Improvements in Carding Engines having Revolving or Travelling Flats.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 9th Nov., 1894-Accepted, 15th Dec., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Carding Engines having Revolving or Travelling
Flats.
We CLEMENT VINCENT HAWORTH of the Firm of John Hetherington & Sons
Limited, of the Vulcan Works, Ancoats, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Makers, and GEORGE Ross of the same place, Manager, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our said invention refers to improvements in revolving flat carding engines and
the object of the improvements is chiefly to prevent inequalities in the doffed fleece
and sliver.
When for any reason the doffing cylinder of a carding engine is stopped, the
carding cylinder continues to revolve and the flats also continue to move, although
the feed has been interrupted.
The stripper remains also at work on the flats and the consequence is that the
flats which pass the stripper are stripped and cleaned thus reducing the weight of
the cotton on the cylinder.
The consequence is that the fleece is for a short time impoverished by this
abstraction of fibre from the cylinder and the sliver is unequal.
To prevent this we adopt the expedient of stopping the movement of the flats at
the same time that the doffer is stopped; or as an equivalent plan we move the
stripper away from the flats, the object in both cases being the same, viz. to
prevent the flats from being continuously stripped after the stoppage of the
doffer.
This being the gist of our invention we will indicate one or two modes of
carrying the same into practical effect although we are not necessarily confined to
thesc.
For example we arrange to disconnect the worm gearing which drives the flats
from the driving pulley, by a sliding toothed or frictional clutch, which is slid out
of driving contact by the operation of the drop lever which arrests the doffer.
When stopping the doffer it is usual to operate this drop lever, and we connect
the lever by a link to a second lever pivotted on the frame side. A rod extending from
the second lever is adjustably connected to a pivotted clutch fork which embraces the
sliding clutch which engages with the driving pulley and carries the driving worm.
When the drop lever falls, in the act of stopping the doffer, the aforesaid arrangement
of levers is actuated so as to move the clutch away from the driving pulley and the
revolution of the flats is thereby also stopped. The movement of the clutch might
also be effected by hand.
Another obvious means of causing the stopping and starting of the doffer and
the flats to synchronise, would be to drive the flats from the doffer itself, either by
gearing or by bands or otherwise so that whenever the doffer ceased to revolve
the flats would also cease to move.
The object of our invention might also be obtained by isolating the stripper
from the flats when the doffer stops. This might be done by carrying the stripper
spindle in sliding or excentric bearings which would be slid or moved away from
or towards the flats according as the doffer is stopped or started or the stripper
might be otherwise stopped or prevented from operating on the flats.
Dated this 8th day of February 1894
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.

page_text: Improvements in Carding Engines having Revolving or Travelling
Flats.
We CLEMENT VINCENT HAWORTH of the Firm of John Hetherington & Sons
Limited, of the Vulcan Works, Ancoats, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Makers, and GEORGE Ross of the same place, Manager, 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 said invention refers to improvements in revolving flat carding engines and
the object of the improvements is chiefly to prevent inequalities in the doffed fleece
and sliver.
When for any reason the doffing cylinder of a carding engine is stopped, the
carding cylinder continues to revolve and the flats also continue to move, although
the feed has been interrupted.
The stripper remains also at work on the flats and the consequence is that the
flats which pass the stripper are stripped and cleaned, thus reducing the weight of
the cotton on the cylinder.
The consequence is that the fleece is for a short time impoverished by this
abstraction of fibre from the cylinder and the sliver is unequal.
To prevent this we adopt the expedient of stopping the movement of the flats
at the same time that the doffer is stopped; or as an equivalent plan we might
drive the flats from the doffer itself, so that when the doffer ceases to revolve the
flats would also cease to move, the object in both cases being the same, viz. to
prevent the flats from being continuously stripped after the stoppage of the doffer.
This being the gist of our invention we will now proceed to illustrate a
convenient mode of carrying the same into practical effect.
Fig. 1 on the accompanying sheet of drawings is a side elevation of a portion of
the framing of a carding engine at the doffer end, apparatus for carrying our
invention into effect being shown applied thereto.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the essential portions of the said apparatus.
Fig. 3 is an end view (partly in section) of Fig. 2.
