IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Lawton, Machine Maker, and Robert
Platt Whitworth, Foreman,, both of Stalybridge, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR CARDING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 25th November 1862, and dated the 29th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Lawton and
Robert Platt Whitworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th May 1862.
We, NATHANIEL LAWTON, Machine Maker, and ROBERT PLATT WHITWORTH,
Foreman, both of Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR CARDING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to the mechanism for removing the fibrous mate-
rials from the doffer, and to that arrangement for this purpose, wherein the
doffer comb is secured to a shaft passing in front of the doffer, the shaft
receiving oscillations from a crank or excentric working directly into a slotted
lever or arm on the end of the comb shaft. Our improvements consist in the
0

page_text: peculiar construction and arrangement of the above-described mechanism. We
strengthen the shaft to which the doffer comb is attached by a rib on that side
of the shaft opposite the comb, so as to resist the bending action put upon it
by the screws, by which the comb is kept tightly stretched. We form the
pulley in which the crank or radius pin is fixed and its axis all in one piece, or
we fix the pulley on a short shaft, and arrange it so that it can rotate in a
bearing cast on one of the brackets supporting the end of the comb shaft; the
crank pin is formed by a set screw, which screws into the side of the said
pulley, and this set screw passes through a bush having a collar formed upon
it. This bush passes through and can rotate freely in a hole made through a
die, which can slide freely in the slotted arm on the end of the comb shaft.
The sliding die has two recesses, into which pieces of leather or similar mate-
rial is inserted; this leather working against the sides of the slot in the slotted
The slotted arm is placed so as to descend vertically, or thereabouts,
from the end of the comb shaft when it is at its mid oscillation, and a hole is
drilled from the upper side of the boss of the slotted arm into the upper end of
its. slot, and by this means oil can be supplied to the sliding die at any time
without stopping the engine.
arm.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathaniel Lawton and Robert Platt Whitworth in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, NATHANIEL
LAWTON, Machine Maker, and ROBERT PLATT WHITWORTH, Foreman, both of
Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Nathaniel Lawton and Robert Platt Whitworth, Her special license; that
we, the said Nathaniel Lawton and Robert Platt Whitworth; our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Nathaniel Lawton
and Robert Platt Whitworth, our 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,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ENGINES FOR CARDING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we; the said Nathaniel Lawton and Robert
Platt Whitworth, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
should, particularly. describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in. what manner the same was to be performed, 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 we, the said Nathaniel Lawton and Robert Platt
Whitworth, do hereby declare the nature of our said 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
(that is to say):-
:
Our improvements relate to the mechanism for removing the fibrous mate-
rial from the doffer, and to that arrangement for this purpose wherein the
doffer comb is secured to a shaft passing in front of the doffer, the shaft
receiving oscillations from a crank or excentric working directly into a slotted
lever or arm on the end of the comb shaft. Our improvements consist in the
peculiar construction and arrangement of the above-described mechanism. We
strengthen the shaft to which the doffer comb is attached by a rib on that side
of the shaft opposite to the comb, so as to resist. the. bending action put upon
it. by the screws by which the comb is kept tightly stretched. We form the
pulley in which the crank or radius pin is fixed and its axis all in one piece, or
we fix the pulley on a short shaft, and arrange it so that it can rotate in a
bearing cast in one of the brackets supporting the ends of the comb shaft; the
crank pin is formed by a set screw, which screws into the side of the said
pulley, and this said set screw passes through a bush, having a collar formed
upon it.
This bush passes through and can rotate freely in a hole made
through a die which can slide freely in the slotted arm on the end of the comb
shaft.. The sliding die has two recesses, into which pieces of leather or other
similar material is inserted; this leather working against the sides of the slot
in the slotted arm. The slotted arm is placed so as to descend vertically, or
thereabouts, from the end of the comb shaft when it is at its mid oscillation,
and a hole is drilled from the upper side of the boss of the slotted arm into the
upper end of its slot, and by this means oil can be supplied to the sliding die
at any time without stopping the engine. For very quick speeds we sometimes
use a bowl in place of the sliding die.

page_text: Fig. 1 shews an end elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan view of the mechanism
forming the subject of our improvements, drawn to a scale of about one-fourth
'its natural size; Fig. 3 is an end elevation, and Fig. 4 a side elevation,
partly in section (both full size), shewing the construction of our improved
mechanism. a is a shaft passing across and in front of the doffer of the carding
engine; it is free to oscillate in bearings formed by the stands b; at each
end of the shaft an arm c is fixed, and these arms carry the doffer comb d,
'which is kept stretched tight by screws passing through the ends of the arms c,
as shewn; to the comb a rib d' of wood or other suitable material is screwed,
which keeps it rigid; the strain put upon the shaft a by the tightening screws
of the comb is resisted by making the shaft in the form shewn, the increased
breadth of metal on one side of the axis of the shaft also acting to balance the
weight of the comb d and rib (d¹). The stand b, forming the bearings of the
shaft (a), rest in a base (¹), which is secured to the framing (A) of the
engine, and the comb. is adjusted against and parallel to the card teeth of the
doffer by the set screws (62), which act against the lower part of the stands (b).
One of the stands has a bearing (6) formed in it to receive a short shaft. (e),
which has a grooved pulley (e) fixed or forged upon one end. The short
shaft is kept from end movement by a set screw passing through the
bearing (63), the end of which set screw enters a groove (e) cut in the surface.
of the shaft (e) as shewn. A pin (f) is screwed into the grooved pulley (e¹),
which forms a crank pin upon which a loose bowl may be placed free to rotate,
or the pin may secure a bush (f) fast against the grooved pulley, and a bowl
(f) may be placed upon it, as shewn in Figures 3 and 4, so as to be free
to rotate, or a die (f), same as that shewn in section by Figures 5, an
end, and Fig. 6 a side view, may be used, the die in this case having two
recesses to hold a piece of leather (f) or other suitable material. The anti-
friction bowl (f³) or pieces of leather (f) in the die (f) works against the
sides of the 'slot in the arm g, secured on the end of the shaft a. "The sliding
die (f) or antifriction bowl (f³) is lubricated through an oil hole drilled
from the upper side of the boss of the arm (g) through the 'shaft (a) into the
centre of the slot of the arm, so that it falls directly on to the die or bowl, and
passes through an oil hole to the fixed bush (f) or pin (f). Oscillations
are imparted to the doffer comb when the grooved pulley is rotated, and this is
done by means of an endless band from a grooved pulley on the axis of the
main card cylinder or any other convenient rotating part of the engine.
We have now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
mode of carrying the same into effect, and claim as our Invention the con-

page_text: truction and arrangement of mechanism herein-before described and shewn in
he Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Nathaniel Lawton and Robert Platt
Whitworth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-sixth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-two.
NATHANIEL LAWTON.
(L.S.)
ROBERT PLATT WHITWORTH. (L.S.)