IMPROVEMENTS IN BEATERS FOR COTTON OPENERS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEATERS FOR COTTON OPENERS."
- A communication from abroad by Richard Kitson and Samuel
E. Stott, both of Lowell, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Scaled the 1st February 1876, and dated the 21st December 1875.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 21st December 1875, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BEATERS FOR COTTON OPENERS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters

page_text: to the blade in any suitable manner, and they are constructed with
angular corners b, b, on the front side of the arm or that face which
meets the cotton where the beater is in operation, and with angular
corners c, c, on the rear or opposite side or face of the arm which retreats
from the cotton, and the faces e are made of sufficient width to prevent
the lapping of the cotton around the arm in front, and the faces fare
made of sufficient width to prevent the cotton from meeting and lapping
about the arm in the rear.
Heretofore in the ordinary construction of beaters great difficulty has
been experienced from the fact that clods or tufts of cotton accumulate
about the arms beneath the blades of the beater, and which when the
beater stops fall down, and when the beater is again set in motion are
carried forward into the lap in an uneven and imperfectly beaten con-
dition. By the use of this Invention this difficulty is entirely avoided,
and the cotton is also beaten more perfectly and rapidly than by the
ordinary beaters.
The operation of this part of my Invention is as follows:-The beater
is set in operation in the usual way, and is revolved, for instance, from
right to left in the direction of the arrow, as shown in Figure 3, and the
cotton fed to it is struck chiefly by the blades A, but some of the cotton
in tufts or otherwise extends or falls within the blades, and is struck by
the arms B, which by their angular corners b, b, tear and divide the part
so struck by them, and so continue the process of beating while addi-
tional parts of the cotton meeting these in the same way are both in
turn torn as before, and also drag off the former parts along the sides of
the arms, the faces e being of sufficient width to prevent the lapping of
the cotton about both corners b, b, in front, and the angular corners c, c,
and the faces f being made of sufficient width prevent the wrapping of
those parts of cotton inside the blades about the arms in the rear, and
cause them to glide off and be hurled outward by the centrifugal force
and action of the beater, to be struck again by the blades and thoroughly
opened and beaten.
The second nont of this Invention relates especially to a new mode

page_text: preserve at the same time the strength and durability of the arm in its
attachment to the shaft.
In the Drawings illustrating this part of my Invention,―
Figure 4 is a view of the spring box attachment and beater complete
and ready for operation, showing the relative position of the blades, 5
arms, and shaft, and the discs E and F.
Figure 5 is a sectional view of these improvements on the line y, y,
Figure 4, showing the relative position of the shaft D, the abut-
ments A, A, the springs S, S, S, S, the abutments B, B, and the
arms C, C.
Figure 6 is a sectional view of the said improvements on a plane
passing through the centre of the blades, arms, and shaft of the beater,
showing the abutments B.
1
Figure 7 is a section of one of the spring box attachments on the
shaft in a plane at right angles to that in Figure 6 showing the abut- 1
ments A, A, in section.
Figure 8 is an interior view of the disc E, showing the shaft D, the
abutments B, B, and segments of the arms C, C, attached, and the
ribbed or corrugated interior construction of the disc.
The disc E is made to fit and turn loosely upon the shaft of the 2
cotton beater at one end and upon the disc F at the other, and is pro-
vided with projections or radial abutments B, B, extending inward from
the circumference of the disc toward the centre. These projections B, B,
are of sufficient width, thickness, and firmness to hold the arms C, C,
securely, and also to form abutments upon which the abutments A, A,
by the intermediate springs S, act to drive the disc E and beater
attached. Into the disc E and abutments B, B, are screwed or other-
wise secured the beater arms C, C, to which the blades of the beater are
attached. The.dise F is splined or attached firmly to the shaft D and
has secured to it the abutments A. The disc F is then placed so that :
these abutments shall have the position in relation to the abutments B,
shown in Figure 5, and four springs of india-rubber or other suitable
elastic material S are fitted into the spaces between the abutments, as
shown, and serve to connect the beater to its shaft. Instead of india-
rubber any suitable spring of other material or form may be used
within the box formed of the discs E, F.

page_text: The inside of the disc E and the abutments B, B, when india-rubber
springs are used, as described, is made ribbed or beaded, as shown, to
afford space for displacement of the springs S, S, when compressed.
These two discs fit and correspond to each other, and are placed together
so that the abutments A, A, fall between the abutments B, B, and
engage with them by the intermediate springs S in such manner that
when the shaft D is revolved both discs and the arms and blades
attached are revolved with it, and also form a closed and smooth box on
the outside about the shaft which protects all the bearings, springs, and
other parts from dust and from clogging with fibre.
Between the abutments A and the abutments B when the two discs are
placed together, as shown and described above, are spaces allowing con-
siderable play of the abutments to and from cach other, and as the disc E
is made so as to revolve upon and against the shaft D and the disc F,.
except as limited by the abutments, this play of the abutments in the
spaces between them admits of the turning upon the shaft of the blade
of the beater through a part of an arc of its revolution. In these
spaces between the opposing sides of the abutments A and B I insert,
as before-mentioned, springs which tend to keep the discs and their
abutments in the same relative position to each other with sufficient
firmness to withstand the ordinary or least average resistance. These
springs S, S, may be made of india-rubber or other compressible and
clastic material, and so operate as to yield considerably before there is
any sudden or extraordinary resistance to the beater blade, and to return
to their ordinary shape when it is passed, and thus restore the abutments
to their ordinary relative position; and by this arrangement of springs
one on each side of each abutment, the points of resistance are
continually brought against resilient surfaces, so that all jarring is.
overcome whether from the yield of the beater to masses of cotton or
from the return of the beater to its place on the shaft by the reaction of
the springs behind it.
The operation of the beater embodying the said spring box attach-
ment is as follows:-The shaft D is mounted and revolved in the
ordinary manner, and carries with it by means of the abutments A, A,
and B, B, and the intermediate springs S, S, the arms and blades of the
beater to which the cotton or other fibrous material is fed in the usual
manner, but the blade strikes a softened or yielding blow instead of a
rigid and cutting blow as in the ordinary beater, and when the blade

page_text: Fourth. The combination of the abutments B attached to the beater
arms with the yielding springs S and the abutments A. attached to the
beater shaft, as above described.
Fifth. The combination of the cup-shaped disc E carrying the beater
arms, with the beater shaft by its bearing at one end directly upon the
shaft and its bearing, at the other upon the periphery of the disc F
attached to the shaft, as above described.
Sixth. The combination of the cup or box-shaped disc E with the
beater arms C, as above described.
Seventh. In combination with the aforesaid springs S the closed box
formed of the discs E and F provided on its interior surface with
corrugations or ridges to facilitate the compression and expansion of the.
said springs, allowing the beater to yield, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto sot my hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five
Witness,
HY. JA. NOONE.
W". ROB, LAKE. (L.S.)