to the mode of cleaning the heating apparatus, is represented by fig. 5. It consists of a tube R, through the interior of which a cord S is passed; to the extremity of the latter a ball V or round brush is suspended, having a diameter of a dimension similar to that of the interior of the pipes DDD (figs. 1, 2, and 3,) which is to be cleaned; if a brush be employed it should be loaded with lead or other heavy metal, to precipitate its descent into the pipes DDD. The sweeping tube is provided with a small socket into which a candle or torch is fixed, for the purpose of giving light whilst cleaning; the cleaning tube is introduced through the opening into the upper recess C, and the ball is made to slide down alternately each of the pipes DDD, by means of the weight u and cord U, as far as the lower recess E; the passage of the said ball into the pipes DDD detaches the soot clogged to the interior of the pipes, and it falls into the lower part of the said recess E to be withdrawn through the opening T.

The patentee observes, in conclusion, that he does not confine himself to the precise details laid down, provided the general features be preserved; nor does he claim the several parts of the apparatus taken separately, but what he does claim is,

1. The combination of mechanical apparatus for causing air to travel against the furnace and conduct pipes of flame and smoke for obtaining and supplying all the useful effect of the caloric, as described.

2. The apparatus for detaching the soot collected in the flues of the furnace.

HENRI and ALEXANDRE Sıx, of Wazem. mes les Lille, gentlemen. For improvements in bleaching flax and hemp. Patent dated March 24, 1851.

This invention consists in improved means of bleaching,-firstly, the fibrous parts of flax and hemp (but principally flax) in the straw-that is to say, in all the original length of the plants, before being peeled; secondly, flax which has been only partially peeled, so as to leave a certain portion of straw which is peeled off after the bleaching; and thirdly, flax after being completely peeled and reduced to the state of fibre, as it is generally found in commerce, before being spun, or combed into flax before being spun.

Firstly, the patentees employ a continuous system, which consists in subjecting flax and hemp in the straw, when once placed in the vats, to all the chemical operations which are usually employed for obtaining the different degrees of whiteness, without changing their position until the bleaching is entirely completed. The flax is placed in the vat upon a false bottom, disposed in a suitable manner for being raised by means

of a crane, pulley, or other analogous means. The flax may be agitated in the vats, or withdrawn therefrom, according as may be deemed expedient.

Secondly, they apply the bleaching processes to flax which is partially divested of its straw, and in that case they allow the straw to remain on to the height of eight inches, more or less, at the foot of the plant, and complete the peeling operation after the matters have been bleached. This mode of operating has the advantage of preserving the flax in a more natural and more advantageous condition. In that state the matters form much less tow in combing than those that have been bleached after being peeled completely.

Thirdly, the patentees make use of hurdles for the bleaching of flax, either partially or completely peeled, or after being combed, as before described in the second division.

The form and dimensions of the hurdles vary according to the vats in which they are to operate. They may be made of wood, mal, or any other material, and are composed of an assemblage of laths made in the form of combs, and placed at a distance of one half-inch to two inches apart. The teeth of the combs composing the said hurdles are about one inch to two inches in height, are pointed, and at their base are about half an inch in diameter, and they serve to produce apertures through the layers of flax, thereby preventing the matters being clogged together, and also facilitating the filtration of the liquors employed, and with which the flax should be well impregnated, in order to secure as much as possible an uniform bleaching. These frames serve to spread out the flax in layers varying in thickness, and are placed one upon the other in the bleaching vats until the latter are full. The pressure arising from the superposition is entirely obviated, as the teeth or points of the hurdles at the bottom support those above them, and thus successively until the last. By that means the flax is left free between the various hurdles in such wise that the pressure of those at the top do not prevent the bleaching agents from penetrating with as much facility through the matters at the bottom of the vat as those placed above. The same result may be obtained in employing simple hurdles without teeth, made of wicker-work, wood, or in any other suitable manner, and placing them in the same position as above stated, care being taken to place a small cross piece between them, to prevent the pressure of the upper hurdles on the flax placed on those below. If the latter kind of hurdle is selected, care must be taken to intro

duce through the flax laid upon it rods about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, which facilitate the filtration of the liquids through the matters to be bleached.

