CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING AND SPINNING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Evan Arthur Leigh, of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING AND SPINNING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS
Sealed the 28th July 1874, and dated the 31st January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Evan Arthur Leigh at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st January 1874.
I, EVAN ARTHUR LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING AND SPINNING COTTON, WOOL,
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND MACHINERY OR APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be
as follows:-

page_text: dated August 16th, 1870. Instead of constructing the main cylinders of
a series of sheet-iron plates pressed to a form, therein shewn, I prefer now
to use three sheet-iron plates only to every cylinder, doffer, or roller, each
plate to form one-third of a circle, and pressed hot to the curve repre-
senting the diameter of the intended roller or cylinder. In the case of
main cylinders or doffers I fix these plates upon rings turned up to the
proper size and solder the edges together, using fillet cards instead of
sheets. Carding rollers or other cylinders of small diameter I likewise
make of three segment plates, but instead of fixing them upon rings I
fix malleable cast-iron flanged discs in the ends, cach disc having a stud
or bearing cast upon it. Instead of turning these discs and bearings as
usual I heat them to a blood red heat and then prop them in suitable
moulds, which not only forms the bearings exactly alike but the insides
also, and saves the necessity of turning and balancing. I construct the
moulds for these operations so that the discs are surrounded by cavities
containing water, which is kept at a boiling temperature by the hot
plates whilst the manufacture is going on, and keeps the discs at about
the same temperature.
Secondly. In my Patent No. 728, dated 28th February 1873, I mention
the setting of the rollers and flats of carding engines by the pedestals
resting upon inclined plancs formed upon stepped discs. I now prefer
to use bevel wheels instead of the stepped discs and raise or lower the
pedestals by means of screws, each of which has a small pinion keyed.
upon it that takes into the large bevel or crown wheel. I likewise make
these screws act upon the under casing, which is set closer at the same
time as the rollers or flats to accommodate the wear of the wire.
Thirdly. My next improvement is in spinning frames, more particu-
larly in that kind of machine known as the ring and traveller. In this
kind of frame I make the spindle of a hollow tube about 3/8" diameter
with about a " diameter hole, which is bored nearly to the bottom.
This tube spindle may be made of steel, but I prefer to make it of cast
iron, in which case the warve, to which is attached a cup, may either be
cast or driven upon it. The top of the cup is of a W form, and receives
the bottom of the bobbin, which it drives round without the necessity of
a steady pin or without the bobbin fitting tight upon the spindle. I
prefer to make the spindle about nine inches long and run the lower part
of it in a pocket fixed in the bolster rail. This pocket serves for both
bolster and step. It is made by preference of cast iron, and after being

page_text: bored is well polished out. It is oiled through the hollow spindle, which
is pierced near the foot. The spindle is solid at the bottom, where it is
turned thinner and pointed as if for a footstep, but only the extreme
point rests on the bottom of the pocket, which being bored parallel all
the way down leaves a small reservoir for oil at the bottom, which is
forced up by the pressure of the oil in the hollow spindle, thus giving
an abundant supply. The overflow is taken off through a separate hole
in the pocket, thus keeping all clean about the bolster.
Another modification is to make that part of the spindle which works
in the pocket of solid steel smaller in diameter and attach the upper
hollow part of the spindle to the warve only. In this case the separato
hole in the spindle pocket is connected with the other at the bottom, and
is used to supply oil acting as a oil hole. I prefer to make the ring or
copping rail of a piece of angle iron, to which I bolt the ring clips. I
prefer to make the latter of round wire rings cut open about the eighth
of an inch. I then solder a brass foot to one end for bolting to the rail,
and a smaller foot or nut to the other for contracting it by a set screw
so as to twitch up the spinning ring when placed therein. This arrange-
ment enables the ring to be set exactly concentric with the spindle
vertically and exactly square with it horizontally by fitting the leg of the
clip to the angle-iron rail.
Fourthly. My next improvement applies not only to ring spinning
frames, but to throstles generally, and consists in placing the tin cylinder
or driving roller lower down than usual, so that the top side is about level
with the centre of the spindle warves, and between them and the driving
cylinder I place short tin cylinders of smaller diameter. These inter-
mediate cylinders or rollers I make by preference sufficiently long to go
between the spring pieces and about five inches diameter, or half the size
of the main driving roller. They run independently of each other upon
centres or small steel gudgeons, and their main object is to hold up the
lower side of the spindle bands to the centre of the warves. By this
means a longer band is obtained for each spindle, and much power is
saved through the bands coming direct upon the warves and the friction
of the large tin roller being transferred to the small gudgeons of the
little cylinders. In order to get the warves as light as possible I prefer
to stamp them hot or cold out of malleable iron or other suitable
metal.

