IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Holden, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the
Empire of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR
APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 27th September 1860, and dated the 29th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Holden, at:
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1860.
I, ISAAC HOLDEN, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire of France,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to a combing apparatus, for which Letters Patent
were granted in England to Charles Cowper on or about the 23rd day of
February 1852, & numbered 13,977, and have for their object to remedy
certain defects in such apparatus as employed for combing wool and some
other fibres. One evil is that the teeth of the circular comb enter the fibre
only outside the revolving disc, so that the longer fibres rake behind the comb
during the operation of drawing the sliver of combed wool. Another evil is

page_text: that the working combs as employed to clean the beard of the nap or ends of
the slivers being cylindrical, and composed of comparatively short teeth, say,
of an inch long, the fibre is drawn against the comb head and broken.
Another defect is the difficulty of cleaning both sides of the beard. To
remedy the first defect, I propose to employ segments of combs or a circular
comb with one or more rows of teeth inside of the disc in addition to that
outside the disc, which by aid of suitable guides will enter the nap or
slivers to be combed at different points throughout the whole length of the fibre.
I would remark that the object of my improvements may be accomplished
by other means or modifications of these, for instance, instead of the combs
going into and retiring from the fibre, the fibre may be conducted in moveable
or inclined guides, in such manner as to engage the fibre into the teeth of
combs, which would then rotate in the same plane. To remedy the second
evil, I propose to employ in the working combs fine flat teeth by which facility
is obtained for the use of teeth of greater length as compared with round fine
teeth. And I apply such comb teeth in an endless chain or belt moving so that
the teeth enter the fibre at an angle, say, of about 45 degrees, by preference
points first, or I apply such comb teeth in a bar, or other carrier, so that they
point in a direction at right angles or thereabouts to that of the fibre, and so
soon as the points have entered the fibre they recede therefrom and drawing
through such fibre at an angle by preference of about 45 degrees. This
motion may be obtained with the points upwards or downwards. I also apply
such comb teeth in square motion apparatus or other working combs
moving at right angles to the fibre.
To remedy the third evil I propose to employ two or other number of
combing agents, which may be such as already referred to, to clean the fibre
projecting in the form of a circular nap or fringe, the one working from above
downwards, and the other working from below upwards by which means both
sides of the fringe of the nap will be cleansed.
My improvements relate also to a new method of communicating the up
and down motion to a keeping plate of the character referred to in the Speci-
fication of a former Patent granted to me, dated on or about the 5th day of May
1856, No. 1058, direct from the perpendicular slides of the square motion, and
in so attaching and guiding such keeping plate, that it may move with the
circular comb by its contact with the wool or otherwise in its downward motion,
and during its upward motion be drawn back to its former position by
the action of a spring or otherwise ready again to descend at the same point
as before.

page_text: My improvements relate also to modifications of the working square
motion used to prepare fibre for combing or to work fibre filled on to a comb,
or otherwise used of the character referred to in the Specification of former
Letters Patent mentioned, and also in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to me, dated on or about the 28th day of December 1857, No. 3177,
and consist, first, in giving to the rising comb of such square motions a
somewhat curved motion while rising into the fibre by adapting accordingly
the square slides in which the comb bars move, and by pushing before each
bar rises to its full height; secondly, in employing one comb instead of three
or more in the working series of combs of the preparer contained in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me dated on or about the 28th day
of December 1857, where square motions are used, both as the feeding and
working combs, and in causing the cam in giving the backward motion
towards the feeding series to the said working comb to push against a spring,
so that the comb may be arrested in its backward motion as much as the breadth
of one of the feeding combs by another cam at the time the square motion
feeder feeds forward a length of sheet of fibre equal to the breadth of a feeding
comb. The last mentioned can is so formed that at every successive stroke
of the working comb it allows such comb to approach nearer and nearer the
feeding combs till they feed forward another length. By this arrangement
the evil of the intermittent action of the square motion feeder is avoided, as
the working comb enters at every stroke the same length of the sheet of fibre,
and thus opens it as gradually as when a screw gill feeder is used. The
lifting bars to raise the fibre out of the combs may be arranged, as shown in
the Specification of my Patent last referred to, or by attaching these bars to
rods or slides free to move to and fro, but not to move up and down, the
lifting rods or bars after lifting the wool up the teeth of the comb, descend
into a groove or recess in the comb head. The distance of the to-and-fro
motion of the above working comb I make in some cases to be less than the
breadth of the comb, so as to rake the fibre less.
Part of these modifications are applicable equally when the square motion
is used to work the beard of fibre filled on to a travelling comb.
My improvements relate also to putting between the feeding means and
drawing or working means of a preparer of wool or other fibre, brushes mounted
on an endless belt or chain passed over three rollers placed in the form of
a triangle one above the fibre, and another below it. Rollers covered with
brushes or other material, or even a compressed guide, might be used for the
same purpose, the object being to put a little pressure upon the fibre between

