IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Billington Booth, of Preston, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES."
A communication from abroad by Seldon L. Crockett and Benjamin T.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Billington Booth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
+12th February 1867.
I, JOHN BILLINGTON BOOTH, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARDING ENGINES," a communication to me from abroad by Seldon L. Crockett
and Benjamin T. Mills, of Lowell, Massachusetts, U. S. of America, to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates especially to improved lifting and replacing cams
used upon card stripping machines, and are so formed and arranged as to lift
the top flats of carding engines, and perform a positive depression of the said
top flats on the strip card, and replace them in their proper positions without
the aid of depressing springs or other similar device, also arranged to bear the
top flats down when the stripping is performed. The said cam may be turned
backward as well as forward without breaking or injuring any of the
machinery.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Billington Booth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th August 1867...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BILLINGTON BOOTH, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Billington Booth, Her special license that I, the said John.
Billington Booth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Billington Booth, 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 CARDING ENGINES," a communication to me from abroad
by Seldon L. Crockett and Benjamin T. Mills, of Lowell, Massachusetts,
U. S. of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Billington Booth, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 John Billington Booth, 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 following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon (that is
to say):
This Invention relates especially to improved lifting and replacing cams
used upon card stripping machines, which cams are so formed and arranged
as to act on slide jaws having each two pins and bowls to lift the top flats of

page_text: carding engines, and perform a positive depression of the said top flats on the:
strip card, and replace them in their proper positions without the aid of:
depressing springs or other similar device, and also arranged to bear the top.
flats down when the stripping is being performed. These improved cams are
intended to supersede the cams used in the improved machinery. for stripping
the top flats of carding engines, for which Letters Patent were granted to
George Wellman, of Lowell, in the United States of America, entitled
"Improvements in Carding Engines for Carding Cotton and other Fibrous
Materials," dated the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, Number 2190. The said George
Wellman employs at each side of the carding engine a lifting and replacing
cam, consisting of several detached flanges or projections cast upon the
surface of a plate, which flanges are made to work a slide having four pins
secured thereto; three of the pins are acted upon by the detached flanges to
lift and replace the top flats, and a spring secured to the under side of a cross
stay on the top ends of the stripper arms is designed to depress the top flats
on to the strip card, and cause it to strip the top flats clean; the fourth pin
the slide is intended to guide the first or outer pin outside one of the detach
flanges in replacing the top flats, but the outer pin sometimes passes inside
the said. flange, and then the flanges or pins are broken. This cam hav
detached flanges can only turn in one direction, and in the attempt of
unpractised operators to turn the stripper back in order to strip the main
cylinder, the detached flanges are frequently broken off. which spoils the whole
cam, so that a lifting cam, stripping cam, and gear have to be replaced as
they are all connected together.
There is a cam at each side of the carding engine, and it is well known
that although the cams are of similar forms, they have to be placed in reverse
positions to agree with each other.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figs. 1 and 2 represent the
precise form of my improved cam in reverse positions, and Fig. 3 a view of
the cam with the two pins and bowls and slide jaw in one position.
9,
a, b, represent the grooves of the cam; c, d, e, the flanges; f, the slide jaw;
and h, the two pins and bowls; and I may here remark that although I
use the term "precise form," it must be understood that any easing or filing
which may be required for enabling the various parts of the cam to glide
freely over the bowls on the pins may be performed, and in the following
description when the word: pin is used, it must be understood that it is a pin
covered with a bowl. When the cam, Fig. 3, moves in the direction of the
arrow it begins to lift the top flat at the part 1, and as the pin 9 rises by.

page_text: inside a prominent part 2,.
The pin g passes outside of;
means of the continuous flange d, the pin h passes
and catches on the part 3 of the inner flange e.
and above the edge of the cam, and the pin h works in the groove b; and
when the cam has moved from 4 to 5 the pin h is moved downwards by the.
offset k, and forces the slide jawf and one top flat with which the jaw is
engaged down, so as to press the flat on to the strip card, thus performing a
positive depression of the top flat at each stripping operation. Whilst the
cam is passing from the offset k to the part 6 on the flange e there is sufficient
time for the strip card to be withdrawn from beneath the top flat, and then
the flat begins to fall as the part 6 passes the pin h, and continues to fall until
the ping is near the part indicated by 7, from which part to part 1 the
stripping apparatus is moving from one top flat to another.
In order to strip the main cylinder it has hitherto been frequently necessary
to lose considerable time in waiting for the apparatus to work its way over
the flats, but by the use of this improved cam the stripping apparatus can be
moved backward by reversing the motion of the cam, and turning the stripper
back to the point desired without injuring the cam or the lifting pins or any.
part of the machinery, as the peculiar form of the said cam admits of its being
turned backward quite as easily as forward. Forming my improved cam with
the grooves a and b the continuous flanges d and flanges c and e preclude the
possibility of the lifting pins g and h getting out of place. All the curves of
this improved cam are important and cannot well be changed, and some
prominent points and curves cannot be, changed at all without spoiling the
operation of the cam. The point 8 on the outer portion of the continuous
flanged and the point 2 on the inner portion of the opposite end of the said
flange, the point 9 on one extremity of the flange c, and the point 10 on one
extremity of the flange e, are absolutely necessary in reversing the motion of
the cam to turn the stripper backward. The point 11 on one extremity of the
flange c guides the pin 9 properly in replacing the top flats after the stripping
has been performed, and the making that portion of the flange d between 12
and 13 continuous is also necessary to guide the pin g past the point 8, and
prevent the pins g and h dropping too suddenly, or in any way getting out of
place.
Having now described the nature and particulars of the said Invention as
communicated to me, I desire it to be understood that I do not claim the
machinery for stripping the top flats of carding engines, nor the lifting cam or
cams used by the aforesaid George Wellman; but what I do claim in the
machinery used for stripping the top flats of carding engines is the employment
of the lifting and replacing cams formed as shewn and described; and also the

page_text: combination with each cam of the two pins and bowls g and h in the slide
jawf, acted upon by the cam in the manner and for the purpose specified, as
all such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Billington Booth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
J. B. BOOTH. (L.S.)