page_text: Fifthly. Instead of driving throstles or spinning frames by belts I
place the driving shaft between two rows of frames about six inches from
the floor, and drive every two frames from it by means of a pair of ox-
tooth wheels and friction clutches or other arrangement of gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Evan Arthur Leigh in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EVAN
ARTHUR LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, Her
special licence that I, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Evan Arthur
Leigh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING AND SPINNING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND MACHINERY OR APPARATUS THEREFOR" upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, 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 imme.
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, 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 had to the Figures on.

page_text: marked thereon, that is to say :—
This Invention consists,―
Firstly. In an improved method of constructing carding engine
cylinder doffers and rollers to that mentioned in my Patent Number
2267, dated August Sixteenth, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy. Instead of constructing the main cylinders of a series of
sheet-iron plates pressed to a form therein shown I prefer now to use
three sheet-iron plates only to every cylinder, doffer, or roller, each
plate to form one-third of a circle and pressed hot to the curve repre-
senting the diameter of the intended roller or cylinder. In the case of
main cylinders or doffers I fix these plates upon rings turned up to the
proper size and solder the edges together, using fillet cards instead of
sheets. Carding rollers or other cylinders of smaller diameter I likewise
make of three segment plates, but instead of fixing them upon rings I
fix malleable cast-iron flanged dises in the ends, each disc having a stud or
bearing cast upon it. Instead of turning these discs and bearings as usual
I heat them to a blood red heat and then press them in suitable moulds,
which not only form the bearings exactly alike, but the insides also, and
saves the necessity of turning and balancing. I construct the moulds
for these operations so that the dies are surrounded by cavities containing
water, which is kept at a boiling temperature by the hot plates whilst
the manufacture is going on, and keeps the discs at about the same
temperature.
Secondly. In my Patent, Number 728, dated Twenty-eigth February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, I mention the
setting of the rollers and flats of carding engines by the pedestals
resting upon inclined planes formed upon stepped discs. I now prefer
to use bevil wheels instead of the stepped discs, and raise or lower the
pedestals by means of screws, cach of which has a small pinion keyed
upon it that takes into the large bevel or crown wheel. Ij likewise
make these screws act upon the under casing, which is set closer at the
same time as the rollers or flats to accomodate the wear of the wire.
In illustration of my above-mentioned improvements in carding
engines I annex the following Drawings, viz:-
Figure 1 is a section of a main cylinder for carding engines, constructed
according to this Invention, in which A are the rings, and B, B, B, the
pressed sheet-iron segments, soldered together at C, C, C, and rivetted to

