Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Grinding the Teeth of Revolving Flats in Use in Carding Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Nov., 1895-Accepted, 28th Dec., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Grinding the Teeth of
Revolving Flats in Use in Carding Machines.
1 JOHN TEMPEST MEATS of Taunton, in the County of Bristol State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Superintendent, 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 :-
This invention has for its object the production of novel apparatus for grinding
the teeth of revolving flats in use in carding machines, said apparatus operating in
novel manner, as will be described; and the particular features in which my
invention consists will be hereinafter more fully described in the Specification and
specified in the claims at the end thereof.
Fig. 1, in elevation, shows a sufficient part of the main cylinder of a carding
machine and its chain of revolving flats and grinding apparatus with my improve-
ments added to enable my invention to be understood.
Fig. 2 is a section in the lines X, Fig. 1, looking toward the left;
Fig. 3 shows one end of a top flat in isometric perspective, and
Fig. 34, a sectional detail showing the end of a flat in engagement with the
wheel.
In the drawing A represents, let it be supposed, part of the usual card clothed
main cylinder of a carding machine, and B part of the usual flexible bend or guide
mounted on the frame B₁ of the machine and along and upon which the series of
revolving flats, to be described, travel when their teeth co-operate with the teeth
of the cylinder in the carding operation.
The said parts are and may be all substantially as usual, and in practice the
flexible bend will have co-operating with it usual devices, to determine its particular
position and shape with relation to the centre of the card cylinder.
Each side frame of the machine,-one being partially shown in Fig. 1,―will, in
practice, have attached to it a suitable support, shown as a two-armed bracket C.
One of the arms a, of this bracket, is curved downwardly and at its lower end
has a suitable bearing for the shaft e upon which, at each side of the cylinder are
like wheels E, said wheels sustaining or receiving about them the usual chain e¹
which will be composed of links to which are attached the pivots e³ of the revolving
flats F to be described, thus connecting said flats into and as forming part of an
endless chain.
The wheels E are of peculiar construction, that is, they have a series of sprocket
teeth e, which, see Fig. 2, extend across the wheel for but a part of the width of
the latter, the periphery of the wheel behind said teeth being turned to leave a
cylindrical surface c', shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and by full lines in Figs. 2
and 34, of greater diameter than the circle occupied by the bottoms of the spaces e
between the teeth e', the cylindrical surface being cut transversely at intervals to
present concavities coincident and in continuation of the bottoms of said spaces, the
parts of the flats F entering the said spaces.
The flats F, the bodies of which are of usual construction and provided with
usual card clothing fx, have at their ends projections f somewhat concaved at their
under side, see Figs. 1 and 3, said projections extending from the tooth-shaped
ends f³, which are slightly smaller than and which enter the spaces between the
teeth e; the casting forming part of the revolving flat immediately behind the

page_text: portions having other portions which present three sides 2, 3, 4, with
substantially right-angled corners, the straight side being tangent to the surface c'
of the wheel E, as represented by dotted lines in Fig. 1, there being left a small
space or clearance 7, represented in Fig. 1, between the said cylindrical face c¹
and the substantially straight side or face 3 of the portion of the flat,
this space or clearance being the difference between the side face 3 of the flat and
the covered surface c' of the wheel.
In the movement of the usual chain, the flats F, as their projections ride or travel
along over the guide plate K, have to tip a little about their pivots e³, but the
extent to which the flats may tip is limited or restrained, so that they cannot tip
too far in one or the other direction by the close proximity of the shoulders or
corners at the junctions of the sides 2-3, 3-4, to the cylindrical surface c',
referred to, the small space 7 referred to, being, however, sufficient to permit the
flat to tip just enough for the grinding operation.
The bracket C has its second arm d provided at its lower end with a stud d' upon
which, just back of its head, is arranged a flanged cap d² provided with a plurality,
herein shewn as six, radial pinholes through which and a suitable hole in the stud
may be passed a locking pin d³, shown in full lines Fig. 2, by means of which said
flanged cap may be fastened in desired position upon the end of the stud.
The cap d² receives and holds the overturned end of a coil s surrounding the
stud d and having its opposite end engaging the arm d' which extends upwardly
and is curved inwardly, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, and is adapted at its upper or
free end to receive the guide plate K, referred to and shown in dotted lines Fig. 1
and full lines Fig. 2.
The end of the arm d' adjacent the stud d' is formed in a socket to enclose and
conceal the spring 8.
6
The tension of the spring a holds the arm din its elevated position with the
guide K pressing the flats against their seats in the bottoms of the spaces
between the teeth e on the wheel E, and the tension of the spring and the pressure
with which the flats are held in their positions in the wheel E may be varied by
removing the pin d³ and shifting the flanged cap d' around on the end of the stud /¹
and inserting the pin in a new hole.
The grinder has its journals d' mounted in suitable bearings d on a plate d
adjustably secured to the arm d' referred to, the means of adjustment being a
slot in the plate & through which is passed a clamping bolt de carried by the
arm 4.
a
To adjust the plate d' and the grinder bearing vertically I have provided
suitable adjusting screw d mounted in a depending ear of the arm d, and which,
with the suitable nuts shown, furnish means by which the plate d' may be positively
raised or lowered.
The guide K has a suitable guiding surface, adapted to receive the ends f of the
flats, said guiding surface being formed to tip the flats as usual in order that the
card clothing of the flats may be ground to take the proper angle with relation to
the card clothing of the cylinder during the operation of the machine.
It will be borne in mind that the grinding wheel or roll D₁ as well as the guide
plate are pressed in a yielding manner toward the wheel E, bring the flats into
position to be ground, and I have made the bearing surface of the guide K of such
length and shape that it will not cease to act on one flat until after the grinding of
the teeth of that flat has been completed and not until another flat next to be ground
has got upon the surface of the guide, and preferably not until the flat previously
ground has passed from the delivery end of the guide.
Making the projection f long so as to ride at two points upon the bearing surface,
and concaving said projection between its bearing points, enables the flat to ride
constantly upon its bearing surface without tipping during the grinding operation,
yet said flat is enabled to tip as it comes onto and as it goes off the end of the guide,
the grinding wheel not then acting on the teeth of the flat.
The intervals between the card clothing of one flat and the next to be ground

page_text: gives ample time for the grinding roller to adjust itself to each succeeding flat; so
that the projection of the flat and the face of the card clothed surface thereof are
always in a certain definite position with relation to the bearing surface of the
guide plate during the grinding operation, thus ensuring a uniform length of teeth
upon the flats, and the uniform operation of the teeth of each flat with relation to
the teeth of the carding cylinder; or, in other words, absolute uniformity of
distance between the teeth of the flats and the teeth of the cylinder is maintained,.
notwithstanding any difference of wear of the projection of any other flat in the
same series of revolving flats.
This important result in carding machines is effected chiefly by connecting the
guide plate having the grinding surface to the bearing for the grinding wheel, so
that such parts move in unison instead of one sliding on the other, as is usual in
machines of this class.
It will be noticed that I have herein provided sprocket wheels E at the grinder
end of the carding machine, these wheels being fast upon their shafts e, as
distinguished from wheels which are loosely mounted upon the shaft in carding
engines as now commonly constructed.
The trouble with the present arrangement, wherein the wheels are loose, is that
the chains at the opposite sides of the machine, connecting opposite ends of the
flats, may travel one slightly in advance of the other with the result that the flats
are not presented in true parallelism with and to the grinding wheel or roll.
By making the wheels E fast on the shaft, as in my present invention, the
absolute parallelism of the flats with the grinding roll is ensured, for when the
axis of the shafte is made parallel with the axis of the grinding wheel or roller it
is impossible for any flat when held in corresponding teeth on the opposite wheels
to get out of parallelism, hence it matters not how far out of parallelism the
flats may get in the course of their travel over the cylinder they are always lined
up in true parallelism when they reach the grinding wheel or roller on the
wheel E.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a carding machine provided with a grinding roll or wheel, a guide for
the flats during grinding, said guide attached to the bearing of the grinding roll,
and a series of top flats having guiding surfaces adapted to ride upon the said
guide when being ground, substantially as described.
2. In a carding machine, a grinding roll or wheel, a guide for the flats when
being ground, means to support both the grinding wheel and guide in a yielding
manner, and a series of top flats adapted to work upon the said guide while being
ground as described.
3. In a carding machine, a grinding wheel or roll, a bearing therefor having an
attached guide for the flats while being ground, a yielding support for the bearing,
a series of top flats having projecting ends concaved to present two points to rest
upon and travel along said guide, said top flats being pivotally connected to and
adapted to tip on or with relation to their bearing surface as described.
4. In a carding machine, the wheel E having a toothed surface, and a cylindrical
surface c back of the teeth, and having a portion cut away or notched to correspond
with the bottoms of the spaces between the teeth of the wheel, and a flat supported
upon said cylindrical surface, and having a portion entering between the teeth of
the wheel, and a grinding wheel, its conuected guide and a yielding support for
both the wheel and guide, substantially as described.
5. In a carding machine, a grinding wheel, a guide adjustably connected with
the bearing of the said grinding wheel and means to yieldingly support both the
wheel and guide, substantially as described.
6. In a carding machine, a main cylinder, a grinding wheel or roll at one end
thereof, and sprocket wheels connected by a shaft to move always in unison and

page_text: arranged at the end of the machine adjacent the grinding wheel to ensure true
parallelism of the flats running over said wheels with the grinding wheel or roll,
substantially as described.
Dated the 25th day of November 1895
•
WM...BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.