IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WOOL, AND OTHER HAIRS OF ANIMALS FROM BURRS AND OTHER FOREIGN MATTERS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Platt, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster.
and William Richardson, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
CLEANING WOOL, AND OTHER HAIRS OF ANIMALS FROM BURRS AND OTHER
FOREIGN MATTERS."
Sealed the 10th October 1862, and dated the 15th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Platt and William
Richardson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th April 1862.
We, JOHN PLATT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, and WILLIAM
RICHARDSON, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR CLEANING WOOL AND OTHER HAIRS OF ANIMALS FROM BURRS AND OTHER FOREIGN
MATTERS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in causing the material to be acted upon by a
reciprocating blade, which works in conjunction with a fixed blade and roller,
or we apply two reciprocating blades to one roller and fixed blade, and so
arranged as to come into operation alternately. The material we place upon a
feed apron, and cause it, before it is submitted to the aforesaid roller and
blades, to be acted upon by a spiked roller or rollers, or other such carding,
combing, or opening apparatus, and we transfer it by a vibrating comb or
similar apparatus in detached portions to the above-mentioned roller and
blades.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Platt and William Richardson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
PLATT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, and
WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of the same Place, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Platt and William Richardson, Her special license that we, the said
John Platt and William Richardson, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Platt and William Richardson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with and
10 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 MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WOOL AND OTHER HAIRS OF ANIMALS FROM BURRS AND
OTHER EXTRANEOUS MATTERS," upon the condition, amongst others, that we,
'the said John Platt and William Richardson, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 William Richardson, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, (and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
In our arrangement of machinery or apparatus we employ a roller, against
which is placed a fixed blade, between which and a reciprocating blade the
wool or other such material to be cleansed is introduced. Another feature of
our Invention consists in the adaptation of mechanism to the above-described
machinery for opening out the material previously to its being presented to the
rollers and blades. For this purpose, we adapt a spiked roller or rollers, or
other such opening or carding apparatus, working in a dish, and we employ a

page_text: transferring comb in conjunction with the said spiked roller or rollers, and
fixed spikes, which draws off the material in detached tufts, and presents it to
the said roller and blades. These constitute the main features of our Inven-
tion, and we will now proceed to describe how the same may be carried into
practical operation, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, in
which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the machine; Fig. 2 a plan or top
view; and Fig. 3, a detached plan view of certain of the parts. The frame-
work of the machine is at a, upon which are mounted two rollers b, 6*, carrying
an endless apron formed of transverse strips of wood c, adapted to leather or
other bands; a few only of these strips are shewn in the Drawing, their con-
tinuation being denoted by dotted lines. At the inward end of the endless
apron is a fluted roller d, and beyond this a roller e, provided with a number of
spikes. This roller is situate above a dish g, and below a shield f, and
extending downward from the former is a plate h, the inward extremity of
which at i is formed as a grating. At k is a revolving roller, covered with
leather, or other such material, against the periphery of which is placed a
blade 1, carried by a transverse rail m, and pressed against the roller by a
spring n. The reciprocating blade is at o, mounted upon a centre pin, which
is carried by rods p, connected at their lower ends to cranks 8, formed upon a
shaft (see the detached plan view Fig. 3). The blade o, is also carried by
levers s, which are jointed to centres at t, and which, therefore, guide the
blade so as to cause it to scrape lightly against the periphery of the roller k,
when it is moved upwards by the cranks 8, the rod p turning upon the
centre u. Upon the shaft is a pinion v, taking into another w, upon a
shaft x0; the latter pinion carries a crank pin y, to which is adapted a con-
necting rod. This rod (see the detached Fig. 4) is formed in two parts 1, 2,
and the lower is constructed as a cylinder, within which the upper part is
capable of sliding; but the two portions are kept apart by means of a spring 3,
placed within the cylinder. Through the medium of this spring 3, therefore, a
vibratory motion may be communicated by the crank y to the lever 4, but in
case of any obstruction arising, the said spring will collapse, so as to impart a
modified motion only. At 3* is a cotter, passing through a slot formed in the
piston 2, for the purpose of limiting the action of the spring 3. The lever 4 is
fixed to a shaft 6, to which is adapted a series of prongs or combs 7, caused
therefore, to vibrate, so as to pass through the teeth of the roller e, and
through the teeth of row of fixed prongs 9* downward along the plate and
grating h, i, and to approach the periphery of the roller k, between the fixed
blade and vibrating blade o. Upon the shaft r is a second pair of cranks q,

page_text: which operate by means of connecting rods 29, upon bell-crank levers 10,
turning upon a centre at 11. The vertical parts of these bell-crank levers
carry a plate 12, which being thus caused to vibrate, scrapes lightly against the
periphery of the roller k. At 13, 14, are partitions, constituting shields, and
extending from one side framing to the other. The roller k is indented upon
its surface, with right and left handed spiral grooves, which therefore cross
each other, as shewn in the detached view of the said roller at Fig. 5.
Having pointed out the general arrangement and construction of the
machine, we will proceed to explain how the several moving parts may be
driven. The fast and loose pulleys, for communicating the motive power, are
at 14 adapted to the shaft r, and the cranks 8, 8, 7, 7, are, therefore driven
direct. Upon the shaft r is a pinion v, taking into another w, upon a shaft x,
and the said pinion w carries the crank pin y, to which the rod z is connected,
and thus the vibratory motion is communicated to the lever 4, and comb 7.
Upon the shaft a is a pulley 16, over which a band passes, and from thence to
another pulley 17, upon the shaft 18 of the roller k. This shaft 18 carries a
pulley 19, which communicates motion, by means of a pulley 20, to a shaft 21;
and upon this is a toothed pinion 22 gearing into a wheel 25, upon the axis of
the spiked roller e, and from thence motion is communicated to the roller b*
of the feed apron by the pinion 23, and to the fluted roller d by the wheel 24.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The wool or other such material
to be cleaned is placed upon the apron c, which carries it forward beneath the
roller d, and delivers it to the spiked roller e, which, by revolving in the
direction of the arrow, opens it out from its entangled mass. The comb 7
being caused, as above described, to vibrate, removes the material from the
teeth of the spiked roller e, and through the prongs 9* in detached tufts, thus
effecting a further disentanglement, and its continued vibratory motion
conveys the tufts along the plate h, and presents them to the surface of the
roller k, which, by conveying them upward, presents them to the edge of the
blade 1, where the burrs or other extraneous matters are detained. Here
they are acted upon by the vibrating blade o, thrusting them against the said
fixed blade; which operation causes the burrs and other extraneous matters
to be separated and fall downward through the grating i, while the cleaned
wool, or other such material, is carried upward between the roller and
blade ; the grooves upon the surface of the said roller assisting their passage,
a portion of the wool will fall from the roller, and the remainder is detached
and caused also to fall by the scraping action of the vibrating blade 12. The
use of the elastic connecting rod formed by the spring 3, will now be perceived,

page_text: for should the transferring comb remove an unusual quantity of material an
obstruction would be caused to its full vibration, and a derangement of the
parts would follow if the said rod were rigid. "
We have in the foregoing description pointed out certain mechanism
whereby our Invention may be carried into effect, but we desire it to be under-
stood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise arrangements shewn and
described. That which we claim as our Invention being,
Firstly, the separation of burrs or other such extraneous substances by
fixed and reciprocating blades, acting in conjunction with a roller, substantially
as described..
Secondly, the employment of spiked rollers or other apparatus of a similar
character for opening out the material.
Thirdly, the transferring comb.
And, fourthly, the elastic connecting rod for working such comb.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON. (L.S.)