An Apparatus for Separating Wool, Silk, or other Animal Fibre from Vegetable Fibre or other Vegetable Matter.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Aug., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 27th Sept., 1887
[Communicated from abroad by URIAH CORNELL ALLEN, of Sandy Hill, in the
County of Washington, in the United States of America, Manufacturer.]
An Apparatus for Separating Wool, Silk, or other Animal Fibre
from Vegetable Fibre or other Vegetable Matter.
I, SAMUEL SIDNEY BROMHEAD of 97 Newgate Street, London, E.C. Patent Agent
(Communicated), do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in machines for removing cotton and other
vegetable matter from wool and silk, or similar animal fibre, the removal being
effected by the use of hydrocloric or other suitable acid.
The invention consists mainly in the construction and arrangement of the parts
whereby the gaseous acid is admitted to and exhausted from, a rotating drying-cylinder
forming part of the machine, and of the parts whereby the material is agitated within
the said cylinder while being steam-dried therein. It further consists in certain
details of construction hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.
Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal sectional view. Figure 2 is a transverse
vertical section on line X X, Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a similar view on line y y, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 represents a detail view.
A designates a rotary drum or cylinder, having the door a on its side, preferably
hinged over its opening, and closed by a suitable device.
a a', are pins or fingers standing radially inward from the sides of the cylinder, and
arranged preferably on longitudinal lines.
a² a² are similar fingers standing inward from the ends of the cylinder, but inclined
outward from base to point, for a purpose hereinafter explained. The said fingers are
preferably arranged in circular rows, concentric with the axis of the cylinder.
B B are bosses secured centrally to the ends of the cylinder, and forming journals
for the same. The said journals turn in proper bearings bb, secured to any suitable
support, as shown.

page_text: CC are stuffing-boxes attached to the ends of the journals B B¹, respectively, and
turning therewith.
cc is a pulley on the journal B, by means of which and a belt, c', the cylinder is
rotated by a suitable engine or other motive power; or gearing may be used to rotate
the cylinder instead of the pulley and belt, as may be desired.
F is a retort, preferably of cylindrical shape, and is a pipe rising from the top of
the same, bending horizontally and passing axially through the stuffing-box (and
journal B¹. The pipe has a cock or valve, f, and a joint, ƒ, outside of the stuffing-
box, so that the part within the same can rotate therewith. The opening 3, through
which the acid is poured into the retort, is in the top of the same, at the end opposite
pipe and is arranged to be closed by an air-tight door, as shown.
G is the fire-box under the outer end of the retort, and y is a pipe running under
the latter to convey the smoke and other products of combustion to the vertical
chimney G¹.
hhare openings for the escape of the moisture and acid-gas from the stock in the
cylinder. The said openings are circular, and are made at suitable points in the side
of the cylinder, near the ends of the same. The openings are closed by valves or
doors H, each of which has a semi-spherical boss, h, which enters and fits in the
corresponding opening as the cylinder rotates.
I is a steam-pipe running from the boiler d of the engine and passing axially
through the stuffing-box C and the journal B. The said pipe has the cock or valve i
and joint on it, outside the stuffing-box, so that the part inside the latter can turn
with the same.
The said steam-pipe forms a system of coils or return bends, J J, on
the inside surface of the side and ends of the cylinder, and then passes out through
the stuffing-box and journal, constituting a steam-discharge pipe, opening into the
air or into a suitable receptacle, to convey it away. The coils J may be arranged within
the cylinder in any desired manner.
K is a casing or housing surrounding the cylinder, and provided with proper
openings in its ends for the passage of the journals of the same.
k is a pipe extending from the said casing and connecting with the chimney G¹.
LL are return-bend steam-coils lying on the floor of casing K below the cylinder,
and proceeding from the boiler of the engine.
