IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC EQUALIZERS FOR CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, JOSEPH LADLEY, a subject of Great Britain, a resident of Andover in the
County of Essex in the State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
AUTOMATIC EQUALIZERS FOR CARDING ENGINES, and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates to Carding-Engines, so called, and has for its object and
purpose the equalization of the stock upon the cylinder of the carding engine in
such a way, as to obviate the evil effects and disadvantages arising from uneven
feeding.
My improvements relate especially to mechanism by which to produce recipro-
cations, or traverses of the strippers small, or of the leader-in, combined with their
ordinary rotary movement. One distinctive and important feature of this inven.
tion is the arrangement of mechanism, by which the end wise movements or
traverses of the strippers shall bear a certain ratio to their rotations, in order that
the respective speeds of these two motions of the strippers shall be such as to pro-
duce the result of delivering by said strippers to the cylinder every portion of the
fibre that said strippers shall receive from their workers at the converse traverse,
or in other words delivering to the cylinder at the right culmination or extreme
right traverse of a stripper that portion of the fibre, which said stripper received
from its worker at the left culmination or left extreme traverse; thus when two
strippers are traversed, say three inches each, the stock upon the cylinder is
equalized within the limits of six inches.
But still six inches does not limit the scope of its action, because each inch of
said six inches affects, and in turn is affected by the quantity of stock upon every
other portion within six inches of it and so on for the entire breadth of the cylinder.
The drawings accompanying this specification represent in Figure 1 a side eleva-
tion of a portion of a carding engine embodying my improvements, Figure 2, is
a perspective view of the attachment, as an entirety, with the engine omitted;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the pivotal joint secured to the stripper-shaft, while
Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the device connecting the stripper-shaft with the
traversing device, and Fig. 5 is a modified construction of the supporting bracket.

page_text: In said drawings that portion of the carding engine shown, is represented as an
entirety at A, constructed in the usual manner and composed of the side housings
or standards B upon which is mounted in suitable bearings the cylinder C. The
arch, in this side elevation Fig. 1. is shown at D, upon and to which are secured
the spindles or supports a a bb, supporting respectively the journals of the workers
EE etc, and the small strippers F F etc, to which rotary movement is imparted (only
at a slower rate) in the ordinary way now generally adopted in machines of this
class.
In the present instante I propose to employ two of the strippers small F' F', as
equalizers and have therefore attached to them the mechanism embodying my
invention, for effecting the traverses thereof.
Upon the side of the carding-engine, represented in Figure 1 of the drawings, I
have shown the supports at bb, in which are journaled the shafts of the small
strippers, and at the extremities of said shafts have disposed a suitable boss 0, bored
to receive the stripper-shaft d, the latter being retained therein by an annular slot
cut therein, and which is adapted to receive a pin secured in said boss. By means
of this connection rotary movement of the stripper is permitted, while at the same
time traverses are effected endwise. This boss c is moreover cast with a tenon e
secured within a slot f formed upon a sliding bearing g for purposes hereinafter
explained.
Preferably this bearing g is cylindrical in cross-section and longitudinally bored
to receive a rod h, which serves as a connecting rod and an actuating device to
transmit proper end wise motion to the stripper with which it is connected. Further-
more this rod h is formed with an enlarged end, transversely perforated to admit
an oscillating shaft i, which may be obliquely or vertically disposed to conform
with the varying positions of the stripper shafts. This shaft i may be so fixed, as
to stand about midway between two lines vertically drawn through the centers of
the diameters of the stripper-shafts, and near the ends of those strippers intended
to be traversed; said shaft i is mounted in a suitable bracket or frame G, bolted to
the inside of the arch D. The above mechanism is intended to effect, in connection
with a prime motor, hereafter described, endwise movements or traverses of the
small stripper F; similarly, but oppositely disposed upon the shaft i is the actu-
ating arm h³, upon which is arranged the sliding bearing g', pivotally connected
with the boss c in which latter is journaled the shaft d' of said stripper F¹: The
reds hh are adjustably secured upon the oscillating shaft i by means of set screws,
and the varying positions of the stripper-shafts upon different machines are easily
and readily compensated for.
Semi-rotary or oscillating movement of the shaft i is effected by means of a
pulley H driven by a belt from the shaft of the cylinder C. This pulley is mounted
upon a short shaft j, suitably disposed upon the side of the engine; furthermore a
face-plate or crank I is secured to said shaft and provided with a crank-pin or stud k,
which is furnished with a pivotal or universal joint l. To this joint is attached
one end of a connecting rod J, while the other end thereof is united with a rock-
shaft m, adjustably mounted upon the shaft i before mentioned.
The operation of this carding engine is as follows, it being assumed that the
leader-in, tumbler, workers and strippers perform the same functions with respect
to the cylinder or to each other, as are ordinarily accomplished by similar mechanism
in machines of this class. It being understood that all such parts, before premised,
have continuous rotary movement, while the two first strippers F' F', or more as
may be desired, are further provided with end wise movements or traverses across
the face of the cylinder C.
