CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING COTTON, FLAX; WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMITH; of Deanston Works, in the Parish of Kilmadock, Perthshire, Scot-
land, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the fourth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Smith, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Smith, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Smith, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the terin of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
CARDING COTTON, FLAX; WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that 1, the said James Sinith, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the saine is to be performed, to be inrolled in His 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Smith, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention of "Certain
Improvements in Machinery for Carding Cotton, Flax, Wool, Silk, and other

page_text: Fibrous Materials," to consist in a more compact and convenient arrangement
of the various parts of which a carding engine consists than is generally in use,
together with the adaptation and application of a new apparatus by which
the flats or top cards are regularly and uniformly stripped or cleared of the
cotton or other fibrous materials, motes, and other refuse which they accumu
late during the process of carding, which apparatus is put in action by the
machine itself, thereby keeping the top cards clear and in working order
without the intervention or attention of the topper or operative who generally
performs this duty; and the manner in which the same is to be performed
and carried into effect will be more clearly seen by reference to the annexed
Drawings, in all which various views, plans, and sections of machinery letters
and figures of reference are used, the same letters and figures of reference
indicating the same parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents an end view of a carding engine constructed with
the application of my improvements; Figure 2 is a front view, and Figure 3
a transverse section of the same. In Figure 1, A represents the driving
pulley over which the driving strap passes in the ordinary manner, by which
the smaller cylinder B is put in motion. This cylinder constitutes the first
or breaking cylinder of the engine, and is fed at the back and front of the
engine by rolls or laps of cotton in the state in which it is brought from the
scuteber or spreading machine. The position and arrangement of the feeding
apparatus will be best seen in Figure 1, where C represents a small bevil wheel
placed on the same shaft as the driving pulley A, which conveys motion by the
wheels c, c', and c to the shaft c', which, by the two reverse worms at its
extremity, conveys a slow motion to the worm wheels cand c, which are
keyed on to the ends of the feeding rollers d, d, at the back and front of the
machine; from the feeding rollers motion is conveyed by the spur wheel
a', a, a, a, a', to a series of parallel rollers on which the roll of cotton D is
supported, so that the lap or roll of cotton D is regularly revolved and
delivered to the feeding rollers at a uniform speed by the surface motion it
receives from the rotation of the roller a', a', a', a'. This method of feeding
the breaker cylinder by means of two feeding tables enables me to feed with
greater regularity and more thinly and slowly with each lap, at the same time
that a greater amount of material is passed into the machine. The material
to be carded is taken from each set of feeding rollers by licker-in of any
convenient diameter in the usual manner, and from, which the breaking
cylinder is fed. From the breaker cylinder B the cotton is received by two
0

page_text: carding cylinders E and E', and the main finishing cylinder F feeds itself from
both of these cylinders, turning the fibre over a straight and sharp edged
iron plate near the point of nearest approach of the cylinders, whereby
the fibre is kept straight, being prevented from rolling over. The main
cylinder is driven by a strap f¹ from a pulley on the same shaft as the driving
pully A, as seen in Figure 2; and from the opposite end of the shaft of
the main cylinder the carding cylinders E and E' are driven, as seen in
Figure 2, where e represents the driving strap conveying motion to the
pulley e which carries a small pinion driving the wheels e and e' on the
respective shafts of the two doffers, which receive the material being carded
from the main cylinder F. The motion of the combs for stripping the
doffing cylinders on the shafts of the wheels e and e' is given by a crank on
the surface of the pully G, which receives motion by the strap g, as seen in
the Drawing, Figure 1, and the fleeces or sheets of carded material which
is taken off from each of the dofling cylinders, and conveyed together through
a tube or trumpet mouth into the can g' by the rollers 92 and 93 in the ordinary
manner. These last rollers are geered together and driven by the strap g,
which receives its motion from the pulley e¹, as seen at Figure 1. On the
axis of the carding cylinder E' is placed the pully II, which gives motion by
the strap to the top cards of the main cylinder, as well as to the stripping
apparatus, which will be herein-after described. In the arrangement of this
part of my Invention the top cards of the main cylinder, or flats as they are
sometimes called, are not placed in a stationary position above the main
cylinder as in ordinary carding machines, but are connected together by an
endless chain of links at each extremity or side of the machine, as seen at
i, i, i, i, i, in Figures 1 and 2, and the intermediate space between the sides
of any two top cards is closed by a strip of leather, whereby the dust or flue
is prevented from escaping, and the whole of the top cards form a continuous
or endless sheet or belt passing round the four guide pullies I, I, I, and I',
which last receives a slow motion through the wheels and from a pinion
on the pully, which is driven by the strap h. Thus the whole of the top
cards are caused to revolve or remove slowly in the direction of the arrow
seen in Figure 1; and that portion or amount of top cards which present
their teeth or dents to the cards on the main cylinders F are guided and regu-
lated in their distance from the main cylinder by two large rings or circular
surfaces K, K, one of which is placed at each end of the main cylinder, and
moves freely round the same centre, as seen at Figure 1 and 3. These rings
K, K, are carried along with the top cards, and, being accurately concentric
to the main cylinder, I am enabled to adjust the top cards by the set screws