page_text: the feeding and working means, so as to straighten and parallelize the fibres
without breaking them.
My improvements relate also to causing a separate comb to meet each
comb of the feeding gill or square motion of a preparer, when it enters the
sheet of fibre, and to clean itself by passing between two doffing plates, whose
teeth shall point in the same direction as the teeth of the said comb, the object
being to cause the fibre to enter the combs of the feeding means, so as to
distribute the fibre over the whole length of the teeth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Holden, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, COME, I, ISAAC
HOLDEN, of St. Denis, near Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, 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 Isaac Holden, Her special licence that I, the said Isaac Holden,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Isaac Holden, 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
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND COMBING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Holden,
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 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Isaac Holden, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements relate, first, to a combing apparatus of the character of
that for which Letters Patent were granted in England to Charles Cowper, on
or about the 23rd day of February 1852, and numbered 13,977, and have
for their object to remedy certain defects in such apparatus as employed for
combing wool, and some other fibres. One evil is that the teeth of the
circular comb enter the fibre only outside the revolving disc, so that the longer
fibres rake behind the comb during the operation of drawing the sliver of
combed wool. Another evil is that the working combs as employed to clean
the beard of the nap or ends of the slivers, being cylindrical and composed of
comparatively short teeth, say of an inch long, the fibre is drawn against the
comb head and broken. Another defect is the difficulty of cleaning both sides
of the beard. To remedy the first defect, I propose to employ segments of
combs or a circular comb with one or more rows of teeth inside of the disc in
addition to that outside the disc, which, by aid of suitable guides, will enter the
nap or slivers to be combed at different points in the length of the fibre.
I would remark that the object of my improvements may be accomplished
by other means or modifications of these, for instance, instead of the combs
going into and retiring from the fibre, the fibre may be conducted in moveable
or inclined guides in such manner as to engage the fibre into the teeth of
combs, which would then rotate in the same plane.
An arrangement according to this part of the improvements is represented
in plan at Figure 1, and in sectional elevation at Figure 2, where a and b
indicate the wheel and ring forming the pincers; s are the rectangular
openings, by which the slivers descend, as indicated, to come between the
nipping surfaces of the pincers a, b; H' are segments of combs, each of which
is provided with four rows of teeth h, h', h2, h3, the row h forming the outer or
ordinary series, and the three others maintaining the wool during the drawing
to prevent its forming into knots or raking behind the front row of teeth h.
The frames of these segments H' are supported, with capability of sliding in
dovetail grooves g, cast in a single piece with, or carried by the wheel i, which
is mounted upon the central shaft V, consequently the segments will follow
the rotary motion of this shaft V, and the segments H' are caused to rise and
fall with the undulations of the circular course or railway k, by their trucks or
bowls resting thereon. The circular course k is supported upon four
columns 1, 1, 1, 1, attached to the framing of the machine, and the undulations
thereof are arranged in such manner as to cause the segments to descend, and