The stock is introduced within the cylinder through the door a, the upper part of
the casing or the whole being removed from around the cylinder to permit this. The
cylinder is then rotated, carrying the stock with it, and the fingers a¹ a tearing and
loosening it while the cylinder rotates. The valve being then opened, the gaseous
acid flows in, fills the cylinder, destroying in the usual well-known manner the
vegetable matter in the stock. The steam passing through the coils J dries the stock
and removes the moisture therefrom, and the gaseous acid passes through the
openings into the space between the cylinder and casing, when they are drawn
through pipe and up the chimney G by the draft of the latter. The valves H
automatically open and close alternately as the cylinder rotates. The end fingers, a²,
being bent outward, throw the rotating stock toward the center of the cylinder and
upon the fingers a', thereby producing a more perfect disintegration of the same in a
shorter time.
By means of the automatically opening and closing of valves H the acid-gas is
retained within the cylinder a short time, and then, with the moisture from the
drying stock, escapes at regular intervals of time therefrom. This greately facilitates
the drying, so that a much larger amount of stock can be treated per day than by the
processes now in use, at much less expense, and at the same time preserving all the
fulling qualities of the wool.
By the arrangement of the steam-coils within the cylinder a great economy of heat
is effected.
The machine is also useful in separating burrs and particles of woody and grassy
fiber from loose wool. This would be one of the main uses to which it would be
applied. It can also be used in the treatment of woollen waste mixed with cotton.

page_text: Having now fully described and ascertained what my said invention is and how the
same is performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I hereby
declare that what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is—
1. In a machine to remove the vegetable matter from animal fiber, a rotary drying-
cylinder provided with longitudinal rows of inwardly-extending teeth or fingers on
the inner surface of its sides, and on the inner surface of its ends with fingers
extending inwardly and toward the sides of the cylinder, to throw the stock inwardly
on the side fingers when the cylinder is in action, substantially as specified.
2. In a machine to remove vegetable matter from animal fiber, the combination,
with a rotary drying-cylinder A, of the inwardly extending fingers a', arranged in
longitudinal rows on the sides of the cylinder, and the fingers a', extending inwardly
from the ends and toward the sides of the cylinder and arranged in one or more
circular rows concentric with the axis of the same, substantially as specified.
3. In a machine to remove the vegetable matter from animal fiber, the
combination of the rotary drying-cylinder provided with distributing and disinte-
grating fingers, a retort to volatilize the acid, the valve-controlled pipe passing from
said retort axially through one of the journals of the drying-cylinder and provided
with a joint, so that the section in said journal can rotate therewith, and the valve H,
provided with hemispherical bosses to automatically close at regular intervals the
corresponding openings in the side of the shell of the cylinder, substantially as
specified.
4. The combination of the rotary drying-cylindrical the steam-drying-coils arranged
on the inner surface thereof, the acid-volatilizing retort, the pipe passing axially
through one of the journals of the cylinder, the valves on the sides of the cylinder,
and provided with the hemispherical bosses to automatically close corresponding
openings in the cylinder, the casing K, surrounding the cylinder, the escape-pipe k,
and the chimney G, substantially as specified.
5. The combination, with a rotary drying-cylinder, of the steam-coils J, arranged
on the inner surface thereof, the steam-pipe I, provided with the valve i and joint i
and passing axially through the journal B and stuffing-box C, and the escape-pipe j,
passing through said journal and box to one side of the steam-pipe, substantially as
described.
6. The herein-described machine to remove vegetable matter from animal fiber by
means of a gaseous acid, consisting of the rotary drying-cylinder having escape-
orifices in its side and valves to automatically open and close said orifices alternately
as the cylinder rotates, the retort communicating with the cylinder by means of a
pipe running axially through the journal on one of its ends, the steam-coils arranged
on the inner surface of the cylinder, the steam-pipe and discharge-pipe for said coils,
passing through the journal opposite that through which the retort pipe passes, and
means substantially as specified, whereby the cylinder is rotated.
Dated this 5th
At 1007