IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING AND SORTING THE DOWN FROM FEATHERS, AND SORTING ANY KIND OF BROKEN UP WASTE OR RAGS, AND ALSO THE APPLICATION OF DOWN TO QUILTS, SKIRTS, AND WADDING WHEN MIXED WITH COTTON, WOOL, OR SILK
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Job Hamer, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING AND SORTING THE DOWN FROM FEATHERS, AND
SORTING ANY KIND OF BROKEN UP WASTE OR RAGS, AND ALSO THE APPLICATION
OF DOWN TO QUILTS, SKIRTS, AND WADDING WHEN MIXED WITH COTTON,
WOOL, OR SILK."
Sealed the 15th July 1864, and dated the 20th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Job Hamer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th January 1864.
I, JOB HAMER, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING AND SORTING THE DOWN FROM
FEATHERS, AND SORTING ANY KIND OF BROKEN UP WASTE OR RAGS, AND ALSO THE
APPLICATION OF DOWN TO QUILTS, SKIRTS, AND WADDING WHEN MIXED WITH
COTTON, WOOL, OR SILK," to be as follows:-
In order to obtain the down from feathers, and separate the hard and
heavy portions of the feathers from the lighter parts, I pass the feathers in
their natural state, or prepared in the usual ways, through a machine similar
in some respects to a hard waste breaker, combined with a fan or blower with

page_text: shell feeder, but instead of the produce being caught altogether on a cage as
it comes from the machine, I force it by a strong current of air produced by
the machine into a chamber, with or without several divisions, when the
lighter portions of down or broken feathers are carried forward to the more
distant parts or divisions before they fall, whilst the broken stems and heavier
portions of the feathers fall down by the force of their own gravity sooner and
into the nearer divisions, thus effectually separating the down from the hard
parts of the feather.
In applying this Invention to quilts, skirts, and wadding, I mix the down
produced as above described with the silk, wool, or cotton fibres, or waste
generally used, thus giving it the elasticity and lightness so much desired.
In the chamber may be any number of divisions according to the material
used or the produce required. When there are three I find that in the
furthest division the down only is found, this I use for the applications stated
as to quilts and wadding, and for those purposes for which down is generally
employed; in the middle division I find the smaller and softer portions of the
feathers (not down), and these I apply to making cushions, beds, pillows,
and similar articles; in the nearest division I find the hard and heavy
portions of the broken feathers, and these I apply to stuffing purposes, as, for
instance, seats, couches, and articles of a like nature. The down may be
mixed with the silk, cotton, or wool waste, either by feeding them together
through a common carding engine, or in a lap machine, or by hand, I
prefer the first-named method, and receive the mixture by a lap drum, by
which means I get a sheet of any required thickness, according as it is
wanted for sheets of wadding or for lining skirts or quilts or articles of
clothing. I also sort whole feathers by driving them into a chamber by a
current of air obtained by a fan or blower, by which means the lighter
feathers are separated from the heavier in a very effectual manner.
I apply
this system of sorting or separating the broken waste and rags in order to
separate the disintegrated fibres from those partially broken up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Job Hamer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOB
HAMER, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Job Hamer, Her special license that I, the said Job
Hamer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Job Hamer, my 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING. AND
SORTING THE DOWN FROM FEATHERS, AND SORTING ANY KIND OF BROKEN UP WASTE
OR RAGS, AND ALSO THE APPLICATION OF DOWN TO QUILTS, SKIRTS, AND WADDING
WHEN MIXED WITH COTTON, WOOL, OR SILK," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Job Hamer, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, 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 formed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Paten: ce within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Job Hamer, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
In order to obtain the down from feathers, and separate the hard and heavy
portions of the feathers from the lighter parts, I pass the feathers in their
natural state, or purified and prepared in the usual methods, through a
machine similar in some respects to a hard waste breaker, combined with a fan
or blower with shell feeder, but instead of the produce being caught altogether
on a cage as it comes from the machine, I force it by a strong current of air
produced by the machine into a chamber, with or without several divisions,
when the lighter portions of down or broken feathers are carried forward to the
more distant part or divisions before they fall, whilst the broken stems and
heavier portions of the feathers fall down by the force of their own gravity
sooner and into the nearer divisions, thus effectually separating the down from
the hard parts of the feather.
In applying this Invention to quilts, skirts, and wadding, I mix the down
produced, as above described. with the silk, wool, or cotton fibres or waste

