IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING WOOL, COTTON, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, FROM BURRS, MOTES, AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS MATTER
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
SYKES and ADAM OGDEN, both of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Wool
Cleaners and Machine Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, by Her Letters Patent under the
Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date
at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of July, in the tenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Sykes and Adam Ogden, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John
Sykes and Adam Ogden, our exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others as
we, the said John Sykes and Adam Ogden, our exors, adññors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times hereafter, during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, and Her Majesty's
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANING WOOL, COTTON, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES, FROM BURRS, MOTES, AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS MATTER ;" in which
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring that we, the said John
Sykes and Adam Ogden, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of our said Inventions, and in what manner the same are to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the now reciting Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Sykes and Adam Ogden, do hereby declare that the nature of our said
Inventions, and the manner in which the same are to be performed, are parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by this present Instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, in the words herein-after written, and by reference
to the several Drawings hereunto annexed and herein-after referred to :-
The several Drawings hereunto 'annexed, on five several sheets of paper,
numbered respectively Plates 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, exhibit the several parts of the
machinery herein-after referred to to elucidate our description herein-after
contained of our improvements.
Plate Number 1 represents, by Figure 1, an end view of the notched wheel
of the smaller beatter drum; by Figure 2, a transverse longitudinal section of
the smaller beatter drum when complete; by Figure 3, an end view of the
same when complete; and by Figure 4, by the black part of it, a side view of
one of the comb and comb-plate cylinder rings; and by the whole Figure, an
end view of the comb cylinder when complete (the nuts and screws for
fastening the combs, excepted)...
Plate Number 2 is a representation of the comb cylinder, extended on a
plane, the combs excepted...
Plate Number 3 represents a transverse section of the comb cylinder
through the lags, through the screws for fastening the lags to the rings, and
through the flange arms and boss of the ring.
Plate Number 4 represents, by Figure 1, an end view of the comb and
flange, without the ear; by Figure 2, an end view of the same and the ear; by
Figure 3, the back of the comb and flange which join to the lag; by Figure 4,
a section of the lag, the comb with its flange and ear and the nut, and of the
screw passing through the lag and comb ear into the nut; by Figure 5, a
segment of part of the comb cylinder when complete; by Figure 6 and 7, the
long nuts used between ring and ring, being drawn vertically as laid edgewise,
and showing part of the comb flange (colored yellow) which rests upon them;
by Figure 8, the short nut used off the end rings, drawn in like manner; by
Figure 9, the comb bar k, k, k, with the teeth of the comb inserted, the flange
C, C, C, C, and the ears r, r, attached to the flange, being intended as a front
view of the same vertically, when resting edgewise on the bottom of the ear;
and by Figure. 10, an end view of the segment of the lags and comb plates of
the comb-plate cylinder, as they would be when attached, and forming part of
a complete comb-plate cylinder, the lags being coloured black and the comb
plates blue.
Plate Number 5 represents, by Figure 1, a view on a plane of part of the

page_text: surface of the comb-plate cylinder when complete; and, by Figure 2, a view
on a plane of part of the comb cylinder when complete.
We now proceed to describe the construction of the smaller beatter drum
and the comb cylinder, both of which are what is technically termed "built," as
follows, namely:-The smaller beatter drum consists of an iron axis, iron
notch wheels, and a number of pieces or bars of angle iron, an end view of
which is represented by the said Plate 1, Figure 3. One of the notched wheels
is represented in Plate 1, Figure 1. These notched wheels (five in number)
are placed on an axis, which axis passes through the centre (e) of the said
notched wheels. They are then keyed fast on, at equal distances, parallel to
each other and perpendicular to the axis, and so placed that each row of
notches is in one straight line in the same plane, and parallel to the axis. A
piece of angle iron, the length of the drum (fifty-one inches) is placed on each
row of notches, an end view of which is represented by a, b, a, b, a, b, in
Plate 1, Figure 3. These pieces of angle iron run the whole length of and form
the external surface of the smaller beatter drum, and are fixed to the separate
notch wheels by the screws c, c, c, c, as seen in Plate 1, Figure 2, which is
a section along the bottom part b, b, b, b, of the angle iron, and through the
centre of the screws c, c, c, c, notch (d) plate (B), and boss C, C, of the
notch wheel and the axis A, A. The edges of the beatters are turned up so
as to be equidistant from the centre and coincident with one and the same
circumference, and the back edges are bevelled off, leaving the edge one
sixteenth of an inch thick, see Plate 1, Figure 3, letters a, a, a. The comb
cylinder consists of an iron axis, iron rings, iron lags, or covers and combs.
