion is communicated to the
slides m from the axis 7 by means of the conducting rods m² and levers m³
moving on studs m' on the framing of the machine. Whilst the heckle
bars c are being moved by the projections m¹ they are supported by the
fixed surfaces o. When these movements are completed the surfaces g
and instruments g¹ are caused to rise again, carrying with them the
heckles which have been lowered, thus completing the circle of movements
of the heckle bars; p are guides between each pair of heckle bars, against
which they rise and fall, the heckles being recessed at this part to allow
room for the guides, and these guidés p are caused to descend with the
heckle bars so as to insure their downward movement, they being raised
again in time to allow of the forward movement of the heckle bars. The
guides p are carried by the slides p¹ moving in the stationary guides g
p³ is a cam acting on the lever på fixed on the axis g, and the axis g
gives motion to the slides p' by means of the levers p* and connecting
rods p³; a counter cam on the axis h acts upon a truck pe carried by a
lever fixed on the axis g to insure the downward movement of the
slides p'. The feeding and delivering rollers or instruments may be
caused by suitable gearing to move continuously, or they may be worked
by an intermittent motion. r and s are adjustable stops, against
which the slides and m are respectively pressed at each end of their
movement. The dabbing brush e (which presses the fibrous material
into and amongst the heckle pins when they rise) is carried by the levers
e¹ fixed on the axes e², to which motion is communicated by means of
the connecting rod e³, which rod e³ is attached to a lever moving on the
axis ge, a cam on the axis acting to give motion to such lever when
required.
The arrangement of the machine and the mechanism for actuating the
operating parts may be greatly varied without departing from the nature

page_text: of this part of my Invention, and I would remark that I am aware that
heckle bars have before been actuated by means of slides, which feature in
itself forms no part of my present improvements. I would also remark that
several distinct series of gills have been combined together, so that several
portions of the series were withdrawn whilst the other parts of the series
were in operation; but this part of my improvements consists in withdrawing
and replacing intervening heckles (or series of heckles), the operation of
the heckles or series of heckles upon the fibrous material being suspended
until the whole series is again completed by reinserting the heckles which
have been withdrawn in a different position in the fibrous material to
that which they previously occupied before being withdrawn, as herein
described and shown in the Drawings.
The second part of my Invention consists in so arranging the ordinary
screw gill" preparer that a series of bars placed between each row of
teeth of the heckles is caused to rise at intervals, so as to lift the material
out of such heckles, the material being afterwards pressed into the teeth
of the gills or heckles by means of a brush, the drawing or combing
action of the gills or heckles being suspended while the material is lifted
out of the heckles.
This description of machinery being well understood I have not thought
it necessary to show by Drawings the improved arrangement of parts
above referred to, as an intelligent mechanic acquainted with this class
of machinery, aided by the previous description of the second part of my
Invention, will readily carry the same into practice without a more detailed
description thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Tongue, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM TONGUE. (L.S.)
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, W.C.