Improvements in Machinery for Preparing Fibrous Materials for .. Spinning..
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Aug., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 24th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 2nd June, 1899.
[Communicated. from. abroad by JOHN GOOD, of Far Rockaway, in the County
of Queens, and State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Machinery for Preparing Fibrous Materials for ..
Spinning..
I, PHILIP ARTHUR NEWTON, of the Office for. Patents, 6, Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The improvements which are the subject of this invention are especially
applicable to machinery for the preparation of fibrous materials, such as Sisal,
Manilla, or other kinds of henip, in which the fibres are of considerable length,
such machinery consisting, in part, of heckling or combing pins such as are
commonly termed "gill-pins," carried by moving endless chains or tables. The
principal object of the improvement is to obtain a machine by which the fibres,
introduced into it in bunches, such as those which compose the bales in which
such fibres are commonly supplied to the market and to the manufacturer, may
be so operated upon as to be delivered from. it in the form of a sliver, which,
without further preparation, may be ready for spinning, thereby accomplishing
at a single operation, by one machine, what has heretofore required several
operations, performed successively by as many different machines.
The machine is provided with a suitable framing wherein are bearings
for the shafts which carry the wheels on which run two sets of end-
less chains carrying two sets of bars having two trains of gill pins
thereon, whereby the fibres are to be operated upon. These shafts,
chains, wheels, bars, and pins, may all, or any of them, be of any known or
suitable construction, such as 18 common to fibre-spreading and drawing
machines. The several shafts and the two sets of chains are so arranged that
the two tables or platforms formed by the bars and pins, in their upper runs, are
in line with each other, as is common in spreading machines.
The shafts of the chains are so geared, that while the two trains. of pins move
in, the same direction, the second train travels much faster than, say, at about
twenty times the speed of, the first train. This difference of speed may how-
ever be varied according to circumstances.
The pins in each of the pin bars are of two different lengths, the shorter and
longer ones alternating with each other, for the purpose of more thoroughly
hatcheling or combing the fibres presented to them from the feed board. This
difference of length of the pins, though preferable, is not absolutely essential
to the success of the invention.
Forward of the chains, there is a pair of drawing rollers, a condenser, and a
pair of delivery rollers, said drawing rollers receiving the lap of fibres spread
by the train of pins, and said condenser gradually tapering said lap into a

page_text: sliver which is delivered by the delivery rollers. These drawing and delivery
rollers and condenser are such as are common to drawing machines.
On the sides of the framing there are guide ways which extend from points
forward of the first train, backward some distance beyond the rear of the same,
said ways being parallel both vertically and laterally with the table or platform
constituted by the straight upper run of the chains. On these ways runs a
carriage, which may be termed the fibre-feeding carriage. Upon this carriage
there is a feed board, and in its sides are bearings for the axle of a reel which
extends across the chains. The height of this reel above the ways, and the
spacing of its rungs, are such that the rungs will enter between the rows of
pins in the bars of the upper run of the first chains, and press upon a bed of
fibres imposed on the said bars, and that, as the carriage is moved back and forth
on the ways, the reel may be caused to rotate by the contact of its rungs with
the said pins. The axle of the reel is so mounted in its bearings in the carriage
that the reel may be capable of a sufficient rise and fall to accommodate itself
to the thickness of the bed of fibres on the bars. The mechanism for producing
the backward and forward movement of the carriage, to roll the reel over the
pins, may consist of a right and left. hand cross-threaded screw, the shaft or
core of which is fitted to turn freely, but confined lengthwise in fixed bearings
on the frame. This screw, which is parallel with the ways, is fitted with a
switch nut, which, by the continuous rotation of the screw in one direction, is
caused to run back and forth upon the right and left hand threads. The said
nut is connected with the carriage by a rod. The speed at which the carriage
and the reel are caused to move back and forth will be several times faster than
that of the first chains and pins, but may be slower than that of the second
chains and pins. The range of movement of the carriage is such as to carry
the reel forward to about a position nearly over the forward end of the upper
run of the first chains, and backward to a position some distance beyond the
said chains.