One of the great advantages claimed for the different modes of bleaching before described consists in obtaining the flax after bleaching in such a natural and perfect condition as to permit it to be spun as easily as if it had only been submitted to a steeping operation. The flax bleached by this process will give a stronger and more beautiful thread than that which is bleached after being spun in the raw state.

Mode of Operating.

The vats are provided with a false bottom, pierced with holes, and set at a distance of four to eight inches from the real bottom, and between the latter and the false bottom a steam pipe is set, in order to raise the temperature of the solution contained in the vats, if required. When operating upon flax in sheaves, that is to say, in the straw, the bundles are placed upright upon the false bottom; if the flax is partly or completely peeled or combed, it is spread and worked upon hurdles, as before described. Then the lie, chlorine, acids, or water are alternately introduced into the bleaching vat in sufficient quantities to immerse completely the matters to be bleached. All the above liquids are drawn off after they have produced their effect by a tap at the bottom of the vat.

The patentees consider it superfluous to describe the chemical processes employed in bleaching, because all the known means may be applied to obtain the object of their invention with equal advantage; they wish it to be understood also that they do not confine themselves to the precise details herein laid down with regard to dimensions and forms, nor do they claim the different parts of the apparatus herein referred to taken separately; but what they do claim as their invention is,

1. The application of a continuous series of operations for bleaching the fibrous parts of flax and hemp direct and simultaneously in the same vat, and without changing their primitive position, either in the straw, that is to say, before peeling, after they have been partially or entirely divested of the straw, or after being combed, as before described.

2. The application of the bleaching processes to flax which has been peeled at the upper part of the plant, the straw being left to a certain extent at the lower part, as before described.

3. The application of hurdles, when ope

rating upon flax that has undergone the operation of peeling and combing, for spreading the matters, as before described.

4. The application of rods to facilitate the filtration of the bleaching agents through the matters to be bleached, as before described.

DAVID FARRAR BOWER, of Hunslet, York, manufacturing chemist. For certain improvements in preparing, retting (otherwise called rotting), and fermenting flax, line, grasses and other fibrous vegetable substances. Patent dated March 24, 1851.

(Specification.)-My invention of certain improvements in preparing, retting, otherwise called rotting, and fermenting flax, line, grasses and other fibrous vegetable substances, relates to certain means whereby the time required for effecting the operation will be considerably reduced, and the fibre of the rough plant will be less subject to deterioration than when submitted to the ordinary rating process. It is well known that after flax has been pulled and dried in the field, and the seeds removed therefrom, it is usually steeped for some weeks in water in order to detach the glutinous and other foreign matters contained in the plant; the stalks after being allowed to remain some weeks in the water are removed therefrom, and when dried are subjected to breaking and scutching to remove the wordy matters from the useful fibre. I find, however, that the glutinous and other matters, although they may be partially detached by the water, are not wholly removed from the fibre, but when the latter is dried a portion of the glutinous and other matters still adhere to the same and render it unfit for the breaking and scutching operation. According to this part of my invention which has reference to the retting process now in common use, I steep the flax or other fibrous substance in the ordinary way, either in cold or warm water; if cold water is used, the flax must remain immersed for six days, but a much shorter time will answer if warm water is employed. I then remove the flax from the water, and pass it between rollers for the purpose of expressing the glutinous matters from the interior of the plant. After this, I again steep the flax in cold or warm water for another six days, and a second time submit it to the squeezing operation by passing the stalks between rollers; after which the flax is dried, broken, and scutched in the ordinary manner, and will be found to be much clearer of the glutinous and other foreign matters than if merely steeped for a much longer time, and operated upon in the ordinary way. For the finer descriptions of flax, and when a good coloured fibre is required, I steep the