When
The carding engine frame is marked a, and the usual drop lever b.
stopping the doffer it is customary to operate this drop lever b. We therefore
utilise this lever to effect the stopping of the flats simultaneously with the stopping
of the doffer. In the type of carding engine which we have chosen for illustration,
the flats are usually driven by a band from a pulley on the main shaft, the said
band passing partly around the pulley c. The spindle of the pulley e carries a
worm d, which gears with a worm wheel e on one end of a short inclined spindle f,
the other end of the spindle carrying a second worm g which gears with a worm
wheel on the axis of the star wheels which carry the flats, (the latter not
appearing in the drawings). In re-arranging this mechanism to suit the purposes
of our invention, we cause the pulley c to run loosely on the end of the fixed stud c¹
the pulley being formed into a clutch half c² as clearly shown in Fig. 3. A
sleeved carrying a worm d is also mounted loosely on the stud c¹ and on the
reduced end of the sleeve d¹ we mount a sliding clutch half k capable of engaging
with the clutch half c². The clutch half k is connected by a slip feather and
groove or by other convenient means to the reduced end of the sleeve, the result of
this arrangement being that when the clutch half k is slid into gear with the
revolving clutch half on the pulley, the sleeve and worm d revolve at the same
speed as the pulley and so communicate motion to the flats through the inter-
mediate parts already detailed. On the other hand if the clutch half k is
withdrawn, the motion of the flats ceases. The clutch half k is slid to and fro

page_text: drop lever b. An
At the other end,
by the following arrangement of parts connecting it with the
intermediate lever is pivotted at 1 to the carding engine side.
the lever is connected by a link m with the drop lever b. The lever is also
connected by a rod n with a bell crank lever o, pivotted at o' to a bracket p bolted
to the frame a. One end of the bell crank lever is forked so as to embrace the
sliding clutch half k. The connection of the rod n to the bell crank lever is made
adjustable by means of jamb nuts screwed on the rod as clearly shown in the
drawings. This enables us to adjust the play of the clutch half k to a nicety.
The action of the apparatus will now be clearly apparent. In the position
shown in the drawings, the doffer is at work and the drop lever b is raised, so
that the clutch halves are engaged and the flats also are moving. But when the
doffer is stopped by dropping the drop lever in the direction of the arrow, the rod n
is also pulled down in the same direction, and the clutch half is moved_clear_of
the clutch half c so that the flats are stopped simultaneously with the doffer. We
consider it preferable that the clutch half k should be thus automatically operated
from the drop lever, but we might in some cases operate the clutch by hand.
Another obvious mode of causing the stopping and starting of the doffer and
the flats to synchronise, would be to drive the flats from the doffer itself.
This might be done by mounting the pulley c fast on a spindle carrying the
worm d as is usually done and driving the pulley c by a band from a pulley of
similar formation on the axis of the doffer cylinder. Under this simple arrange-
ment when the doffer ceases to revolve, the flats would also cease to move.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that
what we claim is.
1. In revolving flat carding engines, causing the movements of the doffing
cylinder and the flats to synchronise, for the purposes and substantially as set
forth.
2. In revolving flat carding engines, utilising the movements of the drop lever
to effect the simultaneous starting and stopping of the doffer and the flats for the
purposes and substantially by the means hereinbefore described and illustrated.
3. In revolving flat carding engines, the means for effecting the simultaneous
starting and stopping of the doffer cylinder and the flats, the said means consisting
of the combination of the drop lever with the described or other convenient
intermediate parts or levers which operate; a clutch half k, keyed to slide on the
part carrying the worm d which transmits motion to the flats the clutch half k
being capable of sliding into gear with or away from a clutch half c² on the
revolving pulley c by the movements of the drop lever, substantially as described
and as illustrated.
4. The general arrangement, construction and combination of parts comprising
our improved means for causing the movements of the doffer and the flats to
synchronise, substantially as described and as illustrated in the annexed sheet of
drawings.
5. Driving the pulley c which operates the flats by means of a band, from
another pulley fixed on the end of the doffer shaft; or connecting the axis of the
flat driving worm d with the axis of the doffer cylinder by suitable gearing so as
to render the movements of the doffer and the flats synchronous.
Dated this 8th day of November 1894
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.