IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARDING APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARDING
APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communi-
cation.
Sealed the 5th January 1855, and dated the 22nd August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd August 1854.
I, WILLIAM JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
CARDING APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS," a commu-
nication from abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture and use of wire cards, as employed
for preparing and carding cotton and other fibrous materials, with curved
instead of angular teeth. The wire for these carding teeth may be cut up and
shaped to the required form, either in the common card-making machine,
slightly modified to suit the new shape, or in an apparatus specially contrived"

page_text: for the purpose. The essential point of differénce between the old and new
form of such card-making apparatus is to be found in the contour of the
shaping bar or moulding piece, over which the teeth are individually bent.
The moulding surface is of course shaped to the curve which it is intended the
teeth shall possess. Teeth so curved are superior to the ordinary angular
teeth in many respects. They may be worn down close to the root; they are
more regular in their surface and in their action upon the fibrous materials,
and they are less liable to spring out of form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and of.
Glasgow, North Britain, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Johnson, Her special license that I, the said William
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CARDING APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Johnson, 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 William Johnson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,

page_text: reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to the manufacture and use of wire cards, us
employed for preparing and carding cotton and other fibrous materials, with
curved teeth instead of angular teeth, as generally used., The wire for these
carding teeth may be cut up and shaped to the required form, either in the
common card-making machine, slightly modified to suit the new shape, or in
an apparatus specially contrived for the purpose. The essential point of
difference between the old and new form of such card-making apparatus is to
be found in the contour of the shaping bar or moulding piece, over which the
teeth are individually bent. The moulding surface is of course shaped to the
curve which it is intended the teeth shall possess. Teeth so curved are
superior to the ordinary angular teeth in many respects. They may be worn:
down close to the root; they are more regular in their surface, and in their
action upon the fibrous materials, and they are less liable to spring out of form.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood, I shall now
proceed to describe and refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings.
hereunto attached.
"
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings represents a section of a portion of a
piece of card of the ordinary construction, the teeth A being bent to an
angular form, the entire tooth being made up of two straight portions of
wire: Figure 2 is a similar view of a portion of a card made with the
improved teeth, which are. bent into a curved shape in place of being angular,
as in Figure 1. These teeth may be made to any curve, of a greater or less
radius than that represented in Figure 2, and they may be inserted in any of
the materials at present employed for forming the card backs. Figure 3 is a
full-sized detail of a portion of the bending mechanism of an ordinary card-
making machine, for bending the teeth of the common cards as at present in
use; and Figure 4 is a similar view of the same mechanism, as applied to the
bending or curving of the improved teeth. It will be obvious, on referring to
these two Figures, that the same mechanism, modified merely to suit the
improved form of tooth, is equally applicable in either case.
In the manu-
facture of the ordinary cards, the bar A (Figure 3), over which the teeth
are bent, is formed with a species of knife or bevilled edge; while for the
production of the improved form of tooth, this bar A is curved on its upper
edge, as in Figure 4, such curve being rather smaller than the desired curve of
the tooth, in order to allow for the partial springing of the wire after bending.
This allowance is clearly shewn in Figure 4. The benders B, B, in both
cases remain precisely the same as is distinctly shewn in Figures 3 and 4.

page_text: They both descend upon the bar A, and bend the teeth of the card over its
edge, whatever form that edge may be made to assume. These improved card
teeth are applicable not only to bands or strips of cards, but also to sheets, and
they will be found more advantageous than the ordinary cards in all cases
where such cards have been hitherto employed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of the Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the application and use of curved card teeth for the purposes herein-
before described.
Second, the peculiar modification in the form of the machinery as adapted
for making cards with curved teeth as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in this year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOHNSON. (L.S.)
A