IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WOOL, COTTON, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS TO CARDING OR OTHER MACHINES.”
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry James Hogg King, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WOOL, COTTON, OR OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS TO CARDING OR OTHER MACHINES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry James Hogg
King at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th April 1872.
I, HENRY JAMES HOGG KING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WOOL, COTTON, OR OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS TO CARDING OR OTHER MACHINES," to be as follows, that
is to say:-
-
This Invention relates to the now well-known "Evans and King's
First Feed" machine, which weighs the fibrous materials whilst feeding

page_text: - them, and comprises various improvements designed to adapt the appa-
ratus better for particular classes of fibrous materials, or to render it
more conveniently applicable in connection with existing machines or in
special cases.
One improvement consists in reversing the position of the hopper into
which the fibrous materials are first put in relation to the endless feed
apron which carries the materials to the carding or other machine, or in
other words, in placing the hopper above the feed apron with its back
towards the machine, and so that the materials when delivered from the
weighing scale are carried along under the hopper. With this improved 1
arrangement no additional space will be required beyond the end of the
ordinary feed apron. When it is considered objectionable to have the
hopper as high as the placing it above the ordinary position of the feed
apron would make it, this feed apron may be lowered at the part passing
under the hopper and be guided in a vertical or inclined direction at its ]
delivery end, so as to deliver to the carding or other machine at the
usual height, the materials being kept from falling at the rising part
by a roller or by an endless apron between which and the ordinary apron
they are carried upwards.
A second improvement designed for feeding wool to oiling machines
or where a comparatively rapid feed is required, consists in making the
weighing and other parts in duplicate to deliver alternately upon the
same feed apron, the duplicate parts being most conveniently arranged.
back to back and above the feed apron.
A third modification is designed to prevent excessive vibration, such 2
as exists in some factories from interfering with the proper action of the
weighing details. Such vibration has been found to produce an oscilla-
tion of the weighing scale, which occasionally causes it to be emptied
before the proper time. The improvement consists in suspending the
centres of the weighing scale levers on links which are allowed a limited 3
play between stops.
By a fourth improvement the hook toothed wheel which empties the,
scalo is driven by a pitch chain instead of a cord, to renders its action
more regular and make it less liable to derangement.
:
The remaining improvements relate to the separation of the fibrous g
materials, and to their presentation to the hooked roller or endless apron
by which they are carried over and dropped into the weighing scale.

page_text: To make waste or partially spun materials suitable for the apparatus,
they are passed between a pair of drawing-in rollers covered with wire
card and subjected to heckles or teeth on a revolving drum, which teazes.
them out and separates them into sufficiently short lengths.
A reciprocating board with teeth or ribs on its upper side is in some:
cases substituted for the endless apron for gathering the materials in the
hopper towards the hooked roller or delivery apron.
For some classes of fibrous materials one or more rollers covered with
wire card are used for presenting the materials to the hooked roller, and
an endless band with cross bars is used in combination therewith for
beating back superfluous fibres, or these may be kept back by a recipro-
cating bar with short teeth. The vibrating paddle applied above the
hooked roller may also be made with short teeth when the fibrous
materials are like wools having a medium or long staple; or a back-
wardly revolving roller with reversed hooks may be substituted for the
vibrating paddle.
Finally when dealing with long staple wool or similar materials these
may be gradually drawn from the mass by a series of pairs of card..
covered or fluted rollers, the first pair being set widely apart and
moving slowly, the second being placed nearer together and turning
more rapidly, the third more closely still and moving more rapidly, and
so on, the last pair presenting the materials to a hooked apron or to the
hooked roller, which may have round it a number of bands or wires to
facilitate the discharging of the materials from the roller, as described in
the Specification of Letters Patent obtained by Philip Charles Evans
and the present applicant, and dated 23 May 1870 (No. 1484).
In some cases the last described arrangement may be used for feeding
fibrous materials without being combined with weighing details.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry James Hogg King in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 16th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,. HENRY
JAMES HOGG KING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: I
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry James Hogg King, Her special 5
licence that I, the said Henry James Hogg King, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry James
Hogg King, 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 "1
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention'
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WOOL, COTTON, OR OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS TO CARDING OR OTHER MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry James Hogg King, my executors or 1
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of 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:20
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry James Hogg King, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same.
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the 2
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
"
My said Invention relates to the now well known "Evans and King's
First Feed" machine, which weighs the fibrous materials whilst feeding
them, and comprises various improvements designed to adapt the
apparatus better for particular classes of fibrous materials, or to render 3
it more conveniently applicable in connection with existing machines, or
in special cases.
1
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing 3
modifications of apparatus embodying my various improvements. In
these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same
or like parts wherever they are repeated.

