Improvements in or applicable to Mechanism for Feeding Openers, Scutchers, and like Machines, and in Combining such Feed Mechanism with the said Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 20th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 12th May, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Mechanism for Feeding Openers,
Scutchers, and like Machines, and in Combining such Feed
Mechanism with the said Machines.
I, EDWARD BUCKLEY, of the Firm of Taylor Lang & Co. Limited, of Castle
Iron Works, Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, Machine Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said invention, to be as follows:-
Firstly. My improvements relate and are applicable to automatic feeding
mechanism for openers, scutchers and like machines, and refer to means and
arrangements for indicating by a pointer or bell or other signal, when the hopper
of the automatic feed mechanism is nearly empty of fibrous material, and when it is
sufficiently full, by which means less attention is required on the part of the
attendant supplying the feeder with fibrous material my improvement being of
especial use when the automatic feeder is in one room and the cotton or fibrous
material is to be supplied say down a spout or shoot from a room above.
The arrangements for carrying out this part of my invention consist in mounting
a board or plate of iron on a shaft or axis in bearings on the side frames of
the hopper.
This plate extends across the hopper and forms or may form a part of its front
side, and is in an inclined position.
On one end of the shaft for the board or plate there is a lever which has a weight
at one end to counter-balance the plate so as to lift it up to a given height or stop
when their is no fibrous material upon or against it, but when there is, the weight
of such material holds down the plate against a stop.
When down against the stop there is a sufficiency of material in the hopper, but
when the material has slided down and off the plate on to the roller at the bottom
of the hopper which carries it towards the inclined toothed lattice of the automatic
feeder, a fresh supply of fibrous material is required, and the counter-balance
weight lifts the plate.
The position of the lever on the end of the plate shaft will show at a glance when
a fresh supply of fibrous material is required in the hopper, but this lever is or may
be connected by a rod or wire with a pointer in any convenient position both in the
room in which the feeder is placed and in the room above it, if supplied with
material from such room.
The pointer lever carries or may carry one or two bells say mounted on springs,
each with a projecting lever which when moved and released will cause the bell to
ring as when the pointer or other lever to which the bells are attached brings the
projecting levers in the way of pins projecting from a rotating wheel.
One bell may be rung when the hopper is nearly empty and the other when
sufficiently full, the tone of the two bells being different and easily distinguished
one from the other.
If desired the bells may be in the room above that of the feeder and may be
actuated by connecting wires from a rotary wheel with projecting pins in the room
below, or electric bells may be operated by the plate lever, when in either of its two
extreme positions.
Secondly. When automatic feed mechanism hereinbefore referred to is applied to
openers, scutchers and like machines, having the ordinary feed roller regulators that
vary the speed of the rollers feeding to the beater automatically according to the
average varying thickness of the fibrous materials passing between the feed rollers,
and when the automatic feeder is driven at a uniform speed there is either an

page_text: excess or deficiency of fibrous material supplied by the automatic feeder to the
regulated feeding rollers, and this part of my invention consists in an improved
combination namely:
The cotton or fibrous material supplied by the automatic feeder is made to pass
between two gauging rollers before coming to the endless lattice carrying it to the
rollers feeding it to the beater.
The bearings of one of the gauging rollers are stationary, those of the other
roller are in bearings, that can slide to and from the stationary gauging roller
according to the thickness of material passing between them.
The sliding bearing of the roller at each end acts upon one arm of a bell crank
lever, the other arm of which is connected with a bar extending across the machine,
between the two arms of the bell crank levers one on each side of the machine.
The middle of the said bar is connected by a rod with one end of a lever on
a fulcrum stud in the framing, and the other end of this lever is connected by a rod
with an arm on a shaft, having an arm actuating the belt guide rod for the
cone drums.
Thus the regulating is effected before the material arrives at the rollers feeding
it to the beater, and the automatic feeder increases and decreases in speed
accordingly.
In or about the position of the two gauging rollers, there may be one roller with
ordinary regulating mechanism, the regulating levers being shaped and arranged
accordingly.
Dated this First day of June 1893
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Mechanism for Feeding Openers,
Scutchers, and like Machines, and in Combining such Feed
Mechanism with the said Machines.
I, EDWARD BUCKLEY of the Firm of Taylor Lang & Co. Limited, of Castle
Iron Works, Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, Machine Makers, 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:
Firstly. My improvements relate and are applicable to automatic feeding
mechanism for openers, scutchers and like machines, and refer to means and
arrangements for indicating by a pointer or bell or other signal, when the hopper
of the automatic feed mechanism is nearly empty of fibrous material, and when it is
sufficiently full, by which means, less attention is required on the part of the
attendant supplying the feeder with fibrous material, my improvement being of
especial use when the automatic feeder is in one room and the cotton or fibrous
material is to be supplied say down a spout or shoot from a room above.
