IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING WOOL, ALPACA, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Robert Ramsbotham and William Brown, of
Bradford, in the County of York, Wool Combers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING WOOL, ALPACA, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES.
Sealed the 5th August 1856, and dated the 14th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Robert Ramsbotham
and William Brown at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 14th February 1856.
We, HENRY ROBERT RAMSBOTHAM & WILLIAM BROWN, of Bradford, in
the County of York, Wool Combers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBING WOOL, ALPACA, COTTON, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to us, bearing date the
18th day of November 1854, it is proposed, in preparing & combing wool and
other fibrous substances, to feed such fibrous substances on to receiving combs
through gill feeding means, the teeth of which point in a direction at right
angles (or approximating thereto) to those of the receiving comb.
Now we have discovered that considerable advantage is obtained by causing

page_text: the successive quantities of fibre, as brought forward by the gills, to be taken
by intermediate & independent combs whose teeth point in a direction at right
angles (or approximating thereto) to those of the gill combs, and which
traverse past such gills in a circle, or otherwise, to take their quantity of fibre.
These independent combs take each a quantity of fibre in the form of a
tuft as brought up by the gill feeding apparatus. The tuft thus obtained is
in the movement of these independent combs taken therefrom by another
comb, by which,, aided by a brush, it is laid on to the receiving combs. Wipers
or strokers are employed to assist the laying of the fibres in passing from the
feed to the receiving combs. When these intermediate and independent
combs are governed to move in a circle, we prefer that the gill bars be curved
to correspond, in order that in passing they may keep close up to the teeth of
the front row of the gill combs. The circle may be horizontal or vertical, or
straight combs may be used: We sometimes transfer from the taking to the
receiving comb by hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Robert Ramsbotham and William Brown in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
ROBERT RAMSBOTHAM and WILLIAM BROWN, of Bradford, in the County of
York, Wool Combers, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Henry Robert Ramsbotham and William Brown, Her. special licence that we,
the said Henry Robert Ramsbotham and William Brown, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Robert
Ramsbotham and William Brown, our 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, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN COMBING WOOL, ALPACA, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Robert Rams-
botham and William Brown, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, 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 Henry Robert Ramsbotham, on behalf
of myself and the said William Brown, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to us, bearing date the
Eighteenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, it is
proposed in preparing and combing wool and other fibrous substances to feed
such fibrous substances on to receiving combs through gill feeding means, the
teeth of which point in a direction at right angles (or approximating thereto)
to those of the receiving comb.
Now we have discovered that considerable advantage is obtained by causing
the successive quantities of fibre, as brought forward by the gills, to be taken
by intermediate and independent combs whose teeth point in a direction at
right angles (or approximating thereto) to those of the gill combs, and which
traverse past such gills in a circle, or otherwise, to take their quantity of fibre.
These independent combs take each a quantity of. fibre (in the form of a
tuft) as brought up by the gill feeding apparatus. The tuft thus obtained is,
according to one modification of our improvements in the movement of these
independent combs, taken therefrom by another comb, by which, aided by a
brush, it is laid on to the receiving combs. Wipers or strokers are employed
to assist the laying of the fibres in passing from the feed to the receiving combs.
When these intermediate and independent combs are governed to move in
a circle, we prefer that the gill bars be curved to correspond, in order that in
passing they may keep close up to the teeth of the front row of the gill combs.
The circle may be horizontal or vertical, or straight combs may be used. We
sometimes transfer from the taking to the receiving comb by hand.
But that the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner we carry
the same into effect may be fully understood, we will proceed to describe the
Drawings annexed.

