Heilmann comb
Peinadora de Heilmann
- Date
- 1845-1846 · confidence medium
- Place
- Mulhouse, Grand Est, France
- Credited to
- Josué Heilmann
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A machine that separates long from short fibres of cotton or wool by combing and aligns them in parallel for finer, more regular and lustrous yarns. It replaced hand combing and was the basis of the modern comber.
Heilmann patented the cotton comb around 1846; Edmund Cartwright (1789), Donisthorpe and Lister (1840s) developed wool machines. Dates range between 1845 and 1847 depending on the source.
What it led to
- high-quality combed yarns (worsted)
- fine cotton industry of Alsace and Lancashire
- Noble and Lister combs as competitors