The arrangements for carrying out this part of my invention consist in mounting
a board or plate of iron on a shaft or axis in bearings on the side frames of the
hopper.
This plate extends across the hopper and forms or may form a part of its front
side, and is in an inclined position.
On one end of the shaft for the board or plate there is a lever which has a weight
at one end to counter-balance the plate so as to lift it up to a given height or stop
when there is no fibrous material upon or against it, but when there is the weight of
such material holds down the plate against a stop.
When down against the stop there is a sufficiency of material in the hopper, but
when the material has slided down and off the plate on to the roller at the bottom

page_text: of the hopper which carries it towards the inclined toothed lattice of the automatic
feeder, a fresh supply of fibrous material is required, and the counter-balance
weight lifts the plate.
The position of the lever on the end of the plate shaft will show at a glance when
a fresh supply of fibrous material is required in the hopper, but this lever is or may
be connected by a rod or wire with a pointer in any convenient position both in the
room in which the feeder is placed and in the room above it, if supplied with
material from such room.
The pointer lever carries or may carry one or two bells say mounted on springs,
each with a projecting lever which when moved and released will cause the bell to
ring as when the pointer or other lever to which the bells are attached brings the
projecting levers in the way of pins projecting from a rotating wheel.
One bell may be rung when the hopper is nearly empty and the other when
sufficiently full, the tone of the two bells being different and easily distinguished
one from the other.
If desired the bells may be in the room above that of the feeder and may be
actuated by connecting wires from a rotary wheel with projecting pins in the room
below, or electric bells may be operated by the plate lever, when in either of its
two extreme positions.
Secondly. When automatic feed mechanism hereinbefore referred to is applied
to openers, scutchers and like machines, having the ordinary feed roller regulators
and gauging levers that vary the speed of the rollers feeding to the beater auto-
matically according to the average varying thickness of the fibrous materials passing
between the feed rollers, and when the automatic feeder is driven at a uniform
speed there is either an excess or deficiency of fibrous material supplied by the
automatic feeder to the regulated feeding rollers, and this part of my invention
consists in an improved combination namely:-The cotton or fibrous material
supplied by the automatic feeder is made to pass between two gauging rollers before
coming to the endless lattice carrying it to the rollers feeding it to the beater.
The bearings of one of the gauging rollers are stationary those of the other
roller are in bearings, that can slide to and from the stationary gauging roller
according to the thickness of material passing between them.
The sliding bearing of the roller at each end acts upon one arm of a bell crank
lever, (or first upon another lever) the other arm of which is connected with a bar
extending across the machine, between the two arms of the bell crank levers one on
each side of the machine.
The middle of the said bar is connected by a rod with one end of a lever on a
fulcrum stud in the framing, and the other end of this lever is connected by a rod
with an arm on a shaft having an arm actuating the belt guide rod for the cone
drums.
Thus the regulating is effected before the material arrives at the rollers feeding
it to the beater (which feeding rollers are driven at a uniform speed) and the
automatic feeder increases and decreases in speed accordingly.
In or about the position of the two gauging rollers, there may be one roller with
ordinary gauging levers regulating mechanism the regulating gauging levers being
shaped and arranged accordingly.
Fig. 1, is a plan view of my improved feeder combined with the feeding end of
an opener or like machine in which figure parts of the mechanism are shown to be
broken to expose other parts more clearly.
Fig. 2, is an elevation on the right hand side of the machine when facing its
feeding end, or on that side of the machine upon which the cone drum feed
regulating mechanism is placed, and
Fig. 3, is an elevation on the opposite side of the machine.
The hopper feeding mechanism illustrated is the same or is similar to that
described in the Complete Specification filed by me in application for Letters
Patent numbered 7180 of 1893.

page_text: The first part of my invention is illustrated by the drawings.
1, is a shaft in bearings on the two side frames a, and to this shaft 1, a sheet of
metal or other suitable material l, is hinged forming a wing or door, the free end
of which when at its lowest position rests against a stationary strip of sheet-metal
or other suitable material P, secured to the framing.
One edge of this strip of metal , comes close to without touching the fluted
roller d, at the bottom of the hopper, for moving the fibre towards the inclined
lattice b.
Upon one end of the shaft 1, (see Figs. 1 and 3) a lever 13, is secured one arm of
which has a weight , secured upon it sufficient to lift the hinged or wing plate l',
from contact with the stationary strip 1, when there is no material in the hopper of
sufficient weight to keep it down.
