IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OPENING, CLEANSING. OR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Higgins, of Salford, in the County of Lan-
caster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR OPENING, CLEANSING. OR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
Sealed the 6th March 1863, and dated the 12th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Higgins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th September 1862.
I, HENRY HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OPENING. CLEANSING, OR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers, firstly, to machinery or apparatus for opening,
cleansing, or carding fibrous materials, although the arrangement is not
what is commonly understood as a carding engine. In the arrangement
I allude to a series of card or spiked rollers or cylinders is employed, to
the first of which the material is fed, and from which it is stopped by the
second, and so on through the series, it being finally deposited upon a
doffer. In connexion with these rollers or cylinders are other rollers
constituting workers.

page_text: The first part of my Invention consists in clearing the last of the above-
mentioned system by means of a roller revolving at a variable speed.
Secondly, I employ a revolving brush or other suitable agent for removing
the material from the doffer in a loose form, and cause it to be drawn by
a current of air upon a "cage," so as to form a lap. Thirdly, in using the
above-mentioned system in combination with beaters, which act upon
the material, as in the usual scutcher. Fourthly, I so drive the system
of rollers or cylinders that they shall revolve in the same direction, and
act as workers, the material being passed onward by strippers so driven
as to remove it from one of the rollers or cylinders, the next of which
removes it from the said stripper, and so on throughout the series, to
the last of which I apply a roller working at a variable speed. Fifthly,
I use a series of rollers or cylinders, as above described, acting mutually
as workers, but in combination with other rollers placed between them,
and revolving at a variable speed, so that they shall at one time strip
the rollers or cylinders first mentioned, and shall at other times be
stripped by them. With any of the above arrangements I combine
beaters as in ordinary scutchers, and also collect the material upon a
cage, so as to form a lap. Sixthly, I use a series of rollers or cylinders,
which mutually act as workers, and above I place another serics, which
also act mutually as workers and also as strippers to the lower series.
Seventhly, I employ a doffer or doffers in the middle or other part of a
series of rollers or cylinders, from which the material may be taken by
another system of rollers or cylinders.
Another part of my Invention relates to the machine usually termed a
carding engine, and consists in the application of two or more "lickers-
in" placed one before the other, revolving in the same direction, and
acting as mutual workers, and in combination also with a roller or rollers
situate between them. In order to cause the material to pass forward
the speeds of these rollers and clearers may increase from the feed
rollers, or the clearers may be driven at a variable speed.
Another part of my Invention relates to those carding engines in which
a burring roller is employed, and consists in placing the said roller below
the "licker-in."
Another part of my Invention relates to carding rollers or cylinders,
and consists in the application of a collar or equivalent part, of such a
diameter as to prevent the said rollers or cylinders from being set too
near to each other.
Another part of my Invention has for its object to prevent the fibrous

page_text: material from passing sideways off the cylinders or rollers of carding
engines or other similar machines, for which purpose I increase the
diameters of the ends of such rollers or cylinders so as to bring them
level with the wire cards or other such instruments, and these increased
diameters I produce by leather or other suitable material, which may be
ground away when the said rolleis or cylinders require sharpening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Higgins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Higgins, Her special license that I, the said
Henry Higgins, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said Henry Higgins, 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 law-
fully might 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 MACHINERY oa APPARATUS FOR OPENING
CLEANSING, OR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
upon the condi-
tion, amongst others, that I, the said Henry Higgins, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Higgins, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of the first part of my Invention is to work and clean the

page_text: fibrous material by means of a series of card rollers, and to remove it
at the end of such series in a loose form, by means of a brush or other
suitable agent, so as to collect it upon a cage and form a lap. This
arrangement is illustrated in side elevation at Fig. 1, in which a repre-
sents ordinary feed rollers, which deliver the material to what may be
considered the licker-in b; from thence the material is passed onward,
and worked by other card rollers c, d, e, f, g, and is finally deposited upon
a doffer h. In front of this doffer is a rapidly revolving brush or other
suitable instrument k, which removes the material in a loose form, and
throws it upon a grating 1. At m is a fan, used as in ordinary scutchers,
for exhausting cages n; by this fan, therefore, the fibrous material is
drawn upward from the grating to the cages n, and is passed onward
by the rollers o and callender rollers p to the lapping apparatus q, or
the material may be collected from the roller d (which in this case may
be regarded as the doffer), by a brush or equivalent apparatus, and
thrown upon the cage n, as described above, without the intervention of
the rollers h, e, and i. I would also remark, that as the object of the
revolving brush is to remove the material in a loose form I can effect that
operation by a current of air produced by a fan.
Thus far I have described the general operation of the machine, and I
will now point out certain arrangements of card rollers which I employ
for cleansing and working the material, referring to the arrows and
direction of teeth shewn in the Drawing. The rollers b, c, d, revolve in
the same direction, and the card clothing is so adapted as to make them
workers. Above these are placed other rollers f, g, in contact therewith
and with each other. Suppose the roller b to revolve at a rate repre-
sented by one, and the roller g by two, the material will be stripped by
the latter, and if the roller c revolve at a rate represented by threc, it will
remove the material from g, and so on through the series, it being at the
same time worked by the upper rollers f, g, and also by the lower
rollers b, c, d, from the latter of which it is stripped by the roller e, and
deposited upon the doffer k. Beneath the roller is a small roller i, to
which a variable speed is imparted, according to the method for which
Letters Patent were granted to William Edward Newton, bearing date
Twenty-second August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four,
No. 1847. When, therefore, the roller i revolves at a greater surface
speed than e it strips the material therefrom, but when thesc relative
speeds are reversed the said roller e becomes the stripper of the roller i.
Fig. 2 represents another arrangement of card rollers, which I employ