The feed board is arranged upon the carriage behind the reel. The said feed
board may be fixedly secured to the carriage in the inclined position relatively
thereto, or it may be pivoted at its lower and forward end to the carriage
by a shaft which is supported in bearings on the sides of the carriage, this pivotal
connection permitting the upward movement of the feed-board to a nearly
upright position, and its downward movement to a nearly horizontal position,
in which latter position it is supported upon a rest affixed to the carriage. In
either of these positions, the lower or front end of the feed board is high enough
to pass over the gill pins.
A little way behind the said shaft, a rock shaft is arranged in bearings on
the sides of the carriage. This rock shaft carries an arm, on the end of which
is an antifriction roller upon which the feed board bears, the purpose of the said
rock-shaft and arm being to tilt the feed board from its rest to a nearly upright
position, and thereby to deposit upon the pin bars bunches of fibres which are
placed upon the feed-board while it is in the nearly horizontal position. The
said rock shaft is furnished, outside the frame, with a spur gear, which gears
with other spur gear turning loosely on a fixed stud secured on the top of the
carriage. On the same stud there is loosely arranged a tappet, which, when
turned around by running against a fixed stop on the side of the framing, is
brought into action on a tappet piece affixed to the spur gear, and turns the
same in the same direction, and so causes the latter to turn the gear first named,
and the rock shaft connected thereto, in the opposite direction, and thereby to
raise the arm against the feed board, and so tilt the said board to the nearly
upright position. The tappet piece is extended backward in the form of a guard,
to overlap the tappet, and protect it from lateral displacement. The rock shaft
is furnished outside of the framing with an arm, on which is a counterbalance
to the weight of the arm and the feed board. The rest is furnished at the top

page_text: with an india rubber cushion, to prevent any violent concussion of the feed-
board, when it drops thereon.
Over the interval between the chains there are arranged, transversely to the
chains, one or more bars, each (in the case of more than one) being armei with
a downwardly projecting row of gill pins. These bars have their ends secured
in two blocks which are fitted to slide up and down in fixed guides upon the
machine framing. The said blocks have connected with them the yokes of
two cams on a rotary shaft, which extends across the machine, and is supported
in suitable bearings in or on the sides of the framing. Rotary motion of the
shaft produces, through the cams, such a downward and upward reciprocating
motion of the pin bars, as to cause the pins to penetrate, and be withdrawn
from, a bed or layer of fibres passing from one chain to the other, and to cause
the said bars to so beat down the said fibres, as to keep them from rising above
the points of the pins.
The several chain shafts, the cam shaft, the drawing and delivery rollers,
and the screw, may have rotary motion imparted to them, by any suitable means.
The operation of the invention is as follows:-The several parts of the
machine having imparted to them the movements which have been hereinabove
explained, an attendant takes in his hands 'a bunch of raw fibres, such, for
example, as the bunches which have been heretofore baled for market, and after
the feed carriage with the feed-board and reel have begun to move forward,
the feed-board being in its depressed position on the rest, he places the fibres
lengthwise along the board and spreads them to some extent across the same,
and leaves them there. As long as the carriage continues moving forward or
in the same direction with the upper run of the bars and pins of the first train,
the feed board remains in this position, the tappet before mentioned swinging
back, and passing freely over its stop on the framing, without producing any
action on the gear, but after the carriage has moved backwards a very short
distance, the tappet coming in contact with the stop is turned towards and
against the tappet piece, and so operates the gear and the rock-shaft, to raise
or tilt the feed-board. While the feed-board is thus being tilted, the fibres are
shot, or run freely. by their own weight, down the feed-board, and so bring
their forward ends under the reel, which, being turned by its rungs coming in
contact with the pins, as the backward movement of the feed-board carriage
continues, is caused to draw the fibres from the board, and to deposit them upon
the pins. When the carriage has run some distance backward, the tappet
escapes from the stop, and the feed-board drops again to the rest, but this does
not interfere with the drawing of the fibres therefrom, and depositing them,
as hereinabove described. This operation is repeated during every movement
of the carriage backward, and the successive bunches of fibres are thus super-
posed in several layers upon and between the pins and upon the bars, but as
the first chains with the said bars and pins are continuously moving forward
at a speed much slower than that of the carriage, the several layers are superposed
each some distance behind the next layer below, and so the ends of the fibres
of the several layers overlap or break joint with each other. Thus, in the very
act of feeding the raw material, it is so placed as to effect, in a very considerable
degree, the essential object aimed at in all machinery for preparing fibrous
materials, viz.--the distribution of the ends of the fibres at numerous points
in the length of the lap or sliver to be produced.
