Iм- PROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE A WATOCOS MACHINEG AMIT DD MAKINA " PROVISIONAL SP
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Crighton, William Wright Orighton,
and Spencer Crighton, all of the Castlefield Iron Works, Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE
A WATOCOS MACHINEG
AMIT DD
MAKINA
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Crighton,
William Wright Crighton, and Spencer Crighton at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th
March 1873.
We, WILLIAM CRIGHTON, WILLIAM WRIGHT CRIGHTON, and
SPENCER CRIGHTON all of the Castlefield Iron Works, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF AND APPARATUS FOR

page_text: THE FUDBALER VE THE PRI LAT
PRAVEED ANV VTAMAR
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to lap machines and other similar machines
employed in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous materials, and
has for its object to promote an equality in the thickness of the lap of
cotton or material formed in such machines.
In apparatus for effecting this object which has been employed
previous to our said Invention, the rate of feed of the cotton or material
into the apparatus has been regulated by driving the feeding rollers
faster or slower, according as the layer of material passing between the
said rollers has been thinner or thicker. This method possesses several
defects, the greatest defect being in our opinion that the cotton or
material is unequally acted upon by the beater, being less beaten when
the feed rollers are moving quickly than when they are moving more
slowly. Our object has therefore been more particularly to remedy this
defect, and this we accomplish by varying the speed of the "lap end"
of the machine, that is to say, of the cage drum and of the remainder of
the lap forming apparatus, the speed of the feed rollers not being inten-
tionally varied. This variation in the speed of the lap end is effected by
apparatus the action of which is governed by the variations in the
thickness of cotton or material passing to the beater; cones or friction
discs and wheels, or any form of apparatus which has been or may be
used for regulating the speed of the feed rollers, being capable of being
adapted to our said purpose. In an arrangement which we have designed
as suitable for the said purpose, the beater shaft gives motion to a cone
which drives a second cone by means of a strap, the last-named cone
giving motion to the "lap end" apparatus.
.
The strap by which the second cone is driven is moved to and fro by
means which are now well understood.
Jan the audinour food wallows to foot of craces the thickness

page_text: the thickness of the layer of cotton or material, and of acting on the
controlling apparatus to effect the object of our Invention.
When two or more beaters are combined in one apparatus, we prefer
to apply the apparatus to control the speed of the last cage in the series,
the speed of the other cage or cages not being controlled in the manner
herein indicated, but to this we do not confine ourselves.
The important feature in our said Invention is the varying of the
speed of parts which act upon the cotton or material after it has passed
the beater for the purpose set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Crighton, William Wright Crighton,
and Spencer Crighton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
CRIGHTON, WILLIAM WRIGHT CRIGHTON, and SPENCER CRIGHTON, all
of the Castlefield Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Crighton, William Wright Crighton,
and Spencer Crighton, Her special license that we, the said William
Crighton, William Wright Crighton, and Spencer Crighton, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Crighton, William Wright Crighton, and Spencer Crighton, our execu-.
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN.

page_text: THE METHODS OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE FORMATION OF THE LAP IN
LAP MACHINES AND OTHER ANALOGOUS MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Crighton, William Wright Crighton,
and Spencer Crighton, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the 5
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Crighton, William Wright 1
Crighton, and Spencer Crighton, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(and accompanying Drawings), that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to lap machines and other similar machines 1
employed in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous materials, and
has for its object to promote an equality in the thickness of the lap of
cotton or material formed in such machines.
In apparatus for effecting this object which has been employed
previously to our said Invention, the rate of feed of the cotton or 2
material into the apparatus has been regulated by driving the feeding
rollers faster or slower, according as the layer of material passing between
the said rollers has been thinner or thicker. This method possesses
several defects, the greatest defect being in our opinion that the cotton
or material is unequally acted upon by the beater, being less beaten 2
when the feed rollers are moving quickly than when they are moving
more slowly. Our object has therefore been more particularly to remedy
this defect, and this we accomplish by varying the speed of the "lap
end" of the machine, that is to say, of the cage drum, and of the
remainder of the lap forming apparatus, the speed of the feed rollers 3
not being intentionally varied. This variation in the speed of the lap
end is effected by apparatus the action of which is governed by the
variations in the thickness of cotton or material passing through the
machine; cones or friction discs, and wheels and other forms of apparatus
which have been used for regulating the speed of the feed rollers, being 3

