IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1856

page_text: man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES."-A com-
munication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th September 1856.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES," to be
as follows:-
In carding engines, as ordinarily constructed and operated, the main cylinder
is cleaned or stripped by hand at intervals, the engine being stopped for the
purpose. Upon every such occasion, and after each stripping, the operation
of the card is modified, and a variation in the lap is the consequence. This
variation or unevenness of the lap runs through the whole subsequent operation
of the cotton, and is even felt to a certain extent in the thread which is
ultimately produced. Efforts have been made to do away with the necessity
of hand stripping, and to avoid the objections to which this method is liable,

page_text: by the employment of a stripper cylinder which runs alternately faster and
slower than the main cylinder, so that the stripper alternately strips the cylinder,
and in turn is stripped thereby, as the relative velocities of the two change.
It is evident, however, that a card thus constructed and operated cannot
produce an even and uniform lap, as at one time the stripper is taking cotton
off the main cylinder, and at another time is returning it thereto. To
accomplish this end without the above-named objections is the object of the
present Invention, which consists in the application of one or more strippers
to the main cylinder, in connection with a doffer, which returns the cotton
instantly to the main cylinder as fast as it is taken off by the stripper,
whereby an uninterrupted and continuous action is preserved, not productive
of the unevenness of lap before mentioned.
Where two strippers are employed they are caused to run with a variable
speed, cach alternately faster and slower than the other, and at a velocity
alternately above and below that of the main cylinder, and thus one or other
of them is constantly stripping the main cylinder, while the cotton taken off is
instantly returned again to the cylinder either by the doffer or by one of the
strippers, which at the time may be running slower than the cylinder, and
acting as a doffer to the other stripper.
Where a single stripper is employed a brush cylinder is made use of, which
revolves at a uniform rate and strips the main cylinder constantly. From this
stripper the cotton is taken by a doffer, which is in turn stripped by the main
cylinder, by which means the cotton is all taken off the main cylinder and
immediately returned thereto, there being no interruption or break in the
operation whatever. In order to save space, one stripper may be so arranged
with regard to two workers as to operate upon both workers simultaneously
and strip the fibres therefrom.
SPECIFICATION, filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 24th day of September, in the year of our Lord

page_text: 1856, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
license that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES," being com-
munication from abroad, upon the. condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument. in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had, to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
Fig. 1 is a front view; Fig. 2, an end view; Fig. 3, details, which will be
referred to hereafter. I will here give a few definitions necessary to a proper
understanding of the subject. The small cylinders of carding engines which
operate in conjunction with the main cylinder are called workers, doffers, or
strippers, according to the nature, of their operation with respect to each other
or to the main cylinder. Workers and doffers receive, and strippers take, the
cotton from the cylinders.
A "worker," 1st runs slower than its cylinder; 2nd, its teeth are set against
the cylinder teeth; 3d, it is cleaned of its cotton by a stripper, from which
the cotton is taken again by the cylinder.
A "doffer," 1st, runs slower than its cylinder; 2nd, its teeth are set against
the cylinder teeth; 3d, it is cleaned of its cotton by a comb or by a stripper.
A "stripper," 1, runs faster than its cylinder; 2nd, its teeth are set with
the cylinder. teeth; 3d, it may be cleaned of its cotton by another stripper, or
by a doffer, or by a cylinder.
The above terms are used with sole reference to the action of the cylinders
for the time being, or to their action upon the particular cylinder with which
they are running in connection, the same cylinder being at the same time of

