IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND CARDING WOOL
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Leach, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING AND CARDING WOOL."
Sealed the 27th May 1873, and dated the 29th January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Leach at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th January 1873.
I, GEORGE LEAсп, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND CARDING WOOL," to be as follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is to secure a more evenly and perfectly
carded fleece than heretofore for the formation of condensed slivers of
wool or spun yarn and thread. This result I obtain by the use of a
series of improved machines, which are intended to carry on dependent
operations upon the wool.
The Invention relates, firstly, to improvements in the common hand
fed shake willow which is used to open the wool, and remove the dust
•

page_text: and extraneous matter therefrom. This willow consists of a fan furnished
with rows of spikes, which by their rapid rotation serve to beat out the
dust and motes from the wool. This fan is mounted within a cylindrical
wire case, which is fixed in or boxed in a framing provided with circular
openings at the sides to allow of an indraft of air. A hinged door is
applied to the upper part of the case to allow of the discharge of the
wool from the machine. The wool to be operated upon is fed to the
machine intermittently by an endless apron mounted at one side of the
machine, and the indraft of air caused by the rapid rotation of the drum
carries in the wool as it is fed forward by self-acting machinery. To
prevent the wool entering the centre of the fan a stationary diaphragm
is fixed on the feeding of the machine. As the drum rotates it will
carry round the wool, whilst the blast of air induced by the fan will
blow the wool against the wire casing, and cause the heavy particles of
dirt to fall through the wire case, while the lighter particles will be
carried upwards through a vent provided for the escape of the air.
When the wool has been sufficiently willowed the door of the wire case
is to be opened, and the wool will then be discharged by the blast
through the continued rotation of the drum out of the machine. The
wool is then ready for the oiling and preparing machine, which forms
the subject of a separate application for a Patent, bearing even date with
this application. The laps formed by the preparing machine are now
ready for the succeeding process of carding. To the first and subsequent
carders I apply the bat-forming machine, for which I obtained Letters
Patent, bearing date 7th August 1868, No. 2477, but modified in the
way presently to be described. This machine consists substantially of a
rotating drum, on to which the carded fleece is delivered, and which
while in the act of being laid on to or wound around the drum is caused
to traverse slowly to the other end thereof in the form of a continuous
bat or tube or pipe of wool. As the bat thus formed into a cylindrical
sheet arrives,at the end of the drum, the wool of which it is composed is
taken off spirally and continuously in the shape of a flat sliver, ready for
the next carding engine. As an improvement on the machines now in
vogue for performing this part of the process I mount near the delivery
end of the drum a stripping apparatus consisting of nipping rollers,
which when a portion of the bat has been fed thereto will continue to
tear off therefrom a ribbon or broad sliver, and deliver it to a lattice feed
apron. To ensure the taking up of an even width of sliver by the
stripping rollers a conical pressing roller is caused to bear upon the bat

page_text: in the desired line of severance, and thus ensure an even parting of the
matted fibres. The ribbon thus formed is supplied to a novel arrange-
ment of feed apparatus, which will deliver the sliver in given lengths
(corresponding to the width of the carder to be fed, edgewise to the feed
apron of the next carding engine. These lengths may be laid one over
the other (the upper layer being always slightly in rear of the under) in
such number as to produce any desired thickness of feed by means of
the machine, which I will now describe. It consists of a tipping plat-
form or table, on to which severed lengths of the ribbon are one at a
time laid by means of delivering rollers, which are mounted in a carriage
that traverses to and fro the length of the platform. The sliver is led
down between a pair of nipping rolls mounted in bearings in the
carriage, and geared together and driven by a pinion which gears
alternately into the gear wheels of these rolls, so as to drive them always
in the same direction. This pinion receives motion during the traverse
of the carriage from a stationary band wrapped or coiled around the
pulley which it carries. From these rolls the sliver passes to a second
pair of rolls, which deliver the sliver to the tipping platform. This
second pair of rolls is mounted in a rocking frame, which has its
fulcrum on the carriage, and they are driven in a similar manner to the
first pair of rolls. Pendent from one arm of the rocking frame is a rod
terminating in a curved slotted guide. Through this slot passes a pin
which enters a slot made in the side frame of the carriage. This pin is
carried by an endless rotating chain which serves to impart the traverse
motion to the carriage. When the pin descends to make its back
traverse it will draw down the pendent rod, and cause the rocking of the
frame which carries the delivery rollers. The rocking of this frame will
shift the pinion which drives the top rolls, and thus enable it when its
direction of rotation is reversed to continue to drive the feed rolls in the
same direction as before. As the carriage nears the end of its traverse
the rotation of the upper pair of rolls will be arrested by means of a
brake fitted to the carriage, and set in action by a cam piece made fast
to the front of the framing of the machine. The consequence of this
stoppage of the upper rolls while the lower ones are still rotating will be
to sever the ribbon sliver, and to deposit a given length upon the plat-
form. The endless rotating chain is furnished with a pin which at a
given time strikes a bell-crank lever, which is connected by a rod with a
band that overlies a pulley on the rock shaft of the platform. The
rocking of this bell-crank lever will cause the platform to tip and

