CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY PROAL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hargreaves, Cotton Spinner, and James
Fletcher, Manager, both of Facit, near Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, for the. Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hargreaves and
James Fletcher at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 1st February 1854.
We, JAMES HARGREAVES, Cotton Spinner, and JAMES FLETCHER, Manager,
both of Facit, near Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS" to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates, first, to machines for opening and cleaning, having
the character of the machine known as the "scutcher." In that machine the
fibrous material is acted upon when entering between rollers by blades or thin
bars, which are carried upon arms fixed upon an axis (commonly called the
"beater"), which is made to revolve rapidly, causing the blades or bars to strike
the entering fibrous material parallel with the rollers. Our Invention consists
principally in substituting in place of the blades or bars referred to above, either
wholly or partly, card or toothed surfaces, which may be fixed on arms or

page_text: cylinders. We anticipate that the speed which will be found necessary and
advantageous will be less than that required by the common beater, and that
some modifications may be required in the accessary parts, which will be ascer-
tained by further experiment.
The second part of our Invention relates to improved mechanism, applicable
to the next stage of preparation, for cleaning and straightening, or to the
carding engine; it consists in rendering a straight or toothed edge applied
to the "licker in" adjustable to it, which, is done by hinging it on centres or
pivots, and in using screws to retain it in its position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said James Hargreaves and James Fletcher in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HARGREAVES, Cotton Spinner, and JAMES FLETCHER, Manager, both of Facit,
near Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Hargreaves and James Fletcher, Her especial licence that we, the said
James Hargreaves and James Fletcher, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said James Hargreaves and James Fletcher,
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY POR PREPARING TO BE SPUN COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Hargreaves and
James Fletcher, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should
particularly 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.
tled in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
mmediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Hargreaves and James Fletcher, 1
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the:

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawing (that is to say):—
Our Invention relates to machines for opening, cleaning, and preparing
cotton for the process of carding, and refers to machines used for this purpose
of the character of that known as the "scutcher," wherein. bars or blades
placed on arms revolving rapidly are made to strike upon cotton or fibrous
material entering between rollers, to knock out seeds and loosen the dirt and
fibres, combined with a draught or suction which carries away the dust, and it
consists in substituting, either wholly or partly, for the bars or blades in such
machines, technically called "beaters," card or toothed surfaces fixed on a
cylinder, or on the segments of a cylinder, which will act upon the cotton or
other, fibrous material entering between the feed rollers; and it further relates
to a method by which the draught of the air may be regulated to produce an
even distribution of the cotton over the "cage," and thus an even lap, which
consists in the admission of air between the beaters or the substituted cylinders
with toothed surfaces and the "cages," at such points and in such quantities
as will be readily discovered by trial to produce an even spreading of the cotton
on. the "cage," which will be seen through the glass front opposite the cage,
or by examining the lap. The Drawing annexed hereto shews (by Fig. 1)
partly a side sectional elevation of a two beater scutcher and lap machine.
That the Drawing and our Invention may be more clearly understood, we will
proceed to name some of the parts. a is the endless feeding flexible or cloth;
b are the feed rollers; c, the axis or shaft of the beater, upon which we substi-
tute for the "beaters" toothed cylinders d, which act upon the cotton imme-
diately it presents itself through the feed rollers b. Fig. 2 shows, full size, a
portion of the cylinder and teeth which we have found to act best. These
teeth may be formed and fixed in strong leather-like card "fillets," and secured
on the cylinders in like manner, or the cylinders may be drilled with holes and
the teeth placed in them, or they may be fixed in metal or hard wood, and
afterwards screwed or otherwise secured to the cylinder. The speed at which
we revolve the toothed cylinders varys from seventy to eighty per cent. of that
speed usually given to the ordinary beater. At each end of the toothed cylinder
a straight or curved rib should be fixed, extending from the edge of the cylinder
to the axis, and occupying the space between the ends and the side frame of
the machine, but working just clear of the side frames; it is for the purpose
of preventing an accumulation of cotton between the end of the cylinders and
the side frames. e are the fans which create the draught through the cages f
and f, and as the covers of the cages are glazed at g, they can be seen in

page_text: operation. At the part of the cover between the beater or tooth cylinder and
the "cage," marked by the letter h, a perforated plate or grid is formed or fixed
to admit air, and we arrange a cover for this perforated plate or grid from one
side of the machine to the other, made in parts, say, two or three inches broad,
and placed side by side, so that each of the parts may be made to cover, as
required, all or a portion of its section of the perforated plate or "grid," by
which means the admission of air, and the points at which it shall enter, can
be modified and controlled. We will suppose the cotton to be thin on the
centre of the cage and thick at the sides, then by sliding the middle parts of
the covering to close or partly close the perforations or openings in the plate or
grid at that point, the draught will then carry the cotton more to the centre of
the cage. The method of modifying the draught just explained has more
especial reference to machines having our toothed cylinder substituted for the
"beaters" now generally in use, as the cotton is more effectually loosened,
being on that account more influenced by the draught, though we have found
it may be used with advantage in the ordinary machines.
We have more particularly described the nature and extent of our Inven-
tion, and particularly the mode in which it may be best carried into effect,
which, without any further explanation of the Drawing hereunto annexed,
will be readily understood, as such machines are well known.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Hargreaves and James Fletcher,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-seventh day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
JAMES HARGREAVES. (L.S.)
JAMES FLETCHER.
(L.S.)