Improvements in Apparatus for Breaking Up, Passing Forward, or Feeding Cotton and other Textile Materials.
Year: 1893

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Breaking Up, Passing Forward, or
Feeding Cotton and other Textile Materials.
We CLEMENT VINCENT HAWORTH of the Firm of John Hetherington & Sons
Limited, of the Vulcan Works, Ancoats, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Makers, and JAMES ASKEW WAITE at the same place, Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to apparatus principally used in connection with machinery
employed in the preparation of cotton. Cotton is ordinarily received at the mill in
a more or less compressed state in the form of "bales as is well understood.
Previously to our invention the masses of cotton resulting from the unpacking of
the bales have been exposed to the operation of "breaking up machines having
pairs of spiked rollers.
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In place of such rollers we propose to use pairs of travelling aprons provided
with teeth or spikes and revolving in the same direction but at different speeds.
We also propose to employ these pairs of aprons in the opening of cotton and in
the feeding of openers or scutchers or other similar machines and in the passing
forward of cotton from one machine to another or from one part of a machine or
combined system of machines to another. The two aprons in each case are mounted
upon carrying rollers or revolving carriers and subject the cotton to a combing or
opening operation whilst passing it forward. By preference the teeth are inclined
so that the teeth upon the slow moving apron tend to hold the cotton and the teeth
ou the other apron to drag the cotton forward whereby the matted cotton is opened
and much of the dust and foreign matter is eliminated. In some or in all cases the
bearings for the shafts or journals of the rollers or carriers for one apron are
mounted to yield against the resistance of springs or loads or loaded levers as in the
cases of the aforesaid spiked rollers. The two aprons may be of the same length or
of different lengths according to the application or use of the aprons.
cases the lower apron would extend beyond the upper apron at one end so that
cotton to be fed forward could be put upon the extension. Such a combination of
aprons might take the place of the lattice in lap machines and in similar machines.
lu some or in all cases-and especially in the case of a breaking up machine-we
should apply at the delivery end of the pair of aprons a revolving beater provided
with leather strips or otherwise suitably formed and adapted to strip or throw off
the cotton from the teeth of the aprons.
In some
In cases wherein the cotton is drawn from one machine to another through trunks
or tubes we propose to apply our pairs of aprons within such trunks the aprons
passing forward the cotton and at the same time opening the same and discharging
dust and foreign matters.
041
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131
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E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Breaking Up, Passing Forward, or
Feeding Cotton and other Textile Materials.
We CLEMENT VINCENT HAWORTH, of the Firm of John Hetherington & Sons
Limited, of the Vulcan Works, Ancoats, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Makers, and JAMES ASKEW WAITE at the same place, Draughtsman, do
Price 8d1

page_text: 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:-
Our invention relates to apparatus principally used in connection with machinery
employed in the preparation of cotton. Cotton is ordinarily received at the mill in
a more or less compressed state in the form of bales as is well understood.
Previously to our invention the masses of cotton resulting from the unpacking of
the bales have been exposed-to the operation of breaking up machines having
pairs of spiked rollers, the bottom and top roller of each pair running at the same
speed.
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In place of such rollers we propose to use pairs of travelling lattices, aprons or
chains provided with teeth or spikes and revolving in the same direction but at
different speeds. The important feature of our invention is also applicable to cases
in which it may be considered preferable to use spiked rollers instead of toothed
aprons or chains.
We also propose to apply our invention to machines or apparatus used in the
opening of cotton and in the feeding of openers or scutchers or other similar
machines and in the passing forward of cotton from one machine to another or from
one part of a machine or combined system of machines to another.
The accompanying drawing illustrates the application of our invention in the
construction of a breaking-up machine and represents a side elevation of the
machine.
The drawing shows so much of a complete machine having a single pair of
aprons, as we have considered to be necessary to the sufficient illustration of our
invention.
In the said drawings A and B are two endless lattices or chains of bars which are
mounted upon wheels or rollers fixed upon four shafts the lattice A being carried
by the shafts c and d and the lattice B by the shafts e and f. The lattices are for
the greater part hidden by the framing of the machine but to illustrate the con-
struction of lattice we have adopted, the framing is represented as having a part
broken away.
Each lattice in the example consists of a chain of metal bars a a which are
connected together by means of pins a¹ which pass through eyes in lugs cast
upon the bars so that the combination constitutes a flexible apron
of bars.
or chain
Upon each bar are formed teeth a beach bar being provided with a number of
teeth arranged at a suitable distance apart from end to end of the bar so as to
resemble a toothed rake. The teeth may be of any suitable form the form repre-
sented being such as we now consider to be adapted to the intended use of the
machine. The bars would be of any desired length or be of a length about equal
to that of the spiked rollers of the ordinary breaking-up machine. The teeth are
so arranged as that the teeth of one lattice enter the spaces between the teeth of
the other lattice in the parts of the two lattices which come near together as clearly
shown in the drawing. The shafts c and e are caused to revolve in the directions
indicated by the arrows whereby the parts of the two lattices which come together
are caused to travel in the same direction-that is to say from right to left as the
lattices appear in the drawing-tle lower lattice B being caused to travel more
rapidly than the upper lattice A.
This motion of the lattices may be obtained by the use of any suitable com-
bination of gearing but by way of example we will describe the arrangement
indicated by dotted circles and teeth in the drawings.
A first motion shaft is provided with a spur wheel g₁ which gears with a
wheel el fixed upon the shaft e and thus gives motion to the same.
Also fixed upon
the shaft e is a pinion h which gears with a wheel which is attached to a pinion k
the connected wheel and pinion being loosely mounted to revolve upon the shaft c.
The pinion gears with a wheel which is fixed upon an intermediate shaft m and

