Improvements relating to Spiked Cylinders or Spiked Aprons for use in Feeding Machines for Carding Engines, Openers, Pickers, and like Machinery, and for other purposes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 26th May, 1892-Accepted, 2nd July, 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Spiked Cylinders or Spiked Aprons for
use in Feeding Machines for Carding Engines, Openers, Pickers,
and like Machinery, and for other purposes.
I, ALBERT HAYES MORTON, of No. 5 Canton Street, Lowell, in the County of
Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the United States of
America, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to clearers for spike-cylinders and spike-aprons and comprises
a flexible belt, perforated to admit the spikes of such a cylinder or apron and
arranged to move during a portion of its travel in the path of the spike-carrying
surface of such cylinder or apron and during another portion of its travel to run at
an angle with said path to clear said spikes and consists in the devices and com-
binations hereinafter described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawing, on two sheets,
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a feeding mechanism, adapted to be used in connection
with carding-engines, openers, pickers and similar machinery, the upper part of the
frame being broken away to show the lifting-apron and doffer and my improvement
applied to clear the spikes of a rotary comb or knock-off roll;
Figure 2, an enlarged plan of the clearing-belt, a spike-roll, to which it is applied,
and the shaft of an idle-roll which supports said belt;
Figure 3, a side elevation of said belt, knock-off roll, idle-roll and a part of the
lifting-apron, shown in Figure 1, enlarged;
Figures 4 and 5 are respectively like Figures 2 and 3, except that a spike-apron
and its rolls are substituted for the spike-roll shown in Figures 2 and 3, the idle-
roll which supports the clearing-belt being larger than the spike-apron rolls, to hold
the members of said belt at angles with the adjacent members of said spike-apron.
In Figure 1, A represents a frame, the space a between the sides of the machine,
the curved end-piece a' and the lifting-apron B forming a hopper into which the
stock is placed. G denotes a feed-apron which runs in the bottom of the hopper a
in a direction to carry the stock towards the lifting-apron B which raises the stock,
and D is the doffer which removes the stock from the descending member of said
lifting-apron, these parts being of ordinary construction and operation and being
driven in the usual manner; the lifting-apron having transverse slats b provided with
pins 6 which are inclined in the direction in which said lifting-apron travels.
Much of the stock raised by the lifting-apron is in the form of large bunches or
locks and it is customary to use a reciprocating or rotary comb to knock off the
surplus stock, to make the delivery of the stock to the carding or other following
machine more uniform. I have shown in Figures 1-3, a spike-cylinder or knock-
off roll C, provided with radial spikes e and so rotated in proximity to the lifting-
apron that the adjacent surfaces of said roll C and lifting-apron B move in opposite
directions, said roll C knocking off or combing off the surplus stock from the
lifting-apron and opening the bunches of fibres in substantially the usual manner.
The fibres thus removed from the lifting-apron are apt to remain on the spikes c
and to be carried around with the roll C and to accumulate until it is necessary to
remove such accumulations by hand. Aside from the labor of clearing the roll by
hand, it is evident that efficiency of said roll must continually vary with the
variation of the quantity of fibres adhering to it.
To clear the spikes c of the spike-roll C and to keep said roll in a uniform
condition of the highest efficiency, I use an endless clearing belt or apron E
(Figures 1—3) provided with longitudinally oblong perforations e of a suitable size

page_text: and arranged at suitable intervals to admit the spikes c, said belt E running on the
roll C and on an idle-roll F, the roll C being driven by any convenient or usual
means, as by a belt c¹ on a pulley c² fast on the shaft of said roll C in the usual
manner.
