Improvements in Wool-combing Machines.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wool-combing Machines.
1, DAVID PRESTON NORRIS, Corner of Haverhill and Elm Streets, Methuen, County
of Essex, State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 relates to a wool combing machine of the class known as Noble
combs in which there is a large circular comb which revolves within a circle of hoxes
through which the prepared woul is fed, and two smaller circular combs contained
within the large circle and receiving the wool therefrom.
In combing machines of this class the fibres are drawn out from the interior of the
large circular comb at two points on its periphery, and from the exterior of the small
circular combs at one point on the periphery of cach, and the fibres thus drawn from
the combs are carried by the aprons by which they are drawn from the combs to a
point where they are all united in a single sliver which is finally delivered from the
imachine through a delivery tube or trumpet.
In machines as heretofore made the slivers that are brought together by
the aprons have been united in a single sliver at a point near the centre
of the machine, and the sliver is then carried vertically upward through
a rotating trumpet or guide tube which imparts a slight twist to the sliver passing
through it, and from which the sliver is carried by suitable guides into the
receiving end of the delivery tube or trumpet which is at a much higher level
than the combs.
This construction and method of operation involves the use of a considerable
amount of machinery that acts upon the sliver between the point where it is taken
from the aprons and the point where it enters the delivery trumpet, and the
present invention is based on the discovery that the sliver can be taken directly
from the aprons to the mouth of a delivery tube or trumpet at the same level as
the combs thereby doing away with the machinery referred to and at the same
time producing an improved product as the two portions of the sliver coming from
the two aprons are more intimately united into a single sliver, but without any
twish.
The rotating trumpet used prior to this invention for receiving the two portions
of the sliver and imparting a sufficient twist thereto, to keep them united as they
passed to the other guides by which they were carried to the delivery trumpet
was a very objectionable feature as rotation was imparted to said trumpet by a
belt which was likely to break and fall into the gearing of the machine and thus
cause considerable breakage and loss of time.
The present invention consists mainly in a wool combing machine having the
usual large and small circular combs and carrying aprons with guides by which
the fibres are taken from said aprons directly to the month of a delivery tube or
trumpet which mouth is at the same level with the combs and which tube is then
curved upward su as to pass above the main comb or large circle in order to
deliver the sliver from the muchino.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a plan view of a sufficient portion of a wool combing machine to illus-
trate this invention, a portion of the delivery trumpet being shown in section.
Figure 2 is a detail showing a portion of the delivery trumpet and cooperating
devices in vertical section, and
Figure 3 is a detail to be hereinafter referred to.
The main portion of the machine comprising the large circular comb a, the boxes b,

page_text: a portion only of which are shown, through which the rolls of prepared wool one of
which is indicated at c Figure 1, are fed to the said comb a, and the small circular
combs dd, and means for actuating the said parts may all be of the usual construction
such as illustrated in wool combing machines that have been in use for many
years.
The longer fibres are drawn out from the large comb a at two points on its interior
opposite one another by endless aprons e, e¹ and cooperating rolls f,, all actuated in
the usual manner, the fibres thus drawn forming a continuous sliver, indicated at g, g',
and being carried along by other endless aprons h, h, which in conjunction with the
drawing off rolls i, also take the fibres from the small combs d, d' as shown, the
said fibres uniting with the slivers g, g', taken from the main comb and being carried.
therewith by the aprons h, ', as shown at k¹, the two slivers being moved in substan-
tially opposite directions by the said aprons as shown.
In order to unite the two slivers or strips of combed fibre as they come from the
aprons h,, into a single sliver and to. deliver such single sliver from the machine
ready for the subsequent operations, the machine is in accordance with this invention
provided with guide rolls or binders m, m', by which the slivers from the two aprons
are brought together the sliver & passing over both of said guides m, m' and uniting
with the sliver on the guide m' from which the two slivers pass together to a
stationary guide tube a best shown in Figure 2 through which the two slivers are
directed into the bite of calender rolls o which are driven at about the same surface
speed that the sliver advances and thus carry it forward and at the same time compress
the mass of fibre which is delivered from the said rolls o into the mouth of the delivery
tube or trumpet p in suitable conditions for the subsequent operations.
