Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 16th Nov., 1888
We GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH of the firm of Ashworth Brothers
of the Moss Brook Works, Collyhurst, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the main cylinders of Carding Engines and particularly to
the cylinders of engines which are provided with endless chains of flats. The said
flats travel upon curved bends or guides which are segments of circles which ought to
be as nearly as possible concentric with the axis of the cylinder. In an invention for
which Letters Patent bearing date the 15th day of May 1883 and numbered 2432
were granted to us we turned the said curved guides and we provided means whereby
the bearings of the main cylinder shaft could be adjusted so that the axis should be
exactly in the centre of the circle in order that when the flats would travel partly
around the cylinder they should in all positions be exactly the same distance from the
periphery of the cylinder. When an engine has been at work for some time the axis
will have dropped slightly or moved out of the proper position owing to the wear of
the bearings and shaft and it then becomes advisable to restore the axis to its correct
position by raising the bearings of the cylinder shaft. Previously to.our present
invention the correctness of such adjustment has depended upon the judgment of the
operator who might raise the bearings too much or not enough. The object of our
present invention is to provide means for the more exact adjustment of the cylinder
axis and for guaging exactly the amount of the deviation of the axis from its correct
position. We provide a circular or curved part or two or more projections which is
or are truly turned or bored so as to be circular or of circular formation and which is
or are carefully fixed situated or adjusted to be exactly concentric with the axis of the
main cylinder when such axis is in its correct position or in other words the prepared
surfaces of circular formation are made to be correctly in the centres of generations of
the curved guides or bends. The said prepared surfaces constitute part of the means
whereby we can at any time detect and estimate the deviation of the axis of the
27

page_text: cylinder from its correct position. We construct guages which will correctly fit the
prepared surfaces and will also fit against or upon the cylinder shaft when the adjust-
ment of the said shaft is correct. We prefer to surround the cylinder shaft for a part
of its length at each end with a bored cylindrical shell which also answers the purposes
of another invention which we have purchased from the inventors who on the 14th day
of September in the year 1887 made application for Letters Patent such application
bearing the number 12442. We carefully prepare a guage which will slip on to the
end of the cylinder shaft which is carefully turned and finished to fit the interior of
the guage. The exterior of the guage just enters within the bored shell when the
shaft is correctly adjusted. When the guage will not enter the shell we know that
the cylinder axis is out of position. In order that we may be able to estimate the
extent of the deviation we prefer to make the guage with steps each step being say the
five hundredth part of an inch larger in diameter than the next preceding until the full
diameter is attained. By using a screw with a scale marked upon its head or collar
to raise the bearings the adjustment can be quickly and correctly effected so as to
compensate for any vertical deviation indicated by the guage. If the bearings are
provided with means for correcting lateral deviation such means may or may not be
provided with scales or marks to indicate the amount of adjustment. We may vary
the formation of the guage so long as it is adapted to be applied to fixed prepared
surfaces on the carding engine.
Dated this 10th day of January 1887
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: Engine Cylinders.
We GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH of the firm of Ashworth Brothers
of the Moss Brook Works, Collyhurst, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineers, 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 and accompanying drawings:-
Our Invention relates to the main cylinders of Carding Engines and particularly to
the cylinders of engines which are provided with endless chains of flats. The said
flats travel upon curved bends or guides which are segments of circles which ought to
be as nearly as possible concentric with the axis of the cylinder. In an invention for
which Letters Patent bearing date the 15th day of May 1883 and numbered 2432
were granted to us we turned the said curved guides and we provided means whereby
the bearings of the main cylinder shaft could be adjusted so that the axis should be
exactly in the centre of the circle in order that when the flats would travel partly
around the cylinder they should in all positions be exactly the same distance from the
periphery of the cylinder. When an engine has been at work for some time the axis
will have dropped slightly or moved out of the proper position owing to the wear of
the bearings and shaft and it then becomes advisable to restore the axis to its correct
position by raising the bearings of the cylinder shaft. Previously to our present
invention the correctness of such adjustment has depended upon the judgment of the
operator who might raise the bearings too much or not enough. The object of our
present invention is to provide means for the more exact adjustment of the cylinder
axis and for gauging exactly the amount of the deviation of the axis from its correct
position. We provide a plane or circular or curved part or two or more projections
which is or are faced or is or are truly turned or bored so as to be circular or of
circular formation and which is or are carefully fixed situated or adjusted to be
exactly concentric with the axis of the main cylinder when such axis is in its correct
position or in other words the prepared surfaces when of circular formation are made
to be correctly concentric with the centres of generations of the curved guides or
bends. The said prepared surfaces constitute part of the means whereby we can at
any time detect and estimate the deviation of the axis of the cylinder from its correct
position. We construct gauges which will correctly fit the prepared surfaces and will
also fit against or upon the cylinder shaft when the adjustment of the said shaft is
correct.
