Improvements in Apparatus for Burring, Soutohing, or Carding Wool and other Fibrous Material.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 17th May, 1894-Accepted, 23rd June, 1894
Improvements in Apparatus for Burring, Soutohing, or Carding Wool
and other Fibrous Material.
I, FRIEDERICH HUGO KNOCHE, of 5 Braustrasse Leipzig-Gohlis, Germany,
Foreman, 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:-
This invention relates to an apparatus for burring or scutching wool and other
fibrous material.
The wool to be carded is led in the usual way over the first combing cylinder or
disintegrator and the burs in the material are knocked off by means of a beater.
Should any burs he retained in the material after passing under this beater they
are thrown off by centrifugal force into a collecting trough.
There is a considerable interval between the feeding rollers and the first
disintegrator but this does not suffice to thoroughly open or loosen the material
and prepare it to be properly operated upon by the carding drum and its working
parts. Moreover the burs retained are very injurious to the fittings of the
cards.
To avoid these defects the only thing that can be done is to arrange, between
the first disintegrator and the carding drum, mechanism which will release the
material to be carded and remove any burs not knocked off by the beater but
which have been loosened by continuous pulling. In order to pull or stretch the
material it is absolutely necessary that it should be passed between two clamps or
pinchers having different speeds, one of which must hold back or retard the material
and may be termed the retarding device whilst the other which effects, through its
great speed, the stretching of the material may be called the stretching or drawing
device. It is to be understood that when I speak of a clamp" I do not mean to
merely designate thereby a distinct lever arrangement of a determined form but I
mean the term to include any combination of any suitable device based on any
fundamental principle whatever which has for its object a holding back or retarding
action.
66
In ordinary clamps a pressure is so exerted on the material by the lever arrange-
ment that friction occurs between the clamped material and the sides or jaws of the
clamps, and, as a result, a resisting force is opposed to the pulling or drawing force,
which latter acts at right angles to the line of pressure.
Apart from the bulging out of the material immediately in the rear of the
clamp jaws and which is caused by their pressure, the fundamental principle of the
clamp is friction. Consequently in order to produce a clamp for the material to
be carded a device which will give a frictional resistance to the several fibres is
required.
The necessary friction can be obtained by drawing the fibres through needles
which may be either fixed or in motion. Should they be fixed the loosening action
which is required during the drawing operation is not effected, but, on the contrary,
if the clamps hold the material with sufficient tightness, their action becomes a
tearing one. In order, therefore, to obtain an efficient retarding action and at the
same time preserve the fibres being drawn it is necessary that the needles should
have a motion within the working parts of the material required to be stretched,
and that this motion should be slower than the motion of the material. The motion
of the retarding device, when the needles describe a circular path, tends to feed the
material continuously.
I

page_text: The drawing or stretching device only differs from the retarding device, in that,
when the needles have a suitable travel or stroke, the feed is continuous.
In order to facilitate construction the needles are, preferably, made to describe
a circular path, and to effect this it is only necessary to arrange them on
suitable rollers which are rotated by means of any well known and suitable driving
gear.
In order to insure a pulling or drawing action the stretching mechanism must
be moved at a greater speed than the retarding mechanism (in the case of a roller
with a greater angular velocity). Moreover it is necessary that the needles of
the retarding device should have a general direction or inclination opposite to
those of the motor mechanism whilst the needles of the stretching device should
be in the same direction.
The more entangled and fine (thin) the material is the tighter the clamps should
he made to grip the material in order to produce the necessary tension or stretch;
and, if a number of clamps are arranged at intervals one behind the other, each
succeeding clamp must be made to grip with increased force in order to work
satisfactorily. With retarding and stretching devices consisting of needle rollers
as hereinbefore described every increase in the work must be followed by an
increase in the number of needles, or if the number of needles in each row is to
remain the same then the number of rows must be increased, this can be effected
by increasing the number of needle rollers and causing them to work one against
the other. It is obvious that the most effective work will be done when the number
of needles used is proportionate to the work.
It has already been stated that a partial opening up or loosening of the material
is effected by having suitable intervals. In order to effect a complete loosening it
is absolutely necessary that the fibres should be drawn, by an alternate arrange-
ment of the needle rollers, through needles so situated as to operate on both sides
of the material and that the fibres should always lie in the same direction, as,
otherwise, they would be unavoidably broken and entanglements could not be
dealt with.
I will now explain, by reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings, which
is given by way of example, how the invention can conveniently be carried into
effect or practice.
"
The wool or other material passes from the first disintegrator 1 to the worker 4
which gathers together the material thinly laid on the disintegrator and at the same
time serves as a retarding device. Its needles are arranged, as shown, so as to
project in a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the material which is
represented by the heavy dotted line. The roller 2 which I term a "tearing
roller or "scutcher" is provided with a tearing or disintegrating periphery and
serves as a stretching or drawing off device. It does not however operate directly
with the disintegrator 1. The first interval occurs between the roller 4 and the
scutcher 2. The cleaning roller 5 which serves to remove any fibres which may
adhere to the working roller and place them in a proper direction for the work,
revolves more slowly than the scutcher 2 and consequently has no other effect,
beyond that stated, on the material. The material disentangled in this manner is
freed by the beater 6 of any remaining burrs which are thrown into the collectin
trough. The fibres having been partially disentangled during the first interval or
stage of the process it is necessary that the retarding and stretching devices of the
second stage of the process should work with increased energy in order to obtain a
proper and satisfactory treatment. The retarding device of the second stage
consists of the worker 7, the brush 8 and the worker 9. The brush 8 is used for
brushing in the right direction any fibres which may have been torn by the roller 7,
and, at the same time, to retard or hold back the fibres. The guide roller 10
constitutes the drawing or stretching device. The working capacity of the
stretching device of the second stage is increased relatively to that of the first
stage, inasmuch as strong needles in great density or mass are used instead of saw
teeth. The guide roller 10 conveys the material to the third interval or stage of

page_text: the process by leading it to the third retarding device consisting of the worker 11,
turning roller 12 and the worker 13. The roller 12 which distributes the work and
cleans the rollers 11 and 13 is for this purpose made to revolve quicker than the
workers 11 and 13 but slower than the guide roller 10 so as not to interfere with
the course of the treatment. If the roller 12 revolved quicker than the roller 10
it would remove all the fibres from it. In the third stage or interval the retarding
power is increased owing to the rollers 11 and 13 being larger and provided with a
finer or closer covering than the workers 7 and 9 of the second stage. The
stretching or drawing off device of the third stage is the card drum 14 which has
the largest diameter and greatest speed of all the working parts of the apparatus,
and, moreover, it has a greater density or mass of needles than any of the other
rollers.
Having now considered the several stages or intervals of the process the only
thing remaining to be considered is the travel of the material in relation to its
treatment on both sides. As will be seen the workers 4 and 7 and the brush 8
operate on the upper side whilst the workers, 9, 11 and 13 operate on the lower side.
With this arrangement the travel of the material is never suddenly changed and as
a consequence good work is ensured.
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
consider novel and desire to claim is :-
1. An apparatus for burring or scutching wool and other fibrous material
consisting of mechanism so arranged and operating that the material is, before
passing to the carding drum, subjected, at intervals, to a stretching or drawing
action and a retarding or holding back action, the action at each successive interval
being increased by making the needles, or equivalent, more dense or numerous at
each succeeding stage; the material being worked on both sides and its direction
of travel never suddenly changed; and the burs being beaten off after the first
interval by a beater (3) acting on the disintegrator and then by a second
beater (6), substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
Dated this 15th day of May 1894.
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
70, Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.