CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robertson, of the City of Manchester,
Mechanician, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 20th October 1857, and dated the 22nd April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robertson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd April 1857.
I, WILLIAM ROBERTSON, of the City of Manchester, Mechanician, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
My improvements are applicable to the machines known as scutchers,
openers, and carding engines, and may be described under the following
divisions:
First, in carding engines, a comb having a reciprocating vertical motion
is usually employed for stripping the fleece or sliver from the doffer. My
improvement consists in the employment and use for this purpose of a series
of combs attached to and rotating with a roller or shaft so formed as.to admit
of their being easily attached and adjusted to it. Around these combs are a
series of lags so formed and placed that as the combs rotate the lags also

page_text: rotate with them, but eccentrically to them. As the rollers and lags revolve,
in consequence of the eccentricity of their motion each comb as it approaches
to the doffer passes through a slot in one of the lags so as to enter into the
teeth of the doffer, from which it takes the sliver, and as it recedes from the
doffer it gradually returns within the lag, which retains the sliver on the
outside thereof, and the sliver is then drawn forward by the calender rollers
in the usual way. Doffing.combs are sometimes used for stripping or clearing
other parts of the carding engine, 'to which my improvement is equally
applicable.
Secondly, I also employ a series of combs and lags, constructed as above
described, in connection with the carding engine, for the purpose of opening
and delivering the cotton as it passes through the feeding rollers to the licker-
in or to the main cylinder.
Thirdly, in the machines known as openers-and-scutchers I employ a series
of combs and lags, constructed as above and of appropriate size, in place of
the beaters at present employed.
Fourthly, in some, openers and scutchers, in place. of the beaters usually
employed, a cylinder partially covered with teeth is substituted. In practice
the cotton or other material is frequently found to adhere to these teeth,
clogging them up, so as to render them inefficient. To obviate this objection,
I place the teeth in lines, leaving a sufficient space between each two lines
in which to form a series of slots; I also form the cylinder with a boss pro-
jecting from each end to form the bearings of the cylinder. These bosses are
made hollow, and sufficiently large to admit of a pipe being passed through
each of them. These pipes when they have passed within the cylinder are
bent, so as to communicate with and support an air chamber open towards
the inner side of the cylinder, with which the sides of the chamber come
nearly into contact. This chamber is so placed that a current of air passed
through the pipes will enter the chamber, and passing thence through the slots:
in the cylinder, as they successively come over it will act upon the material.
retained by the teeth and blow it therefrom.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance, of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by, the said William Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office on-the
21st, October 1857,
0475
TO: ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, WILLIAM
ROBERTSON, of the City. of. Manchester, in the. County of Lancaster, 3
Méchanician, send greeting..."

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; did, by Her Letters
Patent; bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, give and grant unto
me, the said William Robertson; my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her especial license that I, the said William Robertson, my executors, admi
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said. William Robertson, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereaftersduring the term of years:
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 'Invention for "CERTAIN, IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINES FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon
the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said William Robertson;t should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention and, in
what manner the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing)
under my hand and seal, 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 in compliance with the said proviso, .I, the said
William Robertson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed; are: particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and description;
reference being had to the accompanying "Drawings on two. Sheets, andrin
which description and Drawings the same letters and numbers of reference!
are used' to indicate the same or similar parts in all the Figures in which they?
occur. The scales to which the Figures are respectively drawn are stated.on
the Drawings.
My improvements are applicable to the machines known as scutchers,
openers, and carding engines," and may be described under the following
divisions:
--
First, in carding engines, a comb having a reciprocating vertical motion tiss
usually employed, for stripping: the fleece. or sliver from the doffer. Myr
improvement consists in the employment and use for this. purpose of azseries!
of combs attached to and rotating within roller or shaft so formed as to admit
of their being easily attached and adjusted to it: Around thesex.combs are, al
series of, lags, so: formed and placed, that as the combs rotate the lags also
rotate with them; but eccentrically to them. "As the rollers and lags revolve,
in consequence of the eccentricity of their motion, each comb as it approaches
to the.doffer passes through a slot in one of the lags so as to enter into the

