To JOHN PLATT, of Salford, near Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, fustian dresser, by virtue of certain communications made to him by a foreigner residing abroad, for an invention of which he is in possession, of certain improvemements in machinery for combing wool and other fibrous materials.— [Sealed 10th November, 1827.]

THIS is a machine intended to comb wool by means of two revolving circular combs or heckles, instead of performing the operation by the hands of the wool comber, as heretofore. The machinery, by means of which these rotatory combs are described as to be put in motion, is not considered as any part of the invention, for the combs may be driven by various other mechanical means beside those exhibited in the drawings; but the peculiar construction of the combs, and the relative positions in which they are placed to each other, constitutes the principal feature of the invention.

Plate III. fig. 6, is a horizontal representation of the machine, consisting of a square frame of iron, a, a, mounted upon legs, as exhibited by the end elevation fig. 7; b, and c, are two axles, upon each of which one of the circular combs d, d, are mounted. These axles b, and c, are not placed in horizontal positions, but at acute angles to the horizon and crossing each other; the circular combs, also fixed upon the axles, revolve at considerable angles from the perpendicular, and to each other, as shewn in fig. 7.

The circular combs are made in the form of ordinary slight wooden wheels with arms or spokes, the box of the wheel being attached to the axle by a screw. The points or heckles are set in the face of the rim, and they

are made to revolve in opposite directions, by means of a twisted strap e, e, passed over a pulley ƒ, on each axle, and they are driven by a band and rigger g, on the end of the axle b.

As the combs go round, they are made to approach each other slowly; this is done by mounting the bearings of the axle c, in slots, which allow of their sliding, and enable the axle c, and its circular comb to be brought towards the circular comb on the axle b. This sliding movement is proposed to be effected by a worm and snail connected to the under part of the frame, [but not shewn in figure 6], which gradually moves the axle C, in a lateral direction, and the twisted strap e, connecting the two axles, and actuating c, from the rotation of b, is kept at its proper tension, when the circular combs are brought nearly together, by means of a heavy roller h, which hangs upon a lever i.

In putting this machine in operation to comb wool, the necessary quantity of wool in its rough or entangled state, is to be stuck between the points or heckles of the circular combs, and when they are put in rapid rotatory motion, the loose ends of the wool will by the centrifugal force be thrown out in the direction of radii, and will catch against the points of the heckles of the other revolving comb, by which means the fibres will be drawn out and straightened.

The operation is to commence when the combs are at their greatest distance apart, and as they slowly approach the ends or fibres of the wool will be taken hold of by the points at greater depths until the combs are brought together, by which time the whole length of the fibres of the wool will have been combed out smooth, and being then drawn from the comb, it is only necessary to remove by hand the short entangled refuse wool which

remained in the combs, and to charge them again with fresh wool for another operation.

The Patentee claims these three features; 1st, the construction of the circular combs; 2d, the oblique position in which they are placed one to the other, and made to revolve; 3d, the contrivance by which the combs are gradually brought together, and the fibres of the wool progressively acted upon.-[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, May, 1828.]

TO WILLIAM COLLIER, of Salford, in the county of Lancaster, fustian shearer, in consequence of certain communications made to him by a foreigner residing abroad, for an invention of certain improvements in the power loom for weaving.-[Sealed 10th November, 1827.]

THE principal difficulty in the construction of a powerloom arises from the necessity of obtaining from one continuous rotatory motive power, the several fast and slow movements and stationary points of the different parts of the machine. Such, for instance, as the movements of the healds by which the shreds of the warp are alternately raised and depressed; the swing of the batten at intervals, for the purpose of causing the reed to beat up the weft, and its occasional quiescent state, while the shuttle is passing swiftly across the loom to produce the intervention of the thread. These have caused a complication of mechanism which have still effected the object, but imperfectly in all the power-looms hitherto produced; and it is the design of the Patentee in the present invention, to simplify the power loom, by the adaptation of a piece of machinery to effect an intermitting rotatory action,

derived from a continuous rotatory action, which being adapted to the main shaft of the loom, gives the required intervals of rest and motion to the working parts of the loom, while the actuating power preserves a continual and uniform rotatory movement.

In the 10th volume of the First Series of our Journal, page 169, we gave the specification of a patent, granted to William Church, Esq., for "his invention of certain improvements in machinery for printing." Among various other ingenious mechanical contrivances, adapted to the construction of a letter-press printing machine, the following was described as the fifth head or division of the subjects comprehended under that patent:-An "interrupted gear motion or mechanical contrivance to effect a reciprocating action, by which certain parts of the machinery are alternately put in motion or set at rest, while the other parts of the machinery are continuing their progress." This is precisely the contrivance now proposed by Mr. Collier as an improvement in the powerloom. We cannot, perhaps, do better on the present occasion than describe it in the original words of Church's specification, from which it only differs in its present adaptation to a loom instead of its former to a printing machine.

"The interrupted gear motion, is a mechanical contrivance to effect a reciprocating action, by which certain parts of the machinery are alternately put in motion, or set at rest, while the other parts of machinery are continuing their progress. This contrivance isshewn at figs. 3, 4, and 5, (in the former Plate, but in our present Plate III, at figure 10), which exhibit the wheels in different stages of their revolution. A, is the wheel to which a continuous rotatory motion is given. B, the wheel intended to revolve with an interrupted motion. C, is a

guide having two grooves for moveable teeth in the wheel A, to slide along. These moveable teeth are shewn at a, b, in the periphery of the cogwheel A.

"The mode of attaching these teeth to the wheel, is by forming them at the ends of levers, which levers rise and fall upon their pivots at c, c. These levers are enclosed in the hollow part of the wheel by a face plate, (which is removed in the figures, in order to shew the interior,) and upon this face plate there are certain inclined planes intended to act upon the tappet, or raised parts of the levers, at d, and e.

The wheel A, being made to revolve with a continuous motion, its teeth will work in the toothed part of the lesser wheel B, until the blank part of that wheel comes round; at which time the moveable tooth b, is made to fall into the groove of the guide, and the curved part of the guide coming against a circular bead on the back of the wheel A, the lesser wheel B, stands still, while the larger wheel A, continues its revolution.

"Let it be supposed that in fig. 3, the lesser wheel B, has been some time quiescent, and that the larger wheel A, is revolving in the direction of the arrow, at the moment that the tooth a, comes into the situation there shewn, the inclined plane upon the face plate, as before mentioned, acts upon the tappet d, and by pressing the lever down, projects the tooth a, into the groove of the guide; and as the wheel A, continues to revolve, brings the guide into the position of fig. 4, at which time another inclined plane acts upon the tappet e, and raises the tooth out of the groove.

It will now be seen, that the teeth of the larger and the lesser wheels are in gear, and that they revolve together, which they will continue to do until the wheel B, comes into the position shewn at fig. 5. At this time