IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO CARDING ENGINES FOR DIVIDING THE FLEECE."
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Roper, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO CARDING
ENGINES FOR DIVIDING THE FLEECE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Roper at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th December 1876.
"
GEORGE ROPER, of Stockport, in the County of Chester. IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO CARDING ENGINES FOR DIVIDING THE FLEECE."
This Invention relates to an apparatus to be applied to carding engines used for
carding cotton waste, wool, and other fibrous substances for the purpose of dividing
the fleece (as it is delivered by the doffer) into strips or ribbons previously to sub-
mitting it to the action of the rolling or rubbing apparatus, which rolls the ribbands
up into the form of a sliver.
Behind the doffer I mount two transverse shafts, one above the other, and upon
each of these transverse shafts I key a number of narrow rollers according to the
number of strips or ribbons into which the fleece is to be divided; these rollers
revolve in contact with each other, and the fleece as it leaves the doffer passes
between them. The rollers are of such a width and so mounted as to leave an
open space between each two rollers, and it is in this space that the fleece is
divided.
As each set of four rollers and a dividing plate forms a perfect dividing apparatus,
and as this is similarly repeated across the whole width of the engine, according to
the number of ribbons, I will describe one dividing apparatus only. It consists of
four narrow rollers, the two upper ones resting on the two lower ones, and revolving
together in the same direction and at the same speed as the fleece is delivered from
the doffer. The two pairs of rollers are mounted on their respective shafts in such
a way as to leave a space between them, and in this space between them and in
this space is fixed a thin dividing plato.
The top left-hand roller is provided at its right edge with a thin disc or flange,
and the bottom left-hand roller has a similar disc or flange attached to its left edge,
and the consequence is that the fleece is raised by one disc or flange and depressed

page_text: by the other, so that it is held firmly and becomes stretched in a diagonal form
across the space between the two pairs of rollers, and as the revolution of the latter
carries it forward in this state against the fixed dividing plate it is cut or divided
longitudinally between each two pairs of rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said George Roper in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 5th July 1877.
GEORGE ROPER, of Stockport, in the County of Chester. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO CARDING ENGINES FOR DIVIDING THE FLEECE.”
This Invention relates to an apparatus to be applied to carding engines used for
carding cotton waste, wool, and other fibrous substances for the purpose of dividing
the fleece (as it is delivered by the doffer) into strips or ribbons previously to sub-
mitting it to the action of the rolling or rubbing apparatus, which rolls the ribbons
up into the form of a sliver.
Behind the doffer I mount two transverse shafts, one above the other, and upon
cach of these transverse shafts I key a number of narrow rollers, according to the
number of strips or ribbons into which the fleece is to be divided; these rollers
revolve in contact with each other, and the fleece as it leaves the doffer passes
between them. The rollers are of such a width and so mounted as to leave an
open space between each two rollers, and it is in this space that the fleece is
divided.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention I will now proceed to
describe in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be clearly understood
I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked
the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the
following explanation thereof:-
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawings is a section, and Fig. 2 a front view, showing the
construction and application of my improvements.
As each set of four rollers and a dividing plate g forms a perfect dividing apparatus,
and as this is similarly repeated across the whole width of the engine, according to
the number of ribbons, 1 will describe one dividing apparatus only. It consists of
four narrow rollers a, a, and b, b, the two upper ones a, a, being mounted on a
shaft c, c, and the two lower ones b, b, mounted on a shaft d, d, and revolving
together with them in the same direction and at the saine speed as the fleece is
delivered from the doffing cylinder e, e, by the comb f. f. The two pairs of rollers
u, a, and b, b, are mounted on their respective shafts c, c, and d, d, in such a way as
to leave a space between them, and in this space is fixed a thin dividing plate g, g.
I sometimes make this dividing plate g, g, with a plain edge, but I prefer to
furnish it with a roller or barrel h, h, driven by a cord or band from a tin roller i, i,
as it assists in dividing and delivering the bands of sliver.
Instead of making these barrels solid I sometimes make them in the form shown
at Fig. 3, and sometimes provide them with four longitudinal wires, as shewn at
Fig. 4, so as to decrease as much as possible the surface touched by the sliver.
The top left-hand roller a, a, is provided at its right edge with a thin disc or
flange k, k, and the bottom left-hand roller b, b, has a similar disc or flange l, 1,
attached to its left edge, and the consequence is that the fleece is raised by one disc
or flange, and depressed by the other, so that it is held firmly and becomes stretched
in a diagonal form across the space between the two pairs of rollers, and as the
revolution of the latter carries it forward in this state against the fixed dividing
plate it is thus cut or divided longitudinally between each two pairs of rollers.
The bands of sliver as they are divided are conducted by means of inclined

page_text: troughs or open tubes m, m, to the ordinary rubbers n, n, which roll the bands into
a cylindrical form in the usual manner.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
5 effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention, the general con-
struction and arrangement of apparatus, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated by the Drawings annexed for dividing the fleece into strips or ribbons as
it is delivered from the doffer of the carding engine, and more especially I claim the
use of the flanged rollers a, a, and b, b, for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Roper, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
GEORGE ROPER. (L.S.)