IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING MACHINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARDING MACHINES."-A communication from Eugéne Lhuillier, of
T
T Tanan Merchant and Spinner
Sealed the 7th August 1857, and dated the 25th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1857.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING MACHINES," a communication from Eugéne Lhuillier,
of Louviers, in the Empire of France, Merchant and Spinner, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain modifications in the mechanism which
supplies the fibrous material to the main carding drum, whereby a greater
regularity and evenness in the thickness of the ribbons or strips is obtained
than has hitherto been effected by the carding engines at present in use.
The improvements consist in imparting a constant longitudinal vibratory or

page_text: to-and-fro motion to the supplying roller or "licker in " in the direction of its
axes; or the longitudinal motion may be imparted to the feed rollers, to the
endless feeding band, or to the centre table which supports the feeding and
supplying mechanism.
There are various ways of imparting this vibratory motion and of regulating
it to any desired extent, both as to speed and length of vibration. A grooved
cam, for example, may be fitted into each extremity of a shaft, which may be
driven direct from the main drum, or from any other convenient part of the
machine. These cams will impart motion to two levers, which embraco
grooved collars on the shaft of the cylinder to be vibrated; or grooved cams
may be fixed on to the axes of the cylinder, such cams working into fixed stud
pins; or an eccentric may be used for pushing the cylinder longitudinally, a
spring serving to bring it back again.
I do not confine myself, however, to any particular mechanical arrangement
for obtaining this vibratory motion, the application of which forms the main
feature of this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HENRY
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and of 166,
Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING MACHINES," a communication from

page_text: Eugène Lhuillier, of Louviers, in the Empire of France, Merchant and
Spinner, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was 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 John Henry Johnson; do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to certain modifications in the mechanism which
supplies the fibrous material to the main carding drum, whereby a greater
regularity and' evenness in the thickness of the slivers is obtained than has
hitherto been effected by the carding engines at present in usc.
The improvements consist in imparting a constant vibrating motion in-the-
direction of its axis to the intermediate roller placed between the feeding
rollers and the main drum. Or this longitudinal motion may be imparted to
the feed rollers, to the endless feeding band, or to the entire table which
supports the feeding and supplying mechanism.
There are various ways of imparting this vibratory motion and of regulating
it to any desired extent, both as to speed and length of vibration. A grooved
cam, for example, may be fitted into each extremity of a shaft, which may be
driven direct from the main drum, or from any other convenient part of the
machine. These cams will impart motion to two levers, which embraco
grooved collars on the shaft of the roller to be vibrated; or grooved cams
may be fixed on to the axis of the roller, such cams working into fixed stud
pins; or an eccentric may be used for pushing the roller longitudinally, a
spring serving to bring it back again.
I do not confine myself, however, to any particular mechanical arrangement
for obtaining this vibratory motion, the application of which forms the main
feature of this Invention.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed; the
same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures

page_text: Figures 1 and 2, on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, represents respectively
in front and side elevation, one arrangement of mechanism applicable to any
carding engine furnished with an intermediate or additional roller, to which I
apply a reciprocating motion for the purpose aforesaid.
It will be seen by these Figures that the axis of this roller A, instead of
being limited by its bearings, passes beyond them, and is terminated at cach
end by an annular grooved enlargement or boss B, which is embraced by
a moveable fork C placed outside the framework H. These forks impart a
reciprocating or vibrating motion to the roller A in the direction of its axis
without interfering with its rotatory movement. Ono fork acting on ono
extremity of the axis would probably serve the purpose in view, but for
greater certainty of action I prefer to use two forks, as described.
The required motions may bo imparted to the forks by several well-
known mechanical contrivances, for instance, by means of a helical groove
cut on the surface of the two cams D on the shaft E, which turns in bearings
in the main framing. The required rotatory action may be imparted to this
shaft by the pulley F, driven by a similar one on the carding cylinder.
Each revolution of the cams imparts a motion to the forks, which in their
turn impart the required reciprocating motion to the intermediate roller
A, the extent of such motion being regulated by the pitch of the grooves
which actuate the forks, so that by changing the cams D and pulley F any
desired extent of vibratory motion of the roller A, and any number of such
vibrations, can be obtained for a given number of revolutions.
a
Figuro 3 represents a modification of the moans employed for giving
similar reciprocating motion to the roller A, whereby greater simplicity is
obtained. It consists in tho use of two fixed studs C attached to the framing,
one on each side of the machine, and replacing the levers or forks C, beforo
referred to. These studs engage directly into the helical grooves in the
bosses D, fixed on the ends of the spindle of the roller A. These cams may
be changed for others, for the purpose of increasing or diminishing the amount
of stroke or vibration, but tho number of such vibrations to a given numbor
of revolutions cannot be altered according to this modification.
Figure 4 represents a third modification of mechanism for giving motion
to the roller A. It consists in giving the vibratory motion to the roller A by
means of an eccentric G fixed on one end of the shaft I, such eccentric acting
directly upon the end of the spindle of the cylinder A, whilst a spring of any
convenient construction bears upon the opposite end of the spindle, and keeps
the spindle always up to the eccentric.

page_text: The shaft I receives motion from any of the convenient rotatory parts of
the machine, by means of a pair of bevil or mitre wheels J, J', which aro
arranged to give the required speed to the shaft I. By changing, the eccentric
any amount of stroke or traverse can be imparted to the roller A, and the
number of vibrations to a given number of revolutions may be regulated by
changing the bevil wheels J, J'.
In all cases where a reciprocating or vibrating motion, such as I have
described, is imparted to the roller A, it is ovident that the wheel or pinion (p),
Figure 1, which gives motion to the roller A through the wheel R, must be
sufficiently wide to allow for any required amount of vibration in the roller A,
the same allowance being made when it is driven by pullies and bands in placo
of toothed gearing.
These improvements are obviously adapted with facility to all carding
engines, it being simply requisite to add an intermediate cylinder or roller in
those engines which are without it, whereby the fibrous material will be evenly
and regularly distributed over the main drum. If more convenient, the first
roller which is in contact with the main carding drum, or the feeding rollers,
feeding table, or endless feeding cloth, may have this reciprocating or vibrating
motion imparted to it or them, in place of communicating such a motion to the
intermediate roller, as before described.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of the said Invention; nor do I
claim any of the mechanical elements of which the said apparatus are
respectively composed, as being, separately or apart from the use or application
of such elements to form the combinations constituting such apparatus and
parts of apparatus respectively, as being any part of my said Invention; but
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the principle or contrivance of imparting a reciprocatory or vibrating
transverse motion, that is, a motion in the direction of the width of the
machine, either to the first roller in contact with the main carding drum, or to
an intermediate roller in carding machines, as illustrated on the Drawings, or
to the feeding rollers, or to the feeding table, or feeding cloth in carding
machines, for the purpose herein-before described.

page_text: Second, the peculiar constructions, arrangements, and combinations of
mechanism for imparting a reciprocating or vibrating motion to certain parts
of carding machines, as herein-before described, and illustrated by my
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, tho said John Henry Johnson, liave hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of August, Ono thousand eight
bundred and fifty-seven.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.s.).