Im- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CARDING OR PREPARING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stevenson, of Lochwinnoch, in. the County
of Renfrew, North Britain, Manufacturer, and. William Crawford, of the
same Place, Wool Spinner, for the .Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Stevenson and
William Crawford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with
their Petition, on the 22nd December 1855.
We, WILLIAM STEVENSON, of Lochwinnock, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Manufacturer, and-WILLIAM CRAWFORD, of the same 'Place,'
Wool Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CARDING OR PREPARING FIBROUS
MATERIALS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a modification of the ordinary carding engine or
machine, as used in the carding or preparation of wool, cotton, and other
fibrous materials, whereby the operation of such machinery is rendered much
more effective and economical than has hitherto been the case.
The carding engine in its main details resembles that in common use at
present, having a feeding-in and carding apparatus with a main card cylinder,
as is well understood, and used in various textile manufactures. The wool or
cotton passes through the machine in the usual manner as far as the main

page_text: carding cylinder, but instead of doffing or removing the fibrous silver, as at
present practised, a disc card is employed for this purpose. This is a disc of
metal or other material, covered with wire card teeth in any convenient and
effective manner, and set upon a vertical rotating spindle in such a position
that the card face of the disc works with a part of its arca against or in con-
tact with the wire card teeth on the horizontal main cylinder. The respective
surface motions of the main cylinder and the disc card are thus at right angles
with each other, and 'as the main cylinder revolves, the disc card revolving also
across the path, as is it were, of the main cylinder card surface, strips and
carries away the wool or cotton from the main cylinder. The fibrous material
is thus carried round by the disc clear away from the main cylinder, and one
or more doffing combs being arranged to work upon the disc card face, the
fibrous material is stripped off the disc card and passed forward to a duplex
endless apron arrangement. This apron arrangement has a continuous forward
traverse, as in the usual manner, for the conveyance of the fibrous material
away from the actual carding apparatus; but in addition to this traverse it has
also a lateral vibrating action horizontally, for the purpose of giving a rubbing
rolling action to the fibrous material to complete the sliver or roving, as it may
then be called. And to give greater effect to this rubbing rolling process the
endless aprons are made double, the fibrous materials being passed along
between the two continuous lengths of the aprons, the lateral action of which
in opposite directions gives the requisite rubbing rolling action to the fibres,
and condenses the fibres for further preparation and manufacture. The disc
card may be carried upon antifriction rollers instead of upon a vertical spindle,
as herein-before described; and to aid the rolling or condensing action for
solidifying the sliver, the latter as it issues from the endless aprons may be
passed through a revolving tube. for the purpose of adding a further 'condensing
twist to the fibres. Instead of traversing aprons, duplex action rollers may
used for traversing and rolling the slivers. As herein-before described, the
present improvements are supposed to be added to the ordinary carding
engine, but, as will be obvious to the practical manufacturer, the carding
engine may be specially arranged in itself for the carrying out of the improve-
ments under. various forms.. It is intended to employ this improved mahinery
for various textile manufactures, but it is particularly applicable in wool
carding so as to produce slivers of any length in a convenient manner.
be

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Willam Stevenson and William Crawford in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
STEVENSON, of Lochwinnoch, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Manu-
facturer, and WILLIAM CRAWFORD, of the same Place, Wool Spinner, send:
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our'
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant: unto
us, the said William Stevenson and William Crawford, Her special license
that we, the said William Stevenson and William Crawford, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Ste-
venson and William Crawford, our executors, administrators, or 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 law->
fully 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 MACHINERY OR. APPARATUS FOR CARDING OR
PREPARING FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William Stevenson and William Crawford, by an instrument
in writing under our hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 we, the said William Stevenson and William
Crawford, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what.
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-.
tained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say-
Our said Invention relates to a modification of the ordinary carding engine.
or machine as used in the carding or preparation of wool, cotton, and other
fibrous materials, whereby the operation of such machinery is rendered much
more effective and economical than has hitherto been the case.
The carding
engine in its main details resembles that in common use at present, having a.

