IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1884

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I WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and C° Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare
the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OPENING
AND CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIALS and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
"
This Invention relates to machines for opening and cleaning textile fibres and
comprises a beater provided with a hollow shaft having one or moro perforations,
the said shaft being open at one or both ends and adapted to supply a continuous
current of air to the said perforations through the said hollow shaft. It also
comprises the combinations of parts hereinafter described.
In the accompanying Drawing
Figure 1 is a cross-section of a beater provided with a perforated tubular shaft.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same and its driving pulley..
Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1. with the addition of pipes: or hollow.
guards inserted in the perforations.
Figure 4 is a central longitudinal section of a part of the beater and of a pipe
and a fan blower.
Figure 5 a side elevation of a lapper containing such a beater.
A indicates the frame of the lapper; B B¹ apron rolls; C the apron; D an apron
side; E, E feed rolls; F a beater shaft, F its arms, F2 its blades; F³ a driving
pulley secured to the beater shaft, by means of which the beater is caused to
rotate by a belt from an overhead counter-shaft; G the beater grate; H, H' lap-
collecting cages; I, I' stripper rolls; J, J', J' calender rolls; K K lap rolls; L'a
rotary exhaust fan; and TT, exhaust pipes to lead the air from the wire cages
to the fan; all the above named parts witli the exception of the beater being of
ordinary construction and operating in the usual manner. The said beater instead
of having a solid shaft as beretofore has a hollow or tubular shaft F, which shaft

page_text: bas perforations or holes F³ between its arms F. The object of these holes is to
allow the air which enters the shaft at one or both ends to be thrown out by
centrifugal force, when the shaft is revolved rapidly. To make the flow of air
stronger and inore certain, there are pipes or hollow guards F, which project from
Baid holes F³, and are curved backward, that is contrary to the direction of the
rotation of the beater, so that the rotation of the beater will throw the air out with
considerable force.
The force with which the air is expelled through the holes may be increased by a
blast of air from a rotary blower N directed through a pipe N¹, leading into one
or both ends of the beater shaft. If the air is blown into only one end of the
beater shaft, the other end of the shaft should be plugged up or closed. The
blower N is of usual construction.
The object of causing the air to stream out through the perforations in the shaft
is to prevent the fibres from lodging on the ends of the beater-arms and on the
blades of the beater, to assist the passage of the fibres from the beater to the
lap-collecting cages, and to aid in performing in a more satisfactory manner, what
is now done by the exhaust fan L and pipes T, T¹, which, by taking the air from
the inside of the cages, cause the air to rush through the wire covering thereof
into the same, carrying the dust into the said cages and out through the exhaust
pipes and fan-case into the usual dust receptacles, leaving the fibres upon the
outer surfaces of the cages, which, by their revolution, form the fibres into a sheet
between them.
It is not intended however, to dispense with the exhaust-fan and pipes, but to
use the perforated hollow beater shaft, with or without the blower, as an auxiliary
to the exhausting apparatus and for the other purposes above stated, and to admit
air to the middle of the beater. The beater, as heretofore used, by its rapid
revolution has a tendency to compress the air in front of the beater-blades, and to
create a vacuum behind the blades and at the centre of the beater, and thereby
cause the fibres to circulate around with the beater producing curling and
"stringing" of the fibres, by stringing, meaning a twisting and matting of the
fibres together. This curling and stringing is prevented by admitting sufficient air
to the middle of the beater in the manner herein before described.
The air is commonly admitted to the beater, underneath or through the front
beater grates, and by the operation of the beater on the fibres the heavier refuse
falls through the grates, but the in-rushing air takes the lighter dust back into the
machine and does not extract it from the fibres. By admitting air through the
shaft of the beater, as herein described, this difficulty is obviated.
Instead of a pair of lap-collecting cages, a single cage with a roll in place of the
other cage may be used in the well known manner without departing from the
nature of this Invention, this single cago and auxiliary roll, or a pair of cages,
performing the same function and I term either a set of lap-collecting cages.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
First. A beater provided with a hollow shaft having one or more perforations,
the said shaft being open at one or both ends, and adapted to supply a continuous
current of air to said perforations through said hollow shaft, as, and for the purpose,
specified.
Second. The combination of the beater provided with a hollow perforated shaft
open at one or both ends and a set of lap-collecting cages, as, and for the purpose,
specified.
Third. The combination of the beater provided with a hollow perforated shaft,
open at one or both ends, and a set of lap-collecting cages and the fan for
exhausting the air from the said cages, as, and for the purpose, specified.
Fourth. The combination of the perforated hollow shaft open at one or both
ends, the arms secured to the said shaft, the beater blades secured to the outer ends
of the said arms, outwardly extending pipes communicating with the interior of

page_text: the said shaft and open at their outer ends, and means for rotating the said beater,
as, and for the purpose, specified.
Fifth. The combination of a beater provided with a perforated hollow shaft and
outwardly extending pipes the outer ends of the said pipes being bent in a direction
contrary to the direction of the rotation of the said beater, and means for rotating
the said beater, as, and for the purpose, specified.
1
100
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.