page_text: the turned flanges of the rings a; and I also make doners in a summar
manner.
Figure 2 is a section of one end of a roller or licker-in cylinder, in
which D is the flanged disc, and E, E, the pressed plates, soldered at the
edges and fixed to the flanges of the ends with screws E¹, E¹.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a roller carding engine; and Figure 4 a
transverse section of one of the sides, constructed according to this
Invention, in which a, a, is the framing; a', a', the semicircular bend;
b, the licker-in; c, the main cylinder; d, the doffer; f, f, the carding
rollers; g, g, the clearers; f', the roller pedestals; f³, the setting
screws taking into the roller pedestals, and having at the lower ends
pinions f³ that gear into the crown wheel h. This crown wheel is con-
nected to the small shaft f' by the pinion ft. At the other end of
the small shaft f' is fixed the worm wheel i, into which the worm i
takes that is fixed on the shaft which stretches across the engine and
connects the setting screws on that side by similar machinery, being
squared or otherwise at one end, so that a box setting key can be slipped
upon it when required, by turning which all the rollers can be adjusted
at once. The clearer pedestals g² are attached to the roller pedestals f¹
by the double cannon g³ jointed, in the middle, one part being fixed to f¹
and the other supporting the clearer pedestal g² which passes through
it. This pedestal being screwed at the bottom is raised or dropped by
the adjusting nuts g', g', and is set sideways by the set screws gỗ, g³,
when necessary, which is of rare occurrence, as both clearer and append-
ages move up or down with the rollers. The under casings k, k, arc
adjusted and kept close to the cylinder by the setting screws fo, which
have a finer pitch than the others, and take into the paps of the wheels f7.
The front parts of the under casings k, k, are formed by metal stright-
edge plates k¹, k¹, which stretch across the cylinder; but the slicet-iron
casing itself is only the width of the wire on the cylinder. It is left
open at the bottom for the dirt to fall through.
The arrangement for setting the doffer d and the licker-in b, both ends
at once, is shown at 7 and 1 by screws l², which pass through snugs at
the bottom of the doffer and licker-in pedestals and are actuated by bevil
wheels, which gear into similar wheels on the shafts . These shafts
stretch across the framing and gear at the other side to similar wheels
and screws, each shaft being squared at one end for a setting key, as
described, for setting the rollers. The feed rollers are also set in a

page_text: and
similar manner. The rollers are brushed out or ground by a brush or
grinding roller m mounted on the top of the radial arms n, which rest
on paps, one half of which are cast on the semicircular bends a',
the other half upon the cylinder steps, and are actuated to and fro by a
mangle motion. By placing the clearers g, g, on the doffer side of
the rollers the cotton is passed through direct without being carried
over the tops of the rollers, consequently the brush or grinding roller, as
the case may be, can act upon them whilst the engine is working, the
ordinary covers being unnecessary, as by this arrangement the rollers
can be got sufficiently near to cover the cylinder. The pedestals n²
which carry the circular brush or grinding roller m have racks cast upon
them, into which take small pinions o (seen best in Figure 4) fixed upon
short shafts o¹, also worm wheels o², into which take worms o³ fixed on
a shaft o' which stretches across the engine and actuates similar
machinery on the other side. On the right-hand side is a driving shaft p
that likewise stretches across the engine and works the radial arms " on
both sides through the vertical shafts p³ and the worms and wheels p²
and p at the top, and worm p* and wheel p³ at the bottom of same
actuating the mangle wheels p. The strips are taken off the brush m
by the comb q carried upon levers q' supported from the pedestals .
The grinding rollers m³, m³, are respectively set to the main cylinder
and doffer by the shafts m², m², which stretch across the engine and have
worms m³, m³, keyed upon them. These worms take into the wheels
m³, m³, keyed upon the bushes m³, m³, which are tapped for the threads
on the grinding pedestals m³, m.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of a carding engine adapted for travelling
self-stripping flats, and Figure 6, a transverse section of one side of the
same. a, a, is the framing a¹, a', the bends screwed fast to the framing
a², a, the flexible bends over which the flats f slide. The flexible
bend on each side of the engine is supported by the pillars f', f¹, into
which the screws f2 take and raise or lower them by similar mechanism
to that described for the roller card. The flexible bends a² are turned
both inside and out and have a groove cut on the under side, into which
a projection cut on the top of the pillars f¹ fits loosely so as to keep the
bend in its place. The flexible bend is however made fast to one of the
pillars at a³, but nowhere else, and is held down to the pillars by the weight
of the flats. The upper bends a³ rest on studs that project from the central
pillars at a, and are further supported by the bolts at a, a, which it is

