CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES TO BE USED FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BIRCH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, 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 Eighteenth day of November, in the first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Birch, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Birch, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Thomas Birch, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no other, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING
ENGINES TO BE USED FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas
Birch, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Birch, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly describe and
ascertained in the Plans and Drawings hereunto annexed, and by the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements in carding engines to be used for carding cotton and
other fibrous substances consist, in the first place, in the application of a novel
mechanism or apparatus to certain rollers of the ordinary carding engine, for
the purpose of clearing or stripping them, and preventing the further progress
of seeds, motes, or dirt into the engine. This improved apparatus is also made
self-stripping, and entirely dispenses with the use of "flats or top cards," and
also the hands usually employed to clean or strip them; and, secondly, in the
application of a rotary "comb" or stripper to the doffing cylinder of an ordinary
carding engine. By the application of these improvements to the carding
engine, I am enabled to run the machinery at a much greater speed, and at a
decrease of the vibration, which allows of more than double the quantity
of material to be carded in a given time than can be effected by the means in
present use. In order that my improvements may be properly understood, I
have attached to these Presents a Drawing of an ordinary carding engine, with
my improved mechanism attached, and marked with similar letters of reference
upon corresponding parts of the mechanism, Figure 1 being a side elevation,
and Figure 2 a longitudinal section, taken through the middle of the engine.
a, a, is the cylinder or drum covered with cards in the usual manner; b, the
doffing cylinder; c, the "licker-in;" and d the lap of cotton or other material
to be operated upon; d* and e are the ordinary rollers and clearers for breaking
up and carding the cotton as usual; f is a roller clothed with cards, which I
should recommend to be of fillets of fancy or open wires, and is for the purpose
of clearing or stripping the licker-in roller c, and arresting the progress of
lumps and seeds at the first entrance of the material to the engine, and g is a
similar roller for clearing the drum a from any smaller motes or seeds which
may have escaped the operation of the roller f. It will be obvious that a
greater number of such rollers may be used in succession for the same purpose,
but I have found that two, as represented at f and g, have the desired effect.
My improved or self-stripping apparatus is applied to these rollers for the
purpose of clearing them, and superseding the necessity of top cards or hands
to perform such operation. h', h, are two ordinary doffing combs or bars, h
being mounted in the upright rod i, which receives an up and down motion
from the cranked shaft k, in the same manner that ordinary doffer combs are
actuated. The doffing comb h³ receives a horizontal motion by means of the
bell-cranked lever / being attached to the upright rod i, and having its fulcrum
at m. Thus it will be seen that as the cylinder a revolves in the direction of the

page_text: arrows, the doffers h' and h³ will strip or clean the rollers fand 9, and prevent the
coarser parts of the cotton or other material from passing further on to the carding
cylinder a. Now in order to prevent the return of the doffer h³ injuring the
the face of the cards after they have been cleared, I have attached the comb
to a link at the top of the bent lever 1, which has a stud and inclined plane
upon it for the purpose of allowing it to rise and fall slightly to and from the
face of the roller as it reciprocates; but any small contrivance may be attache'l
to effect this object as the point of the cards would sustain some injury if the
doffer comb returned in contact with them. The application of my improved
rotary doffer comb is shewn at n, and is to be used for stripping the doffer
cylinder instead of the comb bar in ordinary use. This rotary doffer will be
found to prevent the great shaking and vibration of carding engines, generally
caused by the crank motion for working the doffer comb therein used.
Having now described my improvemants in carding engines, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I claim as my Invention the application of self-
stripping rollers to carding engines, in the manner and for the purposes above-
described, whether they are stripped by a vertical, horizontal, rotary, or any
other doffer bar; and also, the novel application of a rotary doffer or doffers to
the ordinary doffing cylinder of carding engines, without in any way confining
myself to the construction of the same, as it is may have one, two, or more
blades, or be a square, triangular, or fluted bar; but I claim the use of the
rotary doffer, as before described, however it may be varied in its construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Birch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thin