IMPROVEMENTS IN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Walker and John Scholes Walker, both of
Bury, in the County of Lancaster, Machinists, and Benjamin Brown, of
the same Place, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Walker, John
Scholes Walker, and Benjamin Brown at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th November 1868.
We, RICHARD WALKER and JOHN SCHOLES WALKER, both of Bury, in the
County of Lancaster, Machinists, and BENJAMIN BROWN, of the same Place,
Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON TO BE SPUN," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in carding engines consist in attaching to the oscillating
lever of the comb stock a link or a pair of links; one end of the said link, or
one end of each of the said pair of links is fitted on an eccentric, and the axle
of the said eccentric moves in bearings fixed on a cistern containing oil. That
end of the said axle containing the driving pulley has a groove cut around its
circumference near the outer end of the bearing, for the purpose of preventing
the oil from passing the limits of the said cistern, or any channel com-
municating with the said cistern. The other end of the said axle terminates
within the said cistern, or in such a way that any oil dropping from it may
pass into the said cistern. by a channel or otherwise. When the apparatus is
set to work the said cistern has sufficient oil put into it to allow the eccentric
and link or links to dip therein, by which means the oil is distributed over all

page_text: the working or rubbing surfaces of the said axle, link or links, and eccentric,
and any surplus oil falls again into the said cistern, and a great saving of oil is
the consequence, and the working parts are kept constantly lubricated.
Our next improvement consists in placing any convenient number of weights
to press upon the cotton as it passes over the feed rollers of carding engines or
scutchers; the said weights have projecting parts passing below the upper
surface of the roller, which parts are brought to a thin edge, so as to allow the
licker-in to work as close as convenient to the pressed part of the cotton.
A
roller or rod is placed near the said weights to guide the cotton between the
weights and the fluted or toothed roller used for feeding. To each weight is
attached a spiral or other formed spring of metal, or a spring of india-rubber
and a cross bar is placed over the weights for the springs to act against, and
set screws are fitted in the said cross bar to regulate the pressure on the
cotton. The object of using weights and springs, as here stated, is to allow
the cotton to pass into the machines of varying thickness, and under pressure
on all parts of the feed roller over which the cotton passes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Walker, Johu Scholes Walker, and Benjamin
Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
WALKER and JOHN SCHOLES WALKER, both of Bury, in the County of Lan-
caster, Machinists, and BENJAMIN BROWN, of the same Place, Mechanic, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Richard Walker, John Scholes Walker, and Benjamin Brown,
Her special licence that we, the said Richard Walker, John Scholes Walker,
and Benjamin Brown, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Richard Walker, John Scholes Walker, and Benjamin
Brown, our 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 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON TO BE SPUN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Richard Walker, John Scholes Walker, and
Benjamin Brown, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Richard Walker, John Scholes Walker,
and Benjamin Brown, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
uscertained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings
(that is to say):-
Our improvements in carding engines consist in attaching to the oscillating
lever of the comb stock a link or a pair of links; one end of the said link, or
one end of each of the said pair of links is fitted on an eccentric, and the axle
of the said eccentric moves in a bearing fixed on a cistern containing oil.
That end of the said axle containing the driving pulley has a groove cut
around its circumference near the outer end of the bearing, for the purpose of
preventing the oil from passing the limits of the said cistern, or any channel
communicating with the said cistern. The other end of the said axle
terminates within the said cistern, or in such a way that any oil dropping
from it may pass into the said cistern by a channel or otherwise. When the
apparatus is set to work the said cistern has sufficient oil put into it to allow
the eccentric and link or links to dip therein, by which means the oil is
distributed over all the working or rubbing surfaces of the said axle, link or
links, and eccentric, and any surplus oil falls again into the said cistern, and
a great saving of oil is the consequence, and the working parts are kept
constantly lubricated.
Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent portions of our
improved apparatus for actuating the comb used to remove the cotton from
the doffers of carding engines.
a is an oscillating shaft passing across the front of the doffer, to which any
convenient number of arms bare attached for the purpose of carrying the
comb c; the other end of the oscillating shaft a is carried by a suitable fixing.
A lever d is fixed on one end of the shaft a, to which is attached one end of
cach of a pair of links e, e₁, shown by the dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2. The
other ends of the said links are attached to an eccentric f, Fig. 1, which
eccentric is secured to the axle g, and on one end of the axle 9 a pulley h is

page_text: fixed, and so made as to balance the links, levers, arms, and comb, for the
purpose of ensuring, as near as may be, a steady motion. The fixing i and
cistern kare, by preference, cast in one piece. A channel n serves to conduct
any oil that may flow from the bearing ₁, the cap m, or the axle g back into
the cistern k, and to prevent the oil passing outside the casing o a groove p is
cut around the axle, as shown in the Drawing. The eccentric f is caused to
revolve by a band passing over the pulley h, and driven from any convenient
part of the machine, and the cistern being supplied with oil the eccentric and
links dip therein, and cause not only their own working surfaces to be
lubricated, but also the working surfaces of the axle g, and the comb c
oscillates with less tremor than can be attained by the ordinary combing
apparatus, and a higher velocity can therefore be obtained with less liability
to derangement.
After our Provisional Specification was filed we discovered that the
apparatus consisting of weights, springs, set screws, cross bar, and rod or
roller applied to the feeding rollers of carding engines and scutchers was not
new, and we hereby disclaim all such apparatus as described in our said
Provisional Specification.
Having described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which the
said Invention is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that what we
claim as new and of our Invention is, the application of links and the com-
bination of parts as herein described, set forth, and illustrated, and for the
purpose of actuating the comb of carding engines.
In witness whereof, we, the said Richard Walker, John Scholes Walker,
and Benjamin Brown, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
RICHARD WALKER.
(L.S.)
J. SCHOLES WALKER. (L.S.)
BENJAMIN BROWN. (L.g.)
Witness,
THOMAS BALDWIN,
Bury, Lancashire.
RICHARD WALKER.
(L.S.)
J. SCHOLES WALKER. (L.S.)
BENJAMIN BROWN.
(L.g.)