Assuming that the engine is in active operation, rotary movement is effected
from the cylinder-shaft and belt, to the pulley H and face-plate I carrying the con-
hecting rod J. Thus reciprocations of the latter cause rocking of the shaft m and
consequent oscillatory or semi-rotary movement of the shaft i; hence, since the
ods are secured to the shafts, rocking movements of the rods are effected and

page_text: direct but opposite endwise movements or travel of the two strippers across the
face of the cylinder is effected.
By oppositely disposing the rods h h¹ double the traverse of each stripper is
effected as a final result, since the two strippers are always moving oppositely one
of the other, and if the traverse of each stripper is three inches, the resultant or
distance travelled by the two is six.
As before premised the proportional difference between the number of rotations
and the traverses of each stripper in a given time, is of the utmost importance and
I find the best results are obtained by a motion of fifty rotations to thirty eight
traverses of the stripper, depending somewhat of course upon the diameter of the
strippers and workers. I am well aware that various devices have been employed
and adopted for traversing rolls in machines of this class, but generally the
mechanism has been such, that the relative difference between the rotary and right
line movement of the rolls has been a fixed and not an adjustable quantity, thereby
nullifying the very object for which the traverses were effected.
Various expedients may be adopted in my invention for varying the traverses of
the small strippers; one of which would be in the alteration of the position of the
connecting rod J upon the rocker-shaft m, and it is readily seen that the shorter
the shaft m is made the greater is the endwise travel of the strippers, while the
number of traverses would be the same; again in lieu of changing the position of
the rod J on the rocker shaft, alteration in the crank-pin may be made and the
same result accomplished.
The leader-in is shown at M, and the tumbler at L, while the cylinder revolves
in direction of arrow 1. In the drawings the pivotal joints are shown as hinged
ones, still universal joints may be substituted therefor without affecting the gist of
my invention. It will be noticed that the strippers are journaled in their supports
and are confined in one position relatively to the periphery of the cylinder, hence
in order to easily effect end wise movement thereof I have constructed the bosses
cel pivotally connected with the journals g g¹ and thus as the actuating semi-rotary
movements of the shaft i effect rocking motion of the rods hh¹, the journals g g¹ are
free to slide thereon to compensate for the slight lateral deviation produced by
such oscillation, hence, there is no tendency to crowd or jam the shafts of the
strippers in their supports, which would create unnecessary friction and wear.
Assuming that the engine is in operation and that material is being fed in, the
latter is carried along by the cylinder, from the face of which portions of said stock
are removed by the workers, whence it is transferred to the strippers, which in turn
again deliver it to the cylinder. Ordinarily stock taken from the cylinder by the
workers from the center of the face of said cylinder is again returned by the
strippers to a corresponding central spot upon the face of the cylinder, but in my
invention, by means herein described for effecting traverses of the strippers and
maintaining a certain ratio between their rotary and right line movements, stock
taken from the middle portion of the face of the cylinder is retransferred to the
latter upon either extreme outer portion of the face, according to the direction of
the traverse; conversely stock taken from the outside is returned to the cylinder
upon or near the center.
Thus ordinarily, if a thick portion is once fed into the engine, it continues on
through it in the same path, but when the strippers are caused to traverse in the
manner I propose, this thick portion is caught up and distributed, entirely equa-
lizing the stock; now when it is once equalized it will continue moving on and so
remain, hence generally two strippers are sufficient to accomplish the purpose,
though if desired, more may be caused to traverse.
In Fig. 5. I have shown a modified form of the standard or bracket G, in which
the arins nn are made adjustable by which the distance of the shaft i may be caused
to vary with respect to the arch and the cylinder, owing to the varying sizes of
carding engines.
In Figs. 1, and 2 said arms are cast integral with the body of the brackett,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare what I
claim 'is
E
1st. In a carding-engine the mechanism, substantially as described, by which the
speed of the traverse of a roll is caused to vary proportionately to the rotary speed
of said roll, substantially as stated.
2nd In a carding-engine a small stripper adapted to revolve and cooperate with
the cylinder and traverse thereon in right line movement in such a manner that
fibre received upon one extreme traverse shall be delivered at the opposite extreme
traverse substantially as herein described.
3rd In mechanism of the class herein premised, the combination with the
revolving cylinder, of a series of rotary strippers, oppositely but simultaneously
moving upon the face thereof in right line movement, substantially as herein set
forth.
4th In equalizing apparatus the combination with the cylinder C, the revolving
strippers F F pivotally connected with the rods h h¹ of the oscillating or semi-
rotary shaft actuated by a prime-motor, whereby traverses of the strippers are
accomplished for purposes herein described.
5th In combination with the cylinder C, pulley H, face-plate I, connecting
rod J pivotally united with the rocker-shaft m, the oscillating shaft i carrying
the adjustable rods h h attached thereto, whereby the strippers are caused to
traverse proportionally with their rotation as described.