Improvements in Willowing or Opening Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Feb., 1897--Accepted, 27th Mar., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Willowing or Opening Machines.
1, JOSEPH LIEBHOLD, of Quedlinburg, in the German Empire, Procurist, 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 a machine for opening or loosening raw materials,.
designed to be used in knitting and weaving, by the employment of which machine
the hairs or fibres of the material are injured as little as possible. Hitherto, the
opening or loosening of such materials has been defective inasmuch as the machines
employed therefor tear the material, because in order that they may have a
sufficient output they must treat too large a quantity of the material.
Now, it is the object of this invention to obviate this disadvantage and to obtain
a machine whereby the primary hairs or fibres are protected as far as is possible,
for it is obvious that the longer the hairs or fibres are subjected to the opening or
loosening process, the more valuable will the resulting product be for the subsequent
processes of spinning, weaving and milling. To this end, therefore, instead of
providing the machine with one feed I provide two or more such feeds whereby I
obtain an output as large as that obtained from ordinary machines with a relatively
thinner feed layer of material.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe it by reference to
the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure is a horizontal section of a machine constructed according to my
invention; and,
Figure 2 is a sectional plan of the same.
A is the drum and a the spikes or teeth of the same, C1, C2 are the feed tables
each of which consists of an endless apron or cloth b and guide or nipping
rollers c, c².
With this construction of machine the hairs and fibres are not torn when under
treatment as by the employment of a number of feed aprons, the layer fed into the
machine is thinner than with machines of ordinary construction and the drum
rotates at a relatively low speed.
The material fed in from the uppermost apron becomes buried in the spikes as
the drum revolves so that the latter can seize upon a fresh quantity of material at
each feed opening.
The removal and discharge of the opened or loosened material which has collected
in the teeth or spikes is effected by means of a roller or cylinder and of a fan or by
any other suitable means.
To obtain particularly long fibred resulting products I employ feed or nipping
rollers the teeth or ribs of which engage or mesh with one another so that the thin
layer of material is gripped until it enters the drum whilst a tray arranged
concentrically to the drum forms a further guide to conduct the material to the
drum.
The guide or nipping rollers c, c¹ are driven by gear wheels e, el or in any other
suitable manner so that both rollers are rotated at the same speed in order that the
material gripped by the said rollers is evenly fed to the drum.
During the operation of the machine the rollers c, c¹ seize the material fed on the
feed apron and pass it between their teeth on to the drum. The spikes a of the

page_text: drum then seize the material and open or loosen the fibres and as the said spikes or
teeth cannot receive more material than is fed to them by the nipping rollers, the
operation of the drum is regulated. This forms the great advantage of my improved
machine over those hitherto in use in which the drum was supplied with material
without any means of regulating the feed as the usual large feed of material to the
drum enabled the said drum to seize large portions from the feed layer and to eject
them unopened or unloosened from the machine.
The feeding of the material through intermeshing feed rollers, to obtain the
desired length of fibre, would not be sufficient in every case to ensure that the said
fibres are seized by the spikes of the drum so that I provide a tray or guide d
extending from the drum to the lower of the pair of feed rollers, which guide
conducts the material from the rollers to the drum. This guide, therefore, forms
a continuation of the guide provided for the material from the lower nipping roller
to the drum.
For some raw materials which it is desired to treat, it is essential that the said
guide d should be not only concentric to the drum but also to the lower nipping
roller c' and that it should be as close as possible to the same so that the said raw
material cannot become wound or tangled during its passage and so that no portions
of the same can pass out of the machine untreated.
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
claim is :-
1. A machine for opening or loosening raw materials, to be used in knitting and
weaving, wherein instead of the usual single feed two or more feed aprons are
provided for feeding the material to the drum at several points, substantially as,
and for the purpose, hereinbefore described.
2. In opening or loosening machines the arrangement of feed devices consisting
of two ribbed rollers gearing or meshing in one another and of a tray arranged
concentrically to the drum, substantially as, and for the purpose, hereinbefore
described.
3. In opening machines a feeding device wherein the tray (d) is arranged not
only concentrically to the drum but also concentrically and close to the lower
nipping roller (e), substantially as, and for the purpose, herein before described.
4. The manufacture and use of the improved opening machine hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.