Improvements in Means for Regulating and Controlling the Feed or Supply of Textile Material to Openers, Scutchers, Carding Apparatus, and similar Machinery.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 19th Dec., 1895-Accepted, 25th Jan., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Regulating and Controlling the Feed
or Supply of Textile Material to Openers, Scutchers, Carding
Apparatus, and similar Machinery.
I THOMAS RODGERSON MARSDEN of Bank View, Derker Street, Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster, Manager, in the employ of Messrs. Platt Brothers & Co.
Limited, of Oldham, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improved means for regulating and controlling the feed
or supply of textile fibre or material to the hoppers or feed boxes of openers and
scutchers, carding apparatus and the like. The improvement relates particularly
to the feed hoppers of apparatus of this class in which a pivotted or suspended
board, flap, series of fingers, float or other object or arrangement is used to regulate
the supply to the spiked sheet or other portion of the apparatus. Under my
present improvement I propose to do away with the said auxiliary suspended or
pivotted or otherwise arranged boards, fingers, or other parts and I pivot or loosely
suspend or loosely mount the usual fixed front of the hopper so that it will swing
move or slide to and fro in obedience to the varying pressure or weight of cotton
in the hopper. I connect the said loose hopper front to the feeding means whatever
such feeding means may be. Thus if the hopper is fed by a travelling lattice I
control the movements or speed of the feed lattice from this moving hopper end.
If the hopper is fed from a trunk or shute I might in a similar manner control the
feeding rollers; or if no such rollers are used I might by the mere movement of
the loose hopper end, enlarge or diminish the opening through which the fibrous
material is passed out of the trunk or into the hopper. In this latter case I might
dispense with the connecting rods and levers necessary to control the lattice or
trunk feed rollers and by inclined or curved guides close or open the orifice through
which the feed passes to the hopper. The mere mechanism for stopping or altering
the speed of the lattice creeper or trunk feed rollers or enlarging or diminishing or
opening and closing the feed orifice in the trunk or hopper so as to govern the
supply automatically in accordance with the demands of the machine, may be varied
greatly in practice, the gist of my invention being the loose hopper, end. The
same means might be used to control either the direct or the indirect feed to the
hopper. For example the improvement might be utilised to regulate the delivery
of material from an auxiliary feed hopper placed in front of or beside the usual
hopper.
Dated the 18th dor of March 1905
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.

page_text: Improvements in Means for Regulating, and Controlling the Feed
or Supply of Textile Material to Openers, Scutchers, Carding
Apparatus, and similar Machinery.
I THOMAS RODGERSON MARSDEN of Bank View, Derker Street, Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster, Manager, in the employ of Messrs. Platt Brothers & Co.
Limited, of Oldham, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:
-
My invention relates to improved means for regulating and controlling the feed
or supply of textile fibre or material to the hoppers or feed boxes of openers and
scutchers, carding apparatus and the like.
The improvement relates particularly to the feed hoppers of apparatus of this
class in which a pivotted or suspended board, flap, series of fingers, float or other
object or arrangement is used to regulate the supply to the spiked sheet or other
portion of the apparatus.
Under my present improvement I propose to do away with the said auxiliary
suspended or pivotted or otherwise arranged boards, fingers, or other parts and I
pivot or loosely suspend or loosely mount the usual fixed front of the hopper so
that it will swing, move or slide to and fro in obedience to the varying pressure or
weight of cotton in the hopper. I connect the said loose hopper, front to the
feeding means whatever such feeding means may be." Thus if the hopper is fed by
a travelling lattice 1 control the movements or speed of the feed lattice from this
moving hopper end. If the hopper is fed from a trunk or shute I might in a
similar manner control the feeding rollers; or if no such rollers are used I might
by the mere movement of the loose hopper end, enlarge or diminish the opening
through which the fibrous material is passed out of the trunk or into the hopper.
In this latter case I might dispense with the connecting rods and levers necessary
to control the lattice or trunk feed rollers and by inclined or curved guides close
or open the orifice through which the feed passes to the hopper. The mere
mechanism for stopping or altering the speed of the lattice creeper or trunk feed
rollers or enlarging or diminishing or opening and closing the feed orifice in the
trunk or hopper so as to govern the supply automatically in accordance with the
demands of the machine, may be varied greatly in practice, the gist of my invention
being the loose hopper end, operating to regulate the feed in the manner described.
The same means might be used to control either the direct or the indirect feed to
the hopper. For example the improvement might be utilised to regulate the
delivery of material from an auxiliary feed hopper placed in front of or beside the
usual hopper.
To render my invention fully understood I have attached hereunto three sheets
of illustrative drawings to which I will refer in the course of the following detailed
description.
Ox SHEET 1.
Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the front or feed end of the hopper of an ordinary
opening machine, furnished with my improved movable front or regulating
board a.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the front end of the hopper, in which I illustrate

