MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR COUNTING NEEDLES, GILL AND HECKLE PINS, AND ARTICLES OF A LIKE DESCRIPTION, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Harrison Aydon at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 25th May 1877.
"
HARRISON AYDON, of Kneller Cottage, Whitton, in the Parish of Twickenham, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR
COUNTING NEEDLES, GILL AND HECKLE PINS, AND ARTICLES OF A LIKE
DESCRIPTION, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
This Invention consists mainly in the construction and arrangement of machinery
and apparatus whereby needles and other similar articles can be counted and the number
registered without being touched by the hand. For these purposes a frame carrying
one or more hoppers, in which hopper or hoppers the needles or other articles to be
counted and registered are placed, is made to have an alternate or reciprocating
motion and to travel on slides, rollers, or other suitable well-known mechanical
devices, at the same time passing or moving over a metal plate or table on or by
which the needles or other articles are to be counted and registered. This table
consists of an upper and lower metallic plate or plates; the upper plate of this table.
is divided into a certain or convenient number of spaces of a size proportional to'
the size of the needles or other articles required to be counted and registered; each
such space is perforated by twenty-five longitudinal grooves or slits, or by any other
suitable number, as may be required, to suit the number of needles or other articles
required to be wrapped or packed up in each paper or receptacle. These perfora-
tions, grooves, or slits, are to be made of such a width and dimensions as only to be
sufficient to receive one needle or other article each time they are counted. and
registered.
The under plate or plates of this table is or are to be held in its or their position
by springs, or other suitable mechanical means, in close contact with the under side
of the upper plate, except at such time or times as are herein-after mentioned.
This under plate or plates has or have on its or their upper surface a number of
tongues or projections corresponding to the number of perforations or slits in the
upper plate of the table, into which they are made to fit and slide, so that when the
plates are in close contact the tongues or projections on the lower plate or plates
elose or fill up the perforations or slits in the upper plate, the table having then a
flush and level surface. This bottom plate may be made in either one or more¨
[Price 4d 1

page_text: pieces, so as to suit the number of spaces that may be employed in each table for
counting and registering. A convenient size for these tables would be, for example,
say one divided into twenty spaces, and capable of counting and registering 500
needles or other articles at each backward movement of the hopper frame carrying
the hopper or hoppers containing the needles or other articles to be counted and
registered, but I do not bind myself to this or any other number.
The process of working the machine or apparatus is as follows vizt. :-The frame
carrying the hopper or hoppers containing any suitable number of needles or other
articles required to be counted and registered is brought to the front of the metal
table. It is now in position, and ready to commence counting and registering the
needles or other articles that have been placed in the hopper or hoppers; for this
purpose the hopper frame with the hopper or hoppers is forced, pushed, or drawn
backwards, or from the operator, either by hand, weight, foot treadle, or other
mechanical means which are well known for producing such motion.
The hopper or hoppers fit with their lower edges close against the surface of the
upper plate of the table so as not to allow of any needle or other article that has to
be counted and registered passing between the lower portion or edges of the said
hopper or hoppers and the surface of the table itself.
On the frame with the hopper or hoppers being moved backwards, or from the
operator, the delivery openings of the hopper or hoppers slide or move over the
spaces containing the perforations, grooves, or slits into which the needles or other
articles are to be deposited, counted, and registered, and in doing so the hopper
frame, which has a movable camb or projection fitted at each end, brings such cambs
or projections into contact with one or more studs, pins, or projections fixed to the
under plate or plates of the said table, thereby depressing the under plate or plates,
and with them the tongues or projections which are fixed to the surface thereof, by
these means allowing only one needle or other article to drop or be deposited from
the hopper or hoppers in the slit or recess so prepared to receive it.
When the cambs or projections on the hopper frame pass out of contact with the
studs, pins, or projections attached to the under plate or plates, the springs above.
mentioned act on the under or lower plate or plates and push or force the tongues-
or projections on such plate or plates, which slide in the perforations or slits in the
upper plate into their normal position, or flush and level with the upper surface of.
the table, any needle or other article being thereby and at the same time pushed or
thrown out of the slits or recesses in which they had been received on to a level
surface, and are then easily drawn towards the operator and placed in a paper,..
papers; or other receptacles prepared to receive them, without coming in contact
with or being touched by the hands of the operator.
Before the hopper frame, with its hopper or hoppers, can be, again brought into
position at the front of the table to recommence the process of depositing the needles
or other articles, the operator has to move or depress a handle or other suitable.
mechanism, thereby removing a catch which has held the hopper frame firmly in its
back position and at the same time raising the cambs or projections on the hopper
frame, thus preventing them from coming into contact with the studs, pins, or
projections attached or fixed to the lower plate or plates, thereby also preventing.
the lower plate or plates from being depressed, and forming the slits or recesses in
the upper plate of the table in which the needles or other articles are counted and
registered.
Instead of the hopper frame being made moveable, as above described, it may be
firmly fixed and the table made to move and have an alternate or reciprocating
motion, the above description being applicable and describing in every way a machine.
or apparatus with a moving table and fixed hopper frame, except in so far that the
needles or other articles are deposited, counted, and registered on the forward motion
of the table, in contradistinction to the backward motion of the movable hopper
frame.
One modification of this machine or apparatus is to make the hopper frame a
fixture to the foundation plate of the machine and the table movable, the table to

