IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING BATS OR SLIVERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Leach, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
CARDING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR FORMING BATS OR SLIVERS."
Sealed the 12th January 1869, and dated the 7th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Leach at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th August 1868.
I, GEORGE LEACH, of Leeds, in the County of York, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CARDING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING BATS OR SLIVERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, first, to an improved fixing, or bearing, or
standard for workers and strippers of carding engines, the object being
to make them easily adjustable both vertically and laterally. The axle
of the worker or stripper is carried in a pair of brackets, which are,

page_text: formed with stems screwed at their lower end and passed through ring
flanges on the sides of the framing and made fast thereto by clamping
nuts. Each bracket stem is dropped through a socket piece made fast
to the framing and fitted at its opposite sides with set screws. By
means of these screws the bracket stem may be adjusted so as to throw
the worker or stripper forward or backward while by the clamping nuts
their vertical adjustment is effected.
The Invention relates, secondly, to an improved and novel method of
taking up the fleece or sheet sliver as it comes off the doffer of the
carding or scribbling engine; so as to form it into a bat suitable for
feeding a second or other carding or scribbling engine. The sliver as it
comes off the doffer I wrap or wind in layers upon a rotating cylinder or
drum, and thus form thereon a continuous tube of sliver which I then
divide longitudinally into sheets as it is formed, rolling the same on to
spools or rollers, which when filled are taken from the machine ready to
be applied to the second carder or scribbler. On the axle of the drum we
mount a frame which serves to carry two or more pairs of rollers. The
outer roller of each pair works in slots in the frame, and is intended to
receive the bat or sheet sliver delivered from the drums. The inner
rollers are driven rollers. The outer or bat rollers are held in contact
with the driven rollers by springs, and are free to recede in their bear-
ings as they become filled with the bat. The cylinder or drum carries
at its periphery travelling aprons, belts, or ropes arranged parallel to the
axis of the drum for the purpose of bearing the sliver or fleece and
moving it forward as formed in the direction of the axis of the rotating
drum; or instead of these aprons or belts an intermittent feed or
travellers placed at intervals around the drum may be used to effect the
required traverse. Around the driven rollers are laid the aprons or, belts
which pass from end to end of the drum over antifriction pulleys, and
which receive their motion from the driven rollers. For the purpose of
severing the tube as it is formed on the drum I provide reciprocating
knives, which lie parallel to the drum axle, and receive an endway
motion from a tappet wheel on the end of the axle. As therefore the
tube is formed by the rotation of the drum in front of the doffer: of,
say, the first carder the knives will cut it up longitudinally into two
or more bats, which 'will be taken up as fast as formed by the spools
I provide for the stopping of the action of the bands
or bat rollers.

page_text: and knives at the starting of the machine to allow of the drum being,
first properly covered with sliver. When a number of layers of sliver or
fleece has been wound upon the drum (the aprons being quiescent)
sufficient to form a suitable thickness of bat around the drum and across
the aprons or bands a longitudinal motion is given to the aprons, and the
bat is thereby drawn or carried off endwise from the drum in the shape,
of a continuous tube, which is converted as desired either into flat
sheets or bats or is cut up into strips, tapes, or slivers and wound or
coiled upon a roller, bobbin spool, or cylinder. The bats, strips, tapes,
or slivers of wool are transferred to the feed sheet of the following or
succeeding carding engine or condenser, and there uncoiled or unwound
whilst being taken into the said succeeding carding engine or condenser.
To suit various widths of carding engines it may be desirable to form the
bats or expanding drums the diameter of which may be regulated to
suit the width of bat required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Leach in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LEACH, of Leeds, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year:
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-.
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,"
give and grant unto me, the said George Leach, Her special licence that
I, the said George Leach, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Leach, 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 CARDING.
WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
FORMING BATS OR SLIVERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said George Leach, my executors or .administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of 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 I, the said George Leach, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates first to an improved fixing or bearing or standard
for the small card rollers of carding engines known as workers and
strippers, whose office it is to take the fibres from and return them to the
main cylinder.
The object of this part of the Invention is to make the bearings easily
adjustable both vertically and laterally, and thus to ensure their proper
and efficient action.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a side elevation of
a carding engine fitted according to this my first improvement.
⚫ And Figures 2, 3, and 4, Sheet II., shew in front elevation, side section,
and plan at full size, the improved fixing which I employ for the workers
and strippers. The fixings for the two kinds of rollers differ, however,
in that one is somewhat shorter in the stem than the other as shewn at
Fig. 1. The axle of each worker and stripper is carried in a pair of
bracket bearings a which are formed with stems b screwed at their lower
end and passed through ring flanges c on the sides of the framing
of the carding engine. The stems are made fast to the framing by
clamping nuts d; each bracket stem is dropped through a socket piece e
made fast to the framing by a clamping nut f (Fig. 2), and steady pins;
this socket piece e is fitted at its opposite sides with set screws g, by
means of which the bracket stem may be adjusted so as to throw the
worker or stripper, as the case may be, forward or backward, while by the
clamping nuts d.their vertical adjustment is effected.