page_text: capable of being adapted to our said purpose. As for example, the well-
known cone regulator may be altered to suit our purpose by driving the
cone shaft which now gives motion to the feed rollers at a positive speed,
and by transmitting motion from the other cone shaft to the lap end
apparatus.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we will
now refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, wherein is represented
a beater lap machine fitted with an arrangement which we now consider
to be suitable to be employed when carrying our said Invention into
practical effect, the said Drawings being made about one-eighth of the
full size, and marked with letters of reference.
In the said Drawings, a is the beater shaft, 6 is the axis of one of the
feed rollers, c is the lap, and d is a wheel from which the lap forming
apparatus receives motion. A shaft e is fitted to revolve in suitable
bearings fixed to the framing of the machine, and receives a rapid
revolving motion from the said beater shaft by means of the bevil
wheels ff, and g, g, and the upright connecting shaft h. On the shaft e
is fixed a bevil wheel which imparts motion to the bevil wheel i which
is fixed on the upright shaft j, all the said bevil wheels being in this
example grooved frictional gearing and impart motion to one another by
frictional contact, in manner as is now well understood, such gearing
having been considered to be more suitable to our purpose than the
ordinary spur gearing. On the upper end of the shaft j is fixed or
formed a worm k, which actuates the worm wheel 2, which is fixed on
the axis of one of the feed rollers, which thus receives a revolving
motion from the beater shaft, the speed of the said feed rollers bearing a
constant proportion to the speed of the said beater shaft. On the shaft e
is fixed a cone drum or pulley m, which by means of the strap n imparts
motion to the cone drum o, which is fixed on the shaft p. On the last-
named shaft is fixed a spur pinion, which gears with the
which is fixed on the shaft s, and on the said shaft is also fixed or formed
a worm t, which gears with the worm wheel d which is fixed on the
axle of one of the rollers which sustain the lap. The said roller is
connected with the calendering rollers and cage drum, and with other
parts of the lap-forming apparatus in the ordinary or other suitable
manner.
spur wheel r
As the upper feed roller rises or falls, motion is imparted by

page_text: -rods, one of which is seen at u, to two levers v, v, there being one such
lever at each side of the machine, as in arrangements which have been
previously employed in apparatus for regulating the speed of the feed
rollers. The ends of the said levers are connected by a cross bar and an
arrangement of levers w, w, with a lever x, which carries a strap fork at
one end, and is geared by spur sectors with a corresponding lever y,
which is also furnished with a strap guide, the arrangement being such
as that when the distance between the feed rollers is increased, the
strap n is moved by the strap guides in the direction towards the left
hand in the Drawing, and as a consequence the speed of the shaft o and 1
wheel d, and of the lap forming apparatus, is increased, a contrary
effect being produced when the feed rollers approach each other.
We have not considered it to be necessary to describe more minutely
the details and action of the parts which convey motion to the strap n,
as the principle of their action is now well understood, and such details may 1
be greatly varied without affecting the utility of our Invention.
In lieu of employing the said feed rollers to test or guage the thick-
ness of the cotton or material, we may employ two or more pairs of
guaging rollers which do not act as feeding rollers, or we may employ
wholly or partially other objects than rollers, so long as the said objects 2
are capable of guaging the thickness of the layer of cotton or material
passing through the machine, and of acting on the controlling apparatus
to vary the speed of the lap forming apparatus, and so to effect the
objects of our Invention.
When two or more beaters are combined in one apparatus, we prefer 2
to guage the thickness of the cotton or material on or after its arrival
at the last pair of feed rollers; but to this we do not confine ourselves,
nor do we confine ourselves to any of the details of the apparatus
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings so long as the important
feature in our Invention is retained, namely, the varying of the speed of 3
parts which act upon the cotton or material after it has passed the beater
or beaters..
Having now fully described the nature of our said Invention, and
indicated means whereby it may be carried into practical effect, we

page_text: First. Effecting a variation in the speed of the parts which receive
or act upon the cotton or material after it has left the beater or beaters,
substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth and indicated.
And lastly. The arrangement for effecting the object of our Invention
substantially as set forth and illustrated herein-before and by the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Crighton, William Wright
Crighton, and Spencer Crighton, have hereunto set our hands
and seals, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy three.