page_text: discharge the sliver which it contains on to an apron prepared to receive it.
When the pin has passed the crank lever the platform will rise or return
to its horizontal and original position by the aid of a weight or spring.
As these lengths of sliver are delivered in succession on to a slowly
travelling apron they will be caused to overlic each other, and thereby
effect a very perfect mixing of the fibres.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Palent,
filed by the said George Leach in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
Leach, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Leach, Her special
licence that I, the said George Leach, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Leach, my
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,
thic Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for “IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND CARDING WOOL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Leach, my
exccutors, or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 George Leach, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be porformed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings herc-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to
say):
The object of this Invention is to secure a more evenly and perfectly
carded fleece than heretofore for the formation of condensed slivers of
wool or spun yarn and thread. This result I obtain by the use of a
series of improved machines, which are intended to carry on dependent
operations upon the wool.
The Invention relates, firstly, to improvements in the common hand
fed shake willow, which is used to open the wool, and remove the dust
and extraneous matters therefrom. This willow consist of a fan, which is
mounted within a cylindrical wire case, fixed in a boxed-in framing, but
with its ends open at the centre to allow of an in-draft of air. The
blades of the fan are furnished each with a row of spikes, which in their
rapid rotation serve to beat out the dust and motes from the wool as it is
fed in at one end of the cylindrical wire case by means of an endless
apron.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings I have shown in several
views this machine as constructed according to the first licad of my
Invention.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved willow; Fig. 2 is a plan
view of the same; Fig. 3 is an end clevation; and Fig. 4 is a transverse
section, taken at about the middle of the cylindrical case.
Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the fan or beater and its cylinder, the
latter being shewn as fitted within the closed framing of the machine;
and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the fan, the fan beater detached.
A is the panelled framing of the machine enclosing the cylindrical
wire casc B, in which is mounted the beater fan C. The fan C is keyed
to a horizontal shaft D, which has its bearings in standards D¹, D³. This.
shaft D is fitted at one end with band pulleys for receiving a driving
strap from any prime mover. E is an endless feed apron for receiving
the wool to be operated upon, and delivering it to the action of the
rotary beater. This apron is carried by a pair of tension rollers, which
have their bearings in the framing F. On the axle e of the innermost
of these rollers a band pulley e¹ is mounted loosely, and it is made fast
to the axle e when required by means of a sliding clutch e. A band
from this pulley e' passes round a pulley d, keyed to the shaft D. By:

