IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING CARDING, COMBING, AND CLEANING. COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Nicolas Plantrou, of Oissel-sur-Seine, in the
Department of the Seine Inférieure, in the Empire of France, Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING,
"
Sealed the 29th January 1867, and dated the 2nd August 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Nicolas Plantrou
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd August 1866.
I, CHARLES NICOLAS PLANTROU, of Oissel-sur-Seine, in the Department of
the Seine Inférieure, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CARDING, COMBING, AND CLEANING. COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object an increased regularity and effectiveness in
the operations of carding, combing, and cleaning cotton and other fibrous
substances. For this purpose the machinery consists in the combination of a
cylinder for tearing and opening the cotton or other fibrous substance,
and either one or two, combing cylinders with carding cylinders, all the
several cylinders being arranged so as to take up the material successively
and operate upon it as required while it is passing through the machine. Tho
object in using the different cylinders thus combined is to effect a more
complete division of the fibres, and a more complete separation of foreign

page_text: matter from them than by the ordinary means; also to obviate the necessity
of such frequent clearing of the cards by arranging the cylinders and appa-
ratus so as to clear them during the operations. The cotton or other fibrous
substances is unwound from a roller by means of a cylinder, from which the
roller receives a differential motion which increases in speed as the fillet of
cotton around the roller diminishes in diameter. The cotton is thence passed
between guides and over a table, and introduced to a cylinder covered with
rows of bent needles or saw teeth, or other suitable tearing and. dividing
instruments. From this cylinder the cotton is taken by a carding cylinder
and transferred to a second carding cylinder, from which it is taken by a
combing cylinder, which is similar to the tearing cylinder, except that the
needles or teeth are finer. By this combing cylinder the cotton or other
material is effectively combed and cleaned, and the fibres are arranged in
parallel lines, and the material is taken from the same by a third carding
cylinder, whence the filament is drawn by a pair of rollers (one of which is
furnished with velvet or other soft brushing material) and passed through a
funnel out of the machine and into any convenient receptacle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Nicolas Plantrou in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, CHARLES
NICOLAS PLANTROU, of Oissel-sur-Seine, in the Department of the Seine
Inférieure, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Nicolas Plantrou, Her special licence that I; the said Charles
Nicolas Plantrou, my executors, administrators, and assigns; or such others
as I, the said Charles Nicolas Plantrou, my exécutors, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING, COMBING, AND CLEANING
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said Charles Nicolas Plantrou, 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 Charles Nicolas Plantrou, 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 following statement, reference being bad to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
My Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for Carding, Combing, and
Cleaning Cotton and other Fibrous Substances" has for its object an increased
regularity and effectiveness in these several operations. For this purpose the
machinery consists in the combination of a cylinder for tearing and opening
the cotton or other fibrous substance, and either one or more combing
cylinders with carding cylinders, all the several cylinders being arranged so as
to take up the material successively, and operate upon it as required while it
is passing through the machine. The object in using the different cylinders
thus combined is to effect a more complete division of the fibres, and a more
complete separation of foreign matter from them than by the ordinary means;
also to obviate the necessity of such frequent clearing of the cards by
arranging the cylinders and apparatus so as to clear them during the opera-
tions. The cotton or other fibrous substance is unwound from a roller by
means of a cylinder from which the roller receives a differential motion, which
increases in speed as the fillet of cotton around the roller diminishes in
diameter. The cotton is thence passed between guides and over a table, and
introduced to a cylinder covered with rows of bent needles, saw teeth, or other
suitable tearing and dividing instruments. From this cylinder the cotton is
taken by a carding cylinder and transferred to a second carding cylinder, from
which it is taken by a combing cylinder which is similar to the tearing
cylinder, except that the needles or teeth are finer. By this combing cylinder
the cotton or other material is effectually combed and cleaned, and the fibres
are arranged in parallel lines, and the material is taken from the same by a
third carding cylinder, whence the filament is drawn by a pair of rollers (one
of which is furnished with velvet or other soft brushing material) and passed
through a funnel out of the machine and into any convenient receptacle.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention I, will proceed to
describe more completely in what manner the same is to be performed by the

