Im- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hunter Henry Murdoch, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER
FIBRE." A communication from abroad by Emile Bède, of tho
Firm of Bède and Company, of Verviers, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Engineers.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hunter Henry Murdoch
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th May 1873.
I, HUNTER HENRY MURDOCH, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON CARDINGS OF
WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE," the samo being a communication to me from
abroad by Emile Bède, of the Firm of "Bède and Company," of
Verviers, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineers, to be as follows:
This Invention, as communicated to me, consists in the improved
apparatus, herein-after described, for dividing or separating the sheet of

page_text: wool or other fibre, as it leaves the carding or condensing engine, into a
series of strips or slivers, and rubbing the said strips or slivers into
rovings.
According to this Invention the sheet of wool or other fibre from the
carding engine is made to pass between a pair of endless travelling
leather aprons or bands mounted on and travelling round two or more
revolving rollers, which aprons are placed in a nearly vertical direction,
one above the other, sufficient space being left between them for the
passage of the steel strips or blades, herein-after described. In front of
each of the said endless aprons, and also behind each of the same, is a
horizontal bar extending along the face and back of the said endless
aprons respectively, and thin strips or blades of steel nearly of the width
of the slivers it is intended to produce are fixed alternately to the top
and to the bottom bar in front of the apparatus, and from thence are
made to pass between the said endless aprons, and by their other ends
are affixed respectively to the lower and upper bars in rear of the
apparatus, the steel blades from the upper bar in front of the upper
endless apron being affixed by their other ends to the lower bar in rear
of the lower endless apron, and respectively the steel blades from the
lower bar in front of the lower endless apron upon being affixed by their
other ends to the upper bar behind the upper endless apron. Thus
each of the said blades crosses the next adjoining blades between the
two endless aprons on which the two series of steel blades are stretched
side by side.
When the sheet of wool from the carding engine is made to engage
between the two endless aprons the adherence to the leather is such that
instead of its advancing motion being arrested at the point where the
steel blades cross each other, the wool is drawn under the said blades and
separates, or is divided into two series of strips or slivers, which, adhering
to the leather, advance on each apron by sliding under the steel blades,
at the end of which they pass on cach apron, first under a small
revolving iron cylinder, and afterwards under a rubbing roller or apron,
which complete a rubbing apparatus.
Instead of the said endless aprons rubbing rollers may be used, the
steel blades being crossed and stretched on these rollers in the same
way as on the endless aprons. Thus, according to this Invention, the
sheet of wool or other fibre is divided into slivers, and these slivers are

page_text: rubbed into rovings by means of two ordinary rubbers by placing them
properly, one near the other, and adding to them a system of steel blades
crossed and stretched upon a roller or an endless apron of each of these
rubbers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hunter Henry Murdoch in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUNTER
HENRY MURDOCH, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, Her special license that
I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, 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 APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ON CARDINGS OF WOOL OR OTHER FIBRE," a com.
munication to me from abroad by Emile Bède, of the Firm of Bède and
Company, of Verviers, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineers, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, 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 Hunter Henry Murdoch, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
-
This Invention, as communicated to me, consists in the improved
apparatus herein-after described for dividing or separating the sheet of
wool or other fibre as it leaves the carding or condensing engine, into a
series of strips or slivers, and rubbing the said strips or slivers into
rovings.
According to this Invention the sheet of wool or other fibre from the
carding engine is made to pass between a pair of endless travelling
leather aprons or bands mounted on and travelling round two or more
revolving rollers, which aprons are placed in a nearly vertical direction,
one above the other, sufficient space being left between them for the
passage of the steel strips or blades herein-after described. In front of
each of the said endless aprons, and also behind each of the same, is a
horizontal bar extending along the face and back of the said endless
aprons respectively, and thin strips or blades of steel, nearly of the width
of the slivers it is intended to produce, are fixed alternately to the top
and to the bottom bar in front of the apparatus, and from thenco arc
made to pass between the said endless aprons, and by their other ends
are affixed respectively to the lower and upper bars in rear of the
apparatus, the steel blades from the upper bar in front of the upper
endless apron being affixed by their other ends to the lower bar in rear
of the lower endless apron, and respectively the steel blades from the
lower bar in front of the lower endless apron being affixed by their
other ends to the upper bar behind the upper endless apron. Thus cach
of the said blades crosses the next adjoining blades between the two
endless aprons on which the two series of steel blades are stretched side
by side.
When the sheet of wool from the carding engine is made to engage
between the two endless aprons the adherence to the leather is such that
instead of its advancing motion being arrested at the point where the
steel blades cross each other the wool is drawn under the said blades
and separated, or is divided into two series of strips or slivers, which,
adhering to the leather, advance on each apron by sliding under the
steel blades, at the end of which they pass on each apron, first under a
small revolving iron cylinder, and afterwards under a rubbing roller or
apron, which complete a rubbing apparatus.

