IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON GINS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richardson, of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, and James Fidler, of the same
Place, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON
GINS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richardson
and James Fidler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th April 1872.
We, WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, and JAMES FIDLER, of the same Place, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COTTON GIS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention refers to gins constructed according to what is known
as the Macarthy principle, and consists,-
Firstly. In an arrangement whereby we are enabled to feed the
machine by placing the material in a hopper. This hopper is situate

page_text: above the ordinary leather roller and blades, and is provided at the lower.
part of its front with a grid, through the spaces of which there extend
the teeth of a vibrating comb. The hopper is provided with a bottom
extending nearly across its breadth, and upon this is situate a bar to
which a reciprocating motion is imparted, and this pushes the material
to the aforesaid grid, from which it is taken and thrown downward to
the above-mentioned leather roller by the vibrating comb. Upon the
reciprocating bar we place a row of projecting pegs to ensure the descent
of the material in the hopper.
Secondly. Our Invention relates to an arrangement whereby the
detached seeds and fibrous material which adheres thereto are prevented.
from accumulating so as to impede the action of the ordinary blade.
For this purpose we adapt a vibrating grid or comb, the teeth of which
pass through the spaces of the usual fixed grid, thereby flirting the said
seeds and fibre upwards and subsequently carrying them through the 1
fixed grid. The vibrating grid or comb may be connected to the usual
moveable blade, or may have a separate motion imparted thereto.
It is well known that gins of the above-named description are made
both single and double. We have for the sake of clearness described our
Invention as applied to the former arrangement; if it be applied to the
latter there is merely a repetition of the parts, with the exception of the
reciprocating bar in the hopper, and which by its to-and-fro motion may
answer for both sides.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Richardson and James Fidler in the Great 2
Seal Patent Office on the 24th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
RICHARDSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical En-
gineer, and JAMES FIDLER, of the same Place, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Richardson and James Fidler, our

page_text: The fixed grids 4, 4*, are not of the form usually adopted, for a reason
which will appear when the second part of our Invention is described,
but at the present they may be considered to be like those in ordinary use.
At 8 is a hopper carried by the frame and formed at its lower part
by grids 9,9*, extending across its width (see the dotached view, Fig. 3). 5
These grids are carried by rods 10, 10*, which are attached to brackets
11, 11, extending from the frame 1. At 12, 12*, are vibrating shafts
extending across the machine and provided with hooks 13, 13*, which
pass into the spaces of the grids 9, 9*. The bottom of the hopper is
closed excepting at each side, as at 14, 14*, by a plate 15, upon which is 1
placed a bar 16 having a row of projecting pegs 17 on its upper side,
and capable of sliding in guides formed in the frame 1. This bar is
connected at each end by a pin 18 to a connecting rod 19, which at its
other end is jointed to a crank pin 20 extending from a pulley 21, and
thus the said bar 16 is caused to move to and fro. Upon the shaft 22 of 1
the aforesaid pulley 21 is a crank 23, the rod 24 of which is connected to
a bar 25 capable of sliding in guides formed in the brackets 11, 11*, and
provided with toothed racks 26, 26*, which are in gear with pinions
27, 27*, mounted on the shafts 12, 12*, as therefore the racks 26, 26*, .
move to and fro the shafts 12, 12*, are caused to vibrate and impart a 2
similar motion to the teeth 13, 13*.
The parts above referred to are those belonging to the first portion
of our Invention, and we will now proceed to describe the operation
thereof, reserving for the present a description of how the several parts
are driven, that being immaterial. The cotton to be ginned is placed 2
in the hopper 8, and rests therefore upon the plate 15 and bar 16, which
as it moves to and fro thrusts a portion of the material against the
grids 9,9*, from whence it is removed and thrown downward through the
spaces 14, 14, by the vibrating motions of the teeth 13, 13*, which
alternately retreat from and pass through the spaces of the grids 9, 9*.
The cotton being thus thrown downward is guided by a shute 28 on to
the usual stationary grids 4, 4*, and is then ginned by the vibrating
and fixed blades 5, 5*, 3, 3*, in the ordinary manner.
3
We will now proceed to describe the second portion of our Invention.
Upon the vibrating levers 6, 6*, are fixed grids or combs 29, 29, the 3
solid parts of which pass into and out of the spaces of the fixed
grids 4, 4*, as the levers 6, 6*, vibrate. The right hand side of Fig. 2

page_text: shews them in the former position, and the left hand in the latter, and
in order to admit of those motions the grids 29, 29*, do not extend
as is usual in one direction, but are crooked upward as shewn in the
Drawing.
Referring to the right hand side of Fig. 2, the vibrating blade 5 has
just acted on the material and is about to rise from the fixed blade 3,
in performing which motion it will carry with it the grid or comb 29,
which by passing through the spaces of the fixed grid 4 will flirt
upward the seeds and fibre resting thereon, thus preventing an accu-
mulation which would interfere with the action of the blade. During
these movements the comb or grid 29* at the left hand of the Fig*. will
descend through the spaces of the fixed grid 4* and carry with it any
seeds that may be resting thereon.
It will be seen by the foregoing description that where this second
part of our Invention is employed the material which is fed to the
machine rests in the first instance upon the moveable grids or combs
29, 29*, and subsequently upon the fixed grids 4, 4*, and that the usual
operation of the vibrating blades takes place while it is in the latter
situation.
According to the general plan the leather rollers 2, 2ª are fixed as
regards horizontal motion and the blades 3, 3*, moveable against a
spring in the Drawing. This arrangement is reversed, the said rollers
being pressed forward by weighted levers 30, 30*, against the blades
3, 3*, which are fixed to solid bars, but this does not constitute any part
of our Invention, and the ordinary method of mounting those parts may
be considered as adopted.
We will now describe how the several parts above referred to may be
driven. At 31 is the main shaft, upon which there is a pulley 32
driving another pulley 33, on the axis of which is the leather roller 3*.
On the said shaft 31 is a pulley 34 driving a pulley 35, the axis of
which carries a crank 86 actuating a connecting rod 37 jointed to an
arm 38 upon the shaft 7, and thus the two blades 5, 5*, are caused to
vibrate. A crossed strap from the main shaft 31 drives a pulley 40
on a shaft 41, which drives by means of a strap 42 a pulley upon
the shaft of the leather roller 2. The shaft 22 and consequently the
two cranks 20, 23, are driven by a strap 43, which passes over a
pulley 46 on a shaft 45 driven from the shaft 41 by means of
Dearing 46 47.

page_text: Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we
desire it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the arrange-
ment of the ordinary working parts as above described, or to the use
of a double acting gin, as one leather roller only with the other usual
parts may be employed if desired; but we claim as secured to us under
the above in part recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes abovo
set forth,-
Firstly. The use of the reciprocating bar 16, and grid 9, with its
vibrating comb or grid 13.
Secondly. The use of a comb, grid, or similar instrument passing
upward and downward through the spaces of the ordinary fixed grid.
:
1
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richardson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in,
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 1
two.