Improvements in Machinery for Spreading and Drawing Hemp and other Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th May, 1893—Accepted, 10th June, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Spreading and Drawing Hemp and
other Fibrous Materials.
I JOHN GOOD of Far Rockaway in the County of Queens and State of New
York, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 this invention is to obtain in one machine, by a continuous operation,
a sliver of such quality as, by the machinery heretofore used, has required several
machines and several separately performed operations to produce it.
I will first describe in detail a machine embodying my invention, and afterwards
point out its novelty in claims.
Fig. 1 represents a central vertical longitudinal section of the machine, and
Fig. 2 a plan of the same.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in both figures.
A A' designate the framing of the machine. B₁ B2 B3 B4 are four trains of
gill-pin-bars armed with gill pins bb bb, and carried by sprocket wheels on
shaft cccc²* c³ 08* c* c¹*, which work in bearings on the framing A A'.
These trains are arranged one before another. The two trains B₁ B' are of the
character commonly employed in spreaders, the second train B' running much
faster than the first train B¹. The two trains B and B are of similar character,
the fourth train B' running much faster than the third one B³, but they have their
pins finer and closer together, and they may be, as represented in Fig. 2, narrower
than the first and second trains B'B'. The third train B may run somewhat faster
than the second B³, but must not run slower.
The third train B³ is set sufficiently in advance of the second B³, to make room
between them for a conductor C, which consists simply of a flat board having
upwardly projecting sides a a, which converge laterally towards the end of the
board nearest the third train B³. Between this conductor and the second train B³,
there is represented a pair of delivery rollers e e, to take the fibre from the second
train of pins and deliver it to the conductor, and between the conductor and the
third train there is represented a pair of feed rollers ff, to take the fibre from
the conductor and give it to the third train of pins. The delivery rollers e should
run at a speed about the same as, but not slower than, the second train B2, and
the feed rollers fat a speed about the same, but not slower than the delivery
rollers e, and not faster than the third train B³. In rear of the first train of
pins, there is a pair of feed rollers g, and in front of the fourth train there is a
set of delivery rollers h. There is also represented in front of the delivery rollers,
a condenser D.
The machine is represented as driven by a driving shaft E (Fig. 2), which works
in bearings in stands F. On this shaft is a pulley i, from which runs a belt j to
a pulley k on the shaft of one of the delivery rollers h. The shaft h¹ carries
also a spur gear l, which gears with and drives one of two spur gears m n, which
are fast together, and turn on a stud on the framing, the other of said two gears
gearing with a spur gear o on the shaft of the fourth train of gill pins B, and
so driving the said train. The shaft c of this train B* carries a spur gear p, which
gears with one of two spur gears g r, which are fast together, and turn on a stud on
the framing, the other of said two gears gearing with a spur gears on the shaft c**
of the third train B³, and so driving that train, the shaft c³ of which is geared in
a suitable manner with the feed rollers f, to drive the latter. The driving shaft E
carries also a spur pinion u, which gears with a spur gear u¹ on the shaft of one of
the delivery rollers e, and so drives the said roller, which also carries a spur

page_text: gear u, which gears with and drives a spur gear v, turning freely on a stud on the
framing, and gearing with a spur gear to on the shaft c* of the second train B² of
gill pius, and so driving the said train. The shaft c of this train carries a gear x,
which gears with and drives one of two spur gears x¹², fast together, and turning
on a stud on the framing, the other of said two gears gearing with a gear y on the
shaft of the first train B' of gill pins, and so driving the said train, the other
shaft c¹ of which carries a gear 2, which is geared in a suitable manner with, and
drives the feed rollers g. The several gears and pulleys hereinbefore described, are
relatively so proportioned, that the trains are respectively driven at the speeds
hereinbefore mentioned.
GG' are two feed boards, upon which are to be placed two separate layers of
fibre, to be collectively supplied to the feed rollers 9 to be fed to the first train of
gill pins. The board G is arranged in the way common to that of the single
feed board commonly employed in machines for spreading and drawing hemp and
other fibrous materials, that is to say, it is behind, and has a downward inclination
toward the feed rollers g, its lower end being opposite the opening between the said
rollers, so that the fibre deposited upon it may pass from it directly between said
rollers. The board G' faces the board G, being arranged over the first train of
gill-pins B¹ with a downward inclination in the opposite direction to that of G, and
its lower end terminates close above the feed rollers g. The layer of fibre deposited
on this board G¹ has to pass over the top of, and around, the back of the upper
feed roller, to enter between the feed rollers, its entrance being above that of the
layer from G, as the two layers enter collectively between the rollers.
The operation of the machine is as follows: The two layers of fibre deposited
upon the two feed-boards, and carried between the feed rollers, are deposited
collectively, one superposed above the other, upon the first train of gill-pins B',
by which they are carried forward to the second train B2, a spreading operation
taking place in a well known manner upon and between these trains, the single
lap of fibres thus produced being delivered by the rollers e upon the conductor C,
above which it passes to the feed rollers f. In passing along the feed board, the
lap is contracted laterally by the tapering sides of the said board, and is thereby
thickened before being received between the feed rollers f, which give it to the
third train B³, by which it is carried forward to the fourth train B. A second
spreading operation takes place upon and between the third and fourth trains of the
pins, and the lap taken from the fourth train by the delivery rollers h passes on to
the condenser D, in which it is converted into a sliver.
In the above operation, the two layers of fibre superposed upon the first train of
pins are more uniformly distributed than would be possible with a single layer of
the same volume, and hence a more uniformly spread thin lap is obtained from the
second train, and this lap being contracted in width in passing through the con-
ductor, is delivered to the third train with sufficient body or thickness to be
properly subjected to the operation of the pins of this and the fourth train, by
which it is again spread, so that the resulting sliver delivered from the condenser Ď
is very even and of very uniform thickness and quality.
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 combination of four endless trains of gill-pin bars and gill-pins, thereon
arranged one train before another, the third and fourth trains having their pins set
closer together than the pins of the first and second, mechanism for driving said
trains all in the same direction, the second train faster than the first, the fourth
faster than the third, and the third not slower than the second, a feeding device for
feeding fibre to the first train, a conductor with laterally converging sides between
the second and third trains, and a delivery apparatus for taking the fibres from the
fourth train, substantially as herein set forth.
2. The combination with an endless train of gill-pin bars and gill-pins thereon,

page_text: and a pair of feed rollers for feeding fibre to said gill-pins, of two feed boards
arranged facing each other for a double supply of fibre to said pair of feed rollers,
substantially as herein set forth.
Dated this 3rd day of May 1893
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.