The perforations e are of sufficient length to allow the spikes c to enter and leave
them freely at the angles between said clearing-belt and roll C, said spikes, of
course, not entering and leaving said clearing-belt perpendicularly to said belt, but
rolling into said perforations, requiring said perforations to be at least as long as
the distance between two lines drawn perpendicularly to said belt through the
point and root of an entering or withdrawing spike. The width of the perforations e
is just sufficient to admit the spikes c, so that as said spikes draw out of the lower
member or slack side of the clearing-belt any fibres adhering to said spikes are
wiped off by the sides of said perforations and fall back into the hopper a or onto
the lifting-apron E. It is evident that the point of each spike centers one end and
leaves the other end of the perforation e which receives such spike and that,
therefore, the spike should be midway between the ends of the receiving perforations
when such spikes project to their greatest extent beyond the outer surface of said
apron.
To maintain the relative positions of the spikes c and perforations e, in spite of
any tendency of the clearing-belt E to slip on the roll C, I secure to the inner
surface of said belt, at equal intervals from each other and preferably at equal
intervals from the adjacent rows of perforations e, a series of transverse slats or bars e',
adapted to enter and fit corresponding longitudinal grooves cf, arranged at similar
intervals from each other (and midway between the rows of spikes c) in the curved
surfaces of the rolls C F, said bars e¹ having parallel outer e² and inner e³ faces and
inwardly-converging sides e, to enable said bars e¹ freely to enter and leave said
grooves cf, as said rolls are rotated and to cause said spikes and perforations to
register with each other.
In Figures 4 and 5, the rolls F and C₁ are precisely like and are driven in the
same manner as the rolls F C, above-described, except that the roll C³ has no
spikes, and the spike-apron C2 is like the clearing-belt E, above-described, except
that instead of having oblong perforations to receive the spikes e, said spikes are
carried by said apron C2, being driven through said apron C2 into the transverse
bars e¹ and are presented to the lifting apron B in the usual manner and the clearing-
belt E' differs from the clearing-belt E in having no transverse bars e', in having
round perforations e³ instead of oblong perforations e, and in being supported at the
end farthest from the lifting-apron B by an ungrooved cylindrical idle-roll F¹ of
greater diameter than the roll C¹, so that said clearing-belt E' approaches and
leaves the roll C' (which supports the other end of said belt, outside of the spike-
apron C²) at a slight angle with the spike-apron C2, enabling the spikes c to enter
and leave said perforations e² nearly perpendicularly to said clearing-belt.
The transverse bars e, in Figures 4 and 5, have no effect on the accurate
registration of the spikes c and the perforations of the clearing-belt, but serve
merely to furnish a better support for said spikes, the use of said bars e¹, of course,
necessitating the grooves in the spike-apron rolls F C!.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A clearer for spike-cylinders and spike aprons, consisting of a flexible belt,
perforated to admit the spikes of such cylinder or apron and arranged to move
during a portion of its travel in the path of the spike-carrying surface of such
cylinder or apron and during another portion of its travel to run at an angle with
said path to clear said spikes, as and for the purpose specified.
2. The combination of a travelling-surface, provided with spikes, and a flexible
belt driven by said travelling surface and provided with perforations to admit said
spikes, said belt being arranged to move during a portion of its travel in the path of

page_text: said spike-carrying surface and during another portion of its travel to run at an angle
with said path to clear said spikes, as and for the purpose specified.
3. The combination of a spike-apron and its rolls, one of said rolls having a
positive motion, a flexible belt, perforated to receive the spikes of said spike-apron
and running on said positively driven roll outside of said apron and on an idle-roll
larger than the idle-roll of said spike-apron, and said idle-roll of said belt, to move
said belt during a portion of its travel in the path of said spike-apron and during
another portion of its travel at an angle with said path, to clear said spikes, as and
for the purpose specified.
4. A clearer for spike-cylinders and spike-aprons, consisting of a flexible endless
belt, provided with perforations to admit the spikes of such cylinder or apron and
arranged to move during a portion of its travel in the path of the spike-carrying
surface of such cylinder or apron and during another portion of its travel to run at
an angle with said path, said perforations being of a suitable width to receive and
fit said spikes and of sufficient length to allow said spikes to enter and leave said
perforations at the angles between said cylinder or apron and said belt, as and for
the purpose specified.
Dated shin 4th
A D 1000
ALBERT HAYES MORTON.
Herbert & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents to Applicant.