CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORDINARY SCREW GILL MACHINERY WHEN APPLIED TO THE PURPOSES OF DRAWING COMBING AND HECKLING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machinist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE ORDINARY SCREW GILL MACHINERY WHEN APPLIED TO THE PURPOSES
OF DRAWING COMBING AND HECKLING FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 8th January 1858, and dated the 8th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Fairbairn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th November 1852.
I, PETER FAIRBAIRN, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORDINARY SCREW GILL
MACHINERY WHEN APPLIED TO THE PURPOSES OF DRAWING, COMBING, AND
HECKLING FIBROUS MATERIALS" to be as follows :-
These improvements consist in the addition and adaptation of a pair
of cams to a screw gill machine, which cams are designed to receive the
falling or sliding heckle bars as they are withdrawn from the material
under operation, and conduct the said heckle bars into the under or
onter screws.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Fairbairn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Fairbairn, Her especial licence
that I, the said Peter Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Fairbairn, my executors,
administrators, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORDINARY SCREW GILL MACHINERY WHEN
APPLIED TO THE PURPOSES OF DRAWING, COMBING, AND HECKLING FIBROUS
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter
Fairbairn, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Fairbairn, do hereby de-
clare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertainedin and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
The object of this Invention is, to make the gill bars or fallers of screw

page_text: gill machinery work more smoothly than heretofore. According to the
ordinary construction of such machinery the gill bars, when they have
arrived at the end of the upper slides which support them in their forward
movement, fall suddenly out of contact with the upper pair of propelling
screws, and are received by the lower slides, along which they are driven
by the lower pair of screws towards the back of the machine, to be again
raised into gear with the upper screws. In falling, however, from the
upper to the lower slides a considerable concussion takes place, the
constant repetition of which occasions injury to the gill bars and other
parts of the machinery. To avoid this inconvenience I provide a pair
of cams to receive the gill bars when they have arrived at the end of
their forward course, and to carry then down and deliver them on to
the lower slides, by which means a smooth and comparatively silent
action is obtained. In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1, shews in
cross section, and Fig. 2, in longitudinal section, so much of a screw
gill drawing head, with the improvement applied thereto, as will serve
to explain my Invention. a, a, is one of a pair of screws for commu-
nicating a forward motion to the gill bars, and b, is one of a pair of
slides for sustaining them while being propelled forward; c, is one of a
pair of screws for returning the gill bars towards the back of the
machine; and d, one of a pair of slides for sustaining them in their
backward course. Below the level of the slides d, and at each side of
the drawing head, a sbaft e, provided with a cam f, is mounted. This
pair of cams f, is intended to receive the gill bars when they have
arrived at the end of the slides b, and to transfer them to the lower slides d.
For this purpose the rotation of the shafts e, is so timed that as the gill
bars severally arrive at the end of their course the longest radius of the
cams f, will be presented to the falling bar in order to receive it, and
the continued rotation of the cams will then bring down the bar to the
level of the slides d, along which slides it will be traversed by the screws
c, towards the back of the machine. Each shaft e, is driven by a spur
wheel g, on the screw c, taking into a spur wheel h, (containing an
equal number of teeth) keyed on to the shaft c, which spur wheel,
also communicates rotary motion to the screw a. This gearing is
indicated by the blue lines in Fig. 2. It will be seen that the end of
9,

page_text: the screw c, is recessed, to allow of the rotation of the cam f, but when
the spindle of the screw c, projects into a bearing for the purpose of
supporting the screw, as is the case in many constructions of screw gill
drawing heads, it will be necessary to modify this arrangement in order
to provide space for the rotation of the cams f, f. To attain this end
the shaft e, is shifted to the position shewn by red lines in the longi-
tudinal section, Fig. 3, and an intermediate spur wheel i, is employed
for driving the shaft; but as the direction of rotation of the shaft will
be thereby reversed, the position of the cam f, upon the shaft must be
reversed also; or, instead of employing an intermediate wheel, the shaft
may be driven by two wheels of a larger diameter, as indicated by the
yellow circles, Fig. 3.
I claim the employment in screw gill drawing heads of a pair of
cams mounted on independent shafts, for the purpose of receiving the
gill bars as they leave the upper slides, and transmitting them to the
lower slides; and I claim the means herein described of providing
for the rotation of the cams f, f.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Fairbairn, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Fifth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM NAYLOR.
PETER FAIRBAIRN. (L.S.)