IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF OAKUM
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Theophilus Westhorp, of the West India
Road, Poplar, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF OAKUM."
Sealed the 26th July 1853, and dated the 26th May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Theophilus Wes-
thorp at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th May 1853.
I, THEOPHILUS WESTHORP, of the West India Road, Poplar, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM" to be as follows:-
Heretofore in the manufacture of oakum it has been usual to cut
old ropes, yarn, and cordage into short lengths, and by beating to
open them partly out; the fibres are then separated by hand. This
Invention consists of cutting such matters into short pieces, and putting
them into a tank or vessel with a liquid (water, tar, tar oil, and such
like) acted on by steam, and to operate with rollers with teeth or
grooves. The materials are then pressed, partly dried, and subjected to
a dressing or opening machine by which the fibres are separated, the
water is dried off, and the tar left in the fibres.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Theophilus Westhorp in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 26th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THEOPHILUS WESTHORP, of the West India Road, Poplar, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, hearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Theophilus Westhorp, Her special
licence that I, the said Theophilus Westhorp, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Theophilus Westhorp,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ОAKUM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Theophilus Westhorp,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Theophilus Westhorp, 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 thereof (that is to say):
Heretofore in the manufacture of oakum it has been usual to cut
old ropes, yarns, and cordage into short lengths, and by beating to open
them partly out; the fibres are then separated by hand, which is tedious,
and when paid labour is resorted to the process of hand picking is
expensive. This Invention consists of cutting such matters as hereto-
fore into short pieces, and putting them into a tank or vessel with a

page_text: liquid (water, tar, tar oil, and such like) acted on by steam, and to
operate with rollers with teeth or with grooves. The materials are
pressed, partly dried, and subjected to a dressing or opening machine,
by which the fibres are separated, the water is dried off, and the tar left
in the fibres.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same. And in doing so I
would first remark that the object of the Invention is, to manufacture
oakum by substituting a mechanical process of picking or separating
for hand picking. It is well known that ropes, yarns, and cordage,
from which oakum is made, differ very materially; some is very old, and
from long usage and otherwise little tar or tarry matter remains therein,
and some, though old, contains much more tar and other qualities.
particularly cuttings of new ropes, old standing rigging, yarns, and
cordage contain all the tar. These different qualities may be differently
treated; those which contain a considerable quantity of tar may readily
be operated upon as the fibres separated, by simply subjecting the same
to heat, such as free steam, in a suitable vessel, which will melt the tar
and add moisture; whilst those qualities which contain little or an
insufficient quantity of tar for oakum may with advantages be subjected
to tar or tar oil, and the heat of free steam or free steam in a suitable
vessel, till the cuttings of ropes, yarns, or cordage are well saturated and
warmed through, when the pieces of ropes, yarns, or cordage may be
next subjected to pressure between rollers; and if the pieces of ropes or
yarns are tightly twisted, grooved pressing rollers will be found most
suitable; and although the simple act of pressing after soaking and heat-
ing the pieces of ropes, yarns, or cordage are generally sufficient, the
pieces may be subjected to pressure by being pased between rollers, by
preference grooved rollers, when immersed in fluid, by which the sa-
turating will be quickened, and the separation of the fibres facilitated.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, is a longitudinal section of a machine, and Figure 2, a
plan thereof, for further dressing, opening out, and separating the fibres
of picces of rope, yarn, and cordage; a, is an endless apron or feeding
cloth carried by two rollers, one of which receives motion by a cog-

page_text: wheel b, from the axis of one of the grooved feeding rollers c, c. The
grooved feeding rollers c, c, are geared together by cog wheels, and they
receive motion from the axis of the cylinder by means of cog wheels d, e,
as indicated by dotted lines. On the cylinder are fixed blades f, f
which strike the pieces of rope, which are preferred to be in a moist or
saturated condition, (but moisture is not absolutely necessary when the
fibres are very loose and not adhering by dry tar,) and which are held
by the rollers and, slowly fed up by them, and thereby dress and open
out and separate the fibres from the pieces of rope, yarn, or cordage.
The products of this machine are next subjected to the action of a
second machine shown in section and plan at Figures 3, and 4, which
is similar to that shown in Figures 1, and 2, and the description above
given will apply thereto, subject however to the observation, that in the
second machine the blades are serrated, and there are rows of teeth
intermediate of the blades. The teeth are from time to time to have
the fibres taken out from amongst them, or they may be kept free by a
revolving brush. By this machine the fibres will be still more com-
pletely separated. The fibres are then to be subjected to a coarse
carding engine. The fibres thus opened out are then to be dried, if
required, so as to drive off any water, the tar remaining in the fibres.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not con-
fine myself to the details herein described. But what I claim is, the
manufacturing of oakum from ropes, yarns, or cordage, by subjecting the
same to the combined processes above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theophilus Westhorp, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
THEOPHILUS WESTHORP. (L.S.)
Witness, FRED HARRIS.