page_text: Figure 1 shows a plan view of the working parts of machinery arranged
according to these improvements. a, a, are the gill feeding combs for
feeding the wool or other fibre to be combed. They are operated so as to
take into the fibre and move so as progressively to bring it forward by screws
or other means, as is well understood by persons acquainted with gill comb
machinery; and we prefer, in carrying out these improvements, that the gill
bars be inclined, as shown by Figure 2, and more fully described in the Speci-
fication of our Patent, before referred to, as they thereby better distribute the
fibre on to the intermediate and independent combs b, b, by which the fibre is
taken in tufts as brought forward by the feeding means. According to the
arrangement of parts shown there are four of these combs b, but this number
may be varied, and in place of their being affixed to a circular frame, with
which they rotate in order to pass the front of and thereby take the fibre from
the front of the gill feeding means, they may be caused to move in a straight
or other course, but we prefer that they be caused in all cases in passing the
feeding combs to keep close up to the teeth thereof; for this purpose, when
causing the intermediate combs to travel in a circle, we form the gill bars
curved, as shown, to correspond with such circular motion. The combs b need
not be wider than the angle of the inclined surface presented by the gill bars,
as shown by Figure 2, where one of them is shown in the act of taking fibre
from the feed means. The circle of combs b rotates in the direction indicated
by the arrow, and after each comb has taken the quantity of fibre fed by the
last movement of the gill combs a, the fibre projecting therefrom is laid out-
wards in the direction desired by being acted upon by a wiper c, which is
caused to rotate upon its axis c¹, and by so doing at the proper time to come
against and raise the fibre projecting from the face of the teeth b. d repre-
sents portion of a circle or other form of receiving comb into which the fibre
has to be laid to be drawn off, and the tufts of fibre are taken in succession
from the combs b, and laid therein by means of the combe affixed to the
arm e', which is affixed to an axis e, to which a rapid, partial, or semi-rotary
motion is given, in order that the teeth e may take into the tuft brought forward
in succession by each comb b, and by moving quicker than the combs 6 strip the
fibre therefrom, and then take and lay it in the comb d, aided by the brush f
which acts as a dabber to force the fibre into and amongst the teeth of the
comb d, and whilst the fibre is thus held in the comb d by the brush f, the
comb e moves back, so as to again come into position to take the quantity
brought forward by the next comb b, and just as the brush f begins to recede

page_text: the wiper h comes round in the direction of the arrow, and strokes the fringe
back towards the head of the comb d, thereby preventing its being ruffled by
the following action of the brush f. The fibre may be drawn off from the
receiving comb d, as described in the Specification of Patent before referred
to, or in such other manner as may be desired.
We have not thought it necessary to show the various gear by which the
movements of the parts are effected, as such will readily be applied by persons
conversant with this class of machinery.
Figure 3 shows another modification of these improvements. In this case,
in place of the combs b, which take the wool or other fibre from the gill
feeding combs a, being arranged in a circle, there is but one such taking
comb b, which simply moves in a straight direction, and it has motion given
to it in a direction across the face of the gill bars, so as to take therefrom a
portion of projecting fibre; the points of these teeth b still pointing in a
direction at right angles (or approximating thereto) to those of the gill feed
combs a, and having taken its quantity of fibre, this comb b moves into the
position indicated by dotted lines, when a dabbing or clearing brush f comes
forward and pushes the fibre held by this comb on to the teeth of the circle
or other form of receiving or carrying combs d, from which the wool or other
fibre is to be drawn off in any suitable manner.
We have not thought it necessary to show the motion for effecting the
traverse of the comb b, as the same may be by a crank and connecting rod,
or otherwise, as desired, and all which will readily be understood by a person
familiar with this class of machinery.
Figures 4 and 5 show another modification of these improvements. In
this case the same comb takes and transfers the fibre, the same being in a circle,
which simply rotates with its axis of motion, and the teeth, whilst they are
placed somewhat at a tangent to the axis, yet point at right angles or nearly
so to those of the gill feed combs, and the feeding from such gill feed combs
is, by movement given to the frame carrying such gill combs, to lay the fibre
on to the combs, somewhat as the gill carriage has motion given to it, in the
Specification of Patent before referred to. After the gill feeding means has
lashed the fibre on to the transfer comb 6 at one point of its circumference,
this transfer comb in its further rotation lays the fibres it has received on to the
receiving comb d, aided by the knife or stripper i, the point of which passes
between the teeth of the taking or transfer comb b, whilst its body passes also
between the teeth of the receiving or carrying comb d, by which it not only
assists to clear the transfer comb, but it also aids in filling the fibre into the
receiving or carrying comb.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, we would have it
understood that what we claim, is, the application of intermediaté combs b and e
operating in transferring fibre from gill feeding means to the receiving combs
when the teeth of the gill combs point in a direction at right angles (or
approximating thereto) to those of the taking combs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Robert Ramsbothani, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this sixth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES,
73, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agent.
H. R. RAMSBOTHAM. (L.S.)