page_text: The Invention relates, secondly, to a novel and improved method of
taking up the fleece or sheet sliver as it comes off the doffer of the carding
or scribbling engine so as to form it into bats suitable for feeding a second.
or other carding or scribbling engine.
The machine which I employ for this purpose is shewn in side elevation
at Fig. 5, Sheet III. of the Drawings, in plan view at Fig. 6 of the same
Sheet, and in end elevation at Fig. 7, Sheet I.
By referring to Sheet I. it will be seen that the sliver as it is stripped
in the usual way from the doffer 1 (which takes it from the card
cylinder 2, 2, of the carding engine) is taken up by and wound upon a
drum or cylinder of the bat forming machine, which machine is placed
contiguous to the delivery end of the carding engine and at right angles
thereto.
The construction and action of this bat forming machine I will now
proceed to describe. A, A', are the end standards which serve to support
the bearings of a horizontal shaft B; keyed to this shaft are wheels or
discs C around the periphery of which are fitted bars D set parallel to
the shaft and equidistant from each other; at their extremities these
bars carry antifriction pulleys d, d, round which are passed an endless
band or bands e for the purpose to be presently explained; these bars D
form a kind of open drum or skeleton cylinder which serves to receive'
the sliver that is to be formed into a bat, and a slow continuous
rotary motion being given to the drum, it will lap the sliver around
its periphery and form thereon a tube of sliver. If now an endway
motion is given to this tubular bat, while the supply of sliver to the
rotating drum is continued, the sliver will be lapped helically thereon,
and a continuous tube of even thickness will be formed. In order,
however, to allow of the delivery of the bat from the drum it will be
necessary to split up the tube longitudinally, and to wind it up upon
spools or rollers on which it may be transferred to the feeding end of
the second or other carding or scribbling engine. For this purpose I
provide two or more reciprocating knives E, E, which are carried by
square stems E* that slide in guides F keyed to the horizontal shaft B
and revolving therewith; these stems E* lie within the drum and the
knives which they carry project somewhat beyond the periphery of the
drum, so that the tube as it passes forward will come in contact with
the edges of the knives and be split up longitudinally. A reciprocating

