IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Curtis, of the Firm of Curtis, Parr, and
Madeley, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist,
and William Henry Rhodes, of the same Place, Foreman; for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.”
Sealed the 9th February 1872, and dated the 16th August 1871..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Curtis and
William Henry Rhodes, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th August 1871.
.
We, MATTHEW CURTIS, of the Firm of Curtis, Parr, and Madeley,
of Manchester, in the County of, Lancaster, Machinist, and WILLIAM
HENRY RHODES, of the same Place, Foreman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBEROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
.
Our Invention consists of self-acting apparatus for stripping the
cylinders of carding engines, and removing the bits of leaf and other

page_text: impurities that accumulate on and between the teeth of the card
cylinders.
A roller revolves in movable bearings alternately at different speeds
and in opposite directions. When the roller is required to strip it is
caused to move sufficiently near to the cylinder as to enable its teeth
to strip or clean the impurities off the cylinder, at which time the
surface speed of the roller is greater than that of the cylinder it has
to strip. When the roller has stripped the cylinder it is drawn out of
contact therewith and put into contact with a comb which clears it,
at which time the roller is caused to rotate slowly and in the reverse
direction to that it did when stripping the cylinder. The rotary motions
in opposite directions are imparted to the stripping roller by friction
cones, or other suitable reversing gear, and the stripping roller is moved
in and out of contact with the cylinder to be stripped by a cam driven
by a worm and wheel and change wheels, so as to vary the time that:
the stripping roller remains in operation, according to the nature of the
fibrous substance that is being carded.
The stripping roller can either be used to strip the cylinder only, or
it can be so placed between the cylinder and doffer as to be able to strip
both at the same time, or in double carding engines it can be placed to
strip the cylinder and slow trimmer.
Our Invention in connection with fly frames and other machines of
the like nature relates, firstly, to the winding-on motion. In these
machines the ends of the spools are conical, and this form is found
objectionable, as the rovings are liable to bind together, and consc- 2
quently to break when being unwound. Now our Invention consists
in making the ends of the spools of a curved or nearly hemispherical
shape to remedy the defect of the conical form, and to increase the
quantity of roving wound on the spool. We produce the curved shaped
ends of the spool by means of a template with a curved slot, which is g
moved to and fro by the usual shortening motion of the frame, or we
vary the traverse of the roving on the spool by means of a screw with a
gradually enlarged pitch, the said screw being driven by the shaft of.
the usual reversing motion; and, secondly, to an arrangement for pre-
-venting back lash, to which frames which have been some time at work 3
are especially liable. To effect this, we place a pulley on the driving
shaft, and another on the spindle shaft, over both of which is a strap by

page_text: which motion is communicated from the one to the other. The pulley
on the driving shaft we make a little larger in diameter than that on the
spindle shaft, by which means the pulley on the driving shaft endeavours
to cause that on the spindle shaft to run at a quicker speed, and the
back lash or slack in the wheels is taken up, and the winding becomes
much steadier.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Matthew Curtis and William Henry Rhodes in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MATTHEW
CURTIS, of the Firm of Curtis, Parr, and Madeley, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, and WILLIAM HENRY RHODES, of the same Place,
Foreman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, 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 us, the said Matthew Curtis and William Henry Rhodes,
Her special licence, that we, the said Matthew Curtis and William
Henry Rhodes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Matthew Curtis and William Henry Rhodes, our
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 MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Matthew Curtis and William Henry Rhodes, our exécutors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our
or 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Matthew Curtis and William
Henry Rhodes, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the samo is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to
say) :—
Our Invention consists of certain improved self-acting apparatus for
stripping the cylinders of carding engines, and removing the bits of loaf
and other impurities that accumulate on and between the teeth of the
card cylinders.
E
Our Invention in connection with fly frames and other machines of 1
the like nature relates, firstly, to the winding-on motion. In these
machines the ends of the spools are conical, and this form is found
objectionable as the rovings are liable to bind together, and conse,
quently to break when being unwound. Now our Invention consists
in making the ends of the spools of a curved or nearly hemispherical
shape to remedy the defect of the conical form, and to increase the
quantity of roving wound on the spool; and, secondly, to an arrange-
ment of machinery for preventing back lash, to which frames which
have been some time at work are liable.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily:
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being being had to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the principal parts of a carding engine, to
which our improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is an end view; and:
Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detached views of parts of the same.
a is the licker in, 6 the main cylinder, and c the doffor which parts
and the others requisite to complete the machine are made as usual.
Our improvements in self-acting apparatus for stripping the main
cylinder and removing the bits of leaf and other impurities that accu-
mulate on and between the card teeth consist of the following parts :—
-d is a roller covered with card fillet; this roller is supported in the.
horizontal levers e fixed on the shaft e¹, and this shaft is caused to
oscillate at intervals so as to move the roller d from the position shewn
in full lines, when it is supposed to be stripping the main cylinder, to
that shewn in dotted lines by the cam f, which is fast to the wheel ƒ³,
loose on the shaft f¹; the cam acts on a bowl connected to the lever g,

