CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Lord, of Todmorden, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 3rd June 1862, and dated the 28th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Lord at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
.28th December 1861.
I, EDWARD LORD, of Todmorden, in the County of York, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVÉ-
MENTS IN MACHINERY POR, PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention is applicable to the feeding apparatus of openers, blowers,
scutchers, carding engines, and other machines employed in cleaning or.
otherwise preparing cotton and other fibrous substances that are supplied with
a fleece or web of fibrous substances, and it consists in supporting the feeding
trough or concave plate over which the fleece of fibres passes on a centre ;
this trough or plate is either made in one piece, as heretofore customary, or it is
divided lengthwise into any convenient number of parts, and the entire trough
or each separate part is acted upon by a weight or spring, the object of these
weights or springs being to press the fibres between the trough or plate and

page_text: the feed roller, so as to prevent the fibres being drawn forward unevenly by
the beater or licker-in, or other revolving drum or roller acting upon them.
The feeding trough or plate, or the divisions of which it is composed, may also
be pressed against the feed roller by weights or springs without vibrating on
a centre. The variations in the quantity of fibrous substances fed to the
machine produce a variation in the distance between the trough or plate or of
the various divisions forming the trough or plate and the feed roller, and these
changes in the position of the trough or plate acting on the levers described
in the Specification of the Letters Patent, granted to me on the Thirteenth day
of February, One thousand cight hundred and forty-nine, No. 12,476, produce
the variations in the position of the cone strap described in the said Specifi-
cation, and thus increase or diminish the quantity of fibrous substances
supplied to the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Lord in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
LORD, of Todmorden, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Lord, Her special license that I, the said Edward Lord,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Lord, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Lord,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or.
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was

page_text: 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 Edward Lord, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
My Invention is applicable to the feeding apparatus of openers, blowers,
scutchers, carding engines, and other machines employed in cleaning or
otherwise preparing cotton and other fibrous substances, that are supplied with
a fleece or web of fibrous substances, and it consists in supporting the feeding
trough or concave plate over which the fleece of fibres passes on a centre;
this trough or plate is either made in one piece as heretofore customary, or it
is divided lengthwise into any convenient number of parts, and the entire
trough or each separate part is acted upon by a weight or spring; the object
of these weights or springs being to press the fibres between the trough or
plate and the feed roller, so as to prevent the fibres being drawn forward
unevenly by the beater or licker-in or other revolving drum or roller acting
upon them. The feeding trough or plate, or the divisions of which it is
composed, may also be pressed against the feed roller by weights or springs
without vibrating on a centre. The variations in the quantity of fibrous
substances fed to the machine produce a variation in the distance between the
trough or plate, or of the various divisions forming the trough or plate and
the feed roller; and these changes in the position of the trough or plate acting
on the levers described in the Specification of the Letters Patent, granted to
me on the Thirteenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
nine, Number 12,476, produce the variations in the position of the cone strap,
described in the said Specification, and thus increase or diminish the quantity
of fibrous substances supplied to the machine.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the 3 accompanying Sheets of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a section through part of an opener, blower, or
scutcher of the ordinary construction, to which my improved feeding apparatus
is applied; Figure 2 is a plan of the same. a is the beater, and 6 the feed
roller, the surface of which is made, by preference, rough, by turning annular
or spiral grooves on its circumference, which grooves are intersected by
longitudinal grooves, or the rough surface may be produced in any other

