IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOL WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1886

page_text: I, THOMAS LUND, of the firm of Messrs. Lund Brothers, of Crawshaw Mills,
Pudsey, in the County of York, Spinners do hereby declare the nature of this
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOL WASHING MACHINES and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to certain improvements in the means employed for feeding
the wool or other fibre to the squeezing rollers: and has for its object the arrange-
ment of the apparatus in such a manner, whereby the wool after being lifted out
of the washing bowl and deposited upon the travelling apron, is prevented from
falling back into the trough, and thereby accumulating as is now of frequent
occurance, which when again raised by the ordinary forks has a tendency to choke
the squeezing rollers.
I accomplish my object in the following manner. The wool or other fibre is
lifted out of the washing bowl on to the travelling apron by revolving forks or
other well known means, and above the travelling apron is mounted a revolving
shaft upon which are keyed two metal discs carrying rods to which a number of
short fork teeth are secured and so placed as to pass into the spaces between the
teeth of the lifting forks. To each of these rods I attach a weight to which is
fixed a projection for keeping the fork teeth perpendicular and rigid, each projec-
tion for a portion of its circuit moving in contact with a guide bar thereby keeping
the teeth of the revolving forks perpendicular and preventing the fibre slipping
back into the bowl.
In order that my invention may be better understood, I append a sheet of
drawings illustrative thereof. Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of portions of a
wool washing machine necessary to make clear my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of
the same and Figure 3 a section on line a. b. in Fig. 1.
The bowl of the washing machine is indicated by the letter A, the fibre being
fed and passed through the same in the ordinary way, from which it is lifted by
means of the ordinary rotating forks B or by any other well known means on to
the travelling apron C. Above the latter is mounted the shaft D driven by suitable
gearing, carrying the discs E and E¹ to which are mounted in journals four rods F,
to each of which are secured a number of fork teeth G placed so as to pass between

page_text: the teeth of the swinging forks B which raise the fibre from the bowl to the
travelling apron C in the ordinary manner.
In order that the forks G may be kept perpendicular and rigid so as to prevent
the fibre falling back from the apron Ĉ into the bowl, I attach to each rod F a
weight H and secure thereto a pin J which comes in contact with the underside of
the guide K, thus keeping the teeth of the forks G perpendicular and rigid at the
time they are passing over the travelling apron.
After the wool has been lifted by the rotating forks B on to the apron C, the
fork teeth G being perpendicular and rigid and passing between the teeth of the
rotating forks as before described, prevent the wool slipping back from the apron
into the bowl on the withdrawal of the fork teeth B, and the forks G travelling a
little faster than the apron C, should the wool be delivered on the apron in lumps,
the forks have a tendency to spread and open it out, and thus deliver it to the
squeezing rollers M more evenly than before.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
The revolving forks G working in combination with the pins J and guide K
substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.