IMPROVEMENTS IN TEETH FOR MACHINES FOR PICKING OR SEPARATING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TEETH FOR MACHINES FOR PICKING OR SEPARATING
COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES."-A communication from abroad
by Robert Wilde and Charles Schofield, both of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Sealed the 17th November 1868, and dated the 24th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th July 1868.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TEETH FOR MACHINES POR PICKING
OR SEPARATING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES," a communication, to be
as follows:-
Heretofore the spike teeth of a picker machine have been made either
polyhedrous or circular in their transverse section and tapered to a

page_text: dull point at the ends which project radially from the picker cylinder,
and as they operate upon the rags or wool and cotton waste by their
said pointed ends they necessarily very soon wear away, and not only
become too blunt to be properly effective in separating the fibres of
the rags or waste, but at the same time they grind or pulverize much
of the material and thus cause a considerable loss in the same and
also an increase in the consumption of the power in driving the machine.
For these reasons the said worn teeth have to be removed and new teeth
inserted in their places in the lags of the cylinder, and thus frequent delays
and loss of time arise, besides the original cost of the new spikes.
The object of my Invention is to provide picker teeth that will
continue to be fully effective as at first until worn off nearly up to the
lags of the cylinder of the picker machine, and that therefore will not
require any increase of power to keep up the proper speed of the
cylinder as the said teeth wear away nor cause a waste by pulverizing
the material.
The said Invention consists chiefly in making the spike teeth of a
picker machine so that the whole of that portion of each tooth which
is to project radially from the carrying cylinder shall be thin or flat in
its transverse section, and when the teeth are inserted in the lags of
the cylinder with their said flattened portions projecting radially
therefrom the flat surfaces shall be in vertical planes parallel with each
other and with the planes of the ends of the cylinder. Thus the same
thin form of the ends of the teeth will be presented to the rolls of the
machine during the continued wearing away of the teeth, the said
rolls or the cylinder being made adjustable in the bearings so as to be
readily altered in position to compensate for the gradual shortening of
the teeth.
My Invention also consists in giving a flattened form to a portion
of the opposite end of the picker tooth for the purpose of preventing
the rotation of the said tooth in the lags during the working of the
machine. The teeth are made from cylindrical bars of steel of suitable
diameter, which bars are forged or drawn down at one end to produce
a thin portion of uniform thickness and of a width equal to the diameter
of the original cylindrical bar. The bar is then cut at a distance about
equal to the thickness of the lag from the outer end of the flattened
portion, and the cut end of the tooth is then spread out laterally to form
the fan or wedge shaped portion, the planes of its flattened surface being

page_text: at right angles to the planes of the first-mentioned flattened portion.
These teeth are applied to the cylinder by driving them through the
outer lags from the inner side of the latter, so that they will project
radially therefrom in the usual manner, their thin projecting ends being
so arranged that their flat sides will be in vertical planes parallel with
the end planes of the cylinder. The rear ends of the teeth will
therefore enter the lags with their flattened sides parallel with the
lengths of the latter and thus effectually keep the projecting flat
portions of the said teeth always in their original parallel positions in
respect to the rotating cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, 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 successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 TEETH FOR MACHINES FOR PICKING OR SEPARATING COTTON,
WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Robert Lake, 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,

page_text: 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 I, the said William Robert Lake, 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
Sheet of Drawings forming a part of this Specification :-
Heretofore the spike teeth of a picker machine have been made
polyhedrous or circular in their transverse section and tapered to a dull
point at the ends which project radially from the picker cylinder, and
as they operate upon the rags, or wool, and cotton waste by their said
pointed ends, they necessarily very soon wear away, and not only become
too blunt to be properly effective in separating the fibres of the rags or
waste, but at the same time they grind or pulverize much of the material,
and thus cause a considerable loss in the same and also an increase in
the consumption of the power in driving the machine. For these
reasons the said worn teeth have to be removed and new teeth inserted
in their places in the lags of the cylinder, and thus frequent delay
and loss of time arise, besides the original cost of the new spikes.
The object of my Invention is to provide picker teeth that will
continue to be fully effective as at first until worn off nearly up
to the lags of the cylinder of the picker machine, and that therefore
will not require any increase of power to keep up the proper speed
of the cylinder as the said teeth wear away nor cause a waste by
pulverizing the material.
The said Invention consists chiefly in making the spike teeth of a
picker machine so that the whole of that portion of each tooth which
is to project radially from the carrying cylinder shall be thin or flat
in its transverse section, and when the teeth are inserted in the lags
of the cylinder with their said flattened portions projecting radially
therefrom the flat surfaces shall be in vertical planes parallel with
each other and with the planes of the ends of the cylinder. Thus
the same thin form of the ends of the teeth will be presented to the
rolls of the machine during the continued wearing away of the teeth,
the said rolls or the cylinder being made adjustable in the bearings
so as to be readily altered in position to compensate for the gradual
shortening of the teeth.

page_text: of the opposite end of the picker tooth for the purpose of preventing
the rotation of the said tooth in the lags during the working of the
machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of one of the said improved
teeth; Figure 2 is a like section of the same cut at right angles to
Figure 1, the dotted lines in both Figures indicating transverse and
longitudinal sections respectively of the lags of the picker cylinder.
Like letters indicate the same parts in both Figures.
A, B, C, is one of my improved spike teeth, A, B, being the portion
which is fixed in the outer lag V, W, of the cylinder (see the dotted
lines); B, C, the flattened portion which projects radially therefrom,
and A the spread or widened portion of the opposite or rear end of the
tooth. The teeth are made from cylindrical bars of steel of suitable dia-
meter, which bars are forged or drawn down at one end to produce a thin
portion of uniform thickness, and of a width equal to the diameter
of the original cylindrical bar. The bar is then cut at a distance about
equal to the thickness of the lag from the outer end of the flattened
portion, and the cut end of the tooth is then spread out laterally to
form the fan or wedge shaped portion, the planes of its flattened surface
being at right angles to the planes of the first mentioned flattened.
portion. These teeth are applied to the cylinder by driving them
through the outer lags from the inner side of the latter, so that they
will project. radially therefrom in the usual manner, their thin pro-
jecting ends being so arranged that their flat sides will be in vertical
planes parallel with the end planes of the cylinder. The rear ends
of the teeth will therefore enter the lags with their flattened sides
parallel with the lengths of the latter, and thus effectually keep the
projecting flat portions B, C, of the said teeth always in their original
parallel or proper positions in respect to the rotating cylinder. The
projecting portions of these teeth will form thin or narrow ends which
will act as effectually as the old form of picker teeth when the latter
are first used, and as these improved teeth wear away they retain the
same thin form and continue to operate as effectually as at first until
worn off up to the lags of the cylinder, thus always presenting the
same narrow or thin ends to the rolls, whereby the pulverizing effect
which is produced upon the fabric or fibres by the old form of teeth

page_text: when worn off a little is avoided, and therefore the useful product of
their operation is greater, and an increase of power is not required to
keep up the proper speed of the cylinder. The cost of constructing
and applying my said improved picker teeth is not more than the
cost of the old round taper teeth hitherto used.
Having thus fully described the said improvements, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I claim,-
First. A picker tooth having its projecting end B, C, flattened, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes set forth..
Second. A picker tooth having its rear end A spread or flattened,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in
the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THO. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
W.O.