IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING BRUSHES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Hawes Fox, of No. 17, College Hill, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
BRUSHES."
Sealed the 20th March 1857, and dated the 15th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Hawes Fox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th November 1856.
I, HENRY HAWES Fox, of College Hill, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
BRUSHES," to consist in the construction, combination, and arrangement of
machinery and apparatus as follows:-
First, in sorting the bristles according to their different lengths, preparatory
to fixing them on the handles, by means of plates or clips, between or in which
the bristles are held, and presented to the action of conical or otherwise shaped
rollers or of revolving combs, provided with a tightening action when passing
through the ends of the bristles which stand out from the plates or clips. The
latter may be moved along opposite to the rollers or combs, or these may be
moveable and the plates or clips fixed. Means are also provided for receiving
the bristles either in one or more lengths when delivered from the rollers or
combs.
Second, for forming the caps into which the bristles of painters' or other
brushes are fixed, by means of revolving spindles carrying the cylindrical or

page_text: conical blocks or moulds, around which the twine or wire or other binding
material is rolled, and of parts which deliver the twine or wire from reels to
the blocks or moulds. These parts are carried parallel to the spindle, and
with proportionate notion to the thickness of the twine or wire. This longi-
tudinal motion is effected by screws, or rack and pinion gearing, or by weights,
and the corresponding rates of speed of the blocks or moulds and of tho
delivering parts and fingers are adjusted by conical or speed pullies or toothed
wheels. The blocks or moulds may be made to travel longitudinally, and the
delivering parts or fingers fixed.
Third, for binding the twine or wire or other binding material round
painters tools and other brushes where the handles and bristles are first
placed together in their construction. In this case vices or holes in which to
fix the handles of the brushes are provided, and motion is given to a hollow
cylinder or reel open at the end, into which the brush projects through a hole
in the cylinder. The twine or wire is delivered off the outside as it revolves,
and moves longitudinally by similar appliances to those described in the second
part above. Instead of a hollow cylinder, the delivering parts or fingers may
be made to move round the brushes, and this motion may also be applied to
the second arrangement described above.
Fourthly, for formning several caps at one operation by blocks or moulds, the
outside surfaces of which may be plain cylinders, or have a succession of
conical or other surfaces, according to the shape of the caps required. These
blocks consist of parts which admit of being separated when the caps have
been formed on them, so as to withdraw the blocks or moulds with facility.
Lastly, for forcing the handles into and through the bristles by means of
screws, weights, or lovers, and where necessary communicating a twisting
or spiral motion to the handle in its passage, either by the friction of the forcing
screw against the end of the handle, or by an arrangement of screws, wheels,
or bands for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed so
by the said Henry Hawes Fox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HAWES Fox, of College Hill, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Hawes Fox, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Hawes Fox,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Hawes Fox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during tho
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 MANUFACTURING
BRUSHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Hawes
Fox, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samo
was to be performed, and causo 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Hawes Fox, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a combination and construction of machinery
for effecting various operations in the manufacture of brushes in a more
economical and expeditious manner than is accomplished by manual labour,
and consists,-
First, in appliances for sorting the bristles by drawing them by their flags
or tops into different lengths or sizes before or after the ordinary operation of
mixing them, and preparatory to their being attached to the brush handles,
and in the same or similar appliances for mixing the bristles.
To a table or bench, placed in the workshop in a convenient and firm
position, longidunial and parallel plates or clips are attached, for the purpose
of holding the bristles whilst the sorting proceeds. One of these plates or clips
may be fixed to the table, and the other be made moveable by means of two
adjusting screws, working through the plates in order to regulate their distance,
and to hold the bristles firmly when placed between them; this may also be
effected by applying one or more springs or levers to the moveable plate.
Both the plates or clips. may be moveable by means of the screws, springs, or
levers, and retained in their position by projecting parts at their ends working
in the slots of a frame attached to the table or bench. The faces of the plates
or clips are made plain, corrugated, grooved, or in a brush surface, according

