IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING THE CARD CYLINDERS OF CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Middleton and James Conlong, of Blackburn,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING THE CARD CYLINDERS OF CARDING
ENGINES."
Sealed the 3rd January 1865, and dated the 8th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Middleton and
James Conlong at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 8th July 1864.
We, JOHN MIDDLETON and JAMES CONLONG, of Blackburn, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING THE CARD CYLINDERS OF
CARDING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of grinding or sharpening and cleaning
machines which communicate a reciprocating traverse motion to the saddle
strickle, and consists in employing a coarse double-threaded screw shaft with
right and left handed threads for communicating the reciprocating traverse
motion and pressure action. We arrange the saddle strickles on the cylinder
and doffer by a metal strap being bolted to the saddle strickle, the same being
stayed and extended to a tube on the screw shaft which we term the strickle
carriage. We bolt straps on the end of the doffer and cylinder strickle,
spanner brackets fitting on the strickle carriage. The doffer strickle straps are
made with a hinge which, by the weight of the strap above is removed from

page_text: the doffer through the strickle carriage to the cylinder strickle.
The brackets
are made to fit close to the shoulder of the strickle carriage, the doffer brackets
being of a broader gauge are made to fit close to the cylinder, brackets coming
faceable with the end of the strickle carriage, the doffer stays keeping the
spanner brackets close to the cylinder brackets on the carriage, which fits
loosely on the screw shaft, having a segment pin fitting into the slot. The said
segment is made to fit into the screw, the pin fitting into the slot of the strickle
carriage is continued through tho slot, and on its end is made a shoulder screw
to receive the nut which beds on the flat, the same being made to slide freely
in the slot. The screw is cut on the shaft of a length equal to the breadth of
the main cylinder, the shaft being continued to the roller stands on each side
of the card and extending five or six inches on each end of the roller stands.
On the end of the shaft is a pulley which receives motion from a pulley on the
end of the main cylinder by means of an endless band or belt, the said pulley
being regulated to give a speed to the screw shaft of two revolutions for one
of the cylinder. On the motion of the cylinder being communicated to the
double screw shaft by the endless band to the pulley, it will be seen that the
segment pin or driver resting in the screw will move to the end of the slot in
the strickle carriage which is carried to the end of the cylinder, when the
segment pin or driver immediately reverses and commences a return motion.
It is evident that the pin must travel the length of the slot before giving
motion to the strickle carriage, and on arriving there it will put the carriage
in motion, which motion will continue to the end of the cylinder when the
segment will immediately reverse and travel the length of the slot before
again acting on the strickle carriage, the motion being continued at each end
of the screw, which motion we call the stop motion. In the grinding and
sharpening and cleaning machines in general use, the weight of the saddle
strickles is the only pressure applied for grinding the main cylinder; such
pressure having been found insufficient for properly sharpening and cleaning
the same, neither do the machines hitherto adopted produce a sufficiently
smooth cylinder, which objections we obviate by making the screw on the
screw shaft of a pitch equal to three inches, and cause it to revolve at the rate
of about three hundred revolutions per minute. It will be obvious that the
motion of the screw shaft acting through the driver will have a tendency to
press the strickle to the cylinder, the hinge in the centre of the doffer strickle
straps throwing the whole of the pressure on the main cylinder saddle strickle,
and by increasing the speed of the screw shaft for producing the traverse
motion, the segment driver is caused to act suddenly on the end of
the carriage slot, whereby the stop motion is produced, thereby pro-

