Improvements in the Feed Regulating Motion of Scutching and similar Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Jan., 1898-Accepted, 19th Feb.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Feed Regulating Motion of Scutching and
similar Machines.
I, JOSEPH NASMITH, of 61, Barton Arcade, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communica-
tion to me from abroad by John William Nasmith, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in
the United States of America, Engineer) 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 the feed regulating machinery ordinarily applied to
scutching machines. It has for its object the provision of means whereby the speed
of the feed roller may be accurately and delicately differentiated while at the same
time the traverse of the belt on the feed cones is facilitated and its frictional
contact with the cones increased.
In carrying my said invention into effect I employ an epicyclic gear between the
driven cone and the feed roller the constuction of which is of such a nature that
the work of driving the said roller is taken from the cone belt. Under my inven-
tion the function of the cone mechanism is simply that of a regulator and the belt
is relieved from the greater part of the strain usually existing.
In order that my invention may be the more easily understood and the more
readily carried into effect I have hereunto appended a sheet of drawings of which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the said mechanism and Fig. 2 is a vertical section of
the differential mechanism.
I drive the cone B which in the drawings is shown placed in a vertical position
from the side shaft A by means of bevel wheels. I continue the side shaft A
through the framing and fix upon its inner end a spur pinion C which gears with
a wheel D compounded with a bevel wheel D¹. A second shaft E is placed in the
position shown being suitably supported in fixings attached to the framing.
On the shaft E a drum F revolves freely the said drum having a long boss extend-
ing to the outer end of the shaft E. On the boss of the drum F the wheel D D¹
revolves loosely and the pinion G is fixed thereon. This pinion is used as a change
pinion and can be readily removed and replaced when desired. By means of a
carrier wheel H and the compound wheel I I' the motion of G is communicated to
the wheel J fixed on the axle of the feed roller K. Instead of the spur gearing
for driving the roller I may use worm gearing and a vertical shaft or any other
suitable gearing.
The drum F has fixed into it a stud L¹ on which a bevel pinion L freely rotates.
I may use two pinions instead of one if necessary for the purpose of balancing the
mechanism. The pinion L gears with the bevel wheel DI and also with a second
pinion M fixed on the shaft E. On the other end of E is fastened the wheel N
gearing with a pinion O fixed on the axle of the driven cone P. The gearing by
which the belt R is moved on the cones B P is that which is ordinarily employed
and is actuated in the usual way from the pedal levers generally used.
The action of the above mechanism is as follows. The resistance to rotation
of the feed roller K tends to keep the drum F stationary while the rotation of the

page_text: wheel D from the side shaft A would rotate the wheels L M if M were free to
rotate. The speed of rotation of M is however regulated by the cone P through
the wheels ON. The effect is that the drum F is slowly rotated at a velocity
depending on the difference in the velocity of the wheels D and M and its rotation
is communicated to the feed roller by the gearing G H I I. The velocity given
to the feed roller obviously depends upon the relative speeds of the shafts A and E
and the proportions of the various wheels. The normal speed of the feed roller
varies usually from three to ten turns per minute and the range of variation in its
normal speed when set to rotate at any given velocity ordinarily involves a change
in the velocity of the driven cone of about two to one. When the feed roller is
driven directly from the cone this variation has to be provided for by the
difference in the diameters of the two ends of the cones but when mechanism
constructed according to my invention is employed the driven cone only requires to
have its velocity varied in the proportion approximately of seven to six. I do
not bind myself to this difference because it is obvious that the proportion may be
varied as desired. The effect of the diminution in the variable velocity of the
cone is that I am enabled to similarly proportion the two ends of the cones so that
their profile is flatter and the belt has therefore a better grip on the cone pulleys.
The advantages to be derived from the use of my invention are that I remove the
work of driving the feed roller from the cone belt and leave it only the work of
regulating the velocity of the pinion M, the feed roller being driven from the
side shaft through the intermediate gearing. The belt is therefore more easily
moved and the movements of the pedals are made much more readily and with
less expenditure of power. This combined with the reduction of the taper in the
cone pulleys giving a better grip to the strap renders the work of regulation lighter
and more easily effected.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is: :-
1. Mechanism for obtaining a differential motion of a feed roller constructed
combined and arranged substantially as herein described and illustrated.
2. The employment in connection with the feed mechanism of scutching and
like machines of a rotatable drum from which the feed roller is driven the velocity
of said drum being regulated by the differential velocity of a wheel rotated from
the side shaft and of a pinion rotated from the driven cone.
Dated the 1st dow of January 1898