AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PICKING WASTE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Curtis, of Boston, in the County of
Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PICKING WASTE."-A.
communication by George Palmer, residing at Rochester, in the
County of Strafford, and State of New Hampshire, United States of
America.
Sealed the 11th July 1871, and dated the 25th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Curtis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th May 1871.
I, FREDERICK CURTIS, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State
of Massachusetts, United States of America, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PICKING
WASTE," a communication, to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to the construction and organization of
mechanism for picking cotton or fibrous waste, rags, remnants, and the
like to reconvert the same into fibre, to be recarded and spun. To
produce a gradual separation of such material into its original fibres

page_text: and into loose assemblages of straight fibres, I employ a feed cylinder,
a main stripper, or comb cylinder, and a receiving cylinder of peculiar
construction, as also certain auxiliary cylinders or workers of novel
construction. At one end of a suitable frame is a feed apron upon
which is placed the "waste" to be picked, this apron conveying the
material to the cylinder by which the material is fed to the action of
the main comb or cylinder. The feed cylinder has two sets of teeth,
one set being simply feed teeth designed to carry the material from the
apron to the main cylinder, while the other teeth are designed as hold-
backs, to hook upon the waste and hold it between the feed cylinder
and throat piece against the pulling action of the teeth of the main
comb cylinder. Each feed tooth is made enlarged and has a hooking
form, and as the waste is seized by the feed teeth it is carried between
the cylinder and a throat bar, until it emerges at the back of the cylinder
between it and the upper edge of the throat plate, when it is scized by
the teeth of the main cylinder, the fibres being held back by the hooks
and the edge of the plate and being drawn by the main comb teeth,
which thus tend to disunite the twisted fibres. The feed cylinder
with its teeth is constructed by cutting around the cylindrical surface
of a plain cylinder two adjacent spiral grooves and inserting in theso
The main comb
grooves long wires or ribbons formed with iceth.
cylinder is constructed with a series of heads adjustably fixed on a
shaft, so that they may be turned thercon and secured in different
relative positions as desired, from each of which heads project arms.
To every set of arms a toothed plate is fastened in a slightly spiral
position, so that the teeth of each plate from end to end come against
the edge of the throat plate in succession and therby strip the waste
effectually from the feed cylinder. The adjustment of the heads allows
any required variation of this spiral position. The edge of each card
plate is serrated to form the teeth, and the arms are placed at an angle
to give the teeth a downward inclination at the point or line where
they seize the wasto. Beneath the main cylinder is a series of workers
or work cylinders composed of plates having serrated teeth, cach set of
teeth on each worker being preferably set at an angle or spirally. The
teeth project out from the surface at an angle. The material'įs kept
tlirectly between the main comb teeth and the teeth of the respective
workers, the fibre being brushed from the teeth as they pass downward
in their rotation by stationary brushes, and the teeth of each worker
being inclined in opposite directions to the teeth of the main cylinder

page_text: operate as hooks to hold back the fibres, the workers all carrying the
material forward towards the receiver.
The fibre, after subjection to the successive operations between the
main comb cylinder and the feed roll, the main card teeth, and workers,
is carried against the receiver cylinder, which rotates in an opposite
direction to the main cylinder. This receiver is studded with hooks or
teeth which incline forward in the direction in which they rotate, and
these hooks strip off the fibre on the main comb teeth, and the same is
carried round on the receiver cylinder until it meets a rotary brush, by
which it is removed and thrown from the machine in condition for
carding. The receiver cylinder is composed of a series of rings with
peripheral hooks forming notches.
A carding machine may be directly connected with the picker taking
the material from the receiver.
The aforesaid throat plate is preferably made with provision for
adjustment towards and from the main cylinder, and the bearings of the
receiver shaft and rotary brush shaft are also made laterally adjustable,
and the bearings of the worker cylinder adjustable radially to set the
workers more or less distant from the main cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Curtis in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CURTIS, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts,
United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Curtis, Her special licence
that I, the said Frederick Curtis, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Curtis, 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

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR PICKING WASTE," a communication to me from George
Palmer, a resident of Rochester, in the County of Strafford, and State 5
of New Hampshire, United States of America upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Curtis, 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 1
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 Frederick Curtis, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to 1
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, which represent a machine embodying my improvements.
My improvements relate to the construction and organization of the
mechanism for picking cotton or fibrous waste, rags, remnants, and the
like, to reconvert the same into fibre to be recarded and spun.
To produce a gradual separation of such material into its original
fibres and into loose assemblages of straight fibres, I employ a feed
cylinder, a main stripper or comb cylinder, and a receiving cylinder of
peculiar construction, as also certain auxiliary cylinders or workers of
novel construction, and the several distinctive features constituting my
Invention will be clearly understood after I have described in detail
the construction and arrangement of the mechanism as shown in tho
Drawings before alluded to as accompanying this Specification.
In these Drawings A denotes a sectional elevation of the machine;
B, a plan of the machine, the main cylinder being removed; C, a view
of the main cylinder. a denotes the main frame having suitable bearings
for supporting the shafts or journals of the respective rolls and cylinders.
At one end of the frame is a feed apron b, upon which is placed the
"wasto
to be picked, the apron conveying the material to the
cylinder c by which the material is fed to the action of the main comb
or cylinder d. The feed cylinder c has two sets of teeth c and, the
teeth e being simply feed teeth designed to carry the material from the
"