plant in a solution of caustic ammonia, or the neutral salt of one of the alkalies. The salts I prefer to employ are chloride of sodium (common salt) or sulphate of soda. The quantity of the alkali or salt required to be dissolved in a given portion of water will depend upon the temperature at which the process is to be carried on and the quality of the water employed; in other words, the quantity of alkali or salt required will depend upon whether the impurities consist of the salts of iron, or of lime, or other matters contained in the water, It is, however, impossible to give definite proportions for every case; I shall therefore merely say that if common rain-water is employed, I add one pound of caustic ammonia, or one pound of any of the neutral salts to every 150 gallons of water, and with this solution the process may be carried on at any tenperature from 90° to 120° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and the operation will be completed in about thirty hours. If, however, cold water is employed, the quantity of the alkali or salt must be somewhat increased, and the operation will be completed in about four days. The admixture of the abovenamed chemical ingredients with the water in which the plant is steeped will very much facilitate the retting process; but if, in addition, the fibres after being submitted to the action of the alkaline solution for a time, are passed between rollers or otherwise sub. jected to pressure to express or squeeze out the dissolved glutinous matters, the process will be still further facilitated and otherwise greatly improved.

The

Another improvement in the preparation of this kind of vegetable fibre consists in operating upon the plants or stalks in an exhausted vessel. In carrying out this part of my invention, the flax or other fibrous substance is pulled and dried in the field, and the seed removed in the ordinary manner. flax is then placed in a cylindrical or other shaped air-tight vessel, and the air is exhausted therefrom by means of an air-pump or otherwise, after which I let into the exhausted vessel a solution of one of the following materials, -either caustic ammonia or chloride of sodium or sulphate of soda, or any neutral salt of any of the alkalies of ammonia, soda, or potash. These materials I add in or about the proportion of one part of ammonia, or one pound of one of the neutral salts to 150 gallons of water, which should be kept at a temperature of from 90° to 120° of Fahrenheit. By exhausting the vessel and drawing out the air contained in the cellular tissues of the plants, the latter will be brought into a condition to be more easily and rapidly acted on by the chemical agents employed. The alkaline solution

being now let into the exhausted vessel the flax will readily aborb it. In this saturated state it should be allowed to remain for from two to four hours, more or less, as may be required, after which the liquor should be run off from the vessel and the air again exhausted therefrom. This will have the effect of extracting the detached glutinous and other matters from the interior of the plant. After this second exhaustion, the fibrous materials are removed from the vessel and laid up in a heap, so that they may cool down gradually without fermenting, after which they should be spread out in a field or drying shed, and when dry they will be ready for breaking and scutching. Or, instead of using an alkaline solution, I sometimes employ hot water, merely letting it into the air-tight vessel after the air has been exhausted therefrom.

Instead of subjecting to mechanical pressure flax or other similar plants that have been steeped in open vessels, as described under the first part of my invention, I sometimes take the plant after it has been steeped long enough, and place it in a cylindrical or other shaped vessel, and subject it to the exhausting operation for the purpose both of extracting the glutinous and other matters from the interior of the fibre and removing the superfluous moisture.

Having now described my invention, and the best means with which I am at present acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that although I have stated certain proportions in which I propose to use the chemical ingredients having by experience found them to act in a satisfactory manner with the before named proportions, yet I do not mean to confine myself thereto, nor do I intend to confine myself to the use of the alkaline or neutral salts named, as other alkaline neutral salts will answer; nor do I intend to claim as of my invention steeping flax or other similar or analogous fibrous plants in warm or cold water or other chemical agents than those before named, for the purpose of detaching and removing the glutinous matters contained in the plant, except when such processes are carried on in conjunction with my improvements; but that which I consider to be new in the processes above described, and therefore claim as the invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,

1. Subjecting flax, line, grasses, and other fibrous vegetable substances which have been steeped in water or other liquid, to mechanical pressure, for the purpose of expressing or squeezing out the detached glutinous and other matters contained in the plant.

