IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINES FOR COMBING COTTON, SILK AND OTHER FIBRE
Year: 1885

page_text: I JOHN DUGDILL of New Moston Failsworth Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Manager do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINES FOR COMBING COTTON, SILK AND OTHER FIBRE' to be as
follows:-
"
My improvements consist chiefly in a novel arrangement of parts of a combing
machine in which a revolving nipper and combing cylinders are employed.
The lap of fibre to be combed is laid upon a pair of rollers and the end of fibre
is passed over a conductor or guide plate and through the feed rollers to the
reciprocating nipper which closes on the fibre and moves downwards with it (the
feed rollers moving with the nipper but not revolving) to the bottom of their
stroke where the fibre is cleaned or combed by a comb cylinder which removes
the "neps" and waste. The nipper now returns or moves upwards with the fibre
when the combed ends are seized by a pair of revolving nippers the reciprocating
nipper opening simultaneously and allowing the revolving nippers to carry the
fibre to a second comb cylinder where the other end is cleaned and carried forward
to the delivery rollers.
As soon as the reciprocating nipper opens, the lap and feed rollers are revolved
by suitable gearing and fibre is again fed forward, and carried by the reciprocating
nipper down to the first comb cylinder as previously described.
[
The guide plate with the part of the lap on it, the feed rollers and the recipro-
cating nipper are caused to reciprocate or oscillate on one shaft as a centre in any
convenient manner preferably by means of a system of levers from a hollow cam
wheel secured on the axis of the first comb cylinder. The feed and lap rollers are
turned at intervals as required by gearing.
Extra pressure may be put on the reciprocating nippers by a spring or otherwise
to hold the fibre securely while it is being combed.
My improvements can be applied to machines in which several combing heads
are employed.

page_text: Improvements in Machines for Combing Cotton, Silk, and other
Fibre.
I JOHN DUGDILL, of New Moston, Failsworth, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINES FOR COMBING COTTON, SILK, AND OTHER FIBRE, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
.
My improvements consist chiefly in a novel arrangement of parts of a combing
machine in which a revolving nipper. and combing cylinders are employed.
The lap of fibre to be combed is laid upon a pair of rollers and the end of fibre
is passed over a conductor or guide plate and through the feed rollers to the
reciprocating nippers which close on the fibre and move downward with it (the
feed rollers moving with the nippers but not revolving) to the bottom of their
stroke where the fibre is cleaned or combed by a comb cylinder which removes
the "neps" and waste. The nippers now return or move upward with the fibre
when the combed ends are seized by a pair of revolving nippers the reciprocating
nippers opening simultaneously and allowing the revolving nippers to carry the
fibre to a second comb cylinder where the other end is cleaned and carried forward
to the delivery rollers.
.
As soon as the reciprocating nippers open the lap and feed rollers are revolved
by suitable gearing and fibre is again fed forward and carried by the reciprocating
nippers down to the first comb cylinder as previously described.
The guide plate with the part of the lap on it, the feed rollers and the recipro-
cating nippers are caused to reciprocate or oscillate on one shaft as a centre in any
convenient manner preferably by means of a system of levers from a hollow cam
wheel secured on the axis of the first comb cylinder. The feed and lap rollers are
turned at intervals as required by gearing.
Extra pressure may be put on the reciprocating nippers by a spring or otherwise
to hold the fibre securely while it is being.combed.
My improvements can be applied to machines in which several combing heads
are employed.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will describe the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, reference being
had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side view and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section of the same and Fig. 3
is a plan of a combing machine embodying my Improvements and Fig. 4 is a
similar view to Fig. 2 showing the parts in a different position. The greater part
of the framing of the machine is omitted in these views for the sake of clearness.
On the shaft a which is driven from the first motion shaft in any convenient
manner is mounted the second comb cylinder b; the shaft a drives the shaft c by
the train of wheels a a² a³, shown in Fig. 3, so that the shaft c and the first comb
cylinder 6 mounted upon it revolve respectively at the same speed as the shaft a
and the second comb cylinder b. Also fixed on the shaft c is a stud wheel c¹ which
engages with and drives a star wheel d on the boss of which is formed or fixed a

