Improvements in or connected with Gill Boxes or Frames for Preparing Wool or other Fibrous Material.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 26th Nov., 1897.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Gill Boxes or Frames for
Preparing Wool or other Fibrous Material.
We EMILE RICHARD-LAGERIE of 296 Grand Rue, Roubaix, France, Engineer, LÉON
DANNEQUIN of 65 rue des Fossés, Roubaix, France, Inventor, VICTOR DUCOULOMBIER,
of 32 rue des Moulins, Mouscron, Belgium, Landlord, and FRANÇOIS BERDAL of 7 rue
de la Station, Menin, Belgium, Architect. do hereby declare the nature of this
invention 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 our invention is a machine relating to the textile industry and
intended for the drawing of textile materials of every kind.
It belongs to the class of machines known as Gill-boxes, over which it has
considerable advantages not only as regards its productive power, but also as regards
simplicity of work.
It is specially distinguished from all existing machines, for the same purpose, by
its completely novel action and its adaptability to all textile materials.
The apparatus used in combing and spinning textile materials, and known as a
Gill-box, performs only one operation, that of horizontally drawing the material at
the moment of its leaving the last gills of the Gill-Box, so that there is only one
reeding action on entering and one releasing action, with a drawing, on leaving the
box.
The existing apparatuses, which give the above results, are of two kinds. In the
first, the gills of which are usually carried through screws, one above another, and
raised by cams, the work is done in a straight line; the second sort are formed with
a cylinder, furnished, with gills or inclined teeth, for the purpose of simplification
and doing away with the organs liable to break by impact, which are present in the
first kind; the work, on entering and leaving, does not differ from that of the first
named apparatuses. The curvature in the upper part of these cylindrical apparatuses
may be good for the entrance of the material, but, still, it has this objection that it
prevents the Gill from penetrating the material uniformly along its whole length.
Our apparatus constitutes a third kind of Gill-box, hitherto unknown, and it is of
universal application, seeing that, with it alone, not only the horizontal drawing,
under new conditions of adjustment, but also two other actions or movements can be
effected, namely a vertical motion which allows the gills to strike upwards through
the material as often as desired, in order to penetrate it, open it out, and tease it, and
that at adjustable heights and as frequently as may be desired. The other movement
of which it is capable is the transverse action of each bar, which gives a result,
hitherto unobtainable, namely that of drawing absolutely to the level of the needles
and moreover of regulating the extent of this transverse drawing movement according

page_text: to the materials treated and their length, from a millimeter to the number of
centimetres necessary.
We now proceed to give the requisite explanations with regard to these three
movements
I) THE HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT.
A peculiarity of the horizontal drawings is that it can be done on any suitable line,
devised for the good work of the material, and thus the advantages of the two known
kinds the horizontal and the carding roller are combined. In fact the gills by means
of spiral end-springs, are made to follow an upper track, or way, fixed on each side.
This track, or way may be absolutely in a straight line, or it may
be modified in form to facilitate the passing in and out of the material,
that is to say, the tops of the Gills may represent, one or several lines, or
any regular or irregular curve continuous or not, at will. The horizontal drawing in
our machine has another and exclusive peculiarity, not found in any horizontal
drawing done by the existing Gills, namely that it becomes greater according as the
lateral previous successive drawings have prepared more material to be drawn.
Hence it is that a speed is given to the delivering-roller corresponding to the sum of
the previous lateral drawings. This enables us to produce, from our Gill, more than
double or even triple the quantity of drawn material, other things being equal,
although the material may have had, in a single draught, the drawing qualities which
would not have been obtained by ten draughts in the existing machines.
II) THE VERTICAL MOVEMENT.
The way, or track may be adapted to as many vertical movements or bounds of the
gills through the material, as may be necessary for opening and teasing it. This
way, without however absolutely changing its general line is constituted by a set of
reversed triangles, which may be varied at will, as regards each other; by means of
springs, the shank of the gills following the lower sides of these triangles, rise at the
end of each long side to the height of the short side, through the material. This
penetrating movement is reproduced as often as desirable, giving the great advantage
of opening and teasing, almost by the same operation, materials after dyeing, or very
fibrous substances such as Ramie even when not decorticated.
