CERTAIN MACHINERY TO BE USED AND APPLIED IN MANUFACTUR ING CARDS FOR CARDING WOOL, COTTON, SILK, FLAX, Tow. AND OTHER FLEXIBLE MATERIALS OF THE LIKE DESCRIPTION
Year: 1811

page_text: ALL CO , I. JOSEPIL
C. DYER, of Boston, State of Massachussetts, one of the United States, then
residing in Gray's Inn, London, now residing in the Adelphi, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth day of
October, in the fifty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph C. Dyer, my exors, admors, and assigus, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, my exors,
admors, and, assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, an Invention communicated to me by a certain Foreigner
residing abroad, of "CERTAIN MACHINERY TO BE USED AND APPLIED IN MANUFACTUR
ING CARDS FOR CARDING WOOL, COTTON, SILK, FLAX, Tow. AND OTHER FLEXIBLE
MATERIALS OF THE LIKE DESCRIPTION;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court
Price 887

page_text: of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may
nore fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said,
Joseph C. Dyer, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in manner following, that is to say:
The general operation of my said machinery is effected (1) by stretching a
piece of leather to receive staples, in order to form a card; and (2) by piercing
fit holes in the said leather to receive one staple; and (3) by placing and
cutting off a suitable piece of wire to make the said staple; and (4) by bending
and putting the said wire into the holes so made in the leather; and (5)
by then giving the legs of the said wire the proper bends, called the knees;
and (6) by duly shifting the position of the said leather, and making therein
holes for a second staple, and placing, cutting, bending, putting in, and bending
the knees of a piece of wire for the said second staple; and in this manuel
by proceeding until the intended work shall be compleated.
And I do farther declare that the particular structure of my said machinery,
to be herein after pointed out and distinguished, is shewn in the Drawings
hereunto annexed, in all which the same letters of the alphabet do indicate
and denote the same things, and such parts as are more immediately con-
nected with each other, as to the effects to be produced by the same, are
made of one and the same colour. A, B, Fig. 1 and 2, represents the prin-
cipal axis, which is carried round by any first mover C, C, C, and is fitted up
or provided with camms or bearing pieces, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10,11, and 12, which, by pressing respectively and duly against the extremities
of certain levers or other parts of the machinery, do cause the needful motions
to take place. The fixed framework which supports all the moveable parts is
marked with the letters D, D, D, &c. E is a platform which supports those
parts which operate immediately upon the wire and leather. F, G, repre-
sents a fillet of leather, supposed to be in a state of moderate tension, by
having the ends F and G carried round one or more leading pullies, and con-
nected together in the manner of a band or strap, so as to be at liberty to
move or shift endwise, when the feeding rollers H and I, between which the
said leather passes, shall be moved.
Fig.3 shews the parts which operate immediately upon the wire and leather.
a is the wire passing through b,a pair of dies which, conducted fairly to c, a

