IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SCRIBBLING OR CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Cooper, of Frome, in the County of
Somerset, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
FEEDING SCRIBBLING OR CARDING ENGINES."
Sealed the 2nd October 1863, and dated the 6th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Cooper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on the 6th
April 1863.
I, BENJAMIN COOPER, of Frome, in the County of Somerset, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR FEEDING SCRIBBLING OR CARDING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a self-feeder for supplying fibrous
material to scribbling engines.
engines. When using wool, to which staple the
Invention chiefly applies, I take it in the form of "locks," either oiled or not,
as thought desirable, and throw it into a box made by preference with inclined
ends, and set within a rectangular frame. In this frame I mount an endless
web provided with transverse slots or bars, and I so arrange it that it will
travel downwards over one end of the box for the purpose of drawing down
the wool thrown in by the attendant. At the opposite end of the box I
provide an endless web of card cloth, which is supported by rollers on the
framing, and has an upward movement for carrying up the wool contained in
the box. The wool as it is carried up in large quantity is intercepted by a
rotating fly, which beats back the loose locks, and to some extent equalizes

page_text: the spread of the wool upon the wire cloth. A second fly, rotating at a speed
superior to the first fly, next acts upon the wool on the wire cloth, and beats
off a further portion, condensing at the same time the remainder on the
cloth. The wire cloth with its coating of wool now passes under an adjustable
gate, which by acting as a gauge further ensures the equalizing of the take-up
of the wire cloth. When the wool has passed from under the gate it is
stripped from the endless wire cloth by means of stripping rollers, forming a
portion of the scribbling or carding engine. If thought desirable, the wool
instead of being oiled before it is deposited in the self-feeder may be oiled by
adapting the automatic apparatus now in use to the self-feeder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Cooper in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
COOPER, of Frome, in the County of Somerset, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Benjamin Cooper, Her special license that I, the said Benjamin
Cooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Benjamin Cooper, my 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SCRIBBLING OR CARDING ENGINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Cooper, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Benjamin Cooper, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus constituting an
automatic feed for supplying fibrous materials to scribbling or carding
engines.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shows the improved feeding appa-
ratus in side elevation, and Fig. 2 in longitudinal section; it consists of a
kind of hopper intended to receive the wool (to which staple the Invention
chiefly applies) in the form of "locks," either oiled or not, as thought desirable,
and by means of travelling surfaces to carry up the wool, and present it to an
adjacent scribbling or carding engine. The hopper is formed of triangular
cast-iron side frames A, A, braced together by transverse tie rods a. These
frames are grooved on their inner face to receive the planks B, B*, which
constitute the inclined ends of the hopper. Fitted to these planks at right
angles thereto are fillets of wood b, which form guides for receiving the planks.
which are intended to constitute the vertical sides of the hopper. At the
front end of the hopper is mounted an endless cloth or web C, which is pro-
vided with transverse slats c, and works down the inclined wall of planks B
within the hopper. This web is carried by rollers D, D*, which have their
bearings in the frames A, the one roller being a little above and the other
below the inclined wall of planks B. Similarly at the back of the hopper an
endless web or fillets of wire cloth E is mounted on rollers F, F', and F,
the lower roller F being on a level with the roller D*, and the upper roller F
raised somewhat above the level of the roller D. The roller is mounted at
or near the level of the stripper roller of the scribbler or carder intended to
be fed by the apparatus. These rollers F, F, F³, work in bearings carried by
the main framing A, and they are driven so as to give an upward movement
to that portion of the card fillets contained within the hopper. Mounted at
the top of the hopper is a fly G, adjustable both vertically and horizontally by
means of slots in the frame A, and in the bracket bearings H, to receive the
bolts for securing the bearings of the fly in position. This fly is intended to
beat back the loose locks of wool carried upwards by the card fillets, and by
that means to assist in equalizing the spread of the wool on the card surfaces.
I is a second fly, mounted in a similar manner to the fly G, and rotating at
a speed superior to the first. It is placed near the card fillets, and is intended
to beat off a further portion of the loose wool, condensing at the same time the
remainder on the card fillets. To prevent these from throwing up the wool
out of the hopper, a hood K is placed over them to intercept the flying flakes.
The back of the hopper is closed at its upper end by a gate or sliding door L,

page_text: the position of which is so regulated as to act as a gauge for regulating still
further the take-up of the wire cloth. Outside the hopper and just above the
point where the stripping of the card fillets takes place is a small retaining
roller M mounted in vertical guides and revolving by friction of contact with
the card surface. Its use is to retain the wool on the cards sufficiently to
prevent the stripping roller N of the scribbler from taking off large locks.
O represents part of the framing of the scribbler, which may be temporarily
attached to the frame of the feeder to impart greater steadiness to the latter.
On the shaft of the roller F is keyed a spur wheel 1, which receives motion
from the engine to be fed, and on the boss of this wheel is a chain wheel 2,
Keyed to the axle of the roller F is a chain wheel 3, and to the axle of the
roller D is keyed a chain wheel 4. Over these wheels 2, 3, and 4 passes a
chain 5, which transmits rotary motion from the upper rollers of the card
fillets to the endless cloth C carrying the slats c. The flies G and I are
connected together by means of a band 6 and pullies 7 and 8 on their respec-
tive shafts, and they receive motion from a belt 9 passing from the engine
and round the pulley 10.
From the above description it will be understood that if the supply of wool
is kept up in the hopper, the supply to the scribbler will be continuous, the
same being proportioned (when the apparatus is once properly adjusted) to
the amount required by the engine, the speed of the engine determining the
speed of the feed. The downward traverse of the endless cloth C is to
bring down the wool into contact with the card surface, and the upward
traverse of the card surface, while it ensures the proper filling of the cards,
elevates the wool also to the required level for delivering it to the scribbling
engine. This elevation of the wool by the cards is important, as it enables
reach
the apparatus to be placed on the floor level, and brings it within easy
of the attendant, who may readily supply a series of these automatic feeders.
Instead of using the retaining roller M, it may be sometimes preferable to
use the nipper, shewn at Fig. 3, in which d is a rocking frame carrying a
thin plate e, which extends across the machine, and by means of a weighted
arm or arms fis caused to bear upon the card fillets just at a bite of the
stripper roller N, and act the part of the retaining roller. This plate e how-
ever, by reason of its shape, is enabled to approach nearer to the bite of the
stripper than the roller N, and consequently to retain shorter lengths of fibre
on the fillet.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improved apparatus
for feeding, scribbling, or carding engines, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the above

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the improved automatic feeder con-
structed and operating as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Cooper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
BENJ. COOPER. (L.B.)