Improvements in Combing Machines for Textile Materials.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Combing Machines for Textile Materials.
A communication by EUGENE DELETTE, of Lure, (Haute Saone), in the Republic
of France, Engineer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester,
both in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The improvements which form the object of the present invention relate to
combing machines of Heilmann's kind for textile materials and have for their
object to obtain a better combing of the material whilst reducing the waste and
increasing the production.
The material to be combed is brought by means of a feed arrangement on to
a trough bearing against the grooved cylinder which in the case of longer
materials may be replaced by a carding comb or roller. The trough and the
cylinder which have for their object to cause the lap to advance at the desired
moment are moved by a star wheel operated by a pin carried on the side of a disc.
This star wheel actuates the cylinder by a train of wheels.
A grip or nippers formed of two jaws holds the fibres during the combing of the
head of the fibre by the circular comb. This comb receives an alternating rotary
motion by means of a toothed pinion engaging with a toothed sector actuated
by means of a rod from an eccentric or by a combination of eccentrics or by any
other suitable arrangement. A circular brush is mounted near the circular comb
and receives a longitudinal reciprocating displacement by means of a cam, a
projection on which engages in a circular groove of a driving pinion; this brush
receives at the same time a rotary motion by wheel and pinion gear with the
object of cleaning the circular comb. The final comb which falls into the proper
part of the head of the fibre serves to comb the tail of the fibre and to retain all
impurities by means of a blade passing between the two jaws of the nippers and
having a reciprocating movement from levers on a shaft which receives its move-
ment from an arm and roller and cam. This blade is further intended to assume
a position near the final comb during the dragging through and thus to force the
fibres to pass across the teeth of this comb.
These
The dragging through is produced by a group of four cylinders mounted on a
frame which is oscillated on a shaft by means of a cam and a roller arm.
four cylinders act in the following manner. One cylinder is grooved and receives
an alternating rotary motion from a can operating an arm having a roller which
arm actuates a ratchet or notched wheel by a pawl. The ratchet is mounted on
a shaft which transmits its movement to the said cylinder by a train of four
wheels, the last of which is keyed on the shaft of the cylinder. At each dragging
of the material the pawl rises and springs one tooth of the ratchet so that the
rotation forward of the system is stronger than the rotation backward which has

page_text: for its object to cause the combed fleece to move forward to a variable extent
according to the number of teeth of the ratchet employed.
Another of said cylinders is coated with an elastic or flexible substance and is
revolved by the rotation of the said grooved cylinder on-which it is pressed by
means of springs or counterweights. Another of said cylinders is grooved and
operated by the aforesaid grooved cylinder by means of three toothed pinions.
Finally the last cylinder is grooved and is free and may be revolved by the rotary
movement of its related grooved cylinder.
The two first cylinders are dragging or drawing cylinders, and the two last are
detachers.
In addition to the alternating rotary movement hereinbefore mentioned the
whole of these four cylinders have further a simultaneous forward and backward
movement transmitted to the frame by an arm having a roller operated by a cam.
The dragging is produced in the following manner:
At the commencement of the dragging the cylinders are at the furthest distance
from the final comb. Whilst they approach the final comb they receive a rotary
forward movement which has for object to seize the fibres of the substance to be
combed. When they arrive in proximity to the final comb, the rotation ceases,
then the cylinders retire in order to complete the dragging. The pawl rises,
springs a tooth, falls again immediately into the succeeding notch and the
cylinders then revolve in an inverse direction in order to release the fleece and
attach it to the head of the following lap. The fleece thus formed falls into a
hopper and is converted into a band or sliver which is drawn to the outside by
delivery rollers.
Doted this 10th day of November 1807
A communication by EUGENE DELETTE, of Lure, (Haute Saone), in the Republic
of France, Engineer.
I, WILLIAM Phillips Thompson, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester,
both in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
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 follow-
ing statement :—
The improvements which form the object of the present invention relate to
combing machines of Heilmann's kind for textile materials and have for their
object to obtain a better combing of the material whilst reducing the waste and
increasing the production.
The various parts of the machine will now be described, then their working
and then certain improvements applicable to the combing of short material.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a transverse section;
Figure 2 a plan view partly in section;
Figure 3 a detail view showing a method of carrying out the arrangement for

