IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING OR DIVIDING THE CARDED FLEECE INTO SLIVERS IN CARDING MACHINES FOR ALL KINDS OF FILAMENTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING OR DIVIDING THE CARDED FLEECE INTO SLIVERS
IN CARDING MACHINES FOR ALL KINDS OF FILAMENTS."-A communication
from abroad by Jean Baptiste Marée-Giot and Louis Julien Varlet-
Marée, both of Remilly-sur-Meuse, France.
Sealed the 18th February 1870, and dated the 26th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th August 1869.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
AND APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING OR DIVIDING THE CARDED FLEECE INTO SLIVERS
IN CARDING MACHINES FOR ALL KINDS OF FILAMENTS," to be as follows:-
The division or separation of the carded fleece delivered from carding
machines into slivers is at present effected either by forming the last

page_text: card surface as a series of divided bands, or by fixing cutting instruments.
in contact with the card surface.
Now the present Invention consists in separating the undivided fleece
into slivers a short distance beyond where it is delivered from the card
surface by means of a series of rotary disc cutters. For this purpose
there are arranged in front of the card surface from which the fleece is
delivered, two spindles supported in bearings one above the other,
receiving rotary motion in contrary directions and adjustable longi-
tudinally. Upon these spindles are secured the rotary disc cutters at
equal distances apart, such distances corresponding with the width of
sliver to be produced. For regulating these distances distance pieces
are placed on the spindles between each two cutters, the whole being
secured on the spindles by means of screw nuts screwed on to the ends
of the latter. The distance pieces are by preference made concave on
the one surface, in order by the pressure of such surface to impart a
slight conicity to the cutters. The cutters are formed, by preference,
with bevilled edges. Those on the one spindle are made to press to the
requisite extent against those on the other spindle for effecting the
shearing of the fleece by adjusting the spindles longitudinally by means
of screws acting against the ends thereof. After separation by the
cutters the slivers are passed each over a separate fluting on a fluted
cylinder, and thence between a pair of pressing rollers; or they may be
conducted alternately to one of two pairs of pressing rollers, on passing
from which they are then delivered either into cans or on to bobbins or
reels, as the case may be. In order to clear the edges of the rotary
cutters from any adhering fibres one or more rotary brushes, by
preference with inclined bristles, are made to revolve in contact there-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent 3
Office on the 25th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her special licence that I, the
said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING OR DIVIDING THE CARDED FLEECE INTO SLIVERS IN
CARDING MACHINES FOR ALL KINDS OF FILAMENTS" (a communication to me from
abroad by Jean Baptiste Marée-Giot and Louis Julien Varlet-Marée, both
of Remilly-sur-Meuse, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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
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 Charles Denton Abel, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:-
In carding machines of present construction the division of the carded
fleece into bands or slivers is effected upon the last carding cylinder, of
which the card surface in place of covering the entire surface of the
cylinder is divided into several distinct bands. In order to remedy the
defects of this system, namely, the rapid deterioration of the card surfaces,
particularly at the edges, and the imperfect separation of the slivers, it
has been proposed to arrange fixed cutting blades in contact with the
cylinder.
These arrangements have, however, not proved successful, and the
present Invention consists in overcoming these difficulties by separating
the undivided flecce into the required number of slivers at a certain
distance from the card cylinder by means of a series of circular rotary

page_text: disc cutters, which cut the fleece with a chisel edge, and which have no
connection with the mechanism of the carding cylinder.
The application of this Invention to a wool carding machine is shewn
on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Figure 1 shews a sectional side elevation, Figure 2 shews a plan, and
Figure 3 shews a front elevation partly in section of the machine;
Figures 4 and 5 shew respectively a side and front elevation of a pair
of cutting blades detached; Figure 6 shews the construction of the
clearing brushes.
The machine consists, mainly, of two series of circular steel discs or
blades a, b, mounted in vertical positions upon two parallel shafts A
and B. These two shafts are carried one above the other in bearings
fixed to the framing of the carding machine. The shafts A and B should
be fixed perfectly parallel to the card cylinder C. The discs on each
shaft are separated from each other by means of washers of equal
thickness d, d, which are hollowed out on one side in order to impart by
the pressure which they exert a certain degree of conicity to the cutting
discs, as shewn at Figure 4. After having. placed the discs and washers
alternately upon the shafts A and B they are tightened up by means of
screw nuts g, g¹, screwed on to a threaded portion of the said shafts, as
shewn in Figures 2 and 3. The discs have then to be moved laterally
until those on the one shaft come in contact with those on the other
shaft.
For this purpose the shafts A, B, are caused to slide longi-
tudinally in their bearings by means of set screws h, h', screwed through
brackets j, j, fixed at the sides of the framing. The pressure of the
discs against each other is so regulated as not to prevent them from
revolving in contrary directions, for which latter purpose the shafts A, B,
receive the requisite rotary motion by means of suitable gearing k, k.
The speed of the shafts should be such that the discs in no way drag the
fleece n, but simply cut the same as it passes from the card cylinder C,
from which it is removed by the doffer Q. Below the lower discs b, b,
is arranged a brush T, which clears the discs of all filaments that may
adhere to their circumference. A brush might be advantageously used
for this purpose with interrupted and inclined brush surfaces, as shewn at
Figure 6. The cutting discs a, b, are, by preference, formed with a
chisel edge, as shewn, but this is not indispensible. On passing from the
cutting discs the divided slivers pass into the grooves of a cylinder R,
which keeps them perfectly separate and equidistant from each other,

page_text: and from which they pass first between a series of pressing rollers S and
thence to the bobbins or cans. On passing from the rollers S, the slivers
may, as shewn in Figure 1, be separated into two series, passing to two
distinct sets of bobbins. It might also be advisable in order still more
effectually to separate the slivers to cause them to pass from the grooved
cylinder R to two distinct sets of pressing cylinders, arranged the one
above and the other below the level of the fleece n. The advantages of
this system of dividing the fleece will be readily understood, firstly, a
considerably increased produce is attained owing to the card cylinder
having a continuous card surface; secondly, the card surface is less
liable to deterioration; thirdly, a more perfect mode of action is attained,
the sliver being cut with the greatest accuracy and without being in any
way deteriorated; lastly, this system is readily applicable to all different
modes of action of carding engines. For one and the same quality of
wool or other filaments the machine may always be fed with one and the
same quantity, as it suffices in order to obtain a greater or less fineness
of sliver to increase or decrease the number of cutting blades, and to
vary their distances apart, which is readily effected by means of washers
of different thickness. By this system also slivers of such fineness may
be produced as to be capable of at once being spun into roving or
thread.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, what I claim is, the before described method of and
machinery or apparatus for dividing carded fleece into slivers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.
CHAS. D. ABEL. (L.S.)