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The fillet of cotton or other fibrous material D wound on a cylinder q, the
axes of which are mounted and turn freely in standards e, rests on a cylinder M,
from which it receives rotary motion at the required differential speed. The
cotton or other fibrous material passes over a small table N between two
guides N', and is drawn forward by a fluted roller E, either with or without
a pressing roller on the top of it, and loaded as usual by means of levers O
and weights O¹.
.
The cotton on leaving the fluted roller E is taken forward by a cylinder F
called a tearer, or rather opener, constructed as follows:-In the periphery
are formed longitudinal grooves or channels, in which are inserted narrow bars a,
These
which are securely fixed therein by cement or other suitable means.
bars, the number of which may be varied, say, thirty-two or forty, according
to the diameter of the cylinder, are furnished each with a range of bent
if
needles fixed by solder or otherwise. These bars with needles may pre-
ferred be replaced by blades cut with saw teeth, or even bands of leather with
wire cards of the requisite form and strength. Behind the tearer or opener F
is mounted another cylinder G furnished with wire cards and intended to clear
the cylinder F, that is to say, to remove the cotton or other fibrous material
from it, and to deliver it to another cylinder H furnished also with wire cards,
clearing in its turn the cylinder G. After the cotton has been opened, then
carded at the same time that it is cleaned, it is taken forward without inter-
mission by a combing cylinder I. This comber I is constructed in the same
manner as the opener F, with its periphery furnished with narrow bars
studded with needles slightly bent, with only this difference that the needles
are finer; thence the cotton undergoes a real combing, which continues to
clean it, and above all distributes the fibres in parallel lines as required.
The operation might, if desired, be finished at this point, and the cotton might
'be removed from the comber by means herein-after described, and which are
generally employed in the process of carding; but in order to obtain a more
complete result I prefer to submit the cotton to a double combing (that is to
say), that the cotton is removed from the comber I by a clearing cylinder J,
from which it is delivered to a second comber I', like the first; then this
comber is cleared by a cylinder J', furnished like J with wire cards, and
placed in front of the comber I. The cotton is afterwards cleared from the
cylinder J', either by a smooth roller surmounted by a presser roller covered

page_text: with leather combined with brushes of velvet or other similar material above
and below, or as represented in the Drawings by a doffer K fixed to an axle t,
the trunnions of which oscillate in supports fixed to the frame, which axle
carries a fork n. Between the branches of the fork n is placed a stud r fixed
excentrically on a pulley m turned by another pulley p on the axle of the
comber I. The oscillations of the fork n produced by the excentricity of
the stud r are transmitted by the axle t to the doffer K, which is thus caused
to act with a continuous striking motion, by which its teeth are caused to
remove the cotton from the clearing cylinder J' in the form of a fine fleece,
which is delivered into a funnel L³, and is drawn forward by the drawing
rollers L, L', whence it is delivered in the form of a ribbon into a can or
other convenient receptacle as usual. It will be seen that the comber I is
fixed on the main shaft of the machine, on which are fast and loose pulleys
A and A¹; also on the same shaft is fixed a pulley B driving another pulley C
on the end of the axle of the first clearing cylinder G; on the other end of
the axle of the comber I are keyed two other pulleys, the one P for driving
the pulley and with it the tearer or opener F, the other R for driving the
pulley S and with it the comber 1. At the end of the axle of the clearer G
is a pinion T, which through the wheels U, V, X, and pinion T transmits
motion to the wheel Y on the axle of the clearer H; from this wheel Y
motion is communicated through the pinions Y', Y, to the wheel Y on the
axle of the clearer J, and this wheel Ys through the pinions Y*, Ys, turns the
wheel Y on the axle of the last clearer J. Finally, the wheel Ye gives motion
through the pinions Z, Z', to the pinion Z3 on the axis of the lower drawing
roller L'. The fluted feeding roller E is driven by a pinion e on the axle of
the clearer through the bevil gear e¹, e, e, and the feeding cylinder M is
driven from the axle of the roller E through the spur gear d³, d³, d³. In
order to enable the needle points of the combers I and I' to remove the
cotton from the cylinders H; J, regulating blades b, b', are adapted, being
turned, as shown in red. These blades should be close to the needle points,
and be a little more distant from the wire cards; the edge of the blades is cut
into saw teeth, in order to hold the fibres and admit of their being more easily
separated and drawn in parallel lines by the action of the combers. The
machine should be inclosed at the top and sides The covering for the top is
shewn at g in blue lines, and for the sides at t; these coverings may be of
wood or canvas and basketwork, and there is a case or receptacle u underneath
the fluted feeding roller E to receive the dirt or foreign matter first separated
from the cotton. As before observed, if only a single combing were required
the clearer J would be the last, and then it would be followed immediately by

page_text: the doffer K and the discharging rollers L and L. The mode of driving the
several revolving cylinders from the main shaft might be varied from that
above described.
The machine above described is adapted for carding and combing fibrous
substances generally, and obviates the tendency to choke and thereby injure
the material under treatment, as in ordinary carding cylinders and covers, and
also the usual necessity of a special attendant to clear those parts. The
machine effects the carding as usual, but by the addition of a tearer or
opener F, and one or two combers I, I', which divide the fibres better and
separate dirt and other foreign matter from them more completely. More-
over, by the different cylinders. becoming successively cleared one by another,
as the cotton is delivered by the preceding cylinder the wire cards are always
comparatively empty, and they are only required to be cleared every two or
three days.
The peculiar character of my Invention, as herein-before described, having
reference to a continuous rotatory combing process by means of revolving
cylinders, I would remark that it is applicable to machines in which the subor-
dinate parts are different from those described, and I have represented in the
detached Figures 1 to 7 (full size) the mode which I prefer of constructing the
cylinders and inserting the needle points. A rule C (Fig. 3) is provided, which
rule has formed in it notches or grooves D at such distances apart as may be
required for the needle points; then needles a, previously prepared, are
inserted in the notches, and with another rule the points are bevelled, and the
larger ends caused to project, as shown in Fig. 4; then a smooth rule E
(Figures 5 and 6) is applied on the top of the rule C, a ribbon or cord being
placed between them in order to give elasticity, the two rules are then held
together firmly by means of tightening joints F, so as to pinch the needles at
their point ends; a strip of zinc A is then laid underneath the larger ends of
the needles almost touching the divider C, and to which such ends of the
needles are soldered or otherwise fixed, thereby forming a combing bar, as
shewn in Fig. 7. These bars are inserted in dovetailed grooves formed in the
periphery of the cylinder, as shewn in Fig. 1, and filled with cement and
pressed on the points with a rule so as to bury the larger ends in the cement,
in which they are kept until the cement is hard or dry. By giving to the
needles the inclination in the grooves shown they acquire two points of
support, one above and one below, which prevents them from altering their
position in the cement.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim as of

page_text: my Invention is, the adaptation and application to machines for the purpose
described, of cylinders for opening and preparing the fibres of cotton or other
material combined with cylinders for combing and clearing, in substitution for
the mechanism ordinarily employed for these several purposes. By means of
the arrangement and combination of cylinders acting successively, as herein-
before described, the several operations of tearing, opening, and straightening
the fibres of cotton or other material are effected by the continuous rotation of
the several cylinders, and the requisite clearing of the cylinders during the
said operations is also effected by the same means.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Nicolas Plantrou, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
CHARLES NICOLAS PLANTROU. (L.S.)