page_text: endway motion is given to the knives by means of a stationary double
faced cam or tappet wheel G fixed concentrically with the rotating drum.
This cam is embraced by pins projecting from the ends of the knife stems.
As therefore the drum in its rotation carries round the knives the pro-
jections on the knife stems will be traversed over the acting face of the
cam or tappet wheel, and a reciprocating endway motion will be imparted
to the knives, the tube will thus be severed longitudinally into two or
more parts as desired.
In the Drawing I have shown as an illustration the tube divided into two
parts, and I will now explain how these bats of sliver are taken up ready
for transference to the second or other following carding engine. On the
drum shaft B within the standards and at the opposite end to that at which
the cam or tappet wheel G is fixed, I mount a frame H which serves to
carry two or it may be more pairs of rollers I, I*, K, K*, which lie at
right angles to the drum shaft B; the outer rollers I*, K*, work in slots
in the frame H, and are intended to receive the bats or sheet sliver
delivered from the drum, and they are held in place and in contact with
their respective inner rollers I, K, by means of springs k²; these bat
rollers depend for their axial motion on the rollers I, K, which drive
them by friction of contact. Rotary motion is given to the rollers I, K,
by a skew toothed wheel L on a sleeve shaft L' carried by the shaft B,
which wheel gears into skew toothed pinions fitted to the middle of their
respective rollers. The outer or bat rollers being held in contact with
the driven rollers by springs are free to recede in their bearings as they
become filled with the bat and their diameter increases. The travelling
bands e carried by the drum may be arranged in any suitable manner
that will ensure an even traverse motion to the sliver, but the band
shewn in the Drawing is arranged so as to receive a traverse motion from
the rollers I, K, and for this purpose the band after passing over one
bar D, from one pulley to the other) laps round the roller I or K nearest
to it, and thence returns to a pulley at the far end of the next adjacent
bar. After passing over the face of this pulley it is brought back (within
the drum) and laid over the next bar, from which it extends to the roller,
taking a second turn over it. The band is then in like manner passed
over two other bars, and being brought opposite the other roller it takes
a turn round it and so on until the ends of the band meet and are joined
up. It will now be understood that a traverse motion being given to the

page_text: acting surface of the band in the direction of or towards the take up
rollers I*, K*, the sliver or fleece as it is formed will be moved forward in
the direction of the axis of the rotating drum, and the bats of sliver will be
taken up as fast as formed by the bat rollers; the wheel L that drives the
rollers I, K, is itself driven from the shaft B. This is shewn best at
Figures 5 and 7; on the sleeve shaft I is keyed a spur wheel L' which
gears into a pinion / carried by a short spindle that has its bearing in a
hand lever pivotted to the standard A'; the pinion is made broad, and
into its teeth also gears a spur wheel L' which is keyed on the drum
shaft B, and thus motion is transmitted to the wheel L. The driving
speed of the rollers I, K, must be such as to permit of their taking up
about two inches of sliver for every rotation of the drum, it being found
desirable to arrange for the drum receiving about thirty laps to form the
bat. In order to prevent the traverse of the bat during the formation
of the first drum's length of the tube sliver the pinion is thrown out
of gear with the wheel L³, but so soon as this is accomplished the pinion
is raised by the hand lever to the position shewn at Fig. 7, and held
there by a pin or catch forming a stop for the hand lever. The bat
rollers I*, K*, when filled are removed by hand and replaced by empty
rollers, and the bats are then ready to be brought to the feed sheet of the
next or succeeding carding engine. As these engines vary in width I
may find it desirable to provide for the expansion of the drums so as to
produce bats of various widths corresponding to the width of the engines
they are designed to feed. So also instead of taking off the sliver in
the form of sheets I'may cut it up in narrow ribbons and wind it upon
bobbins mounted in the rotating frame. These are modifications of my
Invention which will be obvious to any practical mechanic.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Machinery for Carding Wool and other Fibrous Substances, and in the
Mode of and Apparatus for forming Bats or Slivers," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The detachable fixings or bearings for the card rollers of
carding engines constructed in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
Secondly. The arrangement of machinery above described for forming
continuous hats or slivers. And particularly I claim under this head

page_text: of the Invention converting the sliver as it comes from the doffer of the
carding engine into a tube, and giving an endway motion to the same for
the purpose of discharging it from its forming drum.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Leach, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Third day of February, in the year of our 5
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
EDWARD SIMPSON,
Headingley Hill, Leeds,
Witness to signature.
GEO. LEACH. (L.S.)