page_text: to the requirements of the work, and in order more securely to hold the
bristles when placed between them. It is proposed to supply the bristles to
the plates by hand; in that case the closing levers or screws would be wrought
by the tread of the sorter, or the opening and closing of the clips would be
regulated by power transmitted from other parts of the machinery, or from
any engine applicable to the
purpose.
To the same table, bench, or framework, and at the proper distanco in front
of the parallel plates, two rollers of a cylindrical shape are connected, also
parallel in their axes, and capable of adjustinent to any distance from eacli
other, or from the plates or clips, according to the lengths, sizes, or quantities
of the bristles sorted. The adjustment of these cylinders is also effected by
screws, springs, or levers working in or against the blocks or chairs, in which
the ends of the spindles of the rollers revolve. These blocks or chairs are
confined in slots constructed in the framework in a radiating direction from
the face of the parallel plates. By any ordinary mechanical combination of
these parts the adjustment of the plates or clips and of the sorting rollers may
be effected by one or more screws, springs, or levers. One or both of the
rollers are made to revolve by an endless band driven from other parts of the
machinery or from an engine, and in constructing the slot in which the chairs
of the rollers are made to slide, it will be necessary to provide for this gearing
by making the slot of a corresponding segmental shape. The rollers will
admit of various shapes, and may be either plain or grooved on their surfaces,
or have a covering of cloth, felt, indin-rubber, or any other elastic or soft
material, so as more effectually to seize the bristles.
Instead of the cylinders or rollers revolving combs may be used; these
would consist of a number of curved teeth fixed to a spindle or shaft, so that
their ends would approach nearly to a tangential position to the circle in
which they move, or straight radiating arms with teeth fixed in a T-shape at
nearly right angles on their ends may be used. A conting of india-rubber
or other suitable elastic or inelastic material may be applied to the teeth, so as
more effectually to seize the bristles and withdraw them. This comb would
revolve in front of the parallel plates or clips in which the bristles are held,
being driven by an endless band, the same or such as used to the rollers, or by
any other ordinary gearing. The curved teeth, or the teeth on the ends of the
arms, may be provided with a lateral motion, so that when the comb enters
the bristles the teeth can be closed. For this purpose, an arm attached by bolts
or screws to the framing extends above the revolving comb, being provided
with projecting parts, or with slots opposite to one or more, or to each pair of
teeth, the points of tho teeth being so proportioned as to pass these; but the

page_text: hinder parts being made to enter the slots or between the projecting parts,
the teeth will close and hold the bristles, and when full, after passing through,
will relax and allow the bristles to fall out or be removed.
In order to receive the bristles as they are delivered from the rollers or
combs sorted, an endless band or bands (with or without boxes or trays) of
suitable lengths are made to travel over rollers or pullies; the bristles fall on
or are delivered to the band or boxes, which in their turn carry them to any
convenient place of deposit or to any receptacle for further removal. It will
be seen that the mechanical arrangements to effect this are simple. One or
more pullies attached to the frame in any convenient positions for the sorter,
and driven by the other parts of the machinery, will cause the endless band to
travel forward..
The laying of hair in even layers for making the cappings or other such
parts of brushes, as it may be desirable to place or form in even layers, may
also be effected by this arrangement of giving a continuous motion to the
endless band, the speed of the band being regulated according to the thickness
of the layer of hair required. Upon this endless band a strip of sized paper
may be placed, so that the hair as it falls will be received and held upon the
paper, and when the size is set the paper can be cut into such suitable lengths
as will form the circumference or the coils of the capping brushes.
The operation of mixing hair of different lengths may also be effected by
these means, videlicet, by the employment of two or more pairs of rollers,
these rollers being designed to draw out separate lengths of hair, in order to
be mixed together in thin layers, delivered either into the boxes or trays or on
the endless band, or by the employment of one pair of rollers, or two or more
pairs of clips or brushes, which shall contain all the different lengths of hair to
be mixed, and expose it in turn to the action of the rollers. This method is
applicable in mixing colors and lengths.
In sorting bristles according to their fineness or thickness, commonly called
in the bristle trade "dragging or engining the bristles," I propose to hold
them between plates or clips, as in the manner above described, allowing the
roots to project. Opposite to these plates the combs or engines (having open-
ings or spaces between their teeth of different extents) are attached to an
endless band, constructed of metal links, or gutta percha, or any other suitable
material, carried on rollers or pullies connected with the frame, and driven by
the other parts of the machine, or by any available power, so as to receive a
longitudinal motion, as in the other sorting rollers or parts. These engines or
combs are connected by hinges or pivots to the belts, so as to admit of the
removal of the bristles after passing through them, and be easily replaced,

