IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Little, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
Sealed the 17th September 1867, and dated the 22nd March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Little at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
March 1867.
I, GEORGE LITTLE, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to that description of combing machinery described in
the Specification of a Patent granted to George Tomlinson Bousfield, dated
20th Sept. 1861, No. 2858.
According to the usual method of constructing such machines there is a
moveable jaw or nipper which closes upon the material and subsequently opens
to liberate the tuft, and these motions are effected by cams placed within the
eylinder.
According to my Invention I impart motion to the said jaw or nipper by
means of cams placed on the outside of the cylinder. In order to effect this I
propose to provide the jaw or Dipper with arms extending at right angles

page_text: therefrom on the outside of the cylinder, and these arms I furnish with studs
turning in sockets formed upon the side plates. The cams are caused to act
upon bowls carried by the said arms, and thus the required opening and closing
of the said jaw or nipper is effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Little in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LITTLE, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Little, Her special license that I, the said George Little,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Little, my executors, 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
MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the sail George Little, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the 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 I, the said George Little, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 acompanying Drawings (that is to say)
:-
My Invention relates to improvements upon machinery for which Letters
Patent were granted to George Tomlinson Bousfield, dated Twentieth Sep-
tember One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, No. 2858.
According to the arrangement described in the Specification of the said

page_text: Patent the cams for opening and closing the nippers were placed inside the
cylinder, whereas by my Invention I place them on the outside thereof.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the two combing
cylinders and certain parts connected therewith; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the
same; Figs. 3 shews the two cylinders detached, and one of the nippers;
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal view of the cylinder; Figs. 5 represent one of the
nippers detached in three views; and Fig. 6 explains the manner in which the
machine is driven.
At 1 is a crank fixed upon a shaft 2, the said crank being provided with
a connecting rod 8, the lower end of which is jointed to a lever 4 fast
upon the shaft 5, upon which the lower combing cylinder 6 is also mounted,
but loosely. The lever 4 extends on the other side of the shaft 5, and is there
united to another but loose lever 6 by a bolt 7; this bolt is capable of being
adjusted in slots formed in the said levers by a set screw 8, and the bolt 7
being then tightened the two become as one, but by these means the relative
position of one lever to the other may be regulated. The lever 6 is cranked
inward, and carries a driving click 8 which takes successively into notches 9
formed in the combing cylinder. At 10 is a detaining click fixed to the frame
11 and falling successively into notches 12 formed on the face of the cylinder.
At 13 is a rod jointed at bottom to the lever 4, and at its upper end to a
lever 4* corresponding to that shewn at 4, and there is also a lever 6 and
click 8* for driving the upper combing cylinder; other parts connected with
the upper cylinder are also marked with the numbers of the corresponding
parts of the lower cylinder with the addition of ". The clicks 8, 8*, are kept
in contact with the cylinder by springs coiled around their studs, as shewn in
the detached view, Fig. 7; a closing cam is shewn at 14 mounted fast upon
the shaft 5, and at 15 is an opening cam also fast upon the shaft; one of the
nippers is shewn detached at Figs. 5, and also adapted to the cylinder at Fig. 8.
Its centre of motion which is mounted in the cylinder is at 16, and the stud
which rests upon the closing cam 14; at 17 only one nipper is shewn in the
drawing on each cylinder, but it will be seen that is adapted for six. The
frames which carry the acting parts of the nippers are provided with arms 18
standing at right angles thereto, and these arms carry the studs 17 which rest
upon the closing cam 14, and upon the same centre are the pins 19, against
which the flange of the opening cam 15 acts. I construct this flange in two
parts, that shewn at 20 being formed upon a sliling piece 21 adjustable by
means of bolts 22, so that a compensation may be made for wear.
At 28 are
the feed rollers mounted as usual in a frame which turns upon a centre 24, and
at 25 is the stationary comb. The boss of the cam 15 abuts on the outside

page_text: against the framework and on the inside against the cam 14, and the boss of
this cam 14 abuts against a cored out part of the cylinder. The driving shaft
of the machine is at 26 provided with a toothed wheel 27, which is in gear with
two wheels 28, 29, on the axes 30, 31, of the usual revolving combs, and the
crank shaft 2 is driven from the wheel 28. Upon motion being communicated
to the crank shaft 2 the rod 3 and levers 4, 6, will cause the clicks 8, 8, to
move the cylinders through a portion of a revolution when the usual operation
of combing will take place, the studs 17, 19, being acted upon by the cams
14, 15, so as successively to open and close the nippers as now practised.
By the above described arrangement it will be seen that the cams 14, 15,
are outside the cylinder, they are therefore more accessible, and the oil which
is necessarily applied to them does not if it drop fall upon the nippers so as to
be conveyed to the material.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark that in the
above I have thought it necessary to shew and describe certain old parts in
order to connect my Invention with the combing machine, but that which I
claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, so
arranging combing machines of the above described character that the opening
and closing cams are on the outside of the cylinders.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Little, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
GEORGE LITTLE. (L.B.)