page_text: Instead of the said endless aprons rubbing rollers may be used, the
steel blades being crossed and stretched on these rollers in the same way
as on the endless aprons. Thus, according to this Invention, the sheet
of wool or other fibre is divided into slivers, and these slivers are
rubbed into rovings by means of two ordinary rubbers by placing them
properly, one near the other, and adding to them a system of steel blades
crossed and stretched upon a roller or an endless apron of cach of thesę
hhova
as on the endless aprons. Thus, according to this Invention, the sheet
of wool or other fibre is divided into slivers, and these slivers are
rubbed into rovings by means of two ordinary rubbers by placing them
properly, one near the other, and adding to them a system of steel blades
crossed and stretched upon a roller or an endless apron of cach of these
rubbers.
Having explained the nature of this Invention, as communicated to
me, I will proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying
Drawings the manner in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal section part of a carding or con-
densing engine with apparatus applied thereto constructed and arranged
according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view (drawn to a
larger scale) of the dividing and rubbing apparatus detached, and
Figure 3 is part of a front elevation of Figure 2; Figures 4, 5, and 6 arc
sectional views illustrating modifications of the arrangement shown at
Figures 1, 2, and 3, as herein-after described. The same letters of
reference are used to indicate like or equivalent parts wherever they
occur in the several Figures of the Drawing.
P, Figure 1, represents the doffer of a carding or condensing engine;
and
P is the doffer comb for stripping the sheet or web of wool or other
fibre n from the doffer; r is a small revolving roller, which keeps the
said sheet or web of fibre in a suitable state of tension; F, F¹, arc a
pair of endless leather aprons or bands mounted on and travelling round
the revolving rollers f, f, and f¹, f', respectively in the directions indi-
cated by the arrows. In front of the endless apron F is a horizontal
cross bar V, and in front of the endless apron F" is another horizontal
cross bar V, the ends of which cross bars V, V₁, are affixed to the double
frame A (one side of which frame is shown at Figure 1), so that the
said bars may, if required, be set further apart one from the other; T
is a double cross bar situated behind the travelling aprons F, F¹, and at
each end affixed to the frame A, or to brackets or supports carrying the
rollers f, f; d, d', are thin strips or blades of steel for dividing or
separating the sheet or web of fibre into slivers. The said steel
strips d, d, are fixed alternately to the upper and to the lower
bars V, V, and from thence pass between the endless aprons F, F¹, and