page_text: feeding-in and carding apparatus with a main card cylinder, as is well under-
stood, and used in various textile manufactures. The wool or cotton passes
through the machine in the usual manner as far as the main carding cylinder;
but instead of doffing or removing the fibrous sliver, as at present practised, a
disc card is employed for this purpose.
- This is a disc of metal or other material, covered with wire card teeth in
any convenient and effective manner, and, set upon a vertical rotating spindle
in such a position that the card face of the disc works with a part of its area
against or in contact with the wire card teeth on the horizontal main cylinder.
The respective surface motions of the main cylinder and the disc card are thus
ät right angles-with each other, and as the main cylinder revolves,, the disc
card: revolving also across the path, as it were, of the main cylinder card
surface, strips, and carries away the wool or cotton from the main cylinder.
The fibrous material is thus carried round by the disc clear away from the
main cylinder,' and one or more doffing combs being arranged to work upon
the disc, card face, the fibrous material is stripped off the disc card, and passed
forward to a duplex endless apron arrangement. This apron-arrangement has
a continuous forward traverse, as in the usual manner, for-the-conveyance of
the fibrous material away from the actual carding apparatus... But in addition
to this traverse, it has also a lateral vibrating action horizontally, for the.
purpose of giving a rubbing rolling action to the fibrous material to complete
the sliver or roving, as it may then be called. And to give-greater effect to
this rubbing rolling process the endless aprons are made double, the fibrous.
material, being passed along between the two contiguous lengths of the aprons,
the lateral action of which, in opposite directions; gives the requisite rubbing
rolling action to the fibres, 'and condenses; the slivers for further preparation
and manufacture. The disc card may be carried upon antifriction* rollers
instead of upon a vertical spindle, as herein-before described; and to aid the
rolling or condensing action for solidifying the sliver, the latter as it issues
from the endless aprons may be passed through a revolving tube for the pur-
pose of adding a further condensing twist to the fibres. Instead of traversing
aprons, duplex action rollers may be used for traversing and rolling the slivers.
As herein-before described, the present improvements are supposed to be:
added to the ordinary carding engine; but, as will be obvious to the prac-.
tical manufacturer, the carding engine may be specially arranged in itself for
the carrying out of the improvements under various forms. It is intended
to employ this improved machinery for various textile manufactures, but it is
particularly applicable in wool carding, so as to produce slivers of any length
in a convenient manner.

page_text: And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood, we have
hereunto appended, and shall now proceed to describe, a Sheet of explana-
tory Drawings relating thereto.
Figure 1. on the Sheet of Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 is an
end elevation, that is to say, these two Figures are elevations as looking in
directions at right angles to each other, of a carding engine as arranged in
combination with our improved disc doffing and preparing apparatus. The
entire apparatus may be conveniently disposed upon a cast-iron base plate A,
so that the positions of the various parts may be accurately determined
thereon. The main carding cylinder, which is shewn, at B in end view in
Figure 1, and in side view in Figure 2, may be arranged and constructed in
the ordinary manner, except as regards the mechanical details by which the
sliver or carding is removed from it. It may be furnished with any .con-
venient number of working and stripping rollers C. The wool (which we shall
suppose to be the material operated upon in this instance) is fed to the carding
cylinder at D, having previously. been operated upon or not, as the case may
be, by a primary carding engine. The wool passes round with the carding
cylinder, undergoing the usual working treatment until it reaches the lowest
point E, to which the cylinder can take it; and it is at this point that our
improved doffing mechanism comes into operation. This doffing mechanism
consists principally of an annular disc or ring.F of considerable size, arranged;
to revolve in a horizontal plane. In the present instance the disc is not.
carried upon a central spindle, but it runs upon antifriction rollers G, set upon
spindles radiating from the axis of rotation of the disc; and the central part
of the disc is open, to allow of the standard H, for carrying a portion of the
driving, gear, being bolted down to the base plate A, and rising up directly.
through the disc instead of being overhung, as would be necessary were the disc
carried upon or attached to a central spindle. The rollers G upon which the
disc runs are formed with flanges to retain the disc, in position, a ring I being.
cast or formed on the under side of the disc to run upon the rollers and against.
their flanges. The inner, side of this ring is formed with teeth, all round, as
shown at J, where a portion of the ring is represented as broken away, and
in gear with these teeth is a pinion K, which drives the disc round. The
pinion K is fast on a horizontal spindle L, running in pedestal bearings bolted
down to the base plate A, and has fast on it a pulley M, driven by a belt from
a pulley on an overhead shaft N. This shaft is itself.driven by means of a
belt and pulleys from the shaft of the carding.. cylinder B. The shaft N is
mounted in bearings in a framing consisting of the standard H inside the
anuular disc, a standard O outside this disc; a pair of arches P,, and a pair of