page_text: this means motion is transmitted to the feed apron E in the direction of
the arrows Fig. 2. The cylindrical case B is provided in its periphery
with a hinged door B', which is closed while the cleansing operation is
proceeding, but when this operation is completed it will open automati-
cally, and thereby allow the batch of cleaned wool to be discharged from
the case B by the action of the fan C. The way of effecting this, and
also of giving an intermittent motion to the feed apron, so that its feed
shall be arrested when a sufficient supply has been delivered into the
machine, I will now proceed to explain. To one end of the axle of the
door B is keyed a pulley b, to which is attached a weighted band b',
passing over a pulley b. A tendency is thus given to the door to open
or rise to the dotted position of Fig. 1. This is however counteracted by
means of an arm 6', keyed to the opposite end of the axle, and connected
by means of link rods & with a rock lever b³ pivotted to the standard D'.
This rock lever carries a bowlc, which is acted upon by an adjustable
compound cam * (see the detached view Fig. 3*), keyed to a horizontal
shaft b. This cam so long as its largest radius is in contact with the
bowle of the lever will retain the door B' in a closed position, but as
its reduced radius is presented to the bowle the counterweight will lift
the door, as above explained. The compound cam is composed of two
overlapping segment shaped slotted leaves, which are fitted through
their curved slots to opposite sides of a central disc, and they thus admit
of being adjusted axially to regulate the time of opening the door for the
discharge of the cleaned wool.
On the shaft & is a second and similar compound cam e³, which acts
on a rock lever c', that has for its fulcrum a rock shaft e³ carried by
brackets on the standard D'. Keyed to one end of this rock shaft is an
arm e', terminating in a fork which embraces the clutch e. The inner
cnd of the rock lever e' is supported by a spring pendent from a fixed
stud, and by this means its bowle is always kept in contact with the
cam e. While the smaller radius of the cam e' is presented to the rock
lover e, thic clutch will be in action, and the apron E will therefore be
feeding. As soon however as the larger radius of the cam comes into
action the arm co of the rock shaft will be caused to throw back the
clutch, and the band pulley e' being left loose on its axle the motion of
the feed apron will be arrested.
Rotary motion is transmitted to the cam shaft
manner:-On the shaft D is a band nulley
in the following
which though a les
JJ

page_text: gives motion to a band pulley d³, keyed to a transverse shaft d'at the
back of the machine. This shaft is fitted with a worm d³, which gears
into a worm wheel on the shaft . As therefore the shaft D is
actuated through its band pulley it will transmit a slow rotary motion
to the cam shaft b'. To prevent the wool as it is fed into the machine
lapping round the shaft D it is surrounded by a fixed sleeve or tube,
which terminates in a bell-mouthed enlargement de. The object of this
enlargement of the sleeve, which projects into the interior of the fan C,
is to prevent the wool entering the centre of the fan, and to direct it
towards the beaters. The wool as it falls from the apron E is received
on to a curved fixed incline, and as the fan rotates it will draw in and
carry round the wool, whilst the blast of air induced by the fan will blow
the wool against the wire casing and cause the heavy particles of dirt to
fall through the wire case, while the lighter particles will be carried
upwards through a vent provided for the escape of the air. When the
wool has been sufficiently willowed the door of the wire case will be
opened by the means above described, and the wool will then be dis-
charged by the blast through the continued rotation of the fan C of the
machine. The wool is then ready for the oiling and preparing processes
which I prefer to carry out by the use of the improved machinery
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me, and bearing
even date with the Patent to which this my present Specification refers.
The laps produced in the oiling and preparing machine are ready for
the first carding operation. The wool is fed to the first carder by giving
to the lap roller a slow rotary motion which will uncoil the lap and
allow it to be delivered by the feed rolls in the carding engine to the
action of the card cylinder. The sheet sliver obtained from this carding
engine is delivered from the doffer to the improved bat machine, shown
in Sheet II. of the Drawings, and forming the second head of the
Invention. This machine is a modification of the machine for which
I obtained Letters Patent bearing dato August Seventh, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-eight (No. 2477), and consists substantially of
a rotating drum on to which the carded fleece is delivered, and which,
while in the act of being laid on to or wound round the drum at one end
thereof in helical coils, is caused to traverse slowly to the other end in
the form of a continuous bat, or tube, or pipe of wool. As the bat thus
formed into a cylinder arrives at the end of the drum, the wool of which
it is composed is stripped off continuously in the shape of a ribbon or
flat sliver ready for transmission to the next carding engine.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a front clevation of the improved bat-forming machine,
and Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.
A is a polygonal drum mounted on a shaft A', and carrying at its
opposite ends bracket bearings a, in which pulleys are mounted.
Around these pulleys endless cords B are passed, which are led from end
to end of the drum at the angles of its perimeter, and thence backwards
through the drum, and finally to a pulley C around which they are
wound. By the rotation, therefore, of this pulley C a traverse motion is
given to the endless cords in the direction of the arrows, Fig. 1. The
pulley C is keyed to the boss of a spur wheel C' which runs loosely on 1
the axle A'. This axle receives motion through its driving pulley A³
from a driving belt, and rotary motion is transmitted therefrom to the
spur wheel C' by the gear wheels 1, 2, 3, Fig. 1. The wheel 1 is keyed
on the end of the shaft A', and the wheels 2 and 3 arc mounted on a
short axle carried by a rock lever C³, having its fulcrum on the framing ]
of the machine. When this lever is locked in position, as in Fig. 2, the
spur wheel will be in gear, but on depressing the lever the pulley C will
cease to drive the bands B.
D, Fig. 2, is a lattice apron for delivering the carded fleece to the
machine. A slow rotary motion being imparted to the drum A in the direc-
tion of the arrow, Fig. 2, the fleece will be laid around the drum, and as a
slow traverse motion is at the same time given to the cords B the wool will
be laid on to the drum helically, the traverse of the cords serving to give
the wool a slow lateral motion. As the feed is continued the wool will
gradually form a bat around the drum, the thickness of the bat being
determined by the relative speeds of the drum and of the endless cords.
To give consistency to the bat thus formed a pressing roller E is used.
This roller is hung in radius rods E', to which tension springs are
attached; thus the roller E will be caused to bear upon the bat and
press the helical coils of wool of which it is composed together. The 3
continued traverse of the endless cords will carry the bat to the delivery
end of the machine. At this end of the machine a stripping apparatus
is provided consisting of nipping rollers F, F, which, when a severed
portion at the forward end of the bat has been fed thereto, will continue
to tear off from the bat a ribbon or broad sliver, and deliver it to a lattice 3
apron G. To ensure the taking-up of an even width of sliver by the
stripping rollers the conical pressing roller H, carried by a radius rod H',
is caused to bear upon the bat in the desired line of severance, and thus