page_text: necessary to loosen when the card is set. The grinding roller is fixed
at n and the pedestals n¹ are raised or lowered by turning the shaft o
which stretches across the engine, and acts upon the pedestals through
the small bevel wheels o' and screws o² which take into the pedestals n¹.
The rest of the motions are as previously described.
Thirdly. My next improvement is in spinning frames, more particularly
in that kind of machine known as the ring and traveller. In this frame
I make the spindle of a hollow tube about three-cighths of an inch in
diameter with about a quarter of an inch diameter hole which is bored
nearly to the bottom, see a, Figures 7 and 8. This tube spindle may be
made of steel or other metal, but I prefer to make it of cast-iron in
which case the warve a¹ to which is attached a cup may either be cast,
driven, or shrunk upon it. The top of the cup is of a double V form,
and receives the bottom of the bobbin b which it drives round without
the necessity of a steady pin or without the bobbin fitting tight upon
the spindle. I prefer to make the spindle about nine inches long and
run the lower part of it in a pocket c fixed in the bolster rail. This
pocket serves for both bolster and step. It is made by preference of
cast iron, and after being bored is well polished out. It may be oiled
through the hollow spindle which in that case is pierced near the foot, or
through a separate hole c¹ in the bolster if preferred. The spindle is
solid at the bottom where it is turned thinner and pointed as if for a
footstep, but only the extreme point rests on the bottom of the pocket,
which, being bored parallel all the way down leaves a small reservoir for
oil at the bottom which is forced up by the pressnre of the oil in the
hollow spindle or that in the hole c¹ in the pocket, as the case may be,
thus giving an abundant supply. The overflow is taken off by a separato
hole in the pocket, or by a gutter cut on the outside of the pocket,
thus keeping all clean about the bolster.
Another modification is to make that part of the spindle which works
in the pocket of solid steel smaller in diameter, and attach the upper
hollow part of the spindle that carries the warve to it, but I prefer the
plan shown in the Drawing. The copping rail may be made of angle
iron and have the ring clips bolted to it. The latter may be made of
round wire rings cut open about the eighth of an inch, having a brass
foot soldered to one end for bolting to the copping rail, and a smaller
foot or nut to the other for contracting it by a set screw so as to twitch
up the spinning ring when placed therein. This arrangement enables

page_text: the ring to be set exactly concentric with the spindle vertically and
exactly square with it horizontally by fitting the leg of the clip to the
angle iron rail.
A modification is shewn in Figures 10 and 11, in which the rings d
themselves form their own holders, being made square at their outer
edges.
A second modification is shown at d, Figures 7, 8, and 9, in which the
rings are made from nearly square iron plates and rest upon the vertical
supports d', to the top of which they are bolted, and the bottom of the
vertical rods are bolted to the lifting rail d and pass loosely through
the bolster rail, as shown in dotted lines at d³, Figure 7, except at the
spring pieces, where they fit the holes; the object being to get the
spinning ring in as little room as possible vertically to be out of the way
of the driving band, and to shorten that part of the spindle from the
bolster upwards as much as possible.
Another modification is to have the spindle made a little longer and
run it in an ordinary bolster and step rail, which may be cast together,
but however run in regard to its bearings the spindle must be made dead
true and the bobbins also, for which purpose I prefer the latter made
from gutta percha, paper, or any other material that can be moulded
when in a soft state, or of thin metal, as at b, Figure 7, with gutta percha,
india-rubber, or other material fixed firmly on the bottom b², where they
take into the cup or twitch nick of the warve. On the top of these
bobbins fits a thin paper tube, not shown, upon which the yarn is wound
by a copping motion. It is not intended that the bobbins shall bo
taken away from the frames when the set is doffed, but merely have the
paper tubes containing the yarn removed from them and fresh ones put
on. Any ordinary copping motion will do for this frame, but what I
find to answer best is made as shown in Figure 12, in which e represents
the end of one of the lifting shafts, upon which fits loosely the
compound lever f. One end of this lever is formed like a mangle wheel,
with internal and external teeth, in which the spur wheel f¹ takes
gearing alternately with each, giving a slow lift and quick return motion
to the other end of the lover, upon which is fixed a stud f². This stud
carries two wheels fastened together marked f³; the smaller of these
wheels is a spur wheel, and the larger a worm wheel. The spur wheel
is geared into a sector wheel e¹ keyed upon the lifting shaft e, and the
worm wheel gears into the worm f*, the shaft of which passes through