page_text: one character as respects its action upon another cylinder, and of another
character as respects its action upon a third cylinder. Thus, a main cylinder
may at the same time be a stripper when it takes its cotton from a doffer, a
stripper, or a licker in. A licker in, without loosing its character as such, may
at the same time be both a stripper to a worker and a doffer to a stripper to the
main cylinder; or a stripper to the main cylinder may be at the same time a
licker in, giving its cotton to a doffer, which is stripped by the main cylinder;
or the main cylinder may become a doffer, and receive cotton from a stripper
that has operated upon any other cylinder of the card. In carding engines as
ordinarily constructed and operated, the main cylinder is cleared or stripped by
hand at intervals, the card being stopped at the time for the purpose. Upon
every such occasion, and after each stripping, the operation of the card is
modified, and a variation in the doffed sheet is the consequence. This
variation or unevenness of the sheet runs through the whole subsequent pre-
paration of the cotton, and is even felt to a certain extent in the thread which
is ultimately produced. Efforts have been made to do away with the necessity
of hand stripping, to avoid the objections to which this method is liable, by the
employment of a stripper cylinder which alternately runs faster and slower
than the main cylinder, so that the stripper alternately strips the main cylinder,
and in turn is stripped thereby, as the relative velocities of the two change.
It is evident, however, that a card thus constructed and operated cannot pro-
duce an even and uniform sheet, as at one time the stripper is taking cotton
off the main cylinder, and at another is returning it thereto. The object of
the first part of this Invention is to remedy in a degree this disadvantage, by
the use of two stripping cylinders, which are caused to run with a variable
speed, alternately faster and slower than the other, and at a velocity alternately
above and below that of the main cylinder; by this arrangement one or other
of them is constantly stripping the main cylinder, while the other is being
stripped by the main cylinder, as may be seen by reference to the accom-
panying Drawings, in which A is the main cylinder; and B and C, the two
variable cylinders, which, when taken out of their connection with the doffer P
and worker O, show one operation of this improvement, which will be here-
after more fully set forth. The cylinders B and C may be placed upon the
card in positions remote from each other, and the result specified will still be
attained.
The second part of this Invention effectually obviates the above-named
objection, and consists in the use of a doffer in connection with one or more
stripping cylinders, whereby an uninterrupted and continuous movement of

page_text: the cotton or other fibre is attained in its progress through the card, which
secures uniformity in the sheet. When a single stripper is employed, whether
it run at a constant or variable speed, the doffer is used running at a constant
speed and is stripped by the main cylinder. Where two strippers are employed,
they may be caused to run with a variable speed, alternately faster and slower
than the other, and at a velocity alternately above and below that of the main
cylinder, and thus one or other of them is constantly stripping the main
cylinder, while the cotton taken off is instantly returned to the main cylinder
either by the doffer, or by that one of the strippers which at the time may be
running slower than the cylinder, and acting as a doffer to the other stripper,
as seen by reference to the accompanying Drawings; or a stripper to the
main cylinder may be stripped by another cylinder, which shall take the fibre
to the main cylinder, the main cylinder acting as a doffer.
The third part of this Invention has reference to the position of the stripper
with respect to its worker, and consists in placing it in advance of the worker
instead of behind it, as has heretofore been practised. Where the stripper is
placed to the rear of the worker, the cotton taken up by the latter is carried
over and returned to the main cylinder at a point behind that from which it
is taken off, so that the same fibres, even after they may have been sufficiently
carded and opened, are again and again submitted to the action of the same
worker, whereby the staple is injured by repeated working, and the capa-
bilities of the machine materially lessened. When the stripper is placed in
advance of its worker, the cotton is passed directly through the machine,
without being carried back to be again operated upon by the workers,
whereby the machine is rendered capable of an increased amount of work,
and the fibre is not injured by needless carding.
To enable others skilled in the art to understand this Invention, I will
proceed to describe the manner in which it is to be carried out.
In the accompanying Drawings, the first part of this Invention is represented
as carried out with two strippers running at variable speeds, as will now be
more particularly described. A is the main cylinder; B and C, two small
cylinders, which are driven with a surface velocity somewhat less than that of
the main cylinder by the band D from a pulley E upon the shaft of the main
cylinder. Upon the opposite end of the machine these cylinders carry the
cones F and G, the band H which actuates them being regularly traversed
from one end of the cones to the other by the guide I, which is pivoted at x,
and is moved in one direction by a cam K upon the shaft of one of the small
cylinders, and in the opposite direction by the spring y, or in any other

