IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CARDS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN BIRKBY,
of Upper Rawfolds, in the County of York, Card Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Birkby, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Birkby, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Birkby, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CARDS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Birkby, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same 'is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John-Birkby, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference béing had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
:-
My Invention relates, first, to constructing wire cards with paper board
backs.
Secondly, my Invention relates to a mode of constructing the backs of wire
cards by applying thin metal, combined with paper, leather, or woven or hard
felted fabrics, at the back thereof.
And, thirdly, my Invention relates to giving to the crowns of the dents or
teeth of wire cards additional bearing.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed, in the various Figures of which the same letters of reference are
used to indicate similar parts.
'
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a plan of part of a card suitable for the purposes of
flax, hemp, and tow, or such like fibres. Figure 2 is an end view thereof.
Figure 3 shews an edge view thereof. a, a, is a thin plate of metal, which I
prefer to be of tinned iron. 6, b, represents a surface of paper board placed
at the back of the sheet metal, and the metal I attach by means of glue or
other proper cement, and the yellow line indicates a surface of thin woven
cotton or other fabric glued or pasted over the metal plate and the paper
back, in order to keep the whole together, that the sheet or fillet thus pro-
duced may not be injured or deranged in pricking the same for the dents or
teeth. The back of the card being properly pricked, the teeth are inserted,
the sheet of metal being upwards, and the paper board at the back. In
pricking backs of cards thus composed of iron and paper I employ similar
pricking machines to those now in use; but in order to insure the prickers
from bending I employ a guide plate, through which the prickers are passed,
each of the prickers sliding through a hole in the guide plate, such guide
plate, when in the act of pricking, being pressed against the metal plate a at
the surface of the card back, the guide plate, however, being in connexion
with the parts of the machine which carry the prickers, so as to carry the
guide plate back, when the prickers go back, in order to the materials for a
card back which is being pricked being moved to receive the next pricking S
operation, the guide plate coming up against the metal plate a before the
prickers commence pricking through the plate a and other material b. By

page_text: this arrangement the prickers are supported, and prevented bending from their
work, and the guide plate, by pressing upon the surface of the card back,
allows the prickers to be withdrawn from the card back after it has been
pricked. I would remark, that although I prefer to use paper board at the
back of the metal plate a, yet I do not confine myself thereto, as leather
might be used, or a series of layers of cotton or other woven or hard felted
fabric, pasted or cemented together, might be used, the object being to obtain
the advantage of retaining the whole of the teeth regular by means of the
thin metal a placed in front of the sheet or fillet constituting the back of the
card, the holes in which will not be liable to enlarge by the working of
the teeth or dents, whilst the thickness obtained at the back by the paper
board or other layers of fabric or of leather will retain the stems steady in
action; and although when using paper board I prefer to employ combined
therewith a sheet of thin metal at the front or upper surface thereof, I do not
confine myself thereto, as paper board alone will make a very uniform back
to a wire card; and when using paper board as the sheet or fillet for the back
of a wire card I sometimes paste or cement a surface of thin cotton or other
woven fabric to protect the surface of the paper board when at work; but
this I do not consider absolutely necessary. The paper board which I have
employed for the purposes of my Invention is such as is used for pressing
purposes, and is well known to manufacturers. I do not, however, confine
myself to that particular make, as paper board may be produced suitable for
the purpose by any convenient means of combining a series of sheets of paper
together to produce the desired thickness. And I would wish it to be under-
stood, that I do not claim the application generally of sheet metal in the
manufacture of wire cards, but I only claim the same when used combined
with paper or other fabric or with leather at the back for the sheet or fillet
of a wire card; and I am aware that the backs of cards have before been
made by cementing a series of layers of cotton or other woven fabric together;
I do not, therefore, claim the same when uncombined with a surface of thin
metal, as above described.
Figure 4 shows a back view, and Figure 5 an end view, of part of another
card, composed of a thin sheet of metal. a, a surface of paper board, or other
fabric, or leather, the cotton or other fabric used only being cemented at the
back. The above-described cards are most suitable for the purposes of flax,
hemp, and tow, or other fibrous materials requiring cards of a like nature.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which relates to the so
forming of the crowns of the dents or teeth of wire cards that the crowns will