The other arm of the lever 1, has or may have the lower end of a rod 1, jointed
to it, the upper end of which is jointed to a bell crank lever 1, on a stud 1, in the
side of the frame (or in any other convenient position) the vertical arm of this bell
crank lever, being a finger 18, pointing when in one extreme to the word "full"
and when in the other position to the word "empty."
The indicator mechanism may be in a room above the feeding hopper, and may
be connected with the lever 13, by a rod or wire.
A bell or bells may also if desired be made to ring when the hopper is full or
empty as herein before described.
The feeding mechanism illustated in the drawings is as before stated, the same
or similar to that shown in the drawings annexed to my aforesaid Complete
Specification, but in order that the mechanism may be more readily understood
I will refer to some of its principal parts using the same reference letters as are
marked on corresponding parts of the mechanism shown in the drawings of my
aforesaid Complete Specification some of which I have already named and
referred to.
a, the side frames; b, inclined toothed carrying lattice; b', its upper roller and
6, its lower roller.
c, the endless gauging lattice; c¹, its upper and c³, its lower rollers.
9, comb bar, for stripping fibre from the endless gauging lattice, carried on bars g³,
jointed to crank pins 92, in pulleys on a shaft g³, and oscillating on a rod g', jointed
to it, and to a stud g³, on the framing.
d, is the fluted roller in the bottom of the hopper, a³, part of the front side of the
hopper.
f, a stationary toothed bar; e, a roller with blades or projections for removing
fibre from the teeth of the inclined lattice.
The improved hopper feeder, as a feeder, is or may be geared up and driven as
described in my aforesaid Complete Specification but as illustrated by the accom-
panying drawings and combined with an opener or like machine having automatic
mechanism for varying the speed of the rollers feeding the fibre to the beaters
according to its average thickness, the gearing and mode of driving is or may be
modified.
The hopper feeder is shown applied to an opener or like machine having ordinary
automatic feed regulator mechanism except that the feeding roller of such mechanism
is driven at a uniform speed, and the gauging levers do not operate upon the cone
drums, but simply act to feed the fibre to the beater.
The accompanying drawings illustrate my improved hopper feeding machine
combined with the feeding end of an opener or like machine in which the ordinary
gauging levers m, are or may be retained in connection with the rollers for feeding
the fibre to the beater, each gauging lever in such case being weighted by a weight m³,
to act for that purpose only, as the gauging levers in this case do not operate to
change the speed of the cone drums, which in this case are operated upon for that
purpose by a pair of gauging rollers.
One of these gauging fluted rollers *, (the lower one) is in stationary bearings in

page_text: the side frames the other upper roller j³, is in bearings that can slide to and from
the lower roller 7.
is
The manner of driving the lower roller will be hereinafter explained.
The fibre as it comes from the inclined lattice b, and stripping roller e,
conducted by the passage for fibre to the gauging rollers and 3, and passes
between them and is delivered on to the upper face of the ordinary feeding lattice
or apron n, which carries the fibre to the ordinary rollers feeding to the beater.
At each end of the upper movable gauging roller, there is a hook shaped rod P,
the point of the hook resting against a cavity in the step or sliding bearing for the
upper roller.
The lower end of each hook rod p, passes through a hole in a lever p¹, having its
fulcrum on a stud p³, in the side frames or in a bracket attached thereto.
Upon the end of each hook rod p, there is a washer p³, having on one side a
knife edge projection to rock slightly upon the projecting boss round the hole in
the lever p, and against this washer a screw nut comes which screws upon the end
of the bent or hook rod p, by which screw nut the position of the levers are
adjusted.
The lower ends of the levers p¹, (one on each side of the machine) are slotted in
their lengthway for a sliding block having a hole in it for a stud secured in the
side of the short arm of a three armed lever p*, having its fulcrum on a stud p°, in
the framing or on a bracket attached thereto.
The slot for the sliding block may be in the lengthway of the short arm of the
three armed lever p', and the stud fitting the hole in the block may be fixed in the
lever p¹.
One arm of the three armed lever has a counter-balance weight p°, upon it.
Between the two ends of the longest arms of the three armed lever p*, (one on
each side of the machine) a cross bar p', extends, and each end of the cross bar is
connected to the levers p', by a screw bolt allowing a slight end movement of the
bolt in the cross bar..
To the middle of the cross bar p', the upper end of a rod p8, is jointed which is
adjustable in length by a right and left handed screw coupling and the lower end
of this rod p³, is jointed to one end of a lever p', upon a fulcrum stud p", in a
bracket, the other end of which lever has the lower end of a connecting rod po,
(adjustable in length by a right and left handed screw coupling) jointed to it, the
upper end of which rod is jointed to an arm pe, on a shaft pa, in bearings in
brackets on the framing for the cone drums, this shaft pd, having another arm p°,
which has in its end a slot in its lengthway to fit a stud secured in the end of a
curved bar 9, each end of which rests upon a bowl q', on a stud in a bracket secured
to the cone drum framing.