page_text: teeth of the doffer, from which it takes the sliver, and as it recedes from the
doffer it gradually returns within the lag, which retains the sliver on the outside
thereof, and the sliver is then drawn forward by the calender rollers in the
usual way. Doffing combs are sometimes used for stripping or clearing other
parts of the carding engine, to which my improvement is equally applicable.
Secondly, I also employ a series of combs and lags, constructed as above
described, in connection with the carding engine, for the purpose of opening
and delivering the cotton as it passes through the feeding rollers to the licker-
in or to the main cylinder.
Thirdly, in the machines known as openers and scutchers I employ a series
of combs and lags, constructed as above and of appropriate size, in place of
the beaters at present employed.
· Fourthly, in some openers and scutchers, in place of the beaters usually
employed, a cylinder. partially covered with teeth is substituted. In practice
the cotton or other material is frequently found to adhere to these teeth,
clogging them up, so as to render them inefficient. To obviate this objection,
I place the teeth in lines, leaving a sufficient space between each two lines in.
which to form a series of slots; I also form the cylinder with a boss pro-
jecting from each end to form the bearings of the cylinder. These bosses are
made hollow, and sufficiently large to admit of a pipe being passed through
each of them. These pipes when they have passed within the cylinder are
bent, so as to communicate with and support an air chamber open towards the
inner side of the cylinder, with which the sides of the chamber come nearly
into contact. This chamber is so placed that a current of air passed through
the pipes will enter the chamber, and passing thence through the slots in the
cylinder, as they successively come over it will act upon the material retained
by the teeth and blow it therefrom.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a plan of the above-named series of combs and lags,
the latter being broken in the middle so as to show the construction of the 3
internal parts; Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the same, taken at the line.
D, drawn in Figure 1; Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are detached parts of the
same, and Figures 9 and 10 are modifications of parts to which reference is
herein-after made. Figure 11 represents an elevation of a portion of a
carding engine, in which the application of the above-mentioned series of 3
combs and lags, as substituted for the oscillating combs, is shewn. Figure 12-

page_text: the feeding rollers, and transmitting the same to the licker-in or main
cylinder. Figure 13 is a portion of an opener or scutcher, showing the means
for applying the air blast for clearing the teeth of toothed beaters. Figure 14
represents a longitudinal section of the toothed beater, showing its bosses open
throughout and the air chamber.
a is a shaft, of such length as will be suitable to the width of the machine
to which the apparatus is to be applied, and revolves in bearings or fixings b
and ', which are fastened to the framing of the machine; or, as in Figure
12, are cast with the bearings of other parts. Rows of combs c are fastened
to the shaft a by screws, seen at the broken part of Figure 1. d are a series
of lags, in which holes are drilled, so as to admit the needles of the combs c
easily to pass through them. These holes are countersunk on the under
side, as seen in Figures 2 and 8, so as to admit of being taken off and put on
to the needles of the combs c without the needle points being injured thereby.
e, e', are plates, in each of which is a circular groove, as best seen in Figure 4,
and (in section) in Figure 1. In these grooves the ends of the 'lags 'd are
fitted to slide easily, and as the circular grooves are eccentric to the shaft a,
they cause the lags in moving round successively to advance to and recede
from this shaft. This eccentricity can be obtained in various ways, two of
which are shewn in the Drawings.
In Figures 1, 2, 4, and 11 each of the circular grooved plates e, e¹, is cast
with an ear, as best seen in Figures 2, 4, and 11. In each ear is a curved
slot, concentric with the groove in the plate, through which slot the plate
is bolted to the slotted arm projecting from the bearings-b, b', best-seen in
Figures 2, 3, and 11. By these slots the circular grooves in the plates e, e¹,
can be adjusted to any required eccentricity to the shaft a. Figure 9 re-
presents a plan, and Figure 10 an elevation, of another method of obtaining
this eccentricity, in which in the place of the bearings and 6' bearings
in the form are used. One side of the boss of each of these bearings
is turned eccentrically to the shaft a, and the circular grooved plates are
fitted to revolve on these eccentric bosses. By this method the lags are
carried with less friction when they are required to move at great velocities.
On the shaft a are fixed-the-star wheels f, f; (Figures 1, 2, 5, and 6,) in such
manner that the spaces between their rays may be in line with the needles of
the combs c, and the lags d are fitted into these spaces so that they may be
easily moved to and from the shaft a by the circular grooves in the plates e, e¹,
and so that the holes drilled in the lags may correspond with the needles of
the combs. By the star wheels f, f, the lags d are also carried round at the
same angular velocity as the needles to whatever radial distances they may be

