IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING APPARATUS FOR CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Parsons, of Martock, in the County of
Somerset, Engineer, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING
APPARATUS FOR CARDING ENGINES."
Scaled the 21th September 1870, and dated the 31st March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1870.
I, GEORGE PARSONS, of Martock, in the County of Somerset, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FEEDING APPARATUS FOR CARDING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a substitute for the feed
roller or rollers ordinarily employed to supply the fibre to the main
cylinder of carding engines, and consists in the use and application to
the purpose of the screw or spiral gills used in flax machinery, the
fibre being carried through or by the gills, by which means such fibro
is supported and brought in closer contact to the cylinder than has

page_text: been practicable hitherto, and at the same time seeds, lumps, knots, or
other extraneous matter is removed and prevented getting on to the
cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Parsons in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
PARSONS, of Martock, in the County of Somerset, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Georgo Parsons, Her special licence that
I, the said George Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Parsons, my executors, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING APPARATUS
FOR CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Parsons, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Parsons, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :---
The object of this Invention is to provide a substitute for the feed
roller or rollers ordinarily employed to supply the fibre to the main
cylinder of carding engines, and consists in the use and application to

page_text: the purpose of the screw or spiral gills used in flax drawing machinery,
the fibre being carried through or by the gills, by which means such fibre
is supported and brought in closer contact to the cylinder than has been
practicable hitherto, and at the same time seeds, lumps, knots, or
other extraneous matters is removed and prevented getting on to the
cylinder.
In order that this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood I have hereunto annexed a Drawing showing the
application of my improved feeding apparatus to a carding engine.
Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 an end sectional view, and Fig. 3 a
plan of my arrangement of feeding mechanism for carding engines.
Similar letters are used to denote similar parts in all the views.
A, A, are two right and left handed screws mounted in the frame B
and geared together by the spur wheels C, so as to revolve in opposite
directions, the lower screws being double the pitch of the upper
ones. Simultaneous revolving motion is communicated to all four
screws by the driving shaft D and bevel wheels E, the necessary speed
to such driving shaft being imparted by a band passing round the
driving pulley F. G, G, are the gills which consist of vertical metallic
spikes or needles mounted in metal fallers H, the extremities of which
fallers project between the threads of the screws A, A, and are thus
carried forward as such screws revolve until cach faller in its turn
approaches as near to the card roller I as possible without touching,
when the cams J fixed upon the screws A are arranged to come in
contact with the extremities of such fallers and to force it down upon
the lower screws. These lower screws by revolving in an opposite
direction to the upper ones then carry the said faller backwards until
the cams K fixed upon such lower screws raise such faller up again ready
to be carried forward again by the threads of the upper screws. L, L,
0 are weighted bars designed to assist the gills to draw the fibre forward,
for which purpose such bars are padded or spiked on their under surfaces
and rest upon the fibre laying upon the gills. These weighted bars are
carried forward by the gills, and as each succeeding gill comes to the
front, the back weighted bar is caused to recede a short distance in order
5 to take another grip of the fibre, and when the front gill falls on to the
lower screws the front weighted bar is instantly released by the cams J,
and is drawn back by the action of the springs M on to the next
approaching gill, or a weighted roller may be mounted so as to revolve

page_text: above the gills for the same purpose. The cotton or other fibre fed from
the reel O first passes beneath the bar P and is then held and carried
forward by the gills G by the action of the screws A, A, which as they
revolve cause such gills to advance, and as each one approaches the
card cylinder or roller it falls down and is carried by the lower screws
back to the starting point again; by this means the fibre is fed to the
carding engine and is supported in closer contact to the card cylinder
than is practicable when one or more feeding rollers are employed, whilst
at the same time such gills tend to prevent seeds, lumps, knots, or other
extraneous matter getting on to the card cylinder.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention, together with the best means with which I am.
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters
Patent, the use and application to carding engines of a feeding motion:
constructed as and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated
on the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Parsons, have hereunto
set my hand and affixed my seal, this Seventeenth day of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy.