IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOLLEN CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
BROWN, of Selkirk, Manufacturer, and THOMAS WALKER, of the same place,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of October, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Henry
Brown and Thomas Walker, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said Henry Brown and Thomas Walker, our
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Brown and
Thomas Walker, our exors, adŵiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WOOLLEN CARDING ENGINES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the said Henry Brown and
Thomas Walker, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, to cause a particular description of the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery in England within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Henry Brown and Thomas Walker, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, drawn to a
scale of one inch to the foot, and in which the parts composing our Invention
are drawn in red.
Our Improvements in Woollen Carding Engines consist in receiving the wool
from the surface of the finishing carding cylinder upon an endless belt of wire
card, placed underneath that cylinder, but subtending in a greater or less
degree from a right angle therewith, according as the nature of the fibrous
material may require; whereby it is then so collected in its progress along the
card belt as to render it capable of being slubbed or even spun into thread
without the intervention of any other process. We have, in the annexed
Drawing, exhibited some of the parts of an ordinary carding engine, merely
with a view to shew the application of our improvements, which we now
proceed to describe.
The endless belt of wire card may be of the ordinary kind. It is kept rigid
and distended in the direction of its breadth by narrow strips of wood, say
about five eighths of an inch, of a triangular form. These slips are previously
secured by tacks or otherwise to a piece of cloth, to keep them in their relative
positions; and the card belt is laterally affixed above this cloth by nailing on
both edges of it into the slips of wood, and thereby is rendered perfectly
strong and secure. The whole is fitted up in a longitudinal frame, provided
with a roller at each end, having corresponding flutes to receive the continuous
line of slips of wood before mentioned. These rollers can be tightened at
either or both ends by screws and nuts, and the whole supported on the floor
at the right-hand end, and from the frame of the carding engine at the middle
and left-hand end, but at the same time must be capable of being raised or
lowered in a minute degree, as may be required, as it is not proper that the
cards of the cylinder and the endless web should ever be in close contact, but
only approximating to it. This belt is further secured by having a flange on
both edges, consisting of a flat plate of iron, which overlaps the series of wooden
slips, so that the belt can neither get higher nor lower, the flange forming a
groove for the belt to travel along. It is also supported on its under side by
a ledge. The longitudinal frame has also a joint at the right-hand end of the
cylinder, to admit of raising or lowering that part of the web which is opposed
to the cylinder. This endless wire card receives motion by a pulley, shewn at
the left, affixed on the axle of the finishing cylinder and gearing, with a

page_text: smaller pulley below it, the axle of which latter has at its other end a toothed
wheel working in a pinion. The axle of this latter pinion is carried entirely
along the side of the longitudinal frame, and thereby imparts motion to the
card belt. So soon as the fibres of wool have been carried by the finishing
cylinder to the endless cards, they are stripped off therefrom by the endless
card, and when free of the cylinder they undergo the action of a comb bar,
which revolves in an angular direction, and has the effect of forming them into
a well-defined continuous roving. This comb bar, it will be observed, is not
placed in the same direction as the endless belt, but has that end of it next to
the cylinder so placed as to act upon the fibres deposited on the farthest side
of the web, and convergs them in their progress to the nearest side, where
they are discharged. The comb bar, it will be perceived, oscillates by means
of a cross bar secured to it on its upper surface, and working on two crank
studs, one on each side of the frame, allowing a range of circular movement of
about two inches. This comb bar is further secured by having a bar at or
near each end of it extending across the frame, and each is embraced by a
guide, which prevents either end of the comb bar from coming in close contact
with the card, as will be seen by the Drawing. We have shewn this gearing
as one mode of effecting our improvements, but deem it necessary to enter
into a more detailed description of it, as it may be modified in various ways,
according to the judgment of any competent engineer. The roving thus
formed by the endless card and comb bar already mentioned is received
between two longitudinal endless belts, placed horizontally, and nearly in a
line with the upper surface of the endless card, but which belts travel at a
greater speed. These belts have also a lateral movement directly contrary
to each other, thereby compressing the roving, and the additional speed elon-
gates the roving in a considerable degree beyond what it had attained on the
endless card, and, after being discharged from the endless belts, it is conveyed
by any convenient means to the destination assigned to it, or into receptacles
moving on a railway, also shewn in the Drawing. One mode of disposing of
the rovings in this last-mentioned state is shewn by conveying it up over two
pullies, and then down between two small rollers adapting for laying in a zig-
zag or other direction. The only other feature of novelty in our Invention
consists of applying a roller charged with emery for the purpose of smoothing,
equalizing, and sharpening the cards. This roller is exhibited to the left in
the Drawing, and is laid horizontally over the endless card, but at an angle of
about forty-five degrees, and which may be impelled by the gearing there
delineated, or by any other application of gearing that may be preferred. To
enable a competent engineer, the more readily to construct an engine with our

page_text: improvements applied thereto, we shall assume the finishing cylinder to be
four feet in diameter; to move a thousand feet per minute, the endless card
about one hundred and thirty, and the condensing rollers at one hundred and
eighty feet per minute, and their lateral motion across each other other at two
hundred and eighty strokes of three inches per minute, the comb bar to oscil-
late four hundred times during the like period of time; and, lastly, the roller
with emery moving relatively with the endless card as one and a half of the
roller to one of the endless card.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, we would have it under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves to the particular dimensions, forms, or
speeds of the different parts of the apparatus, as these are susceptible of great
variation. But what we do claim as of our Invention is,-
First, the mode of applying an endless belt of wire card for removing the
wool from a carding engine, as herein described; that is, by drawing it
from the cylinder, nearly at right angles therewith, for forming a continuous
roving.
Secondly, we claim the application of a roller, charged with emery, placed
at an angle of forty-five degrees, for the purpose of preparing and sharpening
the wire card.
Thirdly, the application of a comb bar for forming a roving directly from the
fibrous deposits conveyed by the endless card from the finishing cylinder.
And, lastly, the application of the endless belts in combination with our other
improvements for compressing and finishing the roving.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eight day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
HENRY (L.S.) BROWN.
Taken and acknowledged by Henry
Brown (party hereto), at Selkirk,
in the county of Selkirk, this
Eighth day of April, 1843, before
me,
THOMAS MITCHELL,
One of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace

page_text: Patent granted to Henry Brown and Thomas Walker, of Selkirk, for "Im-
provements in Woollen Carding Engines," and that he is acquainted with the
handwriting of Tho' Mitchell, before whom such Specification was acknow-
ledged, and that he believes the same to be his handwriting. And he has
been informed that the said Thomas Mitchell is a Justice of the Peace for the
county of Selkirk, and was so at the time of taking the acknowledgment of
the said Specification by the said Henry Brown.
Enrolled the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.