IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR CARDING, SCRIBBLING, AND CONDENSING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ferrabee, of the Phoenix Iron Works, Stroud,
in the County of Gloucester, Engineer, and Frederick Henry England,
Manager, of Foomhall Mills, Stroud, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR CARDING, SCRIBBLING, AND CONDENSING WOOL
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
Sealed the 3rd June 1859, and dated the 7th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ferrabee and
Frederick Henry England at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 7th December 1858.
We, JAMES FERRABEE, of the Phoenix Iron Works, Stroud, in the County
'of' Gloucester, Engineer, and FREDERICK HENRY ENGLAND, Manager, of
Foomhall Mills, Stroud, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR CARDING, SCRIBBLING, AND
CONDENSING WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate, 1st, to a novel method of covering the doffers
of condensers and carding and scribbling engines; 2ndly, to the means
employed for taking the slivers from the doffers of carding and scribbling
engines, and for operating upon the slivers to effect their condensation;
Price 8d1

page_text: 3rd, to a novel method of grinding doffers; 4th, to a novel method of feeding
carding and scribbling engines.
1st, the usual mode of covering doffers in connexion with condensers is
by rings set with wire, such rings being made either singly or two or more
together, with the blank spaces or grooves between the rings formed by leaving
out the wires; instead thereof, we cover such doffers with wire card, com-
monly called "filletting," in the same way as ordinary doffers of scribbling
and carding engines; we then, by means of a tool, divide the card surface into
the requisite number of rings, by depressing annular portions of the wire
surface, and thereby forming a series of grooves. The wire we retain in the
depressed position by bands of cotton, leather, or other material. By these
means we secure perfect uniformity in the rings, and obviate the risk of
their shifting and getting irregular when being ground, and the result is
better work.
2ndly, instead of covering the rubbing rolls of condensers with leather
coiled spirally on them, we use for covering such rolls rings made of vulcanized
india-rubber or some other substance compressed together, and properly
secured at the end; or we use a vulcanized india-rubber tube as a covering
for such rolls; or we coil vulcanized india-rubber on the rolls as a covering.
We also propose to use a vulcanized india-rubber seamless band in con-
junction with the covered rubbing rolls above described. We also use guides
aud rolls covered with vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic substance in
conjunction with revolving dividing discs, or vibrating plates for forming
"slivers " or "ribbons" from the fleece as it comes from the doffer of a
carding or scribbling engine.
3rdly, for the purpose of grinding the doffer in its place, and preventing
the necessity of removing that part of the machine called the condenser from
the scribbling engine, we construct a grinder to work in the same bearings
and traverse by the same means as the ordinary rubbing roll of the condenser,
which rubbing roll is removed to admit the grinder, and we so construct the
carriages as to allow of their being adjusted to and from the doffer. We also
construct a traversing grinder to attach to the condenser frame, for grinding
the doffer without the necessity of removing any portion of the condenser; and
this same grinding apparatus can also be used for grinding the cylinders of
scribbling engines, instead of the round grinders commonly employed.
4thly. For feeding scribbling and carding engines we take the "roping"
or "sliver" from the traverser by means of a roll with an endless belt running
on the top of it, which delivers the roping or sliver to a large roll peculiarly

page_text: formed or covered with wire card, and working against a shield, and we strip
the wool or other fibrous substance from such large roll, and lay it on an apron
which conducts it to the ordinary feed rolls of the scribbling and carding
engine. Or we employ two endless belts set with or without wire.and running
parallel or nearly so one with the other to take the sliver from the
traverser, and by their action open the sliver, and present the wool or other
fibrous substance to the feed rolls of the scribbling and carding engine in a
continuous sheet. Or we use a series of rolls in connexion with a trough or
box for the same purpose as above described, the object of our improved
methods of feeding being to take the "sliver" from the traverse, and to
present the wool or other fibrous substance at any desired angle to the feed
rolls of the scribbling or carding engine in a continuous sheet or "bat"
nade from the roping or sliver instead of traversing the "roping" or
"sliver" into the feed rolls direct, or laying it in parallel lines on an apron
or table as heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Ferrabee and Frederick Henry England in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
FERRABEE, of the Phoenix Iron Works, Stroud, in the County of Gloucester,
Engineer, and FREDERICK HENRY ENGLAND, Manager, of Foomhall Mills,
Stroud, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Ferrabee and Frederick Henry England, Her special license that
we, the said James Ferrabee and Frederick Henry England, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Ferrabee and
Frederick Henry England, our executors, administrators, and 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 Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR CARDING, SCRIBBLING, AND CONDENSING

