ROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THREADS AND YARNS. AND IN THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THREADS AND YARNS.
AND IN THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SUCH MANUFACTURE."
-A communication from abroad by George R. Sampson, of Boston,
Massachusetts, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 10th July 1860, and dated the 9th May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THREADS AND
YARNS, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SUCH MANUFACTURE,'
to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the manufacture of threads and yarns,
and in the preparation of fibrous materials for such manufacture, consists, in
the first place, in producing threads or yarns from fibrous materials by com-
bining the fibres of cotton and wool with a short fibre, produced by reducing
the fibre of flax, hemp, jute, silk, or China grass, or any other long staple fibre.

page_text: in such a manner that it can be spun in the ordinary cotton and wool ma-
chinery, and a better and stronger thread or cloth produced, and at a cheaper
rate than has heretofore been possible.
Long fibrous plants like flax and other analogous plants have heretofore
been mixed with cotton or wool, but they could not be spun by the ordinary
short staple cotton and wool machinery, for the reason that the system hereto-
fore known and practised of reducing long-staple fibre consisted in cutting the
same up into pieces of given lengths, which, when mixed with short-staple
fibre, could not be spun, as the blunt end of the cut-up fibres rendered their
entwining or their forming union with the ends of the naturally short fibres
impossible.
In carrying out the Invention, the long fibrous material, such as flax, hemp,
jute, silk, or Chinagrass, is reduced to the required length by submitting it at
given distances (corresponding to the length of the reduced fibre required) to
a tensile strain, whether combined or not with torsion or other strains, but
sufficiently powerful to produce the separation of the fibre.
The fibres thus disintegrated or disunited and separated into pieces of
uniform length, the ends of which pieces present the individual fibrils of which
the fibre is composed in an open and stranded form, and have a great tendency
to unite and entangle or interlace with the end of any fibre. A double reduc.
tion of the fibre is therefore produced, i.e., not only in the direction of its
length, but also in the direction of its thickness, or laterally at that point
where it is again to unite with another fibre.
The reduction of the fibres is produced by means of machinery consisting
principally of fluted rollers, the functions of which are such as to operate on
the fibre in the manner described, i.c., effecting the reduction of the fibre by
straining it between two given points, so as to disintegrate and separate it, as
set forth. The process of separation may be preceded by and combined with
one producing the disintegration of the fibre laterally to facilitate the
separation.
The short or reduced fibres may then be subjected to a chemical process or
to an electrical process, by which the fibres are more perfectly disintegrated
and separated. The short staple thus produced is then bleached or colored, or
both bleached and colored, and mixed with cotton or wool carded, spun, and
afterwards woven on the ordinary short-staple cotton or wool machinery. By
making the fibres of the flax or other analogous substance longer or shorter
than those of the cotton or wool, the outer surface of the thread or yarn can be
made in spinning to assume the appearance of that fibre which is the shorter,

page_text: thereby producing such a finish or surface to the cloth when woven as may be
desired.
The Invention consists also in a new and valuable improvement in the pre-
paration of the fibres of the flax, hemp, jute, China grass, and other long-
stapled fibres, which shall enable them to be spun and woven on the ordinary
short-stapled machinery adapted to the spinning and weaving of cotton and
wool, thereby producing a much softer and more beautiful yarn thread or cloth
at a cheaper rate than can be produced from the ordinary long line of fibres
aforesaid.
The process above described of separating or of dividing the length of the
fibre may be preceded or followed by or combined with one producing the
splitting or disintegrating of the fibre laterally, and thereby facilitate
the operation.
The short er reduced fibre is then subjected to a chemical process or to
an electrical process, or one which combines the two, and by which the fibres
are still more perfectly disintegrated and separated; these processes have for
their object the extraction oftheglutinous or gummy compound which cements
the individual fibrils or filaments together, and constitutes what is ordinarily
known under the term of fibre.
The next improvement relates to the treatment of fibrous vegetables like
flas, hemp, jute, Manilla grass, & sugar cane, so as to change and improve
their staple, and thus render them valuable as the basis of textile fabrics, and
so that they can be used as substitutes for or mixed with silk, cotton, and wool
in the manufacture of yarns and cloths.
All processes heretofore employed for preparing flax fibres have been more
or less destructive of the best qualities of the fibrous basis sought to be
obtained.
It may be observed that in most of the fibrous plants of the flax tribe are
found albumen, resin, oil, and other matters which color and cement the fibrils
and filaments to the central woody stalk. All the old processes, whilst attempting
to remove these matters, have changed or destroyed the true natural structure
of the fibrous plant. Thus the old "retting" and analogous processes have
been fermenting ones, which in the end cause the decomposition, decay, or
destruction of the texture of the organic substances of the fibre. Treating the
fibre with caustic alkalies or acids produces as bad an effect, though of a
different kind. All of them lessen the strength and diminish the softnessand
glossy appearance of the ultimate fibril.
The essential feature of the new mode of treatment consists in subjecting the

