IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WOOLLEN OR OTHER MATERIAL CARDING MACHINERY, SUCH APPARATUS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE PURPOSES و
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Eli Wilkinson at the Office of the
Cominissioners of Patents on the 25th October 1882.
TO
ELI WILKINSON of Marsden in the County of York "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WOOLLEN OR OTHER MATERIAL
CARDING MACHINERY, SUCH APPARATUS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE
PURPOSES
و"
FOR OTHER
This Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for feeding woollen or other
fibrous substances to carding machinery such apparatus being also applicable for
preparing wool for combing.
The object of my Improvements in feeding apparatus is to present the material
to the feed roller of the carding machine in a thin layer or sheet so that any bits of
rag or other objectionable substances may come under the action of the licker in
and be broken up before passing forward to the card cylinders. The material to
be operated upon is placed in a hopper and carried by means of a travelling apron
to a roller covered with short teeth or spikes which gather up a quantity of material
from the main bulk such quantity being regulated by means of two combs placed
over the centre of the roller one being fixed at a tangent thereto and the other
vibrating at right angles. Between the rows of teeth of the spiked roller I place a
series of metal bands or straps fastened to a rod at one end and hanging loose at the
other. These bands lie over the upper half of the roller and help to straighten the
fibre. The material after passing over the spiked roller is stripped by a vibrating
brush or comb being retarded by three or more rows of stationary teeth fixed
immediately above the stripper which prevent it coming away in lumps or masses.
When detached the material falls onto a smaller roller covered with bent elastic
teeth which deliver and bed it onto a porcupine roller the teeth of which are placed
in parallel rings between the rows of which are placed metal bars curved to the
same radius as the roller for about one fourth of the circumference and then diverging
therefrom. These bars form a bed or table upon which the material is embedded in
successive layers first by the teeth of the delivery roller and then by a dabbing
brush or a series of oscillating fingers until a thick compressed sheet is formed
which is ploughed or lifted out of the teeth as the roller revolves by the divergence
of the metal bars. When clear of the teeth of the porcupine the sheet passes to a

page_text: smaller roller of the same kind underneath which is a metal dish so curved that
the points of the teeth shall revolve just clear thereof. As the second porcupine
roller travels at a quicker surface speed than the first one the sheet undergoes a
process of drawing out whereby it is reduced in thickness and by employing a
series of porcupine rollers and dishes causing each roller to revolve quicker
than the one immediately preceeding it the sheet can be drawn out into a film and
be presented in this state to the feed roller and licker in which may be clothed with
Garnett teeth by means of which any bit of rag or knotty material will be broken
up before passing onto the carding machine. When treating carbonized material
the dishes underneath the porcupine rollers may be provided with gratings for the
purpose of getting rid of the refuse cotton or other disintegrated fibre. The
material may also be drawn out into a thin sheet or film by causing it to pass over
a table formed of a series of wires placed horizontally and parallel to each other, a
second series being placed above so that the sheet passes between them. Tho
material is then combed or drawn out by a series of porcupine rollers placed above
and below the sheet alternately those above intersecting those below. Supposing
the material to be first ac:ed upon by a roller upon the underside it is taken from
this roller by the next in succession on the top side which travels at a quicker
surface speed and draws out the sheet, thus reducing it in thickness after which it is
again drawn out by the next roller on the underside and so on until it is reduced in
thickness to the required extent. Instead of using doublo series of wires and
rollers I may use a single series of wires over which the sheet passes being drawn
out by a number of porcupine rollers of small diameter which travel at gradually
increasing speeds and each roller stripping the one immediately preceeding it-
Machinery constructed similarly to that above described may be used for the
purpose of preparing wool for combing as the action of the porcupine rollers upon
the long fibres will tend to comb and straighten them after the manner of gill
combs. By increasing the number of rollers the sheet may be drawn out until it is
in a condition for felting and by using duplicate machines two films of material
may be produced-of-different-colors and these felted together whereby a reversible
felting can be produced in sheets of any desired length.
In combination with the spiked roller I may use a series of metal bands or straps
fastened to a rod at one end the other end being loose. These bands lie over the
upper half of the roller and help to straighten the fibres and also to strip the same.
The quantity of material passing over the roller may be regulated by means of two
combs one of which is placed at a tangent to the roller whilst the other vibrates at
right angles thereto.