CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1857

page_text: Sealed the 19th June 1857, and dated the 20th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Sidebottom Adshead
and Abraham Holden at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th March 1857.
We, THOMAS SIDEBOTTOM ADSHEAD, of North End Mills, Stalybridge, in
the County of Chester, Cotton Spinner, and ABRAHAM HOLDEN, of the same
Place, Carder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of an improved self-acting combination of machinery
for stripping or clearing the working rollers of carding engines. The working
rollers are each provided with a comb or card, to which a vibrating motion is
communicated by levers and a crank, or by any other suitable mechanism; by
this means the stripping rollers usually employed for clearing the surface of the
working rollers are dispensed with.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Sidebottom Adshead and Abraham Holden, in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, TпомAS
SIDEBOTTOM ADSHEAD, of North End Mills, Stalybridge, in the County of
Chester, Cotton Spinner, and ABRAHAM HOLDEN of the same Place, Carder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Sidebottom Adshead and Abraham Holden, Her special licence
that we, the said Thomas Sidebottom Adshead and Abraham Holden, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas
Sidebottom Adshead and Abraham Holden, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, 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
CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS.
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas
Sidebottom Adshead and Abraham Holden, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands
and seals, 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 we, the said Thomas Sidebottom Adshead and
Abraham Holden, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
In carding engines of the usual construction the surface of each working
roller is cleared by means of a stripping roller: now the nature of our Inven-
tion consists in stripping or clearing a series of working rollers by means of
vibrating combs or cards, actuated simultaneously by suitable machinery.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Drawing,
which represents a carding engine of the usual description with a convenient

page_text: arrangement of our improved machinery applied thereto. The lap of cotton
or other fibrous material to be operated upon is supplied to the machine at a,
see Fig. 1, and the fleece is taken between the feed rollers b, b, to the licker
in c, which delivers it to the main drum d, from which, after being carded, it
is taken by the doffer e, and passes in the form of a sliver through the drawing
head f. The parts above enumerated are made in any approved manner, our
Invention having only reference to the machinery for-stripping or clearing the
working rollers g, g, of which nine are shewn in the Drawing, the one above
the licker-in being larger than the others, but a greater or less number may be
employed. The working rollers g, g, are supported in adjustable bearings of
the usual construction, and each roller is furnished with a combh fixed to an
angle rail which is supported by the uprights j.
The comb h may be a toothed steel blade attached to the angle rail, as
shewn detached in Fig. 2, or a narrow strip of card fillet may be used instead
of the comb. The uprights J are attached to the curved rails (each side of
the machine being furnished with a similar rail), and they are supported at
each end on antifriction rollers mounted in the fixed brackets i; the rails k
with all the uprights and combs are caused to traverse laterally by the crank
pin m and connecting link n, one end of which is jointed to the lever 1, fixed
on a cross shaft o; at each end of this shaft is fixed a short lever P, connected
to the curved rails & by links p¹, or any other convenient arrangement of
machinery may be employed for giving a lateral to-and-fro motion to the
combs h. The uprights J are each furnished with a set screw J¹, by means of
which the position of each comb can be set to the surface of the working
roller.
When the carding engine is at work, the motes or other impurities, and the
flyings of fibrous material caught by the rollers g, are stripped by the combs h
off the teeth of the said rollers, on which they accumulate in the form of a
fleece, as shewn in the Drawing, on the roller g, near the doffer. These fleeces
of flyings are removed by hand occasionally. A thin plate of metal, or a
small roller may be placed between the rollers g, as shewn at q, q, to prevent
the fibres flying from the circumference of the main drum. When our im-
proved mode of stripping or clearing the surfaces of the working rollers is
adopted, the said rollers may revolve much slower than heretofore, a greater
number of rollers can be applied in a given space, and consequently better
carding is obtained, less waste is made, and a considerable saving is effected
in power, as the stripping rollers which usually revolve at a great velocity are
entirely dispensed with.
Ilaving thus particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the

page_text: manner of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not
limit ourselves to the details herein set forth, as many variations may be made
in the mode of constructing and working the combs or cards; but we claim as
our Invention of improvements in machinery for carding cotton and other
fibrous materials, stripping or clearing the surfaces of a series of working
rollers by means of vibrating combs or cards acting simultaneously, as described,
or any modification of machinery for effecting the same object.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Sidebottom Adshead and
Abraham Holden, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth
day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
THOMAS SIDEBOTTOM ADSHEAD. (L.S.)
(L.S.)
Witness,
II. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
A. HOLDEN.