The first chains, and their train of bars and pins, carry forward the layers
of fibre, distributed as above described, to the pins of the second train, which,
moving so much faster than those of the first train, gradually comb and draw
out the fibres from the several layers, until they become practically one layer,
which becomes more and more attenuated until it reaches the drawing rollers
in a thinly spread lap, in which the ends of the several single fibres of which
it is composed are very thoroughly distributed. During this operation, the reel,
both in its forward and backward. movements, keeps the several layers of fibres

page_text: pressed down, so that they are prevented from rising above the pins, which,
penetrating the said portions of the fibre, tend to separate them laterally, and
also hold them against the combing operations of the pins, between and from
which they are drawn by the rollers, whence they pass through the condenser
to the delivery rollers. The operation is rendered more effective by the recipro-
cating bars and their pins, the said bars beating down the portions of the fibres
between the first and second chains, and so preventing them from rising above
the pins while the combing and spreading proceeds.
It has been hereinbefore mentioned that the feed-board might be fixedly
secured to its reciprocating carriage. In that case, the whole of the mechanism
described for raising and lowering or tilting said feed-board would be dispensed
with. On a feed board thus secured to the carriage, the bunches of fibres suc-
cessively placed thereon by the attendant during the forward movement of the
carriage, are by him pushed forward under the rear rung of the reel, just as
the carriage arrives in its foremost position. The reel then, during the return
movement of the carriage, draws the fibres from the feed-board, and deposits
them on the pins as before described.
Dated this 9th day of August 1898
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Machinery for Preparing Fibrous Materials for
Spinning.
I, PHILIP ARTHUR NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, C, Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, 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 improvements which are the subject of this invention are especially
applicable to machinery for the preparation of fibrous materials, such as Sisal,
Manilla, or other kinds of hemp, in which fibres are of considerable length,
such machinery consisting in part of heckling or combing pins, such as are
commonly termed "gill-pins," carried by moving endless chains or tables. The
principal object of the improvement is to obtain a machine by which the fibres,
introduced into it in bunches, such as those which compose the bales in which
such fibres are commonly supplied to the market and to the manufacturer, may
be so operated upon as to be delivered from it in the form of a sliver, which,
without further preparation, may be ready for spinning, thereby accomplishing
at a single operation, by one machine, what has heretofore required several
operations, performed successively by as many different machines.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which
Figs. 1 and 2 represent longitudinal elevations of opposite sides of the
machine.
Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal vertical section of the machine.
Fig. 4 is a diagram corresponding with a portion of Fig. 3, but on a larger
scale, illustrating the operation of the principal features of the invention.
Fig. 5 is a front view of one of the gill-pin-bars, and its pins, represented
in Figs. 3 and 4.
Fig. 6 is a side view, on a larger scale, of some of the devices shown in
Fig. 2.
Å designates the framing of the machine, in which there are bearings for

page_text: the shafts a, b, and a¹, b', which carry wheels c, d, and c, d, which run
two sets of endless chains B and 131, which carry two sets of bars e, e', in which
are two trains of gill-pins f, f', by which the fibres are to be operated upon.