page_text: g¹,
pinion which thus receives intermittently. a revolving motion which motion is
transmitted by the train of wheels d' d' d³ to the lap rollers è e¹ upon which the
lap is laid. The lap f is uncoiled by friction when the rollers e e¹ receive their
intermittent motion as described and is conducted by a guide plate (not shown) to
the front feed rollers g of which the lower roller g is driven by a pinion h¹ on
the boss of a star wheel h gearing into a pinion g' on the roller g as shown in
Fig. 3. The star wheel h is actuated by the stud wheel i which is fitted loosely
on the shaft and is driven from the shaft c by the gears and thus an inter-
mittent rotary motion is imparted to the feed rollers g g'. The feed rollers
the star wheel h and the guide plate for the lap are all supported by connections
from the shaft j on which the stud wheel i is mounted and this shaft j also supports
the reciprocating nippers k k¹ which grip the lap as it is fed forward by the inter-
mittent motion of the lap rollers e and feed rollers g gl so that when the shaft j
is turned by the means hereinafter described the guide plate (not shown), the star
wheel h, the feed rollers g g and the nippers kk with the lap moved from the
position A they occupy in Figs. 1 and 2 to the position A', see Fig. 4, where the
free end of the fibre held in the nippers k k is combed by the action of the
revolving cylinder b¹. When the fibre has been combed the shaft ; is again moved
and the fibre still held in the nippers k k returns with the feed rollers g g¹ and
other parts along the path to the original position A. The shaft j is actuated to
impart the above described reciprocating motion to the nippers k k from the hollow
cam which is fixed on the revolving shaft c and actuates by means of a stud m³
the rocking lever m which is pivoted on a short shaft m³ and connected by a
link m³ to a lever m' fixed upon the shaft ; which thus oscillates backward or
forward as the stud m¹ is moved in the path of the hollow cam 7. The nipper k
is fixed upon the shaft j but the arm of the nipper ¹ is mounted loosely on the
shaft and is kept normally closed against the nipper k by the side springs n, see
Fig. 2, and in addition to the reciprocating motion already described for the nippers,
the nipper has an independent reciprocating motion to and from the nipper / in
order to seize and release the fibre as required and this is effected by the following
mechanism. On the shaft o is fixed a lever o¹ on a stud at the end of which is
mounted a bowl of which is moved along the path of a hollow cam p fixed on the
revolving shaft a and thus a rocking motion is imparted to the lever o¹ and shaft o
and to the lever q which is also fixed on the said shaft; the lever q is pivoted to
a link pivoted at r¹ to a hollow cam t mounted loosely on the shaft s¹ and this
link carries a hooked finger 2 which moves forward with the link r and the
cam t when the shaft o and lever q are rocked in one direction and thus forces
down a bowl k mounted on the nipper k¹ thereby opening the nippers kk¹ which
then receive a fresh feed of lap fed forward by the rollers g g¹. When the
nippers k k move downward the stud k³ passes away from the finger r³ and allows
the springs n to close the nippers kk on the fibre; extra pressure is put on the
nippers while the fibre is being combed by the cylinder 6 by means of the
springs n which act upon a shaft n² by means of arms n* and cause the stop
pieces n³ secured to said shaft to bear on the back of the nipper k¹ and thus assist
in keeping it closed. The springs n¹ are compressed between adjustable plates n'
on rods nº pivoted to the frame at n².
The mechanism is so arranged and timed that the reciprocating nippers k k² are
opened as soon as they return to the position A with the tuft of fibres which has
been combed at one end by the cylinder b¹ and simultaneously as the reciprocating
nippers are opened the partially combed tuft of fibres is seized by a pair of
the revolving nippers s four pairs of which are keyed on the shaft s¹ which is
driven one fourth round at a time by spaced gearing (not shown) in the well known
manner so as to impart an intermittent revolving motion to the nippers 8 which
are opened and closed by the reciprocating or oscillating motion of the cam t which
moves forward and backward with the link r and hooked finger 2 as already
described. The partially combed tuft of fibres is thus seized by the revolving
nippers s at the moment when the reciprocating nippers k k¹ are opened and as

page_text: the shaft 8 is being turned through a quarter of a revolution and the effect of this
is that as the revolving nippers & move the tuft of fibres is torn off from the lap
held between the feed rollers g g and this tuft is carried by the nippers s to the
position B where the other end is combed by the cylinder 6 and the tuft is after-
wards carried forward by the nippers s to the revolving delivery rollers u where
the nippers s are again opened by the action of the cam t and the fibre delivered
to the rollers u. When the reciprocating nippers kk are opened the lap rollers è e¹
and the feed rollers g g¹ are rotated as already described and fresh fibre is fed
forward to the reciprocating nippers k k¹.
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-
1. The general combination and arrangement of parts forming the improved
combing machine, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. In a combing machine, the combination with revolving nippers, of a pair
of reciprocating nippers for the purpose of presenting to comb cylinders first one
end and then the other end of a tuft of fibres to be combed.
3. In a combing machine, the combination with mechanism for imparting an
intermittent rotary motion to the feed rollers g g of means whereby the said
rollers and the nippers receive an oscillating or reciprocating motion, sub-
stantially in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.
4. In a combing machine, the combination with the reciprocating nippers k k¹
and the revolving nippers 8, of mechanism, such as that herein described, for
opening the reciprocating nippers k k¹ and releasing the tuft of fibres and simul-
taneously closing the revolving nippers s, and nipping the said tuft, substantially
as herein set forth for the purposes specified.
.
5. The combination with the reciprocating nippers k k¹ of the spring n¹ and
stops n³, substantially as and for the purposes described.