page_text: instead of that shewn at Fig. 1. Three card rollers are represented
at b, c d, so arranged as to act as workers, and revolving in the same
direction. Above and between these are other rollers f, g, but in this
case they are of smaller diameter than those represented by similar
letters of reference in Fig. 1, and do not therefore act as mutual workers,
but merely as strippers for conveying the material forward.
Another arrangement I employ may also be illustrated by reference to
Fig. 2. In this instance the rollers b, c, d, are caused to revolve at the
same speed, and the rollers f,g, at a variable speed, according to the
Specification of William Edward Newton aforesaid. Supposing, there-
fore, the roller g to revolve at a greater surface speed than those shewn
at b and c, the material will be stripped from the two latter, but if the
relative speeds thereof be reversed, then the roller g will be stripped
partly by b, and partly by c, and the same effect will take place through
a series of any required number.
Thirdly, my Invention consists in using a series of rollers as aforesaid
in combination with beaters, which act upon the material, as in the usual
scutcher. This is shewn at Fig. 3. The feed apparatus r is that usually
employed in scutchers, delivering the material by means of the rollers s
to the beaters t, after which it is drawn by the fan at u, so as to pass over
the grating v, and accumulate upon the cages w. From these cages the
sheet of fibrous material is taken by rollers x and delivered to the licker-
in b, passing onward, as before mentioned, between the card rollers
already described.
Another part of my Invention relates to the machine usually termed
the carding engine, and consists in the application of two or more
lickers-in placed one before the other, revolving in the same direction,
and acting as mutual workers, and in combination also with a roller or
rollers situated between them.
This part of my Invention is shewn at Fig. 4, in which a, b; are two
lickers-in, receiving the material from the ordinary feed roller c. Above
and between these lickers-in is a clearer d. The several surfaces b, d, a,
revolve at surface speeds, which may be represented respectively by
three, four, five, and the effect thereof is, that the first b is stripped by
the second d, and the second d by the third a, which is stripped by the
main cylinder, the two lickers-in a, b, acting at the same time as workers
to each other.
In Fig. 5, a modification of this part of my Invention is shewn. In
this instance there are three lickers-in e, f, g, above and between which

page_text: are clearers h, i; the rates of surface revolution increase from e to g, after
the manner already described, and the material is therefore successively
stripped, and at the same time worked by the three lickers-in. In
addition to this, however, the clearers i, h, also act as workers, they being
placed in contact, according to the arrangement shewn at Figs. 1 and 2,
before described; or, instead of this method of causing the material to
pass onward while it is worked, and before it reaches the main cylinder,
the several lickers-in may be caused to revolve at the same speed, and
a variable motion imparted to clearers, as before described in reference
to Fig. 2.
Another part of my Invention relates to carding rollers or cylinders,
and consists in the application of a collar or equivalent part, of such a
diameter as to prevent the rollers or cylinders from being set too near to
each other.
This improvement is shewn at Fig. 6, in which a, b, are two rollers, on
each end of which are formed collars, as at c, d, which collars when
bearing against each other cause the teeth of the rollers to be set in their
correct relative positions. Also in reference to card rollers or cylinders,
I prevent the fibrous material from passing sideways therefrom. For this
purpose, I increase the diameters of the ends of such rollers or cylinders
so as to bring them level with the wire cards or other such instruments,
and these increased diameters I produce by substances which may be
ground away when the said rollers or cylinders require sharpening.
This part of my Invention is illustrated at Fig. 7, in which e is a roller
or cylinder, provided with wire cards or or other such instruments. On
each end, as at f, I place a ring, which is ground away simultaneously
with the carding instrument; a substance which I have found to answer
well for these rings is a low quality of india-rubber, but leather or other
materials which can be ground away may be used, and although such
substances as I have mentioned are more readily removed, metal may
be employed.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly, removing the fibrous material in a loose condition from a system
of card rollers, and depositing it upon a cage, so as to form a lap; also
the arrangements of carding rollers described in connection therewith.

page_text: Secondly, the combination of a system of card rollers with beaters,
acting after the manner of a scutcher.
As regards the carding engine usually so called, I claim the use of two
or more lickers-in, revolving in the same direction, and acting as workers
to each other, placed the one before the other or others, and in com-
bination therewith the use of other rollers, as described, for causing the
material to pass onward.
In reference to carding rollers or cylinders, I claim the adaptation of
collars or equivalents, for preventing them from being set too near to each
other.
!
Also, I claim the adaptation to such rollers or cylinders of ends com-
posed of india-rubber or other material which may be ground away.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Higgins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
HENRY HIGGINS. (L.s.)