COMBS OR HACKLES FOR COMBING, CARDING, OR HACKLING FLAX, COTTON, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, (WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO RAISING THE NAP OR PILE OF WOOLLEN OR OTHER CLOTHS) AND IN THE MAKING OF PINS OR TEETH FOR SUCH COMBS OR HACKLES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richards Harding, of Leeds, in the County
"IMPROVEMENTS
of York, Hackle Pin Manufacturer, for the Invention of
IN COMBS OR HACKLES FOR COMBING, CARDING, OR HACKLING FLAX, COTTON,
SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, (WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO RAISING
THE NAP OR PILE OF WOOLLEN OR OTHER CLOTHS) AND IN THE MAKING OF PINS
OR TEETH FOR SUCH COMBS OR HACKLES."
Sealed the 5th June 1860, and dated the 7th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richards Harding
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1859.
I, THOMAS RICHARDS HARDING, of Leeds, in the County of York, Hackle
Pin Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS OR HACKLES FOR COMBING, CARDING, OR HACKLING FLAX.
COTTON, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, (WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
RAISING THE NAP OR PILE OF WOOLLEN OR OTHER CLOTHS,) AND IN THE MAKING OF
PINS OR TEETH FOR SUCH COMBS OR HACKLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in making the combs or hackles with pins or teeth
bent in a peculiar form, so as to strike into the material more directly, and so
that the yielding or springing of the pins or teeth occasioned by their elasticity
will cause the point which is in action to leave the fibres of which it has hold
more freely and quickly, and without breaking them so much as is done with

page_text: ordinary combs or hackles. I make the pins or teeth of my improved combs
or hackles round or flattened, according to the strength and elasticity required,
which elasticity will also allow them to be inserted into wood or other rigid
material, instead of leather or other yielding material, which is now the
ordinary practice.
My improved method of making combs or hackles consists of apparatus for
feeding in wire cut into lengths, and brought under the action of a hammer or
press, by which they are bent to the peculiar form of the teeth, and flattened
(if required) simultaneously, thereby producing pins or teeth of an uniform
strength and formation, and of a further apparatus for nipping or holding
such teeth or pins for the purpose of forcing them into the stocks, so that the
bent points or ends shall be set in regular rows, and at a uniform angle.
When it is desired to produce combs at a low price, I make such combs ry
soldering the pins or teeth on to bars, which bars may be used singly, er
bolted, or riveted together in any required numbers, so as to form a hackle of
any required width.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richards Harding in
Richards Harding in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICHARDS HARDING, of Leeds, in the County of York, Hackle Pin Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Richards. Harding, Her special license that I, the said
Thomas Richards Harding, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBS OR HACKLES FOR COM ING
CARDING, OR HACKLING FLAX, COTTON, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, (WHICH
ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO RAISING THE NAP OR PILE OF WOOLLEN OR OTHER CLOTHS,)

page_text: AND IN THE MAKING OF PINS OR TEETH FOR SUCH COMBS OR HACKLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Thomas Richards Harding, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of improvements in combs or hackles for combing,
carding, or hackling flax, cotton, silk, or other fibrous materials, consists
in making the combs or hackles with pins or teeth bent in a peculiar form, so
as to strike into the material more directly, and so that the yielding or
springing of the pins or teeth occasioned by their elasticity will cause the point
which is in action to leave the fibres of which it has hold more freely and
quickly, and without breaking them so much as is done with ordinary combs
or hackles. The teeth of combs or hackles have heretofore been made
straight, or nearly so, but I have found that by bending the upper part of the
pin out of the vertical line, in a manner somewhat similar to that adopted in
making the teeth of wire cards, and also by flattening the vertical part of the
pin or tooth, I am enabled to obtain an amount of elasticity which is
exceedingly desirable in operating upon silk.
The pins or teeth of my improved combs or hackles are made of steel wire,
and they may be made either round or flattened, according to the strength
and elasticity required, which elasticity will also allow of them being inserted
into wood or other rigid material, instead of leather or other yielding material,
which is now the ordinary practice in making wire cards; and in order to
prevent these steel pins or teeth from turning round in their holes or seats
when made of round wire, I flatten them at some part which is inserted into
the wood block, leaving the lower end round for the facility of inserting
the pin.
These improvements will be seen in the accompanying Drawings, in which
Fig. is a sectional view; Fig. 2, an end view; and Fig. 3, a plan view of
part of a comb or hackle bar provided with my improved teeth. a, a, is a
bar of wood or other rigid substance, into which the improved teeth b, b. are
inserted. Two of these teeth b, b, are shewn detached in front and edge views