page_text: have a continuous forward or traversing motion; for this purpose the table is formed
of a number of metal plates, and attached either to metallic chains (similar to pitclí
chains), to leather, hemp, webbing, or belts of other suitable material, so as to form
a continuous traversing table, which table is made to revolve-round hexagon, octagon,
or other shaped drums, which drums are placed at a suitable and convenient distance
from each other in a horizontal position. The upper plates of this traversing table
are accurately formed and fitted together, so that wlien they are attached to the
travelling chains or belts and laid on a flat and level surface they shall not have any
space or interstice between them, so that when passing under the hopper or hoppers
they present a perfectly flat and level surface, and which is kept in the same state
until passing round the forward drum, by means of the carrying chains or belts, or
the plates themselves sliding on the foundation plate of the machine or apparatus ;
the upper plates of this traversing table have the same kind of perforated grooves or
slits formed in them, with lower plates attached, furnished with tongues or pro-
jections which fit and slide in the grooves or slits in the upper plates exactly as
described in the first part of this Specification; these plates also fit or lie on the
sides or faces of the hexagon or octagon drums, and engage therein to be carried
round or forward by the said drum or drums, the action of the machine being as
follows-The traversing table having been set in motion traverses towards the
operative, and in doing so passes under the hopper or hoppers containing the needles
or other articles to be counted and registered; when so passing the lower plate is
either depressed by cambs or other suitable means, or falls the required distance by
its own gravity, so forming the required recesses for the reception of the needles or
other articles delivered from the hopper or hoppers.
The continuous motion of the table brings the plate that has just received its
quantum of needles or other articles forward and from under the hopper or hoppers,
at the same time another plate taking the place of the one leaving.
On the first plate containing the needles or other articles which are now counted
and registered arriving at the front drum, it is engaged by and lays on one of the
faces thereof, and at the same time the lower or under plate is forced or pushed
upwards, by which means the face or surface of the upper table is made level when
the needles or other articles already counted and registered are seen laying thereon,
ready for the operator to take or slide off into the paper or other receptacle prepared
to receive them; or they may be received from the table as it travels into or by a
short trough or spout, to be delivered on to a table at a somewhat lower level.
A further modification is the arrangement of the table in a circular or disc form,
revolving in either direction horizontally; the table may be made as a circular flat
plate or disc, having the requisite number of spaces with perforated grooves or slits,
together with the lower plates, having also their tongues or projections, virtually as
described in the first part of this Specification; or it may be made of the annular
form, of sufficient size and breadth for the perforated grooves or slits to be made
therein. When working this machine the operator sits in front, the hopper frame,
with its hopper, being at the back. On the table being set in motion it passes
under the hopper containing the needles or other articles to be counted and
registered, receiving the requisite number to fill the recesses in that portion of the
table, and then revolves towards the operator, who sits prepared to slide or draw
them off and place them in the papers or other receptacles prepared to receive
tliem.
Another modification is the arrangement of the counting table in the form of a
cylinder or drum, laid horizontally, and revolving on a centre spindle or shaft, the
circumferential surface of such cylinder or drum being divided into the requisite
number of spaces, and such spaces being perforated by the proper number of grooves
or slits, as may be required, and having internal plates with their tongues or
projections, which plates revolve with the cylinder or drum and take the place of
the lower or under plates, herein-before mentioned; on the cylinder or drum being
set in motion towards the operator, it receives the proper number of needles or other
articles to be counted and registered from the hopper or hoppers at the top, where

page_text: they drop into the slits or recesses in the surface of the cylinder or drum prepared
to receive them when revolving under the said hopper or hoppers; on revolving
further the internal plates carrying their tongues or. projections, which fit and slide
in perforations or slits in the outer cylinder or drum, come in contact with two or
more studs, pins, or projections, and being forced forward or outwards; they force or
push out the needles or other articles that were contained in the recesses of the
outer cylinder, which then fall into short troughs or spouts, and by them are
conveyed to the table to be placed by the operator in their proper papers or
receptacles.
:
For the purpose of registering the number of needles or other articles counted,
there may be attached in any convenient place or manner one of the ordinary well-
known counting machines which at every alternate or reciprocating movement or
revolution of the table, cylinder, or drum, registers the number of needles or other
articles counted and passed by the machine or apparatus.