These shafts, chains, wheels, bars, and pins, may all, or any of them, be of any
known or suitable construction, such as is common to fibre spreading and drawing
machines, and are represented as of ordinary construction. The several shafts,
and the two sets of chains, are so arranged that the two tables or platforms
formed by the bars and pins in their upper runs, are in line with each other,
as is common in spreading machines. The shafts of the chains B, B', are so
geared, as hereinafter to be described, that while the two trains of pins move in
the same direction, as indicated by arrows in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, the second train fl
travels much faster than, say, at about twenty times the speed of the first
train f. This difference of speed may, however, be varied according to circum-
stances.
The pins f, f', in cach of the pin bars e, c¹, are represented as of two
different lengths, the shorter and longer ones alternating with each other, for
the purpose of more thoroughly hatcheling or combing the fibres presented to
them from the feed-board F. This difference of length of the pins f, f',
though preferable, is not absolutely essential to the success of the invention.
Forward of the chains B, there is a pair of drawing rollers C, C¹, a con-
denser C, and a pair of delivery rollers P, P1, said rollers CC receiving the
lap of fibres spread by the train of pins f¹, and said condenser gradually tapering
said lap into a sliver, which is delivered by the rollers P, PI. These drawing
and delivery rollers, and condenser, are such as common to drawing
machines.
are
On the sides of the framing A, there are guide ways G, which extend from
points forward of the chain wheels d, backward some distance beyond the rear
of the chains B, said ways being parallel both vertically and laterally with the
table or platform constituted by the straight upper run of the said chains and
their bars e and pins f. On these ways G runs a carriage D, which may be
termed the fibre-feeding carriage. Upon this carriage there is a feed-board F,
and in its sides are bearings for the axle E¹ of a reel E, which extends across
the chains B. The height of this reel above the ways, and the spacing of its
rungst are such that the rungs will enter between the rows of pins in the bars
of the upper rim of the chains B, and press upon a bed of fibres imposed on the
said bars, and that as the carriage D is mored back and forth on the ways, the
reel may be caused to rotate by the contact of its rungs with the said pins. The
axle E of the reel is so mounted in its bearings in the carriage, that the reel
may be capable of a sufficient rise and fall to accommodate itself to the thick-
In the mechanism repre-
ness of the bed of fibres 25* (Fig. 4) on the bars c.
sented for producing the backward and forward movement of the carriage, to
roll the reel over the pins H (Fig. 2), is a right and left hand cross-threaded
screw, the shaft or core of which is fitted to turn freely, but confined lengthwise
in fixed bearings u on the frame A. This screw, which is parallel with the
5 ways G, is fitted with a switch nut I, which, by the continuous rotation of the
screw in one direction, produced as hereinafter described, is caused to run back
and forth upon the right and left-hand threads. The said nut I is connected
with the carriage D by a rod J. The speed at which the carriage and the reel
are caused to move back and forth will be several times faster than that of the
chains B and the pins f, but may be slower than that of the chains B and the
pins f. The range of movement of the carriage is such as to carry the reel for-
ward to about a position nearly over the forward end of the upper run of the
chains B, as shewn in full outline in Fig. 4, and backward to a position some
distance beyond the chains, as shown in dotted outline in the same figure.
The feed-board, F, is arranged upon the carriage D behind the reel E. The
said feed-board may be fixedly secured to the carriage in the inclined position
relatively thereto, shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, but it is represented as pivoted at its
5

page_text: lower and forward end to the carriage by a shaft F, which is supported in
bearings on the sides of the carriage, this pivotal connection permitting, the
upward movement of the feed-board to the nearly upright position shown in
Fig. 4 in bold outline, and its downward movement to the nearly horizonta!
position shown in dotted outline in the same figure, and in full outline in the
other figures, in which latter position it is supported upon a rest F3 affixed to
the carriage. In either of these positions, the lower or front end of the feed-
board is high enough to pass over the pins f.
