IM- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Muir Hetherington, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON."
Sealed the 2nd October 1869, and dated the 10th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Muir Hether-
ington at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 10th April 1869.
I, JOHN MUIR HETHERINGTON, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON," to be as
follows:-
My Invention refers to those machines for combing cotton commonly
known as Heilman's, and for which Letters Patent were granted to
Josué Heilman, dated February 25th, 1846, No. 11,003. According to
the operation of that machine it is well known that the material is
combed and removed from the combing apparatus in successive tufts,
and that these separate portions are subsequently joined together to form
a continuous sliver by being caused to overlap each other through the
backward and forward motion of rollers, the forward motion thereof
Price 8d.1

page_text: being employed to convey the said sliver to delivering rollers. According
to the usual method of employing these parts the backward motion of
the aforesaid rollers is always less than one half of the extent of the
forward motion thereof.
I propose according to my Invention to modify the movements so
that the backward motion of the said rollers shall be in excess of one
half of the above-mentioned forward motion, by which meaus I increase
the capabilities of the machine by rendering it applicable to the combing
of cotton of comparatively short staple, and the yarns from some cotton
of longer staple may be improved.
In order to effect this alteration I propose to modify the grooves in
the ordinary cam and to adjust the lever thereto, but equivalent
mechanical apparatus may be employed. The speed of the delivering
rollers will be regulated according to the above-described alterations.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Muir Hetherington in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MUIR HETHERINGTON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Muir Hetherington, Her special
license that I, the said John Muir Hetherington, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Muir
Hetherington, my 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 FOR COMBING COTTON," upon the
condition, amongst others, that I, the said John Muir Hetherington, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly

page_text: 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 I, the said John Muir Hetherington, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:
My Invention relates to that description of machinery for combing
cotton commonly known as Heilman's, and for which Letters Patent
were granted to Josué Heilman, dated February Twenty-fifth, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six, No. 11,003. According to the
operation of that machine it is well known that the material is combed
and removed from the combing apparatus in successive tufts, and that
these separate portions are subsequently joined together to form a
continuous sliver by being caused to overlap each other through the
backward motion of rollers, the forward motion thereof being employed
to convey the said sliver to the delivering rollers. According to the usual
method of employing these parts the backward motion of the aforesaid
rollers is always less than one half of the extent of the forward motion
thereof.
I propose according to my Invention to modify the movements so that
the backward motion of the said rollers shall be in excess of one half of
the above-mentioned forward movement.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a portion of a combing
machiue in section, and Fig. 2 a plan view thereof. The parts which are
shewn are not new, they being in ordinary use, with the exception that
the can by which the rollers are turned is modified in form and the other
parts adapted thereto; but I will briefly point out the general working of
that part of the machine to which my Invention refers in order that it may
more clearly be understood.
At a is the cam shaft, upon which is placed the grooved cam b acting
upon a roller c, which is carried by a lever d turning loosely upon a
shaft e.
The lever d carries a click f, which is drawn inward by a
spring g, and takes into a notched wheel h fast upon the shaft e. This
shaft carries an internal toothed wheel i, in geer with which is a pinion k

page_text: upon the axis of the under roller 1, the top roller being at m and weighted
as usual. Upon the cam 6 is a tappet n, which at proper intervals acts
upon a roller carried by a lever o fast upon the axis of the click f, and so
as to lift it from the notched wheel h. Motion being communicated to the
shaft a, the grooved cam 6 will act upon the roller c, and cause the lever d
to turn upon its centre e and carry forward the notched wheel, and the
toothed wheel i being fast therewith will cause the pinion and con-
sequently roller to revolve so as to carry back the sliver to be pieced to
a tuft which has beeu combed, as is well understood. After this a
further rotation of the cam 6 turns the lever d in the other direction,
and thereby the motion of the roller is also reversed, and the pieced
tuft is carried to the delivering rollers. After this the tappet n raises
the catch and places it in a notch for a repetition of the above-
mentioned operations.
Now according to the usual method practiced the piecings will be
effected as seen in the diagram Fig. 3, in which the successive tufts
P, pl, &c. overlap each other in order to effect the said piecing, but in
such manner as to leave a single sliver between the ends of the tufts
P. p, for instance, and so on continuously. When therefore the sliver
is formed there is a certain amount of strength therein, but a com-
parative weakness between the points q, r. Now according to my
Invention I make the backward movement of the tuft exceed as before
mentioned one half of the forward movement, and the consequence is
that the successive tufts are laid upon each other, as seen in the diagram
Fig. 4, where it will be perceived that the ends q, r, corresponding to
those in Fig. 3 overlap each other, and that consequently I have two
thicknesses of material s, t, instead of p¹ only as in the old plan
Fig. 3.
It will be seen by the above description that I increase the capabilities
of the machine, for inasmuch as I get more fibres together at the
piecings there is more cohesion, and cotton of a comparatively short
staples may be combed, while at the same time the sliver is more equal
in substance, and the produce when a long staple is used is improved
and works better in the subsequent operations. The speed of the
delivering rollers will of course be altered to suit the altered condition
of the sliver, which being thicker is necessarily shortened, and the speed
of the said rollers will therefore be less than for a thinner sliver combed
at the same rate. The relative overlapping of the tufts represented in

page_text: Fig. 4 at 2, r, may be varied in extent, but in the diagram Fig. 5 I
give the backward and forward movements of the rollers as taken from
a machine now in use. To obtain this diagram a strip of paper was
placed upon the periphery of the wheel i, Figs. 1 and 2, and starting
from the point u the said wheel moved by the backward motion of the
rollers to the point v, then for the forward movement thereof from the
said point to w, and so on for a repetition, as will readily be traced in
the diagram.
The lines above described as representing the backward and forward
movements would, of course, without some provision to the contrary, lie
over each other; in order, therefore, to keep them distinct, the strip of
paper was moved at right angles to the axis of the wheel between each
backward and forward movement.
At Fig. 6 is another diagram of the same construction but repre-
senting the backward and forward motions of the wheel as commonly
adopted. These movements are, as is well known, governed by the cam b,
and the form of this cam as I use it in order to carry out my Inven-
tion and to suit it to the other motions of the machine is shewn at
Fig. 7.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire
it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the mechanical
arrangements shewn for effecting the purpose of my Invention, as equi-
valents therefor may be employed, such as an external and internal
mutilated wheel having the proportionate number of teeth required to
give the amount of motion to the roller; but I claim as secured to me
under the above in part recited Letters Patent, and as applied to such
machines as aforesaid, causing the backward motion of the rollers which
convey the tufts to exceed one half of their forward movement.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Muir Hetherington, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day or October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nina
JOHN MUIR HETHERINGTON. (L.S.)