page_text: is a pran view of the same and of the regulating front which appears in
Fig. 3. together with the driving pulleys and gear which operate and regulate the
lattice feed.
ON SHEET 2.
Fig. 5. is a side elevation of a hopper fitted with my improved loose front or
regulating board connected to means for regulating the feeding rollers of a trunk
or shute or auxiliary feed hopper.
Fig. 6 is an end elevation of one side of the hopper and mechanism shown in
side elevation in Fig. 5.
ON SHEET 3.
Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a hopper in which the loose board instead of being
pivotted is arranged to move or slide to and fro.
Fig. 8 is an end view of the side of the hopper appearing in Fig. 7.
Referring in the first place to the figs. on Sheet 1 of the drawings the sides of
the hopper are marked band the moving floor lattice d. As already said hitherto
the regulating means such as prongs, shutters and the like, have been situated in the
hopper space so as to be interposed more or less in the path of the moving
fibre and acted upon by the mass of fibre as it is advanced towards the spiked
sheet.
Under my present invention I dispense with such regulating means interposed
in the hopper.
The front a is made loose as indicated in Fig. 1 so that it will act as a regulating
board and move or recede if an excessive weight of cotton should be fed into the
hopper, and again resume its normal position when the weight has been relieved.
These movements of the regulating board are utilised to stop and start the feeding
mechanism. The method of nounting or placing this board in situ may vary
without departing from the spirit of my invention, but a convenient and obvious
method is to suspend the board a from the pivot shaft c as shown in Sheet 1, the
said pivot shaft being supported in bearings on the sides 6 of the hopper. The
regulating front a is so balanced or hung that its normal position or angle is for
example about as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
The regulator a might be kept in this normal position by the mere weight of its
connected parts or by a counter-balance weight on a lever on the end of the pivot
shaft c, for example as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 or by a spring or springs.
However arranged, the board a is so hung that any increase of weight or pressure
upon it, caused by excessive feed or by the packing of the cotton in the hopper
tends to move it towards the position indicated. in dotted lines in Fig. 1.
By any such movement of the board a the pivot shaft c is correspondingly turned
and from this pivot shaft may be derived the motions which control the feeding
mechanism whatever such mechanism may be. In the hopper represented on
Sheet I the feeding of the fibrous material is effected by a very common and well
known means viz. the lattice feed. The feeding lattice e runs between sides and
is carried on discs g one of which appears in Fig. 1. This lattice e may extend to
the mixing room or to a suitable point at which the cotton may be manually laid
or mechanically fed upon or thereto. In this case I therefore utilise the movements
of the regulating board a and pivot shafte to stop and start the lattice e automatic-
ally in accordance with the demands of the hopper b. This is effected by fixing on
one end of the pivot shaft c where it projects outside of the hopper, a lever h, which
lever is connected by a rod i with one arm of a bellérauk lever j pivotted on a
bracket 4 bolted to the bottom of the feed lattice casing f. The other arm of the
bellcrank lever engages with a tail k' from the belt fork k which is pivotted at k 2
to a bracket & 3 bolted to the side of the lattice casing, the said fork governing
the driving strap which runs around the fast and loose pullies m m. On the boss
of the fast pulley m or keyed to its shaft is a pinion n which gears with a spur
wheel n' on the shaft of the lattice feed carrying discs 9.

page_text: Thus the feed lattice e is driven so as to carry forward and tumble the cotton or
other fibre into the hopper b. If too much cotton is fed into the hopper, the
increasing weight or pressure upon the board a pushes it outward so as to slightly
turn the pivot shaft c, the lever then transmitting the movement through the
described parts to the belt fork k, which is thus shifted from the fast pulley m to
the loose pulley m', with the result that the feeding lattice e is stopped and the
supply of cotton to the hopper interrupted. When the creeper or floor lattice d
and the spiked sheet have removed the superabundant fibre from the hopper, the
weight or pressure upon the board a is relieved and it moves inward to its original
position, this return being effected either by the weight of the lever hand parts or
by a counterbalance weight as indicated or by a spring or springs.
The return movement of the board a shifts the belt fork k from the loose to the
fast pulley and the feeding lattice is thus restarted. In Fig. 4 the belt fork k is
represented in the act of heing moved across the face of the pullies m m¹ and
appears midway between the two. The exact requisite amount of motion of the
belt fork is adjusted by slotting the lever h and securing the pivot stud of the rod i
at such a point as will give the requisite amount of motion. The adjusted angle of
the regulating board or the length of the rod i may also be altered by means of the
screwed union joint at ¹ between the rod i and the head which connects it to the
bell-crank lever. I have been at pains to describe the foregoing. connection
between the regulating board and the feeding lattice not because I consider any
such description to be essential but merely for the purpose of helping the reader
more easily to appreciate and trace the practical results of my invention.
Fig. 1 illustrates the effect of my invention upon the feed of the fibre, and
shows that the regulating board is operated entirely by the weight of the fibre
resting against the board without any increase of pressure owing to packing of the
fibre between the spiked sheet of the board, such as takes place in some former
arrangements, whilst the regulator not being interposed in the path of the feed
between the feed and the spiked lattice in no way hampers the feed. In the
foregoing and subsequent arrangements I have in all cases shown the front of the
hopper loose and forming the regulator board, but it will be obvious that if desired
a fixed false front may be added, without affecting the operation of the regulating
board. This however is quite unnecessary.
In preparing the foregoing figs., I selected the lattice feed as being the feeding
mechanism which I have found the most general and useful, but my invention
might also be applied to the controlling of the ordinary trunk feed for example.
This would or might be done in the manner shown by Figs. 5 and 6 on Sheet 2,
Fig. 5 being a side elevation and Fig. 6 a front elevation of one side of the hopper
and trunk feed.
In these figs. the loose pivotted front a again appears precisely as in the
foregoing sheet of drawings. The side lever, connecting rod i, bellerank lever j
and belt fork k all appear as in the former instance and working in a precisely
similar manner. The trunk or shute through which the cotton is supplied to the
hopper is marked o and the two feed rollers which pass the cotton into the hopper
are marked p p. One of these feed rollers p is carried in sliding bearings q on a
shaft p² and springs r behind the bearing 7 tend to push the movable roller p
towards the fixed roller p'. Thus the space between the rollers alters according to
the passage of cotton. The feed rollers are driven from the fast and loose
pullies m m by gearing s with loose bridle link connections t so as to keep the
gearing engaged even when the roller p slides. All this trunk roller and driving
arrangement is however old and well known and is no part of my invention. 1
merely indicate it to show how my regulator a can be connected to this species of
feeding mechanism. The movements of the loose front under the varying weight
or pressure of cotton in the hopper correspondingly move the belt fork k so as to
stop and start the feed rollers ppl of the trunk or shute o in accordance with the
demands of the hopper b, precisely as already set forth with reference to the figs.
on Sheet I.
t

