IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING OR DRESSING SILK, FLAX. CHINA GRASS. COTTON. OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sarah Smith, of Bradford, Administratrix of John
Smith, late of Bradford, in the County of York, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING OR DRESSING SILK,
FLAX. CHINA GRASS. COTTON. OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.
Sealed the 6th March 1868, and dated the 7th September 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1867.
I, JOHN SMITH, of Bradford, in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
COMBING OR DRESSING SILK, FLAX, CHINA GRASS, COTTON, OR OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of three or more endless card
belts or toothed or spiked endless aprons placed and arranged side by side,
and operated so that two adjoining surfaces of these belts are caused to travel
in the same direction and parallel to each other; also in the employment of a
series of travelling nippers or nipping jaws which are placed in a parallelogram
of grooves and caused to slide or travel in betwixt the said surfaces of the
card belts or toothed or spiked aprons, but to move in a contrary direction.
Fibre being fed to, these nippers intermittently in succession by ordinary
feeding apparatus they open and receive it, then close and move away from
J.

page_text: the feed apparatus, detaching a tuft of the fibre which they carry in betwixt
the card belts or toothed or spiked aprons, the protruding ends being traversed
in contact with the cards, teeth, or spikes which comb or dress it. The jaws
of the nippers are then opened and the fibre is delivered on to a creeper or
other receptacle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sarah Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SARAH
SMITH, of Bradford, Administratrix of John Smith, late of Bradford, in the
County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said 'Sarah Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Sarah Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sarah
Smith, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR COMBING OR DRESSING SILK, FLAX, CHINA GRASS, COTTON, OR OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Sarah
Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Sarah Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and' by the following state-
ment thereof and accompanying Sheets of Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in the employment of three or more endless card
belts or toothed or spiked endless aprons placed and arranged side by side,

page_text: and operated so that two adjoining surfaces of these belts are caused to travel
in the same direction and parellel to each other; also in the employment of a
series of travelling nippers or nipping jaws which are placed in a parallelogramı
of grooves and caused to slide or travel in betwixt the said surfaces of the
card belts or toothed or spiked aprons, but to move in a contrary direction.
Fibre being fed to these nippers intermittently in succession by ordinary
feeding apparatus they open and receive it, then close and move away from
the feed apparatus, detaching a tuft of the fibre, which they carry in betwixt
the card belts or toothed or spiked aprons, the protruding ends being traversed
in contact with the cards, teeth, or spikes, which comb or dress it.
The jaws
of the nippers are then opened and the fibre is delivered on to a creeper or
is other receptacle.
In order that the said Invention may be clearly understood reference is
is given to two accompanying Sheets of Drawings illustrating the same.
C
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1. is an end elevation, Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 is a section
taken through the dotted line in Fig. 1..
A, A, and A³, représent three endless card belts, but which may be toothed
or spiked endless aprons, suitable to the substances to be operated upon.
These card belts or aprons are mounted on rollers a to which motion is given
by suitable pullies and straps B, B¹, and B2, from the main driving shaft C,
which belts are arranged so that the adjoining surfaces of A and A¹ will travel
together in the same direction, and the adjoining surfaces of A¹ and A³ will
also travel together, but in the' contrary direction, as shewn by the arrows...
The said surfaces are shewn parallel to each other, but in some cases it may
be desirable to place them out of parallelism or at an angle to each other..
D. and D¹ are a series of nippers or pairs of nipping jaws constructed and
arranged to slide or move in succession along a parallelogram or quadrangular
groove E formed in the framework of the machine. Sliding movement along.
the groove is given to them intermittently by means of a combination of
levers F and rods G actuated by tappets or cams H fixed on a shaft I which
receives motion from the main shaft C by gearing J; the line of travel of
these nippers is in a contrary direction to that of the card belts. K are a
series of ordinary feed rollers, and L a feed table. M, M, and M2; are rotary.
brushes for cleaning the card belts, motion being given to them by the straps.
B, B', and B², one of which also gives motion to the feed. rollers. Figs. 4.
and 5 are full size details of the nippers D and D', they are held together by
a catch d and piu d¹ pressed by a spring d² applied at each end of the said

page_text: nippers or jaws D & D¹, and they are opened by another spring d³ when
the catches are removed from the pins.
::
The action of the machine is as follows:-The fibrous substances' to be
operated upon is laid on the feed table in a "lap" or sliver and presented to
the feed rollers, which seize and carry it forward, projecting the end thereof to
and betwixt the nippers or jaws, which are open to receive the same, as shewn
by dotted lines N. When the fibre is thus passed into or between the jaws
they are closed by a lever F' pressing on the upper jaw, and the catches d
take on the pins d¹ and hold the said jaws close; a lever F then lifts the
pair of jaws, detaching a tuft of the fibre from the projecting end of the lap
or sliver, raising the said jaws in the vertical or upright grooves to a suitable
height, when a spring catch P attached to the frame at each end seize and
hold them while another pair of jaws are pushed along the bottom horizontal
groove into position by the action of a pusher G' attached by a rod G² to the
lever Fs, the jaws being open ready to receive the end of the sliver of fibre;
they are then closed as before described and lifted or raised up the vertical
groove into close contact with the former pairs of jaws, which are also lifted
by them, and so on. The upright or vertical groove being thus fitted with pairs
of jaws holding tufts of the fibre are simultaneously and intermittently lifted
or moved upward-in betwixt and in contact with the card belts, whereby the
ends of the said tufts become cleaned or dressed on one side, and as each pair
of jaws arrive at the top of the said upright groove they are pushed along the
top horizontal groove by means of a lever F' to which is attached a rod and
pusher G³, placing them on the top of the other upright groove, where they
are again opened, and the tuft is drawn forward a little through the jaws by
the action of a comb Q or other suitable instrument, so as to change the
place of nip on the tuft; then the jaws are closed again and forced by a
lever Fs down the said groove betwixt the other card belt surfaces A and As,
which in like manner operate upon the other sides of the projecting ends of
the tufts of fibrous substances. The jaws are retarded in their passage down
the groove so as not to drop by means of springs S acting against their ends.
On arriving at the bottom of this groove the jaws are again opened by reason
of the catches coming into contact with pins fixed on the framing, and the tuft
is then seized or received by a pair of creepers or endless aprons P and P¹,
which either form it into a lap or pass it forward into a sliver can or other
receptacle. The jaws are then ready to be pushed along the bottom groove to
take another load, and so on, the several pairs of nippers continuing to travel
in succession along or around the quadrangular groove detaching tufts of fibre
from the feed rollers as projected, and carrying the same in betwixt and in

page_text: contact with the endless card belts or toothed or spiked apron, as the case
may be, to be cleaned or dressed, then delivering the cleaned tufts to a
creeper, sliver can, or other receptacle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sarah Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Sarah Smith, in
the presence of
W. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax & Bradford.
SARAH SMITH. (L.S.)