page_text: their teeth to enter the wool at the place where the drawing off is effected,
and to rise from it during the other part of their circuit, so as not to interfere
with the progress of the means for feeding and combing. For greater safety,
at the place for drawing off the fibre the course is double, that is to say, it is
provided above with a guard rail k', to prevent the trucks of the said
'segments rising away from it.
I would observe that in place of using segmental combs, I sometimes
employ a circular comb, but provided, as has been above explained, with one
'or several rows of teeth acting within the circle of the pincers.
An arrangement according to this modification I have represented at
Figure 3, where a and b, as before, indicate the wheel and ring; H', the
circular comb; h, the outer or ordinary row of comb teeth; h', h², h³, the
extra rows of teeth; M, M, the drawing rollers; and m, n, circular rings of
metal or other suitable material, supported by the partitions 0, 0, 0, 0, forming
troughs for conducting the separate slivers of fibre. These rings n, n, serve to
prevent the teeth h', ha, ha, raising. the tufts of fibre with them in their upward
movement. Bands or rings n are also employed in the arrangement repre-
sented by Figures 1 and 2. I sometimes also, in place of moving the
segments in a vertical direction, make them fixed, and actuate the guides or
troughs by which the slivers are conducted, so that they may have an upward
movement during their rotation to raise the slivers into the teeth of the combs
at the time of drawing off, and to liberate the slivers from the teeth afterwards
during other portions of the circle which they describe. In this case the teeth
would be fixed upon the moveable plate with their points upwards, and the
guides suspended in the grooves g of Figure 1; or these guides may form
collectively a complete circle, and be of a single piece, as the comb before
described, and of the inclination desired.
To remedy the second evil, I propose to employ in the working combs fine
flat teeth, by which facility is obtained for the use of teeth of greater length
as compared with round fine teeth. And I apply such comb teeth in an
endless chain or belt, moving so that the teeth enter the fibre at an angle, say,
of about 45 degrees.
An arrangement according to this part of the improvements is repre-
sented at Figure 4; the extremity of the tuft to be combed, as represented,
projects beyond the wheel and ring a and b (shewn in section), and is cleaned
by the action of the combs H, mounted upon an endless leather belt or apron
passing over the two cylinders c and c¹. Or, I apply such comb teeth in a bar
or other carrier, so that they point in a direction at right angles or there-

page_text: abouts to that of the fibre, and so soon as the points have entered the fibre,
they recede therefrom, drawing through such fibre at an angle, by preference
of about 45 degrees. This motion may be obtained with the points upwards
or downwards, an arrangement according to which will be seen by Figure 5,
where H is a single comb, to which is given a to-and-fro movement, in order
that the teeth may penetrate vertically into the tuft of wool, and leave it by
passing through it an angle of about 45 degrees. This comb then rises to
deposit the noil which it has extracted into a box m formed with teeth or
doffer plates at its upper edge, and placed in a suitable position, and then the
comb descends again to a certain distance below the tufts, and strikes again
into them, and so on. a and bare the wheel and ring holding the wool. The
comb H is attached to the connecting rods d, the lower ends of which are
united into one piece, and are attached to the crank e to give motion to the
said comb, and the upper extremities of the rods d follow the fixed grooves or
ways f. Figure 6 represents a similar comb acting in the same manner, but
with this difference, that the teeth penetrate into the tufts from above down-
wards in place of from below upwards. I also apply such comb teeth in
square motion apparatus or other working combs moving at right angles to
the fibre.
To remedy the third evil, I propose to employ two or other number of
combing agents, which may be such as already referred to, to clean the fibre
projecting in the form of a circular nap or fringe, the one working from above
downwards, and the other working from below upwards, by which means both
sides of the fringe of the nap will be cleansed.
Figures 5 and 6 also illustrate this part of the improvements taken in
connection with the plan of the same, as given at Figure 7, and the description
of the parts as above stated will apply.
My improvements relate also to a new method of communicating the
up-and-down motion to a keeping plate (of the character referred to in the
Specification of a former Patent granted to me, dated on or about the 5th day
of May 1856, No. 1058,) direct from the perpendicular slides of the square
motion, and in so attaching and guiding such keeping plate, that it may move
with the circular comb by its contact with the wool, or otherwise in its down.
ward motion, and during its upward motion be drawn back to its former
position by the action of a spring or otherwise, ready again to descend at the
same point as before.
An arrangement according to this part of the improvements is represented
by Figures 8, 9, and 10, and consists in suspending the said keeping plates