The black part of Figure 4, Plate 1, is a side view of one of the rings, and
the whole of the same Figure is an end view of the comb cylinder when
complete (the nuts and screws for fastening the combs excepted). Through
the boss of each of these rings is introduced an axis, on which axis the rings
are keyed fast on, at equal distances, parallel to each other, and perpendicular.
to the axis. On the external surface of the rings are fixed lags, at equal
distances, having a space left between each lag for the insertion of the combs,
as seen in Plate 2, which is a representation of the comb cylinder extended on
a plane, unaccompanied with the comb, showing, first, how the lags are
fastened to the rings by the screws marked red; second, how the combs are
fastened to the lags by the screws marked yellow. The black lines f, f, (in
the same Figure and Plate), with the screws marked red, represent the rings,
and blue the line, with the screws marked yellow, represent the lags. The
combs being inserted in the spaces before alluded to, with the back part of
of the comb, Figure 3, Plate 4, joined to the edge of the lag to which it is

page_text: fixed, there will remain a space of one sixteenth of an inch in each, from the
point of the tooth to the edge of the next lag going before it or in front of it
(as best seen at Figure 2, Plate 5), for the purpose of receiving the material
to be operated on. Each of the rings before alluded to is provided with a
cylindrical flange (which flange forms part of the body of the ring), coloured
green and marked i, i, i, i, for the purpose of receiving the screws h, h, h, h,
by which the lags are fastened to the rings, as seen at Plate 3, where the
whole plate exhibits a section through the lags, the centre of the screws
h, h, h, h, the flange i, i, i, i, arms and boss of the ring and the axis, and
parallel to its centre. The combs are pieces or bars of brass, provided with
steel teeth, and having a bottom flange and ears, as seen in the cross sections
Figures 1 and 2, Plate 4. The ears for the reception of the screws which
screw into the nut O, and the under side of the ears and flange for the bed of
the nut, and the top side to bed to the under side of the lag, to prevent the
comb from rising above the surface of the cylinder, see Plate 4, Figures 4
and 5. k, k, k, k, is that part of the comb on a level with (or rather coin-
cident with) the surface of the cylinder and the lag, to which it is attached,
Figures 4 and 5, Plate 4, which are sections through the lag comb, and the
centre of the screw (n) and nut (o), and in a plane perpendicular to its axis,
showing how the combs are fastened to the lags by the screws n, n,'n, n, passing
through the lag, the ears of the comb flange c, c, c, c, into the nut (o), the
ears and flange C of the comb lying immediately under the fore part of the
the lag. There is a small nut (o) into which the screw (n) enters, used on the
outside of the end rings under each ear of the comb, see Plate 4, Figure 8;
but between each ring and under each ear and flange of the comb there are
two long nuts (see Figures 6 and 7, Plate 4) employed, not entirely filling up
the whole space between ring and ring, but leaving a small vacancy between
the rings and each nut, and between nut and nut, which serves the double
purpose of fastening the combs to the lags, and giving support and strength to
the combs. For a view of a portion of the surface of this cylinder, in a plane
when complete, see Figure 2, Plate 5, where E, E, denote the rings, F, F, F,
the lags, t, t, t, t, t, t, the combs, the red circular marks denoting the heads of
the screws employed to fasten the lags to the rings, the yellow circular marks
denoting the heads of the screws to fasten the combs to the lags, and the small
The whole surface coinciding
arrows denoting the way the cylinder runs.
with a perfect cylinder or circle.
