AN IMPROVEMENT IN PIECING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rhodes, of Morley, near Leeds, in the County
of York, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
PIECING MACHINES."
Sealed the 8th March 1864, and dated the 11th September 1863.
· PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Rhodes at the
Office of the Commissioners of--Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
September 1863.
I, JOSEPH RHODES, of Morley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN PIECING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the well-known machines for piecing the cardings
as produced by carding engines, and its object is to obtain a greater number
of cardings on the lattice sheet or travelling apron, or to have them placed
nearer together thereon than heretofore, so that the slubbings may be wound
on the bobbins at proper distances apart to suit the gauge or pitch of the
spindles of spinning mules, and because of the space required for the buckets
to tip or turn over in they cannot be placed sufficiently close together on the
travelling chains, I accomplish the object by causing the travelling troughs
or buckets to alternately tip or deposit the cardings at two separate places on
the said lattice sheet or travelling apron, either by having two or more sets of
tipping apparatus actuated at alternate times, or by an alternate endwise
movement of the apparatus now employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Rhodes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
RHODES, of Morley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Rhodes, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Rhodes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Rhodes, 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, usc,-exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN PIECING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Rhodes, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
iu writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Joseph Rhodes, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the well-known machines for piecing the cardings.
as produced by carding engines, and its object is to obtain a greater number
of cardings on the creeper, lattice sheet, or travelling apron, or to have them
placed nearer together thereon than heretofore, so that the cardings may be
wound on the bobbins at proper distances apart to suit the gauge or piter of
the spindles of spinning mules or fine pitched billies, and because of the space
required for the buckets or troughs to topple or turn over in they cannot be
placed sufficiently close together on the travelling chains to suit the pitch
required, now I accomplish the object by causing the travelling troughs or
buckets to alternately topple and deposit the cardings at two or more separate

page_text: places on the said creeper, lattice sheet, or travelling apron, thereby allowing
sufficient space for the toppling or turning over of the buckets or troughs.
On reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and description
thereof herein-after, the nature of this Invention and the manner in which it
is or may be performed will be clearly understood.
a
These Drawings represent part of a side elevation of an ordinary piecing
machine shewing my improvements according to one arrangement. The parts
lettered A are the buckets or troughs, which are carried on endless chains B,
and to which motion is given by the mangle wheel C in the usual manner;
D is the "tipping" or toppling rack, which is caused to slide laterally, so as to
place the teeth or stops d in position for coming in contact with the pins or
projections a, which are affixed on the buckets to cause them to topple or
turn over as they move along at the time when they are required to do so;
E is a rocking shaft with a lever F fixed thereon, which is jointed to a short
rod connected to the rack; G is another lever fixed on this shaft, and pro-
jecting so as to be actuated by one arm of a lever H which is hinged on a
stud fixed in the frame; I is the "tipping" or toppling wheel, which is a plate
cog wheel carried loose on another stud fixed to the frame, and is geared with
pinion K of suitable proportionate size fixed on the mangle wheel shaft.
Two studs or pins J' and J2 are fixed in the wheel I, and which pins operate
upon the other arm of the lever H as the wheel rotates; M is the creeper,
lattice sheet, or travelling apron, and N are the straighteners or oscillating
ribs for straightening the cardings as they are dropped from the buckets or
troughs on to the creeper. It will now be seen that there are two teeth
d' and d² on the rack D to each bucket or trough, or that the said teeth are
only half the pitch or distance apart that the buckets are, and that there are
an equal number of the ribs N to the teeth, or that they are of the same pitch
as the teeth. Also that the two pins J' and Je are so arranged or placed on
the wheel I as not to act upon the lever H at equal intervals of time, but are
so adjusted as that the stud J¹ will actuate the said lever, and consequently
will move or slide the rack into position for the teeth d¹ to come in contact,
and cause the buckets to topple the cardings into the compartments P betwixt
the ribs N, and the stud J will actuate the lever at the proper time to cause
the buckets to come into contact with the teeth d², thereby toppling the
cardings into the compartments Q. Thus each of the pins J' and J
respectively will always actuate the lever and rack to cause the buckets to
deposit the cardings at the proper time alternately at two different places on
the creeper, or at one half the distance apart that the buckets are placed
asunder. And if it be required to deposit the cardings at a finer pitch, or at

page_text: three or more places on the creeper, the wheels, may be made proportionate in-
size or in relative diameters to the speed of the buckets, or to the distance.
required for them to travel for each deposit, and three or more pins may be
arranged and fixed in the toppling wheel with corresponding arrangements in
distance apart of the buckets suitable to the pitch or distance apart required
for the cardings.to be deposited. The number of teeth on the rack, and the
number of straighteners, or their distance apart being regulated to correspond,
and thereby effect the object of depositing the cardings at any desirable pitch
or distance apart on the creeper or travelling apron to suit the gauge or pitch
of spinning spindles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rhodes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Joseph Rhodes in
the presence of
WM. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
JOSEPH RHODES. (L.S.)