page_text: have a more extended bearing on the cylinder or other surface on which the
wire cards constructed according to this part of my Invention may be applied,.
this part of my Invention relating principally to that class of cards which are
used for carding wool and cotton, though they may be employed for other fibres:
In constructing the staples, each consisting of two teeth or dents, for making:5
wire cards, the crown of each staple proceeds' from one tooth to the other
in a straight line; hence; when it is pressed against the surface of a cylinder dr!
other surface (in fixing the cards thereon), the standing of the teeth depends?
wholly on the thickness of the back in which such teeth are set. The crown'at
the back being of cylindrical wire offers no breadth of surface to rest on the:1
cylinder or other surface on which the card may be fixed; but by bending
the wire of which the crown of two teeth may be composed' there will be a
more extended, surface obtained, and supposing the teeth to be'équally distant
from each other to those now made, there will be more 'wire used in making
such crown.
Figure 6 shews the back view of part of a card where the crowns of the
dents are bent so as to produce an extended bearing; Figure 7 is an edge
view thereof; and Figure 8 shews a plan, a front view,-an edge view, and a
perspective view of a staple of two teeth, and their crown; constructed accord-
ing to this part of my Invention! These parts are all shewn to an enlarged 2
scale, in order to the nature of the crowns being better understood. c, c, are.
the two teeth; and d is the crown, which, in place of proceeding in a
direct line from one to the other, is bent into two elbows or bends at e, e, one
of the bends extending backwards and the other bend extending forwards.
Hence, it will be evident, that in place of the crown of any two teeth resting
simply on a single line, when the card is affixed to a cylinder, each crown will
rest on an extended surface, and such extended surface will. rest the teeth,
being so readily disarranged by the working thereof; and the teeth'so having
crowns with extending bearing surfaces may have less thickness of leather
or other back to produce the strength of card desired. The staples may be s
either made by hand or by a machine, and when made in a machine I cause
the tongue, which has heretofore been used for holding the length of wire
against what is called the crowner, to be made larger, and to have a groove
on its end, and when the fingers come up (which have nicks or notches
formed in them to receive the wire) they prevent the parts of the wire which s
form the dents or teeth from bending, yet they allow sufficient of the wire
being drawn between them to form the enlarged crown; and before the fingers
begin to bend the wire into a staple the tongue is caused to revolve partly

page_text: round, thus bending the crown; and in order to cause such bends to rest in
the same plane when the staple is finished, the tongue, in place of moving
horizontally, slightly inclines downwards towards the crowner: The bends in the
crown having been thus made, the fingers move forward, and bend!the ends of
the wire into a staple, and the teeth are then introduced into a suitable back,
and finished in the usual manner. I would remark, that the shapes of the
bends of the crown may be varied, the object being to. encrease the surface
of the bearing of the crown; or, in place of bending, the crown, an extended
bearing surface of the crown may be obtained by bending the stems of the
teeth of the staples in the manner shewn at Figure 9, where there is a front
view, an edge view, and a perspective view of a staple suitable for making
wire cards for flax, hemp, and tow, and other work requiring similar teeth.
In this case the staple is formed in the ordinary shape, but has an additional
bend ate in the stem of each tooth, whereby the crown is carried forward
towards the point of the card, and beyond where the teeth pass through the
card back. Hence, when the teeth are at work, and have a tendency to be
drawn back, the crown offers a greater bearing surface, and, consequently,
resistance to the teeth being forced back.
Figure 10 shews an edge view, and Figure 11 a back view, of part of a card
constructed according to this part of my Invention.
Having thus described the nature of my improvements, I would remark,
that I do not confine myself to the precise details as described, provided the
peculiar character of either part of my Invention be retained. But what I
claim is,-
First, the mode of manufacturing wire cards by applying paper board (board
composed of several thicknesses of paper) as the fillet or sheet in which the
teeth or dents are received.
Secondly, I claim the forming of wire cards with thin sheet metal combined
with paper board or with woven or hard felted fabrics or with leather at the
back, as the sheet or fillet for receiving the teeth, as above described.
And, thirdly, I claim the extending the bearing surfaces of the crowns of
the wire teeth of wire cards, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Birkby, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
JOHN (L.8.) BIRKBY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid John Birkby came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written.. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.