IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Spencer Crighton, of Ashton-on-Mersey, in the
County of Chester, and John Taft, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Machinists, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LETTERS PATENT to Spencer Crighton, of Ashton-on-Mersey, in the
County of Chester, and John Taft, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Machinists, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING CARDS OF CARVING ENGINES,
AND IN THE METHOD OF LUBRICATING THE BEARINGS OF THE SAID APPARATUS,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Spencer Crighton and
John Taft at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 19th November 1868..
We, SPENCER CRIGHTON, of Ashton-on-Mersey, in the County of
Chester, and JOHN TAFT, of Manchester,. in the County of Lancaster,.
Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING 'CARDS OF CARDINC
ENGINES, AND IS THE METHOD OF LUBRICATING THE BEARINGS OF THE SAL

page_text: APPARATUS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE LUBRICATING OF THE BEARINGS OF OTHER
MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the description of machinery or apparatus
employed in the grinding of the "cards" of "carding engines" wherein
a roller or drum covered with a suitable grinding material is caused to
revolve in contact with the surface of the card or cards, and at the same
time to traverse to and fro in order to operate upon the entire surface of
the said cards. The said roller or drum has previously to our said
Invention been arranged with its axis parallel or nearly parallel with the
line of direction of its traverse, and when the said grinding roller has
been operating upon a card roller the axis of the said grinding roller has
been parallel or nearly parallel with the axis of the said card roller.
In one arrangement of apparatus constructed in accordance with our
Invention we arrange the said grinding roller with its axis at right
angles with the line of direction of the traverse, or at an angle therewith
other than a right angle, in contradistinction to the parallel or nearly
parallel arrangement herein-before mentioned. The said roller is caused
to revolve on its axis, and at the same time has a to-and-fro motion in
the direction or nearly in the direction of its axis, and is also traversed
from end to end of the "flat" or flats or of the "card roller," "licker-
in," or other roller or rollers, or cylinder or cylinders, being at the time
operated upon, as is well understood; or if preferred the roller flat or
cylinder being operated upon may be traversed in the direction of its
axis or of its length. The said traverse is effected by means of a.
revolving screw fitted with an arrangement for reversing the direction of
motion of the screw when the grinding roller reaches each end or side of
he surface being operated upon, or may be effected by other suitable or
well-known means, and the motion of the said grinding roller endwise is
effected by means of an excentric or cam sliding on a revolving shaft or
by other suitable means, the revolving motion being imparted to the said
grinding roller by means of bevil gearing or by means of a "flying
band" or otherwise, as found most suitable.
In another arrangement we employ a flat disc to grind the cards, the
said disc being formed of or covered with a suitable grinding material,
and having imparted to it a revolving motion on or around its axis, and
a traversing motion, as in the case of the arrangement herein next
previously described.

page_text: In some cases we employ two or more grinding rollers or grinding
surfaces combined in one apparatus.
We effect the lubrication of the bearings of card grinding machines or
of any portion thereof by means of cylindrical oil drippers which revolve
with the shaft or journal, each dripper enclosing one end of a bearing,
the oil being carried round by the dripper as it revolves, and falling back
into the bearing or being conducted therein by a suitable guide. This
portion of our Invention is also applicable to other classes. of machinery
than that herein described..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Spencer Crighton and John Taft in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SPENCER
CRIGHTON, of Ashton-on-Mersey, in the County of Chester, and JOHN
TAFT, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Spencer Crighton and John
Taft, Her special license that we, the said Spencer Crighton and John
Taft, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we;.
the said Spencer Crighton and John Taft, our 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 OR
APPARATUS FOR GRINDING CARDS, AND IN THE METHOD OF LUBRICATING THE
BEARINGS IN THE SAID APPARATUS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE LUBRICATING OF THE
BEARINGS OF OTHER MACHINERY," upon the condition, amongst others, that
we, the said Spencer Crighton and John Taft, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: 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 we, the said Spencer Crighton and John Taft,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
Our Invention relates to the description of machinery or apparatus
employed in the grinding of the cards of carding engines wherein a
roller or drum covered with a suitable grinding material is caused to
revolve in contact with the surface of the card or cards, and at the same
time to traverse to and fro in order to operate upon the entire surface of
he said cards. The said roller or drum has previously to our said
vention been arranged with its axis parallel or nearly parallel with the
of direction of its traverse, and when the said grinding roller has
perating upon a card roller the axis of the said grinding roller has
bee a parallel or nearly parallel with the axis of the said card roller.
be
'
In one arrangement of apparatus constructed in accordance with our
Invention we arrange the said grinding roller with its axis at right
angles with the line of direction of the traverse, or at an angle therewith
other than a right angle, in contradistinction to the parallel or nearly
parallel arrangement herein-before mentioned. The said roller is caused
to revolve on its axis, and at the same time has a to-and fro motion in
the direction or nearly in the direction of its axis, and is also traversed
from end to end of the flat or flats, or of the card roller, licker-in, or
other roller or rollers, or cylinder or cylinders being at the time operated
upon, as will be well understood; or, if preferred, the roller flat or
cylinder being operated upon may be traversed in the direction of its
axis or of its length. The said traverse is effected by means of a
revolving screw fitted with an arrangement for reversing the direction of
motion of the screw when the grinding roller reaches each end or side of
the surface being operated upon, or may be effected by other suitable or
well-known means, and the motion of the said grinding roller endwise is
effected by means of an excentric or cam sliding on a revolving shaft or
by other suitable means, the revolving motion being imparted to the said
grinding roller by means of bevil gearing or by means of a "flying
band" or otherwise, as found most suitable.