page_text: WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said James Ferrabee and Frederick Henry England, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
should particularly 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 James Ferrabee, on behalf of myself
and of the said Frederick Henry England, do hereby declare the nature
of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
These improvements relate, first, to a novel method of covering the doffers
of condensers and carding and scribbling engines; secondly, to the means
employed for operating upon the slivers as they come from the doffers of
carding and scribbling engines to effect their condensation; thirdly, to a
novel method of grinding doffers and card cylinders; fourthly, to a novel
method of feeding carding and scribbling engines.
In carrying out the first part of our Invention we cover the doffers in con-
nection with condensers with wire card, commonly called "filleting," in the
same way as ordinary doffers of scribbling and carding engines. We then, by
means of a tool hereafter described, divide the card surface into the requisite
number of rings by depressing annular portions of the wire surface, and thereby
forming a series of grooves; the wire so depressed may be retained by bands
of leather or other material, if found desirable, but it is not always necessary.
By these means we secure perfect uniformity in the rings, and obviate the
risk of their shifting and getting irregular when being ground, and doffers
so covered will be found to produce a more even sliver than those covered
with rings in the ordinary way.
The rubbing rolls of condensers we construct by threading a number of
rings made of vulcanized india-rubber or leather or other suitable material on
a turned hollow iron or other roll, and securing them at the ends by washers,
or we use a vulcanized or prepared india-rubber tube as a covering for such
rolls, or we coil vulcanized or prepared india-rubber on the rolls as a covering;
we also use a vulcanized or prepared india-rubber seamless band in conjunc-
tion with the covered rubbing rolls.
For the purpose of grinding the doffer cylinder in its place, we construct a

page_text: traversing grinder, and mount it in suitable bearings fixed on the framework
of the machine in such a manner as to render the removal of any portion of
the machinery unnecessary when grinding the doffer. In like manner we also
mount a traversing grinder in suitable bearings for grinding the cylinders of
carders and scribblers when that portion of the engine called the "fly" or
"fancy" is removed.
Our improvements in feeding scribbling or carding engines consist in.
taking the roping from the traversing feeder by means of a roll with an endless
belt running above it, which delivers the roping or sliver to the feed rolls of
carders and scribblers, or we employ two endless belts running parallel or
nearly so to each other (which belts may be plain or of suitable wire card) for
delivering the "roping or sliver" to the feed rolls of scribblers or carders. In
order to obtain such a distribution of the wool or staple as will ensure
uniformity of sliver, we propose to apply to our improved carding or scribbling
engine apparatus for laying the fleece (as it is stripped from the doffer of the
scribbler or carder) in layers one above the other, to any required thickness
upon an endless band or table, and thus to form a continuous sheet or bat,
which will be presented to or fed into the succeeding machine, say, a con-
densing engine continuously at right angles, or any other angle to the feed
rolls of such engine. The kind of apparatus which we prefer to employ for
this purpose is that for which Letters Patent have been applied for by the
within-named James Ferrabee, and which will be hereafter more particularly
referred to.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in plan view the tool (drawn
full size) employed for depressing the wires in our improved doffers. This
tool we set in a slide rest, shewn in cross section at Fig. 2. The slide rest is
carried on a bed, shewn in plan and side elevation at Figures 3 and 4, and is
traversed along it to bring the tool opposite its work by the arrangement of
gearing commonly employed in slide rest lathes.
",
with a
The tool for depressing the wires consists of a flat piece of steel
notch b filed in it of the requisite depth, the sides being ground up thin. This
tool being mounted on the rest c, which slides on the planed iron bed d, is
capable not merely of receiving a lateral movement, but of being moved to or
from the doffer any determined distance. The bed may for convenience be
divided into inches and parts of an inch. Having determined the number of
rings the doffer is to be divided into, and the space between each ring, the tool
is slid along the bed, opposite that portion of the surface of the doffers to be
depressed, and as the doffer slowly revolves, the tool is pushed forward, and
thereby caused to gather in the wires and depress them. This operation is