page_text: customary and suitable manner. The peculiar method by which this is effected
forms no part of the present Invention, and need not be further described.
It is evident that as the band H is shifted upon the cones one or other of the
cylinders B and C will run faster than is due to the motion of the driving band
D, and that some device is necessary to enable the cylinders to run indepen-
dent of their pulleys M and N whenever their motion is accelerated; this is
effected in the following manner: The pulleys M and N are connected with
the shafts of the cylinders by means of clutches, so arranged, that whenever the
cylinders are driven by their pulleys M and N these pulleys are clutched with
the shafts, but whenever the cylinders run faster than is due to the motion of
the band D, their shafts revolve freely within the pulleys. The device which
I have chosen for this purpose is represented in Fig. 3, in which N is the
pulley A, the shaft of the stripping cylinder; m, a pad or block, which is
secured to the shaft A2 by the bent spring n, which passes through a bolt or
i
catch o. The spring n revolves freely in the block r projecting from the shaft.
When the pulley revolves faster than the shaft, its friction upon the pad draws
the bolt o through the shaft and into one of the notches s in the wheel, and
thus the latter communicates its motion to the shaft. When, however, the
latter revolves faster than it is driven by the wheel, the pad m is driven in the
opposite direction, the bolt o is unlocked from the wheel, and the shaft revolves
independently of the wheel. The cylinders B and C can never revolve with a
velocity less than that due to the motion of the band D. Either of them may,
however, revolve with a greater velocity, as before explained. Suppose the
band H to be upon the large end of the cone G and the smaller end of the
cone F, the cylinder C will then run with its minimum velocity, being driven
by the band D, and the cylinder B will be driven at a more rapid rate by the
band H, the shaft of this latter roll revolving freely in its pulley, which is still
driven at a uniform rate by the band D, as before explained. The cylinder B
now strips the main cylinder, taking off all or very nearly all the cotton from
its surface. As the band H is traversed back towards the machine, the
velocity of the cylinder B diminishes and that of the cylinder C increases;
and when the band has arrived at the small end of the cone G, the cylin-
der B travels with its minimum and C with its maximum velocity. The
cylinder B is now stripped by the main cylinder, which is itself stripped by
the cylinder C.
The second part of this Invention is also represented as carried out with
two strippers B and C at variable speeds. The cylinder P is a doffer to the
variable cylinder C; it runs uniformly at a rate slower than either the cylinder

page_text: C or the main cylinder, and returns the cotton received from the former on to
the main cylinder, by which it is stripped. When the cylinder B runs at its
maximum velocity, as heretofore described, it strips the main cylinder; and the
cotton thus taken off by the cylinder B is carded on to the cylinder C, which
now acts as a doffer to B, and as C now runs slower than the main cylinder,
it is stripped by the latter, and thus the main cylinder and the cylinder C are
stripped. When the cylinder C runs at its maximum velocity, it strips the
main cylinder and is doffed by the cylinder P, which in its turn is stripped
by the main cylinder; the cylinder B is now stripped by the main cylinder;
thus, by the use of the doffer in connection with the variable cylinders all
these cylinders are stripped and cleaned at short intervals of time without
occasioning any break or unevenness in the sheet, and without the necessity of
stopping the engine for the purpose. It will thus be seen that a machine thus
arranged with two variable cylinders and a doffer becomes a compound or
double card, the stripping process being also a carding process; in all other
methods of carding heretofore used; the stripping process is an interruption of
the carding process. By the application of other variable cylinders in addition
to those herein described, the carding ability of the machine may be pro-
portionately increased.
The third part of this Invention will now be described. Q is a worker
which is stripped by the cylinder R; this cylinder is placed in advance of the
worker, and transfers the cotton which it takes from it to the main cylinder at
a point in advance of that from which it was taken off, so that it is passed
directly through the machine, and in no case is the material twice operated
upon by the same worker. O is a worker occupying a similar position with
respect to its stripper B, as will be seen by reference to the Drawings. At
S is represented a worker having its stripper R behind it in the ordinary
manner, the cotton taken off by the stripper being returned to the main
cylinder at a point back of that from which it was taken off. It is evident
when the cylinders are thus arranged that the fibres are liable to be repeatedly
taken up and carried back by the same worker, as before explained, which
objection is entirely removed, by placing the stripper in advance of the
worker. By placing the stripper R between the two workers Q and S, the
advantages of this system are measurably gained, while the space occupied by
one stripper is saved. T is the main doffer, from which the cotton is taken in
the ordinary way by the comb U.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above-recited Letters Patent I claim,—

page_text: First, the application to carding engines of two or more variable cylinders
for the purpose of preventing the filling up of the main cylinder.
Second, the use of a doffer, in combination with strippers or clearers, as
applied to carding engines, for the purpose of preventing the filling up of the
main cylinder and producing a uniform sheet.
Third, the placing of the stripper to a worker in advance of the worker, as
set forth, for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)