page_text: material acted upon to heated air charged with water up to its point of satura-
tion. This saturated air softens and separates the elements that hold the fibres
together, without destroying or injuring the natural structure, anditopens the
capillary tubes, so that the albumen, resinous, and coloring matters can be
readily reached and removed by water.
After this air bath the fibres are exposed to boiled water cooled down to
about 140° to 160°, and kept at that heat a proper length of time (in any
suitable vessel), say, for about three hours, when a large per-centage of the
cementing matters, especially the albumen and green coloring matter, will be
dissolved. This solution is then removed, and pure water of about 140° to 150°
is added in any proper manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 9th November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF THREADS AND YARNS, AND IN THE
PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SUCH MANUFACTURE," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the saine is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of Improvements in the Manufacture of Threads and
Yarns, and in the Preparation of Fibrous Materials for such Manufacture,"
consists, in the first place, in producing threads or yarns from fibrous materials
by combining the fibres of cotton and wool with a short fibre, produced by
reducing the fibre of flax, hemp, jute, silk, or China grass, or any other long
staple fibre in such a manner that it can be spun in the ordinary cotton and
wool machinery, and a better and stronger thread or cloth produced, and at a
cheaper rate than has heretofore been possible.
Long fibrous plants like tax and other analogous plants have heretofore been
mixed with cotton or wool, but they could not be spun by the ordinary short
staple cotton and wool machinery, for the reason that the system heretofore
known and practised of reducing long staple fibre consisted in cutting the same
up into pieces of given lengths, which when mixed with short staple fibre
could not he spun, as the blunt end of the cut-up fibres rendered their
entwining or their forming union with the ends of the naturally short fibres
impossible. Heretofore no flax, hemp, jute, silk, China grass, or other similar
fibrous materials have ever been so prepared that they could when mixed with
cotton or wool be spun on the ordinary cotton wool machinery for the purpose
of forming yarn or cloth.
In carrying out the Invention, the long fibrous material, such as flax, hemp,
jute, silk, or China grass, is reduced to the required length by submitting it at
given distances (corresponding to the length of the reduced fibre required) to
a tensile strain, whether combined or not with torsion or other strains, but
sufficiently powerful to reduce the separation of the fibre.
The fibre is thus disintegrated or disunited and separated into pieces of
uniform length, the ends of which picces present the individual fibrils of which
the fibre is composed in an open and stranded form, and have a great
tendency to unite and entangle or interlace with the end of any fibre. A
double reduction of the fibre is therefore produced (that is to say), not only in
the direction of its length, but also in the direction of its thickness, or laterally
at that point where it is again to unite with another fibre.
The reduction of the fibres is produced by means of machinery consisting
principally of fluted rollers, the functions of which are such as to operate on