page_text: to ensure an even parting of the matted fibres. The stripping rollers
F, F. are geared together by spur pinions 4, 5, and they receive their
motion from the drum shaft A' through a spur and pinion 6 on the axle
of the roller F, which pinion gears into a spur wheel 7 keyed to the
drum shaft A. Fitted to the axle of the stripping roller F is a pulley f
which gives motion through a band to a pulley g on the shaft of one of
the tension rollers of the lattice apron G, and thus a traverse motion is
given to the lattice apron in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2. As
therefore the bat of wool is stripped from the drum it will be taken up
and carried off by the lattice apron G to be delivered to the next carding
engine.
Interposed between the bat forming machine just described and the
carding engine is a traversing or lap feeding machine. This machine,
which forms the third head of my Invention, is illustrated in Sheet III.
of the Drawings. Its object is so to lay the ribbon or broad sliver that
any inequalities which the sliver may possess will be lost or neutralized
in the feed submitted to the carding engine. To this end the feeding
machine is caused to deliver the sliver in given lengths (corresponding
to the width of the carder to be fed) edgewise to the feed apron of the
next carding engine. These lengths may be laid one over the other (the
upper layer being always slightly in rear of the under) in such number
as to produce any desired thickness of feed.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is a plan view; and
Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same. The machine consists mainly of
a tipping platform or table, on to which severed lengths of the ribbon are
laid one at a time by means of delivery rollers, which are mounted in a
carriage which traverses to and fro over the platform. A, A, is the
main framing of the machine, fitted with a pair of longitudinal rails a,
which are embraced by the flanged wheels 6 of the carriage B. C is a
table or platform mounted upon a rock shaft c, which serves to tip the
platform at certain intervals, and discharge the ribbon sliver on to a
lattice feed apron D, whereby it is fed into the next carding engine.
Mounted at the upper part of the carriage B are two pairs of nipping
rolls E, E, and F, F*, the former of which draws down the sliver from
the lattice apron G of Sheet II. of the Drawings, and the pair of
rollers F, F, deliver it in given lengths on to the tipping platform or
table C. These pairs of rolls are respectively geared together by the
spur wheels e, e*, S,ƒ*, and they are driven by the pinions 9, 9*, carried

