IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF CLEANING GREASY WOOL AND FREEING IT FROM FOREIGN OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Charles Henderson, of 6, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF CLEANING GREASY WOOL AND FREEING IT FROM
FOREIGN OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS." A communication from abroad by the
Firm of G. Bellot and Douine, Manufacturers, of Rheims, in the Department of
Marne, in the Republic of France.
aled the 6th August 1878, and dated the 19th February 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Charles Henderson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th February 1878.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF CLEANING
GREASY WOOL AND FREEING IT FROM FOREIGN OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS." A com-
munication from abroad by the Firm of G. Bellot and Douine, Manufacturers, of
Reims, in the Department of Marne, in the Republic of France.
The object of this Invention is to free greasy wool from the burrs, thistles, straws,
and other foreign matters.
The means employed consist in submitting the wool to a drying, followed by a
beating. The drying is performed in any kind of dryer so as to well dry the wool;
the temperature the most suitable for the purpose is from 100 to 110° centigrade; a
lower temperature has a less efficient result, and a higher temperature, whilst
offering more advantages, alters the wool.
The beating is effected as the wool passes from the dryer and before it cools, and
in a beater the feeder of which is provided with one or more pairs of cylinders,
between which the wool passes as it leaves the dryer. Thus treated, the wool is
cleansed and freed from all foreign matters.
The advantages of this mode of treatment are as follows,--
1. Suppression of mechanical burring or chemical cleansing.

page_text: 2. Much less deterioration of the clothing of the carding or combing machines.
3. Preservation of the quality of the wool.
In effect the greasy wool does not suffer from drying at a temperature of 100
to 110°; it cleanses, scours, dyes, and works as well as if it had never been
dried.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Arthur Charles Henderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th August 1878.
ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of 6, Southampton Buildings, Holborn; in the
County of Middlesex; Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF CLEANING ]
GREASY WOOL AND FREEING IT FROM FOREIGN OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS." A com-
munication from abroad by the Firm of G. Bellot and Douine, Manufacturers, of
Reims, in the Department of Marne, in the Republic of France.
The object of this Invention is to free greasy wool; or wool in the yolk, from the
burrs, thistles, straws, and other foreign matters which it contains.
The means employed consist in submitting the wool to a drying followed by a
beating.
The same means may be applied to tissues to free them also from the like
matters.
For wool the process is as follows:-The drying of the wool may be effected in
any kind of drier or drying apparatus, provided that the wool is well and
thoroughly dried thereby. The most suitable temperature is between 100 and 110
degrees centigrade; a lower temperature produces a less efficacious result, and a
higher temperature, whilst effecting better results, alters the wool. The heating
which should follow is conducted as fast as the wool leaves the drier and before it
cools, and this is done in a beater whose feeder is supplied with one or more pairs
of cylinders, between which the wool passes on leaving the drier. Thus treated, the
wool is freed from its burrs.
The advantages of this new treatment are as follow:-
1st. Suppression of mechanical burring or of chemical cleansing, together with
the inconveniences inherent to these modes of treatment.
2nd. Much less deterioration of the clothing of the combing or carding machine.
3rd. Preservation of all the qualities of the wool.
In effect the greasy wool or wool in the yolk suffers nothing from the drying at
a temperature of between 100 and 110 degrees centigrade; it is freed from the yolk
and grease, it dyes and works at least as well as if it had never been submitted to
the operation of drying.
The same mode of operation is applicable to tissues in following the steps above
described, but in appropriating to the tissues the crushing and beating machines

page_text: actually employed for cleansing the tissues. The scoured wool being thoroughly
dried in a drier or fixed drying stove, or by aid of some equivalent apparatus, is
immediately passed between one or more pairs of cylinders supplied with pressing
mechanism; it then passes in a dry fulling mill, or in any other machine fulfilling
the same object, and so arranged as to retain in the piece of tissue the heat it
primitively contained. In these conditions the straws, burrs, and so forth are
broken, and the tissue thus treated retains an infinitely smaller proportion of these
matters than before the treatment.
This mode of operation, less perfect than the chemical cleansing, may advan-
tageously replace the hand method in many cases, as it is less expensive and is more
expeditious.
This treatment is by preference applied to light tissues pure wool, or to tissues
composed of textile matters of vegetable or animal origin. In fine it has the
advantage of not necessitating the use of any chemical product.
En résumé, we claim for wool, such as sold by the trade, that is to say, wool in
the yolk and for tissues, the mode of treatment herein described, and which consists
in drying the wool or tissues at a temperature over 100 degrees centigrade, of 100
to 110 degrees, and then beat them immediately after to break and separate the
straw and burrs.
What is specially claimed is the manner of effecting the drying, then the beating
described above for the wool and for the tissues, reserving however the faculty of
varying the apparatus and machines proper for effecting these operations so as to
effect the end in view in the most economical and effectual manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
A. C. HENDERSON. (L.S.)