page_text: with which they are provided, as best seen in Figure 1. The endless sheet of
top cards is kept straight across the main cylinder by a series of small pro-
jections at each extremity, which will be best seen near the set screw in the
top cards in Figure 1; these projections are received into holes with which
the pullies I, I, I, and l' are provided on their periphery, as seen in Figure 4
(which shews a front view of this part), and by means of these projections or
dents the motion is imparted to the top cards from the pully I. Thus the
motion of the top cards passing them regularly over the upper surface of the
main cylinder, cach top or card is gradually filled with the amount of cotton,
and motes or other fibrous materials which has in ordinary carding engines
to be stripped by hand, but in this arrangement by my improved apparatus,
which I shall now proceed to describe.
On the same centre, and partaking of the motion of the pully 2, is placed
the frame n, n, m, n, which extends the whole width of the machine, as best
seen in plan at Figure 8, and revolves in the direction indicated by the arrow,
Figure 1. This frame is provided with a circular brush N, which circular
brush or segment of a circle is made to revolve on the shaft on which it is
placed by means of the small pinion at its extremity which geers into the
stationary wheel M, which is screwed to one of the holders of the framing,
and concentric with the shaft of the pully. Thus the brush N partakes of a
two-fold motion, namely, one round the centre of the shaft on which it is
placed, and one round the centre of the pully, and the latter motion brings
it in contact with each top card as they successively recede from the main
cylinder, one top card being cleared at each revolution of the pully, as seen
at Figure 1, while the revolution of the shaft on which the brush N is placed
brushes out or strips the top card with which it is in contact. The fibro and
motes being thus removed from the top card to the brush N, it is received
upon the comb O, which also revolves around the centre of the wheel in the
revolving frame n, n, n, n, hy which it is supported at the two extremities
of a shaft p, p; against the teeth of this comb is placed a straight edge P,
which is supported in the same frame n, m, n, n, in a similar manner to the
comb O, and the comb and the straight edge are connected by a link, as scen
in section at Figure 9, so that when the comb is vibrated free of the brush N,
the straight edge P is also vibrated, and by this movement, indicated in dotted
lines at Figure 9, it will be seen that the straight edge is pushed up to the
point of the comb, and thereby frees it of any material it may have received
from the brush N. The vibrating or freeing of the comb O from the brush N
is effected by means of a small lever proceeding from the shaft or axis of
the comb, which takes into a groove or eccentric guide in the interior face

page_text: of the stationary wheel M, the form of which groove is shewn at Figure 9;
and supposing the comb teeth to be inserted in the brush N, while the tail
end of the lever is moving at the greatest circumference of the groove in the
wheel M, the comb will be relieved or pushed out and free of the brush when
the tail end of the lever is in the smaller or eccentric part of the groove,
which is immediately after the comb has received the strippings or fibrous
materials from the brush N, as shewn at Figure 6; the material cleared from
the comb drops into a box. hung from the framing of the carding engine, as
seen at 2, Fig. 1. In the construction of the tops or flats I have generally
used sheet iron or other metalic substance, and the peculiar form shewn in
the Drawing gives suflicient strength and stiffness, at the same time that the
flats are of light weight. My chief reason for using metallic substance in the
tops is to obviate or overcome the annoyance arising from the expansion and
contraction and warping of those made of timber or wood. In fastening the
top sheets to these metallic tops, having first rendered the face of the top
straight and level by a floating of metal, paste, plaster, or other substance, and
perforated a row of circular holes, about one eighth of an inch in diameter
and one inch apart, along cach margin,, the sheets being stretched on a
separate frame, are perforated by a punch to correspond, and are then fitted
to the top, headed rivets of lead, tin, or other soft metal are passed through
the holes, and are rivetted to the places by compression with a pair of strong
iron pincers made to fit.
Figure 7 represents a separate brushing apparatus which I use for clearing
or stripping the main cylinders. When the operation is required, the brush is
placed in contact with the cylinder, and supported by the projections X, X,
which fit into the framing on each side of the card. The cylinder is then
slowly revolved the reverse way, and the brush turned by the handle or winch
at the extremity of its axis, at the same time that the long comb with which
it is provided clears it of the accumulated cotton or other material which it
receives from the cylinder. The comb also moves on its axis, but is held
stationary by the arms y, y, during the brushing, in the position shewn in
section at Figure 10; but as soon at it is full of strippings the carder vibrates
it back by one of the arms y, and the stripping is removed in any convenient
manner.
Having now described my Certain Improvements in Machinery for Carding
Cotton, Flax, Wool, Silk, and other Fibrous Materials, I shall state that.
I do not claim as my Invention any of the separate or well-known parts or
arrangements of machinery which are common to cording engines now in
use; but I do claim as of my Invention the peculiar arrangement of the

page_text: cylinders, as herein-before described, whereby the engine is rendered more
compact, the carding surfaces more conveniently brought into action, the top
cards made self-cleaning, and a greater and more regular produce of carding
effected. And I also claim as my Invention the application and adaptation of
an endless succession of flats or tops moving round n portion of the periphery
of a carding cylinder, both separate and in conjunction with the brushing or
cleaning apparatus, which applications for cleaning the said succession of tops,
together with the brushing apparatus shewn and described at Figures 7
and S, I distinctly claim as my Invention. And I further claim the Invention
of tops formed of sheet metal, whereby the evil arising from clearing on
warping are prevented. As regards the brushing or clearing apparatus, I
am fully aware that it may be modified by substituting a brush which does not
revolve in the place of the brush N, and by other arrangements, but the
application of a continuously successive brushing or clearing apparatus to a
continuous succession of moving flat top cards I do claim as my Invention,
which, as well as the arrangement of the cards and my other contrivances,
may be applied to engines of the ordinary construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto set my liand
in the year of our
and seal, this *
day of
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1834, the aforesaid James Smith came before our said
Lord the King in Ilis Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.