IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING."
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgins, of Salford, in the County of Lan-
caster, Machine Maker, and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, of the same
Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR
SPINNING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgins and
Thomas Schofield Whitworth at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 9th February 1861.
We, JAMES HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, and THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI-
NERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR
SPINNING," to be as follows:-
One part of our Invention relates to the carding engine, and consists firstly,
in a method of driving the "licker in." According to the usual method this
has been effected by means of a strap or straps, in place of such apparatus we
employ gearing, and by preference obtain motion from the axis of the main
cylinder. Our improvements in carding engines also apply to those machines

page_text: in which a roller or rollers are so applied beneath the licker-in as to cause
the material to be conveyed to the cylinder at two or more places, and consists
in driving such "licker-in" and roller or rollers by means of gearing as afore-
said instead of by a strap. Also in carding engines in which a stripper is
employed beneath the "licker-in," and revolving at a variable speed. We
drive the said stripper by gearing instead of by strap and conical pullies, this
may be done by means of that arrangement known as the differential or "jack-
in-box" motion, in combination with a mangle wheel. In reference to rollers
and strippers which as aforesaid are placed beneath the "licker-in," we mount
the bearings thereof upon joints so that they may swivel, and in like manner
we mount the bearings of the main cylinders of carding engines.
Another improvement in carding engines relates to the connecting rods of
the doffing combs. Between these rods and the step which carries the axis
of the comb, we apply an elastic material which may be compressed by screwing
the rod upward, and the same contrivance may be adapted to the cranks at
the lower ends of the rods.
Another part of our Invention relates to the slubbing or roving frame, and
firstly, to machines in which a fixed tube is traversed by the copping rail, and
consists in causing the part which so traverses to swivel upon joints so as to
accommodate itself to any inequality of-motion; secondly, to those machines
in which a tube or bolster passes into the bobbin, and consists in mounting
such tube or bolster so that it may swivel upon joints..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and THOMAS
SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, Her special license
that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our executors, administrators, and

page_text: 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 PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING," upon the condition, amongst others, that
we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said Thomas Schofield Whitworth, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement (and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
The first part of our Invention relates to the carding engine, and consists
firstly, in a method of driving the "licker-in." According to the usual plan this
has been effected by means of a strap or straps; in the place of that apparatus
we employ gearing, and by preference obtain motion from the axis of the main
cylinder.
In the accompanying Drawings this part of our Invention is shewn at
Figs. 1 and 2, the former being a partial side view of a carding engine, and
the latter an end view. The axis of the main cylinder is shewn at a, upon
which is a pinion b, which by means of intermediates c, d, drives a pinion E
upon the axis of the licker-in.
Our improvements in carding engines also apply to those machines
in which a roller or rollers are so placed beneath the licker-in as to cause
the material to be conveyed to the cylinder at two or more places, which
arrangement has been specified under a Patent granted to Alfred Vincent
Newton, bearing date Fourteenth April, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven, No. 1059. Our improvement thereon consists in driving such
"licker-in" and roller or rollers by gearing instead of by straps, and is shewn
at Figs. 1 and 2 before referred to. Rotatory motion is conveyed as above
described to the toothed wheel d, which is placed in gear with a pinion & upon
the axis of the licker-in, and also with another pinion f upon the axis of a
roller placed beneath the said licker-in, and so arranged as to deliver the
material to the cylinder at a second point according to the Specification of
Alfred Vincent Newton aforesaid. At g is the axis of another roller which

page_text: may deliver the material at a third place, and which may be driven by a
pinion upon its axis, working into the pinion f. By these arrangements
of gearing we secure the proper relative surface speeds which might otherwise
be disturbed by the slipping of straps.
The next part of our Invention, according to our Provisional Specification,
referred to those machines in which a stripper is employed beneath the
licker-in, and revolving at a variable speed, and consisted in driving the
said stripper by gearing instead of by a strap, but since the filing of the said
Provisional Specification we have found that the arrangement for carrying out
this part of our Invention would be attended with inconvenience, and there-
fore lay no claim thereto.
in
Another part of our Invention, also relating to carding engines, cousists in
mounting rollers and strippers, which are placed beneath the licker-in, in
bearings capable of turning in joints so that they may swivel, and in like
manner we mount the bearings of the main-cylinder. The first division of
this part of our Invention is shewn in Fig. 1 before referred to, and
Fig. 3, which is a detached view upon an enlarged scale. The axis of a
roller placed beneath the licker-in is at g, mounted in a bearing h. This
bearing is provided with a stud i, which is placed within a block k, in which
it is capable of turning, and to which it is confined by a screw 1. The block k
has a stud m situate within a block n, and within which it is capable of turning
after the manner of the other stud i, it being also in like manner kept to its
bearing by a screw o. The block n is formed upon a bracket p, which is
secured to the framework, and the whole of the apparatus above described,
therefore constitutes a bearing for the axis 9 of the roller. At gare set screws
by which the roller may be raised, depressed, or moved sideways for adjust-
ment. On the other side of the machine there is a similar arrangement to
that above described, and the roller is therefore supported at both ends by
bearings which are capable of turning upon the pins i or m so as to swivel
during the setting of the rollers, after which they are secured in their proper
position by screws r. At Figs. 4 and 5, and also at the enlarged views
Figs. 6 and 7, the method of mounting the main cylinder is shewn. At r is
an ordinary pedestal within which is the bearing a carrying the shaft a of the
main cylinder. This bearing is provided with 2 pins t, which are capable
of turning upon their centres within the pedestal r, and the said bearings may
therefore swivel in order to present level surfaces for the axis of the cylinder
to work upon.
Another part of our improvements in carding engines relates to the con-
necting rod of doffer combs, and consists in applying an elastic material

