IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO FEEDING MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN CARDING, SCRIBBLING, OR TEAZING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WALKER, of Galashiels, in the County of Selkirk, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventh day of May, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Walker, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Thomas Walker, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Walker, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO
FEEDING MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN CARDING, SCRIBBLING, OR TEAZING FIBROUS
MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Thomas Walker, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
Invention, and in what manner, the same is to be performed, to be inrolled.
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months.
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Walker, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to a mode of feeding machinery employed in
carding, scribbling, or teazing fibrous materials, by causing the product of one
machine to be continuously conducted to another machine; and my Invention
also relates to a mode of taking the product doffed off such machinery in a
direction transversely of the machines.
The machinery employed for carding, scribbling, and teazing fibrous mate-
rials being well understood, it will not be necessary to enter into any description
thereof; and all that will be necessary for fully understanding my Invention
will be to confine my explanation to the apparatus employed for carrying the
product doffed off one machine to feed it into another, and also to the appa-
ratus employed for conveying off the product in a direction transversly of the

page_text: 23, cross bars for connecting sides of the frame 8, 9; 24, the sliver as
conveyed continuously from the scribbler to the carder; 25, rollers for con-
ducting the sliver 24; 26, bearings for the rollers 25; 27, part of the carder
frame; 28, the breast cylinder; 29, 29, 29, the rollers and feeders for taking
in the sliver; 30, the feeding tube, with stalk and bracket for fixing on
the top of traversing carriage 31; 31, the traversing carriage by which the
sliver is laid into the rollers 29; 32, railway frame for carriage to run on;
33, ends of railway frame suitable for fixing to the frame of carder and sup-
porting the railway frame in its proper position. The feeding tube has a stalk
that slides in the bracket piece, and is fixed by a set screw d at the proper
height. The bottom plate of bracket has a slit for the bolt for setting it to the
proper distance from the rollers 29. 34, pulley and wheels for driving the
rollers 29 from the breast cylinder 28; 35, grooved pulley for driving the
traversing carriage 31; 36, bracket pieces, studs, and guide pulleys for
the carriage band; 37, returning pulley and bracket piece for the carriage
band; 38, guage screws for reversing the catches in the ratchet wheels to
produce the alternate movement of the carriage, they are screwed into the
ends 33, and have tightening nuts to fix them when screwed to the proper
position; 39, squaring band pulleys for the carriage; 40, squaring bands and
screws for tightening them; 41, band for driving the traversing carriage, the
arrows shewing direction of its motion; 42, spur wheels for driving the
feeders 29b from rollers 29°; 43, plate for stud of double intermediate wheel
and pinion 42; 44, bearing pedestals for the rollers and feeders 29" and 29b;
45, end view of the rollers and feeders, with part of breast cylinder; 46, wheels
on feeders for driving the upper feeders; 47, wheels on rollers 7, for driving
the upper roller; 48, pulley on the roller 7, for driving the conducting rollers;
49, pulleys on the conducting rollers; 50, bands for same.
Figures G and H are two views of the working parts of the traversing
carriage on a larger scale, to shew more distinctly how it works, and the
form of the catches and teeth of ratchet wheels. No. 51, the bottom plate
of carriage box; 52, the sides; and 53, the cover of the carriage box;
54, the axles and wheels for bearing the carriage; 55, the squaring pulleys
and studs for them; 56, a sliding bar working freely in the slot studs 57,
which are fixed in the side of the carriage, as shewn; 58, three pins fixed in
the bars 56, as shewn; 59, a lever with catches that take into the ratchet
wheels; it works on the stud 60, and has a slit, shewn by dotted lines, to work
freely past the stud 61, which stud also acts as a stop to prevent the points of
the catches and teeth of the ratchets being damaged; the catches and teeth
are made hard so as to keep sharp at the points, as shewn; 62, a lever which

page_text: turns on the stud 61, and by that spiral spring 63 draws the catches into gear
with the ratchets; 64, the ratchet wheels fixed on the pulleys 65 and 66,
which turn freely on the studs 67. The working of the traversing carriage
proceeds thus:-The band 41 having a double turn round the pulley 35, on end
of roller 29ª, then passes over one of the guide pulleys 36, and takes a full
turn round the ratchet pulley 65, next round the returning pulley 87, and then
takes a full turn on the ratchet pulley 66, and over the other guide pulley 36.
It will readily be seen that when one of the pulleys is held from turning by
the catch and ratchet that the carriage will be drawn to that end of the frame;
which motion continues until the sliding bar 56 strikes the plate on the end of
the guage screw 38, which moves the slider along (the catch still remaining
in gear) until the centre pin 58 carries the lever 62 and spring 63 past the
centre of the stud 61, when the spring immediately acts and draws the catch
out of the one ratchet into the other, when the motion of the carriage is
immediately reversed, the distance the carriage moves being regulated by the
guage screws.
The form, construction, and working of the different parts being thus
shewn and explained, the application is as follows:-The wool or other
fibrous material being properly weighed, that is, a given weight to a given
length of cloth, is spread on the scribbling feeding board, passes through,
and is taken from the doffer 2 by the comb 3, falls on the endless cloth 5, and
is conveyed to the tube 6 and drawing rollers 7, and by them formed into a
sliver 24, and conveyed by the conducting rollers 25 to opposite the centre of
the carder, and passes through the feeding tube 30, which, as explained, has
a regular alternate motion in front of the rollers 29°; by which rollers the
sliver constantly taken in and pressed forward to the ordinary feeders 29b, and
the speeds of the various parts being properly adjusted, the ingress and egress
of the sliver will be equal and uniform: an additional roller or feeder 29° may
sometimes be used with advantage, when the wool or other fibrous materials
of a short quality.
The following speeds of the different parts have been found to answer very
well as taken from a machine at work:-First, the main cylinder, three feet
six inches diameter, making eighty revolutions per minute. Second, the doffer,
seventeen inches diameter, making seven and a half revolutions per minute.
Third, the endless cloth, making thirty feet per minute. Fourth, the tube
making one hundred and twenty revolutions per minute. Fifth, the drawing
rollers, three feet six inches in diameter, making forty-five revolutions per
minute. Sixth, the conducting rollers, a little faster, just to keep the sliver
from gaining on them. Seventh, the rollers 29, three inches diameter, making

page_text: thirty-three revolutions per minute. Eighth, the feeders 29b and o, three inches
diameter, one revolution for twenty-five of rollers 29*, or one revolution and a
third per minute. Ninth, the traversing carriage, making thirty-three feet per
minute. Tenth, the breast cylinder, two feet diameter, making one hundred
and thirty revolutions per minute.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood, that, although I have been particular in giving the speeds and dimen-
sions of various parts in order to enable the workman most readily to perform
my Invention, I do not confine myself thereto, and variations may be made in
other of the parts of the machinery without departing from my Invention, so
long as the improvements herein described, or any of them, be retained. But
what I claim is,-
First, the mode of feeding machinery employed in carding, scribbling, or
teazing fibrous materials by causing the product of one machine to be con-
tinually conducted to another machine.
Secondly, I claim the mode of taking the product doffed off such machinery
in a direction transversly of the machine. And
Lastly, I claim the mode of applying sliver to a carder or other machine,
and the means of regulating the distance of the travelling carriage, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.

page_text: And this Deponent further saith, that at the time of his signing such Speci-
fication, he was, to the best of this Deponent belief, a Magistrate of the
said County of Selkirk.
Dy All.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that, on the oath of William Robertson,
the Specification aforesaid was inrolled word for word as above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.