IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR WASHING WOOL
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonathan Holden and John Edward Holden,
residing at Reims, France, Manufacturers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR WASHING WOOL."
Sealed the 9th April 1874, and dated the 8th January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonathan Holden and '
•
John Edward Holden at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th January 1874.
We, JONATHAN HOLDEN and JOHN EDWARD HOLDEN, residing at
Reims, France, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR WASHING WOOL," to be as
follows:
Our improvements have reference, firstly, to an improved construction
of cylinder for charging or introducing the wool in the water, and-
consists in adapting on the upper transverse edge of the usual vat and
opposite to the extremity of the endless apron feeding forward the wool
a horizontal cylinder provided internally and eccentrically with a series-
of points or pins rotating with the said cylinder, and which are caused
by the presence of a stationary eccentric also placed within the cylinder

page_text: to protrude from its periphery and re-enter within the same at stated
periods, this outward and inward motion of the said points being timed
that they seize the wool presented by the endless apron plunged in the
liquid, and abandon it freely in the same by their retraction within the
cylinder.
Secondly. To an improved construction of mechanical parts for con-
ducting the wool in the liquid from end to end of the vat, that is, from
the said charging cylinder situated at one extremity of the vat to the
endless apron for discharging the washed wool from the other extremity,
and which consists in arranging transversely over the vat at stated
distances a series of horizontal rods or shafts provided with curved arms,
which plunge in the water, and by their rotation cause the wool to
progress uniformly and regularly in the liquid from the charging
cylinder to the discharging apron. This mechanism consists in a series
of rotating forks, the arms or spokes of which alternate one in the other,
and the object of bending the same as above stated is for the purpose of
on striking the wool to cause it to be plunged and to progress in the.
water, and on their rising out of the water to abandon it gently without
raising it out of the water. These rotating forks are constructed in a
peculiar manner in order to facilitate their being rapidly dismounted
with a view of easy access to the vat for the purpose of cleaning or
otherwise. With this view one extremity of each shaft rotates in an
open bearing, whilst the other terminated by a square end enters into
a socket, which rotates in a fixed bearing, and imparts the requisite
rotary motion to the rotary fork.
Thirdly. To the arrangement and construction of the discharging
apron, consisting mainly in building the entire structure on two parallel
slanting arms set at the proper distance apart, and suspended at their
upper extremity on a horizontal transverse shaft rotating above the vat,
and which gives motion to the apron. The bottom roller of this frame
runs loosely upon a stationary shaft or bar, which is held by the lower
extremity of the parallel slanting arms. This lower roller, on which the
apron runs at the bottom of the bath forms an important part of our
Invention, although running loose upon the stationary shaft or bar it
overlaps by means of cavities bosses adapted to the parallel arms, and
thus prevents the bearings being choked up with the wool being
washed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jonathan Holden and John Edward Holden in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JONATHAN
HOLDEN and JOHN EDWARD HOLDEN, residing at Reims, France, Manu-
facturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Jonathan Holden and John
Edward Holden, Her special license that we, the said Jonathan Holden.
and John Edward Holden, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Jonathan Holden and John Edward Holden,
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR WASHING WOOL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Jonathan Holden and John Edward
Holden, 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 we, the said Jonathan Holden and John
Edward Holden, 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 :-
In order that our improvements be clearly understood and easily put
in practice, we will proceed to describe the same conjointly with the
four Figures of the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a
longitudinal elevation in section of our machine complete; Figure 2, a

page_text: plan of the same; and Figures 3 and 4 details of the discharging apron
with certain parts connected with the same in elevation and in section
respectively. E is the wrought-iron vat; F, F, the compressing cylinders
mounted on the side frames G, G. We have not made any change in
these cylinders and their framing. On the extremity of the vat opposite
to these compressing cylinders we place an endless apron H running on
rollers. The raw wool fed on this apron in regular layers is carried in
the direction of the arrow and falls in the vat behind the drum A. This
drum or cylinder forms the first part of our Invention, and is composed
of an envelope or shell of thin plate iron attached at its two ends to the
cast-iron plates c, c, provided with internal flanges, and at their central
parts with hollow trunnions, which turning in the bearings d, d, which
are bolted to the sides of the vat. One of these trunnions projects
outside of its bearing to receive the chain pulley m, which imparts
rotatory motion to the same. These trunnions are traversed by a shaft e,
on which is keyed a cast-iron cam cylinder a, which occupies internally
nearly the entire length of the drum A. The heads of a certain number
of spindles b, b, are caused to press against the surface of this cam
cylinder, these spindles being arranged in rows as indicated.
g
The number composing each row as well as the number of rows may
vary according to the requirements in the Drawing, Figures 1 and 2; we
have shown four rows of eight spindles each. The extremities of these
spindles b, b, pass through holes made in the periphery of the outer
shell, and they are supported and guided in small bearings 9 attached to
the internal face of the drum A. Small spiral springs made of copper
wire inserted in the bearings g, g, and arrested at one extremity by a
shoulder on g, and at the other extremity by the head of the spindle,
serve to push the heads constantly in contact with the surface of the
cam cylinder. The extremities of the shaft e are square, and one of
them is entered in an arm or lever f, Figure 1, which is bolted against
the side of the vat when the position of the cam a has properly deter-
mined. This cam a is therefore stationary, and when the drum A
commences to rotate, carrying with it the spindles 6, it will be readily
understood that these latter will alternately be caused to project out of
and re-enter in the drum; and this to-and-fro motion is regulated in
such a manner that on their projection they enter or propel the wool fed
by the endless apron H, and plunge it in the vat, and just as they are
about to rise out of the liquid they re-enter promptly within the drum A,