page_text: at Figs. 4, 5, and 6. The body or vertical part of the pin is round, but at
the lower end the part 1 is flattened or spread out laterally by means of a
suitable tool, as herein-after mentioned, so that when the pin is inserted in the
wooden bar a it cannot turn round in its socket. It will be seen that the
upper end of the holes in which the pin is inserted is made conical, as at 2
(Fig. 3), in order to allow the pins to be forced back, as indicated by the
dotted line in Fig. 1. If desired, the whole of the vertical part or body of the
pin may be flattened, except at the lowermost extremity, as shewn in Figures
5 and 6. By this means additional elasticity will be obtained.
The apparatus whereby the improved comb teeth or pins are made of the
desired form, ready to be inserted into the wooden or other comb bars, is shewn
in plan view at Fig. 7, and in vertical section at Fig. 8. The wire of which
the teeth or pins are made having been cut into suitable lengths, and properly
pointed in the usual manner, these lengths are placed in a hopper, from
whence they are conveyed by means of a grooved cylinder, and are brought
under the action of a hammer or press, by which they are bent into the
desired form, and are also flattened (if required). These operations take place
simultaneously, or nearly so, and pins or teeth of an uniform strength, size,
and form are thereby produced. c, c, is the hopper, in which the lengths of
pointed wire are placed with their points all one way, as seen in the plan view.
A cylinder d having transverse grooves 3, 3, cut in its periphery is mounted
in suitable bearings immediately below the hopper, against the open bottom of
which it is made to fit. As the cylinder d revolves in the direction of the
arrow in Fig. 8, a pin falls into every groove in succession, and the pointed
wires are by this means brought down in regular order until they arrive
opposite to the punch e, which works in a horizontal guide or socket / bolted
to the foundation plate of the machine, and is worked by means of an excentric
g on the main shaft h, which is actuated by means of a strap or band passed
over the band wheel i (Fig. 7).
In order to prevent the pointed pins from falling out of the grooves 3
before they arrive at the punch e, a curved cover j, (Fig. 8), but not shewn in
Fig. 7, is attached to the hopper and made to embrace a part of the cylinder d.
An intermittent motion is communicated to the cylinder d by means of a click
lever k, l, which bears against and drives a ratchet wheel 1, as shown by dots
in Fig. 7. The tail of this lever is operated upon by a cam or excentric m on
the main shaft, so that at every rotation of the latter the lever k drives forward
the wheel 1, and consequently the grooved cylinder d the distance of one tooth.
The pointed end of every pin is bent out of a straight line, as shewn in
Figures 1 and 2, by means of a reciprocating punch n, which is driven forward

page_text: by means of a cam or excentric o (Fig. 7) on the main shaft. The action of
the punches e and n is nearly simultaneous, and after the pins have passed
from under the action of these two punches, they fall out or are discharged
from the grooves in the cylinder d. The steel pins or teeth when delivered
from the machine are to be hardened, tempered, and polished, in the ordinary
way of hardening, tempering, and polishing straight steel hackle pins or comb
teeth. The next operation is to fix the bent pins in the wooden or other rigid
bars; this is effected by hand; and in order to facilitate the operation, I make
use of an apparatus for nipping or holding the teeth or pins while they are
being forced into the wooden stocks or bars a; this nipping or holding
apparatus is shewn at Fig. 9 in the Drawing, and the principal object of
using it is to ensure that the bent pins or teeth shall be set in regular rows
and at an uniform angle. The tool consists of a stock p, with a head p* to
receive the blows, whereby the pins or teeth may be driven by means of a
mallet or hammer. At the lower end of this stock is made a groove s,
adapted to receive the bent pins or teeth which accurately fit it, and arc
secured therein by means of a moveable side piece or cover q, which is jointed
to the stock at r, on which it turns as on a pivot. When the bent pin or tooth
is placed in the groove s, the cover q is brought into a line parallel with the
stock p, and the pin is secured with a certain length projecting from the
stock. This projecting part may then be driven home in a hole made in the
block or bar a to receive it, and when secured the pin may be released from the
stock p by moving on one side the piece or cover q, as shewn in the Drawing.
When it is desired to produce combs at a low price, I make such combs by
soldering the pins or teeth on to metal bars, which bars may be used singly or
bolted or rivetted together in any required numbers, so as to form a hackle of
any required width. This mode of fixing the bent pins or teeth is shewn at
Figs. 10 and 12.
The combs shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are intended to be used
more particularly for combing waste silk, but for hackling or combing flax or
tow the teeth or pins should be made longer and more bent, so that their
pointed ends may strike better into the fibre, that when made as shewn in
Fig. 1. The form of teeth which I prefer to use in making combs or hackles
for combing flax and other analogous fibres is shewn at Fig. 11. The body of
the teeth may be made either flat or round, as in the former instance.
In applying my Invention for raising the nap or pile of woollen or other
cloths, I make the steel pins with much finer wire or points than for the
purposes above referred to. The pointed ends are also bent in a different
manner, being bent in a curved form somewhat resembling the points of

page_text: teazles. Fig. 12 is an end view of a bar with two rows of teazle teeth
attached thereto. Fig. 13 represents a portion of a cylinder provided with
these steel teazle teeth, which are set in an inclined position, and are secured
in bars or plates by soldering or otherwise. These bars or plates are then
fixed to the surface of the cylinder by screws, or in any other convenient
manner.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in combs or hackles
for combing, carding, or hackling flax, cotton, silk, or other fibrous materials,
and in making the pins or teeth for such combs or hackles, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, and of applying the
improvements to raising the nap or pile of woollen or other cloths, I claim as
the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, the mode herein
set forth of making combs or hackles for the purposes above referred to, and
also the mode of making the pins or teeth for such combs or hackles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty..
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
THO. R. HARDING. (L.S.)