page_text: respectively by the pulleys G and G taking alternately into the teethi
of the wheels to the right and the left of their centre of motion. The
pulleys G, G*, which carry the pinions g, g*, on their bosses, run loose
on stud pins projecting from a rock lever H, which is mounted on
the carriage framing. The object of thus mounting the pinions g, 9*, is
to admit of their being thrown alternately into gear with the spur wheels
on the opposite sides of their centres of motion, and thus to maintain the
rotary motion of the rolls in one and the same direction, notwithstanding
the reversal of the direction of rotation of the pinions themselves.
The rock lever I is wedge shaped at its lower end, and bearing against it
is a spring stop h, the head of which is formed with a double incline. This
stoph serves to maintain the lever in the position to which it is rocked,
but its clasticity permits of its yielding to the pressure put on the rock
lever at the end of every traverse of the carriage, and thereby of allowing
it to take up a fresh position. The vertical bar of the framing of the
carriage is slotted (see Fig. 1) to receive a pin i of an endless rotating
chain I, which is stretched over chain wheels I', I, and serves to impart
the traverse motion to the carriage. The chain wheel I' is driven through
the bevil pinions 1, 1, and the spur wheel and pinion 2, 2*, the pinion 2*
being keyed on the boss of the pulley 3, which runs loose on a stud
axle 3*, bolted to the framing A. The pulley 3 receives motion through
a band from any prime mover. Around the pulley G is laid a cord K,
which is made fast to one end of the framing, and passes over a bowle
at the other end, and is held at tension by a pendent weight. A similar
cord K' is provided for the pulley G*. As therefore the carriage B
makes its to-and-fro traverse the pulleys G, G*, will be caused to rotate,
and their respective pinions will drive the pairs of nipping rolls.
In order to effect the breaking off of the sliver when a given length:
has been drawn in by the top nipping rolls E, E*, it will be necessary to
arrest their motion while the lower nipping rolls still remain in action.
This is effected by causing the teeth of a sliding arm L to engage with
the teeth of the wheel e* when the carriage approaches the end of its
traverse. This arm L, which is attached to the carriage B, is so mounted
thereon as to allow of its receiving an endway motion. At its lower end
it carries a pin, which as the carriage is nearing the end of its traverse:
strikes against a switch incline M attached to the upper rail a, and
forming part of a raised guide way for the pin. The arm I, on being
lifted by the incline, will stop the rotation of the wheel e*, and while the

page_text: pin of the arm is sliding over the guide the rotation of the wheel will bo
arrested. Meanwhile the nipping rolls F, F*, will continue to draw
down and deliver the sliver on to the platform, and consequently the
severance of the sliver will take place. When the carriage has arrived
at the end of its course the rock lever H will be struck by one or the
other of a pair of stop rods N, which will reverse its position, the spring
bolt yielding to permit of this. At the same time the pin of the arm L
will have traversed to the end of its raised guide, the arm L will then
drop out of action, and leave the wheels e, e*, and their nipping rolls
free to rotate. On the return motion of the carriage the pin of the
arm L will pass under the switch, and in like manner when it reaches
a similar switch M it will be lifted as and for the purpose above
described.
Above the nipping rolls E, E*, the curved shield O is fitted. This
shield is open in the middle to allow of the descent of the sliver, and the
lips of the shield are guarded by a pair of anti-friction rollers o. From
the foregoing it will be understood that for every traverse of the carriage
a length of ribbon sliver is laid upon the platform C. When however a
given number of these ribbons have been piled upon the platform it will
be necessary to discharge them on to the travelling apron D. This is
effected in the following manner:-On the stud axle of the chain
wheel I is fixed a bracket arm, to which is pivotted a crank lever P,
one limb of which is slotted to receive a pin, which connects it with a
band Q. This band Q extends up, and is made fast to a pulley R, which
is keyed on the axle c of the platform C. A second band Q' is made
fast to this pulley, and brought down from the opposite side to that
overlaid by the band Q, and is fixed at its lower end to a stud on thic
framing. By causing this lever P to rock when the carriage has com-
pleted its traverse a tipping motion will be imparted to the platform C,
and its contents will thereby be discharged on to the endless apron D.
When this has taken place the platform will return to its horizontal
position by the aid of the counterweight or spring.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements
in Machinery for Preparing and Carding Wool," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The improved construction of willow or wool opener and cleaner,

page_text: Secondly. The improved construction of bat forming machine, as
described with reference to Sheet II. of the Drawings.
Thirdly. I claim the novel construction of traversing or lap feeding
machine, as described with reference to Sheet III. of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Leach, havo hereunto set 5
my hand and scal, the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.