Improvements relating to Forming Slivers and Laps in Cotton Preparing Machinery.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Jan., 1395-Accepted, 11th May, 1895
COMIDDIE
Improvements relating to Forming Slivers and Laps in Cotton
Preparing Machinery.
We, GEORGE TOWNSEND, WILLIAM ARMITAGE, and HARTLEY SPENCER, of
New Bedford, in the County of Bristol, and State of Massachusetts, United States
of America, Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
nanner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improvement in selvedge protectors for cotton
preparing machinery and is adapted for use on machines for forming or doubling
laps of fibre known as ribbon doublers, ribbon-lappers, drawing frames, and slubbing
machines.
In the manufacture of cotton into yarn, the object of all the machinery used in
the different stages up to the time it receives the final twist, is to straighten out
the fibre, and the ribbon-doubler, the ribbon-lapper, the drawing frame, and the
lubbing machine each perform a part in this straightening of the fibre, providing
Now it is well known that
means for successively drawing the "sliver" of cotton.
there is always more or less waste caused in the drawing process of the several
enumerated machines by the scattered edges or selvedges of the sliver catching on
the drawing rollers which "lick up" the sliver also causing bunches to form
between the pairs of rolls and consequent uneven work. The object of the present
invention therefore, is to obviate these difficulties in the process of straightening
out or drawing the sliver of fibrous material and is intended to gather and turn in
the selvedge of the sliver making a firm, smooth selvedge and straightening the
fibre on the same, and in this use the protector not only provides for making an
even sliver, but at the same time saves wasting, prevents the rollers from "licking
up,' saves roller laps and provides for the free and unimpeded running of the
machine as well in warm as in cold weather.
"
With these and other objects in view which will readily appear as the nature of
the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction,
combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated
and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a detail longitudinal sectional view of the main parts of a drawing
frame or head showing one of my improved selvedge protectors properly
positioned.
Fig. 2 is a detail elevation of a pair of drawing rolls used in a drawing frame,
showing in dotted lines the position of the protectors at one side of the same.
Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail elevation of the ordinary form of the protector.
Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 2, showing the form of protector as used in
connection with the drawing rolls of a slubbing machine.
Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the form of the protector as used for
slubbing machines.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, A represents an ordinary drawing
frame at each side of which are located the usual sliver cans B, one of which is
ordinarily termed the feeding can, while the other is termed the delivering can, and
the said drawing frame carries the usual feeding device C, and separated aligned
pairs of drawing rolls D, each successive pair of which moves slightly faster than
the last pair to secure the necessary "draw" on the sliver between each pair of

page_text: rolls. These parts of the drawing frame are those ordinarily in use and are merely
shown in a general way to illustrate the adaptation of the invention, and to further
elucidate the use of the invention we have shown the sliver of cotton E, as it passes
from one can to the other through the drawing devices of the machine.
Between two or more pairs of the drawing rolls D as may be found expedient or
desirable the present invention contemplates the use of a self-adjusting protector
plate F. The protector plate F is made of wood, gutta-percha or any other
suitable material and varies in size according to the particular machine on which
the same is used, and said plate is provided in its lower edge with the inverted
U-shaped sliver notch G, formed between the parallel downturned ends H of the
plate, such construction of plate being that used in connection with the ribbon-
doubler machines the ribbon-lap machines and the drawing frame in connection
with which latter machine the same is illustrated in the drawings.
The construction of selvedge protector plate F just described may be comprised
in the term U-shaped, and when adapted for use is inverted so as to straddle
properly the sliver as it passes between the pairs of drawing rolls on whatever
machine the same is used.
As clearly illustrated in the drawings, the inverted U shaped plate is simply
placed astride of the sliver between the drawing rolls without other support than
the portion of the machine frame directly beneath the drawing rolls, and from this
adaptation it will be seen that the protector is entirely independent of the machines
with which it is used, and can be placed in position or taken out at will, since it
simply rests on the portion of the machine frame below the rolls.
As thus arranged the sliver of cotton is caused to pass through the sliver notch
between the notch walls or downturned ends H so that the selvedge of the sliver is
gathered a little closer and turned in, making a firm smooth selvedge and causing a
straightening out of the fibre on the same.
Inasmuch as the selvedge protector F is not fastened to the machine but rests
lightly on the under clearer ordinarily below the drawing rolls, the same will
readily yield to accommodate any lateral or transverse motion of the sliver as it
passes between the drawing rolls, such motion being common to most of the
machines herein before referred to, and stationary protectors would be of no use on
machines with a side motion given to the sliver passing therethrough.
In adapting the protector to the rolls D¹ of a slubbing machine the construction
of the plate is modified so as to cover both portions of the rolls as is clearly shown
in one of the figures of the drawings and in this case the protector plate is provided
in one edge with separated inverted U-shaped sliver notches G' confined between
the notch walls H₁ which corresponds in every particular to the other construction
of the plate with the exception that the notches are necessarily narrow, and two of
such notches are cut in the plate so as to adapt the same for use on slubbing
machines, the operation and advantages of the protector being the same in this
connection as in connection with the other machines referred to.
At this point further attention is directed to the importance of loosely mounting
the protector plate between the drawing rolls so that the same will be free to slide
back and forth to accommodate itself to the lateral or transverse motion of the
sliver. By reason of the self-adjustment of the protector plate it will be obvious
that the said plate does not act in the capacity of a guide but is itself guided back
and forth by the lateral motion of the sliver of cotton so that the function that
the protector plate performs is to turn in the stray fibres of the sliver to make a
smooth and even selvedge without materially coudensing the cotton. It is well
known that if the stray fibres of the slivers are not gathered in with the body of
the sliver, the selvedges are necessarily ragged and the cotton licks up on the top
rolls and gathers in bunches, thereby causing great waste and also injuring the
rolls. While accomplishing this important function the protector plate can be
easily taken out from between the rolls and again placed in position without
breaking the sliver, and besides this the protector plate described, on account of
its free play or self-adjustment, is especially useful in connection with preparing

page_text: machinery in which the sliver of cotton has a lateral or transverse motion. In
machinery of the character noted the rolls are injured by a continuous passage of
the cotton in one place, and since the sliver of cotton is not as wide as the surface
of the rolls, any contrivance that would keep the sliver in one place, as a stationary
guide would do, would necessarily spoil what good effect the guide might otherwise
have, since the wear in one place on the rolls would render it necessary to repeatedly
renew the coverings of the rolls, which is not so often required where the wear
is evenly distributed over the whole surface of the rolls by giving a transverse or
lateral motion to the sliver.
Changes in the form, proportion and the minor details of construction may be
resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages
of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is: -
A selvedge protector for cotton machinery consisting of a flat body provided
with an inverted U-shaped sliver notch in its under edge and adapted to be loosely
interposed in an upright position between loosely adjacent parts of the drawing
rolls of such machinery and astride of the sliver passing therethrough said protector
plate being unattached to the machine and free to slide on its lower edge to
accommodate itself to the lateral or transverse motion of the sliver, substantially
as set forth.
Dated this 15th day of Len 1805
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicants.