Improvements in Mechanical Feeders for Openers or Scutchers for Cotton and other Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Feb., 1899- Accepted, 29th Apr., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanical Feeders for Openers or Scutchers for
Cotton and other Fibrous Materials.
I, JOHN CORRIGAN, of 2, Weymouth Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement: -
This invention relates to that class of "feeders" for cotton-opening machinery
which consists of a hopper or other receptacle in which works a spiked lattice the
fibres being taken by a doffing roller from this lattice and fed onto a shoot and
thence to a creeper leading to the opener or scutcher, superfluous fibre being taken
away and returned to the hopper by a spiked roller or lattice at the back of the
spiked feeding lattice and at the upper end thereof, and especially to the construc-
tion of "feeder" described in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,573 A.D.
1893, granted to me and dated the 18th day of October, the objects of the present
invention being to further equalize the delivery of the cotton to and from the feed
box by regulating the speed of the spiked lattice in accordance with the weight of
the cotton in the hopper.
The manner in which my said invention is to' be performed or carried into prac-
tical effect will be readily understood on reference to the sheet of drawings here-
unto annexed and the following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of so much of a mechanical "feeder" for cotton
openers or scutchers as is necessary to illustrate the application of my present
improvements thereto and Fig. 2 is an elevation of my improved driving gear for
actuating the spiked lattice. A is the hopper, a the doffing roller, a the spiked
roller, 6 the spiked lattice and c the scutcher-lattice, d is the feed-box, and e the
creeper at the bottom of the hopper for feeding the cotton towards the spiked
lattice b.
For the purposes of my present improvements in order to still further equalize
the delivery of the cotton to and from the feed-box d I propose to drive the spiked
lattice 6 quicker or slower according to the weight of cotton in the hopper A, in
order that the heavier the weight of cotton in the said hopper the more slowly will
the lattice b deliver the fibres to the roller a and hence to the feed box d, because
when the hopper A is first filled with cotton the latter is generally in a somewhat
compressed or condensed condition, and comparatively heavy, and the lattice b will
carry more of such fibres up on its spikes and will not require to be driven so
rapidly as when the fibres in the hopper A are more open, say after having passed
one or more times between the spiked roller a and the lattice b.
For this purpose I may actuate the lower shaft b¹ of the lattice b by gearing b
(see Fig. 2) from cone pulleys 63 and 64 the driving pulley being driven from
any suitable shaft, and the strap be driving the pulley 63 from 64 being moved as
desired by a strap-fork 66 on a rod actuated by a lever 68. This lever 68 is
fitted on the shaft 69 of one of the weighted arms 60611 (see Fig. 1) which support
the ends of the side frames 612 which carry the bearing blocks of the rollers of the

page_text: lattice e so that the said lattice upon which the weight of the fibre rests, can rise,
according as the weight of the fibre in the hopper A decreases and cause the
lattice b to be driven more quickly.
The lattice e can be driven from the shaft b¹ by a chain 613 (shown dotted at
Fig. 1).
am aware that it is not new to stop or start the feeding of the cotton by
mounting the lattice e on a counterbalanced frame; but such arrangement has
not had the same effect of regulating the density of the fibre delivered to and from
the feed-box.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
-
A hopper A spiked lattice 6 feed box d and a lattice e in the bottom of the
hopper, a counterbalanced frame 12 supported by weighted arms carrying the
lattice e and a lever such as 68 acted on by the frame in combination with a strap
and coned driving-pulleys acting on the driving wheel of the said lattice e and a
shifting fork for the cone strap connected to the said lever as and for the purpose
described.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
Agents for the Applicant, 4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.