A little way behind the said shaft F', a rock-shaft R is arranged in bearings 11
on the sides of the carriage D. This rock-shaft carries an arm R, on the end of
which is an antifriction roller 12, upon which the feed-board F bears, the pur-
pose of the said rock-shaft and arm being to tilt the feed-board from the
rest to the nearly upright position, and thereby to deposit upon the pin bars
hunches of fibres which are placed upon the feed-board while it is in the nearly
horizontal position. The said rock-shaft R is furnished outside the frame with
a spur gear 13 (see Figs. 2 and 6), which gears with a spur gear 14, turning
loosely on a fixed stud 15, secured on the top of the carriage. On the same
stud 15, there is loosely arranged a tappet 16, which, when turned in the
direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 6, by running against a fixed stop 18 on
the side of the framing A, is brought into action on a tappet piece 17 affixed
to the spur gear 14, and turns the gear 14 in the same direction, and so causes
the latter to turn the gear 13 and the rock-shaft R in the opposite direction,
and thereby to raise the arm. R₁ against the feed-board, and so tilt the said
board to the nearly upright position. The tappet piece 17 is extended back-
ward in the form of a guard 17*, to overlap the tappet 16, and protect it from
lateral displacement. The rock-shaft R is furnished, outside of the framing A,
with an arm, on which is a counterbalance R to the weight of the arm R₁ and
the feed-board. The rest is furnished at the top with an india-rubber cushion
22, to prevent any violent concussion of the feed-board, when it drops thereon.
Over the interval between the chains B, B¹, there are arranged transversely
to the chains one or more bars L, of which there are two in the example repre-
sented, each being armed with a downwardly projecting row of gill-pins f*.
These bars have their ends secured in two blocks a, which are fitted to slide up
and down in fixed guides a¹ upon the machine framing. The said blocks have
connected with them the yokes M³ of two cams M on a rotary shaft N, which
extends across the machine, and is supported in suitable bearings in or on the
sides of the framing. Rotary motion of the shaft N produces, through the
cams M, such a downward and upward reciprocating motion of the pin bars L.
as to cause the pins f* to penetrate, and be withdrawn from a bed or layer of
fibres passing from the chain B to that B', and to cause the said bars to so beat
down the said fibres, as to keep them from rising above the points of the pins f
and f'.
the
The several chain shafts a, b, a, b, the cam shaft N, the drawing and
delivery rollers, and the screw H, may have rotary motion imparted to them
by any suitable means. In the example represented, the movements of the chain
shafts, cam shaft, and said rollers, are all derived from the shaft g of the lower
drawing roller C, which shaft is furnished with a pulley C³, to receive a driving
belt C. The screw H is represented, in Fig. 2, as furnished with a pulley v,
to be driven by a separate belt . The chains B₁ derive motion from
shaft g, as illustrated in Fig. 1, through a gear gl on the
said shaft, a gear
on the chain shaft ₁, and an intermediate
pinion h¹, turning on a fixed stud on the framing A. The chains them-
selves drive their shaft a¹. On the latter shaft is a gear i, which drives a
pinion turning on a fixed stud on the framing, which pinion also drives a
gear turning on a fixed stud 7. To this gear & is fastened a chain pulley m,
which, through an endless chain m¹, drives a second chain pulley n, on a fixed
stud p. This pulley n carries a pinion o, which drives a larger spur gear p*,
h

page_text: turning on a fixed stud q, and having fast to it a smaller spur gear r, which
drives a larger spur gears on the shaft b of the first chains B, and so drives said
chains. The cam shaft N is driven from the spur gear before mentioned,
which engages with a smaller spur gear y on the said shaft.
