Method of and Appliances for Stripping or Clearing Card Surfaces of Carding Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 23rd Dec.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Method of and Appliances for Stripping or Clearing Card Surfaces
of Carding Machines.
We, THOMAS EDWARD WILSON, of 3, Rue de la Digue, Lille, France, Engineer, and
PAUL KESTNER, of 40, Boulevard Vauban, Lille, France, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to -be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
According to our invention we effect the stripping or clearing of loose fibres and
neps from card surfaces of carding machines by a sucking or exhaust action through
a narrow orifice, applied near to the card surface in a position transversely to the
motion thereof.
.
For this purpose we place near to the surface of each of the cylinders and at any
convenient point of the flats, a tube, conduit, or box extending longitudinally along
their surface and transversely to their direction of motion, which tube has a narrow
lateral slit presented towards the surfaces to be stripped. The tube, conduit or box
is connected at one or more points of its length or at the end or ends, with a fan or
other suitable appliance for exhausting the air therefrom, and the consequent
sucking action or inrush of air through the narrow slit has the effect of drawing the
loose fibres and neps off the card surface.
This method of effecting the stripping or clearing of the card surfaces by suction
possesses many advantages over hand stripping, the principal of which are: the doing
away with interruption in the normal working of the machine, except for grinding
and setting; the suppression of skilled hand strippers, also of brushes and receding
combs; the attainment of finer and more regular carding by keeping the carding
surfaces clear of unnecessary loose fibres and neps and the automatic and continuous
removal of the dust which, with hand stripping is unavoidable.
In practice the large cylinder of a carding engine would only require to be stripped
at intervals, and only for a few seconds at a time. This might for example be
effected by means of a damper placed in the air conduit, and opened and closed at
intervals either by hand or automatically by any suitable known mechanical device
worked by the machine or independently.
It is found that owing to the very firm hold which the card surface of the large
cylinder has upon the fibres and neps, only a partial stripping thereof can be effected
by the suction alone and we therefore in this case prefer to employ a metallic or
other brush in combination with the exhaust, as will be presently described, such
brush being employed either intermittently during the working of the machine, or
at the time of grinding the cylinder.
The doffing cylinder may be stripped either continuously or intermittently in the
same way as the large cylinder, but the flats should be stripped continuously and the
air be exhausted by a separate fan from that operating upon the cylinders, because
the loose fibres stripped from the flats have a less value than those stripped from the
cylinders.
66
"
The fibres and neps drawn off may be collected by connecting the discharge of the
fans to the centrifugal separating apparatus known as cyclones or other suitable
collecting devices.

page_text: As several qualities of cotton are usually spun in a cotton mill, it will be necessary
to arrange the pneumatic strippers in such a manner as to collect separately the
several grades of stripped fibre.
It will be evident that our invention is capable of being applied in variously
modified ways to carding machines; by way of example we have shewn some arrange-
inents of the same on the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shews a section
through the large cylinder A, doffing cylinder B and revolving flats C of a carding
inachine.
For stripping the card surface of cylinder A, we provide a tube D whose longi-
tudinal slit d extended through the usual grating O, as shewn, is presented close to
the card surface E. The tube D has its ends mounted in box bearings F fixed on
and communicating with a conduit G leading to a fan or other exhaust apparatus, as
shewn in the longitudinal section at Figure 2.
By means of the strong suction or inrush of air through the slit produced by
the exhaust, the loose fibres and neps are effectually drawn off the card surface and
carried away.
For producing this action in an intermittent manner the conduit G may
provided with a shut-off slide or damper worked by hand.
be
The pneumatic tube D¹ for the doffing cylinder is supported at the ends by the
framing of the machine, as shewn in the front view at Fig. 3; it is connected by
two branch tubes d* to the exhaust fan or fans. The pneumatic tube Du for the
flats C is similarly supported and connected.
Figs. 4, 5 and 6 shew enlarged cross sections of the pneumatic tubes D, D¹ and D¹¹,
the slit. & being provided with external directing flanges at Fig. 4 and with an
inward extending flange at Fig. 5 directing the entering air and fibres.
When the fibres and neps are held very firmly by the card clothing, such as in the
case of the large cylinder of the machine, we prefer to combine with the exhaust
tube, an ordinary metallic brush, with (or without, a comb, which effect the loosening
and removal of the fibre and neps from the card clothing, so that they can then be
readily drawn off by the exhaust.
Fig. 7 shews a part section of the large cylinder, with the exhaust tube D in
combination with the brush K and comb L, which may be of any suitable known
construction, the brush being driven by a belt or a cord pulley from the taker-in
shaft, and the intermittent motion of the brush and comb being worked by hand.
This motion may also be obtained in any suitable known automatic manner.
Figs. 7 and 9 shew the hand arrangement. M is the driving pulley on the taker-
in shaft; N the belt pulley upon one end of the brush K; O is a binding pulley, Pa
hand lever which serves to bring the brush into contact with the cylinder and to
make it revolve for any desirable length of time and as often as may be required.
It will be seen that the brush K comb L and tension pulley are all carried by
arms fixed on the same axis with the hand lever P so that according as the lever is
moved in one direction or the other, these parts are simultaneously put either in or
out of action.
Fig. 7 shews the brush and comb.operating and Fig. 9 shews it out of action.
The exhaust tube D is in this case provided with air guides d¹² on each side of
the slit d, of which d² is formed with a serrated edge, as shewn at the part front view
at Fig. 8, so as both to act as guide for the teeth of the comb and as wiper, for the
latter when it recedes, by stripping the fibres and neps off the comb which are then
drawn into the tube.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. Stripping or clearing card surfaces of carding machines by means of an exhaus
or sucking action effected through a narrow orifice applied near to the card surface

page_text: 2. The use, for stripping or clearing card surfaces of loose fibres and neps of tubes
conduits or boxes having a narrow slit presented near to the card surface, the said
tube being connected to a fan or other exhaust apparatus whereby a sucking action
or indraught of air is produced through the slit of the tube that effectually clears
the card surface of loose fibre, substantially as described.
3. The use in combination with the pneumatic stripping device referred to in the
preceding claims of a metallic or other brush with or without a comb for loosening
the fibres and neps from the card clothing of the large cylinder and facilitating the
removal thereof by the exhaust, substantially as described.
T
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.