page_text: In some cases we employ two or more grinding rollers or grinding
surfaces combined in one apparatus.
We effect the lubrication of the bearings of card grinding machines or
of any portion thereof by means of cylindrical oil drippers which revolve
with the shaft or journal, each dripper enclosing one end of a bearing,
the oil being carried round by the dripper as it revolves, and falling back
into the bearing, or being conducted therein by a suitable guide. This
portion of our Invention is also applicable to other classes of machinery
than that herein described.
In order that the said Invention may be fully understood we
have supplied to accompany this Specification a Sheet of Drawings,
illustrating the arrangements we have employed when constructing a
machine capable of grinding two card rollers at one operation, the said
Drawings having similar letters of reference marked upon corresponding
parts in the various Figures.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings, Fig. 1 is a front
elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, and Fig. 3 an end sectional elevation of
the said machine, representing it as when operating upon two card
rollers, the said views being drawn about one-sixth of the full size.
Figs. 4 and 5 are detached views of portions of the mechanism and
Figs. 6 and 7 are sectional views of the improved lubricator.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a, a, are the two card rollers, and b, b, b¹, b¹,
are four grinding rollers operating on the said card rollers. The said
card rollers are mounted or suspended in the bearings c, c, c, c, which
are fitted to slide on the hangers d, d, shewn seperately at Fig. 4.
Each of the said hangers is fitted to slide on the cross rail e in order
that the distance apart of the said hangers may be varied to suit
different lengths of card rollers, each hanger being fastened in the
required position by means of a bolt d' passing through a slot in the
cross rail e. Each of the bearings c is connected to the lower end
of a screw by an attachment which will admit of the revolution of
the screw, and each screw works in a nut f¹ so that the height of
either end of each card roller may be seperately adjusted by turning
the corresponding screw by means of the hand wheel f. Each of the
nuts fis formed as a "skew spur" wheel, and is in gear with a second
spur wheel g which is mounted on one of the two shafts h, h, each of
the said shafts connecting together the two screws, which are employed
to adjust the height of one of the card rollers, so that when the said shaft

