IMPROVEMENTS IN OPENERS AND LAP MACHINES FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Buckley, Foreman in the employment
of Taylor, Lang, & Co., Limited, Castle Iron Works, Stalybridge,
in the County of Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OPENERS AND LAP MACHINES FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Buckley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th March 1875.
I, EDWARD BUCKLEY, Foreman in the employment of Taylor, Lang,
& Co., Limited, Castle Iron Works, Stalybridge, in the County of
Chester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN OPENERS AND LAP MACHINES FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-

page_text: rollers are upon one side of the cylinder, having teeth, spikes, or bars;
and the grid for the droppings is upon the opposite side, extending round
to near the front or feeding side, and consists in taking the fibrous
material from the outlet in the front by a channel passing under the
receptacle for the droppings, and then upwards to be delivered at the
back of the machine or conveyed to the cages of a lap machine, so that
the draught will draw the fibrous materials from the opening cylinder or
beaters along the said channel or passage. In place of a simple channel
one or more endless lattices may be employed to convey the fibrous
material in the direction above described. In the said channel I place
a grid at the point where the fibrous material falls from the toothed
cylinders or beaters through which dirt will pass to a box below the
grid.
Secondly. My Invention relates to the grid or dust box over which
the fibrous material passes to the draught cages, and to means for
regulating the direction of the material to the said cages; and it consists
in hinging this grid box at one end so that it can be raised and lowered
at the other end by an excentric toothed quadrant or other means so as
to adjust and direct the fibrous material more effectively upon the
draught cages. There is a loose hinged part at the moveable end of the
dust box which admits of movement in it and keeps the space between
it and the cage closed.
Thirdly. My Invention consists in applying speed pulleys and a bell
to drive the feed rollers of opening machines, and a clutch box in con-
nection therewith for putting the same in and out of gear, by which
means the speed of the fccd rollers may be readily adjusted to the
material to be operated upon, and stopped or started as required.
15335
on the 24th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
BUCKLEY, Foreman in the employment of Taylor, Lang, & Co., Limited,
Castle Iron Works, Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, 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 successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Edward Buckley, Her special license that I,
the said Edward Buckley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Buckley, 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 OPENERS AND LAP
MACHINES FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Buckley, my execu-
3 tors 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 to be filed in the Great
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Buckley, 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 the accompanying Drawings (that is to
say) :—
Firstly. My Invention relates to an improved arrangement and
combination of the mechanism of opening machines where the feed
rollers are upon one side of the cylinder, having teeth, spikes, or bars;
and the grid for the droppings is upon the opposite side extending round
towards the front or feeding side; and my Invention consists in taking
the fibrous material from the outlet from the grid by a channel passing
under the receptacle for the heavy droppings and then upwards to be
delivered to cages at the back of the machine so that the draught
through the cages will draw the fibrous materials from the opening
cylinder or beaters along the said channel or passage. In place of a
simple channel one or more endless lattices may be employed to convey
the fibrous material in the direction above described. In the said
channel I place a grid or grids at the point where the fibrous material

page_text: falls from the toothed cylinders or beaters through which dirt will pass
to a box, or boxes, or enclosures below the grid.
Secondly. My Invention relates to the grid or dust box over which
the fibrous material passes to the draught cages, and to means for
regulating the direction of the material to the said cages; and it consists
in hinging this grid box at one end so that it can be raised and lowered
at the other end by an excentric or excentrics, toothed quadrant, or
other means so as to adjust and direct the fibrous material more effectively
upon the draught cages. There is a loose hinged part at the moveable
end of the dust box which admits of movement in it and keeps the spaco
between it and the cage closed.
Thirdly. My Invention consists in applying speed pulleys and a belt
to drive the feed rollers of opening machines and connected mechanism
and a clutch box in connection therewith for putting the same in and
out of gear, by which means the speed of the feed rollers may be readily
adjusted to suit the material to be operated upon, and the feed rollers
and connected parts stopped or started as required.
"
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of so much of an opener and lap
machine as is necessary to explain the first part of my Invention. a is
a lattice; b, feed rollers; c, toothed cylinder; d, casing over cylinder
having teeth; e, grid through which the heavy dirt and "droppings
pass; f, plain casing of cylinder; g, compartment for heavy droppings;
h, wire cylinders or cages; i, fan for drawing air and dust from the
cages. The parts above mentioned are old and well known. j is a
channel or passage from the casing of the toothed cylinder to the wire
draught cages; this channel passes under the compartment (g) for heavy
droppings. The lower side of this passage has two grids k and k¹ for
five droppings which drop into the compartments below, which have
doors hinged in any convenient manner through which the droppings
are removed. For the compartment (k) the door may be hinged at k²;
for the compartment k¹ there may be two doors at k³ hinged at each side
and closing against each other, or in any other convenient manner. The
arrows in Fig. 1 show the direction in which the fibrous material passes.
There is a door to the heavy droppings compartment at the top, hinged
at g¹, and there is another door g² at the side, and one of these may be
placed at each side, each door having a valve arrangement 9³ to admit
air. The action of the fan draws air from the compartment (9) for heavy

