CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND ROLLERS USED FOR CARDING COTTON, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, ALSO IN ROLLER CARDING GENERALLY
Year: 1870

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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND ROLLERS USED FOR
CARDING COTTON, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, ALSO IN ROLLER
CARDING GENERALLY."
Sealed the 14th February 1871, and dated the 16th August 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Evan Arthur Leigh
66
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th August 1870.
I, EVAN ARTHUR LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND ROLLERS
USED FOR CARDING COTTON, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, ALSO IN
ROLLER CARDING GENERALLY," to be as follows:-

page_text: may be used instead of ordinary cast iron, as at present, whereby the
weight is lessened considerably, and the power required to drive the
same is much reduced; thus, in constructing the main cylinders, doffers,
and takers-in of carding engines I make the shafts and rings nearly as
usual, only much lighter, of annealed cast iron by preference. I key
the rings firmly on the shafts and turn them up true. These rings are
nearly of the same diameter as the intended cylinder, and have by pre-
ference a flange or rib projecting above the diameter of the cylinder to
prevent fly blowing out and make a better finish. I then rivet plates
of sheet iron or steel on these rings, which have been rolled or pressed to
a curved form representing a segment of the cylinder. These segments
are about five inches wide for main cylinders, and have a trough at one
edge, the bottom of which is rivetted to the rings, which have a pocket
to receive them, and the edges come together, so as to be soldered or
rivetted at the overlap. Into these troughs I insert wood for nailing on
the cards. In finishing these plates I press them hot to the exact form
required, so that the cylinders will do without turning up when carefully
made. Doffers, lickers-in, and rollers I make in a similar manner,
varying the breadth and curve of plates to suit the different diameters.
'
Another method of accomplishing this is to make the rings about two
inches smaller in diameter than the cylinder, and then fix wrought-iron
troughs about five inches apart transversely on the top of the rings.
These troughs have small flanges on their edges, which after being
turned up receive sheet-iron plates bent to the proper curve, which are
fastened to the troughs by solder or rivetting, the troughs being filled
with wood for nailing on the cards.
:
Secondly. My next improvement in carding engines relates to roller
carding, and consists in having all the rollers of one diameter set close
to each other and close to the cylinder with the wire all the same way.
I drive these rollers at a continually accelerated speed commencing with
a very slow motion, increasing at each successive roller twenty or thirty
per cent., so that they strip each other without the aid of clearance.
The pedestals of these rollers I mount by preference on a flexible bend
or turned segment of a ring, so that they can all be set or adjusted to
the cylinder together. By this arrangement I am enabled to pass a
grinding roller or circular brush over them to clean or sharpen them
without removing them from their places. By mounting the roller steps

page_text: on a flexible bend I can also get a little lateral movement to suit the
different lengths of wire when necessary in a simple manner.
Another way is to have each roller pedestal set by a separate screw,
and the screws so connected that they move simultaneously, or they
may be moved together by inclined planes; but however done the
intention is that all the rollers should be set together and ground
together. The grinding roller must be mounted on levers that rest
on the cylinder pedestal or otherwise, so that the grinding roller pedestals
move in a curve struck from the centre of the cylinder.
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 16th February 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EVAN
ARTHUR LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engincer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, Her special
license that I, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF CYLINDERS AND ROLLERS
USED FOR CARDING COTTON, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, ALSO IN
ROLLER CARDING GENERALLY," upon the condition, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
In constructing the main cylinders, doffers, and takers-in of carding
engines I make the shafts and rings nearly as usual, only much lighter,
of annealed or malleable cast iron by preference.
My improvements will be seen and understood by reference to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 shewing a carding engine in
section, in, which a represents a main cylinder ring keyed on the shaft b,
and notched out at a¹ to receive the trough on the plates c, which are
rivetted upon the rings and soldered or rivetted together at the overlap
shewn at d, d, Figs. 5 and 6; the wood for nailing on the cards is seen at
d, Fig. 5. In making rollers of small diameters which only require the
fillets to be tacked at each end two plates or hemispheres will be sufficient,
as shewn at Fig. 7. These are made like the other plates by being rolled
to the form first, then heated in a suitable furnace to a blood red heat,
and pressed while hot into suitable iron moulds. The edges of the two
hemispherical plates are then soldered together, and have ends with
gudgeons attached, fixed in by screws or rivets, with or without a shaft
passing through them.
My next improvement in carding engines relates to roller carding, and
will be seen on reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, in which 9, 9, 9, 9,
g¹, g¹, g¹, g', represent the carding rollers, which all revolve one way in
the direction of the arrows, the fillet card being also set in the same
direction as shewn, which is contrary to that on the roller , which acts
as a clearer to the last roller g. All these rollers are mounted on a
turned segment of metal or flexible bend i on which the roller pedestals j
rest, and are fixed by the bolts and nuts k which pass through the
bend ; they are also adjustable slightly in a lateral direction by the set
screws I, l. The flexible bend or segment i is adjusted to the main
cylinder, so as to compensate for the wear of the wire by the screws
m, m, m, in the usual manner, and when set are held firmly by the bolts
and nuts n, n, n. By this means the rollers are all set at once to the
main cylinder, and they are all ground in their places on the engine by