page_text: ducing a vibratory motion which is continued to the strickles, the same motion
being repeated at each end of the cylinder in reversing, which motion is
essentially necessary for the proper sharpening and cleaning the teeth of card:
cylinders.
We also employ a swing bar or bars connected to a filbow bracket; on each
end of the bar the spindle of the filbow rests in the roller stands, the con-
necting rods are screwed and the nuts fit on, and are let into the filbow. On
the nut is cast a washer with a milled edge to serve as a hand screw. On the
shaft are tubes made of brass or other suitable metal, which fit loosely on the
shaft and have notches on the side next to the strickle for receiving the
strickle straps. It will be obvious that by raising or depressing the bars by
the nuts the strickles can be easily adjusted to the cylinder, the swing bars
being of a strength sufficient to resist the deflection of the bars. By the
weight of the strickles the surface of the teeth will be a plane uniform surface,
the swing shaft allowing the strickles to ply freely on the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Middleton and James Conlong in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
MIDDLETON and JAMES CONLONG, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Middleton and James Conlong, Her special license that we, the
said John Middleton and James Conlong, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Middleton and James Conlong,
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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING THE CARD CYLINDERS OF CARDING
ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Middleton and James Conlong, our executors or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their 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 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 we, the said John Middleton and James
Conlong, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1
is a side elevation with part in section, and Fig. 2 a plan of part of a carding.
engine provided with our improved machinery or apparatus for grinding the
card cylinders, and Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are detached views of some of the
parts (that is to say) :-
:
This Invention relates to that class of grinding or sharpening and cleaning.
machines in which a reciprocating traverse motion is given to the saddle
strickle by means of a coarse double-threaded screw shaft with right and left
handed threads for communicating the reciprocating traverse motion and
pressure action.
We arrange the saddle strickles a,
cylinder c and doffer d by a metal strap e being bolted
Figs. 1 and 2, on the
to the saddle strickle,
the same being stayed and extended to a tube f on the screw shaft
9, which
we term the strickle carriage. We bolt straps h, i, on the end of the doffer and
cylinder strickle, spanner brackets k, l, fitting on the strickle carriage, which
brackets are shewn detached in Figs. 3 and 4. The doffer strickle straps i
are made with a hinge m, which by the weight of the strap above is removed
from the doffer through the strickle carriage to the cylinder strickle. The
cylinder brackets k are made to fit close to the shoulder of the strickle
carriage, the doffer brackets 1, being of a broader gauge, are made to fit close
to the cylinder brackets, coming faceable with the end of the strickle carriage,
the doffer stays n keeping the spanner brackets close to the cylinder brackets
on the tube f of the carriage, which tube fits loosely on the screw shaft 9,
having a segment pin o fitting into the slot p, formed in the tube, as shewn in
Figs. 5 and 6. The said segment pin o is made to fit into the threads of the
screw, the pin fitting into the slot p of the strickle carriage is continued
through the slot, and on its end is made a shoulder screw to receive the nut q,
Fig. 5, which beds on the flat, the pin being made to slide freely in the slot.
The double-threaded screw 9 is cut on the shaft of a length equal to the
breadth of the main cylinder, the shaft being continued to the roller stands on
each side of the card and extending five or six inches on each end of the roller

page_text: stands.
On the end of the shaft is a pulley r, which receives motion from a
pulleys on the end of the main cylinder shaft by means of an endless band or
belt, the said pulley being regulated to give a speed to the screw shaft of two
revolutions for one of the cylinder. On the motion of the cylinder being
communicated to the double screw shaft by the endless band to the pulley r,
it will be seen that the segment pin or driver o, resting in the threads of the
screw g, will move to the end of the slot p in the strickle carriage which is
carried to the end of the cylinder, when the segment pin or driver immediately
reverses and commences a return motion. It is evident that the pin or driver
must travel the length of the slot before giving motion to the strickle carriage,
and on arriving there it will put the carriage in motion, which motion will
continue to the end of the cylinder, when the segment will immediately
reverse and travel the length of the slot before again acting on the strickle.
carriage, the motion being continued at each end of the screw, which motion
we call the stop motion.
In the grinding or sharpening and cleaning machines in general use, the
weight of the saddle strickles is the only pressure applied for grinding the
main cylinder, such pressure having been found insufficient for properly
sharpening and cleaning the same, neither do the machines hitherto adopted
produce a sufficiently smooth cylinder, which objections we obviate by making
the screw on the screw shaft of a pitch equal to three inches, and cause it to
revolve at a rate of about three hundred revolutions per minute.
It will be obvious that the motion of the screw shaft acting through the
driver will have a tendency to press the strickle to the cylinder, the hinge in
the centre of the doffer strickle straps throwing the whole of the pressure on
the main cylinder saddle strickle, and by increasing the speed of the screw
shaft for producing the traverse motion, the segment driver is caused to act
suddenly on the end of the carriage slot, whereby the stop motion is produced,
thereby producing a vibratory motion which is continued to the strickles, the
same motion being repeated at each end of the cylinder in reversing, which
motion is essentially necessary for the proper sharpening and cleaning the
teeth of card cylinders.
We also employ a swing bar or bars t connected by connecting rods u to
filbow rods v, the spindle ends of which rods rest in the roller stands x. The
connecting rods are screwed and let into or passed through the filbow
rods and the nuts y fitted, and on each nut is cast a washer with a milled
edge to serve as a hand screw. On each swing bar t there is a tube z made
of brass or other suitable metal, which tube fits loosely on the bar, and has
notches on the side next to the strickle for receiving the strickle straps.
y

page_text: It will be obvious that by raising or depressing the bars by the nuts, the
strickles can be easily adjusted to the cylinder, the swing bars being of a
strength sufficient to resist their deflection. By the weight of the strickles
the surface of the teeth will be a plain uniform surface, the swing bar allowing
the strickle to ply freely on the cylinder.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be
understood that we claim,-
First, the employment of the slot p in the tube f of the strickle earriage
for stopping the traverse motion of the carriage and strickles according to the
length of the slot.
And, secondly, the swing bars t, the screwed connecting rods u, the filbow
rods v, and the notched ended tubes z, for supporting and adjusting the
strickles to the card cylinders for bringing the cards up to a true surface, as.
such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said. John Middleton, for and on behalf of
myself and the said James Conlong, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Third day of January, in the year of our Lord One.
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within named John Middleton in
the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN MIDDLETON. (L.S.)