page_text: upon the same shaft is fixed a pinion which gears with a wheel ¹ fixed upon the
shaft c.
The result of. this combination of gearing is that the upper lattice A travels
very slowly as compared with the lower lattice B. The cotton to be broken up
is fed to the right hand end of the machine.
Upon the shaft & is fixed a spur wheel o which gears with a wheel P fixed upon
the shaft of one of a pair of feeding rollers qq and these rollers are connected by
spur wheels as is usual so that they revolve in opposite directions. An inter-
mediate wheel gearing with a wheel upon the shaft of the roller q and with a
wheel upon a shaft a imparts a revolving motion to such shaft. The shaft s gives
motion to an ordinary feeding lattice s in the ordinary manner.
The cotton brought up by the feeding lattice and passed forward by the feeding
rollers is seized by the teeth of the lattices A and B and passed forward toward
the delivery end of the machine. It will be seen that owing to the slow movement
of the upper teeth such teeth tend to hold the cotton whilst the more quickly
moving lower teeth drag the cotton forward whereby the matted cotton is opened
and much of the dust and foreign matters are discharged and fall down into the
space enclosed by the lower part of the framing. At the delivery end of the
machine a revolving beater carried by a shaft u and provided with leather strips
or otherwise suitably constructed strips or beats off the cotton from the teeth of
the two lattices. The lower shafts cand f are mounted to revolve in fixed steps
but the steps of the upper shafts are mounted to slide up and down in the framing
and are pressed downward by means of rods uu which are acted upon by spiral
springs which tend to draw the rods downward. The upper Jattice A is thus
free to yield in an upward direction against the resistance of the springs so as to
avoid the choking of the machine with masses of cotton.
It will be understood that there is a corresponding framing and provision of rods
and springs upon the other side of the machine.
Although only one pair of lattices or aprons is described and shown in the
drawing, in some cases more than one pair may be employed with advantage each
succeeding pair being moved at an increased speed as compared with the preceeding
pairs.
As hereinbefore stated we propose to use two toothed lattices or aprous travelling
at different speeds but in the same direction in the indicated manner otherwise thau
in the preliminary breaking up of the cotton so long as they are used to open and
partly clean the cotton and at the same time to pass it forward to a preparation
machine or from one machine to another.
In some cases we may make the lower toothed lattice longer than the upper
lattice so as to extend beyond the upper lattice at the feeding or delivery end or at
both ends. In such a case an extension at the feeding end might receive the cotton
Such a combination of two toothed lattices or aprons might take the pace of the
ordinary lattice in a lap machine or in a similar machine.
The feed rollers qq and the feeding lattice s not being part of our invention
may be of an ordinary character or they may be dispensed with or other suitable
parts be substituted for them according to the particular application of our
invention. We do not confine ourselves to the indicated construction of the
parts A, B as any suitable formation of endless lattice or apron provided with
suitable teeth might be used.
Although we prefer to use toothed aprons or lattices instead of the ordinary
spiked or toothed rollers we do not intend to confine ourselves in this respect as we
might use pairs of toothed rollers which might be of an ordinary formation but
would be actuated so that one of the two rollers in a pair would revolve more
slowly than the other so as to have an effect the same as or similar to that of the
toothed lattices the difference in speeds being the important feature of our invention,
or we might use such rollers in combination with the toothed lattices.
Although to avoid repetition we have used the term cotton when describing our

page_text: invention we do not confine the application of our invention to the treatment of
cotton as it may be suitable for use in the treatment of other textile materials.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is.
1. The combination of parts constituting a breaking-up machine for textile
-materials constructed and adapted to act substantially as and for the purpose set
forth and indicated.
2. The toothed aprons, lattices or chains A B actuated and used as and for the
purpose set forth.
3. In a machine for breaking up opening and passing forward cotton or other
textile material two or more endless aprons, lattices or chains provided with teeth
and mounted one above another so that the teeth of one apron or lattice pass
between the teeth of the other apron or lattice the two in a pair being caused to
travel at different speeds and so that the upper part of the lower apron or lattice
and the lower part of the upper apron or lattice travel in the same direction and
in the desired direction of the forward movement of the material.
4. In machines used for the purposes set forth and having upper and lower
toothed or spiked revolving or travelling breakers; so actuating the parts as that
the upper and lower teeth acting in concert upon the same material shall travel at
different speeds but in the same direction.
Dated this 24th day of November 1893.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.