page_text: .
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the "first feed" machine as arranged
according to the first of the improvements constituting my present
Invention. This improvement consists principally in reversing the
position of the hopper 1 in relation to the endless feed apron 2, which
carries the weighed materials to the carding or other machine; or in
other words, in placing the hopper 1 above the feed apron 2, and with
its back towards the machine (supposed to be towards the left hand in
the Drawing), so that the materials when delivered from the weighing
scale 3 are carried along under the hopper 1. With this improved
arrangement no additional space will be required beyond the end of the
ordinary feed apron 2. When it is considered objectionable to have the
hopper 1 as high as the placing it above the ordinary position of the feed
apron would make it, this feed apron 2 may be lowered at the part
passing under the hopper, and be guided in a vertical or inclined
direction at its delivery end, as indicated by dotted lines at 4, so as to
deliver to the carding or other machine at the usual height, the materials
being kept from falling at the rising part by a roller, or by an endless
apron 5, between which and the other apron (4) they are carried upwards.
An inclined board 6 is provided for guiding the materials when falling
from the scale 3 down.to the feed apron 2, and an inclined board 7 is
also fixed above the outer part of the scale 3 as a guard to prevent the
workers from encountering the scale when putting fresh materials into
the hopper 1. The weighing scale 3 is carried on pivots, by a pair of
counterweighted levers 8 (one only of which is seen in Figure 1), and
the parts are arranged and act substantially in the manner described in.
the Specification of earlier Letters Patent obtained by me and dated
9 March 1871 (No. 629), and shown in Figure 2. of the Drawings
accompanying that Specification.
"
A second improvement designed for feeding wool to oiling or burring.
machines, or where a comparatively rapid feed is required, is shown in
Figure 2, which is a side elevation. This improvement consists in
making the weighing and other parts in duplicate, and in arranging the
weighing scales 3, 31, to deliver alternately upon the same feed apron 2.
The duplicate parts are most conveniently arranged back to back as
shown, with the feed apron 2 passing under the duplicate hoppers 1, 1'.
. A third improvement is designed to prevent excessive vibration, such.
as exists in in some factories from interfering with the proper action of
the weighing details. Such vibration has been found to produce an oscil-

page_text: lation of the weighing scale 3, which occasionally causes it to be emptied
before the proper time. My improvement consists in suspending the
centres of the weighing scale levers 8 on links which are allowed a
limited play between stops.
In Figure 3 one of these links 9 is shown in section as hung on a
knife edge pin 10, adjustably fixed in the top of the pillar 11.
Figure 4 is an elevation of the pillar 11, which is increased in height
correspondingly with the length of link.
:.
Figure 5 is a face view of the link 9, which has pins 12 fixed on it to
act as stops by one or other of them coming into contact with the side 1
of the pillar when the link tends to move too far in either direction.
By a fourth improvement the hook-toothed wheel (on the inner side
of the wheel 13, in Figure 1), is driven by means of a pitch chain 14
instead of a cord to render its action more regular and make it less liable
to derangement. This pitch chain 14 receives its motion from a toothed 1
wheel 15 on the first motion shaft 16 of the machine, and acts on a
toothed wheel 17, having on its inner side a pinion in gear with the
wheel 13. The pitch chain also actuates a wheel 18, which works
spreading mechanism of the kind described in the Specification of earlier
Letters Patent obtained by me, and dated 25 August 1870 (No. 2335).
A similar pitch chain 19 is used in the modification shown in Figure 2,
for connecting the rollers 20 at the opposite ends of the feed apron 2,
with the additional cam wheel 21, by which the second set of weighing
details are restarted after each action.
2
My remaining improvements relate to the separation, partial sepa- 2
ration, or loosening of the fibrous materials, and to their presentation
to the hooked roller or endless apron, by which they are carried over and
dropped into the weighing scale.
To make waste or partially spun materials suitable for the apparatus,
they are treated in a machine shown in vertical longitudinal section in 8
Figure 6. In this machine the materials are laid by hand upon an
endless apron 22, which presents them to a pair of drawing-in rollers 28,
covered with wire card, and revolving at a comparatively slow speed.
These rollers 23, which may be fluted instead of being covered with
wire card if preferred, present the materials to heckles or teeth on a 3