We will now describe the construction of another cylinder with comb plates,
also of our Invention, and for the same purpose as the one before described, and
"built" exactly as the former comb cylinder up to the covering or lagging of the

page_text: rings. The lags used on this cylinder are broader than those on the former one,
by the breadth of the brass bars into which the steel teeth are put, as may be
seen by referring to Plate 4, Figures 5 and 10, wherein the lags are coloured
black. These lags are screwed to the flanges of the rings the same as in the
former cylinder. The cylinder is now accurately turned up on its axis, each lag
is covered with what is denominated a comb plate, that is a thin steel or iron
plate, one edge of which is cut into teeth, and holes punched at proper distances
from each other and from the edges, for the purpose of receiving the screws for
fastening them to the lags, and so formed that its under surface coincides with
the cylindrical form of the lag to which it is screwed, the lags being drilled (to
correspond with the holes in the plate) and tapped (or a thread cut in) for
the reception of the screws by which they are fastened to the lags, and finished
to a perfect cylindrical surface. For an end view of a segment of the comb-
plate cylinder, see Plate 4, Figure 10, wherein the lags are coloured black and
the comb plates are coloured blue. For a view of a part of the surface of the
cylinder complete, see Plate 5, Figure 1, where the yellow circular marks
denote the screws by which the plates are fastened to the lags, the teeth
covering the space between lag and lag, minus one sixteenth of an inch
from the point of the tooth to the edge of the plate going next before it or in
front of it, (as shewn by the small arrow), for the purpose of receiving the
material to be operated upon. The comb cylinder and smaller beatter drum
are placed in the same position, and the process is the same as in the usual or
common machinery now in use for cleaning wool, cotton, and similar fibrous
substances from burs, motes, and other extraneous matter.
The foregoing description of the construction of the smaller beatter drum
and the two cylinders refers to certain plates, figures, and dimensions; for
instance, in Plate 1, Figure 3, we count twenty-eight pieces of angle iron,
the outer edges of which from the beaters a, a, a, (in Plate 2). We count
thirty-six lags and eight cylindrical rings, the length of the smaller beatter
drum being stated at fifty-one inches, the length of the cylinders being one
inch less, namely fifty inches. We do not confine ourselves to this number of
beatters in the smaller beatter drum, or to these rows of combs in the comb
cylinder, or to any definite number of plates on the comb-plate cylinder, or
to the diameter or length of the beatter drum, or of the comb cylinder, or
comb-plate cylinder respectively, as the same may vary according to the
wishes of the manufacturers. The objects to be obtained by the improve-
ments which are the subject of our Invention, as respects the "built," smaller
beatter drum and comb cylinder, being to increase the quantity of work and
to make a "built," smaller beatter drum and comb cylinder more substantial and
not so liable to get out of order, as compared with the "built," smaller beatter

page_text: drums and comb cylinders now in use, and as compared with the work now
produced by them. As respects the comb plate "built" cylinder, also intended
for the same purpose, our object is to improve the quality of the work as
compared with the quality of the work done by cylinders made with or
comprising comb plates now in use. Both the comb cylinder and the comb-
plate cylinder are applicable to the same machine and to the said smaller
beatter drum. We would also observe, that although we have described
above two cylinders, we prefer that in which the teeth are described as set
in brass bars.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be applied and performed, we wish it to be understood
that we disclaim those parts of the smaller beatter drum, comb cylinder and
comb-plate cylinder respectively, which were or may have been well known
or in use for the same purposes previous to the granting of our Patent when
taken separately, and not adapted in the manner and for the purposes herein-
before described. But we claim as of our Invention,-
Firstly, the use of angle iron, adapted and applied as above described, in
forming the beatters and the external surface of the said smaller beatter drum.
Secondly, the peculiar formation of the combs as above described and
represented in Plate 4, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 9.
Thirdly, the peculiar arrangement of these combs with the lags and rings,
and their adaptation to one another in the construction of the comb cylinder,
as above described in reference to Plate 4, Figure 5; Plate 5, Figure 2; and
Plate 1, Figure 4.
Fourthly, the peculiar form of the comb plate, and the adaptation of it to
the outer circumference of the lag, as above described and represented in
Plate 4, Figure 10, and Plate 5, Figure 1.
As witness our hands and seals, the Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid John Sykes and Adam Ogden
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Tolled in the
J