IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
** IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING."-A communication from abroad by Eugène
Paul Emile Portait and Charles Philippe Weber, trading under the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd January 1875.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to machinery for drawing out, laying parallel,
and dressing the fibres of all kinds of filamentous materials in the form
of a lap or otherwise, yielding a sliver more or less fine,

page_text: -
I will take for example the preparation of cotton fibres for spinning.
In this case the machine of this Invention performs the same operation
as that effected by carding, and supersedes the use of the batting
machine without breaking, weakening, or entangling the fibres together.
The fibres are drawn out successively as they are presented, and thereby
undergo a certain amount of friction by contact with the adjacent fibres,
so that any impurity adhering will be at once loosened in readiness to bo
removed by a subsequent treatment.
When the fibres are of a certain length, such as Georgia cotton and
zumel, hemp, flax, wool, silk, and others, I may employ a comb move- 1
ment to clean at same time.
The principle upon which the machine is based consists, 1st, in the
employment of a suitable arrangement of nippers capable of closing for
the purpose of seizing. the fibres and opening to release them; 2ndly, in
imparting a to-and-fro motion to the nippers whereby the fibres seized 1
are drawn out by the receding motion of the nippers which then return
open to repeat the operation. The feeding as well as the drawing out of
the fibres may be effected in various ways.
The Invention is illustrated by way of example only in the accom-
panying Drawing, Figure 1 of which shows a plan of the machine; C,
feed roll; L, presser bar placed below the fluted roll, at which the lap is.
fed in; P¹, nippers, the upper jaw of which is lined with leather, and is
movable both in a vertical and a horizontal direction, in the former for
seizing the fibres as they are presented by roll O, and the latter for
drawing them out into a lap; P, shaft on which the nippers oscillate, as
also the connecting rods actuated by eccentrics or crank pins on discs E
on a continuously revolving shaft E, H, by which the horizontal to-and-
fro motion is imparted to the nippers; E, V, eccentric and shaft for
imparting the vertical motion to the nippers; R, R¹, gear wheels by
which motion is imparted to shafts E, H, and E, V, from shaft M.
Figures 2, 3, and 4, show detached views of different parts of the
machine. R, M, gear wheel on driving shaft M; R, E, gear wheel on
shaft E, V, for giving the oscillating motion for opening and closing the
nippers; P¹, Pu, upper and lower jaws of nippers; E, H, disc of
eccentric or crank giving the horizontal movement to the nippers. S, S¹,
point at which the fibres are delivered after being acted upon by the
nippers in the form of a lap, which is afterwards collected into a riband

page_text: or sliver as in the carding engine, the method of feeding the fibres at A
to the nippers being also similar to that of the carding engine.
In the case of other kinds of fibres, such as those of flax, hemp, wool,
and silk, this machine forms an advantageous substitute for those now
used for the purpose which perform the operation but imperfectly.
The motions in this machine may be obtained in various ways to effect
the same result, the Invention consisting essentially in the features
herein-before stated in paragraphs numbered 1st and 2nd.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send grecting.
year of
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of January, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others.as I, the said Alexander
Melville Olark, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING," a communication to me from abroad
by Eugène Paul Emile Portait and Charles Philippe Weber, trading
under the name of Portait, Weber, and Company, of Paris, France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
Melville Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: 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 Alexander Melville Clark, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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 accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to machinery for drawing out, laying parallel,
and dressing the fibres of all kinds of filamentous materials presented in
the form of a lap or fleece or otherwise. After being thus treated the
material yields a sliver more or less fine.
I will describe it for example as employed in the preparation of cotton
for spinning, in which case the machine of this Invention performs the
same work as that effected by carding, and supersedes the use of the
batting machine, and this without breaking, weakening, or entangling
the fibres. By the action of this machine the fibres are drawn out
successively as they are presented to it, whereby they undergo a certain
amount of friction by contact, with the adjacent fibres, so that any
impurity adhering will be at once loosened in readiness to be removed by
a subsequent treatment.
For fibres of a certain length, such as Georgia cotton and zumel,
hemp, flax, wool, silk, and others, I may also apply a comb movement
to clean them at same time.
The machine of this Invention is based, 1st, on the employment of a
suitablo arrangement of nippers capable of closing on and seizing the
fibres and of opening to release them after they have been drawn out;
and 2ndly, in imparting a to-and-fro motion to the nippers whereby the
fibres seized are drawn out as the nippers recede, the latter then returning
open to repeat the operation. The feeding as well as the drawing out of
the fibres may be effected in various ways.
The Invention is illustrated by way of example only in the accom-
panying Drawing, Figure 1 of which shows a plan of the machine; C, a
feed roll; L, presser bar placed below the fluted roll, at which the lap or

page_text: fleece is fed in; P¹, nippers, the upper jaw of which is lined with leather,
and is movable both in a vertical and a horizontal direction, in the
former for seizing the fibres as they are presented by roll C, and in the
latter for drawing them out into a lap; P, shaft on which the nippers
oscillate, as also the connecting rods actuated by eccentrics or crank pins
or discs E fixed on a continuously revolving shaft E, H, by which the
horizontal to-and-fro motion is imparted to the nippers; E, V, eccentric
and shaft for imparting the vertical motion to the nippers; R, R¹, gear
wheels by which motion is imparted to shafts E, H, and E, V, from
shaft M. Figures 2, 3, and 4 show detached views of different parts of
the machine. R, M, gear wheel on driving shaft M; R, E, gear wheel
on shaft E, V, for giving the oscillating motion for opening and closing
the nippers; P¹, P", upper and lower jaws of nippers; E, H, disc of
eccentric or crank, giving the horizontal movement to the nippers;
S, S¹, point at which the fibres are delivered after being acted upon by
the nippers in the form of a lap which is afterwards collected into a
riband or sliver as in the carding engine, the method of feeding fibres at
A to the nippers being also similar to that of the carding engine.
In the case of other kinds of fibres, such as those of flax, hemp, wool,
and silk, this machine forms an advantageous substitute for those now
used for the purpose which perform the operation but imperfectly.
The motions in this machine may be obtained in various ways to effect
the same result, the Invention consisting essentially in the features
herein-before described under heads 1 and 2.
As before stated this machine draws out and straightens the fibres
(and may also be made to clean the same by the addition of a comb)
and forms them into a riband or sliver, as does the carding engine for
cotton and wool, and without breaking the staple or weakening or
cntangling the filaments it facilitates their treatment by other machines.
Moreover all the fibres are operated on whatever may be their length,
which is an advantage over carding or other machines. By employing
this machine also there is considerably less waste, the latter consisting
only of knots or tufts and dirt when this machine is used without the
comb. When a comb is used there will also be the waste in combing
in addition. There is no outlay required to keep this improved machine
in order as in the case of carding engines, which require clothing,
grinding, and cleaning. The machine of this Invention prepares the

page_text: whole of the fibres and produces neither waste nor flue, which is of
importance as regards the health of the work people. As regards the
cost and the motive power required for driving this machine considerable
economy is also obtained as compared with the carding engine.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, a
machine consisting essentially of nippers made to close on and seize the
filaments and then to recede in order to draw them out, after which they
are made to open to deliver the fibres and then return to recommence
the operation, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.