page_text: pair of rollers, which, being moved at the proper time by a contrate wheel,
having only a few teeth on one side, No. 13, Fig. 2, draw forward a due length
of wire, and pass the same through a guide to e, the beak. The parts
e, f, g, h, i, are all connected, and slide upon the platform towards and from
the leather, independant of any other parts, by means of the camm No. 4,
Fig. 2; and the piece i, i, called the bearer, can be raised or let down by a
small motion on the screw centers g, g, so as to allow the wire or staple, when
requisite, to pass out of the hole in e, through a front opening; but until that
effect is required, the said wire is in part held against the bearer by a thin
blade or sliding piece *, called the presser, which moves independantly
by means of the camm No. 7 (acting upon the bended lever which moves on
the center 7 6), and is urged towards the bearer by a spring 7 a, and can pass
through a slit in the bearer when this last becomes a little raised; and I do
call that assemblage of parts which is moved by the camm No. 4, the staple
carriage. k, k, are called the side benders, which are fixed in legs m,m,m,m,
moveable on the centers or axis 7, 1, which stand on the sliding platforin
n, n, n, n, capable of advancing and receding towards and from the leather
independantly, and the said legs are pressed or urged by a spring to open as to
the extremeties thereof which carry the side benders, but are regulated and
governed as to opening and shutting by the reaction of two screws 0, 0, upon
the notionless platform E (Fig. 5), against the duly formed surfaces of the
said legs, while sliding by means of the camm No. 3, Fig. 2, which is em-
ployed for this purpose; and the said side benders k, k, do, at the suitable
time, come forward and approach each other, and bend the wire against the
bearer, and by that means form the same into a staple. p is a piece of steel,
which has a cutting edge at its opposite notched end; and q, q, is another piece
which can be thrown forward by the camm No. 2, and has a correspondent
cutting edge, by which, upon the principle of sheers, the portion of wire is cut
off. ,, is a piece called the piercers, which carries two points, and makes
holes in the leather, its motion being caused by the camm No. 5, and guided
by the stationary rollers acting against the duly formed surface of r, r,
as shewn. t, t, are two arms, forming a piece called the staple guide,
which rises and falls very near the leather by a motion upon the centers
,, produced by the camin No. 1 (see Fig 2 and Fig. 5), and the said
arms, by means of two cuts or notches in the upper edges of the bars
between and t, serve accurately to guide the staple into the holes made
by the piercer. v, v, is a supporting edge or rest, fixed immoveably behind
the leather, and in contact with the same (see also Fig. 5), at a very small
distance below the line or row of staples, while in the act of placing them;

page_text: and we, w, are the knee benders, which consist of two arms, duly fixed in an
axis x, x, by the screws seen in the top thereof; and the said knee benders
terminate in two looped wires or pieces, so placed that the loops thereof are
situated, at the time when these extremities are in their most clevated situa-
tion, closely behind the supporting edge, and exactly opposite the pierced holes,
so as to admit the legs of the staple to pass through the said loops, and the
said knee benders are subsequently drawn down to a lower position by the
action of the camm No. 8, and are caused to rise again by a spring (see also
Fig. 2 and Fig. 7, where x represents the axis of the knee benders, and y a
lever, upon the hither face of which the camm No. 8 acts; but the spring made
use of to cause y to bear against the camm, and to raise the knee benders to
the stop bearing at, is left out for the sake of keeping the Drawings clear,
and because easy to be applied in numerous obvious ways), and whenever the
said knee benders, having the legs of a staple in their loops, are drawn down,
they do bend the said legs upon the supporting edge, and produce those bends
or flexures in the staple which are called the knees.
Figs. 7, S, and 9, are intended to show more particularly the method and
means of shifting the position of the leather in that description of cards which
is called fillet work. The numbers 14, 14, 14, &c., denote a piece of framed
work called the main carriage, which is capable of being slided to the right or
left upon the face of the fixed framework D, D, D, &c., and the said main
carriage supports and carries the following parts, namely, (1) the feeding
rollers H and I, which are pressed together by the springs 15, and moved by
the sliding coupling 66; and (2) the guide 17, 17, for conveying the leather
fairly to the rollers, and preventing any side deviation; and (3) the shifting
rack 18; and (4) the holding rack 19; and, five, the claw tumbler stops 20;
and (6) the claw tumbler spring stops 21; and (7) the quarter tooth levers
22; and 8, the the stopping tumbler bar 23.23; and, moreover, the number 24
denotes a connecting bar between the lever acted upon by the camin No. 10
(see also Fig. 6) and the tail of a double lever 25, 26, moveable on its center
27, and giving motion to the claw 30, 30, from its upper end, and to the
claw 31, 31, by communication of the bars 26, 28, to the levers which moves
on the centers 29; and the said claws are respectively movable on the centers
37, 37, and if either of the same were singly allowed to apply to the teeth of
the shifting rack 18. it is manifest that the action thereof would push the main
carriage sideway through the space of one tooth by each successive turn of the
principal axis, and that the direction in which the main carriage would be
moved would depend upon the claw which would be so allowed to apply.
No. 32, 32, denotes the claw tumbler which is movable on the centers 33, but

