IMPROVE- MENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR BURRING OR CLEANING, OPENING,
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richardson, of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR BURRING OR CLEANING, OPENING, AND
Sealed the 9th May 1873, and dated the 12th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richardson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th November 1872.
I, WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR BURRING, OR CLEANING,
OPENING, AND SORTING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates, firstly, to that description of machine described
2
0

page_text: February 1872, No. 456; and consists in a certain construction or
travelling surface for receiving fibrous matters and impurities cast from
the fine comb cylinder, and intended to take the place of the spiked
travelling surface described under the said Patent. For this purpose I
use a cylinder formed with perforations as a grid upon which the said
matters are cast, and through these perforations the burrs and other
impurities fall, leaving the fibrous material on the surface to be removed
by a revolving roller again to the fine comb cylinder, as described in the
Specification of my Patent aforesaid, or to be treated as hercafter to be
mentioned in reference to the second part of my present Invention. The
impurities which fall through the upper part of the cylinder, and do not
pass through the lower part, may be removed at intervals, but I propose
to effect this by setting the cylinder at an angle by which means they
are rolled out at one end. Or in place of this cylindrical apparatus I
use an endless travelling grid, which I propose to construct of bars
carried by flexible bands which pass over rollers. Upon these bars the
material falls, and the burrs and other impurities pass through the
spaces. In this case as in the former the material may be transferred
to the fine comb cylinder or treated according to the second part of my
present Invention.
Secondly. My Invention also relates to those machines in which a
fine comb cylinder or cylinders are employed, and by means of which I
extend the utility of the machine by using it as a means for sorting the
fibrous material.
According to the method of using those machines, as described under
Patents granted to me, dated September 30th, 1868, and October 5th,
1869, Nos. 2995 and 2895, the inferior material after having been
thrown from the last fine comb cylinder, if more than one were
employed, was returned to the said cylinder. According to my present
Invention I allow the said material after being stripped to fall on to the
aforesaid spiked travelling surface or grid, from which it is removed on
it
away
conveys
to a travelling apron or other receptacle, which
the comb cylinder instead of its being returned thereto.
material which is stripped by the ordinary brush is therefore delivered
separately, and the whole is thus sorted in qualities, the inferior being
again operated upon by itself. To effect this the transfer roller of my
former arrangements is of course removed, and a stripping roller adapte
from
The fine

page_text: to the spiked surface or grid, while the dirt and other impurities are
removed as above mentioned; or intead of the stripping roller I employ
two travelling aprons, between which the material is conveyed.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said William
Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st May
Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st May
1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant me, the said William Richardson, Her special
license that I, the said William Richardson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such other as I, the said William Richardson,
time agree with,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
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
APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR BURRING OR CLEANING, OPENING, AND SORTING
WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition, amongst others,
that I, the said William Richardson, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 I, the said William Richardson, do hereby

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say:-
-
My Invention relates to those machines in which a "fine comb"
cylinder or cylinders are employed, and by means of which I extend the
utility of the machine by using it as a means for sorting the fibrous
material. According to the method of using these machines, as
described under Patents granted me, dated September Thirtieth, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, October Fifth, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-nine, and February Thirteenth, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy, Nos. 2995, 2895, and 456, the inferior
material after having been thrown from the last fine comb cylinder,
if more than one were employed, was returned to the said cylinder.
According to my present Invention I allow the said material, after
having been stripped, to fall on to a travelling grid, which conveys it
away from the comb cylinder instead of its being returned thereto. The
finer material which is stripped by the ordinary brush is therefore
delivered separately, and the whole is thus sorted in qualities, tho
inferior being again operated upon by itself after having been separated
from the burrs and other impurities which fall through the travelling
grid.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a portion of a fine
comb cylinder machine in section; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view of t bo
apparatus used for the purposes of my Invention; Fig. 3 a view of
the same taken at right angles to Fig. 2; and Figs. 4, 5, details of the
construction of travelling grid I prefer to employ, and which I will in
the first place describe.
At 1, 1, are two series of links jointed together by means of thimbles 2
and joint pins 3, and to each of these links is attached a rod 4. The
Drawing shews one side of the grid only, but the series of links 1 are
repeated on the other side thereof, and carry in like manner the other
ends of the rods 4, and the chains being endless and passing over
wheels, the teeth of which extend between the thimbles 2, a travelling
surface is provided with spaces 5, through which burrs and other impuri-
ties may fall, as hereafter to be described.
Referring now to Fig. 1 a fine comb cylinder is shewn at 6, and this
may be the last of a series of two or more, a only one may employed as
described in the Specifications of my Patents aforesaid, and at 7, 8, 9, 10,