page_text: Although the suspending of the board a from a pivot shaft or from pivots as.
described is no doubt the most obvious and easy way of mounting the said board it
is evident that other methods of mounting it might be adopted. For example as
shown in Figs. 7 and 8 on Sheet 3, the board or front a instead of being pivotted:
might be mounted to slide to and fro. In this case the front a is'carried on top.
and bottom studs or slides u secured to the front and projecting through longitudinal
slcts in the sides 6 of the hopper. These studs or slides u carry a side bar e upon
which is a stud 10 and on this stud w I may pivot a rod i similar to the connecting
rod shown in the other figs., whereby the bar and therefore the movable board a
is connected with the knocking-off mechanism. When the feed or delivery of
cotton or other fibre into the hopper b exceeds requirements, the front a yields to
the weight or pressure and moves outwards the studs or slides u sliding in the slots.
and carrying with them the side bar whereby communication is established with.
the knocking-off apparatus and the feed is stopped.
The springs or it might be a weight or weights bring back the regulating-
board when the excess of material in the hopper has been removed and this return.
of the board again sets the feed mechanism in motion.
Where the feed or supply to the hopper, whether from a shute or otherwise is.
passed through an opening above 1 might by the movements of the board a enlarge.
or diminish the opening through which the fibrous material is passed into the.
hopper. This might be done by means of sliding shutters moved by inclined or
curved guides or other suitable means on or connected with the movable hopper
front. In such a case the loose pulley and strap guide would be dispensed with
and the apparatus greatly simplified. Instead of utilizing my regulating board to.
control a direct feed to the hopper as described, I might apply it in controlling an.
indirect feed to the hopper.
For instance my invention might be utilised to regulate the delivery of material
from an auxiliary feed hopper placed in front of or adjacent to the usual hopper ;..
or I might from the movements of the loose front, control the motion of a lattice
feeder in a separate or upper room, for example in the mixing room above, the
said lattice feeder discharging into a shute leading to the hopper proper. This
might be done by utilizing the motion from the fast and loose pulley shaft by-
pinion and spur gearing and imparting the said motion to a band or rope pulley
from which a band or rope extends to the driving pulley on the shaft carrying the
discs of the lattice feeder in the room above.
It will be evident that by arranging the regulating board in the manner
herein before described I am enabled greatly to simplify the apparatus. Moreover,.
the fibrous material after falling over the regulating board is free to be carried on
by the creeper without impediment towards the spiked lattice, at the same time
that there is no tendency to pack it up against the lattice, the regulating board
being sloped so as to take the weight of the feed without any such packing action
and nothing is interposed between the feed and the spiked lattice which tends in
any way to check the flow or to become choked whereby it differs from former
apparatus in which the regulating parts in the hopper space were apt to check the
free passage of the fibrous material and tended to interfere with the working
of the apparatus to the best advantage, all of which drawbacks are obviated under
my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I.
claim is.
1. In connection with the feed boxes or hoppers of openers, scutchers and the.
like, the use of a regulating board arranged and operating substantially as
hereinbefore set forth.
2. In connection with the feed boxes or hoppers of openers, scutchers and the
like, making the front of the hopper loose and using it as a regulating board.
operating substantially as hereinbefore described.

page_text: 3. As means for automatically regulating the feed or supply of textile fibre or
material to the hoppers or feed boxes of openers, scutchers, and the like, the
combination of the board a and the feed mechanism, arranged and operating,
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
Dated the 18th of December 1895.
Dated the 18th of December 1895.
For the Applicant,
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, Chartered Patent Agents.