IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA- RATUS FOR WASHING SLIVERS OF WOOL
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Milligan, of Harden Mills, Bingley, in
the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR WASHING SLIVERS OF WOOL."
Sealed the 27th April 1853, and dated the 23d February 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Milligan
at the Office of the Cominissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23d February 1858.
I, ROBERT MILLIGAN, of Harden Mills, Bingley, in the County of
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING SLIVERS OF WOOL" to be as
follows:-
Heretofore it has been usual, in washing slivers of wool, to cause the
slivers to descend into the washing fluid and under a roller immersed
therein, and then to express the fluid from the slivers by pressing

page_text: rollers above the washing vessel; but I have found that this process is
inapplicable for wools which will not hold together in the form of a
sliver, particularly mohair and alpaca wools, and others; and my
Invention consists in aiding this process by employing endless webs
or bands, by which the slivers are supported in their progress into and 5
out of the fluid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Milligan, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 23d August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ROBERT MILLIGAN, of Harden Mills, Bingley, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Milligan, Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Milligan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Milligan, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR WASHING SLIVERS OF WOOL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Milligan, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Milligan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
Heretofore it has been usual in washing slivers of wool to cause the
slivers to descend into the washing fluid and under a roller immersed
therein, and then to express the fluid from the slivers by pressing rollers
above the washing vessel; but I have found that this process is in-
applicable for wools which will not hold together in the form of a
sliver, particularly mohair and alpaca wools, and others; and my
Invention consists in aiding this process by employing endless webs
or bands, by which the slivers are supported in their progress into and
out of the fluid.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I will pro-
ceed to describe the means of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The drawing shows a section of apparatus arranged or combined in
a manner suitable for carrying out my Invention. a, is a sliver of wool,
and b, is a guide through which the sliver is conducted to the endless
cloth c, on the rollers d, and f, such endless cloth being guided under
the suds by the rollers e, e, which revolve in bearings below the surface
of the suds; g, is a pressing roller, such as have heretofore been used
when washing slivers of wool, but when an endless carrying cloth was
not used. The details of this apparatus may be varied so long as a
carrying cloth or surface be used to convey the sliver into and from the
suds. By these means it will be found that slivers of classes of wool
which cannot, and others which can only with difficulty, be washed by
the old means, may by the employment of carrying fabrics or surfaces
be readily and conveniently washed, such as slivers of mohair, alpaca,
and such like wools.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
make no claim to the parts herein described; but what I claim is,

page_text: the washing of slivers of wool by an arrangement or combination of
apparatus such as is herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the snid Robert Milligan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
ROBT. MILLIGAN. (L.S.)
Witness, SAM. WEATHERIIEAD,
of Bingley, in the County of York, Solicitor.