page_text: apron to the main cylinder, while the teeth fare designed as hold-
backs to hook upon the waste and hold it between the feed cylinder
and throat piece against the pulling action of the teeth of the main
comb cylinder. Each feed tooth is made enlarged, as shown at D
and cach tooth has a hooking form, as seen at E, and as the waste is
scized by the feed teeth e it is carried between the cylinder and a throat
bar until it emerges at the back of the cylinder between it and the
upper edge of the throat plate h, seen at A, where it is seized by the
teeth of the main cylinder (rotating with great relative speed), the
fibres catching upon and being held back by the hooks fand the edge
of the plate, and being drawn and pulled by the main comb teeth,
which thus tend to loosen them and disunite the twisted interlocked or
interwoven fibres. The cylinder with its teeth e, f, is constructed
by cutting around the cylindrical surface of a plain cylinder two ad-
jacent spiral grooves, and inserting in one of these grooves a long wire
or ribbon F, having one edge formed with teeth e, and in the other a
long ribbon or wire G, having one edge formed with teeth f. The feed
cylinder rotates in the direction of the arrow, as seen at A, and the
main comb cylinder d in the same direction, and the points of the teeth
of the main cylinder just clear the edge of the cross plate h as they
rotate. The cylinder d is constructed with a series of heads i adjustably
fixed on a shaft so that they may be turned thereon, and secured in
different relative positions as desired, and from each of which heads.
project arms. To every set of arms (in line) a toothed plate m is
fastened, the three arms being so arranged that the plate sets in a
slightly spiral. position, so that the teeth of cach plate from end to end
come against the edge of the plate / in succession, and thereby strip
the waste from the feed cylinder more perfectly than if the points of
the teeth set parallel to the axis of the cylinder, the adjustment above
named of the heads i allowing any required variation of this spiral
position. The edge of each card plate m is serrated to form the teeth g,
and the arms are placed at an angle to give the teeth a downward
inclination at the point or line where they seize the waste from the feed
cylinder, any fibre being caught by the teeth being thereby prevented from
slipping off them as they pass by the feed cylinder and throat plate h.
Beneath the main cylinder is a series of workers or work cylinders n, o, p.
Each of these workers is composed of a series of plates 9, having on one
edge serrated teeth r, each set of teeth and each worker being preferably
set at an angle or spirally as seen at B, and the plate being so formed

page_text: and fastened to the cylinder that the teeth project out from the surface
at an angle, as seen at A. The main comb cylinder first delivers the
waste (partially stripped) to the teeth of the worker (which worker
rotates in the direction of the arrow thereon) and thence to the workers
o and p in succession. The material is kept directly between the main
comb teeth and the teeth of the respective workers, the fibre being
brushed from the teeth as they pass downward in their rotation by
stationary brushes 8, one to each worker, and the teeth of each worker
being inclined in opposite directions to the teeth of the main cylinder
operate as hooks to hold back the fibres, as the main teeth at their
greatest speed drag the material along over the respective workers, the
workers all carrying the material forward towards the receiver, but
furnishing in effect so many stationary hooks, by which to grasp the
material while the main card teeth pick and comb it into long and loose
parallel fibres.
As the fibre, after subjection to the successive operations between the
main comb cylinder and the feed roll, and the main card teeth and the
first, second, and third workers is further moved on by the main cylinder
it is carried against the receiver cylinder «, which rotates in opposite
directions to the main cylinder. This receiver is studded with hooks or
teeth, which incline forward in the direction in which they rotate, and
these hooks, catching upon the fibre on the main comb teeth, strip off
such fibre, which, adhering to the teeth, is carried round on the receiver
cylinder until it meets a rotary brush v, by which it is removed and
thrown from the machine in condition for carding. The receiver u is
composed of a series of rings with peripheral hooks forming notches,
the rings being slipped upon a suitable roll between each two adjacent
toothed rings. While the hooks are so inclined that they seize upon
and retain the fibres as they pass the main card, the rotary brushes »
moving at greater speed, casily strip the fibro from the receiver and
throw it from the machine.
A carding machine may be directly connected with the picker, taking
the material from the receiver . By the peculiar construction and
arrangement of the respective teeth of the main cylinder and the worker
cylinders the coarsest waste may be cheaply and expeditiously reduced
or converted into fibre ready for carding and spinning.
'
The formation of the teeth g, r, as acute angled serrations on the edges
of ridged metal plates gives great strength and endurance to them while

page_text: the angles at which the teeth e, f, and r are set relatively to each other
and their respective paths and speeds of rotation cause them to rapidly
tear and pull the waste into separate fibres, so that with a com-
paratively simple organization the work of picking is very perfectly
performed.
Besides the strength obtained in the stripping teeth by forming them
as described, it will be obvious that they can be made at small cost and
can be easily replaced when worn.
In the construction of a working machine the throat plate / is
preferably made with provision for adjustment toward and from the
main cylinder, and the bearings of the receiver shaft and rotary brush
shaft are also made laterally adjustable, and the bearings of the worker
cylinder c adjustable radially to set the workers more or less distant
from the main cylinder, these and other adjustments being made as
circumstances may require.
FREDERICK CURTIS. (L.S.)