2. I claim steeping flax, line, grasses, or other analogous vegetable fibrous substances in a solution of ammonia, or of chloride of sodium, or of sulphate of soda, or of any other neutral salt of the alkalies ammonia, soda, or potash.

3. I claim the employment in the preparing of flax, line, grasses, and other fibrous vegetable substances, of the process of exhaustion as before exemplified and described, to accelerate the detaching from the fibre the glutinous and other matters contained therein.

FREDERICK WILLIAM MOWBRAY, of Leicester, gentleman. For improvements in machinery for weaving. Patent dated March 24, 1851.

This invention consists of improvements in machinery employed for producing terry or cut-pile fabrics by what is called crossweaving; the loom employed for this purpose being the power loom, and the arrangements such as are adopted for producing plain tabby weavings by a single warp; which, however, may be varied, and the loom arranged for producing other classes of weavings.

A chief peculiarity of the invention consists in applying a series of guides to carry those warp threads which are to produce the terry or cut-pile on the face of the fabric; and these guides are caused to work the pile warps which they carry, in such manner that they cross them over wires, which, although not new in themselves, are nevertheless improved in their action by moving on an axis, and by being combined with a comb or guide, through which the ordinary or body warps pass. The pile-warp guides are set in leads affixed to a bar extending across the whole width of the loom, and carried by vertical rods connected to the ends of levers on each side of the loom. These levers turn on pins projecting from the framing, and carry at their free ends trucks or rollers, which run against cams by which they are acted on so as to give to the bar an up-and-down motion, in order to cause the guides to take the pile threads down below the shed, to be tied in by the weft, and be again raised to produce the crossings for the next rows of pile. And in order that the pile threads passing through the guides may be laid successively on one side and then on the other side of the looping wires to produce the crossing, the bar has a sideway movement equal to one space given to it, alternately to the right and then to the left, on the ascent of the guides above the ordinary warp threads. For the purpose of effecting the more regular spacing of the ordinary warps, and thus facilitating the entrance of the pile warp-guides and

threads between them, other combs or guides are, as above mentioned, employed, through which the ordinary warps are caused to pass. These combs or guides are also the means of sustaining, as on an axis, one end of the wires, whilst the other end of each of such wires is in the work produced, and resting on the breast beam. A rising-and-falling motion is also given to these guides by establishing a communication between the bar on which they are mounted and the camshaft giving motion to the pile warp-guides, by means of rods and levers, as above described, with reference to those guides, The object of giving this movementwhich the patentee considers an important feature of his invention-to the body warp-guide, is to save as much as possible the time occupied in the movement of the pile-guides, by lowering the end of each of the wires when the shed is closed for the change, and whilst the sideway movement is being given to the pile-warp guide-bar, When it is desired to produce a cut-pile fabric, the patentee employs, in conjunction with the arrangement just described, a series of rotatory cutters, consisting of thin discs or circular plates of steel, with knife edges, mounted, and kept at suitable distances apart by washers, on a spindle, which is supported in bearings over the breast beam, and caused to revolve with the cutters taking into the slits at the ends of the wires, by which means the rows of loops are cut as the work is finished, and drawn forward over the breast beam by the action of the taking-up motion.

A modification of the arrangements first described is specified, in which two sets of guides are employed for the pile-warps, and by which a fabric with a much denser pile is produced. When working according to this arrangement, the patentee prefers to give to each set of guides a sideway motion in a direction opposite to that in which the other set of guides is for the time being moving, so as to effect the crossing of the loops produced by the individual guides. The means above described for cutting the pile are equally applicable in this case.

Another modification is also described, in which a Jacquard or other suitable patternsurface is employed for operating the guides, and this arrangement is particularly adapted for producing terry fabrics with patterns

thereon.

Claims.-1. The manufacture of terry and cut-pile fabrics, by employing suitable guides or instruments, and apparatus combined therewith, to control the movement of the pile-threads when producing pile fabrics by cross weaving.