The operation of the invention is as follows:-The several parts of the machine
having imparted to them the movements which have been hereinabove ex-
plained, an attendant takes in his hands a bunch of raw fibres, such, for
example, as the bunches which have been heretofore baled for market, and
after the feed carriage. D, with the feed-board F and reel E, have begun to
move forward in the direction of the arrow 19, shown in Fig. 4, the feed-board
being in its depressed position on the rest F3, shown in dotted outline in that
figure, he places the fibres lengthwise along the board, and spreads them to
some extent across the same, and leaves them there. As long as the carriage
continues moving forward, or in the same direction with the upper run of the
bars e and pins f of the first train, the feed-board remains in this position, the
tappet 16 swinging back, and passing freely over the stop 18 on the framing,
without producing any action on the gear 14, but after the carriage has moved
backwards, or in the direction of the arrow 20, a very short distance, the
tappet 16, coming in contact with the stop 18, is turned towards and against
the tappet piece 17 on the said gear 14, and so, as the carriage continues moving
backward, turns the said gear 14 in the direction of the arrow shown upon it
in Fig. 6, thereby turning the gear 13, and the rock-shaft R, in the opposite
direction, and raising or tilting the feed-board. While the feed-board is thus
being tilted, the fibres are shot or run freely, by their own weight down the
feed-board, and so bring their forward ends under the reel E, which, being turned
in the direction of the arrow shown upon it in Fig. 4 by its rungs t coming in
contact with the pins f as the backward movement of the feed-board carriage
continues, is caused to draw the fibres from the board, and to deposit them upon
the pins f. When the carriage has run some distance backward, the tappet 16
escapes from the stop 18, and the feed-board drops again to the rest F³, but this
does not interfere with the drawing of the fibres therefrom, and depositing them
as hereinabove described. This operation is repeated during every movement of
the carriage backward, and the successive bunches of fibres are thus superposed
in several layers upon and between the pins f, and upon the bars e, but as the
chains B, with the said bars and pins, are continuously moving forward at a
speed much slower than that of the carriage, the several layers are superposed,
each some distance behind the next layer below, and so the ends of the fibres
of the several layers overlap or break joint with each other, as indicated at 6*,
7*, 8*, 9*, in Fig. 4. Thus, in the very act of feeding the raw material, it is
so placed as to effect, in a very considerable degree, the essential object aimed at
in all machinery for preparing fibrous materials, viz. the distribution of the
ends of the fibres at numerous points in the length of the lap or sliver to be
produced.
:
The first chains B, and their train of bars e and pins f, carry forward the
layers of fibre, distributed as above described, to the pins f¹ of the second train,
which, moving so much faster than those of the first train, gradually
comb and draw out the fibres from the several layers coming from the
pins until they become practically one layer, which becomes more and more
attenuated until it reaches the drawing rollers C, C¹, in a thinly spread lap,
in which the ends of the several single fibres of which it is composed are very
thoroughly distributed. During this operation, the reel E, both in its forward
and backward movements, keeps the several layers of fibres pressed down, so
that they are prevented from rising above the pins f, which, penetrating the
said portions of the fibre, tend to separate them laterally, and also hold them
against the combing operations of the pins f¹, between and from which they
are drawn by the rollers C, C₁, whence they pass through the condenser C*
to the delivery rollers P, P¹. The operation is rendered more effective by the
reciprocating bars L and their pins f*, the said bars beating down the portions

page_text: of the fibres between the chains B, B¹, and so preventing them. from rising
above the pins f, f', while the pins f, penetrating the said portions of the fibres,.
tend to spread them laterally, and also hold them against the combing operations.
of the pins f¹.
It has been herein before mentioned that the feed board F might be fixedly.
secured to its reciprocating carriage D. In that case, the whole of the.
mechanism described for raising, and lowering or tilting said .feed-board would.
be dispensed with. On a feed-board thus secured to the carriage, the bunches of
fibres successively placed thereon by the attendant, during the forward move
ment of the carriage, are by him pushed forward under the rear rung of.the.
reel. E, just as the carriage arrives in its foremost position. The reel then, dur
ing the return movement of the carriage, draws the fibres from the feed-board and
deposits them on the pins f as before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-.
