CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING OR SHARPENING CARDS USED IN CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
ALEXANDER KENNEDY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of May, in the sixth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Alexander Kennedy, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Robert Alexander Kennedy, my exors,
admiors, and assigns, and such others' as I, the said Robert Alexander
Kennedy, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING OR SHARPENING
CARDS USED IN CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Robert Alexander
Kennedy, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: in
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Alexander Kennedy, do hereby declare the nature of my Inven-
tion of Certain Improvements in Machinery for Grinding or Sharpening
Cards used in Carding Cotton and other Fibrous Material to consist in the con-
struction and arrangement of a certain mechanical apparatus to be applied to
the ordinary carding engine for the purpose of grinding or sharpening the
teeth and cards placed on the cylinders of such engines; and the manner
which the same is to be performed or carried into effect will be seen by
reference to the annexed Drawings and the following description thereof. The
scale to which the annexed Drawings are made is marked thereon, and the
various letters and figures of reference used in the description are applied to
similar parts throughout, so that, the same letter or figure of reference indi-
cates the same part in each Figure.
::
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of my Invention as applied to the
cards on the main and doffer cylinder of a carding engine. Fig. 2 is a
plan of the same, and Fig. 3 a plan of the apparatus with the cylinders
omitted. The remaining Figures are detail and detached parts, which
will be referred to as the description proceeds. In these Figures A
represents a strickle or grinding surface, formed to correspond with the
curve of the cards on the main cylinder, the pitch line of which is repre-
sented at C. A similar strickle B is formed to correspond with the
curve of the doffer cylinder, the pitch line of which is represented at D,
and the, direction of rotation of such cylinder is indicated by a small
arrow.. These strickles may be formed of wood or other suitable material,
but I prefer tin plate or other metallic sheet, which I first form into the
dished shape seen at Fig. 9 and 7, to this I solder small cross pieces or ribs
h, h, h, h, to keep it in that position, and then solder to it a similar curved
plate which corresponds with the curve of the cylinder for which the strickle
is designed. Fig. 7 will then represent the end view, and Fig. 8 the side
view of this strickle, the concave surface of which must be covered with
cement, on which the emery is placed in the ordinary 'manner: Strickles
formed in this way are not heavier than ordinary wooden strickes, and have
the advantage of remaining true under any ordinary circumstances. At the
back of the strickle for the main cylinder are placed four studs f,f,ff, but
for the strickle for the doffer only two studs are required, see Figs. 2 and 3.
These studs are firmly connected to small iron ribs soldered or rivetted in the
interior of the strickle. The whole of the apparatus is supported by a stout

page_text: bar E, at each extremity of which is placed a catch g, by which it may be held
firm to the framing of the carding engine when required, the form and con-
struction of which are seen separate at Fig. 5, where the lower extremity of
the part g will be seen formed into a screw for the purpose of elevating the
part y, when the bar E is to be secured to the framing by turning the part y
under it and in contact with the steady pin X. The bar E is formed to cor-
respond with the width of the carding engine, and 'provided with a stud ör
steady pin X at each extremity to secure its accurate position. This bar E
supports two vibrating parallel levers d, d, and d, d, moving on their respective
fulcrums e, e. Supposing, therefore, the bar E to be attached to the framing
parallel to the cylinder in the position seen at Figs. 1 and 2, the extremities
of the levers d, d, and d, d, will fall over the cylinders C and D as seen at
Fig. 1, so that two of the studs f of each strickle being placed free in the
respective slots or openings at the extremities of the levers d, d, and d, d, as
seen at Fig. 2, the strickles are held accurately parallel to each other, and to
the axes of the cylinders on which they rest, and any motion of the levers
d, d, and d, d, is imparted at the same time to both strickles A and B, which
are held in contact with the levers d, d, and d, d, by the friction between their
surface and the surface of the revolving cards or cylinders on which they are
placed. On the axis of the main cylinder, or any convenient revolving part of
the carding engine, I place a warve or pulley P, from which motion is imparted
by means of a strap to the pulley i, one of which is placed at each extremity
of the revolving shaft I. as best seen in plan and elevation at Fig. 1; 2, and 3.
This shaft I is supported in the projections k, k, k, proceeding from the bar E,
as seen at Fig. 2 and 3. About the middle of the shaft I is placed a' small
worm which takes into a worm wheel, also supported in steps attached to the
bar E, see Fig. 3 and 6. On the upper end of the stud or axis of this worm
wheel is placed a small disk provided with an eccentric stud 7, see Fig. 6; the
revolution of which imparts a an alternating traverse or reciprocating motion
to the part m, in the opening or slot of which it is placed. The part m
is firmly attached to the connecting rod N; each extremnity of which is
supported by studs on the levers d, d, and d, d, to which a uniform
vibrating motion is thereby imparted, and the strickles with which they
are provided moved or traversed similar to the action of the hand grinder
in the old process, but in a more uniform and accurate manner, and the equal
grinding or sharpening action of the card teeth is effected.
When greater
pressure is required for grinding or sharpening the card teeth than the weight
of the strickle itself will produce (and also to prevent vibration), I introduce
the small springs a, a, and b, b, see Fig. 4, which represents a transverse