page_text: repeated till the required number of spaces are formed. A tool, carrying a
small roll, slightly hollowed, and somewhat narrower than the space, may some.
times be used to further roll down the wires after they are depressed. It is
desirable to look over the doffer after thus setting out the rings, for the
purpose of replacing any straggling wires that may be left on the edges; and
before the spaces are set out it is better to grind the doffer true, very little
grinding will then be required after setting out. The operation of setting out
is so simple and so easily performed that any ordinary workman may cover
and divide the doffers under his care.
Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the doffing end of a condensing engine,
shewing our improvements applied thereto; and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the
same. In these Figures, A is the doffing cylinder with a plain or undivided
card surface; B is a stripping roll similarly covered with wire card; C, C, are
the dividing rolls furnished at their periphery with alternate rings of cards and
plain surfaces.
a, a, a, a, are the stripping rolls, and b, b, the rubbing rolls
and friction bands of the condenser.
By the revolutions of the wire card stripping roll B, the wool is taken from
the doffer A, and passed between the dividing rolls C, C. As the rolls C, C,
revolve in the same direction that the fleece travels, the several wire card.
rings on each roll take up a portion of the wool forming the fleece corre-
sponding to the width of the wire card ring, and sufficient to form a sliver or
ribbon. The pairs of stripping rolls a, a, a, a, taking up the slivers from their
respective rolls lead one set of slivers upwards, the other downwards, where
they are subjected to the action of the rubbing rolls and bands b, b, b, of the
condenser. The rolls are caused to revolve at a suitable speed, and in the
right direction by means of wheels, toothed chains, or belts from any part of
the machinery.
The mode of applying the traversing grinder to the doffer is shewn in the
section Fig. 5, and in the partial elevation Fig. 7. E is the grinder mounted
in adjustable bearings D, attached to the framing of the condenser; the
grinder E is caused to revolve by means of a strap passing over a pulley on
the shaft of the scribbling cylinder. The doffer is driven in the ordinary way,
and on one end of the doffer spindle there is a "swash plate" or inclined
disc F, which works into the annular groove of a pulley G; the doffer A
revolves slower than the grinder E, and as it revolves the plate F will traverse
the grinder backwards and forwards in its bearings D, thus giving it the end-
way motion requisite for effecting the grinding operation in an efficient
and satisfactory manner.
When applying this part of our Invention to the grinding of the cylinders