2. The giving to the wires or instruments

used, when producing pile fabrics by cross weaving, an up-and-down movement, as described; also, the mounting of such wires or instruments on axes.

3. The so arranging apparatus in a loom that the pile of fabrics woven therein, when the pile is produced from the warp by cross weaving, shall be cut by rotatory cutters acting in the ends of the wires or instruments on which the pile is formed.

SAMUEL HOLT, of Stockport, manager. For certain improvements in the manufacture of textile fabrics. Patent dated March 24, 1851.

The improvements sought to be protected under this patent have relation to the production of certain peculiar descriptions of fabrics (having terry loops or pile on one or both sides or faces thereof) by the employment of a ground warp, and one or more terry or pile warps without the use or intervention of wires in the process of weaving.

According to the methods hitherto known and practised in manufacturing fabrics of this description, and also those classes of cloths known as "tucked cloths," the weft has been shot through the pile warp by itself, that is, separately from the ground warp; and this is also the case in weaving certain descriptions of terry carpets in which the pile warp threads are partially woven into a cloth by themselves or separately from the ground warp, which partially formed cloth is subsequently woven into the ground warp, and the "tucks" thereby produced. It will be seen from this, that as it were two cloths are employed, one being laid on the face of the other, and according to this arrangement also the tension of the warp threads requires to be varied during the weaving process. The peculiar feature of the present improvements is that the fabric is produced in one cloth, no shoot of weft being made through the pile warp separately, but every shoot being caused to pass simultaneously through a shed opened in the ground warp. The ordinary amount of tension is given to the ground warp threads, but the pile warp threads are slack, and the loops are formed by the weft acting on the slack threads, and drawing them up when the weft is beaten up by the lathe after every three shoots, at the same time that the weft passes freely over the ground warp, which is retained in a stretched condition by the tension of its weights.

Claim. The weaving of either a double or a single faced terry or piled cloth, wherein no part of the terry or pile warp is woven n separately from the ground warp threads.

JAMES CHEETHAM, junior, of Chadderton, near Oldham, cotton - manufacturer. For certain improvements in the manufacture of bleached, coloured, or party coloured threads or yarn. Patent dated March 24, 1851.

This invention has relation to the production of bleached and coloured or party coloured yarns of cotton, by subjecting the material to the bleaching or colouring operations in a prepared state and subsequent to the completion of the carding process. In order to obviate the imperfections incidental to the ordinary practice of bleaching or colouring yarns after being spun, attempts have at various times been made to perform those operations on the raw material, or previous to the completion of the process of carding, and thus to dispense with some of the usual processes; but in both of these cases the result obtained has been unsatisfactory and attended with a waste of material. Now according to the present improvements the perfect action of the bleaching or colouring agents is insured, and several of the operations usually adopted, especially that of doubling in the manufacture of party-coloured yarns, may be dispensed with, the material being bleached or dyed in the state of a continuous sliver, the con. dition of which, both as regards its sponginess and disposition of the fibre, presents great facilities for the thorough permeation through it, and consequent perfect action of the chemical agents employed.

The ordinary course of manufacture is adopted when operating on cotton according to this invention, until the completion of the last drawing, when the material is conducted through a slubbing frame, the arrangements of which are so modified as to impart to it a rather greater amount of twist than would be required for the ordinary subsequent processes; the object now being to give to the slubbings or slivers sufficient hardness and solidity to enable them to undergo the bleaching or dyeing operations without risk of fracture, or destroying the continuity of the fibres composing them. These slivers are then wound on reels or bobbins in the manner adopted when reeling yarns for dyeing or bleaching, only that it is preferred to wind two or more slivers on the same bobbin, but without twist, as being then less liable to fracture, and when broken, enabling the ends to be more readily found, and offering increased facility for unwinding. As the ordinary operation of wringing out, after the slivers have been bleached or dyed, would, unless very carefully performed, risk their breakage, the patentee prefers to dispel the moisture contained in them by the