IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO ENGINES FOR CARDING COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
ALEXANDER KENNEDY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of June
now last past, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Alexander Kennedy, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, that I, the said Robert Alexander Kennedy, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Alexander Ken-
nedy, my exors, adññors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO ENGINES FOR CARDING COTTON, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Robert Alexander Kennedy, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: tion to consist in improved combinations and arrangements of rollers for the
endless belt or flexible on which the web or fleece of carding engines is
collected, and in the application of a material or materials not hitherto
employed for making the said endless belts or flexibles, and in order that my
Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed
to explain the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of part of a carding engine, and
of my improved machinery applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the
same. a is part of the main cylinder; b, the doffer; c, the doffing comb; and
d, part of the framing of an ordinary carding engine; e is a roller, the shaft of
which is supported in bearings made in the side frames; f, the roller; e is a
made to revolve by a train of wheels, represented by red lines in Fig. 1, and
gives motion to the rollers k, i, and j, and to the endless belt or flexible g,
which may be made in the ordinary manner, of laths of wood attached to
straps, but I prefer the use of cotton or other suitable fabric, woven into an
endless belt without scam. The endless belt descends from the roller e, and
passes under the roller h, which is supported by adjustable bearings h', then
it is carried over the roller j and under the roller i, from whence it goes
up to the roller e. The web or fleece from the doffer is guided under
the shaft c', or under a roller mounted loosely and revolving on the same
shaft, as seen in Fig. 3, and is carried upwards by the action of the
endless belt g, on which it is collected; it then passes under the roller e¹,
supported in slots in the side frames f, which serves to compass the web
or fleece on to the endless belt g; it then passes round the roller h, and is
carried upwards to the roller j, between which and the endless belt it is
again compressed. The roller his suspended by the endless belt g, thereby
keeping the belt at an uniform degree of tension. When the machinery is in
operation, the cotton or other fibrous substance continues to be collected on to the
endless belt g, until a sufficient quantity has accumulated, the amount of
which is ascertained by the index k; the attendant then doffs the cotton or
other fibrous substance from the endless belt in the ordinary manner, and the
web or fleece from the doffer continues to be taken up on the endless belt as
before.
The object of my Invention is to obtain an endless belt, of consider-
able length, without making the machinery inconveniently high from the floor;
by this means the web or. fleece formed.on the endless belt is longer than

page_text: usual, and the machinery does not intercept the light, as is the case when a
long endless belt or flexible is made to pass over two rollers in the ordinary
manner. My improved machinery only occupies about one-third of the space
on the floor required by the former plan of collecting the web or fleece on a
drum.
Another modification of my improvements is shewn in Fig. 3, which
represents another arrangement of rollers, and an endless belt of greater
length than the one shewn in the above-described Figs. 1 and 2. The parts
marked a, b, c, d, e, and e¹, are similar to those represented above, but the
endless belt g is carried under three bottom rollers marked 1, and over two
intermediate rollers m, by which means a web or fleece is obtained of about
five feet longer than that obtained by the machinery shewn in Figs. 1 and 2.
Other arrangements and combinations may be devised for obtaining the same
object, but the foregoing will be sufficient to illustrate my Invention.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my Invention, I wish
it to be understood that I do not claim any of the parts taken separately; but
I do claim;-
First, the improved combinations of rollers for the endless belts or flexibles
of carding engines, as shewn and described, or any modification thereof.
And, secondly, I claim the application of woven fabrics, herein-before
described, whether the same be used in combination with my improved
machinery, or with the machinery hitherto employed for similar purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Alexander Kennedy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one.