Machines for Opening and Cleaning Cotton and other Fibres. IMPROVED. METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR DRIVING SCUTCHERS OR LAP MACHINES FOR OPENING. AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1886

page_text: Machines for Opening and Cleaning Cotton and other Fibres.
I WILLIAM TAYLOR, of 19, Hill Street, Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of said invention for AN IMPROVED.
METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR DRIVING SCUTCHERS OR LAP MACHINES FOR OPENING.
AND CLEANING COTTON AND OTHER FIBRES, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
In what are known as scutchers or lap machines for opening and cleaning cotton
and other fibres it is now customary to drive the beater cylinder by a strap and
either to take the motion from the beater cylinder shaft by separate belts or gearing
to the feed motion and to the lap end of the machine, or to drive a small counter-
shaft from the beater shaft and then drive the feed motion and the lap end of the
machine by separate belts or gearing from the countershaft.
These systems are open to serious objections inasmuch that it is possible for either
the feed or the lap end of the machine to be in motion when the other is stopped
and in case of the lap end remaining stationary through the breaking or slipping
of its driving band or rope while the feed motion and beater cylinder are in
motion the machine would quickly be choked and a serious accident might take
place.
The object of my Invention is to render the choking of the machine from such
a cause impossible and this I accomplish by driving both the feed and lap motion
by one and the same rope or band.
And in order that iny Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will describe the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, reference
being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a scutcher or lap machine to which my
Invention is applied and Fig. 2 is an end view of the same looking from the feed
end of the machine.
In these viewa-a is the frame of the machine; b the shaft of the beater
cylinder which is driven by the ordinary means, not shown; c a friction wheel
mounted loosely and free to slide on the shaft b, and d a friction clutch keyed on
the same shaft. The wheel c is held in contact with the clutch d by a strong spiral

page_text: spring e coiled on the shaft b, and a lever f pivoted to the frame at f¹ and con-
nected to the end of a starting lever g is employed to move the wheel c away from
the clutch & when required to stop the driving.
•
The friction wheel c has two grooves on its periphery and an endless rope h is
taken from the first groove under a wheel i which has also two grooves on its
periphery; from the first groove on the wheel i the rope h is taken back over the
second groove on the friction wheel c, round a guide tension pulley k, thence over
a guide pulley 1 round a pulley m fixed on the lower cone shaft, back over a guide
pulley to the second groove on the wheel i and thence to the first groove on the
friction wheel c to complete the circuit. The wheel i is mounted on a stud ; secured
to the frame a, and a pinion secured to the boss of the wheel i gears into a wheel
on the slow motion shaft and thus transmits motion by other wheels to the rollers
at the lap end of the machine.
=.
The pulley m fixed on the shaft of the lower cone of the feed mechanism is
driven by the rope h and thus the lower cone receives motion, which is transmitted
to the feed rollers m¹ in the usual manner.
The guide tension pulley k is held in a slide n which is free to be moved by a
screw o to adjust the tension on the rope h.
It is thus obvious that whenever the friction wheel c and the friction clutch d
are in contact motion is transmitted by means of the endless rope h to both the feed
mechanism and the lap end of the machine. Similarly by operating the starting
lever g and throwing the friction wheel c out of gear with the clutch & the motion
given simultaneously to both ends of the machine is immediately stopped.
Instead of placing the friction wheel c and clutch d on the.shaft of the beater
as shown and described they might be mounted on a countershaft preferably driven
from the beater shaft; or the friction wheel and clutch may be dispensed with and
the countershaft driven preferably from the beater shaft by means of a strap and
fast and loose pulleys. In this case an ordinary grooved pulley would be used for
the endless rope or band.
I have shown and described two double grooved pulleys, it is, however, obvious
that all the pulleys might have a single groove only in which case the band would
pass only once round each pulley.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a scutcher or lap machine, for opening and cleaning cotton and other
fibres, driving the feed mechanism and the lap rollers by means of an endless rope
or band in such manner that both the said parts of the machine start or stop
simultaneously.
•
2. The use and application of a suitable frictional driving apparatus such as the
friction wheel and clutch herein shown and described for transmitting motion
Bimultaneously to the feed motion and to the slow motion or lap rollers.
3. In a scutcher or lap machine, the combination with frictional driving
mechanism, of an endless rope or band, substantially as herein shown and described
for the purposes specified.