IMPROVEMENTS IN WHAT ARE COMMONLY CALLED CONDENSER CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Tatham, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN
WHAT ARE COMMONLY CALLED CONDENSER CARDING ENGINES,”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Tatham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1873.
I, JOHN TATHAM, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for * IMPROVE
MENTS IN WHAT ARE COMMONLY CALLED CONDENSER CARDING ENGINɛs,” to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the use of certain apparatus by which I am
enabled to split up the fibrous material into the required ribbons from a
cylinder which is covered or partially covered with wire cards. For this
purpose I employ a series of flat blades of thin metal with spaces
between them, and extending across the width of the cylinder, and
situate between the said cylinder and the doffer. These blades catch
.

page_text: the material as it is carried forward, and sever it into separate strips or
ribbons which are received by the doffer. I propose to mount the said
blades upon a cross bar, on which they may be adjusted to any required
distance apart.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Tatham in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TATHAM, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, and in the thirty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Tatham, Her special license that I, the
said John Tatham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Tatham, 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 WHAT ARE COMMONLY CALLED
CONDENSER CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I,
the said John Tatham, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 John Tatham, 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 Drawing, that is to say :-
=
My Invention consists in the use of certain apparatus by which I am
enabled to split up the fibrous material into the required ribbons from a

page_text: cylinder which is covered or partially covered with wire cards. For this
purpose I employ a series of blades of metal with spaces between them,
and extending across the width of the cylinder, and situate between the
said cylinder and the doffer.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents in section so much of
a condenser carding engine as will be sufficient to shew the application
of my Invention, and Fig. 2 is a partial cross section. At a is the
cylinder covered with wire cards, and at 6 is the doffer, also covered
with cards. At c is a bar extending across the machine, and to it is
attached by means of set screws a series of blades d, situate at intervals
across the width of the cylinder, and these blades extend upward a little
above the horizontal line formed by the axes of the doffer and the
cylinder. As the cylinder revolves it carries forward the material
against the blades d, which therefore cover a portion of the said material,
and the doffer by its revolution removes the material in ribbons from the
spaces between the blades d, but some additional material may be drawn
from beneath them, mixing however from that which is taken from the
spaces, and preserving the ribbon form. These ribbons. being taken
by the doffer are carried by it to the usual rollers and consolidating
apparatus.
Fig. 3 and 4 represent a modification of this part of my Invention. In
this instance the blades d are modified in form, so as to be supported at
top as well as at bottom by rails c, c*. The action is the same as that
above described.
Fig. 5 represents another modification, in which the blades d extend
downward from a rail c, and in this also the action is the same.
In Fig. 2 I have shewn a roller g, to which rotatory motion may be
given by any suitable means, and which will remove any material that
may hang about the blades, which material is subsequently stripped by
the cylinder which revolves against it in the direction of the arrow.
In the Figures above described the blades are fastened to their rails
by two set screws each.
In Figs. 6, 7, a modification is shewn in which a groove is formed in
the rail c for the reception of a series of pieces h, one for each blade, and
a set screw i binds the two parts to the rail, or there may be a slot in
the rail through which bolts pass, so as to allow the blades to be
adjusted as regards their distances apart.

page_text: By the use of my Invention the doffer may be completely covered
with wire cards, but it may also be adapted to existing doffers which
are clothed with rings of cards.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I 5
desire it to be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, and for the purpose above, the use of.
the blades illustrated at d, constructed and operating substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Tatham, have hereunto set my 1