Improvements in and in connection with Automatic and other Feed Apparatus for Textile Materials.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Nov., 1894-Accepted, 19th Jan., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in connection with Automatic and other Feed
Apparatus for Textile Materials.
I JOHN MUIR HETHERINGTON of the Firm of John Hetherington and Sons
Limited, of The Vulcan Works, Pollard Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to apparatus adapted to be used principally to promote
regularity in the feeding of machinery employed in the scutching opening or
preparing of raw cotton. In the simplest form of apparatus two fluted rollers
receive the cotton and feed it forward to the beater or operating parts of the
machine but in order to obtain greater regularity a single roller working in concert
with pedal levers has been employed such levers being capable of yielding
separately and being connected by parts which average their action with the
I have found
variable speed regulator driving apparatus as is now well understood.
that the single roller having to act in concert with non revolving surfaces does not
always take forward the cotton with the desired certainty especially in cases
wherein the feed apparatus is used in connection with an automatic feed machine.
In my improved feed apparatus I employ the single long roller but in place of
the non revoluble pedals or surfaces I use a series of short rollers each separately
capable of yielding and each by preference positively driven so as to revolve in
unison with the ordinary or long roller. Each short roller is mounted in a cradle
fixed or formed upon a lever which corresponds to the ordinary pedal lever and
which carries a set of bed rollers say for example two or three rollers which sustain
the short roller and are mounted to be free to revolve. These bed rollers may be
fluted to suit the flutings in the short roller. The short rollers might be revolved
by the passing cotton but I prefer to drive them positively as hereinbefore stated.
1 form the said rollers as hollow shells through which a driving shaft extends there
being clearance sufficient to permit of the necessary yielding movements of the
rollers. I connect the said driving shaft separately with each roller in such a
manner as that the roller is caused to revolve but is not prevented from yielding
more or less to permit of the passage of cotton. The driving connection may be
effected by the contact of teeth or projections upon the shaft with projections upon
the inside of the roller shell or by means of drivers mounted upon the shaft and
transmitting motion from the shaft to the roller or by means of links or yielding
When loose drivers
connections or of parts which draw or drive the roller round.
are used they may be free to slide to some extent upon the shaft in directions at
right angles to the axis thereof the rollers being mounted to slide upon the drivers
in directions at right angles to the sliding movements of the drivers or pins or studs
When using
in one part may similarly slide in slots or grooves in the other part.
an automatic feed machine I propose to apply my invention between such machine
and the connected scutcher or other machine and to connect my invention with a
speed regulator apparatus applied so as to control the speed of parts of the
automatic feed machine.
I do not intend to confine the application of my invention to machines used in
the treatment of cotton.

page_text: To enable me to use rollers suitably small in diameter I may dispense with the
through shaft and employ the drivers to act as couplings to connect the rollers so
that one roller shall transmit motion to the next in the series.
Dated this 2nd day of February 1894.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.
Improvements in and in connection with Automatic and other Feed
Apparatus for Textile Materials.
I JOHN MUIR HETHERINGTON of the Firm of John Hetherington and Sons
Limited, of The Vulcan Works, Pollard Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Machinists do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings
:-
My invention relates to apparatus adapted to be used principally to promote
regularity in the feeding or delivery of machinery employed in the scutching,
opening or preparing of raw cotton.
In the simplest form of apparatus two fluted rollers receive the cotton and feed
it forward to the beater or operating parts of the machine but in order to obtain
greater regularity a single roller working in concert with pedal levers has been
employed, such levers being capable of yielding separately and being connected by
parts which average the action, with the variable speed regulator driving apparatus
as is now well understood.
I have found that the single roller having to act in concert with non-revolving
surfaces, such as the faces of the pedal levers, does not always take forward the
cotton with the desired certainty, especially in cases where the material is loose
and separate as for example in apparatus used in connection with automatic feed
machines.
In my improved apparatus I employ the aforesaid single long roller but in place
of the non-revolvable pedals or surfaces I use a series of short rollers, each
separately capable of yielding and each by preference positively driven so as to
revolve in unison with the ordinary or long roller.
In order that my inveution may be clearly understood I will now proceed to
describe the same more particularly and with reference to the annexed sheet of
drawings.
Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section of an arrangement containing one of the
series of positively driven short fluted rollers which under my invention I use in
conjunction with the ordinary or long roller.
Fig. 2 is a plan view (upon a reduced scale) of Fig. 1.
Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate a modified method of driving the said short fluted
rollers.
Referring in the first place to Figs. 1 and 2 the ordinary long top roller is
marked A, the said roller being shown fluted as is usually the case in automatic
feed apparatus. Beneath the roller AI place the improved series of short
similarly fluted rollers B. Each of the rollers B is mounted in a cradle C formed
upon a lever C' which corresponds to the ordinary pedal lever, and is pivotted
upon the shaft or fulcrum D. The cradle C carries a set of bed rollers E, three
such bed rollers being shown in the drawing, the said bed rollers sustaining the.
short rollers B and being preferably fluted to correspond with the roller B. As
the bed rollers revolve freely in their bearings, but little resistance is offered to.
the rotation of the roller B. The rollers B might be rotated by their frictional
contact with the cotton or other textile fibre as it passes between the rollers A