page_text: droppings through the grid e from the casing of the toothed cylinder (c)
along the channel or passage j and through the wire cages h, the current
taking the fibrous material and fine dust along with it, the dust passing
through the cages while the fibre passes between the cages, and then
between rollers to an ascending lattice or to the rollers of a lap machine,
when the fibre is to form a lap, as shown in Fig. 1.
The second part of my Invention is illustrated by Fig. 2, a longi-
tudinal section of so much of a scutcher as will be necessary to explain
this part of my Invention. a, feeding lattice; b, feed rollers; c, beater;
e, grid; h, wire draught cylinder or cages; i, fan; g, compartment for
heavy droppings; is the grid and box for fine droppings; it has a pivot
at each side at P, having bearings in the side frames, and the lower side
of the box rests upon two excentrics m³ on a shaft m passing across the
machine and having bearings in the side frames. By turning the shaft m
by a handle or other convenient arrangement the grid box can be raised
from the position in which it is shown in full line until its upper surface
assumes the position shown by the dotted line. There is a plate hinged
to the front of the box at n, the free end of which rests upon a bar p
passing across the machine, nearly touching the surface of the lower wire
cage h, so that by this means in adjusting the height of the grid box /
There is a lid or door in
no space is left open between it and the cage.
the bottom of the grid box opening downwards as in the ordinary grid
box to allow the fine droppings to fall into the compartment for heavy
droppings as the grid box is closed against the action of the draught in
the ordinary working of the machine.
The third part of my Invention will be explained by reference to
Figs. 1, 3, and 4. Fig. 3 is a sectional view and Fig. 4 an end view. In
openers," combined openers, and lap machines, and scutchers, the feed
rollers, and the draught cages, and the lap mechanism when combined
with opening or scutching mechanism are all geared together; and this
part of my Invention consists in a combination of mechanism for
facilitating the change of the speed of the feed rollers and connected
mechanism, and for stopping and starting the same when desired.
is
a bracket secured to the side frame of the machine in any convenient
position, where a spur wheel" on an axis in the bracket can be brought
into gear with the gearing driving the draught cages, feed rollers, and
lap mechanism, and upon the said axis there are "speed pulleys," and
corresponding speed pulleys are also placed upon the end of the shaft of

page_text: the opening cylinder, as shown in dotted line in Fig. 1. By changing
the belt from one size of pulley to another, as well understood, the speed
of the feed rollers and connected mechanism is regulated. For stopping
and starting the mechanism it is arranged as follows:- -q is the bracket
secured to the side frame of the machine; s is a central shaft fixed in
the bracket by a screw; is a tube fast on the fixed shaft; u is a
tube which can rotate on the tube (t); r is a spur wheel keyed on the
tube . This spur wheel is in gear with the mechanism to be driven,
as before mentioned. vare speed pulleys rotating upon the tube u ;
w is a ring keyed upon the end of the tube u; x is a boss having clutch
teeth formed upon or keyed to the boss of the speed pulleys v; y is a
tube which can screw by a course pitched thread to and fro upon the end
of the fixed shaft 8; z is the other part of the clutch (see Fig. 4) which
can rotate upon the tube y, this clutch has two projections which will
enter and slide in holes in the ring w. When the two halves of the
clutch are in gear the tube u, and consequently the wheel ", is driven;
but when the clutches are separate or out of gear the tube u is stopped
while the speed pulleys may rotate. The outside half of the clutch is
always in gear by means of the projections ¹ with the tube u. y¹ is a
handle on the tube y; by turning this one way or the other the outside
clutch is brought in and out of gear with the clutch on the boss of the
speed pulley. 8¹ is a bent tube screwed into the end of the fixed shafts,
and it acts to convey oil through a hollow (not shown) in the axis of the
fixed shafts to the inside of the tube u, also to its outside, and to the
inside of the boss of the speed pulleys through suitable holes and
2

page_text: Thirdly. Making the grid box of opening machines or scutchers
adjustable, as herein-before described and illustrated by Fig. 2 of the
Drawings.
Fourthly. The combination of the mechanism herein-before described
and illustrated by Figs. 3 and 4 of the Drawings, with openers, scutchers,
or combined openers and lap machines, for the purpose and in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof I, the said Edward Buckley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
EDWARD BUCKLEY. (L.S.)