page_text: limitted in its motion by the legs 34, 34; it serves to raise and keep up either
of the claws, according to its position, and is provided at one end thereof with
a side projecting piece, which being kept either above or beneath the claw
tumbler stops 20,20, prevents any reversement of position until the said stops
become removed clear of the said piece. No. 36 is the claw tumbler spring,
which pulls downwards upon the claw tumbler by means of the sliding piece
35, and the said piece being confined between stops upon the bar 21, 21 (see
also Fig. 9), is made to press, as occasion requires, either on the right or left-
hand side of the center 33, and to cause the claw tumbler to shift its position
when set at liberty from the stops 20; and the action or process by means of
which the leather is shifted sideways, between the insertion of one staple and
the next immediately contiguous to the same on the same row, is described as
follows, namely, as soon as the former of the said staples hath been compleatly
inserted, the camm No. 10 causes the acting claw to move the carriage one
tooth sideways, and the operations then proceed with the next succeeding
staple, and in this manner the work goes on until the main carriage shall have
moved the stops 20, 20, from the projecting piece of the tumbler, and the
spring piece 35 to that side of the center 33 which shall favour the reversement
of the claw tumbler. At this moment the reversement will take place, and the
claw which before was down and in action will be lifted and kept up, and the
opposite claw suffered to descend and move the carriage, tooth by tooth, in the
contrary direction, through a space or number of teeth which will be limitted,
both out and home, by the breadth or adjustment of the said claw tumbler
stops 20; and it is provided that during the time in which the main carriage
remains stationary, one of the dogs or holding catches 38, 39, governed by the
camm 9, 11, shall fall into and remain in the holding rack 19, and prevent all
shake or disturbance of position. But since it is clear that by the action or
process here described the return would be inade so as to cause the effect to
take place upon the very same points of the leather as had been before
subjected to the same, it is requisite not only that the leather should be shifted
sideways, as before described, but also longitudinally or endways, upon the
termination of each successive course of staples(as herein-after shewn),butalso
that the side shifts in one direction should not correspond with those in the
opposite direction, unless it were intended that the crowns of the staples should
be disposed in longitudinal rows immediately behind each other, or to make
what are called plain cards. This may be prevented by causing the claws to
draw over four teeth at each stroke, and making the racks with finer teeth.
But the contrivance adopted by preference in the said machinery, on account

page_text: of the greater strength of teeth and depth of holding, is, that at each end of
the shifting rack, beyond the extreme tooth, the hollow is notched down at the
distance of one quarter of a tooth; but the said notch does not catch the claw
till after the extreme tooth has been acted upon, because the half-tooth
lever 22, being up, receives the claw previous to that action, and immediately
thereafter the half-tooth lever, tripping with its tail against the stop 40, is
drawn down out of the way, and the claw (subsequent to the longitudinal or
endwise shift hereafter to be described) makes its concluding movement the
one quarter of a tooth only, and the opposite claw being adjusted to set a range
of staples corresponds with that quarter-tooth shift (as determining the
commencement thereof), doth cause the said staples to be disposed with their
crowns one quarter of a tooth different from those of the preceding range. And
whereas it is manifest, that a single dog or holding catch 38 or 38 would be
sufficient to secure the main carriage during the time of repose, in case the
side shifts were made forward and backward through the same spaces, or by
means of finer teeth; but that two dogs will be required to perform the same
office alternately, one for the forward rim and one for the backward rim. When
the said shifts do not corresponda particularapparatus is constructed to throw
the said dogs respectively in and out of action (see Figs. 6, 8, and 9).
Nos. 44, 45, 46, and 47, represent the stopping tumbler moveable on the
centers 44. 45, but limitted to a small tilt by the notch in the stop 51, which
includes one of the arms of the said tumbler. No. 49 and 50 represent two
bearing pieces connected with the levers 42 and 40 (see Fig. 9), which proceed
respectively from the axle of the dogs 38 and 39 to the camms 9 and 11, and
when one arm (for example 47, as shewn, Fig. 8) of the stopping tumbler is
thrown back it will support the contiguous lever (40 and 50), and prevent the
corresponding dog (35) from acting, and at the same time the other arm (46)
being brought forward will be out of the way of the other lever (42 at 49),
and will allow the corresponding dog 38 to act; and the dog 38 is so adjusted
as to operate while the claw 30 is in action, and the dog 39 to operate while
the dog 31 is in action; and the camms 9 and 11 are respectively fixed and
adjusted to cause those parts to work in due correspondence, and thence
it follows that one dog only will act at a time. No. 48, 45, represents the
stopping tumbler spring which acts upon the face of the tumbler, and givesto
either of the legs a tendency to fly back, accordingly as the pressure of the
roller 48 is made on the one or the other side of the axis 44, 45, and the said
spring being moveable to the right and left upon a center screw 45 (see
Fig. 6), and guided by the studs 54, 55, upon the stopping bar 23, which