page_text: and B, but I prefer to drive them positively. The said rollers B are practically
a series of short hollow cylinders and I drive them from a driving shaft F which
passes continuously through the series, sufficient clearance being left between the
shaft and the interior of the rollers B to permit of the necessary yielding motion
of the roller with its cradle C away from the roller A.
This is necessary because the shaft F maintains its position unyieldingly. To
effect the driving of the rollers B from the shaft F in such a manner as to revolve
the rollers without preventing them from yielding more or less to inequalities in the
passing cotton, I form the shaft and the interior of the rollers respectively in the
manner shown in Fig. 1. The shaft F is formed with projections as shown, and
the interior of the rollers B is also formed with projections and recesses having
sufficient bottom or clearance to allow of the rollers B to yield, while at the same
time preserving driving contact of the projections upon one side of the shaft at least,
so that the oscillations of the rollers B do not affect their rotation. The con-
sequence is that when a greater thickness of fibre than usual passes between the
rollers A and B, the roller B yields downward, the cradle and lever swinging upon
the pivot shaft D, while the driving shaft F remains in the same plane. In the
same manner if the supply of textile fibre should become thin between the rollers,
the roller B will yield upward and still remain in driving contact with the shaft F.
The lever C¹ is connected with the usual regulating apparatus, in the ordinary
manner so that the feed or delivery is increased or diminished in accordance with
the requirements.
Instead of having projections on the shaft F and in the interior of the roller B
as described, I might effect driving connection between the rollers by means of
drivers placed between each section and transmitting motion from section to section
of the rollers as shown at Figs. 3 and 4. In such a case a convenient method
would be to recess the end or ends of the rollers B to receive a loose disc G, having
two pegs G G on one side of the disc, on opposite sides of the centre; and also
two pegs G2 G2 on the other side of the disc and lying in a line at right angles to
the pegs G' G¹.
Slots B B are formed in one roller section B to receive the pegs G'G' and
similar slots B2 B2 in the next roller B to receive the pegs G2 G2. The rollers B
in this case are supported in bed rollers in the pedal lever cradle just as in Fig. 1,
and the consequence of the described loose joint disc and peg driving connection is
that any one roller B of the series may yield up or down independently of the
others during rotation and while still maintaining its driving connection with the
other rollers and with the fixed ends. Independent drivers at the end or ends,
may be actuated so as to give positive driving motion to the series, one roller
transmitting motion to the next in the series and so on.
I do not intend the arrangements described and illustrated to be exhaustive, as
the yielding and driving connection between the rollers and a common shaft or
between the respective rollers might be carried out in a manner different from the
illustrated methods and stili be within the scope of my invention.
The application of the invention is not confined to machines used in the treatment
of cotton.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
1. In apparatus of the indicated nature, in which the textile fibre being fed or
delivered passes between two revolving or revolvable rollers, dividing one of the
rollers into a series of separate and independent sections, and connecting each
section to the regulating apparatus so as to obtain a more uniform feed or delivery
of material, substantially as set forth.
2. In conjunction with the ordinary long feed roller in apparatus of the indicated
description, the employment of a series of short, fluted or other rollers, each
separately capable of yielding and of being revolved either by the friction of the

page_text: passing cotton or other textile fibre, or by preference being positively driven so as
to revolve in unison with the aforesaid ordinary roller for the purposes and
substantially as described and as illustrated.
3. In conjunction with the ordinary long roller A, the series of short rollers B,
each carried on bed rollers E in a cradle C or other suitable support formed on or
attached to the pedal lever or equivalent lever C, the said rollers B being
positively driven by means of the shaft F as shown in Fig. 1 or by means of the
disc driver shown in Figs. 3 and 4 or by other equivalent or suitable means capable
of rotating the series of rollers B and at the same time allowing each roller B to
move away from or towards the long roller A independently of the other rollers of
the series, by the means, for the purposes and substantially as described and as
shown in the annexed sheet of drawings.
4. The general arrangement, construction and combination of parts comprising
the improved apparatus for use in connection with automatic and other feed
apparatus for textile materials, substantially as described and as illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 2nd day of November 1894.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.