The guide tube n and mouth of the delivery tube pare at substantially the same
level as the aprons and combs and the fibre is taken directly from the said aprons to
the said guide tube which together with the carrying rolls o compress the two
portions of the sliver coming from the two aprons into a single sliver which is very
homogeneous and not likely to become separated into two strands or portions corre-
sponding to the portions taken from the two feed aprons, as is the case when the two
portions are carried through a rotating trumpet as has been previously commonly
practised.
The delivery tube or trumpet p extends upward from its month in a reverse curve
as shown in Figure 2 so that the body of the trumpet is at a higher level than the
point at which the fibre is received in it, and extends out over the large circular comb
and boxes so as to deliver the sliver into the usual cans, the said sliver being some-
what compressed as it enters the trumpet owing to the column or mass of sliver which
is in front of it, which has to be pushed forward and upward as the new material
enters.
By the herein described construction a large saving in the first cost of the machine
as well as a saving of power in driving the machine is effected, and the sliver is
delivered from the machine without having a twist applied to it in any stage of the
operation and is firmer and more homogeneons in character than the product of wool
combing machines as heretofore usually made.
The delivery tube in machines as heretofore commonly made are of large bore and
extend downward from the end at which the sliver is received to that at which it is
delivered and in order to compress the sliver in the tube, a weighted door or cover is
placed over the delivery end of the tube, so that the sliver carried into the tube by the
imachine, will fill up the tube and be somewhat compressed before it pushes open the
weighted door so as to escape from the delivery end of the tube into the receiving
can.
Such compression is provided for in the machine forming the subject of this inven-
tion, without the use of a weighted cover by making the tube somewhat smaller; and
by its rising upward from the delivery end as shown in Figure 2 so that the sliver
carried into the tube by the calender rolls. o has to lift and push forward a mass of
sliver previously carried into the tube and is thus sufficiently compressed within the
tube.

page_text: The binders m m³ are adjustably connected with the bed plate or frame work of the
machine as shown in Figure 3, said binders being supported on a bracket having a
slotted foot which receives a bolt by which it is fastened upon the bed plate of the
machine, so that the binders may be set in the most advantageous position, which
would depend somewhat on the nature of the fibre being combed.
An important feature of the invention consists in having the calender rolls and
binders that guide and convey the sliver into the delivery tube so near the drawing-
off rolls i, and aprons h, that the sliver may be carried into the delivery
tube without any twist while in the machines heretofore generally used it, is
necessary to impart some twist to the sliver in order to hold it together in its
passage from the drawing off rolls and aprons to the delivery tube owing to the
great distance of the latter from the former.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First The combination of the large and small combs and drawing off rolls and
aprons of a wool combing machine, with a single delivery tube having its receiving
ends substantially at the level of the aprons, and guides by which the fibre from
the aprons taken from all the combs is directed without twist into the said tube,
substantially as described.
Second The combination of the large and small combs and drawing off rolls
and aprons of a wool combing machine, with a single stationary guide tube into
which the united fibre from both aprons is carried, and calender rolls and a delivery
tube having its mouth opposite the said guide tube into which delivery tube the
sliver is carried from the guide tube by the calender rolls, substantially as described.
Third The combination of the large and small combs and drawing off rolls and
aprons with a singlo delivery tube that receives the united sliver from both aprons
and has its receiving end at the level of said combs and is curved upward and
extends laterally to its delivery end which is at a higher level than its receiving
end substantially as and for the purpose described.
Fourth The combination of the large and small combs and drawing off rolls
and aprons of a wool combing machine, with a stationary delivery tube having its
receiving end substantially at the level of the aprons and adjustable binders by
which the fibre from the aprons is directed into the said tube, substantially as
described.
Fifth The combination of the large and small combs and drawing off rolls and
aprons of a wool combing machine, with a delivery tube having its receiving end
near enough to said aprons to admit of the combined sliver from said large and
small combs being carried from the aprons to the delivery tube without twist,
substantially as described.
Dated this 17th day of September 1889.