page_text: and also for the purpose of keeping them in a vertical position when rising up
and entering the hair. Guides or inclined grooves or slots are fixed at the
sorting end or portions of the belt, so as to direct the engines when in opera-
tion on the endless band; these cause the engines or combs to strike into the
hairs when held in the necessary position in the plates or clips. The longi-
tudinal direction of the band with an engine, commencing after having passed
round the pulley, draws the hair held by the roots in an even and steady
manner from the clips or brushes in which it is held.
Second, in mechanical appliances for forming the caps into which the
bristles of painters' or other brushes are fixed. To the table or bench, or to
any other convenient framework, brackets are firmly bolted; on these the
bearings of one or more spindles or shafts are placed; on the spindles or to
their ends pullies or riggers are keyed, so as to be driven by endless bands
from the actuating power; cylindrical, conical, or other shaped blocks, moulds,
or bobbins, made of wood, iron, or other suitable material, so as to bo readily
placed on the spindles and fixed thereon, in order to be carried round with
them, are provided. On these blocks or bobbins the twine, wire, or other
binding material is rolled or coiled, the twine boing delivered from a finger or
arm, having a longitudinal motion parallel to the spindle, and travelling with
proportionate rate to the thickness of the binding material. For this purpose,
and between the brackets which carry the spindles, an endless screw is made
to revolve by the same ordinary means of belts or spur gearing; on this screw
a nut is carried, to which is attached the delivering finger or pointer, held in
its position by a bar extending from bracket to bracket, and confining a pro-
jecting part of the finger or arm in a slot, or otherwise allowing a fork of the
arm to embrace it. The speed of the spindle and of this endless screw are
relatively adjusted to each other. It is ovident that rack and pinion gearing
or weights may be made to effect the same. The twine, wire, or binding
material is delivered to the feeding finger from any ordinary arrangement of
reels, placed or fixed in the workshops for the purpose, and to these reels, or to
any convenient portion of the twine or wire, weights are attached, in order
to secure the proper degree of tension.
In place of several or separato blocks, moulds, or bobbius, cylinders of the
full length of the machine may be used or made conversely by the same, or
similar, or any ordinary mechanical means, to travel whilst the delivering
parts remain fixed. This compound mould may be altogether plain, or consist
of a series of. truncated cones or otherwise shaped surfaces, from which tho
caps can be cut off. It is constructed by four or more longitudinal bars,
confined by rings externally, but supported from the inside on bosses or blocks