page_text: is caused to rotate the said screws will revolve in unison and both
ends of the roller will be raised or lowered to an equal extent. The two
shafts h, h, are geared together, as shewn at Fig. 4, and are actuated by
the hand wheel ' and the spur wheel h², so that by turning the said hand
wheel in the required direction the two card rollers will be raised or
lowered simultaneously; or if preferred each of the said shafts may be
provided with means for turning it seperately. The card rollers a, a, are
each caused to rotate by means of the straps i, i, acting on the pulleys
i, i¹, which are temporarily affixed to the shafts of the said rollers, the
said straps being actuated by the pulleys, , mounted on the main
driving shaft j. In the example illustrated four grinding rollers are
employed, the rollers b, b, being mounted on the spindle k, and the
rollers b', b', on the spindle ', the said spindles being fitted to revolve
in bearings formed on or attached to the sliding carriage . The said
carriage is fitted to slide to and fro along the bed m, and is actuated by
means of the screw shaft n which revolves in bearings formed on or
attached to each end of the said bed, and works in a nut attached to the
said carriage. The said screw shaft is driven alternately in opposite
directions by means of the cross strap o and the open strap p, which
are driven by pulleys on the main driving shaft j and put in motion.
The pulley o' which is fitted to slide on one end of the aforesaid
screw shaft, and the pulley p' which is fitted to slide on the outside of
the bearing in which the other end of the screw shaft revolves, as
shewn in Fig. 5. The said screw shaft is fitted at one end with a clutch
03, and at the other end with a similar clutch formed on the back of the
bevil wheel p³, the arrangement being such as that when the pulley
is slid into gear with the clutch o' and the pulley p out of gear with
the clutch p the carriage will slide along the bed in one direction,
and on the contrary when the pulley o is moved out of gear and the
pulley into gear the carriage will move in a reverse direction, this
movement of the said pulleys being effected by means of the sliding
rod which is fitted at each end with a fork which enters a groove
formed in the boss of the pulley in manner as shown in Fig. 5. A
second sliding rod r, shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1, is fitted with
fingers capable of being adjusted to suit the required length of traverse
of the carriage. A projecting piece attached to the carriage comes into
contact with one of the said fingers when the said carriage approaches
either end of its traverse and communicates a sliding motion to the
rod and the said rod gives motion to the quadrant or tumbling lever s,
q
P

page_text: shewn in plan in the small detached Figure, which said lever is mounted
on a stud fixed to the under side of the bed, the said lever continuing
to derive its motion from the carriage until the point of attachment
of the spring s¹ to the said lever has to some extent passed the centre
of traverse of the lever, when the said spring will complete the
movement of the lever and one end of the quadrant-shaped slot will
strike against a stud fixed to the rod q, and the said rod will thereby
be moved sufficiently to effect the aforesaid sliding movement of the
pulleys o and p. The bevil wheel p gives motion to the wheel t and
thereby to the pulley and the driving strap u, the said strap being
passed partly around the pulleys v, v, fixed to the ends of the spindles
k, k', a revolving motion being thus imparted to the grinding rollers.
To the sliding carriage is fitted a screw w, in this case formed with a
right-hand thread on one end and a left-hand thread on the other end,
and on the said screw is mounted the double forks w¹, w¹, which enter
On the outer
grooves formed in the bosses of the grinding rollers.
end of the said screw is fixed the pulley w², which is driven by the end
of one of the spindles by means of the strap w³, so that when the
grinding rollers are revolving in one direction the said rollers will be
caused to slide on their spindles and to approach each the other, a reverse
action taking place when the grinding rollers are caused to revolve in
a reverse direction.
The action of the machine is as follows:-Supposing that either one
or two card rollers have been placed in the bearings and adjusted with
relation to the grinding rollers, and that the sliding carriage is to the
for example,
left hand in Fig. 1, the driving shaft is set in motion, say,
in the direction of the arrow, and as the pulley p is in gear with the
screw shaft if the said shaft be cut with a right-hand thread the
carriage will traverse along the bed of the machine towards the right
hand, and at the same time motion will be communicated to the strap u,
and the grinding rollers will be caused to revolve in the direction of
the arrows, and as the strap 103 causes the screw w to revolve the said
grinding rollers will slide on their spindles in a direction, for example,
towards the bearings of the spindles, and as the card rollers also
revolve in their bearings the grinding rollers being covered with emery
or otherwise suitably prepared will grind the points of the card teeth
as the carriage traverses, the employment of two grinding rollers to
act simultaneously upon one card roller enabling the operation to be