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rhodes, of Morley, near Leeds, in the County
of York, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
PIECING MACHINES.”
Sealed the 8th March 1864, and dated the 11th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Rhodes at the
Office of the Commissioners of--Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
September 1863.
I, JOSEPH RHODES, of Morley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN PIECING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the well-known machines for piecing the cardings
as produced by carding engines, and its object is to obtain a greater number
of cardings on the lattice sheet or travelling apron, or to have them placed
nearer together thereon than heretofore, so that the slubbings may be wound
on the bobbins at proper distances apart to suit the gauge or pitch of the
spindles of spinning mules, and because of the space required for the buckets
to tip or turn over in they cannot be placed sufficiently close together on the
travelling chains, I accomplish the object by causing the travelling troughs
or buckets to alternately tip or deposit the cardings at two separate places on
the said lattice sheet or travelling apron, either by having two or more sets of
tipping apparatus actuated at alternate times, or by an alternate endwise
movement of the apparatus now employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Rhodes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
RHODES, of Morley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Rhodes, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Rhodes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Rhodes, 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, tlie
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN PIECING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Rhodes, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
-
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Rhodes, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the well-known machines for piecing the cardings
as produced by carding engines, and its object is to obtain a greater number
of cardings on the creeper, lattice sheet, or travelling apron, or to have them
placed nearer together thereon than heretofore, so that the cardings may be
wound on the bobbins at proper distances apart to suit the gauge or pitch of
the spindles of spinning mules or fine pitched billies, and because of the space
required for the buckets or troughs to topple or turn over in they cannot be
placed sufficiently close together on the travelling chains to suit the pitch
required, now I accomplish the object by causing the travelling troughs or
buckets to alternately topple and deposit the cardings at two or inore separate

page_text: places on the said creeper, lattice sheet, or travelling apron, thereby allowing
sufficient space for the toppling or turning over of the buckets or troughs.
On reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and description
thereof herein-after; the nature of this Invention and the manner in which it
is or may be performed will be clearly understood.
These Drawings represent part of a side elevation of an ordinary piecing
machine. shewing my improvements according to one arrangement. The parts
lettered A are the buckets or troughs, which are carried on endless chains B,
and to which motion is given by the mangle wheel C in the usual manner;
D' is the "tipping" or toppling rack, which is caused to slide laterally, so as to
placé the teeth or stops d in position for coming in contact with the pins or
projections a; which are affixed on the buckets to cause them. to topple or
turn over as they move along at the time when they are required to do so;
E is a rocking shaft with a lever F fixed thereon, which is jointed to a short
rod connected to the rack; G is another lever fixed on this shaft, and pro-
jecting so as to be actuated by one arm of a lever H which is hinged on a
stud fixed in the frame; I is the "tipping" or toppling wheel, which is a plate
cog wheel carried loose on another stud fixed to the frame, and is geared with
a pinion K of suitable proportionate size fixed on the mangle wheel shaft.
Two studs or pins J¹ and J2 are fixed in the wheel I, and which pins operate
upon the other arm of the lever H as the wheel rotates; M is the creeper,
lattice sheet, or travelling apron, and N are the straighteners or oscillating
ribs for straightening the cardings as they are dropped from the buckets or
troughs on to the creeper. It will now be seen that there are two teeth
d' and d² on the rack D to each bucket or trough, or that the said teeth are
only half the pitch or distance apart that the buckets are, and that there are
an equal number of the ribs N to the teeth, or that they are of the same pitch
as the teeth. Also that the two pins J¹ and Js are so arranged or placed on
the wheel I as not to act upon the lever H at equal intervals of time, but are
so adjusted as that the stud J¹ will actuate the said lever, and consequently
will move or slide the rack into position for the teeth d¹ to come in contact,
and cause the buckets to topple the cardings into the compartments P betwixt
the ribs N, and the stud J will actuate the lever at the proper time to cause
the buckets to come into contact with the teeth d³, thereby toppling the
cardings into the compartments Q. Thus each of the pins J' and J²
respectively will always actuate the lever and rack to cause the buckets to
deposit the cardings at the proper time alternately at two different places on
the creeper, or at one half the distance apart that the buckets are placed
asunder. And if it be required to deposit the cardings at a finer pitch, or at

page_text: three or more places on the creeper, the wheels may be made proportionate in
size or in relative diameters to the speed of the buckets, or to the distance
required for them to travel for each deposit, and three or more pins may be
arranged and fixed in the toppling wheel with corresponding arrangements in
distance apart of the buckets suitable to the pitch or distance apart required
for the cardings to be deposited. The number of teeth on the rack, and the
number of straighteners, or their distance apart being regulated to correspond,
and thereby effect the object of depositing the cardings at. any desirable pitch.
or distance apart on the creeper or travelling apron to suit the gauge or pitch
of spinning spindles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rhodes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Joseph Rhodes in
the presence of
W. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
JOSEPH RHODES. (L.S.)