1II) THE TRANSVERSE MOVEMENT.
This movement is obtained in the following manner. On each side, two vertical
disks are fixed; the first and third carry forty gills; the second and fourth also carry
forty, and to allow of a lateral movement, the second and the third have forty slides
in the intervals of their gills to allow the forty other gills to work.
It will be understood that these figures are given only by way of example.
The lateral movement is given at each end by two levers, operated by eccentrics.
Let it be observed that the gills prepare the work for each other, from entering to
leaving, in a perfectly methodical manner, and that the two first gills have to do the
maximum and the two last, the minimum of the work of drawing. The gills, working
by compression, in the transverse drawing can do what those working by flexion as in
the existing gill-boxes would not be capable of. In our machine, the horizontal
drawing, itself, is assisted without fear of the gills breaking, by the succession of

page_text: Fig. 1 is a horizontal section of the machine
Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section on the line x-x of Fig 1.
Fig. 3 to 14 show details of construction.
On a suitable frame A the driving-shaft a is mounted, carrying four pinions a¹, a²,
a³, at which engage with four disks B1, B2, B3, B4 with toothed periphery, mounted on
the shaft b.
The shaft a carries an end pinion as which engages with an intermediate pinion
a keyed on the same axle as a pinion a' which engages with the pinion c¹ of the
shaft c. The latter carries two conical pinions c², which command two conical
pinions d², ds of the axles d, d secured at right angles under the horizontal shaft c
and the lower end of which turns in a socket d formed in the foot of the frame.
These axles d, d¹, Fig. 11 carry an excentric e secured under the pinion d³, d³ and
provided with a collar e jointed to the lever E or E¹ which pivots, at its point of
application, on two tenons flf of a collar f (Fig 10) turning in a recess f³ of the
hollow shaft b' or a recess f of the socket of the disk B. (Fig 1, 5 and 7) Exteriorily
to each of the disks B and B a circular plate F is fixed by means of bolts r³, against
which plates the end of the gills bear. The free extremities of the levers E, E¹
pivot in suitable hollows arranged in brackets Z secured to the frame A.
The disks B1, B3 work together as also do the disks B2, B*.
The disk B¹ is screwed on the hollow shaft b¹ mounted on the shaft b. The disk Ba
forms the end of this hollow shaft.
The last-named disk B3 is pierced, round the shaft, with three openings g (Fig 5)
arranged at equal distances and each occupying a sixth of the circumference. In
these opening are inserted the 3 screw-threaded extensions g¹ of a socket G and on
them is screwed the disk B⭑. Between the extensions g¹ the extensions g of a ring
93 are fitted, for the purpose of increasing the rigidity of the end of the socket G.
The socket G slides on the hollow shaft b¹ and has at its opposite end, a flange g
on which the disk B2 is bolted.
The extreme disks B¹, B' carry near their periphery a certain number of slides,
tangential to the axis b, each of which affords passage to the end h² of a gill h, the
other end h¹ passing into the corresponding slide of the opposite interior disks B2 or
B3. The interior disks B2, B3 have, besides the number of slides necessary to receive
the ends of the Gills of their corresponding extreme dis, an equal number of inter-
mediate slides affording passage to the ends h2 of the Gills of the adjacent extreme
disk.
The interior disk have therefore twice as may slides as the extreme disks.
Each end h¹, h² of the gills h (Fig. 12) is held in a small fork i, (Fig. 13) the
shank of which passes into guides 22, (Fig. 1)of the toothed disks, and is surrounded
by a spiral spring j which is held at one side in recesses arranged in a circular
shoulder 2 and rests with its free end on the small fork i and consequently on the
gill. According to the force of the spring j the gills will be lifted more or less in the
slides.