page_text: generally used, thus giving it the elasticity and lightness so much desired.
In the chamber may be any number of divisions according to the material
used or the produce required. When there are threo I find that in the
furthest division the down only is found, this I use for the applications stated
as to quilts and wadding, and for those purposes for which down is generally
employed; in the middle division I find the smaller and softer portions of the
feathers (not down), and these I apply to making cushions, beds, pillows, and
similar articles; in the nearest division I find the hard and heavy portions of
the broken feathers, and these I apply to stuffing purpose, as, for instance,
seats, couches, and articles of a like nature. The down may be mixed with the
silk, cotton, or wool waste either by feeding them together through a common
carding engine, or in a lap machine, or by hand, I prefer the first-named
method, and receive the mixture by a lap drum, by which means I get a sheet
of any required thickness, according as it is wanted for sheets of wadding or
for lining skirts or quilts or articles of clothing. I also sort whole feathers by
driving them into a chamber by a current of air obtained by a fan or blower,
by which means the lighter feathers are separated from the heavier in a very
effectual manner. I apply the system of sorting or separating to broken
waste and rags in order to separate the disintegrated fibres from those only
partially broken up. The feathers most in use for the purposes of my
Invention are those of aquatic birds, such as geese and ducks, and those of
farmyard fowls or similar birds; and in using the term down, I mean by it
not only the soft tuft or accessory plume formed by the laver barbs, but
also the barbs and barbules extending all the way to the tip of the quill or
shaft of the feather, and these are stripped or separated from the shaft by my
Invention, which accomplishes with facility and rapidity what has hitherto
been a slow and tedious manual process.
My machine consists of a feeding apparatus with a shell, as described in a
previous Patent granted to myself and George Bridge, and dated December
Twenty-second, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, No. 3145, which
delivers the feathers slowly to the action of a cylinder provided with sharp
pointed teeth and one or more arms or cross bars like a fan or beater, and
holds them firmly whilst the actions of the teeth strips off the down, which is
immediately carried forward rapidly by the strong current of air caused by the
beater arms; the teeth are arranged spirally round the cylinder, the spiral lines
of teeth being about half an inch apart from each other, whilst the teeth
follow as closely upon each other as possible, say one-eighth to a quarter inch,
by which arrangement a continuous succession of sharp points are brought
to bear against the feathers and act in the same way as when a razor is

page_text: used to cut a single human hair held at one end only. The feathers are
spread promiscuously upon the feed cloth, so that when taken by the feed
roller and presented to the action of the teeth on the cylinder, some will be
presented with the tip or shaft coming first in contact with the teeth, the
other end of the feather being held firmly in the shell, and these feathers the
spiral rows or lines of teeth speedily set straight and in the most favorable posi-
tion for being stripped by the action of the razor-like rapid succession of sharp
points, which do not revolve nearer than about three-eighths of an inch from
the edge of the shell. Those feathers, however, which are presented or
delivered sideways from the shell would be destroyed were it not that they will
not be held in this position long enough for the cutting action of the teeth, as
the feed roller and beaters will release them sooner, and they will be carried
forward either wholly or partially cut or stripped. The beaters or fan-like
arrangement on the cylinder consist of one or more cross bars or arms, as
already mentioned, projecting from the surface of the cylinder about one-
sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch less than the teeth, which may be, say,
three-eighths of an inch out of the cylinder. These bars act similarly to the
arms of a fan or a beater in a cotton opener or blower, and by their rapid
revolution cause a strong current of air to strike on the edge of the shell where
the feathers are being delivered, and helps to release and carry forward much
down and light portions of the feathers, which do not require the cutting. or
stripping action of the teeth, and especially such feathers as are coming through
laterally, and which the spiral rows of teeth cannot get hold of in the desired
manner to straighten and strip as described, and which otherwise might remain
so long subject to the cutting action of the teeth as to be destroyed. The
strong current of air this produced carries foreward the material released by the
shell and the action of the teeth, and forces the whole promiscuously into the
chamber ready to receive it at the other end of the machine, as described in
my Provisional Specification, where the doun and lighter portions of the
feathers are carried some distance before they fall, whilst the broken stems
and heavier portions of the feathers fall down sooner by the force of their
own gravity, and thus complete the desired separation.
The arrangement of the chamber admits of much modification, and the
current of air carrying the material thrown off from the engine may be
assisted by an exhausting fan at the far end of the chamber, but the principle
described remains always the same, and may be effectively applied to any
ordinary hard waste or rag breaker to separate the perfectly disintegrated
fibres from any imperfectly broken lumps or rags as the case may be, which
may then be passed through the machine again and again till all is dis-

page_text: integrated, thus preventing the destruction of much fibre from passing
repeatedly through the machine, both broken and unbroken fibres, as has
hitherto been usual and necessary.
In the application of down to wadding, quilts, skirts, and other articles by
combining the light and elastic substance of the down (produced so cheaply as
it is by means of this Invention), with any of the usual fibres of wadding or
broken up waste, I am able to give the qualities of elasticity, bulk, lightness,
and warmth to such a degree as to produce an entirely new article unequalled
for these qualities and its comparative cheapness. It is immaterial how the
combination is effected, whether by mixing the different materials by hand or
by machine, as mentioned in my Provisional Specification, so long as the end
effected be that the down imparts to the new article its qualities of elasticity,
lightness, and warmth.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I'desire it to be understood
that I claim as my Invention,-
First, the improvements in machinery or apparatus herein described for
separating or stripping the down from feathers.
Secondly, the improvements in machinery or apparatus for sorting the same,
and also as applied to broken up waste and other articles.
And, thirdly, in the application of down, used in combination with cotton,
wool, or silk fibres, to quilts, skirts, wadding, or any of the uses of wadding
where lightness, elasticity, and warmth are required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Job Hamer, have hereunto set my
⚫ hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Job Hamer in the
.presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOB HAMER. (L.S.)