In order that the nature of our invention and the manner in which we propose to
carry the same into practical effect may be clearly understood we will describe our
invention more fully with reference to the accompanying two sheets of drawings.
In the said drawings a represents one end of a carding engine main cylinder shaft
and the pedestal or part in which the steps or bearing brasses for the journal part of
such shaft are fitted. It will be understood that provision is made for testing the position

page_text: of both journals or ends of the shaft. In sheet 1 Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate our invention
in one of its simplest forms. In this example three projections c are cast upon the
side of the pedestal. The inner faces of these projections are curved and are equi-
distant from the correct axis of revolution of the main cylinder. Supposing for
example that the pedestal forms part of one of our bends we should fit the steps
in the pedestal and bore them in place. We should then fix a mandril in the
steps and mount in a lathe. We should then turn the surface upon which the
flats are to travel and we should also turn the inner faces of the said projections.
It will be apparent that the said inner faces will then be truly concentric with
the said surface upon which the flats are to travel. The inner faces of the pro-
jections might be bored or turned at the same time or with the same adjustment
as the steps. In cases wherein the bend upon which the flats travel is not cast
in one piece with the pedestal block the bend may be secured in position and be
turned to be concentric with the centre of the bearing or be separately turned or
faced and be applied and adjusted to be concentric with the said centre and with
the inner faces of the projections. This correct position of the steps relative to
the projections is maintained when the engine is put to work so that the axis of
revolution of the shaft a shall be exactly in the centre of the arc of the said bend.
To test the accuracy of the position of the axis we apply a gauge upon or to the
shaft. A simple form of gauge is represented by d in Fig. 2.
This gauge is
carefully bored to suit the shaft which has been carefully turned so that the gauge
will fit upon the shaft without any shake or looseness. We may arrange for the
gauge to fit upon a collar or ring upon the shaft and prepare this part very
carefully to suit the gauge and keep such part specially for testing purposes.
The gauge is formed with a collar d which is carefully turned and finished to fit
the inner surfaces of the projections c. The parts are so finished and prepared
as that when the steps are correctly adjusted the collar d¹ will just slide within
the projections but if the steps have not been correctly adjusted or if the shaft has
slightly descended through the wearing of the bearing the gauge will not pass into
position within the projections or not with the designed ease. By this means a very
slight deviation of the shaft from its correct position can be detected so that a very
delicate adjustment of the shaft can be effected. The upper two side projections will
indicate lateral deviations of the shaft. The gauge might be adapted to fit upon the
exterior surfaces of the projections. Less or more than three projections might be
provided. A modification is illustrated by Fig. 4. In this example a turned groove
takes the places of the projections and a finger d' upon the gauge fits into such groove
when the adjustment is correct. Figs. 3 and 5 illustrate methods which may be
adopted when vertical adjustment alone is considered to be necessary. In these cases
a straight projection c¹ is cast upon the pedestal below the steps. The face of this
projection which is toward the shaft is planed or finished to receive a gauge which
may vary greatly in formation. Two forins are shown in the drawings. In Fig. 3 a
lever e is mounted upon a fulcrum e' which is fixed to a bar f which can be placed in
position upon the projection or ledge c¹. One arm of this lever is much shorter than
the other and is brought into contact with the shaft by the weight of the longer arm
when the gauge is placed in position. The end of the longer arm serves as an index
to indicate upon a scale at the comparative position of the shaft. Fig. 5 shows how
a simple bar gauge may be used. This gauge may be slightly tapering from end to
end or be stepped as in the drawing the depth of the bar increasing from end to end
not gradually but by steps. We will suppose for example that the bar at the part
marked 10 is the one hundreth part of an inch deeper than at the part marked 1 and
that the part marked 10 can just be pushed under the shaft when the engine is
adjusted for working. If after an interval the part marked 8 could only pass under
the shaft it would be known at once that the shaft had sunk to the extent of the
500th part of an inch. Such gauges as are indicated in Figs. 3 and 5 may be used to
indicate the laterial deviation by providing side surfaces to which the gauge may be
applied. In Figs. 6 and 7 a screw gauge is represented. In this example the bearing
for the shaft is surrounded or partly surrounded by a ring or circular shaped wall c

page_text: which takes the place of the projections c in Fig. 1.
