IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING AND COMBING FLAX, WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richards Harding, of Leeds, in the County
of York, Hackle Pin Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING AND COMBING FLAX, WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 21st August 1863, and dated the 23rd February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richards Harding
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1863.
I, THOMAS RICHARDS HARDING, of Leeds, in the County of York, Hackle
Pin Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING AND COMBING FLAX, WOOL, COTTON,
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the application of drawing rollers or similar
apparatus, adapted for and applicable to combing purposes, to operate in con-
junction with the cylinders and doffing cylinders of carding engines, so that the
longer and more valuable portion of the fibre of the material under operation
may be separated from that portion which is shorter in the fibre and more of
the nature of noil, and also from the impurities or refuse. This I accomplish by
so placing my drawing rollers and running them at such a speed that they lick
up the free ends of the long fibres straightened by the action of the cylinder and
projecting from the doffing cylinder, and draw out the other ends of such fibres
from the doffing cylinder against the set of the pins, so that the better portion
of the material under operation is drawn away by the rollers from the less
valuable portion, which is left sticking in the pins of the doffing cylinder, and

page_text: which is afterwards taken off by means of a brush or other means acting on
the doffing cylinder, so as to clear its pins before they again come into
proximity to and action with the fibrous material on the main cylinder. By
this means I accomplish the purposes of combing by mechanical apparatus
operating with the uninterrupted action and delivery of the carding engine,
and from the ordinary carding engine, with the addition of the apparatus of
my Invention, I produce, in addition to carding, the effect bitherto accomplished
by combing machinery of various and complicated arrangements.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richards Harding in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICHARDS HARDING, of Leeds, in the County of York, Hackle Pin Manufac-
turer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Richards Harding, Her special license that 1, the said
Thomas Richards Harding, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CARDING AND COMBING FLAX, WOOL,
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Thomas Richards Harding, 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

page_text: following statement, (reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to the application of drawing-off rollers or other
similar apparatus to cylinders covered with teeth or other carding surface
for the purpose of drawing off and separating the longer and more valuable
portion of the material under operation, both from that portion which is shorter
in the fibre and partakes more of the nature of noil, and also from all
impurities and refuse.
In order that my Invention may be more fully understood I proceed to
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
propose to use
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a carding engine such as I
for operating upon tow or such like material. a, a, is the framing; b, the
main cylinder, which receives its motion from a pulley fixed upon its axle, or.
in any other convenient manner. The fibrous material to be operated upon is
placed upon an endless apron or feeding sheet, or it may be introduced to the
feed rollers c, c, in the form of a sliver. The fibrous material is delivered to
the action of the teeth on the main cylinder b, b, by the feeding roller, and is
acted upon by a series of workers d, d, and strippers e, e, which operate in the
usual manner. The motion of the main cylinder 6 lashes or brings the
material on to the first worker d, where one end of the fibres. being firmly:
held, the other will be combed out by the action of the teeth of the main
cylinder b. The fibres will thus be left in the teeth of the worker, the combed
end projecting at a tangent therefrom and forming a kind of fringe or beard
on the surface of the roller, as clearly seen in the Drawing. The fibres are
then taken off the workers d by the strippers e and are again brought on to the
main cylinder b, and so on, to as many pairs of workers and strippers as may
be considered necessary. The material, after being operated on by all the
workers, arrives at the last cylinder f (called the doffer), which differs from
the workers only in this, that the pins of the doffer fare finer and closer set
than on the workers. The material is finally taken by the doffer out of
the card or large cylinder b, which rotates at a higher surface speed than the
doffer. The doffer cylinder is driven at a low rate of speed for the twofold
purposes of accumulating in its teeth the fringe or mass of fibres, so that they
may be well acted upon and combed by the main cylinder, and also to give a
certain consistency to the sliver, which might otherwise become attenuated
and prevented from holding together on account of the greater surface speed
of the drawing-off rollers g, g. These rollers are made the whole width of the
machine and work in suitable bearings, they being pressed on to each other
by springs or weights. The bottom roller may be fluted and the top one

page_text: covered with leather, india-rubber, wood, or other suitable material. In con-
sequence of the superior speed of the drawing-off rollers 9, 9, the protruding
ends of the fringe of fibres on the doffer are seized by the drawing-off rollers
just described and are thereby combed or drawn out continuously from and
against the teeth of the doffer, leaving the noils and impurities sticking in the
doffer. The noils and refuse are taken off the doffer by means of a rotary
brush h, or by means of a doffing knife or other suitable apparatus which will
collect them separately and convey them out of the machine, as at i.
I do not limit the application of this improved system of carding and
combing to the usual description of carding engines, neither do I confine
myself to running the main cylinder 6 what is technically called "down," nor
do I propose in all cases to use workers and strippers between the feed rollers
and the doffers. An obvious modification, therefore, of my Invention will be
to feed the fibres or material to be operated upon on to a separate porcupine or
card or comb cylinder or series of rotating combs, and adapt thereto a doffing
cylinder and drawing-off rollers g, g, whereby the long fibres will be drawn
off or combed precisely in the manner already described. In some cases it
may also be needful to have additional clearing or combing cylinders to act
upon the fringe hanging from the doffer f, or a brush may be employed, as
at j, in order to press the ends of the fringe or beard hanging from the doffer
cylinder against the teeth of the main cylinder b.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for
Carding and Combing Flax, Wool, Cotton, and other Fibrous Substances," and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, carding or combing
fibrous materials by means of a doffer and drawing-off or combing rollers
adapted to card or porcupine cylinders, or rotating combs or comb cylinders,
as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richards Harding, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
THO. R. HARDING. (L.S.)