IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1871

page_text: **
LETTERS PATENT to Henry Walton Whitehead, of Holbeck, in the
Parish of Leeds, in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm
of Taylor, Wordsworth, & Co.," of the same Place, Machine and
Tool Makers, and Reuben Ackroyd, of Ovenden, near Halifax, in
the said County, Wool Combing Manager, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 4th July 1871, and dated the 26th January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Walton White-
head and Reuben Ackroyd at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 26th January 1871.
We, HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds,
in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm of "Taylor, Wordsworth,
& Co.," of the same Place, Machine and Tool Makers, and REUBEN
ACKROYD, of Ovenden, near Halifax, in the said County, Wool Combing
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate or are applicable to the drawing off rollers
of Noble's or other circular combing machines.

page_text: Hitherto it has been the practice to draw off wool by means of two
rollers, and endless leather sheets or bands have been used so as to work
betwixt the two toothed or fluted rollers. The object of our Invention
is to do away with the leather sheets, which wear out very quickly.
Our Invention consists in the application of one fluted roller, on
which we work a roller consisting of rings of leather, india-rubber, cloth,
or such other suitable materials as may be thought advisable. This
leather or pressing roller consists of pieces of leather or other material
with holes cut through so as to form rings or washers. These rings or
washers are placed upon the roller and packed as closely as possible to
the full length of the drawing part of the roller, and at one end of such
roller is a fixed collar or washer and at the other end a screw and loose
washer, and by means of a nut screwed upon the screw the rings or
washers are pressed tightly together so as to form a compact mass. Το
make them more cómpact they may be glued or cemented together as
well as pressed. By this means it will be seen that instead of the face
of the material of which the rings are composed. the edge of that
material comes in contact with the fibre to be drawn out of the comb.
The rollers may both be fluted on the tooth and pinion principle, or if
thought desirable the roller which is not the pressing roller may be
fluted with a slight fluting, and the material of the pressing roller
may be turned smooth and left plain.
Another part of our Invention consists in the application to the
traversing shafts of the drawing off rollers of a revolving socket fitted
with a key or feather which enters a groove cut longitudinally in the
shaft of the drawing off roller. This socket while steadying the shaft
admits of its being raised and lowered within the socket so that the
socket itself forms the neck on which the shaft revolves, and by such
means the shaft is prevented from being worn so rapidly as heretofore
when sliding up and down.
Another part of our Invention is the adaptation of pairs of inclined
fan blades to the periphery of a roller, the rotation of which will bring
the fibre of the material to be combed to a centre previous' to its passing.
through the drawing rollers.
Another part of our Invention consists in having the back row of
pins in the large and smaller circular combs of equal fineness, but we
set over" to suit the material operated upon.
vary our
"

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Walton Whitehead and Reuben Ackroyd
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th July 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County
of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company;
of the same Place, Machine and Tool Makers, and REUBEN ACKROYD,
of Ovenden, near Halifax, in the said County, Wool Combing Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-Sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry Walton Whitehead and Reuben
Ackroyd, Her special licence that we, the said Henry Walton Whitehead
and Reuben Ackroyd, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Henry Walton Whitehead and Reuben Ackroyd,
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 MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry
Walton Whitehead and Reuben Ackroyd, our executors or adminis;
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 Walton Whitehead, on behalf
of myself and of the said Reuben Ackroyd, do hereby declare the nature
of our said Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say)
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of circular
combing machines, which improvements are particularly applicable to
those known as Noble's combing machines.
The objects of our Invention are, first, to prevent the rapid wear of
certain of the working parts, and secondly, to improve the action of the
machine.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents in sectional elevation,
and Fig. 2 in plan view, a portion of a Noble's combing machine with
our improvements adapted thereto. In these machines, as is well
known, the wool or other fibre under treatment is taken from the comb
teeth by pairs of drawing off rollers, to each pair of which rollers an
endless leather sheet or band is applied, the same working between the
rollers and serving by means of its yielding, character to modify the nip
of the rollers. These leather sheets have however been found to wear
out very quickly notwithstanding the lateral traverse motion which has
been imparted to them to distribute the nip over their surface. We
now propose in lieu of these leather sheets to form one of the drawing off
rollers with a periphery of leather or of india-rubber or other equivalent
elastic material in the manner to be presently explained. We impart as
heretofore an endway traverse motion to the drawing off rollers, modifying
however the mode of mounting the spindle of the driven roller so as to
increase the durability of that spindle. We also provide a means of
bringing the overhanging ends of the fibres which have been laid upon
the large circular comb to a central position previously to their passing
under the action of the drawing off rollers. These several improvements
are illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, and we will now proceed
to describe them in detail. The large circular comb is shewn at A; A,
and to it is applied a drawing off head B. This drawing off head
consists of a frame B¹ which slides vertically over a dovetail guide
forming part of a standard B². In this guide is mounted a horizontal
shaft, to the extremity of which is keyed an excentric which works in a
strap piece fitted to the under side of the sliding frame, and it is by the
rotation of this excentric as is well known that the drawing off head
receives its slow reciprocating sliding motion. In this sliding frame is
mounted a pair of drawing off rollers C, D, the former of which is a
fluted steel roller keyed to a vertical spindle C₁ which is capable of