page_text: the fibre in the manner described (that is to say), effecting the reduction of the
fibre by straining it between two given points, so as to disintegrate and
separate it.
The process of separation may be preceded by and combined with one
producing the disintegration of the fibre laterally to facilitate the separation.
The short or reduced fibres may then be subjected to a chemical process, or to
an electrical process, by which the fibres are more perfectly disintegrated and
separated. The short staple thus produced is then bleached or colored, or
both bleached and coloured, and mixed with cotton or wool, then carded, spun,
and afterwards woven on the ordinary short staple cotton or wool machinery.
By making the fibres of the flax or other fibrous material longer or shorter
than those of the cotton or wool, the outer surface of the thread or yarn can
be made in spinning to assume the appearance of that fibre which is the
shorter, thereby producing such a finish or surface to the cloth when woven as
may be desired.
This Invention consists also in a new and valuable improvement in the
preparation of the fibres of the llax, hemp, jute, China grass, and other long
staple fibres, whereby they may be spun and woven on the ordinary short
staple machinery adapted to the spinning and weaving of cotton and wool,
thereby producing a much softer and more beautiful yarn, thread, or cloth at
a cheaper rate than can be produced from the ordinary long line of fibres
aforesaid.
In the preparation of long line fibres for spinning and weaving by the old
method, great care has to be taken to keep the fibre straight and of the full
length of the stalk on which it grew. This involves great expence, owing to
the delicate and numerous operations and treatment to which such plants
must be submitted, in order to derive from them the desired product in the
condition most suitable for spinningand weaving. On the other hand it is well
known that the spinning and weaving machinery adapted for the ordinary
short staple fibre, such as cotton and wool, is not only the best, but also the
cheapest for the spinning and weaving of fibrous materials. But such
machinery has not heretofore been suited to the working of fibres that are
longer than two inches or thereabouts, consequently flax and other long fibre
could not be spun thereon.
The object of the present Invention is not only the reduction of expense and
labour in the operations and treatments of the plants, for the purpose of
extracting the fibres therefrom in a condition best suited for spinning and
weaving, but also to enable the fibres thus obtained to be worked on or by

page_text: machinery adapted for working cotton or wool, whereby a yarn, thread, or
cloth of a superior quality may be produced from such products at less
expense than heretofore.
By treating the fibres according to the process herein-after described, it is
not necessary to perform the operations of reaping or threshing the seed, and
of freeing the stalk from the woody heart or boon and bark (which encloses
the useful fibres) with as much care as is customary under the old method.
The flax or hemp straw may be mowed or cradled with as much facility as hay
or grain; the flax or hemp may also be threshed in the same way as ordinary
grain, and the stalks either retted or unretted, and whether tangled or straight
may be submitted to the action of machinery, which will reduce the fibres in
the manner herein-after described to the length of short staple fibre, or such
other uniform length as will admit of their being worked by short staple
machinery.
The operation and function of the machinery referred to is to reduce the
long staple fibre by straining it in the direction of its length between twogiven
points.
Long fibrous substances like flax have heretofore been reduced by suitable
instruments or machines, which effect such reduction by means of shears or
knives, whereby the fibres are cut or severed into suitable lengths in such a
manner as to leave a blunt end at each or both of the extremities of the fibres
thus cut or severed. But it has been found that the short fibre produced by
cutting the long fibre into parts cannot be spun with advantage or economy,
as the blunt ends of the former rendered their entwining or their forming the
requisite union with each other practically impossible.
Previous to the present Invention no flax, hemp, or other long staple
vegetable fibrous material has been prepared or reduced in such a manner
that it could, practically (that is to say, with economy and without impairing
the strength of the fibre), be spun on the ordinary cotton and wool machinery
for the purpose of forming yarn or cloth therefrom.
Having thus stated the nature and main object of the Invention, I shall
now proceed particularly to describe the Invention, and the general method or
manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect.
All or part only of the long fibrous material, such as flax: hemp, or jute, is
reduced to the required lengths by submitting it at certain distances (depend.
ing upon the length of the reduced fibre required) to a tensile strain, whether
combined or not with torsion or other strains, but sufficiently powerful to
produce the separation of the fibre. The fibres are by this means disintegrated

