IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lloyd Wise, of Chandos Chambers,
Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR OPERATING
ON CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE."-A communication from
abroad by Messrs. Bède and Company, of Verviers, Belgium.
Sealed the 12th December 1871, and dated the 11th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lloyd Wise at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1871.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the
5 County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR OPERATING
OF CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in dividing the carding or band of wool or
other fibre as it leaves the carding machine, by causing it to pass between

page_text: pairs of grooved rollers or grooved cylindrical surfaces provided with
sharp edges so as to produce smaller bands or slivers which are then
passed directly under or through the rubbing apparatus, which transforms
these smaller bands or slivers into rolls or rolled slivers.
For this purpose several arrangements of apparatus constructed
according to this Invention may be employed, preferring the following
arrangement as being very simple :-
Rollers operate in pairs, the surface of each roller being made of two
different diameters, the smaller of which is cylindrical and the other
may be the same, but by preference it has given to it a recessed form,
because by that means it is easier to obtain the sharp edges herein-before
referred to, which, however, need not be so sharp as to act like scissors.
The grooved parts of the rollers are a little larger than their cylindrical
portions. These rollers are all carefully turned to corresponding
diameters and they are uniformly made with one groove each.
Each series of these rollers is mounted on a shaft or spindle and the
whole are retained in correct relative positions, preferably by long keys
passing through the whole of each series. The extremities of the shafts are
formed of smaller diameter to run in bearings, and screw threads are cut
on the larger part to receive nuts, by means of which the rollers can be
tightened or adjusted when they are mounted in their positions, so that
the rollers on one shaft or spindle may work as required in correct
relation with the rollers on the other shaft or spindle, the larger parts of
the rollers of one series working between the corresponding parts of the
other series. In order that in tightening up these rollers by the nuts
they may adjust themselves easily to the strain india-rubber washers are
placed between the nuts and the last roller at each end of each shaft or
spindle.
It will be seen that this system of two shafts or spindles with the
rollers or sheaves forms a sort of flatting machine with grooved cylinders
in which the circular grooves enter between each other with perfect
exactness, which is very easily obtained.

page_text: The above-described apparatus being placed before the stripper of the
carding machine, the band or carding detached from the stripper, whether
by a comb or by a doffing roller or doffer, enters between the rollers of
this "
flatter," and is divided into as many little cardings or slivers as
there are rollers or sheaves. These narrow cardings or slivers are rolled
in the grooves or recesses of the "flatter;" one half of them is thus
pressed or forced against the bottom cylinder or roller and the other
half against the upper one, but they are stopped by supplemental
rollers or sheaves which are fixed on revolving spindles in a similar
manner to the grooved rollers already described. These supplemental
rollers or sheaves take off the cardings or slivers, and lead them to the
rubbing apparatus formed with cylinders and endless revolving or
travelling belts or bands in pairs, having a rotating motion and an
alternate or come-and-go movement. On the lower cylinders of the
rubbing apparatus are two small polished rollers, between which latter
and the said cylinders the cardings or slivers brought to the rubbing
apparatus are compressed or squeezed. The cardings or slivers are drawn
away between the belts or bands of each rubber, and leave in the form
of rolls which are rolled on rollers or "cannelles," the number of which
depends upon the size of the machine. The various movements are
obtained by means of toothed wheels, pulleys, and belts, the proportions
and speeds of which are varied as required.
The supplemental rollers or sheaves operate only on starting the
machine. After the separate cardings or slivers have become engaged
with the rubbers they no longer touch the supplemental rollers, but go
direct from the dividing flatter to the rubbers.
If desired the supplemental rollers may be so arranged as to be lifted
up or put out of gear when the machine is started, but by preference
they are allowed to rotate because they do not cause any inconvenience,
and it might happen that one of the narrower cardings or slivers might
break on leaving the flatter, in which case it would be caught by the
supplemental roller and led to the rubber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Lloyd Wise in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th-April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LLOYD WISE, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the County of Middle-
sex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Lloyd Wise, Her
special licence that I, the said William Lloyd Wise, my executors,
dministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Lloyd
Wise, 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, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR OPERATING
ON CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE," a communication to me from!
abroad by Messrs. Bède and Company, of Verviers, Belgium, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Lloyd Wise, my,
exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Lloyd Wise, 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 thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists in dividing the carding or sheet of wool or
other fibre as it leaves the carding machine by causing it to pass between
pairs of grooved rollers or grooved cylindrical surfaces provided with

page_text: directly through the rubbing apparatus, which transforms or rubs these
strips or slivers into rovings or threads.
For this purposo several arrangements of apparatus constructed
according to this Invention may be employed, preferring the following
arrangement as being very effective and simple :-
Rollers operate in pairs, the surface of each roller being made of two
different diameters, the smaller of which is cylindrical and the other may
be the same; but by preference it has given to it a recessed form,
because by that means it is easier to obtain the sharp edges herein-before`
referred to, which however need not be so sharp as to act like scissors.
The grooved parts of the rollers are a little larger than their cylindrical
portions. These rollers are all carefully turned to corresponding
diameters, and they are uniformly made with one groove each. If
desired each roller might be made of two separate cylindrical pieces of
the required different diameters; but it is preferred to make them both
in one piece.
Each series of these rollers is mounted on a shaft or spindle, and the
whole are retained in correct relative positions preferably by long keys
passing through the whole of cach series. The extremities of the shafts
are formed of smaller diameter to run in bearings, and screw threads are
cut on the larger part to receive nuts, by means of which the rollers can .
be tightened or adjusted when they are mounted in their positions, so
that the rollers on one shaft or spindle may work as required in correct.
relation with the rollers on the other shaft or spindle, the larger parts or
ribs of the rollers of one series working between the corresponding parts
of the other series. In order that in tightening up these rollers by the
nuts they may adjust themselves easily to the strain, india-rubber
washers are placed between the nuts and the last roller at each end of
each shaft or spindle, and if required thinner washers of similar material
may be interposed between the inside rollers of cach series for the same
purpose.
It will be seen that this system of two shafts or spindles with tho
rollers or sheaves forms a sort of flatting machine with grooved cylinders,
in which the circular grooves enter between each other with perfect
volness which is voru easily obtained