page_text: by their other ends are affixed respectively to the lower and upper edges
of the doublo bar T behind the said endless aprons, the ends of the
strips & being affixed to the bar V and to the lower part of the double
bar T, and the strips d¹ being affixed by one end to the bar V¹, and by
the other end to the upper part of the double bar T. The arrangement
and mode of connecting the ends of the said steel strips d, d³, respec-
tively to the bars V, V, and to the double bar T, will be readily
understood by reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawings. R, R¹, are
rubbing rollers which receive rotatory motion, and also reciprocating
motion in the direction of their axes in the usual manner. The roller R
works in connection with the endless apron F, and the roller R' in con-
nection with the endless apron F", as shown in the Drawing. b, b¹, arc
small rollers which revolve in contact with the endless aprons F, F¹,
respectively, the object of the said rollers being to press against the said
endless aprons the small slivers of wool or other fibre as they move
onward in a divided state from the ends of the steel strips or blades d, d³,
and also to cleanse the ends of the said strips d, d', which are bent so as
to hook on to the bar T, as shown at Figure 2, a small space or
interval being left between the said strips d, d, and the face of the said
bar T, in order to prevent the fibre from catching on the ends of the said
strips.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The endless travelling
aprons F, F, having been suitably greased and rubbed, the sheet or web
of wool or other fibrous material n from tho doffer is made to engage
between them, as shown in Figure 1. The said sheet of fibre is drawn
on by the motion of the said aprons F, F, and the adherence of the said
sheet of fibre to the leather aprons F, F, is such that instead of its
advancing motion being arrested when it comes in contact with the steel
strips d, d¹, as they cross cach other between the said aprons the said
sheet or web of fibre separates or is divided into two two series of
strips or slivers, which strips or slivers adhere alternately to the upper
and to the lower endless leather apron or band and follow the directions
indicated by the letters d, d, and d¹, d, on the right hand side of
Figure 2, and the said slivers still adhering to the endless aprons F, F',
respectively pass to under the rubbers R, R', where they are rubbed or
rolled into rovings, which rovings are then wound on to bobbins 8, 8, 8¹, 8¹,
of which there may be one or more for each endless apron F, F¹,
according to the number of rovings.

page_text: Instead of the rubbing rollers R, R', herein-before described and
represented in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings, an
endless rubbing apron or band may be used in connection with each of
the travelling aprons F, F¹, for the purpose of rubbing or rolling the
slivers into rovings. This modification of the Invention is represented
in Figure 4 of the accompanying Drawings, in which R, R', ȧre the
endless rubbing aprons or bands mounted cach upon two revolving and
reciprocating rollers, as shown, the action of the said endless aprons
being to rub or roll into rovings the slivers passing between them and
the travelling aprons F, F¹, respectively; or a single pair of dividing
rollers covered with leather may be substituted for the endless dividing
aprons or bands F, F1, Figure 1, a rubbing roller being used in con-
nection with each of the said dividing rollers.
This arrangement of the Invention is shown in section at Figure 5.
F, F, are the two dividing rollers, and R, R', are the rubbing.
rollers.
Figure 6 represents another modification of the Invention; in which
the slivers from the dividing rollers F, F, are rubbed or rolled into
rovings by ordinary rubbing apparatus R, R', one of which apparatus
works in connection with each of the dividing rollers F, Fl.
The cross bars V, V¹, may be of any suitable sectional shape. It will
be seen that the bars V, V, Figure 2, differ in form from those shown at
Figure 1, and they may, if preferred, be made of wood, and shaped as
shown at V, V¹, Figures 4, 5, and 6.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of the said Invention; but I
claim as the said Invention,-
Firstly. The means or apparatus herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings for separating or dividing the sheet or
web of wool or other fibrous material produced by a carding or con-
densing engine into narrow slivers, that is to say, by means of strips or
bands of steel or other suitable smooth or polished material crossing each
other, and stretched between leather covered rollers or endless leather
aprons or bands in motion.

page_text: Secondly. The adaptation and combination or arrangement of the
parts of apparatus herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings for dividing or separating the sheet or web of
wool or other fibrous material produced by a carding or condensing
engine into slivers upon endless leather aprons or bands, or leather-
covered rollers, forming part of rubbing apparatus, by which the said
slivers, immediately after being formed, are rubbed or rolled into
rovings, thereby enabling rovings to be produced from materials of very
inferior quality.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
his Olerk.
H. H. MURDOCH. (L.S.)