page_text: and separated into pieces of uniform length, the ends of which picces present
the individual fibrils of which the fibre is composed in an open and stranded
form, and have a great tendency to unite and entangle or interlace with each
other or with the end of any other fibre; a double reduction of the fibre is
thus effected, that is, it is not only reduced in the direction of its length, but
also in the direction of its thickness, or across the fibre at that point where it
is again to unite into other fibre.
The process above described of separating or of dividing the length of the
fibre may be preceded or followed by or combined with one producing the
splitting or disintegrating of the fibre laterally, whereby the operation will be
facilitated.
The short or reduced fibre is then subjected to a chemical process, or to an
electrical process, or one which combines the two, and by which the fibres are
still more perfectly disintegrated and separated. These processes have for
their object the extraction of the glutinous or gummy matter which cements
the individual fibrils or filaments together, and which filaments constitutes
what is ordinarily known under the term of fibre.
I would here remark that the present invention may be combined with any
known process of extracting the glutinous or gummy substances from the
fibre, although its practicability and utility will greatly depend upon the
expense involved in carrying out the process resorted to, and also on
the preservation of the strength of the fibre after having been submitted to it.
The next improvement relates to the treatment of fibrous vegetables like
flax, hemp, jute, Manilla grass and sugar cane, so as to change and improve
their staple, and thus render them valuable as the basis of textile fabrics, so
that they can be used as substitutes for or mixed with silk, cotton, and wool in
the manufacture of yarns and cloths. It may be well to state that the present
improvements are not applicable to cotton, between which and the plants
above referred to there is no true analogy, as cotton is a sced covering, and
can only be cleansed, and cannot have its fibre altered, whereas the mechanical
structure of the above-named plants can be in a degree affected by different
modes of treatment.
All processes heretofore employed for preparing flax fibres have been more
or less destructive of the best qualities of the fibres sought to be obtained, and
these qualities may be enumerated as follows:-It is important to obtain such
a shape of fibril, and such a surface thereon, as to best adapt it to mix with
silk, wool, or cotton, or to work (when uumixed with other fibres) into a
strong thread or yarn, so that it can be worked on the ordinary machinery

page_text: now used in producing silk, woollen or cotton, or liuen goods. It should be
of the nature and condition to receive and permanently retain unchanged the
dyes used in producing colored goods. Its condition should be such that the
bleaching can be performed by chlorine instead of by air or natural bleaching
as now practised. It should retain the softness of touch which gives value to
fine animal wools; and, lastly, it should have the glossy appearance of silk.
To produce a fibre which should possess all the above-named qualities is the
object aimed at and secured by the Invention, and one which has never before
been attained, and in order to clearly point out the distinctive features and
advantages of the new mode of treatinent, and wherein it is in direct
opposition to those that have heretofore been employed, it may be observed
that in most of the fibrous plants of the flax tribe are found albumen, resin,
oil, and other matters, which color and cement the fibrils and filaments to the
central woody stalk. All the old processes whilst attempting to romove these
matters have changed or destroyed the true natural structure of the fibrous
plant. Thus the old "retting" and analogous processes have been fermenting
ones, which in the end cause the decomposition, decay, or destruction of the
texture of the organic substances of the fibre. Treating the fibres with
caustic alkalics or acids produces as bad an effect though of a different kind.
All of them lessen the strength and diminish the softness and glossy appear-
ance of the ultimate fibril. The essential feature of the new mode of treat-
ment consists in subjecting the materialacted upon to heated aircharged with
water up to its point of saturation. This saturated air softens and separates
the substances or matters that hold the fibres together without destroying or
injuring their natural structure, and it opens the capillary tubes, so that the
albumen, resinous and coloring matters, can be readily reached and removed by
water. The processes heretofore usually employed, instead of doing this, fix
the albumen and coloring matter with the more insoluble matters, such as
gum resin, and prevent the attainment of the very object aimed at viz.,
opening the fibre so that the coloring matters, albumen, and other substances
can be removed by water or otherwise. It will be seen that there is a great
difference between heated vapor or steam and air at the same temperature
charged with water up to its point of saturation, as air thus charged is much
more penetrative, and has its solvent increased to a wonderful extent, and the
finest fibres thus treated become filled with water, as may be observed with
the aid of a powerful microscope. Exposure to watery vapor will produce no
such an effect, as the vapor will condense on the surface of the fibrous
materials, and may be observed there in minute globules. After this air bath