page_text: leaving the wool free in the vat, and completely submerged by its passage
under the cylinder A.
The second part of our improvements, consisting in the mechanical
arrangement of parts for conducting the wool in the liquid from end to
end of the vat has reference to the peculiar construction and the use of
the rotating forks B, B, the number of which should be proportioned to
the length of the vat. By their motion they propel the wool, which on
leaving the first is taken up by the second through the alternation
of their points, see Figure 2, and it arrives thus on the discharging
apron C, which is approached as nearly as possible by the last of the
series. This apron at its forward extremity is immersed nearly to the
bottom of the vat, and it receives a relatively rapid motion in the
direction of the arrow indicated, carries up all the textile materials, and
finally enters it between the compressing cylinders F and F¹. These
rotating forks are each composed of a shaft i, on which are keyed at
equal distances apart the bosses j; in these latter are set four or more
round rods made of iron, and bent as shewn to form the prongs of the
fork. Their particular novel arrangement consists in their being easily
taken down, which is in practice indispensably necessary on account of
the necessity of frequently cleaning out the vat. A plan of this fork
shaft, Figure 4, with one of its extremities in section shows this special
arrangement, which consists as follows:-One of the extremities of the
shaft i is square and slightly tapering. This square end enters a hole of
the same shape made in the socket 7, which is held and rotates in the
bearing . The socket 7 projects beyond the bearing to receive the
driving pulley m. The other extremity of the shaft i is simply inserted
in an open bearing p attached to the side of the vat; a cross pin serves
to prevent the same from rising out of its bearing. The fork is taken
down by withdrawing this pin, and then by pulling the same in the
direction of the open bearing, slightly elevating it at the same time, the
square end is thus withdrawn from the socket 7, and the whole fork can
then be completely lifted out. It is replaced when necessary with the
same rapidity and facility. Were it not for this particular arrangement
of parts such rotating forks would scarcely be practicable, for each time
that it would be necessary to clean the vat numerous parts would have
to be taken apart and readjusted, which would give rise to a serious loss
of time and require special workmen.

page_text: 2°
charging apron C, which conducts the washed wool to the compressing
rollers F and F¹, consists in constructing the same with two cast-iron
arms t, t, which sustain the entire apparatus. These arms are supported
at their upper extremity by the shaft x, which imparts the motion to the
apron. The lower extremity of the apron is maintained at a short
distance from the bottom of the vat by the small shaft u, which traverses
the two arms t, t, and has its extremities resting in the bottom of the
two circular guides o attached on each opposite internal face of the vat.
When it is necessary to clean out the vat the lower extremity of this
apron is raised, whereby the upper extremity turns on the shaft x, the
ends of u rise in the circular guides v, and when they have attained the
summit of the same are maintained in such elevated position, as shown
in dotted lines, Figure 3, by the insertion of a cross pin. This apron,
which may be built up in the usual manner as indicated in the Drawing,
runs on the two rollers and r¹, shown in section at Figure 4, the upper
one being keyed on the shaft x, whilst the lower one, which is made
of cast iron as light as possible as loose, being driven round by the apron
on its shaft s fixed in the bearings q. The inner extremities of these
bearings enter freely in cavities provided in each extremity of the
roller . By this arrangement the points on which the roller rotates are
protected against the floating fibres, and we thus avoid that these fibres
accumulate and are wound round the bearings as in the case of the
ordinary unprotected bearings to the great detriment of the working of
the machine. The bearings q, q, are bolted by a lug w to the arms t, t.
This lug is drilled and tapped for receiving the screw w¹ attached to the 2
arm t, and which serves to regulate the distance apart of the two
supporting rollers so as to maintain the apron constantly at the requisite
tension. zare small cylinders for the purpose of sustaining the apron
when heavily laden; w³ is a cylinder turning loosely in its bearings over
the apron, and adapted for the purpose of preventing the wool from a
redescending the apron by the effect of its gravity; y, y, Figure 2, are
sheet-iron moveable screens for the purpose of guiding the wool towards
the apron, and for preventing its passage behind the same.
To impart
the requisite motion to these different parts we make use of a single
endless chain passing over the chain pulleys m, m, and which is driven 3
from the gearing of the compressing cylinders F, F¹.

page_text: e repeated automatically in as many successive machines as may be
equired, in which case on leaving the rollers F, F¹, an endless apron D
arries forward the wool and lets it fall behind a drum A¹, where it
Indergoes the same operations as in the first machine.
be repeated automatically in as many successive machines as may be
required, in which case on leaving the rollers F, F¹, an endless apron D
carries forward the wool and lets it fall behind a drum A¹, where it
undergoes the same operations as in the first machine.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, as well as the best
means we are acquainted with for carrying the same into practice, we
claim as our Invention,―
Firstly. The charging cylinder A with its concomitant parts, as above
described and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.
Secondly. The rotating forks B with their concomitant parts, as above
described and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.
Thirdly. The discharging apron C with its concomitant parts, as above
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
And, Fourthly. The manner above described and illustrated in
Figures 1 and 2 of imparting motion to the working parts of our
improved washing machine by means of a single endless chain driven by
the gearing of the usual compressing cylinders.
In witness whereof, we, the said Jonathan Holden and John
Edward Holden, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-four.
25
Witnesses,
AUG. ESTEULLE,
S. DELACROIX,
JONATHAN HOLDEN.
(L.S.)
JOHN EDWARD HOLDEN. (L.S.)
} Reims, France.