page_text: operating the dragging and indicating the position of the various parts at the
commencement of the same;
Figure 4 is a detail view showing the position of the same parts at the end of
the dragging;
Figures 5, 6 and 7 relate to different patterns of drawing cylinder.
As may be seen in the drawings the material to be combed is brought by
means of a feed arrangement a (Figure 1) on to a trough or tray 6 bearing against
the grooved cylinder c which cylinder in the case of longer materials may be
replaced by a carding comb or roller. The trough or tray b and the cylinder c
which have for their object to cause the lap to advance at the desired moment
are moved by a star wheel operated by a pin carried on a disc. This star wheel
actuates the cylinder c by a train of wheels. This operating mechanism is not
shown in the drawings.
A grip or nippers formed of two jaws f and g holds the fibres during the comb-
ing of the head of the fibre by the circular comb h which is mounted on a fixed
spindle. This comb receives an alternating rotary motion by means of a toothed
pinion keyed on its spindle and engaging with a toothed sector actuated by
means of a rod from an eccentric or by a combination of eccentrics or by any
other suitable arrangement. It is however generally preferable to actuate this
comb by means of a series of eccentric toothed wheels 1 and 2 as may be seen in
Figures 1 and 2, one of which wheels 1 is keyed on a shaft d having a uniform
movement and communicates to a shaft e a varied movement. This movement
is transmitted to the comb h by means of wheels 3 and 4 and to its cleaning
brush by means of wheels 5, 6, 7 in such a way that the combing of the sliver
is effected whilst the comb revolves at its greatest speed and the cleaning of the
comb by the brush is effected on the contrary whilst these parts are revolving
more slowly with the object of reducing the formation or production of dust. The
circular brush is mounted near the circular comb and receives a longitudinal
reciprocating displacement by means of a cam m, a projection on which engages
in a circular groove of a driving pinion 7.
In order to prevent any part of the material to be combed escaping the action
of the circular comb h a pressing-in cylinder r, Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, having a
certain number of parallel longitudinal grooves arranged regularly over its sur-
face is employed. This cylinder revolves on itself and is operated by the
circular comb h by means of toothed wheels 12 and 13 keyed on their spindles in
such a way that the ribs or bars of the said cylinder gear with the rows of pins
of the comb by a movement similar to that of two gear wheels but without it
being possible for these pins to come in contact with these bars. The application
of a pressing in roller of this kind to combing machines has already been made
by Messrs. Heilmann & Ducommun but in their system the spindle of the press-
ing-in cylinder is fixed as regards that of the circular comb and the whole of
these two parts receives at the end of each combing an alternating rising and
descending movement with the object of releasing the head of the fibre and of
allowing it to be gripped by the dragging arrangement.
In the present arrangement on the contrary the spindle of the circular comb /
remains fixed as herein before stated. The pressing-in cylinder mounted on two
cheeks R is pivoted on this spindle and receives an alternating oscillating move-
ment from a camp by means of a rod R', lever P¹ and a roller arm P. The
final comb i which falls into the proper part of the head of the fibre serves to
comb the tail of the fibre and to retain all impurities by means of a blade j pass-
ing between the two jaws f and g of the nippers and having a reciprocating move-
ment from levers on a shaft which may receive its movement from
an arm and roller and cam or by other suitable means. This blade j.
has for its object to raise at the desired moment the combed fibres
in order to present them to the dragging apparatus. It is also intended
to prevent the material felting on the face of the jaw g and is further intended
to assume a position near the final comb i during the dragging of the fibres

page_text: through said comb and thus to force the fibres to pass across the teeth of this
comb.
The dragging through is produced by a group of four cylinders s t v w mounted
on a frame u which is oscillated on a shaft y by means of a cam and a roller arm.
In order not to complicate the figures the arrangement for operating these four
cylinders is shown separately in Figure 3. The cylinder s is grooved and receives
an alternating rotary and reciprocating motion from a cam A operating an arm B,
having a roller, which arm B actuates a ratchet or notched wheel D by a pawl C.
The ratchet 1) is mounted on a shaft E which transmits its movement to the said
cylinders by a train of four wheels 8, 9, 10, 11, (Fig. 3) the last of which 11
is keyed on the shaft of the cylinder s. At each dragging of the material the
pawl C rises under the action of a lever C₁, the roller F of which travels on a
cam G and springs one tooth of the ratchet so that the rotation forward of the
system is stronger than the rotation backward which has for its object to cause
the combed fleece to move forward to a variable extent according to the number
of teeth that the pawl has to spring.
The cylinder t is coated with an elastic or flexible substance and is revolved
by the rotation of the said grooved cylinders on which it is pressed by means of
springs or counterweiglits.
Another cylinder is grooved and operated by the cylinders by means of
three toothed pinions, not shown on the drawings. Finally the last cylinder w
is grooved and is free and may be revolved by the rotary movement of the
cylinder v.
The two first cylinders s and t are dragging or drawing cylinders, and the
two last and w are detachers.
In addition to the alternating rotary movement hereinbefore mentioned the
whole of these four cylinders have further a simultaneous forward and backward
movement transmitted to the frame by an arm Fig. 2 having a roller
operated by a cam o.
The principal parts of the machine having now been described, the following
is the working. At the commencement of the combing of the head of the fibre by
the circular comb h, the cylinder which is at a little distance from the point
of the jaw progressively approaches the said jaw f of the gripping device in
order to progressively force the fibre into the teeth of the comb h so as to pro-
duce the pressing in of the fibre as near as possible to the grip as shown in
Figure 1 without injuring the fibre and without allowing any part to escape the
action of the circular comb.
Towards the end of the combing the pushing-in cylinder oscillates towards the
bottom with a speed equal to that of one of the last rows of teeth of the comb and
places itself in the position shown in Figure 3 in order to allow the dragging
rollers to approach the jaw f.
The blade then passes between the jaws f and y in order to raise the fibres
and present them to the rollers drawing thein through the final comb i.
At the commencement of the dragging the cylinders are at the furthest dis-
tance from the final comb i. Whilst they approach the final comb they receive
a rotary forward movement which has the action of seizing the fibres of the sub-
stance to be combed. When they arrive in proximity to the final comb in the
position shown in Figure 3, the rotation ceases, then the cylinders retire in
order to complete the dragging, as shown in Figure 4. The pawl C rises, springs
a tooth, falls again immediately into the succeeding notch and the cylinders then
revolve in an inverse direction in order to release the fleece and attach it to the
head of the following lap. The fleece thus formed falls into a hopper H and is
converted into a band or sliver which is drawn to the outside by delivery rollers n
and as may be shown in Figures 1 and 2.
In the preceding description it was assumed that the pressing in cylinder was
provided with similar projecting grooves distributed regularly over its surface.
In the case of short materials however it is of the highest importance to produce