page_text: the fibres are exposed to boiled water cooled down to about one hundred and
forty degrees to one hundred and sixty degrees, and kept at that heat a proper
length of time (in any suitable vessel) say for about three hours, when a large
per-centage of the cementing matters, especially the albumen and green
coloring matter, will be dissolved. This solution is then removed and driven
out of the fibrous materials in any convenient manner by pure water at the
temperature of about one hundred and forty degrees to one hundred and fifty
degrees Fahrenheit.
In order to shew the distinctive features between the structure of the
several fibrous vegetables that it is proposed to treat and that of cotton, and
also to illustrate the peculiar effect of the process, I have, in Sheet I. of the
accompanying Drawings, shewn fibres of different kinds highly magnified.
Fig. 1 represents a fibre of natural wool highly magnified; Fig. 2 represents
a fibre of cotton also magnified; Fig. 3 is a similar view of silk fibre; and
Fig. 4, a fibre of natural flax; and Fig. 5, one of hemp; Fig. 6 represents a
fibre of flax, with the fibrils partly separated or spread out; and Fig. 7, one of
flax, partially prepared by the improved process; Fig. 8 is a cross section,
taken through a stem of flax in its natural state; Fig. 9 is a cross section of
the fibril, shewing its shape, and how it is surrounded with a set of cords
arranged in a spiral direction; Fig. 10 represents a fibril of flax, as prepared
by the improved process; and Fig. 11 represents a filament of flax spread out.
By inspecting these Figures it will be seen that the fibre produced by the new
process, and shewn at Fig. 10, combines in itself all the requisite good
qualities of the silk, wool, and vegetable materials.
I will now proceed to describe more in detail the improved mode of treating
flax, and would observe that a similar treatment is pursued when operating on
any of the materials herein-before named, varying slightly, of course, in
temperature, and the size and form of the apparatus used, according to the
use to which the product is to be applied.
The flax plant should be pulled or mown before it be too ripe. It should be
dried either by the sun or by means of air deprived by heat of its normal
moisture. The flax is then to be cooled and placed in a vessel shewn at A,
Fig. 11, Sheet II., which represents the vessel in vertical section. There is a
"man-hole "B for the introduction of the fibrous materials; and C is a man-
hole near the bottom for the removal of the materials from the vessel A;
D is a perforated bottom, and E a heating coil. Air charged with water is
forced through the vessel A, and out at the valve I, and in its transit it will
deposit its moisture in and penetrate the fibrous materials. The operation of

page_text: the apparatus is as follows:-A, Fig. 12, Sheet II., is a chamber containing
water to the level b, b; B¹ is a steam heating coil; C¹, an air coil; E¹ is a
cistern containing water to the line ; D' is a hollow piston, with a valve
at H' opening inward. The piston D' is operated by a lever I'; F¹ is an air
pipe rising above the level of the water line, and provided with a valve at G¹
opening inward.
On elevating the piston the air enters at the valve H', and
is forced by the down stroke of the piston D'through the pipe F1, and through
perforations in the coil C₁, thence upwards through the water heated by the
steam coil B', and out at the cock J' into the vessel A (Fig. 11), which
contains the fibrous materials upon which the moisture carried off by the air
is deposited. The air after having thus deposited its moisture passes out of
the vessel A at the cock G. After the fibrous materials have been thus
treated with the "air bath," the "cementing matters" are brought into such
a molecular condition as to be soluble in water, which should be purified by
boiling, and then cooled down to one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit,
and then passed through the fibrous materials. This may be done by letting
the air enter the cock G (Fig. 11) from a reservoir, and pass out at the
cock H until the solution is removed. The resultant fibre may then be passed
through breaking and separating or spreading machines in the usual way,
and is then ready to be used in coarse fabrics, but for fine fabrics it must
undergo further operations.
It will be evident that there are other modes and a variety of apparatus
other than those described by which the fibrous materials can be subjected to
the action of the "air bath." The air may also be saturated by different
means from those described. I do not, therefore, intend to confine myself to
the use of any particular apparatus for producing the desired results. It will
be also evident that in lieu of charging air with water the air may be saturated
with various spirits, such as alcohol, spirits of turpentine, or other solvents,
before introducing it into the vessel A to operate upon the fibrous materials.
Another part of the Invention consists in an improved method of reducing
flax in the straw, or otherwise, to a suitable length of staple, and for separating
the woody substance from the fibres by one operation. These results are
effected by means of a series of grooved or otherwise graduated rollers,
decreasing in size and varying in speed, and so arranged and geared as to
drawout and separate the fibres, and prepare them for the carding and spinning
machinery, whether the machinery be constructed as herein-after described
and represented, or in any other manner substantially the same in principle
and operation, whereby the same result is accomplished.