page_text: between the said rods and the steps which carry the axis of the comb, which
material may be compressed; also we adapt a similar contrivance to the
cranks at the lower ends of the rods. This part of our Invention is shewn in
Fig. 1 before referred to, and also in the two detached views, upon an
enlarged scale, Figs. 8 and 9. The connecting rod is shewn at u, adapted to
a strap v by means of a screw and nuts w. This strap carries the centre pin
of a lever x, by which the comb y is worked. The screwed end of the rod u
bears against a piece of metal, between which and the step is a washer of
india-rubber or other elastic material. Should the pin become loose in its
bearing 2 it may be tightened by the nuts w. In Fig. 1 the same contrivance
is at A adapted to the lower end of the connecting rod.
Another part of our Invention relates to the slubbing and roving frame, and
firstly, especially to machines in which a fixed tube is traversed by the copping
rail, and consists in causing the part which so traverses to swivel upon joints
so as to accommodate itself to any irregularity of motion, this is shewn in
the sectional view of a spindle and parts connected therewith at Fig. 10; and
also in the detached view Fig. 11, which is a horizontal plan in section of the
spindle tube and the parts which swivel. The spindle is shewn at a mounted
in a fixed tube b, that is to say, a tube which does not move upward and
downward with the copping rail. This tube carries at the lower end the
footstep 6*, which is mounted to swivel upon joints c, d, as described in the
Specification of a Patent granted to us bearing date the Thirteenth day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and sixty, No. 2501. The copping rail
is at e, to which a bracket f is jointed by means of a pin g, so that the said
bracket is free to turn upon or with the said pin as an axis. The outward
end h of the bracket carries a boss k, which extends around the tube b, and
supports it at its upper part, and as it is carried by the copping rail it neces-
sarily traverses the tube during the copping motion. The boss k is connected
to the bracket by means of a pin q, which in this instance is a screw, but as
the shoulder thereof does not bear against it, it is free to turn or swivel
therein. As therefore the copping rail rises and falls, it is at liberty to vibrate
in two directions, the one being allowed by the swivelling of the bracket
in or upon the pin 9, and the other by the turning or swivelling of the
pin q, and thus a tendency to binding is avoided; also our Invention
applies to those slubbing and roving machines in which a tube or bolster passes
into the bobbin. This is illustrated at Fig. 12, in which is the spindle
turning at bottom in a footstep as usual, and m the tube or bolster which in
this instance passes into the bobbin, and remains in the same position therein,
in this instance also it is attached to the copping rail, and consequently moves

page_text: bodily with the bobbin during the copping motion. The boss referred to in
Fig. 11 is shewn by the same letter of reference k, but in this case is attached
to the tube, it is however provided with the bracket f, which is connected to
the copping rail by means of a pin similar to that shewn at g, Fig. 11, so that
the tube is capable of swivelling as before described. The tube m is provided
with a shoulder upon which the bobbin braid n rests, and this braid supports
the bobbin as usual.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be under-
stood that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,―
Firstly, in reference to carding engines driving the "licker-in" by means of
toothed gear, also in carding engines in which a roller or rollers are placed
beneath the licker-in, so as to cause the material to be conveyed to the
cylinder at two or more places; we claim driving such "licker-in" and roller
or rollers by means of toothed gearing.
Also, we claim mounting such rollers and strippers as aforesaid, and also
the main cylinder, so that they may swivel upon joints.
Also, we claim the use of india-rubber or other elastic material applied to
the connecting rods of doffer combs as illustrated at Figs. 1, 9, and 10.
Secondly, in slubbing and roving frames, and as applied to machines in
which a fixed tube is traversed by the copping rail, we claim causing the part
which so traverses to be capable of swivelling; also in reference to machines
in which a tube passes into the bobbin after the manner illustrated at Fig. 12,
we claim so connecting the said tube to the copping rail that it shall be
capable of swivelling.
of
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Schofield Whitworth, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH. (L.S.)