page_text: the pressing in of the fibre as near as possible to the jaw of the grip. In order to
attain this result a certain number of consecutive projections of the pushing in
cylinder are dispensed with. Figure 5 shows as an example a pushing in cylinder
in which two grooves alone are retained. In this arrangement the combing is
effected in the manner hereinbefore described but when the pushing in cylinder
is quite close to the jaw f and in a position such that the part free from grooves
is turned towards the said jaw, the said pushing in device receives a sharp recoil
movement towards the said jaw in order to force the material under the projec-
tion itself of the said jaw f as may be seen in Figure 5, without the presence of
an inactive projection on the cylinder being able to prevent the minimum
approachment between the cylinder r and the jaw f. In certain cases instead of
dispensing entirely with several grooves it may be of advantage to merely diminish
the projection of the same and this is shown in Figure 6. But when it is a
question of very short materials such for instance as very short wool the pushing
in device having a single groove or projection such as shown in Figure 7 is
preferably employed.
In order to impart to the pushing in cylinder thus modified, the brusque or
sharp recoil movement towards the jaw f hereinbefore mentioned, and which
has for its object to produce the pushing in of the material under the projection
itself of the said jaw, it is sufficient to slightly modify the form of the operating
eccentric p.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In a combing machine for textile materials, a circular comb having a fixed
spindle and intended for combing the head of the fibre, said comb having trans-
mitted to it by a train of gearing an alternately rapid and slow rotary movement
produced by means of two eccentric toothed wheels engaging with one another,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In a combing machine for textile materials, the combination with a circular
comb having a variable movement as hereinbefore specified, of a cylindrical rotary
cleaning brush having a similar movement by similar means in such a way that
the cleaning of the comb by this brush is effected whilst said parts revolve more
slowly, said brush having further a longitudinal reciprocating movement im-
parted to it by means of a cam, the projection of which engages in a groove of the
driving pinion, the whole substantially as hereinbefore described and for the
prpose set forth.
3. In a combing machine for textile materials a dragging arrangement com-
prising an oscillating frame carrying four cylinders stand operated by a
lever u having a roller bearing on a cam o, the cylinders receiving an alter-
nating rotary movement forward and backward by means of a ratchet D actuated
by a roller arm B operated by a cam A and a pawl C operated by a second cam G,
the cylinder which is coated with a flexible substance being rotated by means of
the cylinders on which it bears, the grooved cylinder v being operated by the
cylinders by means of gear wheels, and the cylinder w being operated by the
cylinder, the whole substantially as described and shown in the accompanying
drawing, and for the purpose set forth.
4. In a combing machine for textile materials, the combination with a fixed
circular comb h, of a pressing in cylinder r having longitudinal grooves, said
cylinder being revoluble on itself and operated from said circular comb and being
pivoted on the axis of the said comb in order to release the head of the fibre from
the said cylinder and comb at the end of the combing without requiring an alter-
nating rising and falling movement of the circular comb, substantially as herein-
before described and shown as an example in Figures 1-4 of the accompanying
drawings.
5. In a combing machine for textile materials, the combination with a fixed

page_text: circular comb of a pushing in device composed of a grooved cylinder arranged in
the manner as hereinbefore described in which a certain number of successive pro-
jections are dispensed with or diminished and which receives towards the end of
the combing action a sharp recoil movement towards the jaw f of the gripping
device in order to effect the pushing in of the fibre under the projection itself of
the grip, substantially as herein before described and shown as an example in the
accompanying drawings in Figures 5, 6 and 7.
Dated this 3rd day of Now 1000