IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ladley, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Cloth Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING
ENGINES."
Sealed the 27th June 1865, and dated the 31st December 1864..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ladley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st December
1864..
I, JOSEPH LADLEY; of Leeds, in the County of York, Cloth Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention. for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARDING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention-relates to that kind of carding engine known as "condenser;"
and the object of it is to obviate or prevent unevenness in the cardings or
slivers produced when carding wool or other fibrous substances, or to obtain
slivers or condenser threads of equal weight from each or all parts of the
doffer or delivery end of the machine, whether such unevenness may arise
from irregularities of feeding, blasts, draughts, or other causes. To attain
this object I traverse the angle stripper, or produce reciprocatory motion
thereof in combination with the usual rotary motion,. and in such manner as
to be continually changing with regularity the points of contact betwixt the
"breast" cylinder, the said "angle stripper," and the "swift," so that lateral
action is effected on the fibre in transferring it from one cylinder to another.
This reciprocatory motion I prefer to produce by means of an endless spirally
grooved. boss mounted loosely on the stripper shaft, so as to rotate freely, but

page_text: not slide endways thereon. This boss may be driven by pulley and cord or strap
at any suitable speed from a pulley applied to any convenient moving part of
the engine, and by having a pin or finger fixed to the framing entering the
groove the required motion is produced according to the peculiar form which
may be given to the said groove.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Ladley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LADLEY, of Leeds, in the County of York, Cloth Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Ladley, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Ladley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Ladley, 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
CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Ladley, my executors 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 Joseph Ladley, 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 fol-
lowing statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to that kind of carding engine known as a " condenser,"
and the object of it is to obviate or prevent unevenness in the cardings or slivers
produced when carding wool or other fibrous substances, or to obtain slivers or
condenser threads of equal weight from each or all parts of the doffer or delivery

page_text: end of the machine, whether such unevenness may arise from irregularities of
feeding blasts, draughts, or other causes. To attain this object I traverse the
"angle stripper," or produce reciprocatory motion thereof in combination with
the usual rotary motion, and in such manner as to be continually changing
with regularity the points of contact betwixt the "breast," the said "angle
stripper" and the "swift," so that lateral action is effected on the fibre in
transferring it from one cylinder to another. This reciprocating motion I
prefer to produce by means of an endless spirally grooved boss mounted loosely
on the stripper shaft, so as to rotate freely but not slide endwise thereon.
This boss may be driven by pulley and cord or strap at any suitable speed
from a pulley applied to any convenient moving part of the engine, and by
having a pin or finger fixed to the framing entering the groove, the required
motion is produced according to the peculiar form which may be given to the

page_text: attached to the grooved boss D, produces rotary motion thereof, and as the-
point of the pin I enters or is inserted into the endless spiral groove, the boss-
is caused to traverse or slide endwise in the bearing, thus producing the
required traverse motion of the angle stripper. It will be observed that the
two pullies M and P are not of the same diameter,. consequently will produce
a difference in the rotation of the two pullies E and F, and this difference in
speed is regulated or adjusted so that the points of contact of the breast or
middle doffer, the angle stripper, and the swift are constantly changing at each
rotation, whereby the wool or other fibrous substance being carded is trans-
ferred from the said middle doffer cylinder to the swift with regularity, and
becomes thereby evenly distributed, consequently the slivers or condenser
threads delivered from all parts of the last doffer cylinder or delivery end of
the machine will be equal in weight.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, and shewn
the manner in which the same is or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein set forth, or the peculiar means which I have shewn for
traversing the angle stripper, as various modifications of means may be
adopted for the same purpose; but. what I claim as of my Invention and
beleive to be new is,-
Firstly, the traversing of the angle stripper of carding engines in such
manner as to be continually changing with regularity the points of contact
betwixt the middle doffer, the said angle stripper, and the swift.
Secondly, the application and use of a spirally grooved boss or cam for
traversing the angle stripper operated in manner substantially as herein shewn
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ladley, have hereunto sot my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of June One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Joseph Ladley, in
the presence of
G. D. LADLEY.
JOSEPH LADLEY. (L.S.)