The curved bar q, has a vertical bar q³, secured to it which carries a belt guide
at its upper and lower end for guiding the belt between the cone drums q3 and q*,
the belt fork coming as close as possible to each cone drum, the curved bar q,
running on the bowls q', as it moves endways, causing the belt forks to move in
conformity to the curved surfaces of the cone drums q³, and q', the curve of one
cone drum being complementary to the other.
There is also an arm p', or pointer, secured on the shaft pa, which refers to an
index showing the position of the belt on the cone drums.
The gauging roller j¹, is free to rise and fall at each end, and this causes the
three armed levers p', to move accordingly and thus also the cross bar p.
If one end of the gauging roller, rises as much as the other end falls, the belt
guide is not changed, but when both ends of the gauging roller rise or fall or one
rises or falls more than the other so as to change the elevation of the central part
of the gauging roller, then the bar p', and consequently the belt guide for the
cone drums is changed in position accordingly so that an increase of average
thickness of fibre passing between the gauging rollers and, causes a reduction of
speed in the gauging rollers and a decrease in the average thickness of fibre an
increase of speed thereon.

page_text: The cone drums 93 and 9', are arranged in an ordinary manner and the lower
cone, is driven by being geared with the opener or like machine, and drives by
the belt, the upper cone drum q', in the ordinary manner.
The shaft g, of the upper cone drum is extended towards the hopper feeding
machine and works in a bearing in a bracket on the frame of the hopper feeder.
On this shaft, there is a bevel wheel that gears with one, on a shaft r,
extending across the machine and having bearings in the side frames a.
A spur wheel on the shaft r, gears with a wheel A, on a stud in a bracket and a
spur pinion fast on the wheel h³, gears with one 6, loose on the axis of the roller b¹.
The shaft of the roller b', is driven from the wheel 66, by a clutch box
arrangement similar to that described in my aforesaid Complete Specification
which clutch box is actuated by a vertical shaft k', also arranged as described in
my aforesaid Complete Specification, the arm k³, on the lower end of the vertical
shaft, being connected by a rod ³, with a lever k, on a fulcrum stud k³, in the
framing of the opener or like machine which lever k, is connected by a rod ko, with
the delivery end of the opener or like machine iu an ordinary manner.
The lower gauging roller, is or may be driven by a jointed chain j, working
upon a toothed wheel on the end of the lower gauging roller, and one fast on a
toothed wheel, rotating loose on the end of the shaft r, which wheel ³, is driven
by another jointed chain ", from a wheel fast on the end of the shaft c¹, for the
upper gauging lattice c.
The stripping roller e, is or may be driven by a belt from any convenient pulley
from the opener or like machine working upon a pulley on the end of the shaft or
axis of the roller e.
The shaft, is driven as described in my aforesaid Complete Specification by a
belt, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.
In place of the gauging rollers j¹ and 7, one roller may be used in or about the
position of the roller, and gauging levers are or may be applied to such roller,
the tails or long arms of the levers being towards the opener, the ends of the levers
coming against the roller being extended and shaped to conduct the fibre between
the faces of the gauging levers and the roller against which they press.
The tails or long arms of such gauging levers having each a pendent bar,
arranged and connected up with the belt guides for the cone drums in the ordinary
manner.
Or short gauging levers, are or may be arranged to press upon the roller in the
ordinary manner and the ends of each of these short gauging levers is connected
by a rod with another lever under it on a suitable fulcrum having the ordinary
pendent rod attached to its long arm, and being in other respects the same as the
ordinary arrangement, or the gauging levers may be bell crank levers, the vertical
arms of each acted upon by the vertical arm of another bell crank lever.
The lower end of the lattice n, is shortened to keep clear of the gauging
levers and the latter are or may be bent to keep clear of the lattice in either
arrangement.
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. The combination and arrangement with a hopper for feeding openers and like
machines, with fibre, of mechanism for indicating when the hopper is nearly empty
or sufficiently full or both, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated
by the drawings.
2. The combination of hopper feeding mechanism with openers or like machines
having gauging rollers ; and j³, and connected mechanism for actuating the belt
guide mechanism of the cone drums substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated by the drawings also when gauging levers, or a modification thereof is
used with a roller in or about the position of the roller, substantially as
hereinbefore described.

page_text: 3. The combination of hopper feeding mechanism with openers or like machines
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
Dated this Ninatoonth daw of Fahr 190A
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.