page_text: +
moved by the circular grooves. The projection of the needles of the combs
through the lags and the eccentricity of the circular grooves, in the plates e, e
should slightly exceed the thickness, of the sliver or fleece. The needles
charge themselves with the cotton or other material at the part at which they.
project farthest through the lags, and deliver it where the needles are drawn
entirely within the lags, on the surface of which the material is, consequently
left. The needles act, merely as strippers when their-surface velocity nearly
corresponds with the surface speed of the doffing cylinder or feeding roller by.
or from which they are charged; they act as openers when they move at a
greater velocity, than the surface speed of the feeding rollers. When 'the
apparatus above described is substituted for the oscillating comb; the sliver.
having been taken up and delivered as above described, is carried from the,
lags in the usual way by calender rollers or lap drums. When the needles
are used as an opener in a carding engine, the material, is 'conveyed from the
discharging lags to the licker-in g, Figure 12, by a creeper, h, or it may be
taken up by the licker-in g direct from the discharging lags, the mechanism;
necessary to effect this alteration being easily arranged by a competent.
mechanic. When used as a beater in an opener or scutcher; the.. material is
carried forward from the discharging lags by the dust draught in the usual
way. Instead of having the same number of discharging lags as there are
rows of combs in the apparatus, as herein-before: described, the lags may be.
more numerous than the combs, and the needles or teeth of the comb may,
work in and through the successive lags much.in. the same manner as a pinion
works in an internal.wheel; or a slotted or perforated cylinder may be used:
instead of the discharging lags.
..
i
In Figures 13 and: 14, which represent a portion of a scutcher or opener,.
the toothed beater is represented in section. The teeth n are arranged
.the
in rows along of the beater; between which are the.open spaces,
or slots o, which
passages communicating with the interior of the
beater, and admit currents of air proceeding from the interior. Each boss:
m of the beater.i is made hollow, so. as.to. receive a pipe & communicating.
with a fan suitably placed. The pipe having passed. through the boss into,
the beater is bent towards the inner surface of the beater, and communicates
with and supports, the air chambers, which extends the entire width of
the inside of the beater, and is open towards, its' inner surface, with which
the sides; or edges of the chamber come nearly in contact By this-arrange
ment, a current of air is directed, on the material with which the teeth may
become charged, so as effectually to blow it, therefrom. Another..effect;
of this current is to: produce a more equal and uniform distributions of, the

page_text: sliver or fleece on the surface of the beater. Instead of carrying pipes
communicating with a fan into the interior of the beater, a fan may
be made to rotate within the beater, by the action of which similar effects
may be produced.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, including such modifications as I have
pointed out, I declare that I do not confine myself to the particular con-
struction or arrangement of parts, or the particular modifications described;
but I claim as of my Invention, however modified in construction or
arrangement,-
First, the combination and application of a series of combs with projecting
teeth, needles, or points, and a series of perforated lags, or an equivalent
therefor, revolving eccentrically with regard to each other, and acting in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before describedl.
And, secondly, the construction, combination, and application of a hollow
cylindrical toothed beater and connected parts in such manner as to cause a
current or currents of air to pass from the interior of the beater through slots
or spaces in the cylinder and thereby blow froin the teeth the material with
which they are liable to become clogged.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robertson, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed my seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM ROBERTSON. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
5 said William Robertson, in the pre-
sence of
CHARLES ASTON,
Attorney-at-Law,
Manchester.