IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND IN MEANS FOR POINTING, SHARPENING, AND GRINDING WIRE-CARDS, APPLICABLE IN PART TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth, of the Firm of
Ashworth Brothers, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND IN MEANS FOR
POINTING, SHARPENING, AND GRINDING WIRE-CARDS, APPLICABLE IN PART
TO OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ashworth and
Elijah Ashworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th
February 1880.
.
GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAHI ASHWORTII, of the Firm of Ashworth Brothers,
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF AND IN MEANS FOR POINTING, SHARPENING, AND GRINDING WIRE-
CARDS, APPLICABLE IN PART TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Our Invention in its particular application relates to the wire cards employed
in the preparation of textile materials, and has for its object to obtain keener points
on the dents of the cards, more nearly resembling needle points, than are obtained
by the ordinary operations of grinding. To this end we in the first place employ
the so called sand blast to reduce the substanco of the dents for a distance from the
ends or points. We employ such blast in any suitable manner, but we will indicate
the method which we now consider to be suitable when acting upon a card fillet.
We coil the fillet upon a reel from whence it can be unwound and drawn over a
rod, bar, or roller of small diameter, so as to separate the ends of the dents. We
expose the said ends when so separated to the action of a sand blast, that is to say,
The
to a blast carrying in suspension abrading particles of suitably hard matter.
blast may be delivered through an elongated nozzle, or through one, two, or more
nozzles or delivery mouths of a suitablo form, and the said nozzle or nozzles or the
card fillet, or both, may be moved to and fro or otherwise moved to govern the
effect of the abrading particles. The blast would be received into a conduit or
settling passage or chamber, in which the abrading particles suitable for further use
would be deposited. In the second place we employ hardened and tempered steel
filing or abrading teeth, which are caused to pass between the dents of the cards and
to reduce the substance thereof, so as to produce the desired result. We take steel
wire or riband of any suitable section, and we cut, notch, groove, or serrate it by
Γρη
Gd1

page_text: means of reciprocating cutters, so as to produce teeth or raised cutting or abrading
edges, as in the cases of files, or we produce such cutting or abrading edges by means
of pressure between rollers or dies, or by drawing the said wire or riband through
suitable dies or between diamond points or cutting tools or by subjecting the wire
or riband to the action of revolving emery wheels or by other suitable means, and
we harden and temper the wire or riband so treated by drawing it through a gas
flame or other flame, or through a heated tube or chamber, and by passing the
heated wire or riband immediately into a bath of oil or other liquid, and we temper
the hardened wire or riband by drawing it through a gas flame or through gas
flames, or by other suitable means, or we employ any suitable means for obtaining
the requisite degree of hardness. We feed the wire or riband so treated into a
machine which cuts off lengths and bends them into staples, and fixes the staples in
a foundation similarly as when making wire cards, and we employ this material to
cover rollers, strickles, or appliances which are employed in the pointing of the wire
cards. We do not however confine ourselves to the formation of the wire or riband
into staples, and to the insertion of such staples into the foundation, as lengths of
filing material may be inserted in the periphery of a roller, or be otherwise arranged
to act upon the dents of the cards. Steel wire or riband, cut or serrated, and made
hard in accordance with our Invention may be used for other purposes than those
hereinbefore indicated, as, for example, in the covering of filing or grinding rollers
or appliances, or for any other use to which they may be suited. In the third place
we fix headed lengths of wire or riband prepared, as hereinbefore indicated, in a
foundation material, by heading cach length at the inner end, as when making our
well known wire brushes, the wire or riband being softened at the part which is to
form the head by means of a gas flame or of gas flames. In the fourth place to
complete the grinding or pointing of the wire cards, we in some or in all cases
employ an emery covered roller which has been trued up by means of a revolving
emory wheel.
We mount the spindle of the emery wheel upon a carriage which
can be traversed to and fro upon a planed bed, or which can be otherwise traversed
so as to move correctly in a straight line, and we cause the revolving emery wheel
to act lightly upon the revolving emery roller as tho said wheel is traversed to and
fro. We may employ more than one emery wheel to act upon one roller. By these
means we reduce the emery surface of the roller to a more truly cylindrical form,
whereby the cards are rendered more true. Rollers so trued or treated may be
employed in the grinding of cards which have not been pointed in accordance with
the first and second parts of our Invention. Our Invention, or parts of it, is or are
also applicable in the manufacture or treatment of wire heckles and brushes, and
in particulars to the brushes made in accordance or partly in accordance with the
Invention for which Letters Patent, Number 3909, of the year 1876, were granted
to us.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th August 1880.
GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH, of the Firm of Ashworth Brothers,
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF AND IN MEANS FOR POINTING, SHARPENING, AND GRINDING WIRE
CARDS, APPLICABLE IN PART TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Our Invention in its particular application relates to the wire cards employed in
the preparation of textile materials, and has for its object to obtain keener points
on the dents of the cards, more nearly resembling needle points, than are obtained
by the ordinary operations of grinding. To this end we in the first place employ
the so-called sand-blast to reduce the substance of the dents for a distance from
the ends or points. We employ such blast in any suitable manner, but we will
indicate methods which we now consider to be suitablo.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood, we will refer to a Sheet
of Drawings which we have prepared to accompany this Specification. In the said
Drawings, Fig. 1, drawn to a scale of about one and a half inches to the foot,
represents a side elevation, Fig. 2 a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a plan of apparatus
which we have designed to be employed in the sharpening of card fillets. In the
said Figs. a represents a fillet of wire card, and b the sand-blast nozzle. Upon a
suitable framing is mounted a part c which we will term a post, and which is
represented on a larger scale in Fig. 4. The lower end of this post is turned to fit
in a bearing in the framing, and from one side of the post projects an arm c¹, to
which is jointed a connecting rod & which connects the said arm with a crank disc
fixed or formed upon a driving-shaft c. The said shaft is fitted to revolve in
suitable bearings, and is provided with a cone pulley f, which is connected by
means of a strap with a corresponding "over-head or driving cone. This part of
the apparatus may be varied. As the said shaft revolves a vibrating movement on
n vertical axis is imparted to the said post. The upper end of the said post is
rounded, and this part and the front and back faces are formed with a channel
through which the card fillet passes in the indicated direction from a reel g, upon
which the said fillet is supplied to the machine. The fillet may be supplied in any
other suitable manner. Upon the driving shaft is fixed a spur pinion which gears
with a wheel h which is fixed upon a shaft, upon which is fixed or formed a roller i.
The said roller is covered with cloth, felt, caoutchouc, or other suitably soft or
elastic material, which will not injure the card teeth. The fillet passes over the
rounded top of the post to the roller i which revolves at a suitable speed, and
draws forwards the fillet. As the fillot passes over the top of the post the outer
ends of the teeth of the card diverge or become more widely separated in the
direction of the length of the fillet, and are therefore more exposed to the action of
the sand blast. The fillet is by preference so passed through the machine as that
the bent portions of the card teeth shall incline away from the blast. The nozzle
may be of any suitable form, the details of its construction forming no part of our
Invention. The nozzle represented in the said Figs., and also separately represented
by Fig. 5, we consider to be suitable, and is substantially the same as has been
used or proposed to be used in the sharpening of files, and we therefore make no
claim in respect of this part of the apparatus, apart from the combination with the
other parts of the machine. The blast of compressed air or propelling medium
entering at flows through a number of passages h, k, into a mouth-piece 7, where
it meets with the sand, ground-glass, emery, or other abrading substance which is
fed to the blast nozzle through a pipe m, or is otherwise supplied thereto.
The
blast is so directed as to strike upon the card teeth at a suitable angle. The upper
end of the post b and the mouth of the nozzle are enclosed within a receptacle n,
wherein the abrading substance is deposited for further use. The form and
arrangement of this receptacle may be varied. The vibrating movement of the

page_text: post b causes cach tooth to be turned as it were to some extent, so as to present
more surface to the action of the blast. The said post or the card fillet may be
otherwise moved to obtain the desired result, or the blast nozzle may be moved, or
both the nozzle and the fillet as found to be most advantageous. The action of
the sand blast is regulated by varying the speed of the roller i. This is effected by
moving a strap guido o which shifts the driving strap upon the conc pulleys. If
preferred, the action of the blast may be regulated or partly regulated by increasing
or decreasing its intensity, or by increasing or decreasing the supply of abrading
substance, or by both means. A roller rod or bar may be substituted for the post b,
and other alterations may be made in the details of the apparatus without departing
from the intent of our Invention. We also in some cases operate upon cards after
they have been attached to the rollers. In such a case we mount the roller to
revolve at a suitable speed, and we mount the blast nozzle upon a carriage capable
of being traversed to and fro in the direction of the length of the roller. The roller
may be rotated continuously or at intervals, as, for example, it may be turned to a
suitable extent on the completion of each traverse of the said carriage. The nozzle
may be caused to swivel or move or separate blasts issuing at different angles may
be used. This latter arrangement may be adopted in the case of the apparatus
illustrated. The roller might be mounted upon a traversing carriage, and the blast
nozzle or nozzles be stationary. In some cases the card fillets or sheets may be
temporarily attached to a roller or to a table or carriage for the purpose of being
sharpened. In the cases of card flats we may sharpen the cards whilst they aro
temporarily attached to a roller, or to a table, or travelling carriage, or after the
cards have been permanently attached to the flat bars. The card clothing or the
flat would be mounted upon a travelling carriage, or the blast nozzle or nozzles
would be caused to traverse as considered to be preferable. In the second place we
employ hardened and tempered steel filing or abrading teeth which are caused to
pass between the dents of the cards and to reduce the substance thereof so as to
produce the desired result. We take steel wire or riband of any suitable section,
and we cut, notch, groove, or serrate it by means of reciprocating cutters so as to
produce teeth or raised cutting or abrading edges, as in the cases of files, or we
produce such cutting or abrading edges by nieans of pressure between rollers or
dies, or by drawing the said wire or riband through suitable dies or between
diamond points or cutting tools, or by subjecting the wire or riband to the action
of revolving emery wheels, or by other suitable means, and we harden and temper
the wire or riband so treated by drawing it through a gas flame or other flame, or
through a heated tube or chamber, and by passing the heated wire or riband imme-
diately into a bath of oil or other liquid, and we temper the hardened wire or
riband by drawing it through a gas flame or through gas flames, or by other
suitable means, or we employ any suitable means for obtaining the requisite degree
of hardness. We feed the wire or riband so treated into a machine which cuts off
lengths and bends them into staples and fixes the staples in a foundation similarly
ns when making wire cards, and we employ this material to cover rollers, strickles,
or appliances which we employ in the pointing of wire cards. We do not however
confine ourselves to the formation of the wire or riband into staples, and to the
insertion of such staples into the foundation, as lengths of filing material may be
inserted in the periphery of a roller, or be otherwise arranged to act upon the
dents of the cards. Steel wire or riband cut or serrated and made hard in
accordance with our Invention may be used for other purposes than those herein-
before indicated, as, for example, in the covering of filing or grinding rollers or
appliances, or for any other use to which they may be suited.
Figs. 6 and 7
indicate the method which we consider to bo most suitable to be used in scrrating
the wire. Rollers p, p, are mounted to revolve in a suitable headstock or framing,
and are driven by suitable means. The said rollers are made of steel, and after
being milled, fluted, or serrated, arc hardened. We consider that "file-cutting
the surfaces of the rollers will be the most convenient and suitable method to adopt.
The steel wire, either cold or heated as may be most advisable, is passed between
"J

page_text: the rollers, which are so adjusted as that the wire is indented and serrated on both
sides by the rollers. The wire may have been previously flattened to some extent,
or the flattening may be effected by the operation of the said rollers. In the third
place we fix beaded lengths of wire or riband, prepared as hereinbefore indicated,
in a foundation material, by heading each length at the inner end as when making
our well known wire brushes, the wire or riband being softened at the part which
is to form the head by means of a gas flame or of gas flames. In the fourth place, to
complete the grinding or pointing of the wire cards we, in some or in all cases,
employ an emery covered roller which has been trued up by means of a revolving
emery wheel.
We mount the spindle of the emery wheel upon a carriage which
can be traversed to and fro upon a planed bed, or which can be otherwise traversed,
so as to move correctly in a straight line, and we cause the revolving emery wheel
to act lightly upon the revolving emery roller as the said wheel is traversed to and
fro. We may employ more than one emery wheel to act upon one roller. By
these means we reduce the emery surface of the roller to a more truly cylindrical
form, whereby the cards are rendered more true. We may employ this part of our
Invention in the sharpening of emery rollers which have been in use.
Rollers so
trued or treated may be employed in the grinding of cards which have not been
pointed in accordance with the first and second parts of our Invention.
Invention or parts of it, and particularly the first part thereof, is or are also
applicable in the manufacture or treatment of wire hackles and brushes, and in
particular to the brushes made in accordance or partly in accordance with the
Invention for which Letters Patent, Number 3909, of the year 1876, were granted
to us.
Our
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of our said Invention, and
methods of and apparatus for carrying the same into practical effect, we would
have it to be understood that we claim,-
First. The apparatus, substantially as and for the purposes set forth and indicated
herein before and in and by the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The employment of the so-called sand-blast, substantially in the
various ways and for the purpose set forth.
Thirdly. The employment of abrading particles propelled against the teeth of
wire cards, for the purpose set forth.
Fourthly. The employment of abrading particles propelled by means of compressed
air, for the purpose set forth.
Fifthly. The employment of revolving card sharpners, having projecting filing
or abrading members, formed substantially as set forth and indicated.
Sixthly. The methods of forming the revolving card sharpeners, substantially as
set forth and indicated.
And, lastly. The method of trueing or sharpening emery covered card grinding
rollers, substantially as set forth and indicated.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Ashworth and Elijah Ashworth, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Tenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
41, John Dalton St.,
Manchester.
(Agent for the Patentees.)
GEORGE ASHWORTH. (L.S.)
ELIJAH ASHWORTH.
(L.S.)