page_text: attached to a shaft or to end gudgeons, so as to admit of the removal of the
bars, and for this purpose a screw thread is cut on the ends of the bars, out of
which the bosses or nuts can be unscrewed when the bars are placed; when
the bosses or nuts are screwed out of the mould the great pressure of the
coiled twine or wire is counteracted, and the mould easily extracted in parts.
Third, in laying or binding the twine, wire, or other binding material round
painters' tools and other similarly shaped brushes where the handles and
bristles are first placed together. For that purpose a number or series of holes
or vices are constructed in a perforated plate fixed to the table or bench, so
that the handles after being turned or formed in a lathe may so fit the holes
that they will project to any requisite extent; or a grooved under plate is
attached to the bench, having an upper plate with corresponding grooves in
connection with it, so that when closed down the brush handles may be held.
To the table or framing standards or brackets are bolted, supporting a bed
plate or two bars parallel to the holding plate or vice or series of vices; on this
plate or on the bars a corresponding number of spindles are made to revolve
by the ordinary means of belts or toothed wheels or weights, the ends of the
spindles projecting in a line with and towards the brush handles; on these
ends of the spindles hollow reels or cylinders are fixed, open at the end next
to and projecting over and around the brush; the twine, wire, or other
binding material being coiled round the outside of these drums or reels, and
one end drawn through a hole in the side and attached to the brush, and the
cylinders or reels made to revolve, the twine or wire will be bound round the
brush. And in this process, as in the former one, of forming the caps, a weight
is attached, so as to ensure the necessary tension of the binding material. It
is evident that a delivering finger may be made to revolve instead of a hollow
cylinder, or the brush handle may be made to do so by a corresponding change
in the mechanical arrangements. The spindles which carry the drums or reels
recede from or approach the vice plates in the necessary rate of motion for the
spiral delivery of the twine, wire, or binding substance, by means of screws,
forming extensions of the spindles, and working in nuts attached to the bed
plate or bars; these are actuated by the general or any available driving
power, and by the screw motion effect the paying out of the twine in the
necessary coils.
Lastly, in forcing the handles into and through the bristles, when a body of
the latter, sufficient to form a brush, is placed together or confined in one
of the caps constructed as herein-before described. For this purpose, a
hollow cylindrical block or anvil the size of the brush is bolted on the table
or bench; in the under side of this block spaces are left, in which two or

page_text: more pieces slide in radial directions, forming a bottom to the hollow cylinder,
and leaving a central holo the size of the brush handle where it first emerges
from the bristles; these pieces are pressed inwards by springs, and so adapted
as to embrace the handle in all its varying dimensions; by this means a resist-
ence is offered to any forcing down of the bristles, and the handle must of
necessity alone penetrate. For the purpose of effecting this, a lever or screw
is placed by any ordinary mechanical arrangement of standards or framing
over the hollow vertical cylinder and presses the handle through, and whero
necessary, either by friction against the end or by clutches, giving the handle a
twisting or spiral motion.
I also propose to use mechanical means for cutting out the mortises into
which the knot of bristles for making the description of brush called "sash
tools," or any other sort of brush, is fixed. This is effected by a revolving
disc upon the circumference, and the side of which a series of cutters is
fixed, made in the form of the mortise to be cut in the handle or woodwork
of the brush. The handle is fixed in a compound slide rest by means of a
lever and weights, or other appropriate incans, and the motion for conveying the
handles so fixed, so as to expose it to the action of the cutters, is effected by
means of the screw of the rest; and so soon as the mortise is cut of sufficient
depth the nut is disengaged, which has been held in by a lever, and the upper
slide of the rest is drawn back by a spring, which allows the handle to bo
withdrawn and another to be put into its place. The under slide of the rest is
employed so as to bo able to set the upper one which carries the handle up to
the mortise, in order that the aforesaid upper slide shall be set as always to
present the exact middle of the different sized wood and handles to tho corre-
sponding sized cutters, and thus by changing the discs or cutters mortises of
different sizes or widths will bo cut out.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and thereforo claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the sorting and mixing of the bristles by the means above described.
Second, the removing of the bristles by the means above described.
Third, the application of the engines or combs to the sorting, mixing, and
laying of the hairs.

page_text: Fourth, the construction of the caps in the manner and by the means
lescribed.
Fifth, the arrangements for laying the binding material round the brushes.
Sixth, or lastly, in forcing the handles into the bristles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Hawes Fox, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
HY. HAWES FOX. (L.S.)