page_text: manner; this roller revolves in stationary bearings, and is not weighted as
now customary. c is the feeding trough or concave plate, which is divided
lengthwise into any convenient number of parts; I have found in practice
that by making each part one inch and a half wide a good result is obtained.
"All the parts of the trough are mounted loose on the cross shaft d, the ends of
which are supported in the frame sides, and the weighted ends c' of the parts
of the trough are sufficiently heavy to compress the cotton or other fibrous
substance between the trough and the feed roller. By this means the fibres
when delivered by the feed roller to the beater, are drawn forward evenly,
whereas when the feeding trough is made in one piece, as heretofore customary,
any lump or uneven part in the width of the fleece, by preventing an equal
pressure throughout, allowed portions of the fleece to be drawn through
unevenly.
Figure 3 represents a section of a modification of my improved feeding
trough. In this view the parts c are supported on the rail d, the upper edge of
which is knife edged.
I wish to remark that my improvements in the construction of the
feeding trough are equally applicable to carding engines, and to other machines
employed in cleaning or preparing cotton and other fibrous substances, in
which a fleece or web of fibrous substances is supplied to a licker-in or other
roller or beater.
Figure 4 represents a feeding trough suitable for a carding engine, supported
on the knife edge rail d, and extending the whole width of the machine, as in
feeding troughs of the ordinary construction. a is the licker-in; b is the feed
roller against which the feeding trough c is pressed by the spring c'; it is
evident that this trough may also be divided into sections as above described,
and that springs may be applied in all cases instead of weights, but I prefer
weights.
On Sheet 2, Figure 5 is a side elevation, Figure 6 an end view, and Figure 7
a plan of part of an opener, blower, or scutcher, to which my improvements
are applied. a is the beater; b, the feed roller; c, the feeding trough, formed of
any convenient number of parts mounted on the shaft d, as above described in
reference to Figures 1 and 2; e is the feeding apron for supplying the fibrous
substances to the machine, passing as usual over the rollers e¹ and e²; f is a
cone drum to which a uniform rotary motion is given by a strap passing
around the pulley f, in the manner described in the Specification of Letters
Patent, granted to me on the Thirteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-nine, Number 12,476; the cone drum f, gives motion to the

page_text: cone drum g, by means of the strap h, which is guided by the forks i, fixed to
the levers j, vibrating on the fulcrum studs j'. To the shaft of the cone drum g
is fixed a worm g', gearing into the worm wheel 61; this wheel revolves loose
on the axle of the feed roller b, and to it are fixed the bearings for the carrier
wheels 62, which gear into the wheel 63, fixed to the axle of the roller b, and
in the wheel 6, which is loose on the axle of the roller b, but fixed to the
wheel, which receives motion from the wheel 66, fixed to the side shaft 7.
This differential motion, and its object, are described in the Specification of
Letters Patent granted to me in conjunction with Thomas Lord, Abraham
Lord, and William Lord, on the Twenty-fifth day of July One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six, Number 1766; and the connection between my present
and my former Inventions will be described hereafter.
The ends c', of the parts forming the trough c, terminate in a hook, to
each of which is suspended a rod 1, the lower ends of these rods are wedge
shaped with the broad part downwards. Between the rods are placed the
rods m, which are suspended above, and vibrate, in the rail n, and below they
are provided with rounded projections m³, fitting between the wedges ; both
the rods and m are guided near their lower ends by the rail n¹. The last of
the rods l, at the right hand side of Figure 6, is held in position by the tail of
the set screw m², passing through the frame side, and the last rod m, at the
other side of the machine, is provided with a slot in which is a stud o,, for
the link o¹, the other end of which is jointed to the stud o², passing through
the slot in the vertical arm of the elbow lever p; the horizontal arm of this
elbow lever is provided with a fork taking on the cone strap lever j. The
fulcrum stud of the elbow lever p is adjustable in a slot, as shewn by dotted
lines, and the link o₁, and the horizontal arm of the lever p, are made in two
parts, connected by bolts, to compensate for the requisite adjustment of the parts.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The various parts of the machine are
shewn in the positions they occupy when the requisite quantity of fibrous
substances is being supplied to the feed roller b by the feeding apron e; in
order to retain the cone strap h, in this position, it is not essential that the
feed should be uniform throughout the width of the machine, for it is evident
if some of the parts of the trough c are depressed by an excess of fibres and a
corresponding number of others rise owing to the feed being too thin in other
parts, then the rising of some of the wedges, will be compensated for by the
depression of the others, but if the aggregate amount of fibres supplied to the
feed roller be too great it becomes necessary to reduce the speed of the said.
feed roller, and to accomplish this the cone strap has to be raised up the cones;.