page_text: more quickly performed, at the same time that each grinding roller
may be allowed to act more lightly on the card roller than if only one
roller was employed. The carriage continues to slide towards the
right hand as aforesaid until the grinding rollers arrive at or near
the end of the card roller, when the projecting piece 2 comes into
contact with the finger 3 on the rod r and moves the said rod and
thereby the lever s until the said lever is in a position which will allow
the spiral spring to act with sufficient force to continue the motion
of the lever without the aid of the carriage, when the quadrant shaped
portion of the said lever will strike against the stud 4 and the rod q
will be moved to the left hand a sufficient distance to throw the pulley p
out of gear and the pulley o into gear, which movement will reverse
the direction of motion of the carriage and also of the grinding rollers,
and the said carriage will move towards the left, and as a consequence
of the reversal of the motion of the grinding rollers, the said rollers
will slide on their spindles in a reverse direction, that is to say, towards
each other. At suitable intervals the card rollers are lowered towards
the grinding rollers by turning the hand wheel h', and the operation
is continued so long as is advisable, the direction of motion of the
carriage and also of the grinding rollers being reversed when the said
carriage arrives at either end of its traverse.
Lubricators x, x, made according to our improvements are employed
to lubricate the bearings of the machine or a portion thereof, the said
lubricators being illustrated at Figs. 6 and 7, where x is the lubricator
and y is the bearing to be lubricated. The said lubricator is fixed to
the shaft or spindle revolving in the bearing, so that the said lubricator will
revolve and the oil contained therein will be carried round and will come
into contact with the wire y¹, a portion of the oil flowing down the
said wire and falling into a hole formed in the top of the bearing.
The oil thus led from the lubricator flows along the groove 5, lubricating
the bearing and shaft in its progress, and falling into the lower groove 6
is returned to the lubricator, the annular groove 7 preventing to a
certain extent an overflow of oil at the opposite end of the bearing.
This arrangement or a modification thereof is also applicable to other
purposes, as, for example, to line shafting and to beater shafts, and
especially to shafts running at high speeds. In some cases pulleys,
wheels, pinions, or other revolving parts of machinery may be suitably
formed to act as lubricators, as in the case of the pulleys v, v, the

page_text: action of the said lubricators being the same as that of the example
herein described.
Although in the Drawings a machine is illustrated adapted to the
grinding of two card rollers at one time, and having two grinding
rollers operating upon each card roller, a modification of the said machine
may be readily made to operate only on one card roller at one time,
and only one grinding roller may be employed to operate on one roller
at one time, or if found to be advisable more than two grinding rollers
may be caused to operate upon one roller at one time. If preferred,
the grinding roller or each grinding roller may be made of such a
length as that it may operate upon two or more card rollers simul-
taneously. The arrangement of the various parts of the machine
giving motion to the carriage and to the grinding rollers, and for effecting
the reversal of the said carriage, may also be greatly modified, and a
modification of the said machine may be employed to grind the card
covered surfaces of the main cylinders of carding. engines so long as
the main features of our Invention are retained.
In our Provisional Specification we described an arrangement in
which a flat grinding disc was to be employed, but since the filing of
the said Specification we have found this to be not so efficient as we
then expected, and we therefore herein disclaim the said arrangement.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with
means for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details as
herein set forth and as illustrated in the attached Drawings; but that we
claim,―
First. Arranging the grinding roller or each grinding roller with its
axis at right angles with the axis of the roller or cylinder, or the axes
of the rollers or cylinders being operated upon or at an angle therewith
other than a right angle in contradistinction to the parallel or nearly
parallel arrangement of the said axes as heretofore employed.
Secondly. Causing the said grinding roller or each grinding roller
when revolving, and when traversing from end to end of the card
roller or cylinder to move in the direction of its axis, the said axis being
at an angle with the axis of the roller or cylinder being operated
upon as aforesaid.

page_text: Thirdly. Causing two or more grinding rollers arranged with their
axes as aforesaid to operate upon one card roller or cylinder at one time.
.
Fourthly. Causing one grinding roller, or each one, or any one of the
grinding rollers arranged as aforesaid, to operate upon two or more card
rollers or cylinders at the same time.
Fifthly. Operating upon two or more card rollers or cylinders simul-
taneously in one apparatus by means of grinding rollers arranged as
aforesaid.
And, lastly, the method of lubricating the bearings of card grinding
machines and the bearings of other machinery to which the said method
may be applicable, substantially as hercin described, and as illustrated
in the attached Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Spencer Crighton and John Taft,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventeenth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-nine.
.Signed and sealed, by the said
Spencer Crighton and John
Taft, in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
SPENCER CRIGHTON. (L.S.)
JOHN TAFT.
Agent to the Petitioners,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.
(L.S.)