page_text: moves with the main carriage, does in effect press on the one or the other side,
as the exigency of the operation requires. No. 56 is a tail proceeding from
oue arm of the stopping tumbler, which, during work, will be situated either
before or behind the stops 52, 53, on the stopping bar, and the office of the
said stops is to prevent the stopping catch from tripping by the pressure of the
spring 48 until the termination of the rim of the carriage in either direction.
In Fig. 6, and also 7, 8, and 5, is represented the apparatus for shifting the
leather endwise at the termination of each row of staples. No. 57 is a lever
moveable on the center 58, and worked by the camm No. 12, which, by
means of the driving catch 59, moves the ratch wheel 61 one tooth every lift,
and 60 is an holding catch to prevent the return. The axis 62 of the wheel
also carries the wheel 63 at the other end of the frame, and this last by strap
gives motion to the wheel 64, which, by the sliding couplings 65, 66, moves
the roller H, and shifts the leather endwise at the termination of each row. of
staples. No. 67, 68, 69, 70 (Fig. 6 and 7) represents a bearing lever move
able right and left on the center 65, 69, which supports 57
upon its upper
extremity 70 (Fig. 7), and the said extremity is kept in its place by the side
spring 67, except when either of the studs 71, 72, by the run of the maiu
carriages, pushes the same aside, and allows the lever 57 to come down and
gather one tooth upon 61, to be pushed forward by the action of the camm 12,
and by this means it is that the end shift, instead of taking place at every
revolution, is made only at the conclusion of each row of staples.
And I do farther declare, that the camins for giving motion are duly formed,
as to the bearing faces thereof, in the manner that such pieces are usually
made, and that the same are placed, fixed, and adjusted to operate at the proper
times, for which the skill and attention of a competent workman, who shall duly
peruse and examine the present Writing, and the Drawings hereunto annexed
will be sufficient and adequate; and also that all the several parts of the said
machinery which come into successive or alternate contact and action, and all
the parts which require to have their respective positions and situations accu.
rately determined, are provided with adjusting pieces and screws, as shewn in
the said Drawings, and that such screws are distinguished from the binding
screws by the said adjusting screws being coloured blue; and generally that
the said Drawings will serve to explain many particulars of the constructing
and using of the said machinery, which could not be shewn or explained in
words. And farther, and in order to render the said machinery more perfectly
understood, I do declare that the operation of making filleting is conducted or
doth take place as follows:-First, the piercer makes holes in the leather