The gauge consists of two
parts and g one part screwing into the other so that the length of the com-
bination can be increased or decreased. The screw g is formed with a head which
is divided to constitute a scale. The gauge can be applied between the shaft and
the inner surface of the ring e² as indicated in Fig. 6 and the screw turned until the
extreme ends are in contact with the shaft and the ring. When applied after an
interval the reading upon the scale will indicate the sinking or lateral deviation of
the shaft. Supposing for example the screw to have 25 threads to the inch and the
head to be divided into 40 parts an alteration in the position of the shaft to the extent
of one thousandth of an inch or even less can be measured and indicated by the gauge.
In the example illustrated by Figs. 8 and 9 the ring or shell is not cast upon the
pedestal but is formed upon a plate e which is bolted to the pedestal. It is obvious
that the projections in the foregoing examples might be applied in a similar manner.
The gauge 3 which appears in Fig. 9 is a modification of the gauge in Fig. 2 and in
practice increases in diameter from 1 to 10 either regularly or by steps. In the
example the gauge is supposed to be divided by surface grooves into 10 rings the
rings increasing in diameter from 1 to 10. Supposing for example the ring 10 to be
the fiftieth of an inch larger in diameter than the ring 1 the gauge would measure a
variation in the position of the shaft of the thousandth part of an inch as in the
case of the gauge in Fig. 5. In practice we should carefully bore and finish the
mouth of the ring c³ so that the ring 10 of the gauge would just pass into the
said mouth when the shaft would be correctly adjusted. The ring is the cylindrical
shell which we use for another purpose when carrying into effect an invention
which we have purchased from the applicants for Letters Patent number 12442 of
the
year 1887. The rings on the guage may not extend all round but be short arcs as
in Fig. 94. As the outer circumference of the ring or shell c³ is turned a gauge
adapted to fit upon such outer surface might be used. Such a gauge is represented
in Figs. 10 and 11. This gauge is formed with projecting fingers d which are
bored or turned on their inner faces and are either slightly tapered or are stepped in
the manner already fully described with reference to previous examples. Such a
gauge may be turned round so as to test the shaft for lateral deviation but if
preferred a cylindrical shell might take the places of the two fingers. The indicated
form of gauge may be used in connection with any suitable form of ring or shell or of
projections which would take the place of the ring c². To facilitate the application
of the gauge it might be made as a half ring as indicated in Fig. 12 or as less, than
half a ring as in Fig. 13 and be provided with one two or more fingers or projections
or with a continuous arc shaped testing surface as indicated by the dotted lines in
the latter Figure. Such gauges might in some cases be applied without having to
remove the pullies from the shaft end especially in cases wherein a special testing
collar or ring has been formed upon the shaft as aforesaid. It will be understood
that suitable provision is made for raising and lowering or adjusting the steps or
bearing in the pedestals b but it has not been considered necessary to include any
means for the purpose in the drawings as such means may vary greatly. We prefer
however to use our present invention in combination with such means for adjusting
the said adjustment as shall indicate the extent of movement which is being imparted
to the steps or bearing as for example we prefer to effect the adjustment by means
of screws having heads divided into scales or keys or other parts similarly marked
to correspond with the gauges so that supposing the gauge should indicate that the
shaft had become lowered to the extent of the thousandth part of an inch the
bearing could at once be raised to that extent with the aid of the scales or
indications on the parts by means of which the adjustment is effected.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
(1) The provision upon the pedestals or framing of carding engines of projections
rings or parts bored turned or faced and prepared to serve as fixed testing points

page_text: whereby the position of the inner cylinder shaft may be tested or gauged substantially
as set forth and indicated.
(2) The gauges adapted to be used in the testing or gauging of the positions
of the main cylinder shafts of carding engines substantially as set forth and
indicated.
(3) For testing the position of the main cylinder axis of a carding engine a gauge
bored or prepared to correctly fit upon or against the cylinder shaft or upon or
against a collar or part fixed thereon and turned or bored with a testing surface
or with testing surfaces varying in diameter to a known extent whereby the degree
of variation of the said axis from its true position can be estimated in combination
with a fixed ring or fixed prepared part or parts to which the gauge can be
applied substantially as set forth and indicated.
(4) The gauges substantially as and for the purpose set forth when used in com-
bination with means for adjusting the bearings of carding engine main cylinder
shafts and for at the same time indicating the degree of adjustment as set forth.
Dated this 18th day of October 1888.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.