CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA- RATUS FOR CARDING COTTON, FLAX, WOOL, OR ANY OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1839

page_text: GARNETT'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
GARNETT, of Haslingden, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninteenth day of January, in the second year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Garnett, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority that I,
the said Joseph Garnett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Joseph Garnett, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no other, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS FOR CARDING COTTON, FLAX, WOOL, OR ANY OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
(which has been communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad); in
which said Letters Patents is contained a proviso, that I, the said Joseph
Garnett, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Garnett, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: These improvements in machinery or apparatns for carding cotton, flax,
wool, or any other fibrous substances, consist principally in the particular
arrangement and construction of the ordinary and essential parts of carding
engines, and the application thereto of three or more dofler cylinders, in order
to produce a greater quantity of slubbings or rovings from the engine in the
same space of time, and a much better quality than can be obtained from
such machines as are now in common use.
Secondly, the doffer cylinders being covered with rings or fillets of cards,
and being three or more in number, the fillets of cards can be so placed that
the width of each ring or fillet shall have an intermediate blank or plain space
of double such width or space upon the doffing. cylinder, which is highly
important, especially in carding wool or other material of long staple, as the
fibres are apt to extend crosswise from one fillet to another, and thus to cause
frequent breaking of the rovings, as in working ordinary carding engines. And
also I would remark, that by the application and use of three doffers the fillets
or rings of cards upon them may be one half the width of those now in use,
and thus, consequently, the rovings may be taken off the carding cylinder
in smaller portions or narrower strips, and in much greater perfection. Prior
to entering into the detailed illustration of these improvements in carding
engines, I find it expedient, in order to facilitate the explanation of such
improvements and to enable others to construct them and bring them into
practical operation, to describe the whole arrangement and process of carding
wool, that of cotton and other fibrous materials being similar, but, perhaps,
requiring some slight modification to suit the quality of the staple to be
operated upon.
Let it be supposed that the wool or other fibrous material
is about to be introduced into an ordinary carding engine, the wool, after
having been scribbled in the ordinary manner, is taken from the doffer end of
the engine in a slightly twisted state, being in bands or slivers, and which are
wound upon a series of bobbins or spools. The bobbins or spools are then laid
or placed upon a corresponding series of cylinders or drums, which are
mounted in a frame, and caused to revolve by means of gearing from the feed
roller, thus delivering the bands or slivers from off the spools by friction of
contact. The bands or slivers of wool are now to be conducted severally
through distinct guides to the operation of the second carding engines. The
sheet of carding may be divided into any convenient number of bands or
slivers, but the produce of a narrow carding engine divided into thirty or forty
strips will be found sufficient; these strips or slivers are now to be drawn into
one (or two in case of a double engine) from the doffer end of the engine, and
again wound upon bobbins or spools as before, and again placed upon a series

page_text: of drums as on the second carder, in order to be submitted to a third carding
engine. This third carding engine or "finisher" (as it is sometimes called) is
a single carding engine and fitted with my improvements, having three or more
doffers or doffing cylinders placed in front. I would observe that three doffers
will be found the most convenient. I also place in front of each of the
doffer cylinders a small cylinder or doffer stripper, covered from end to end with
a very narrow fillet of cards laid side by side, and cause them to revolve in
the same direction with the doffers, and grind them sharp, then to run in the
opposite direction and hold a soft card against the teeth, in order to bring
them to a smooth and round point, which is very essential, as it delivers the
slivers more readily and perfect. The slivers are now to be passed forward
through separate guides, and also through revolving tubes or double endless
friction bolts or straps (hereafter more particularly described) in order to
produce a slightly twisted roving which now passes through the drawing
rollers and is wound upon the spools or bobbins, being in a proper state to
supply the mule, throstle, or other spinning machinery without any inter-
mediate operation of slubbing or roving being necessary. Another mode of
feeding carding engines which I might employ, is the application of a cylinder
(or what is called a lap drum, which is to be placed in front of the doffer in
the first and second carding engines, and revolving in an opposite direction to
the doffer.
The wool or other material under operation is struck off from tho
doffer by the action of a comb in a sheet, and is received upon the service of
the drum in successive layers or windings, which are slightly compressed by the
weight of a small roller bearing upon the periphery of the drum, and turning
by the friction of contact. When a sufficient quantity of wool has been
wound upon the surface of the drum, it is to be cut off by passing a knife
through it longitudinally, from end to end, and it is then to be spread in a flat
sheet upon the feeding cloth, with which the next carding engine is provided, in
a transverse direction of the fibres to the way it is wound upon the drum, so
that the two even cut ends of the sheet of wool may be laid in contact, and
run parallel, with the sides of the feeding trough. It will be found necessary
that the drum should be about two inches more in circumference than the width
of the feeding table which is to receive it, in consequence of a slight contrac-
tion of the fibres taking place, which would make the sheet or lap of wool too
narrow for the feeding trough, and it is desirable that they should be of equal
width, in order that the sheet should feed exactly parallel, and thus produce
the side threads of an equal quality and thickness as those in the middle.
Now in order that these improvements in carding engines may be more
clearly explained and distinctly understood, I have attached to these presents

