CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING OR PREPARING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
FULLER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
one, in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Fuller, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Fuller, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas
Fuller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR COMBING
OR PREPARING WOOL OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," the same being partly
communicated to me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said Thomas Fuller, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of the said Invention and communication, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Fuller, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say) :-
:-
These Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Combing or Preparing
Wool or other Fibrous Substances apply to a peculiar kind of machinery
known to manufacturers as Platt's "double circular wool combing machine,"
for which a Patent was granted by His late Majesty King George the Fourth
to John Platt, of Salford, in the County of Manchester, Fustian Shearer, dated
the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-seven, the Specification of which Patent was duly
inrolled in the High Court of Chancery on the Eighth day of May in the
year following. In the said former machinery two circular combs wero
employed; the axles of which circular combs were placed obliquely to the
horizon, and at opposite angels to each other. The teeth, pins, points, or (as
they are technically termed) broaches of these circular combs were described
in the said Specification as placed "nearly perpendicular, or at right angles to
the plane on which the said circular combs are intended to move or revolve;"
that is, the points were set in the faces of the circular rims or wheels in
positions parallel to the axle, "but inclining a little inward."
26
My present improvements upon the said machinery for combing wool and
other fibrous substances consist, firstly, in setting the teeth, pins, points, or
broaches of the circular combs in the faces of the comb wheels in positions
Forming acute angles with the axis of these wheels; and, secondly, adapting
drawing rollers to the machine in such positions as shall enable them to draw
the fibres of the material under operation from the points or broaches of the
delivering comb wheel with better effect than has heretofore been obtained by
the employment of the old machines.
These features of improvement will be more fully understood by reference
to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a geometrical
elevation of the side of the improved machine; Figure 2, a plan or horizontal
view of the same, as it would appear if seen from above; and Figure 3, an
end elevation. These Figures exhibit the general arrangement of all the parts
of the machine, as well the old as the new features, which I consider neces-
sary in order that I may point out clearly the positions and uses of my
improvements. And for this purpose I have further shewn, upon an enlarged
scale (full size), detached sectional portions of my improved circular comb.
Figure 4 exhibits a small portion of one of the circular combs as it would
appear when looking down upon the periphery of the wheel, the teeth, points,

page_text: pins, or broaches standing out from the face of the wheel at angles of about
15° from the axis.
Figure 5 is a transverse section, taken through the periphery of the. wheel
in the direction of its diameter, and through one of its hollow arms, the teeth,
pins, points, or broaches being inserted through the flange or rim round, the
periphery; and in this example four ranges of points are shewn, fixed, side by
side, of which there may be a greater or less number, as circumstances may
require.
Now, in order that the practical application of these improvements may be
readily understood, I will proceed to describe the ordinary evolutions of the
double circular combing machine, already well known and in use, and also the
present improvements as respectively applied thereto. The framing of the
machinery is shewn at a, a, a, a, supporting in pedestals or bearings the hollow
steam axles b, b, b, b, upon which are mounted the hollow, the circular comb
wheels or rims c, c, c, c. Into the rims of these wheels the combs, pins, points,
or broaches d, d, d, d, are inserted, standing at or near the angle of 15° from the
axis instead of "being nearly perpendicular or at right angles to the plane on
which the said circular combs are intended to move or revolve," as heretofore
used. The driving strap pulleys e, e, are fast upon each of the respective
axes b, b, and are to be driven at proper intervals (as hereafter explained) by
means of the open strap f and crossed strap 9, in order that the circular comb
wheels c, c, c, c, may be caused to revolve in opposite directions when perform-
ing the operation of combing. It will be observed in Figure 1 that these
driving straps f and g are represented loose upon their pulleys e, e, and the
machinery is supposed to be in a state of rest. When the machinery is to be
put in motion, and the operation of combing to be performed, the wool or
other fibrous substance is to be supplied or fed on to the pins of the comb wheel
by the hands of the operators, who are situated at the ends of the machine,
under the framing, and as the wool is supplied or placed upon the teeth of the
comb wheels c, c, by one hand of the workman, the rims or wheels are gently
pulled round by the other hand, until the circular combs c, c, are completely
charged with wool all round, when the swing frames h, h, with their tension
pullies i, i, i, i, are thrown over, and thus the driving straps f and 9 are
tightened upon their respective drums or pulleys e, e, which now begin to
revolve and drive the circular combs c, c, c, c, round in opposite directions, at
about fifty revolutions per minute, carrying the wool swiftly round with them.
These revolving circular combs are now caused slowly to approach each other
until their respective rims of teeth, points, or broaches are nearly in contact, in
order to comb the wool effectually, as well understood by persons conversant with

page_text: such machinery. This is accomplished either by any mechanical arrangement
in connection with the working parts of the apparatus driving the worm k, or
by the hand of the operator (whichever may be preferred). The hand lever
1,2, is to be pulled over into the opposite position, as drawn in red lines in
Figure 1, and with it the toothed quadrant m, in, which, by depressing the
crank arm n and connecting rod o, o, will draw the parallel motion p, p, p, p,
into the contracted position also shewn by red lines in the Figure, and, by means
of the connecting arms 9, 9, draw the two comb wheels c, c, c, c, into close contact,
as also shewn by the red lines in this Figure. Thus it will be observed that
all the above described operations of the machinery are exactly the same as
those heretofore employed for such purposes, and that the present improvement
of placing the pins, points, teeth, or broaches d, d, of the comb wheels at con-
siderable angles to the axis of the wheel, causes the points or broaches to
assume nearly horizontal positions when in the operating positions of their
rotation, that is, where the peripheries of the comb wheels nearly meet in
passing the planes of their centres, at which time, by this improved construc-
tion, the operating points or broaches in both wheels will be brought into
nearly parallel positions as they pass each other, and cause the wool to be
evenly combed by the points or broaches of the wheels, and thereby prevent
the wool being torn, broken, or noiled, as occurs in the old construction of
machines, where the pins, points, or broaches pass each other at acute angles.
The old construction of circular combing machine is also provided with an
apparatus at each end, for the purpose of drawing off the slivers from the
comb wheels after the combing operation has been completed. This apparatus,
on its improved position, is also represented in the various Figures of the
Drawings, at r,r, 8, 8, and t, t, that upon the left-hand end of the machine, in
Figures 1 and 2, being slidden outwards, or in the position it would assume
when the comb wheels are revolving during the operation of combing, and that
upon the right-hand end of the machine being slidden inwards, and placed in
contact with the comb wheel, as it would be when the combing operation has
ceased, and the drawing off of the sliver is to be performed. The second
feature of improvement, therefore, is the peculiar adaptation of the drawing-off
rollers r, r, with their endless bands 8, 8, and carriages t, t, to the machinery in
such positions (that is, at angles of about forty degrees to the horizon), as shall
enable them to draw off the fibres of the material which has been combed from
the teeth, points, pins, or broaches of the comb wheel with much better effect
than has hitherto been obtained by the old machinery. These positions of the
drawing-off rollers, it will be observed, is consequent upon the first feature of
novelty herein-before explained, and will not require any further description.

page_text: Having now particularly described the object of these improvements, and
the manner in which they may be practically applied, I desire it to be under-
stood that I claim, under or by virtue of the above recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly, setting the teeth, pins, points, or broaches of circular combs in the
face of the comb wheels in positions forming acute angles with the axis of
these wheels; and,
Secondly, adapting the positions of the drawing rollers to a suitable angle
for driving off the slivers from the comb wheels, as above set forth and
exhibited in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Fuller, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One