Improvements in or in connection with Carding Operations, and in Engines or Machinery therefor.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 30th June. 1896-Accepted, 8th Aug., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or in connection with Carding Operations, and in
Engines or Machinery therefor.
I JOSEPH SHANN of Fosterbeck Mill, Pateley Bridge, in the County of York
Flax and Hemp Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention refers to improvements in connection with carding operations, and
in engines or machinery therefor; and is hereinunder described with reference to
carding operations and engines employed in connection with the spinning of flax,
jute or hemp; but it will be evident that my invention is more or less applicable
in connection with the spinning of woollen, worsted, cotton or other fibres.
My invention consists in taking off the material (i.e. the fibres) from the swift
or cylinder of the carding engine as they reach the delivery side of the swift or
cylinder, by means of a travelling comb instead of by means of a doffer. Such
travelling comb consists of an endless band or chain, or equivalent mechanism,
provided with comb teeth; one side of which band or chain travels horizontally,
parallel to and close to the swift or cylinder, so that the teeth of the comb are
almost, but not actually in contact with the teeth of the swift. The comb. teeth
are vertical, or nearly vertical to the plane of the endless band, and the front row
or rows of the comb.teeth may be slightly shorter than the back row or rows.
The endless band or chain may consist of an ordinary or specially formed flat
link chain, the comb teeth being fixed on short brass pieces attached to the top of
the link chain. The chain is passed round guide pulleys and driven by a pitch
chain wheel or polygonal wheel, by means of bevel gear on the underside of said
wheel, or other convenient means.
The chain and the attached,comb toothed brass pieces forming the travelling comb,.
are guided securely close to and along the front of the swift by means of a guide
trough or channel, formed in iron beams or cross, pieces across the front of the
machine
The back portion of the travelling comb may be straight, or guided in any
direction found most suitable or convenient.,
Both the long and short fibres are caught by the comb teeth and carried well
down over the comb teeth by the swift teeth. When the comb passes beyond the.
side of the swift or cylinder and is carried round a guide pulley; it reaches a pair
of drawing off rollers (placed preferably vertically) which catch. and draw off the
long fibres of the flax or hemp and deliver these down a suitably placed shoot or
spout, or to other rollers or carrying off mechanism, whilst the shorter pieces (the
noil) are carried away to a stripping knife, or brush, or both, which removes the.
noil and leaves the comb cleaned ready for passing round the driving pulley to be
again traversed along the front part of the swift or cylinder.
Dated this 30th day of September 1895.
J. CLARK JEFFERSON,.
2 East Parade,, Leeds, Agent for Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in or in connection with Carding Operations, and in
Engines or Machinery therefor.
I JOSEPH SHANN of Fosterbeck Mill Pateley Bridge in the County of York
Spinner 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 :-
My invention refers to improvements in connection with carding operations, and
in engines or machinery therefor; and is hereunder described with reference to
carding operations and engines employed in connection with the spinuing of flax,
jute, or hemp; but it will be evident therefrom, that my invention is more or less
applicable in connection with the spinning of woollen, worsted, cotton, or other
fibres.
My invention consists in taking off the material (i.e. the fibres) from the swift
or cylinder of the carding engine as it reaches the delivery side of the swift or
cylinder by means of a travelling comb, instead of by means of a doffer. Such
travelling comb consists of an endless band or chain, or equivalent mechanism,
provided with comb teeth, one side of which band or chain travels horizontally
parallel to and close to the swift or cylinder, so that the teeth of the comb are
almost but not actually in contact with the teeth of the swift. The comb teeth
are vertical or nearly vertical to the plane of the endless band, and the front row
or rows of the comb teeth may be slightly shorter than those of the back row
or rows.
The endless band or chain may consist of an ordinary or specially formed flat
link chain, the comb teeth being fixed on short metal (brass) pieces attached to
the top of the chain. The chain is passed round guide pulleys, and driven by a
pitch chain wheel or polygonal wheel by means of bevel gear, most conveniently
ou the underside of said wheel or other suitable means.
The chain and the attached comb toothed brass pieces forming the travelling
comb are guided securely close to and along the front of the swift by means of a
guide trough or channel, formed in iron beams or longitudinal supports across the
front of the swift.
The back portion of the travelling comb may be straight, or guided in any
direction found most suitable or convenient.