page_text: in such a manner that whilst the combing is being performed they may follow
the motion of the carrying comb, and nevertheless still exert on the wool the
pressure requisite for holding purpose. Figure 8 is a plan, Figure 9, a front
elevation, and Figure 10 a sectional elevation through A, A, of Figure 8.
b, b, is the travelling or carrying comb, moving in the direction of the arrow;
e, c, the working combs; p, the keeping plate, suspended by the jointed
rods p¹, p¹, to one end of the levers q, q, having their fulcrum at q', and the
other extremities attached by the rods r, r, to the square motion frames,
used to impart the vertical motion to the combs e. In Figure 10 the comb e¹
is represented as having arrived at the extremity of its horizontal motion, and
on the point of being raised into the wool. At the same moment the keeping
plate p descends and presses on the wool during the horizontal motion of the
comb e¹, which effects the combing, and rises whilst a comb of the upper
series falls. During the action of combing the keeping plate p, by means of
the system of suspension adopted, is enabled to follow the rotating motion of
the travelling comb b, being impelled by its friction on the wool, and whilst
rising it reassumes its vertical position by the action of the spring s. The
plate p is guided in its lateral to-and-fro motion by the fork t.
My improvements relate also to modifications of the working square
motion used to prepare fibre for combing, or to work fibre filled on to a
comb or otherwise used, of the character referred to in the Specification
of former Letters Patent mentioned as granted to me, and also in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, dated on or about the 28th
day of December 1857, No. 3177, and consist, first in giving to the rising
comb of such square motions a somewhat curved motion, while rising into
the fibre by adapting the motions imparted to the square slides or frames,
in which the comb bars move and by which they are actuated, so that the
horizontal motion to each bar begins before it rises to its full height, or as
soon as its teeth enter the fibre; Figure 11, shows the combs in the respective
positions assumed in carrying out this part of the improvements, which consists
in modifying the direction followed by the combs in such a manner that
towards the extremity of their ascending stroke they will, although continuing
to rise, also be impelled horizontally, this combined motion communicating an
oblique direction to the comb until the ascending stroke is completed, and
this oblique action of the combs takes place at the time that they are passing
through the wool, sooner or later as circumstances may require, and causes
them to enter it more gently and gradually than when they ascend vertically;
b, is the carrying comb which bears the wool to be operated on, and e, c,

page_text: the working square motion combs; the direction these latter follow is
marked by the numbers, 1 to 6, inclusively, each number corresponding
to each point, where the combs in their circuit change their direction of
motion; 2, indicates the point where the comb passes from its vertical
ascending motion to an oblique direction, and-8, the point where the oblique,
motion terminates, and the horizontal one commences and so forth; secondly,
in employing one comb instead of three or more in the working series of
combs of the preparer, contained in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to me, dated on or about the 28th day of December, 1857, No. 3177,
where square motions are used, both as the feeding and working combs,
and in causing the cam k, in giving the backward motion towards the feeding
series to the said working comb, to push against a spring or springs so that
the comb may be arrested in its backward motion as much as the breadth
of one of the feeding combs by another cam at the time the square motion
feeder feeds forward a length of sheet of fibre equal to the breadth of a
feeding comb. The last mentioned cam is so formed that at every successive
stroke of the working comb it allows such comb to approach nearer and
nearer the feeding combs till they feed forward another length.
Figures 12 and 13 represent this part of the improvements applied, and
it will be seen that at a particular moment the length of the horizontal stroke
of the comb will be suddenly diminished, and its original length of stroke
gradually restored, by each succeeding stroke being augmented by a fraction
of the diminished length; this irregularity in the stroke of the comb occurs
at the end where the sheet of wool to be combed is presented, and at the
moment when the feeding means has thrust forward a certain amount of raw
wool about equal in length to the width of the comb that has brought it
forward; the object of this arrangement being to cause the working comb
to advance gradually into and cleanse the amount of wool fed forward.
Figures 12 and 13 are transverse sectional elevations of the different
parts; a, a, are the feeding rollers; b, b, the feeding combs, the lower series
of which conducts the wool towards the working means; eis. the working
comb actuated by a square motion, the ascending and descending stroke of
which is obtained from the cam i, and the horizontal or to-and-fro strokė
from the cam k, the back stroke of the said comb effected by the contact of
the said cam k, with the friction roller k', is fixed, i. c., it always returns to the
same fixed point, but its forward stroke, which is effected by the same
cam, in contact with the friction roller is limited by the contact of
the comb frame with the cam m, fitted on its shaft m'. This latter cam