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me from abroad, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. The combination of a table comprising bars armed with pins, a fibre-feeding.
carriage, means for moving said table in one direction, and means for moving
said carriage back and forth over said table, substantially as described, for the
purpose of producing a downward deposit of fibres on said table.
2. The combination of a table comprising bars armed with pins, means for.
moving said table in one direction, a fibre-feeding carriage, and means for
moving said carriage back and forth over said table, parallel with the movement
of the latter, at a speed greater than that of the movement of the table, for de-
positing the fibres in lapping layers, one layer upon another, on said table,.
substantially as herein described.
3. The combination of a table comprising bars armed with pins, and means
for moving said table in one direction, a carriage, and means for moving the
same back and forth over said table parallel with the movement of the latter,
and a feed-board and a reel on said carriage, substantially as herein described.
4. The combination of a table comprising bars armed with pins, and means.
for moving said table in one direction, a fibre feeding carriage, and means for
moving the same back and forth over said table parallel therewith, stationary
ways for the support and guidance of said carriage, a right and left hand cross-
threaded screw arranged parallel with said ways, and means for producing the
rotation of said screw, a switch nut on said screw, and a connection between said
nut and said carriage, substantially as herein described.
5. The combination of two tables arranged one before the other, and each
comprising bars armed with pins, means for moving the said tables both in one
direction but at different speeds, a feed-board arranged over the slower moving
table, and means for moving said feed-board back and forth over the latter table,
for depositing fibres downwards upon the pins of the slower moving table, sub-
stantially as herein described.
6. The combination of two tables arranged one before the other, and each
comprising bars armed with pins, means for moving said tables both in one direc-
tion, but at different speeds, a fibre-feeding carriage, and means for moving
said carriage back and forth over the slower moving table, towards and from
the faster moving table, at a speed greater than that of the slower moving
table, but less than that of the faster moving table, substantially as herein
described.
7. The combination of two tables arranged one before the other, and each
comprising bars armed with pins, means for moving said tables both in one
direction, but at different speeds, a beating bar arranged over the space between
said tables, and means for giving a reciprocating motion to said bar, for the
purpose of pressing down the fibres on their way from one of said tables to the
other, substantially as herein described.
8. The combination of two tables arranged one before the other, and each

page_text: comprising bars armed with pins, means for moving said tables both in one
direction, but at different speeds, a fibre feeding carriage, means for moving said
carriage back and forth over the slower moving table, towards and from the
faster moving table, at a speed greater than that of the slower moving table,
but less than that of the faster moving table, and a beating bar arranged and
operating between the said tables, substantially as herein described.
9. The combination of a table comprising bars armed with pins, means for
moving said table in one direction, a carriage, and means for moving the same
back and forth over said table, a tilting feed-board on said carriage, and means
for tilting said feed-board, substantially as herein described.
10. The combination of a table comprising bars armed with pins, means for
moving said table in one direction, a carriage, and means for moving the same
back and forth over said table, a reel on said carriage, a tilting feed-board on
said carriage in rear of said reel, and means for tilting said feed-board, sub-
stantially as herein described.
11. The combination, substantially as herein set forth, of a table comprising
bars armed with pins, means for moving said table in one direction, a carriage,
and means for moving the same back and forth over said table, a tilting feed-
board pivoted at its front end to said carriage, and means, substantially as herein
described, for tilting said board automatically by the backward movement of
the carriage.
12. The combination of a table, comprising bars armed with pins, and means
for moving said table in one direction, a carriage, and means for moving the
same back and forth over said table, a tilting feed-board pivoted at its front end
to said carriage, a rock-shaft on said carriage for tilting the rear end of the feed
board, a gear on said rock-shaft, a stud on said carriage, a loose gear on said stud
gearing with said gear on the rock-shaft, a loose swinging tappet on said stud,
for turning said loose gear in one direction, and a fixed stop for actuating said
tappet, to produce the tilting of the feed-board during the backward movement
only of the carriage, all substantially as herein described.
Dated this 22nd day of April 1899.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.