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I will by the
aid of the accompanying Drawings proceed to describe means pursued
in carrying the same into practical effect.
Fig. 1 is a sectional view of part of a carding engine to which tho
improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view of the improved.
dividing apparatus detached; and Fig. 3 represents a part of the dividing
rollers or cylinders drawn to a larger scale. The same letters of reference
indicate like parts in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
D, Fig. 1, represents the doffer of a carding engine. A, A¹, are the
dividing rollers or cylinders by which the carding or sheet of fibres from
the carding engine is divided into strips or slivers. The construction
of the said dividing rollers or cylinders will be readily understood by
reference to Fig. 3. A, A', are two series of these rollers, mounted
respectively on the shafts C, C', and capable of sliding longitudinally
upon the said shafts, whilst they are prevented from turning upon them
by the longitudinal keys or feathers k, k². The said rollers A, A¹, form
projecting ribs a, b, a', b', and spaces or grooves c, d, c³, d³, the ribs a, b,
a', b', being rather wider than the other parts of the rollers. The part
of each roller forming the projecting circular rib is in section slightly
> dovetailed, that is to say, the sides of the ribs a, b, a¹, b¹, taper slightly from
outside to inside, namely, from 6 to c, and a to d, and from b¹ to c³, and
a¹ to d³, and in the middle of the circumferential surfaces a, b, and a¹, b¹,
they are slightly recessed or grooved as shown. E, E¹, are screw nuts,
and e, e³, are washers of india-rubber or other elastic material. The said
screw nuts serve to tighten together all the rollers A, A³, so that the ribs
of A and A' may press gently one against the other, and together form
rotatory cutters or dividers. B, B', are supplementary ribbed rollers, the
ribs of which take into the spaces, grooves, or recesses between the ribs
of the rollers A, A³, detaching the slivers therefrom and conducting
them to the rubbing apparatus F, F, with which they are further made
to engage by the feed rollers r, r³, in contact with the same rubbing
apparatus. The sheet of fibre e passes from the doffer the D to between
the dividing cylinders A, A', which rotate in the direction of the arrows,
Fig. 1, and divide the said sheets into as many slivers as there are
5 ribs on the said rollers or cylinders A, A¹. The said slivers adhere to the
spaces, grooves, or recesses between the ribs of the rollers or cylinders,
and are carried round in the said spaces, grooves, or recesses, one-half
in the direction of A and the other half in the direction of A'; when

page_text: coming in contact with the ribs of the supplementary rollers B, B', tlicy
aro detached from the rollers A, A', and are conducted to between the
rollers r, r, and the rubbing apparatus F, F'; they thus become engaged
in the same rubbing apparatus and are rubbed into rovings or threads.
When the separate slivers have become engaged between the rubbers &
F, F, and the small feed rollers r, r, they pass directly from the dividing
apparatus A, A, to the rubbers. The rollers B, B³, might then be
removed or put out of gear; but it is preferred to leave them in motion
as they do not cause any inconvenience, and one of the narrow slivers.
might break in leaving the dividing apparatus, and in that case it would 1
be caught by the supplementary rollers and passed on to the rubbers.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed or carried into practical effect, I
wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying 1
Drawings, as they may be modified in divers ways without departing
from the nature of the Invention; but I claim as the Invention
communicated to me by my foreign correspondents,―
1st. The dividing apparatus constructed and arranged substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, 2
for cutting or dividing the carding or sheet of wool or other fibre.
produced by a carding engine into small slivers by means of a pair of
ribbed or grooved rollers or cylinders composed each of a series of rollers
mounted on a revolving shaft, and capable of sliding freely on the said
shafts, which are parallel one to the other and placed near enough for 2
the projecting circular ribs on the rollers of one shaft to engage and be
pressed between the ribs of the rollers on the other shaft, so that the
sheet of fibre cannot pass on the sides of the said rollers, but is divided
into slivers of the breadth of the said ribs or circular projections.
2nd. The mode of causing the separation of each alternate sliver thus 3
formed from those next to it, substantially as herein-before described,
that is to say, by the said slivers adhering to the spaces or grooves
between the ribs of the dividing rollers, and boing carried round by
them, one-half in one direction and the other half in the opposite
direction previously to their being conducted to the rubbers.
3rd. The devices for conducting the small slivers from the dividing
cylinders to the rubber, substantially as hercin-before described and
3

page_text: illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, by means of
supplemental ribbed rollers, the ribs of which rollers take into the spaces
or grooves between the ribs of the dividing rollers, and detach the slivers
therefrom and conduct them to the rubbing apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lloyd Wise, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
W. LLOYD WISE. (L.S.)