page_text: is supposed in the Drawing to make one complete revolution for every eight
strokes of the comb e, and it is set so that when one of the combs 6 bas
just fed forward a fresh length of wool it will present its point 8 to meet
the advancing comb e, which, at its second stroke, will strike against the
part of the said cam, and so on, approaching and penetrating gradually
the wool until at the seventh stroke the comb e will have acquired its
maximum stroke and have conie nearly in contact with the comb b, (sec
Figure 13). To effect this purpose I fit the friction roller k² on a cross bar
k³ the two extremities of which slide freely on the two guide rods k', fixed
to the lugs, the spiral springs 1, 1, are compressed by the friction roller k²,
to compensate the fraction of stroke taken by the cam m at the back stroke;
these springs by distending maintain the friction roller in contact with the
cam k; ff, are the rollers which draw off the wool thus prepared. By
this arrangement the evils of the intermittent action of the square motion,
as a feeding means, are obviated, as the working comb penetrates at each
stroke an equal distance into the sheet of fibre, and thus opens it as gradually
as when a screw gill feeder is used as feeding agent. This improved arrange-
ment can also be adapted to the square motions composed of several combs.
The lifting bars to raise the fibre out of the combs may be arranged as
shown in the Specification of my Patent last referred to, or by attaching
these bars to rods or slides free to move to-and-fro but not to move up
and down. The lifting rods or bars after lifting the wool up the teeth
of the comb, descend into a groove or recess in the comb head, as indicated
by Figures 14 and 15, which are transverse sectional elevations of the
principal parts; b, b, are the feeding combs ; e, e, the working combs ; n, n
the grate or doffing bars, and o, o, the horizontal fixed guide bars (one of
which is placed on each side of the machine,) on which the grate bars n, n,
travel. Figure 14 shews the arrangement just as the working comb has risen
and penetrated the fibre; it then travels horizontally to the left, and carries
with it the grating o, o, and then redescends vertically into the position indicated
by Figure 15. By the comb descending whilst the grating remains stationary,
the top of the grate bars will have cleared the points of the comb teeth and
have lifted out the wool as well as the impurities which it may contain, and
when the comb begins its return stroke in a horizontal but opposite direction
to that just mentioned it carries with it the grating, and at the end of this
stroke it again rises into the position shown in Figure 14, and so forth. The
distance of the to-and-fro motion of the above working comb I make in
some cases to be less than the breadth of the comb, so as to rake the fibre less.

page_text: Part of these modifications are applicable, equally when the square motion
is used to work the beard of fibre filled on to a travelling comb.
My improvements relate also, to putting between the feeding means and
drawing or working means of a preparer of wool or other fibre brushes
mounted on an endless belt or chain passed over suitable guide or conducting
rollers, one of these belts or chains of brushes being above the fibre, and
another below it. Rollers covered with brushes or other material, or even
a compressed guide might be used for the same purpose, the object being
to put a little pressure upon the fibre between the feeding and working
means, so as to straighten and parallelize the fibres without breaking them.
This part of the improvements is represented by Figure 16. a, a, are the
feeding rollers impelling the wool from right to left; b, b, the feeding combs ;
c, c, the endless aprons, provided with brushes, one of which is fitted above the
wool on the rollers d, d, d, and the other below on similar rollers; these
belts where they come in contact with the wool, travel in the same direction as
the wool; e, e, are the working combs which run at a much higher speed
than the feeding combs, and f, f, the rollers drawing off the wool thus pre-
pared. The above is the arrangement which I prefer, although other means
may be used to obtain the same result, viz., exerting a gentle and even
pressure on the fibres during their passage from the feeding to the working
means.
My improvements relate also to causing a separate comb to meet each
comb of the feeding gill, or square motion of a preparer, when it enters the
sheet of fibre, and to clean itself by passing between two doffing plates whose
teeth shall point in the same direction as the teeth of the said comb, the
object being to cause the fibre to enter the combs of the feeding means so
as to distribute the fibre over the whole length of the teeth. This
part of
the improvements is represented by Figures 17 and 18, which represent
two elevations of the mechanism, showing the different parts at different periods
of their stroke; b, b, are the feeding combs, the lower row of which conducts
the wool towards the working means, whilst the upper row travels in the
opposite direction, and as each comb bar which comprises it arrives at the
extremity of its stroke, it descends into the sheet of wool and follows the
motion of the series of combs placed below, which conduct the wool at the
same moment of time that each of these combs penetrates successively in
the wool; I cause the comb g to rise, and by its teeth penetrating at the
same time in the said fibres they are distributed gently and equally over the
whole length of the teeth of the feeding comb; the comb g, redescends im-

page_text: mediately after to its first position, ready to rise again to meet the next
descending comb; h, is a stationary doffing comb, used to clear the comb g.
Figure 17 represents the mechanism at the moment that the last comb 6'
of the upper series is on the point of descending in the wool, and the comb g
on the point of rising to meet it, and Figure 18 the position of these two
combs, their teeth having penetrated the wool.
It is not necessary to describe the mechanical parts for transmitting the
to-and-fro motion to the comb 9, as any appropriate mechanism may be
employed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means by
which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
claim the various mechanical parts, separately considered, nor do I confine
myself to the precise details shown and described, so long as the peculiar
character of any part thereof be retained substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Holden, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
JAMES MAYER,
of Stockport.
ISAAC HOLDEN. (L.S.)