Improvements in Means for Securing Card Clothing to Top Flats.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Jan., 1897-Accepted, 27th Feb., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Securing Card Clothing to Top Flats.
I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON, of 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been com-
municated to me from abroad by James Charles Potter, of Pawtucket, in the
State of Rhode Island, United States of America Manufacturer) and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to more firmly secure the card clothing to flats
and to ensure the clothing being and remaining more tightly stretched thereon
than has heretofore been practical. Heretofore it has been usual to secure the
foundation cloth to the flat by means of clips bent at one edge over upon the face
of the foundation and at the other edge over upon the back of the flat. That
edge of the clip bent over on the cloth has in some instances been provided with
teeth or prongs to enter and engage the cloth, and the parts have been so
proportioned and arranged that in forcing the cast iron flat down upon the clothing
the latter, through the agency of the clips between which the top flat enters, is
tightly stretched. In this method of fastening, the edges of the clothing are very
liable to give way, and the clothing eventually becomes loose.
According to this invention the edges of the clothing are preliminarily prepared
to resist all stress or strains, and to prevent the clothing from pulling apart or
giving way to this end the clothing is provided at its longitudinal edges with a
metallic binding which encloses and firmly clasps the edges, and upon this binding
the stretching pull is exerted when the clothing is being fitted and secured to the
flat, seats being provided in the face of the flat for the reception of the metallic
binding, and fastening clips being used to hold the said binding therein.
The nature of the invention and the manner in which it is or may be carried
into effect will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which
Figure 1 is an end view of the metallic binding of steel or other material.
Figure 2 represents in cross-section the foundation cloth having the metallic
binding fitted to its edges in readiness to be clamped and secured thereon.
Figure 3 is a section of a portion of the dies used to clamp the binding on the
cloth, and showing these parts in position therein.
Figure 4 is a cross section of a cast iron top flat.
Figure 5 is an end view of the clip or fastener (of sheet steel or other suitable
material) for holding the clothing to the top flat.
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, represent the dies for clamping the clips upon the flat and
clothing, with the parts in the position which they occupy at successive stages of
the operation.
Figure 10 is an end elevation of the finished flat.
The metallic binding a consists of a' strip of sheet steel or other suitable
material, which is by suitable means pressed into trough shape in cross-section as
represented in Figure 1, so as to be adapted to fit upon the longitudinal edges of
the card clothing or foundation cloth X as indicated in Figure 2.
The clothing with metallic binding thus applied to its edges, is placed in
dies M M, where the binding is pressed so as to be clamped firmly upon and

page_text: united to the clothing as indicated in Figure 3. In these dies the metallic binding
is pressed into an approximately circular or cylindrical form in cross section, thus
providing each longitudinal edge of the clothing with a metallic binding in which
the edge of the cloth is enclosed.
The next operation is to secure the prepared clothing to the cast iron top flat Y
shown in cross-section in Figure 4. This flat has formed in its face along each of
its longitudinal edges a seat b of suitable form for the metallic binding a.
The width of the clothing between the inside edges of the metallic binding being
say one inch, the width of the top flat on the flat straight part of its face which
extends between the seats should be say 1 and 6 inches, so that before the
metallic bindings a can be made to rest in their seats 6, the clothing must be
stretched cross-wise to the extent of of an inch. This is effected in the
following way and at the same time the clothing is secured to the flat.
The clothing and the flat are held together by steel fasteners c of hook shape in
cross-section as shewn in Figure 5. These fasteners can be made each of a strip
of metal which will extend the whole length of the top flat; or they may consist of
short pieces set at any desired distances apart along the edges of the flat.
The fasteners are first placed hook end downward in dies N, N', of the form shown
in Figures 6 and 7, the hook ends of the fasteners resting in corresponding shaped
recesses n in the dies.
The card clothing provided with its metallic binding is then placed teeth
downward in the dies, and the top flat is then placed face downward upon the
clothing, all as indicated in Figure 7, where the parts are shown ready to be
pressed together.
b
As the plain portion of the face of the flat is wider by say 16th of an inch than.
the straight portion of the clothing between the metallic bindings a the face of the
flat is raised slightly above the adjoining face of the cloth, the flat resting upon
the metallic bindings, at the corners or edges y where the flat face terminates and
the seats 6 begin. The recesses n in the dies below occupy a similar position with
respect to the metallic bindings, as do the seats or recesses 6 of the flat above. In
other words the metallic bindings of the cloth rest upon the interior opposite edges
of these recesses n, or upon the inner ends of the hooks of the fasteners c therein.
The parts are now pressed together by the presser P (Figure 8) which bears
from above upon the top flat, and is operated by suitable agencies, familiar to those
skilled in the art to which this invention pertains, to force the top flat down upon
the clothing.
In this operation, the downward movement of the flat causes an outward move-
ment of the metallic bindings a until the clothing is stretched enough to permit the
plain portion of the face of the top flat to meet and fit against that portion of the
adjoining face of the clothing which extends between the interior opposite edges of
the metallic bindings, and by this time the metallic bindings of the clothing are
also caused to bend slightly upwards so as to enter and bear on their seats b, as
indicated in Figure 8.
The clothing thus is stretched first by a straight cross-wise pull upon its opposite
metallic bound edges, and then, when it has been stretched somewhat and the most
power is required in order to stretch it a little further, by bending its metal bound
edges upwards around the corners y and consequently drawing on the cloth with
great power.
When the parts have been brought to this position, they are there held firmly
together by drawing the die N₁ towards the other die N (as indicated by the
arrows in Figure 8) by suitable instrumentalities such for example as nuts and
bolts as shewn; after which the presser P can be removed.
The next and final step is to bend the projecting ends or edges of the fasteners c
over upon the back of the cast iron top flat. This can readily be done in any
suitable way, as for example, by spinning the projecting portions of the fasteners
down over the back of the flat by hardened steel rollers was indicated in
Figure 9.

page_text: This completes the operation, and the finished article which results is shown in
cross-section in Figure 10.
It will be noted that in the finished article the fasteners care level with
that face of the cloth from which the teeth project, while they rise above the level
of the opposite face of the cloth. This is occasioned by the metallic bindings
being forced outwardly away from each other, and upwardly around the corners y
in order to find their positions in the seats provided for them in the flat. In this
operation the cloth is most firmly stretched, the pull being wholly upon its metal
bound edges. The clips or fasteners c have nothing to do with the stretching of
the cloth; this is accomplished by causing the clothing to conform to the shape of
the flat. The office of the clips c is simply to secure in place the parts thus fitted
together.
Under existing methods it is necessary to send flats to the machine makers.
to have them re-clothed, whereas the machine makers need furnish only the metal
bound clothing made according to this invention, and this clothing can be readily
fixed to the flats by the aid of clips and simple dies such as shown in Figures 6-9,.
thus saving both expense and delay.
The invention is not confined strictly to the structural details berein before.
described and illustrated as manifestly the same can be varied to a considerable
extent without departure from the spirit of the invention; but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The card clothing or foundation cloth having metal bound edges, in com-
bination with a top flat having seats for the reception of the said metal-bound
edges and metallic clips or fasteners for holding the flat and clothing together,.
substantially as and for the purpose herein before described.
2. The method of securing card clothing to top flats which consists in binding the
edges of the clothing with metal, stretching the clothing on the flat by pulling
upon its metal bound edges, and securing the clothing while thus stretched to the
Hat, substantially as hereinbefore described.
ليمن
.
T
1007
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.