page_text: the grinding roller o, which is mounted on the side levers p, p, Figs. 2,
3, and 4. These levers are also seen in section in Fig. 3 resting on the
cylinder pedestals at p', p', upon which they turn. They are connected
together across the engine by the rods q, q.
The bottom end of these
levers are made like box pullies, and are weighted on one side, as shewn
in dotted lines, so as to cause them to lean towards the licker-in or feed
rollers by a gentle pull. These levers are made to traverse to and fro, as
shewn by the dotted lines, so that the grinding roller o will pass over all
the carding rollers g and g¹, but not over the clearer h, as the wire is in
a contrary direction. The slow movement of the side levers to and fro
is effected by the mangle wheel r worked by the shafts and pinion t,
which may be driven from the lap rollers, as shewn, or in any other
convenient manner. This mangle wheel r is keyed on a shaft u which
stretches across the engine, and has two pullies v; v, fixed upon it, one at
each end, upon which one end of each of the chains w, w, lap, the other
ends being attached to the levers p, p, as shewn at x, x, Figs. 2 and 4.
In place of the grinding roller o a circular brush may be fixed, which if
kept constantly running when the engine is at work it will seldom be
necessary to use the grinding roller at all, as the brush will have a
tendency to sharpen the wire. One-half of the rollers being those
marked g, g, g, g, Fig. 2, are driven by the chain y from the chain
wheel keyed on one end of the doffer, and the carding rollers g', g', g', I',
Fig. 4, and the clearer are driven by a similar chain y' and chain
wheel 'keyed on the other end of the doffer, as shewn in Fig. 4, the latter
chain wheel being about twenty-five per cent. larger than the one which
drives the rollers g, g, g, g, on the other side, each chain driving every
alternate roller, and every alternate roller has a chain wheel upon it
about fifty per cent. less as they go on. By this means every roller goes
at an accelerated speed of about twenty-five per cent., which enables it
to strip the previous one and afterwards act as a carding roller itself, the
last or eighth carding roller only being stripped by a clearer h, which
puts the cotton on the cylinder again and leaves itself clear in the usual
way. By this simple means eight of the nine rollers which cover the
cylinder are carding rollers, and as they are all set up close to each other
they not only form a sufficient cover to the cylinder themselves, but
increase the carding power, and as they can be ground in their places all
the labor of taking them out and carrying them about. to be ground and
brushed out is thus saved. In order to strip out the cylinder it is only

page_text: necessary to take out the clearer roller (which may be made to turn
back) and raise the cover between it and the doffer.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Inven-
'tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to
be understood that I claim,--
First. The method shewn and described of constructing cylinders and
rollers used for carding cotton, wool, silk, or other fibrous substances.
And, secondly. The system and arrangement shewn and described of
placing rollers close together, and driving the same at a constantly
increasing speed, by which they strip each other and dispense with all
the clearers except one, and also the method shewn and described of
grinding and brushing the rollers out on the engine without removing
them from their places.
In witness whereof, I, the said Evan Arthur Leigh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
EVAN ARTHUR LEIGH. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Evan Arthur Leigh,
in the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.