page_text: a Sheet of Drawings representing several views of this improved carding engine
as applied to the third or finishing carder for operating upon wool, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference, having placed similar
letters upon corresponding parts of the apparatus in all the figures. Figure 1 is
a side elevation of the carding engine; Figure 2, a front elevation of the doffer
end; and Figure 3 is a longitudinal section taken through the middle of the
machine. The main drum or carding cylinder a, a, a, is mounted in the side
frames or standards b, b, and furnished as usual with strippers and clearers c, c, c.;
the whole being set in motion by the strap d passing around the driving pulley.c.
The carding engine is fed by means of the lap or sheet of wool as just
described, being placed upon the endless feeding cloth f, f, see Fig. 3, running
in the trough or table g, and the wool is delivered upon the main cylinder by
means of the cylinders h, h, where it is scribbled or carded. as usual and taken
off. in slivers or bands by means of the three doffer cylinders A, B, C, which
are furnished with narrow strips or fillets of cards for this purpose, the bands
or slivers of wool are further advanced by means of the doffer stripper i, i, i,
being passed between the guides j, j, in order to keep the fibres of the bands
separate, and also passed through the twisting tubes k, l, m; these twisting
tubes are caused to revolve by means of the endless straps n, n, n, running
between them and the guide rollers 0, 0, 0, for the purpose of giving a slight
twist to the rovings as they pass between the drawing rollers p, in order to be
wound on to the bobbins or spools 2, q, mounted in the bobbin frame 1, 1.
The slivers or threads are wound upon the spools, side by side, by means of the
revolution of the single worm s, driving the guide bars t, t, backwards. and
forwards a short traverse, and thus laying the slivers evenly side by side upon
the bobbin.
Another mode of putting in this slight twist to the rovings is, by passing the
slivers between a double strap or belt exactly in a similar manner as that
described in the Specification of a Patent for improvements in spinning, granted
to William Garnett, the Nineteenth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight, and which was duly enrolled in the office of the Rolls Chapel.
This method is explained with reference to the detached. Figure 4. The
drawing rollers p are the same as in Figure 1, 2, and 3, and the double endless
straps u, u, for giving twist to the rovings are shewn in place of the twisting
tubes immediately behind the drawing rollers. It will be perceived that small
weight rollers v run loosely upon the upper strap, and that between every two
or four rovings or slivers there is a thin plate of metal w, the thickness of the
required roving, for the purpose of equalizing the distance between the running
straps throughout, and causing an equal amount of pressure upon all the

page_text: rovings. The spools g, g, with the finished slivers, are now ready to be taken
and placed in the spinning machinery at once from the third carder or finisher
without any further preparation.
Having thus particularly described these improvements in machinery or
apparatus for carding cotton, flax, wool, or any other fibrous substances, I
desire it to be particularly understood that I claim, the new and particular
arrangement of such machinery, as far as the novel methods of feeding,
carding, and doffing have been explained, that is,-
Firstly, dividing the machinery for carding into three or more parts, and
drawing the slivers or produce of the first and second carders into one for for
the purpose of equalizing the sliver before it is put into "the finisher"
third carding engine, which drawing down of the slivers may be performed
upon the two carders one or more times according to the fineness of the rovings
required.
Secondly, the application of three or more doffers with the guides j, j, j,
to the carding engine, for the purposes above explained; three being the
number I prefer.
And lastly, the small plates of metal or other material to be placed between
the endless belts or straps (where they are used in place of twisting tubes,)
alternately with the rovings, in order to equalize the slivers by preserving the
uniformity of the inner surfaces of the twisting straps or belts.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Garnett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.