Both the long and short fibres are caught by the comb teeth, and carried well
down over the comb teeth by the swift-teeth. When the comb passes beyond the
side of the swift or cylinder, and is carried round a guide pulley, it reaches a pair
of drawing off rollers, (placed preferably vertically), which catch and draw off
the long fibres of the flax or hemp, and deliver these down a suitably placed shoot
or spout, or to other rollers or carrying off mechanism, whilst the shorter pieces
(the noil) are carried away to a stripping knife or brush, or both, which removes
the noil and leaves the comb cleaned ready for passing round the driving pulley or
chain wheel to be again traversed along the front part of the swift or cylinder.
And in order that my invention and the manner in which the same is to or may
be performed may be more readily and clearly understood I have annexed hereto
the accompanying sheets of drawings in which :-
Fig. 1 is a plan, Fig. 2 a front elevation and Fig. 3 a side elevation illustrating
my invention applied to a flax carding engine.
Fig. 4 is a cross section to a larger scale of the endless band comb and guide
troughs.
Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively plan and longitudinal section to a still larger scale
of two links in the endless chain.

page_text: Lastly Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively vertical section and part back view of au
alternative arrangement of the flexible endless band comb.
a indicates the side frames of the carding engine, and b the driving pulley of
the same. cc are the pulleys of the workers.
d is a long frame casting, hereinafter designated the comb frame, and which is
supported on the projecting portions a' of the side frames. The comb frame is
provided with a long trough or channel, cast or otherwise formed thereon, for
guiding and steadying the endless comb chain e. f. fara plates, hereinafter
designated comb plates, to which the teeth g of the comb are attached. The
attachment of the plates ff' to the links of the endless chain e is plainly shown in
Figs. 5 and 6.
The chain e is passed round a pair of pitch chain wheels h, carried on vertical
spindles, fitted in bearings cast in or attached to the ends of the comb frame d.
One, or as shewn in the drawings, both of the chain wheels may be driven by
means of worm wheels i, attached to the lower ends of said vertical spindles,
gearing with worms j on a longitudinal shaft k; the latter being driven by means
of the pulleys and c¹ from the driving pulley b. Instead of worm,-toothed or
bevel gearing may be employed.
m indicates the swift or cylinder of the carding engine. In Fig. 3, the side
flange is shewn partly broken away to expose the teeth m¹ of the swift.
The comb is preferably placed below the level of the shaft of the swift, with
the plane of the endless chain horizontal, in order to provide a suitable clearance
between the lower part of the comb teeth and the points of the swift teeth. If
the comb is placed level with the shaft of the swift, the same object may be attained
by suitably tilting the plane of the endless chain.
n are a pair of drawing off rollers, for drawing off the long fibres and delivering
them down the shoot or spout o. These drawing-off rollers may be conveniently
driven from the longitudinal shaft k, by means of a worm on the same gearing
with the worm wheel p; or toothed or bevel gearing may be arranged for the
same purpose. 9 is an endless apron, passing round one of the drawing off rollers,
for the purpose of laying the fibres in better position for being drawn off by the
rollers n.
is a brush for removing the very short fibres, waste and noil, which is driven
from a pulleys on the shaft k, by means of the pulley t and gear wheels u.
A reciprocating stripping knife may be employed in place of, or in addition to,
the brush r.
In place of an endless chain I may use an endless flexible belt or band of leather,
rubber, or other suitable material, provided with comb teeth as shewn in Figs. 7
and 8. In such case it is advisable to provide the top and bottom edges of the
flexible belt with short metal pieces such as v, or flexible metal strips to hold the
belt sufficiently firmly in the guiding grooves or troughs; or short narrow pieces
extending from the top to the bottom.
I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the details of the various
driving gear, nor to the methods of stripping and cleaning the comb, nor to the
details in the construction of the chain or belt or guides for the same; but
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 method of taking off the fibres from the swift or cylinder by means of a
comb or combs traversing horizontally along the front or breast of the swift or
cylinder substantially as set forth.
2. In carding engines the employment of a comb formed as an endless chain or
band one side of said chain or band being arranged to traverse horizontally along
close to the front or breast of the swift or cylinder substantially as and for the
purpose herein set forth.

page_text: 3. In connection with carding engines the traversing comb device and means for
guiding, driving and cleaning the same substantially, as and for the purpose or
purposes herein set forth and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 20th day of June 1896.
J. CLARK JEFFERSON,
30 Park Row, Leeds, Agent for Applicant.