page_text: are the rollers which work the material, also as previously described.
At 11 is the rotatory brush which strips the clcaned material and discharges
it through the opening 12 to the cages or other ordinary apparatus, and
at 13 is the guard roller which detaches the burrs from the fine comb
cylinder.
According to my former Specifications a travelling surface, numbered
21 in my Patent of February Thirteenth, One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-two, and which received the burrs, was placed longitudinally
in the machine, and from this the rejected material was taken by a roller
(numbered 23 in the said Specification) and returned to the comb
cylinder. This roller I now dispense with, and I place the travelling
surface transversely in the machine as seen in Fig. 1, in which 14 repre-
sents a transverse frame carrying at each end an axis 15, upon which are
mounted toothed wheels 16, 16*, over which the endless chains Figs.
4, 5, pass, carrying as above mentioned the cross bars 4. At one end of
the travelling surface referred to is a frame 17 extending upward, and
carrying at top and bottom rollers 18, 19, over which there passes an
endless creeper 20, and at 21, 22, arc other rollers also carrying another
creeper 23, a slight space being left between the two. Attached
to the frame 17 are brackets, in which is mounted an axis carrying a
squared part on which are four blades 24 capable of revolving in
proximity to the creeper 23, and at 25 is a fixed blade which extends
across the frame 17 for the whole width of the creepers 20, 23. The
sides of the frame 14 are provided with openings 26, extending from the
bottoms of which are angular plates 27 extending upward to a point
beneath the bars 4.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The revolution of the
cylinder 6 and rollers 7, 8, 9, 10, cause the material to be worked in the
usual manner, and as it passes onward the rotation of the guard roller 13
removes the burrs and coarser portions of the material, and casts them
upon the transverse travelling surface constituted by the bars 4. Here
the burrs and other impurities fall through the spaces 5, and are guided
by the angular plates 27 so as to pass out through the openings 26, while
the travelling of the said surface carries forward the material which rests
on the bars 4, and delivers it to the nip of the two creepers 20, 23, by
which it is removed and conveyed upward, the latter of which turns it
over and delivers it into any convenient receptacle, to secure which

page_text: delivery the rotation of the blades 24 flirt it off, and the plate 25 prevents
its liability of being carried over by the creeper 20. During this opera-
tion the revolution of the brush 11 strips the cleaned material from the
It will therefore be
cylinder 6, and delivers it in the ordinary manner.
seen that the original material is sorted into three lots; firstly, the
burrs, &c., which pass through the spaces 5; secondly, the material
which is conveyed away by the bars 4, and creepers 20, 23; and, thirdly,
the material which is stripped by the brush 11, and which is of the finest
quality. That which is discharged by the creepers 20, 23, may again
pass through any suitable machine. At 28, 29, are plates for securing
the fall of the material removed by the roller 13 on to the bars 4.
During the operations above described it may happen that some
refuse material may fall through the spaces 5 at a point beyond the
angular plates 27, and be received on those bars 4 which are passing
beneath the said angular plates, in which case they might accumulate
upon the travelling surface; to avoid this a plate 30 is adapted within
and
the bars 4, one end thereof extending over the angular plates 27,
the other end being curved as at 31; by these means the material in the
above-mentioned position will be carried upward and delivered at a
point situate over the angular plates 27, down which it may fall as above
described.
The method by which the several parts constituting my Invention are
driven may be of any suitable arrangement. According to the Drawing
a band proceeding from any convenient source of motion, after passing
over guide pullies drives the roller 19 by means of a pulley 32, and the
two rollers 19, 22, are geared together, the axis of the latter carrying a
pinion 33, which gears into another 34 on the axis of the chain
wheels 15, 16. The blades 24 are driven by a band which passes over a
pulley 35 on the axis of the roller 22.
I have in the above description referred to a particular arrangement
for carrying out the purposes of my Invention, but it will be obvious
that mechanical alterations may be made therein, and that instead of
placing the travelling surface which conveys away the material
transversely, it may be placed longitudinally, but caused to move away
from the working parts of the machine instead of towards them, as in
the cases of my former Patents aforesaid.

page_text: Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to
be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, the use of the combination of apparatus, sub-
stantially as above described, whereby the material is sorted and
delivered in separated qualities.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richardson, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON. (L.S.)