page_text: cross pieces Q. The annular disc F is arranged so as to cross the card
cylinder B at the lowest point E, and the upper horizontal surface of the
annular disc is covered to a suitable width with pointed card filleting or closely
set fine wire teeth. The carding cylinder B and the annular disc F revolve
respectively in the directions indicated by the arrows, the dotted arrow in
Figure 2 showing the direction in which what is the further side of the disc
in that view passes under the card cylinder. The combined motion of the
cylinder and disc causes the sliver or carding of wool to be gradually and con-
tinuously transferred from the former to the latter. When on the disc, and
in passing from it, the sliver or carding may be operated upon by various kinds
of mechanism, for the further treatment and preparation of the material prior
to its conveyance to the spinning mechanism.
.
In the Drawings hereunto attached we have shown and shall now proceed
to describe one arrangement of mechanism which we find to answer the
purposes of the Invention in practice. The sliver or carding is carried round
a certain distance by and upon the annular disc F until it reaches and is
operated upon by a loosening comb R. This comb is of a rectangular or
other convenient form, and is covered upon its under acting surface with wire
card filleting or teeth. It is jointed -to two rods S, which are fixed to a
rocking spindle T, set in bearings in the framing above. The comb R is also
attached to a pair of connecting rods, jointed to the cranks of a horizontal
crank shaft U, revolving in bearings in the framing. This shaft U imparts a
reciprocating oscillatory motion to the comb R, causing it to loosen the sliver
from the teeth of the annular disc preparatory to its being removed therefrom.
Motion is communicated to the shaft U by means of a pulley V upon it,
driven by a belt from a pulley on a shaft W running behind the carding
cylinder B. The shaft W receives motion by means of a pair of bevil wheels
from a cross shaft X round a pulley, on which is passed the belt Y which
drives the several workers and strippers C of the carding cylinder. Imme-
diately after leaving the comb R, being carried onward by the rotation of the
annular disc, the sliver is taken up between the two endless rubbing aprons Z.
These aprons, which have their contiguous surfaces between which the sliver
passes in contact with each other, are each passed round two rollers a, carried
on separate frames b, and the spindle of one of each pair of the rollers carries
a pulley to receive a driving cord or belt from a pulley on the shaft N above,
one of the belts being crossed so as to drive the rollers in opposite directions
in order to make the contiguous portions of the two aprons traverse in the
same directions, and thus carry forward the sliver. The frames 6 are severally
jointed to rods c passing up to rocking shafts d above, which support the frames

page_text: and aprons, and each frame is connected by a rod e to a crank f upon a hori-
zontal shaft g, driven by means of a belt and pulleys h from the shaft W, already.
mentioned herein. The cranks f on the shaft g are set directly opposite to
each other, so that the rotation of the shaft causes the aprons Z to be traversed
backwards and forwards in opposite directions to each other. This causes a
rubbing action to take place between the contiguous surfaces of the aprons,
and this action operates beneficially on the passing sliver, incorporating the
fibres with each other and condensing the whole together. After leaving the
aprons, the sliver is passed between the folds of an endless twisting, rolling,
or rubbing strap i. This strap i is passed round five guiding rollers j, k, l, m,
and n, as best seen in Figure 2. On the spindle of the roller j is a pulley,
which receives a belt from a pulley on the shaft g, for the purpose of driving
the endless twisting strap i. This strap passes down from the roller j in the
direction of the arrow round the roller k, then up to the roller l, which is on a.
level with the roller j; it thence descends between the rollers; and 7 to the
roller m, passes round that roller and round the roller n, which last brings.
it into contact with its descending portion between the rollers land m, and.
finally reascends to the roller j. By this means there are arranged between
the rollers and I two folds or portions of the strap, moving vertically in con-
tact or almost in contact with each other, but in opposite directions. The
sliver is passed across between the two folds of strap thus contrived, and
receives a rubbing twist from them in consequence of the opposed direction of
their motion. By adjusting the positions of the rollers j and 1, they may be
made to take a more or less firm hold upon the sliver. The sliver can at any
time be easily inserted in between the two folds of the strap by being passed
down between the rollers j and 7, which may be set so as to keep the straps
slightly apart at their upper portions for that purpose. Immediately in front
of the strap i is a pair of drawing rollers o, which draw the sliver through the
strap, one of these rollers having a pulley. p upon its spindle to receive a
driving belt or cord from a pulley on the shaft N above. The sliver finally
passes over a pulley 9 into a can r placed to receive it, the pulley q being
carried by a brackets, bolted to the frame piece Q, and having on its spindle a
pulley to receive a driving belt from a pulley on the shaft N. The rubbing
aprons Z and strap i may either be both used in combination, as described,
or either of them may be used without the other. Or instead of the aprons,
duplex action rubbing rollers may be used in combination with a revolving
tube to give a twist to the sliver.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried

page_text: into effect, we may observe, in conclusion, that we do not confine or-restrict
ourselves to the precise details or arrangements which we have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom-without
deviating from-the principles or main features of our Invention; but what we
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to us by the herein-before in part recited-Letters Patent, is,
First, the general arrangement and construction of apparatus to be applied
to carding machines for doffing and subsequently treating the fibrous materials
operated upon by such machines, as herein-before-described:
Second, the application and use; in carding machines, of a dise, annular disc
ring, or plane surface; revolving in a plane tangential to the carding cylinder,
and crossing the surface of such cylinder, for the purpose of doffing-or-removing
therefrom in a continuous manner the fibrous material under treatment, as
herein-before described.
Third, the application and use, in carding machines, of the herein-before
described endless reciprocating rubbing: aprons for rubbing, rolling, or con-
densing the sliver or carding subsequently. to its removal from the carding
cylinder.
Fourth, the application and use, in carding machines, of the herein-before
described endless strap or straps, arranged so that the sliver is passed across
between two folds of such strap rubbing over each other in opposite directions,
for the purpose of rubbing, condensing, twisting, or rolling the sliver sub-
sequently to its removal from the carding cylinder.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Stevenson and William Craw-
ford, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day of
June, One' thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.