page_text: which lever is connected to the lever e³ on the shaft c¹ by the rod g¹.
-A slow rotary motion-is given to the wheel by means of the pinion f*
fixed on the shaft f. This pinion gears into the carrier wheel h,
which drives the wheel
worm
on the shaft h, and on this shaft is fixed the
gearing into the pinion k, shewn in Fig. 4. This pinion is on
the same shaft as the worm gearing into the wheel f', loose on the
shaft ƒ¹; the wheel f' gears into a pinion on the shaft ♬, which has
a second pinion gearing into the wheel f", to which the cam fis fixed.
To the wheel f' is cast the friction box f, which has a flange with a
recess in it, as shewn in Fig. 5, the object of which will be explained
hereafter. When the main cylinder is being stripped by the roller d
its surface speed must be greater than that of the main cylinder; but
when the roller d has collected a certain quantity of impurities from the
main cylinder, and has been moved out of contact with the main cylinder,
then the direction of rotation of the roller d must be reversed, as shewn
by the arrows in Fig. 1, and the speed reduced while its surface is being
stripped by the comb i, which is caused to vibrate by the eccentric /* on
the shaft, the eccentric being connected by the rod i¹ to the lever ª
on the axle of the vibrating comb i. The variations in the speed of the
O roller d are produced in the following manner:-To the axle of the
main cylinder b is fixed the pulley 6'; which by means of a crossed strap
gives motion to the pulley f* fixed on the shaft f. To the pulley ƒ®
is fixed the friction cone f; which fits inside the friction box j, the
outside circumference whereof is a pulley for driving the pulley d' on
5 the axle of the roller d. The friction box j is cast with the friction
cone, fitting inside the flanged pulley f, which is cast to the wheel f⭑
driven by the worm k', as above described. Between the friction box j
and the friction cone j¹ is a boss with an annular groove, in which a
bowl from the elbow lever m enters, and the other arm of this elbow
O lever is provided with another bowl, which is held in contact with the
flange of the pulley by a spring, as shewn in Fig. 3.
When the stripping roller d is in the position shewn in Fig. 1 it is
revolving at its greatest speed to strip the main cylinder, and the friction
box j is held by the spring in contact with the friction cone f, the bowl
5 on the arm of the elbow lever m being in the recess of the flange of the
pulley f, as shewn in Fig. 5; but as soon as the said flange moves
forward the elbow lever m is brought into the position shown by dotted
lines in Fig. 3. The friction box j is thus taken out of contact with the

page_text: cone f, and the friction cone is brought into gear with the pulley ƒ³,
which then imparts the requisite slow motion to the friction box j for
driving the roller d slowly while its surface is being stripped by the
comb i.
The roller d may either be made of the same length as the main
cylinder so as to strip the whole surface at once, or it may be a short
roller, as shown in Figs. 2, 6, and 7, in which case it must be traversed
to and fro over the main cylinder to strip only a portion of the surface
at a time. The roller & may be traversed to and fro by the double
screw, which is turned slowly round by the ratchet wheel n' and
catch rod n³, one end of which is jointed to a crank or eccentric on the
shaft . There is a T headed stud fitting in the double screw which takes
into the nut n³, which is connected by a stud to the frame d³, resting
on the shaft e¹, and on the axle of the roller d. Wo wish to remark that
the apparatus for traversing the roller d to and fro may be varied.
•
The stripping apparatus above described may also be placed above the
doffer, as shewn in Fig. 1, and placed in such a position that the roller d
will act simultaneously on the surfaces of the doffer and main cylinder.
In this case the fast and slow speeds would be given to the roller d, and
the vibrating motion to the comb i, by the machinery abovo described.
The comb is mado at the edge of a trough to collect the impuritics from
tho roller d.
=
Our Invention in connection with fly frames and other machines of
the like nature relates, firstly, to the winding-on motion. In these
machines the ends of the spools are conical, and this form is found
objectionable, as the rovings are liable to bind together, and conse-
quently to break when being unwound. Now our Invention consists
in making the ends of the spools of a curved or nearly hemispherical
shape, as shown in Fig. 8, to remedy the defect of the conical form, and
to increase the quantity of roving wound on the spool. We produce
the curved-shaped ends of the spool by means of a template with a
curved slot, as shewn at o in Fig. 9, which template is moved to and
fro by the usual shortening. motion of the frame. The smaller end of
the slot in the template o is towards the shortening bar or rack p, and
at the commencement of a set the roving is wound on the bare spool to
the greatest extent; but as the spools get filled the curved slot acts
after each layer of the roving later on the shortening. bar, thereby
producing a spool of the shape required. Or we vary the traverso of

page_text: the roving on the spool by means of a screw with a gradually enlarged
pitch, as shewn in Figs. 10 and 11, the said screw being driven by the
shaft of the usual reversing motion. This shaft, marked r, gives motion
by bevel pinions and cross shaft to the screw 8, the pitch of which is
5 coarser near the shaft r than at the outer end. On this screw is the
nut s', which has a stud in it taking into the variable screw, and the
nut³ has two trunnions taking into horizontal slots in the platos t,
which form part of and are moved up and down by the usual lifting
rail of the frame. The pitch of the screw a must be varied to reduce
O the traverse of the roving in the proportion required to produce the
curved ends of the spool, as shewn in Fig. 8.
In Figs. 12 and 18 we-have shewn our arrangement of machinery for
preventing back lash in fly frames, and other machines of the like
nature, to which such frames are especially liable after they have been
some time at work. To effect this, in addition to the usual toothed
wheels for driving the spindle shaft v, we place a pulley ³ on the driving
shaft u, and another pulley o¹ on the spindle shaft v, over both of which
is a strap by which motion is communicated from the one to the other.
The pulley ' on the driving shaft & we make a little larger in diameter
than the pulley o² on the spindle shaft v, by which means the pulley u
endeavours to cause the pulley to 'run at a quicker speed, and the
back lash or slack in the wheels is taken up, thereby producing steady
winding.
winding.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Rhodes for myself
and on behalf of the said Matthew Curtis, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of February One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-two.
W. H. RHODES