IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING APPARATUS FOR CARDING MACHINES AND OTHER MACHINERY FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Foster Burlock, of Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING
APPARATUS FOR CARDING MACHINES AND OTHER MACHINERY FOR TREATING
FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communication from abroad by George S.
Harwood, of Boston, Massachusetts. United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Foster
Burlock at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd June 1875.
I, FREDERICK FOSTER BURLOCK, of Coventry, in the County of
Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING APPARATUS FOR CARDING MACHINES AND OTHER
MACHINERY FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIALS," a communication, to be
as follows:
My Invention relates to novel apparatus for feeding wool or other
fibrous substances to carding or other preparing machinery, and composed
of a receiver or box into which the fibrous material is placed, and

page_text: machine.
The said apparatus is constructed with a receiving box, which has a
hinged door opening from the floor for the purpose of readily removing
from under the machine any dirt or dust which may have fallen through
the wire gauze to the floor. For the bottom of my receiving box I
use a sheet of wire gauze or wire netting, in order that as the wool is
turned over or shaken by the operation of the machine any dust or
foreign substance may fall through the netting to the floor, and thus be
easily removed through the said door in front of the machine.
To obviate the difficulties experienced in machines of this class when
the apron works vertically or at an acute angle to the floor I run the
lifting face of the said apron at an obtuse angle to the receiving box of
the machine.
For the more perfect preparation of the stock I place between the
upper end of the said lifting apron and a lower feed apron a spiked roll,
and as the wool passes between this spiked roll and a spiked fan it will.
be thoroughly opened and prepared for the carding machine.
To prevent the winding of the long fibres of wool around the rolls and
cylinders of the machine I use beaters, as follows:-To a central shaft I
attach branching arms or spikes as they are called, and to the end of
these arms in the said spiked fan I fasten wings or strips of wood or
metal armed with teeth, and those of the fan beater I arm with leather
or other yielding substance. In the rapid revolution of "workers"
thus constructed a current of air will continually enter at each end of
each worker, and be thrown off from the circumference thereof, and
thus prevent the accumulation of the fibres.
To guard against any winding of the stock around the said spiked roll,
as well as to prevent the falling of fibres down between the spiked apron
and the slat apron, I provide a metal shield, which rests upon the spiked a
roller, and is provided with slots through which the spikes or teeth of
the said roller protrude, so that in the revolution of the roll any fibres
adhering to any of the spikes shall be cleared off by the shield.
In other machines of this class the throat or packing chamber is
formed below by the feed apron on which the wool is thrown, and above
by a sheet of iron, which being stationary causes considerable friction;

page_text: it thus retards the progress of the wool, hold's back the feed, and makes
it uneven. To obviate this difficulty I use an upper moving apron,
which with the said lower apron forms the packing chamber. The
upper and lower surfaces of this packing chamber being thus continually
in motion the stock is carried forward uniformly. These aprons are
both adjustable, so that by lifting or depressing either of them I can
regulate the size of my packing chamber as I desire, and thus control
the quantity of wool in said chamber.
filed by the said Frederick Foster Burlock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
FOSTER BURLOCK, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Foster Burlock, Her
special licence that I, the said Frederick Foster Burlock, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Foster
Burlock, 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 FEEDING APPARATUS FOR CARDING MACHINES AND OTHER
MACHINERY FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIALS," a communication to me from
abroad by George S. Harwood, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick
Foster Burlock, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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