page_text: the cannon f³, cast or fixed upon the lever f. The worm shaft has a
ratchet wheel and handle marked f keyed upon it that moves up and
down with the end of the lever, in doing which the ratchet wheel comes
in contact with a pin placed in any convenient position so as to take a
tooth at each lift, and gradually raises the copping rails on both sides
of the frame tapering the cop at both ends. Thus if a cop be required
four and a half inches long the frame must be made to lift three inches,
and the ratchet wheel motion arranged to lift the rails three-quarters of
an inch during the set.
Fourthly. My next improvement applies not only to ring spinning
frames but to throstles generally, and consists in placing the tin cylinder
or driving roller g, Figure 11, lower down than usual, so that the top side
is about level with the centre of the spindle warves, and between them
and the driving cylinder I place short tin cylinders g¹, g', of smaller
diameter. These intermediate cylinders or rollers I make by preference
sufficiently long to go between the spring pieces and about half the
diameter of the driving roller. They run independently of each other
upon centres or small steel gudgeons 92, and their main object is to hold
up the lower side of the spindle bands to the centre of the warves. By
this means a longer band is obtained for each spindle and much power is
saved through the bands coming direct upon the warves, and the friction
of the large tin roller being transferred to the small gudgeons 72 of the
little cylinders. In order to get the warves as light as possible I prefer
to stamp them out of malleable iron or other suitablo metal.
Fifthly. Instead of driving throstles or spinning frames by belts as
heretofore I place the driving shaft h, Figure 13, between two rows of
frames i, i, about six inches from the floor, and drive every two frames
from it by means of a pair of ox-tooth wheels / and h², the latter having
fixed upon it the friction boxes h³, h³, into which take the clutches h*, h*,
that slide upon sunken keys on the tin roller shafts ³, 15, of the
frames i, i.
Another modification of frictional driving is shown in Figures 14 and
15, in which is a bevel frictional wheel keyed upon the driving shaft h
and taking into the plane bevils ', k³, that are covered on the face with
leather or other slightly elastic substance. The wheels are brought in or
out of gear by the levers k³, which take hold of the sliding bevels
through the connecting rods * near the bottom, and are held by catches
at the top when the frame is at work.

page_text: Having now described the nature and particulars of my said In-
vention and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire
it to be understood that I claim,-
.
First. The improved method of constructing carding engine cylinders,
doffers, and rollers, as herein-before described and shewn in the Drawings
annexed.
Secondly. The improved method of constructing and setting the various
parts of carding engines, as herein-before described and shown in the
annexed Drawings or any modification thereof.
Thirdly. The improved spinning frame, as herein-before described
and shown in the annexed Drawings or any colorable imitation thereof.
Fourthly. The use of intermediate rollers set, as shown on the
annexed Drawings, on both sides of spinning frames for guiding the
bands straight upon the warves and throwing a portion of the weight of
the large driving cylinder upon the small gudgeons of the little rollers;
also the stamping out of spindle warves in suitable moulds, hot or cold,
instead of turning them.
Fifthly. The method herein-before described and shown in the
annexed Drawings of driving throstle, spinning, or other frames.
In witness whereof, I, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.