page_text: of carding or condensing engines, we attach the bearings D in this instance to
the framing of the engine near the cylinder. Rotary motion for the grinder
we derive from a pulley on the shaft of the main cylinder, and the endway
motion of the grinder we obtain by mounting the "swash plate" on a fixed
stud projecting from one of the bearings D); on the boss of this plate a spur
wheel is keyed, which takes into a broad spur pinion on the axle of the
grinder, and gives rotary motion thereto. By the side of this broad pinion
the grooved pulley into which the swash plate works is mounted, and the
revolution therefore of the swash plate with the spur driving wheel will
cause the grinder to move endwise as it revolves in its bearings.
Our improvements in feeding scribbling and carding engines are shewn
at Figures 8, 9, and 10. Fig. 8 is a cross section of the feeding end of a
carding engine with one arrangement of our improvement applied; Fig. 9
is a side view of a carding engine, shewing a modified arrangement of the
parts for taking, the sliver from the feed traverser, and delivering it to the
feed rolls whence the fibrous material passes to the scribbler or carder, anp.
after being carded and doffed is removed from the doffer in the form of a
fleece or sheet sliver, which is then folded in layers to form a bat; Fig. 10
is a plan view of the same machine.
In these Figures the same letters of reference relate to the like parts. A, A,
is the bed of the traversing feed frame; B, B,are the end frames of the engine;
C is a traversing carriage on three wheels, supported on the bed A. A, on
which it moves freely; this carriage receives a traverse motion by the following
well-known means:-b, b, are two pulleys carrying a belt or strap, to which
a small stud is fixed; this stud works freely in a vertical slot in the casting c
attached to the traversing carriage C. On motion being given from any
portion of the machinery to the strap pulleys b, b, through the bevil wheels
a, a, the strap or belt will revolve and traverse the carriage C backwards and
forwards, by reason of the pin or stud attached to the strap being made to work
in the slot formed in the casting e attached to the carriage C. Attached to
the carriage C is a trumpet mouth 1), which carries with it the sliver E back-
wards and forwards in front of the endless belts H, Fig. 8, or the belt F and
roll G, Figures 9 and 10, to which rotary motion is given in any convenient
manner. As the sliver is brought up to these revolving surfaces, they will
take in the sliver and carry it forwards to the feed rolls of the carder or
scribbler, thereby supplying the machine with a continuous uniform feed.
The sliver being thus fed regularly to the carding cylinder, an even sliver
of wool or other fibrous material will be obtained either in the form of a
sheet or roping at the doffing end of the machine. When the sliver is taken

page_text: of the roll
from the doffer in the form of a sheet, we propose to deposit it in layers
on to a fixed table or travelling apron, to form a bat or thick fleece by
any known or suitable arrangement of laying or folding machine, pre-
ferring, however, that shewn in the Drawing in connection with the
ordinary doffer J and doffing comb e. K (Figures aud 10) is the frame-
work of the laying machine L; is a compound vibrating frame carrying
the rolls f, g, g', and h. The axle of the roll f has its bearings in the frame
K, and forms the fixed fulcrum of the compound frame, the two parts L,
1, of which are jointed together at their upper end by the axle
g, which forms the moving fulcrum of the compound frame. is a guide
roller, which is supported by spiral springs ; and g¹ is a similar guide
roller, both of which have their bearings in the compound frame. The axle
of this latter roller serves to connect the vibrating frame with a carriage which
traverses over the planed face of the framework K, the carriage being mounted
on pairs of rollers, i, i; kc is an endless band which passes round the rolls
f, g, g, h, and is kept at tension by the latter roller. The carriage m extends
downwards, and a vertical slot n is formed in the extended portion to receive
the fixed stud or pin of a travelling belt or strap p, which is carried by a pair
of pulleys o, o. M, M, are rolls at right angles to the frame K, carrying an
endless belt or apron N. On motion being communicated from any part of
the machinery to the roll f, and also to the pulleys o, o, the fleece from the
doffer J is carried by the band k over the compound frame, and passed
between the rollers i, i, whilst the carrriage m is carried to and fro by the
strap 2, its stud working in the slot n. The fleece or sheet sliver will thus
be laid in alternate layers on the table or aprou N. It may be observed that
as the centres of the rolls f, g, g', are connected by the rigid parts L, l, the
carriage m will in its traverse backwards and forwards cause the roll g to
rise and fall, thereby an uniform delivery of the fleece on to the apron N
will be insured. The bat thus obtained may be lapped into a roll, or carried
forward between the feed rollers of a condensing engine.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements
applicable to Machinery for Carding, Scribbling, and Condensing Wool and
other Fibrous Substances," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent we claim,-
First, preparing the surfaces of the doffers of condensers, as herein
described.
Second, applying vulcanized or prepared india-rubber as the rubbing
surfaces of condensers in the manner herein described.

page_text: Third, the application to carding and condensing engines of a traversing
grinder operating in the mauner and for the purpose above described.
Fourth, the means herein described for taking the roping or sliver from the
traversing feeder, and delivering it into the carding or scribbling engine.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Ferrabee, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES FERRABEE. (L.s.)