The gills may be of any suitable form, and be furnished with any system of
combs.
In the method of execution shewn in the drawing, (Fig. 12) we adopt a raised
form in the central part, so that the needles may extend beyond the periphery of the
disks.
To guide the gills in their rotary movement and to occasion the vertical movement,
the apparatus is furnished with two lateral tracts or ways H with triangular indents

page_text: at its upper part against which the springs j press the ends h¹, h2 of the gills. The
track or way H consist of two uprights of a suitable shape for lowering the
gills at the entrance and exit of the material, and of the above mentioned indented
upper-part.
With the rotary movement of the apparatus, the gills descend the larger side of
each triangle of the indented way, springing, on reaching its end, to the height of the
smaller side, so as to penetrate the material each time from the bottom upwards.
At the entrance to the apparatus, a cross-bar p is arranged to guide the material
to the gills.
The feeding rollers and the drawing cylinders, not being part of cur invention, we
omit any special description of the same. They may be of any kind known. The
same remark applies to the endless feeding cloths.
We now proceed to describe the working of the apparatus.
The main-shaft, by means of pinions a actuates the toothed disks and, by
Ineans of the end pinion, the shaft c which, in turn, actuates the conical
pinions c², c3 and d², d³ as well as the eccentrics e which cause the levers E, E¹ to work
laterally. These levers govern the transverse movement of the disks for the com-
pression work of the gills, by making the hollow shaft & slide on the shaft b and the
socket G slide on the hollow shaft and so bringing the disks B, B or B³ B+,
together or keeping them away; whilst the pinions a-a govern the rotary
movement of the disks for the horizontal work of the gills.
The vertical movement is governed by the spiral springs j, which carry the gills
and by the fixed way H the shape of which is suited to the number and the scope or
amplitude of the jerk, or stroke, desired.
The material conveyed by the feeding cylinders passes under the cross bar p and is
received on the gills, where it is submitted to three kinds of drawings:-horizontal,
by rotary motion of the disks; transverse, by the lateral motion of the disks; and
vertical, by the jerks or upward strokes of the gilla passing under the fixed way H.
On the front, the gills are received against the front way which may be of any suitable
shape calculated to make them sink in and to facilitate the setting free of the material
and its drawing by the drawing rollers.
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) A new kind of Gill-Box, intended for the drawing of all sorts of textile materials,
and distinguished by a three fold movement; namely horizontal, transverse and
vertical.
2) A method of construction of the Gill-Box clained under No. 1 and distinguished.
by toothed disks, which disks carrying the gills, are four in number, two extreme ones
and two intermediate ones-having twice as many slides, as the first ones in order to
enable the lateral sliding movement of the gills.
3) A method of construction of the Gill-Box claimed under No 1 distinguished,
also, by a fixed way to make the gills follow any variation of curve required for the
passing in and out of the material in the longitudinal drawing; the tops of the gills
bearing against the said way by the aid of spiral springs, or any suitable device,
situated at the two ends of the gills.
4) In the Gill-box claimed under Nos. 1, 2, and 3 the upward vertical movement,
regulated as required, the material being penetrated by the gills, which effect is
produced by giving to the above named way suitable teeth, or indentures.
3) In the above claimed Gill-Box the arrangement of a main shaft carrying pinions,
which engage with the gill-disks, a shaft, furnished with conical pinions, actuating
eccentries to which, by means of a collar, levers are jointed, these levers being also
jointed to the end-disks in order to give them a lateral movement by means of a
hollow shaft and a socket, connecting respectively the first with the third, and the
second with the fourth disc.
6) We claim, moreover, the arrangement of disks bearing against the outside

page_text: extremity of the gills, to ensure their transverse movement with the disks, the whole
substantially as described in the above specification and shewn in the accompanying
Drawings.
Dated this 26th day of November 1896.
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, A.M.I.C.E; M.I.M.E.,
Consulting Engineer & Patent Agent
70 Chancery Lane London. W.C. Associate Agent.