page_text: 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 Frederick Foster Burlock, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
My Invention relates to novel apparatus for feeding wool or other
fibrous substances to carding or other preparing machinery, and comprises
a receiver or box into which the fibrous material is placed, and devices
for delivering the same from this receiver to the carding or other
machinery. The main object of the said Invention is to secure a more
even feed than is practicable with other machines formerly made.
The manner in which the said Invention may be advantageously
carried in practice will be clearly understood by reference to the
accompanying Drawing, in which,—
Figure 1 is a perspective view of machinery embodying my improve-
ments; Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same; Figure 3
shews a portion of the said machinery detached.
The receiving box A has at the point a in the case a hinged door A¹,
which opens from the floor, as shown in the Drawing, for the purpose of
readily removing from under the machine any dirt or dust which may
have fallen through the wire gauze to the floor. For the bottom of the
said receiving box I use a sheet of wire gauze or wire netting B, in order
that as the wool is turned over or shaken by the operation of the
machine any dust or foreign substance may fall through the netting to
the floor, and thus be easily removed through the door A¹ in front of the
machine.
In other machines the lifting face of the spiked apron C is usually
run vertically, that is to say, at right angles to the floor on which the
machine rests; it has however occasionally been run at an acute angle
to the floor, but in either of these positions there is a tendency for this
lifting spiked apron to carry forward to the card, in the first instance,
too large a proportion of the long fibres from the stock in the receiving
box, because the shoddy or very short fibre tends to fall from the
hooks.

page_text: To obviate the difficulties experienced in machines of this class when
the apron works vertically or at an acute angle to the floor I run the
lifting face of the apron C at an obtuse angle to the receiving box of the
machine.
For the more perfect preparation of the stock I place between the
upper end of the lifting apron C and the lower feed apron D a spiked
roll E, and as the wool passes between this spiked roll E and the spiked
fan G, it will be thoroughly opened and prepared for the carding
machine.
In operating with other machines I have found that the long fibres of
wool are liable to be wound around the spiked rolls and cylinders used
in such machines, and also around the flat blades or paddles sometimes
used.
To prevent the winding of the long fibres of wool around the rolls
and cylinders of the machine I use beaters constructed as follows:-To
a central shaft 6 I attach branching arms or spikes c as they are called,
and to the end of these arms in the spiked fan G I fasten wings or strips
of wood or metal armed with teeth as at d, and those of the fan beater F
I arm with leather or other yielding substance as at e.
In the rapid
revolution of "workers" thus constructed a current of air will con-
tinually enter at each end of each worker, and be thrown off from the
circumference thereof, and thus prevent the accumulation of the fibres.
To guard against any winding of the stock around the spiked roll E,
and to prevent the falling of any of the fibres down between the spiked
apron C and the slat apron D I provide a metal shield H (shown detached
in Figure 3), which rests upon the roller E, and is provided with slots f,
through which the spikes or teeth of the roller E protrude, so that in
the revolution of the roll any fibres adhering to any of the spikes shall
be cleared off by the shield H.
In other machines of this class the throat or packing chamber I is
formed below by the feed apron D, on which the wool is thrown, and
above by a sheet of iron, which being stationary causes considerable
friction; it thus retards the progress of the wool, holds back the feed,
and makes it uneven. To obviate this difficulty I use an upper moving
apron K, which, with the lower apron D, forms the packing chamber I.
The upper and lower surfaces of this packing chamber being thus
continually in motion the stock is carried forward uniformly.
These

page_text: aprons are both adjustable, so that by lifting or depressing either of
them I can regulate the size of my packing chamber as I desire, and
thus control the quantity of wool in said chamber.
The operation of my Invention is as follows:-The fibrous material to
be fed to the carding or preparing machine is thrown into the box A,
lifted therefrom by the spiked apron C, cleared from said apron by the
fan beater F, and carried forward between the spiked fan G and the
spiked roll E into the packing chamber I. By the rapid revolution of
the fan beater F and of the spiked fan G the packing chamber is kept
continually filled, and any surplus material is blown over and returned
to the receiving box A. The slotted shield H may be applied not only
to the spiked roller E, but to any other spiked worker in the machinery.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The receiving box with a wire gauze or other perforated bottom,
in combination with the case and door in the same, as above described
and for the purposes set forth.
Second. In the machinery or apparatus herein described and similar
machinery the combination of a spiked worker and a slotted shield
applied to said worker in the position shewn, to operate as above described
and for the purpose specified.
Third. The packing chamber with its top and bottom formed of
moving surfaces, which are adjustable to regulate the size of the
chamber, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, the said Frederick Foster Burlock, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.