page_text: while (2) the wire 3 is duly protruded by the rollers c, and the partially
toothed wheel 13; (3) the pressure *k is allowed to spring forward, and holds
the wire firmly against the bearer i. Fig. 3 represents this stage of the
operation; (4) the shares p, q, cut off the wire. (5) the side benders, le,
advance and form the staple against the bearer i, while (6) the staple guides t, t,
rise to their place; and this stage of the operation is delineated in Fig. 4. (7) the
staple carriage and side benders advance and lodge the staple in the holes; (8)
the side benders begin to recede, but the staple carriage continues to advance
till the bearer touches the leather; (9) the knee benders w, w, descend and
form the knees; (10) the holding dog rises; (11) the bearer i, i, rises and the
presser */ shoots forward and drives the crown of the staple home to the
leather (12) the staple carriage and side benders are drawn back, the bearer
descends, and the side shift is made by the camm No. 10, and the apparatus
driven thereby; (13) the knee bender rises; and all the parts of the machinery,
having been subjected to the effect of a compleat revolution of the prin-
cipal axis A, B, will be found to have recovered their original situation,
excepting so far as may relate to the shifting of the main carriage and
feeding rollers. (14) the succeeding revolution of the principal axis causes
a repetition of the operation with regard. to a second staple, and the same
way be continued until the course or row of staples shall be compleated
to the border or edge of the work. (15) at this period the ratchet wheel
apparatus causes the feeding roller to revolve through the space answering
to one tooth of the wheel, and causes the leather to shift longitudinally into
a situation to receive the next course of staples. (16) the operation pro-
ceeds in a reverse order of side shift till the last-mentioned course is com-
pleated, and then the effect described, No. 15, is repeated, and a new course
of staples inserted; and all the before-described effects will duly succeed each
other as long as the inachinery shall be kept in motion and supplied with the
materials for making and manufacturing the said cards.
Fig. 10 shews the carriage and fitting up for making sheet cards. D; D, D,
&c. denote the fixed framework as before, and 14, 14, 14, &c. denote the main
carriage to be used instead of that before described, and sliding on the fixed
frame at A, a, aud, B, b, and shifted sideways.as the work requires by the claws
30 and 31, as herein.before described. C, c, C, c, C, c, C, c, denote the sheet
frame upon which the upper jaws G, g, are fixed and the lower jaws G, g, are
attached, with power to be regulated as to their distance from the upper, by the
screws F, f, F, f. In Fig. 11 the same jaws are shewn,and the manner of biting
and holding the sheet of leather P, p, by means of the arms H, h, H, h, while

page_text: the same is stretched and extended by the screws F, f, F, f; and the said
sheet frame is made to slide up and down upon the face of the main carriage,
and is carried in that direction between the setting of row and row of the staples
by means of the chains E, e, E, e, proceeding from the axis of the ratchet
wheel 61 which is worked by the means already described by a reference to
the former Figures at the end of each course of staples, but with a wider set of
the studs 71, 72, than for that kind of work. ., shews the supporting edge
or rest behind the sheet of leather; I, i, is a shifting bar moveable to the right
and left on a joint or pin at its upper end, and kept to a bearing against M, m,
by a stud at its lower end by the reaction of the spring I., . M, m, is a ratchet
wheel of any required number of teeth, which in the Drawing are eighteen ;,
and upon the same axis is fixed one or more suails or spirals or camm pieces
gradually enlarged from the center, and affording a bearing for the stud of the
bar I, i. N, n, O, o, are driving catches, which react upon the ratchet wheel
M, m, at the termination of each course of staples, and push the wheel thro'
space of one tooth at each termination, and in consequence thereof the bar
I, i, is moved, and by its action at K, , carries the sheet frame through a
small distance, against the steadying spring L, L, along the bar D, d, upon the
slides at C,c, C,c; by this contrivance the staples are disposed in twilled rows,
instead of lying directly behind each other, and the same contrivance may also
be applied to produce the like effect (or twilled ranges of staples) in making
fillett cards.
the
And whereas divers mechanics have heretofore made use of machinery
or instruments for making cards, in which certain parts similar to some of
those herein-after stated and described had been applied, altho' for want of
due proportions in the construction and fit adaption of parts, and particularly
of the means of easy, accurate, and permanent adjustments, the said
machinery or instruments, so far as I can learn, have not been found
adequate to the intended effect; now I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, do
hereby further declare that I do not lay claim to all the parts of my said
machinery as singly or individually taken, but to the combination of machinery
herein-before set forth and described, by which the effects are produced as
aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand aight hundred and twales
JOSEPH C. DYER. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of April,
in the year of our Lord 1812, the aforesaid Joseph C. Dyer came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twents-ninth day of April. in the year of our Lord One