AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING, SLIVERING, OR ROVING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1834

page_text: FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Mechanist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of December, in the fifth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs, and successors, give and grant to me, the said
Peter Fairbairn, His especial license, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Peter Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Peter Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING, SLIVERING, OR
ROVING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that 1, the said George Fairbairn, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Fairbairn, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention of an improved method of preparing, slivering, or roving
hemp, flax, and other fibrous substances for spinning, consists in first submitting a
the material to moisture by the application of a liquid as it passes from the
drawing apparatus, and after having been saturated with the liquid, to evaporate
the moisture from the material, in order that the fibres may be made to hold
together without twisting by the adhesive quality of the gummy matter contained
in the liquid, or natural to the fibres themselves, in which dry adhesive state of
the fibres the roving may be tightly wound upon a bobbin, ready for the future
operation of spinning. In the employment of this process for the purpose of
partially cementing the untwisted fibres of the material together in the form of
consistent roving, I do not intend to confine myself to any particular construc-
tion of machinery, but for the better explanation of my improved method of
preparing, slivering, or roving of hemp, flax, and other fibrous substances for
spinning, I have in the Drawing hereto annexed exhibited a diagram of an
arrangement of apparatus which would answer the purpose:-
C
A, A, A, represents the main framing of the machine; B, the drawing
roller, above which is C, its accompanying pressing roller. The drawing
roller B may be of any convenient size, and running in water. It is best
made of brass, and fluted, in order to raise a great quantity of moisture, and
thereby more thoroughly to saturate the fibrous substance. The pressing roller
may be of wood or any other suitable material, and it is to be weighted
or pressed upon the drawing roller B by levers, springs, or any other well-
known means. D represents a trough containing water or other liquid
which is to be constantly kept at the same height, and fed through a
small pipe from a cistern or reservoir at any convenient distance. The
drawing roller B should revolve in the trough D, immersed nearly up to
its axis in the liquid, and it is intended that as it is revolves, a sufficient
quantity of the liquid shall be raised to thoroughly wet the material in the bite
or point of contact between the drawing roller B and the pressing roller C,
the air being expressed from the material by the pressure of the two rollers.
E is a revolving tube, through which the rover or sliver intended to pass from
the drawing roller B to the drying cylinder F, which drying cylinder is to be
heated by steam or otherwise. The roving is pressed against the periphery of
the drying cylinder by a roller G of iron, brass, or other fit material, suffi-
ciently heavy to draw the fibrous substance tight, in order to stop the centri-
fugal motion which the roving would acquire froin the rapid revolution of the

page_text: tube E, through which it passes. From the drying cylinder F, the roving (repre-
sented by the red line) proceeds through a guide to the cop, bobbin, or spool
II, which is intended to ascend and descend in the usual way by means of a
copping rail, and upon this bobbin the roving or shi is wound by any of the
ordinary modes. The revolving tube E is a well-known contrivance connected
with roving machinery, and is employed for twisting and untwisting by its rotation
any roving or sliver that may be passed through it. It may be driven either by
means of bands from a revolving cylinder, or any other well-known mode. The
velocity of the tube E relatively to that of the drawing roller B and the drying
cylinder F must be regulated by the substance of the roving to be produced.
The quantity of twist and counter-twist to be given to the roving by this tube
may be the same as the twist that would be required for yarn of a similar sub-
stance. The comparative velocities of the roller B, the cylinder F, and the
bobbin H, must be so proportioned to each other as to keep the roving or
sliver at all times tight, but in no degree to strain it. It is unnecessary to
describe by what mechanism the roving or sliver, after it has been wetted and
dried, may be wound upon the spool, cop, or bobbin, as no particular mechanism
for this purpose forms any part of my Invention; but I avail myself, as circum-
stances may arise, of any mode now in use that may be found most convenient
for the purpose. I recommend, however, as being most convenient, that the
roving or sliver should be wetted and dried, and wound upon its bobbin by
one and the same machine, in the way described.
Having thus described an arrangement of well-known mechanical parts,
which I consider well adapted for carrying into operation my new method of
preparing, roving, or slivering hemp, flax, or other fibrous substance for spinning
into
yarn,
I do further declare that the above said arrangements admits of and
will require various modifications under different circumstances. Firstly, with
regard to the wetting of the fibrous substance of flax and hemp for general pur-
poses, simple water at the temperature of the atmosphere will be found sufficient,
but it may on some occasions be beneficial to employ hot water, and, more-
over, the water, either hot or cold, may or may not contain divers matters
in solution, such as alkali, to dissolve any redundancy of resin in the fibrous
substance, or it may be an artificial size, or solution of gum or glue, to compen-
sate for any deficiency of natural gum or resin in the material. It may be
useful to employ a glutinous solution or unctious fluid when the roving or sliver
is made very fine in order to increase its cohesive strength. Secondly, the revolv-
ing tube E is not indispensible, but is merely useful in preventing any tendency
which the roving may have to lap round either of the drawing rollers.
Thirdly, the drying cylinder F, which may be made of any convenient dimensions,

page_text: may be heated in any convenient way, by heated air, or steam, or hot water.
either pure or holding in solution a salt to increase its capability of conducting
heat. In order to increase or diminish the effect of the drying cylinder, the
roving may be made to lap upon a greater or less portion of its circumference,
and when necessary it may be passed one or more times round the cylinder
before it proceeds to the bobbins. The cylinder may sometimes be dispensed
with by the use of any other means of drying the roving or sliver, as, for
instance, by the use of a fan or blast of air. The total absence of twist in the
roving or sliver thus produced insures throughout its whole length a uniform
capacity for extension in the spinning frame, where it is again wetted as usual,
but a much smaller degree of wetting will suffice. When the roving is very fine,
it is sufficient for this purpose that the holding roller alone should run in water.
There is no absolute necessity for fluting the rollers, as now practised, and
though it may be better to have the metal rollers, especially the holding rollers,
slightly scratched for the sake of raising more water, yet in all cases the press-
ing rollers may be plain. Lastly, having described the tangible means of
carrying into practice my improved method of preparing, slivering, or roving of
hemp, flax, and other fibrous substances, I do declare that the same doth consist
solely in the employment of the above-described process for the purpose of
partially cementing the untwisted fibres of the material together into the form
of consistent roving.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Fairbairn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
PETER (L.s.) FAIRBAIRN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of May, in the
fifth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
Peter Fairbairn came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year
of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Third day of June, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.