IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Sutcliffe, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Foreman, and James Leech, of the same Place, Cotton
Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Sutcliffe and James
Leech at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
ou the 16th June 1856.
We, JOSEPH SUTCLIFFE, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Foreman,
and JAMES LEECH, of the same Place, Cotton Spinner, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to what are generally called "willows," 'lap
machines," and other opening, cleaning, and preparing machinery, and consist
in employing a toothed roller placed under the ordinary feed rollers for the
purpose of presenting the material to be acted upon again and again to the
teeth of the cylinder or beater and also prevents the said material from being

page_text: carried away until it is moro thoroughly cleaned and opened, and the dirt and
dust more efficiently extracted, than by any of the machines at present in use.
These our said improvements will be clearly understood by reference to the
accompanying outline Sheet of Drawings, in which a represents the feed
rollers; b, the willow; and c, the improved toothed roller, the teeth of which
pass between the teeth of the willow. The said roller c is to be applied in a
similar manner to the openers and beaters of the other forms of machinery
employed for opening, cleaning, and preparing cotton, wool, and other fibrous
substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Sutcliffe and James Lecch in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th December 1856.
- TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
SUTCLIFFE, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancester, Foreman, and JAMES
LEECH, of the same Place, Cotton Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Joseph Sutcliffe and James Lecch, Iler special licence that we, the said
Joseph Sutcliffe and James Leech, our executors, administrators, and assigns
or such others as we, the said Joseph Sutcliffe and James Leech, our execu-
tors, 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OPENING,
CLEANING, AND PREPARING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Sutcliffe and James
Leech, 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 per-
formed, 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 Royal
Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Sutcliffe, and James Leech,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (that is to say):-
Our Invention consists in employing a toothed roller or shaft with any
required number of ratchet wheels, gooms, or teeth, either stationary or re-
volving, and placed under the ordinary feed rollers of machinery, for opening
and cleaning cotton or other fibrous materials, such machines being known as
the willow or scutcher. The said ratchet wheels, gooms, or teeth pass between
the teeth of the revolving cylinder of the willow, or between pegs or teeth
placed upon the bars of a scutcher beater, so that the material to be opened
and cleaned receives a repeated opening and cleaning action after leaving the
feeding rollers, hence a better opening and moro effectual cleaning is produced
in less time and with much less power than heretofore, the material not being
carried over the cylinder of the willow but passing forwards on the under side.
These improvements will be clearly understood by reference to the accompany-
ing Sheet of Drawings, with the figures and letters of reference thereon, in which
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of our improved willow, shewing the roller or
shaft with the gooms or teeth; and Fig. 2, a detached view, shewing a series of
the gooms or teeth as they pass between the teeth of the cylinder of the willow.
In Fig. 1, a represents the upper, and b the lower feeding rollers; c, the
toothed cylinder of the willow; and d, the casing in which there are no teeth
or gooms placed at intervals as in those heretofore employed. Our improved
roller consists of a shaft c, with ratchet wheels, gooms, or projections f, passing
between the teeth of the cylinder c as shewn in Fig. 2, and placed under or
beneath the lower feeding rollers b. The cotton or other material to be opened
or cleaned does not pass over the cylinder, but after receiving the joint action
of the revolving cylinder of the willow, and the stationary or revolving ratchet
wheels or teeth, passes over the grid or sieve g to the endless apron h, above
which, and immediately behind the cylinder or breaker, we place a network k
and clearer 7, for the purpose of extracting the dust which passes through the
passage m to the chimney n over the cage o, and is carried off by fans in the
usual manner.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of our said Invention, and
5 the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, we desire it to be dis-
tinctly understood that we do not confine ourselves to the exact details herein
set forth, as such may be varied or modified without departing from the prin-
ciple thereof; but we claim the toothed roller or shaft having ratchet wheels
or projections passing between the teeth of the cylinder of the willow, and

page_text: such alterations of the machine hitherto used as must of necessity be involved,
also the application of the aforesaid roller to scutchers or beaters.
In witness whereof, we, tho said Joseph Sutcliffe and James Leech, havo
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JOSEPH SUTCLIFFE.
JAMES LEECH.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Joseph Sutcliffe and James Leech,
in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
(L.8.)
(L.B.)