page_text: Fig. 13, Sheet III., is a top or plan view; Fig. 14, a longitudinal section;
and Figures 15 and 16, end views of the improved preparing machine.
A, A, are grooved iron or steel rollers revolving in the direction of the
arrows. These rollers are the largest, and form the first set, which receive the
flax; they are about six inches in diameter, and have the largest or coarsest
grooves. These rollers crush or break the flax, and the second, third, and
fourth set of rollers B, B, B, each set of which revolve at an increased speed,
draw and separate the fibres from the woody substance, which falls down
between the rollers while the fibres pass forward into the winding machine.
Four sets of rollers are represented, but it is obvious any number can be used;
it is important, however, to cause cach succeeding set of rollers after the first
to revolve at an increased speed, so that one set is drawing the flax before it
is relieved by the other set, whereby the fibres are drawn out and separated
from the woody substance, and nothing but the fibres of the flax is left. The
uprights or plummer blocks in which the grooved rollers have their bearings
slide in a dovetailed groove on the bed or platform of the machine, so as to
admit of adjusting the rollers to any desired distance apart, in order to vary
the length of the fibre as desired. The rollers may be grooved spirally, or in
various ways which would produce the same result; but as the principle
would be the same, it is deemed unnecessary to describe other arrangements.
The machine is fed with flax to the rollers A, A, and is taken up by the
second, third, and fourth set of rollers, each set revolving faster than the other,
which draft stretches and separates the fibres from the woody substance, and
nearly prevents any waste, so that that part which is called "tow," and is
usually thrown away, is in this case made available, and proves to be the best
part of the flax. It will be obvious that this same machinery may be adapted
to spinning machinery.
Having now described this Invention of "Improvements in the Manu-
facture of Threads and Yarns, and in the Preparation of Materials for such
Manufacture," I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, the combination in the manufacture of thread and yarn of ordinary
short staple fibrous materials, such as cotton or wool, with a short fibre, made
or reduced in the manner described from long staple fibrous materials, such as
flax, hemp, jute, silk, China grass, and similar substances, so that when so
combined the different fibres can be spun on ordinary cotton and woollen
machinery.
Second, I claim the mode herein set forth of reducing long staple vegetable
1:

page_text: a manner as to draw out & separate the fibrous material into fibres of uniform
length, or thereabouts, each part or fibre presenting stranded ends, substantially
in the manner and for the purpose specified.
'Third, I claim the mode herein set forth of treating fibrous materials, such
as flax, hemp, jute, Manilla grass, sugar cane, and other analogous substances.
I claim particularly subjecting the fibrous material to the action of air charged
or saturated with moisture or vapor, as set forth.
Fourth, I claim the use of the mechanical contrivances herein set forth, or
their equivalent, for drawing out and separating the fibres of flax, hemp, jute,
China grass, and other analogous substances from the boon, and reducing
them to suitable lengths of staple, to be used on cotton, woollen, and other
machinery, and the application of such mechanical contrivances, or their
equivalents, to spinning machinery, for the purpose heroin set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)