IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING, BEFORE BEING SPUN, WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
SAMUEL CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Manningham, in the County of York,
Machine Woolcomber, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-second day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Cunliffe
Lister, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Cunliffe Lister, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use; exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
AND PREPARING, BEFORE BEING SPUN, WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,

page_text: the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, to be
inrolled in Her 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, that is to say:
When
Since the Patent taken by Mr. Donisthorpe and myself, in Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in which several forms of
combing machines drawing out detached portions of fibrous material
are described, I now find that wool and other fibrous material can be
combed with great advantage by having the fallers of the gill much
narrower than have been used, say about one eighth of an inch broad,
but not to exceed one quarter of an inch, as by making the fallers
narrower I am enabled to operate upon a smaller quantity of fibrous
material at a time, and thus to make less noil and better work.
the faller is very narrow, the "taking comb" recently patented by me
will be found to work with greater advantage than the nipper. Until
recently the combing of cotton has not been considered practicable; it
is now, however, combed with great success upon two machines, Heil-
man's, and Lister and Donisthorpe's. In one of these machines it is
combed in detached pieces, first at one end, and then at the other; and
in the other machine it is drawn out in detached quantities by a comb
or nipper, and then placed upon another comb to be drawn off. Now
I have discovered that it can be combed with great facility if lashed or
filled on to fine combs (without being first drawn out in detached
quantities) by any suitable feeding apparatus, provided the combs are
sufficiently fine, say not less than ten teeth in each lineal inch, but I
prefer from thirty to fifty; and the chamber of the comb should not
exceed half an inch, but I prefer one sixteenth of an inch wide, and I

page_text: also prefer that the form of the comb should be circular or endless;
but I would remark that all the various plans now used for combing
wool may be modified so as to comb cotton, provided the combs on to
which it is filled are made sufficiently fine. But in order that the
cotton should be filled on to fine combs with advantage in the
manner above described, it should be first well opened out and
straightened by being prepared upon porcupine drums, or other suitable
pointed surfaces having feed rollers of small diameter, say not ex-
ceeding one inch, and the number of teeth per square inch should
not be less than ten, but I prefer about thirty. In order to be properly
prepared it should be passed through several machines, each having the
pointed surfaces finer than the other. Screw gills and porcupine rollers
will be found to act with great advantage in producing a regular and
even sliver ready for being filled on to combs, also after being combed;
but generally speaking, I find to card it upon a suitable carding engine
is the cheapest and most advantageous plan when filled on to fine combs,
as described. It is also desirable that the combs should be heated when
combing cotton. After being filled on to combs, good work may be
produced by simply drawing it off without working it; but I prefer to
comb it with fine combs having not less than twenty teeth per inch. A
card or porcupine surface may be made to lash or work it after being
filled on to suitable combs. In using combs for combing wool, I find
it a great advantage to have the front rows placed nearer together than
is usual, say not to exceed after the rate of three rows in three six-
teenths of an inch, but I prefer them in two sixteenths of an inch,
especially when filled on in detached quantities. I also find that when
Botany, Saxony, and similar fine wool, capable of being spun to 40%,
are filled on by a lashing process, that much finer combs may be used,
especially when such wools have been carded, say not less than fifteen
teeth
per lineal inch.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
SAMUEL C. (L.S.) LISTER.

page_text: · AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of No-
vember, in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Samuel Cunliffe
Lister came before our said Lady the Queen, in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing
therein contained and specified in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
statute made for that purpose.
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