IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Eastwood, the elder, of Bradford, in the
County of York, Wool Comber, and Henry Walton Whitehead, of
Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the said County, a Partner in
the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company, of the same Place,
Machine Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Eastwood and
Henry Walton Whitehead at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 26th May 1870.
We, JOHN EASTWOOD, the elder, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Wool Comber, and HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the
Parish of Leeds, in the said County, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor,
Wordsworth, and Company, of the same Place, Machine Makers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,”
to be as follows:-
Our improvement consists in a novel application to the well-known
Noble's combing machine, or other similar combing machines, by
which we propose to do away with the use of the small circular combs.
The combing of the wool is effected while the delivery end or mouth of
the feed boxes are higher than the pins or teeth of the large circular
comb, and before the wool enters the teeth of the large circular comb,
and whilst the wool is in such position it is held by the bite of the feed
boxes or any other nipping means outside of the boxes so that the wool
is held whilst the end of the uncombed sliver is being cleaned or combed
by means of a porcupine, screw gill, card, or any other known method.
A part of the cleaned portion is then dropped or fed into the large
circular comb, and the remaining part is drawn off in the usual manner
from the large circular comb only.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Eastwood and Henry Walton Whitehead in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
EASTWOOD, the elder, of Bradford, in the County of York, Wool Comber,
and HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds,
in the said County, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and
Company, of the same Place, Machine Makers, 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 seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said John Eastwood and Henry Walton Whitehead,
Her special licence that we, the said John Eastwood and Henry Walton
Whitehead, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said John Eastwood and Henry Walton Whitehead, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Eastwood and Henry Walton Whitehead, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, 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 Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Eastwood and Henry Walton
Whitehead, 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, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say)
The object of our Invention is to effect a combing of wool and other
fibrous substances in machines having somewhat the character of the
Noble's combing machine without the use of the small circular combs.
To this end we propose to employ either carding or screw gill apparatus
in lieu of the small circular combs, and by this means to act upon
the wool or other fibre before it enters the teeth of the large circular
comb.
The machine we provide with a nipping apparatus, which will hold
firmly the sliver ends of the fibres projecting from the delivery end of
the feed boxes, and present the same to the action of the carding or
screw gill apparatus for the purpose of removing the noil.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a Noble's
combing machine modified according to our Invention, and Fig. 2 is a
partial sectional elevation of the same. In these views it will be seen
that in place of the small circular combs we have introduced porcupine
or card rollers for acting on the ends of the fibres as they are fed
forwards and prior to their being placed upon the large circular comb.

page_text: A, A', are the upright driving shafts of the machine, receiving motion
from a steam or other motive power engine. B is the large circular
comb mounted on an annular rotating plate C as usual. Within the
circuit of the comb B is situated the duplicate carding apparatus D, Ð³,
actuated respectively from the driving shafts A, A', in the following
manner-a, a¹, a³, a³, are a train of spur wheels, which serve to drive
an upright shaft E, to the lower end of which the latter wheel is
keyed. Fitted to the upper end of this shaft is a bevil wheel e, which
gears into a bevil wheel e¹ keyed on a cross shaft F. G, G¹, are side
frames; H, the steam chest; and H', a transverse horizontal plate
(supported by feet from the floor, not shewn in the Drawing). These
together constitute the internal framing of the machine. The annular
plate C, with its appendages (to be presently more particularly referred
to), travels over the steam chest H, and the shafts E and F have
their bearings respectively in the plate Hand the side frames G, G'.
Keyed on the shaft F is a spur wheel f, which through a train of
wheels f¹, f, f³, serves to drive the card or porcupine roller I of the
carding apparatus in the direction of the arrows, Fig. 2. L is the doffer
roller, which receives motion from the shaft F through the train of
gearing wheels 1, 1, 1, 1, in the direction of the arrows. N is the
doffing knife, which is operated through an excentric rod O from an
excentric K on the shaft of the card or porcupine roller I. The annular
plate C is furnished as usual with feeding boxes C¹ arranged radially
upon it and hinged thereto at their outer ends. C* are the hinged
covers of the feed boxes C¹. Below these boxes are the elevating pins C³,
which traverse with the plate C, and bear upon the cam-faced rings C³.
P is a nipping ring carried by bracket arms P¹ made fast to the annular
plate C. Below this ring, and on opposite sides of the machine, and set
in front of the carding apparatus, are two nipping pieces Q, Q', which
are made fast to the side forms G. The upper face of these nipping
pieces is grooved to receive the rounded lower edge of the ring P, and
the ends of these pieces Q are inclined to allow of the fibres as they
are carried round by the feeding boxes to slide freely over their surfaces.
The ring P is connected to the bracket arms P¹, which carry it in such
a manner as to allow of its yielding slightly under pressure in a vertical
direction. R, R, are standards forming part of the framing of the
carding apparatus and projecting over the nipping ring P. These
standards each carry a slide, which forms a bearing for a pressing