page_text: sliding endwise in its fixed bearing. This bearing is shewn in vertical
section on an enlarged scale at Fig. 3 for the purpose of illustrating the
manner of driving the spindle and yet allowing of its sliding freely in
the direction of its length. The roller D is driven by friction of contact
with the fluted roller C. This roller is fitted with a fixed and loose
collar, between which are set rings or washers of leather or of vulcanized
india-rubber or other equivalent elastic material. These rings or washers
are packed closely together and thus form a covering extending to the
full length of the drawing surface of the roller. These rings are
tightened up by means of screw nuts bearing against the loose collar to
form a compact mass, and the rings may in addition be glued or
cemented.together if thought desirable. When the rings are of leather
it is a cross grained surface and not the face of the material which will
come in contact with the fibre to be drawn out of the comb, thus a
much more enduring surface than the leather sheet will be obtained.
The roller D thus formed is pressed into contact with the roller C by
coiled springs (see Fig. 2), which springs are capable of being tightened-
up as desired. The spindle C₁ of the roller C is grooved at its lower end
to receive a key or feather c which is made fast to a socket bearing c¹
and serves to connect the socket and spindle together in a manner that
will allow of the latter sliding within the former while they both rotate
together. The socket c' is supported in a bearing c² which is set in and
made fast to the fixed framing Ġ. Keyed on to the lower end of the
socket c¹ is a spur pinion E which gears into and is driven by a spur
wheel F. On rotary motion being imparted to the pinion E the socket c'
will drive the spindle C, and the drawing off rollers C, D, will be thereby
set in motion. On the upper end of the spindle C¹ is a band pulley h
which through a crossed band gives motion to a broad band pulley h'
keyed to a vertical spindle H. This spindle is mounted in bracket
bearings secured to the steam chest I, and it carries several pairs of con-
verging blades which together form a kind of rotary fan or "stroker " K.
This fan is set in such a position as regards the large rotary comb
that it will revolve in the plane in which the fibres fed to the comb
move. These fibres as they meet the converging blades are somewhat
spread, and it is for the purpose of bringing the fibres together or into
line that the fan is used. The blades are set so as to converge rearwards.
As therefore they rotate (in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2) they
present to the fibres an endless series of gradually contracting guides
which bring the free ends of the fibres nearer together and thus enable

page_text: them to be presented fairly to the nip of the drawing off rollers. To
prevent the rotation of the spindle H and its fan K being interfered with
by the up and down traverse motion of the drawing head the broad
pulley is employed, which will allow of the driving belt slipping
thereon and retaining a horizontal position while the elevation of the
pulley is constantly shifting.
-
It may be remarked that we prefer to make the back row of pins in
the large and smaller circular combs of equal fineness, but we vary our
"set over
to suit the material operated upon.
"
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improve-
ments in Machinery for Combing Wool, Cotton, Flax, and other Fibrous
Substances," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent we claim, the combination of parts above described with reference
to the accompanying Drawing.
-
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Walton Whitehead, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said Henry Walton Whitehead, in
the presence of
EDWARD WHITELEY,
H. W. WHITEHEAD. (L.s.)
Clerk to Mr. Thomas Turner,
Solr.
.Leeds.