page_text: revolving drum 24, by which they are teazed out and separated into
sufficiently short lengths.
A.reciprocating board 25, such as is shown in the sectional Diagram,
Figure 7, and which is furnished with teeth or ribs on its upper side, iş
in some cases substituted for the endless apron in the bottom of the
hopper 1, for gathering the materials towards the hooked roller-26 (or
delivery apron 26, Figure 9). This reciprocating board is supported on
rollers 27, and is actuated by a rod 28 from a revolving eccentric 29.
For some classes of fibrous materials I use an arrangement such as is
shown in vertical section in Figure 9, and in which a roller 30, covered
with wire card is used, either in combination with another similar one
or with the ordinary endless apron 31 for presenting the fibrous materials
to the hooked roller or lifting apron 26, and an endless band 82 with
cross bars moving as indicated by the arrow is used therewith for beating
back superfluons fibres, or these may be kept back by a reciprocating
bar with short teeth.
17
When the fibrous materials are like such wools as have a medium or
long staple, I maken the vibrating paddle 38, applied above the hooked
roller 26, as shown in Figures 7 and 8, that is, with as series of teeth
projecting beyond the board of the paddle. It is convenient to make
the paddle with the teeth or prongs fixed to the axle, and to subsequently
fix over them a board or plate of whatever breadth is found best suited
for the particular fibrous materials to be operated on in each case.
:
In some cases instead of the vibrating paddle.33 I use for holding.
back the superfluous materials a backwardly revolving roller 34 (or it
might be a short endless apron) furnished with reversed hooks, as shown
in Figure 10.
.
Finally, when dealing with long staple wool or similar materials, these
may be gradually drawn from the mass by a series of pairs of card
covered or fluted rollers, such as is shown in vertical section in Figure 11,
the first pair 35 being set widely apart and revolving slowly, the second 86
being placed nearer together and turning more rapidly, the third, 87,
more closely still and moving more rapidly, and so on if there are more
pairs, the last pair (37) presenting the materials to a hooked apron, or
hooked roller 26, which may have round it a number of bands or
wires 38 to facilitate the discharging of the materials from the roller,"

page_text: as described in the Specification of Letters Patent obtained Philip
Charles Evans and myself, and dated 23 May 1870 (No. 1484).
5
In some cases the arrangement of successive pairs of differently
speeded rollers (85, 36, 37), last herein-before described, may be used
for feeding fibrous 'materials without being combined with weighing 5
details.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to 'state that I do not restrict myself tó
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by 1
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The arranging of the hopper and weighing details in relation to the
feed apron, so that the said apron carries the weighed materials under
the hopper, substantially as herein-before described.
2. The combining together of two sets of weighing details, so as to 1
deliver upon one feed apron, substantially as herein-before described...
8. The suspending of the centres of the weighing scale levers on links
capable of a limited play between stops, as and for the purposes herein-
before described.
-
4. The applying of a pitch chain for actuating the hook toothed wheel 2
which empties the weighing scale, as herein-before described.
-
5. The using of apparatus, substantially such as is herein-before
described with reference to Figure 6 of the accompanying Drawings, for
preparing waste or partially spun materials for the "first feed " machine.
6. The applying of a reciprocating board (25) with teeth or bars, as
and for the purposes herein-before described with reference to Figure 7
of the accompanying Drawings.
:
7. The using of one or two card-covered rollers (30), as and for the
purposes herein-before described with reference to Figure 9 of the
accompanying Drawings.
. 8. The using of the endless band (32) with bars, of the improved
paddle (33) with projecting teeth, or of the reverse toothed backwardly,
.

page_text: revolving roller (34) for keeping back superfluous materials, as herein-
before described with reference to Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, of the accom-
panying Drawings.
9. The using of a number of pairs of card covered rollers, graduated
as regards the width apart and speed of each successive pair for feeding
fibrous materials from a mass, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said. Henry James Hogg King, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow..
H. J. H. KING. (L.S.)