page_text: wheel R', and by means of a coiled spring R³ the wheel R' is caused to
put an elastic or yielding pressure on the ring P; thus as the fibres
are brought to the upper surface of the nipping pieces Q they will be
gripped firmly between the nipping ring P and the nipping piece Q
and held opposite to and at a proper elevation for undergoing the action
of the porcupine or card roller I on the ends of the slivers. The
continued motion of the machine will carry the fibres past the
porcupine roller, at which time the cam ring C³ will by reason of its
shape permit the feed boxes to fall to the dotted position of Fig. 2.
This will allow the feed boxes to lay the fibres on the teeth of the large
circular comb B and the continued axial motion of the comb will bring
the fibres under the dabbing brush S. The downward motion of this
brush will force the fibres between the teeth of the comb, and the
continued rotation of the comb will bring the fibres in front of the
drawing-off rollers T, T¹, whereby they will be stripped from the comb
as usual.
A modification of the nipping apparatus is shewn at Fig. 3, in which
the nipping pieces Q are dispensed with, the feed boxes for this purpose
being arranged so as to receive and sustain the pressure of the nipping
ring P, or its equivalent, carried by the bracket arms P¹. The hinged
covers C* of the feed boxes are furnished near their forward end with a
transverse rib c, and on the bottom of the box is a groove corresponding
to the rib c and intended to act in concert therewith and grip the sliver
when it is presented to the carding apparatus. Mounted on the top of
this hinged piece and situate immediately below the pressing ring P is
an antifriction bowle c', which receives the pressure from the pressing
ring and transmits it to the sliver. As therefore the boxes are in turn
presented to the porcupine roller by the combined action of the rotating
plate C and the lifting pins C* the sliver will be gripped, as shewn at
Fig. 3, and held securely while being acted upon by the porcupine
roller. When the slivers have passed from under the action of the
porcupine roller they are relieved from the nipping pressure put on
them by the feed boxes dropping towards the circular comb B, and by
lifting springs & lifting the hinged pieces of the boxes clear of the sliver.
شه
It will now be understood that as the slivers or fibres are taken from
the winding bobbin U and passed through the guides V, and thence

page_text: through the conducting or feed boxes C¹, those boxes being caused to
rise and lower by the action of the pins C and cam faced ring C³, the
wool will enter between the nipping piece Q and the rotating nipping
ring P, or their equivalents, and held fast while brought opposite the
porcupine roller. This roller will then comb the wool and clean out
the noil from the short ends which protrude through the nip, and the
noil passing over the porcupine roller in the direction of the arrow will
be taken off by the doffer L and passed down by the action of the
doffing knife N into cans or other suitable receptacles. The combed
wool is then dropped as usual into the large circular comb B by the
boxes C¹, and having been pressed down by the dabbing brush S is
conducted forward by the large circular comb B until it comes opposite
one of the pairs of drawing-off rollers T, T, to be drawn off. The
combed fibre from the two pairs of drawing-off rollers is conducted
through condensing tubes X, X¹, and combined into one sliver, and then
led off to the boiling head Y.
The uncombed wool is then lifted out of the large circular comb B
(by the rising of the conducting or feed boxes) again to be operated
upon, as before described.
The porcupine roller can be either worked as shown or placed per-
pendicularly.
Fig. 4 shews in sectional elevation a modification of the Invention in
which screw gill apparatus is substituted for the carding machinery.
The same letters of reference refer to like parts in this and the first
described combing arrangement.
I, I, are the screw gills acting the part of the porcupine roller and
serving to comb out the noils from the sliver ends while under the nip
of the pressing pieces P and Q; L* is a rotary brush for stripping the
noils from the gill teeth, and L is a doffer roller for clearing the brush.
This roller is itself cleared by a doffer kniffe N.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements
in Machinery for Combing Wool, Cotton, Flax, and other Fibrous
Substances," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
wo wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent we claim, the application to circular comb machinery of

page_text: the means above described for cleaning or combing the fibres or sliver
ends preparatory to their being laid on the circular comb.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Eastwood and Henry Walton
Whitehead, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
third day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.
HENRY WALTON WHITEHEAD. (L.S.).
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the said John Eastwood
and Henry Walton White-
head, in the presence of
EDWARD WHITELEY,
Clerk to Messrs. Richardson & Turner,
Solicitors,
Leeds.