page_text: this is accomplished in the following manner. As soon as any number of the
parts of the trough c have been depressed owing to the excess of feed, the
wedges, in rising act on the projections m¹, and cause the rods m, to incline
slightly towards the left-hand side of Figure 6; these rods cannot incline in
the contrary direction being held by the set screw m²; the combined action of
all the wedges l', acting on the last rod m, causes it to draw the link o', and
elbow lever p, in the direction of the arrow, thus raising the horizontal arm
of the elbow lever, and moving the strap h up the cones f and g, until the
speed of the feed roller is reduced so as to correspond with the feed. The
contrary action takes place when the feed being too light the speed of the
feeding roller requires to be increased, in this case the parts of the feeding
trough c, on approaching the feed roller, cause the wedges to lower, and
allow the rods m, to incline in the contrary direction, thus moving the elbow
lever in the direction of the dotted arrow, and lowering the strap on the
cones.
21
On Sheet 3, Figure 8 is a side elevation in section, and Figure 9 an end
view of a modification of my Invention; the parts marked a, b, e, e¹, 9, j, and j',
are similar to those above described in reference to Figures 5, 6, and 7. In
these views the parts forming the feeding trough c, instead of being placed
below, are placed above the feed roller b; these parts are sufficiently heavy to
compress the fibrous substances against the upper surface of the feed roller,
and they are supported on the two guide bars r, r. When this improved mode
of constructing the feeding apparatus of openers, blowers, and scutchers is
applied with the patent self-regulating feeding apparatus described in the
Patent granted to me on the Thirteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-nine, No. 12,476, I connect to each of the parts c a vertical
rod 1, with the wedge above; these wedges act on the projections m¹ of the
rods m, which are jointed to the rail n; this rail is supported by the stands or
bearings of the feed roller band apron roller e¹; the last of the rods is held by
a set screw, as described in reference to Figure 6, and the last of the rods m,
bas a slot for the stud o, which is connected by the link o' and lever p to the
pendent rods, the lower end of which is jointed to the lever t acting by the
link t¹ on the lever j, and on the strap forks of the cones f and g, these parts
act in precisely the same manner as the parts described in reference to Figures
5, 6, and 7, that is to say, when the feed is too thick, the parts c, is rising,
press the wedges against the studs m', and cause the rods m to incline
towards the left, as shewn by a dotted line in Figure 9; this inclination of the
last rod m raises the strap on the cones f and g, and reduces the speed of the
11

page_text: feed roller b. Figures 10 and 11 represent a modification of the foregoing
arrangement of parts; in this view, the wedges, are hinged to the parts c;
of the feeding trough, and these wedges act on the projections m of the
rods m, which are jointed to and vibrate in the cross rail n; the parts for
connecting the last of the rails in with the strap of the cones fand g are
similar to those above described in reference to Figures 8 and 9, but as the
action of the wedges P, produces the reverse action on the last rod m, the cones
f and g must be reversed, that is to say, the larger diameter of the cone g is
downwards, and this smaller diameter is upwards, as shewn in Figure 10,
consequently when the feed is too thick, the cone strap is lowered on the
cones to reduce the speed of the feeding roller. Figure 12 represents another
modification of my Invention; in this view the parts c of the feeding trough
are similar to those shewn in Figure 8; the upright rods are jointed below
to the parts c, and at the top they are jointed to the links v; the uprights m,
are jointed below and vibrate in a fixed rail, similar to n, in Figure 8, and
above they are jointed to the other ends of the links v; the last link in the
series, is connected to an upright m, with a slot in it for a stud o, as shewn in
Figure 9, consequently the combined action of parts of the feeding trough is
transmitted by the links v, to the last rod m, and raises or lowers the cone
strap h on the cones f and g, as before described in reference to the preceding
Figures.
:
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described several
arrangements of parts for performing the same, I wish to remark that I do not
limit myself to any of the details given, as they may be considerably varied or
modified, and I declare that I claim,-
First, dividing the feeding trough or concave plate over which the fleece
of fibres passes to the beater, licker in, or other revolving drum or roller of
machines used in preparing cotton and other fibrous substances into two or
more parts, as described.
Secondly, I claim supporting the feeding trough or concave plate over
which the fleece of fibres passes to the beater, licker in, or other revolving
drum or roller, on a fulcrum or centre, and weighting it, whether such feeding
trough or concave plate be made in one piece, or divided into two or more
parts as described.
Thirdly, I claim the placing of the feeding trough above the feeding roller,
as shewn and described in reference to Figures 8 and 10.
Fourthly, I claim the combination of my present improvements in the
construction and arrangement of the feeding trough or concave plate, with the

page_text: improved machinery for guaging or weighing, and regulating the supply of
fibrous substances, as described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to me on the Thirteeenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-nine, Number 12,476.
And, lastly, I claim the combination of machinery comprised in my fourth
claim, with the differential wheels described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to me in conjunction with Thomas Lord, Abraham Lord, and
William Lord, on the Twenty-fifth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six, Number 1766.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Lord, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
EDW. LORD.
(L.S.)