page_text: section of this part, to bear on the strickles, the amount of pressure being
-regulated-by-the set screws o, o, the form and arrangement of which are seen
at Fig. 1, 2, and 3, and in section at Fig. 4. In addition to the parts already
described I place a small lime or sand glass, as seen at G, Fig. 3, which repre-
sents an apparatus complete. This glass enables the operative to perform the
work with greater accuracy, and is also a check on the work he performs. In
using this apparatus for sharpening or grinding the cards of a series of carding
engines, the operative first places the bar E in its proper position, which is
determined by the studs X, X, and connects it to the framing by the catches
9, 9; the strap is then passed over the pulley i, and the vibration of the levers
d, d, and d, d, commences. The strickles A and B are now placed free in the
opening at the extremities of the levers d, d, and d, d, and resting on the re-
spective cylinders, as already described. The sand-glass G is inverted or put in
action, and the operative immediately leaves the engine and proceeds to prepare
the next by taking off the top cards and reversing the rotation of the cylinders
or cylinder in the ordinary manner. As soon as the sand has run through the
glass (which I generally adjust for five or seven minutes) the operative
removes the apparatus to the next carding engine, which he has had time to
prepare during the sharpening or grinding of the first. In this way he proceeds
through the whole room or series of carding engines, which are thus kept
equally sharpened and in proper order, without the risk of any engine being
neglected or omitted, while the uniform pressure of the strickle obviates the
risk of grinding the cards on one end of the cylinder more than the other, a
fault which frequently occurs when the grinding or sharpening is done by hand.
I would further remark, that the operation of grinding or sharpening cards,
with my apparatus or improvements in machinery is performed in much less
time as well as in a superior manner than ordinary hand grinding can effect,
and the accuracy of adjustment which is insured by the pins X, puts it out of
the power of the operative to apply the apparatus to the carding engine incor-
rectly, while the studs f on the strickles moving freely in the slots or opening
in the levers d, d, and d, d, allow of the strickles adjusting their position
accurately to the position of the cylinder or surface of the cards to be ground
or sharpened.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be performed and carried into effect, I do not claim as my
Invention any separate or detached part of which the apparatus is constructed,
but I do claim the combination and arrangement of those parts by means of
which my improvements are effected, as herein-before set forth and described.
And I also claim all modifications of such combination and arrangements by

page_text: which the alternating traverse is imparted to the strickles used for grinding or
sharpening cards by means of parallel vibrating levers. And I further claim
the adjustment of my apparatus to the carding engine by means of the studs
or steady pins X, together with the self-adjusting arrangement of the strickles,
which are held free in the openings of the parallel vibrating levers, and steadied
and regulated in their pressure by the action of the springs. And such my
Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, new, and never before
used in that part of Her Majesty's Dominion called England, I deliver this as
my true and faithful Specification of the same..
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Alexander Kennedy, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
ROBERT A. (L.s.) KENNEDY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Robert Alexander Kennedy
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.