A METHOD OF FREEING THE WOOL UPON SKINS FROM BURRS AND OTHER EXTRANFANG SUPSTANCES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Baird, of the City of Edinburgh, Wool
Merchant, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF FREEING THE WOOL UPON
SKINS FROM BURRS AND OTHER EXTRANFANG SUPSTANCES
Sealed the 14th November 1856, and dated the 26th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Baird at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th May
1856.
I, JAMES BAIRD, of the City of Edinburgh, Wool Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A METHOD OF FREEING THE
WOOL UPON SKINS FROM BURRS AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of revolving arms, beaters, or
switches, made to act by manual or other power upon the face of the wool
while being held between rollers or other suitable apparatus, in order to beat
out burrs and other extraneous matters.
Hitherto it has been the practice to pick out the burrs by hand, and how-
ever dexterously the manual operation may be performed, it tears out a portion
of the wool or fibre from the skin as well as the burrs, whereas by the
employment of beaters made to give a spring-like blow or switch, little or no
fibre is removed with the burrs."

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Baird in the Great Seal Patent Office on tho
26th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BAIRD, of the City of Edinburgh, Wool Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, 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 me, the
said James Baird, Her special licence that I, the said James Baird, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Baird, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during tho
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 "A METHOD OF FREEING THE
WOOL UPON SKINS FROM BURRS AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Baird, 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 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 James Baird, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the employment of revolving arms, beaters, or
switches, brushes, or elastic springs, made to act by manual or other power
upon the face of the wool while being held between rollers or otherwise, in
order to beat out burrs and other extraneous matters.
Hitherto it has been the practice to pick out the burrs by hand, and how-
ever dexterously the manual operation may be performed, it tears out a portion
of the wool or fibre from the skin as well as the burrs, whereas by the employ-
ment of beaters, made to give a spring-like blow or switch, little or no fibre is
removed with the burrs.

page_text: The Drawings hercunto annexed illustrate the manner in which I carry my.
Invention into effect.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of my machines complete; Figure 2,
a vertical section, shewing the boards on which the skins are placed on an
incline; Figure 3, a modification of the same, having the boards placed in a
horizontal position; and Figure 4, a view of one of the beaters or switches I
prefer to use. The same letters of reference; indicate similar parts in all the
Figures.
A, A, are the side frames of the machine, secured together by one or more
girders or stretchers B, B. C is a shaft, which works in bearings in the frame
A; and has keyed on one end the spur wheel D, which gears into the pinions
E, E, (one only of which is seen in the Drawing,) fixed on the shafts F, F, to
which the beaters are attached. G, G, are the beaters, which I prefer to make
circular; they have fixed on their periphery prongs or pickers a, a, for removing
the burrs from the wool. The shaft C is driven by hand, steam, or any other
power, which actuates the spur wheel D, and consequently the pinions E, E,
which cause the beaters G, G, to revolve. To the pinion shaft I attach the
fly wheel H, to regulate the motion of the machine. I is the board or table
on which the skins or pelts to be operated upon are placed. This board is
suspended by hinges at the end 6 to one of the girders or stretchers B, B, and
supported at top by suitable springs c, c, fixed to the frame A. The board
and springs are so arranged, that when the skins pass through the machine, in
the event of there being any inequalities on their surface, the springs allow the
board to yield, and thereby prevent any part of the skin or pelt being injured.
I place across the machine any elastic substance to make up for the thick and
thin parts of the skin, and so cause the pressure to be as equal as possible in
every place. Water is allowed to pass over the skins during the process, and
is admitted through the perforated pipe K, which is placed in the most con-
venient part of the machine. The apparatus can be made double-acting, as
seen in Figure 2, where the skins are admitted at either side; or single-acting,
as represented in Figure 3. When the machine is started, the skins are placed
by an attendant on the board I, and allowed to pass up and down, or straight
through the machine underneath the beaters, until the burrs or other extraneous
matters have been entirely removed from the skins.
I employ any number of beaters, according to the size of the machine. The
boards cau be placed in any position most convenient to the operator; but the
manner in which I prefer them to be placed is as in the arrangement shewn
at Figure 2, where the washing process has the greatest advantage. The

page_text: beaters can be made, if desired, with straight edges, although the form I prefer
is circular. When brushes are employed, they may be placed in any suitable
position, and worked by excentric or rotary action.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the employment
of revolving arms, beaters, or switches, brushes, or elastic springs, made to act
by manual or other power upon the face of wool or skins while being held
between rollers or otherwise, in order to beat out burrs and other extraneous
matters therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Baird, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, Ono thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.