IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL."-A com-
munication from the Inventors, Cullen Whipple, residing at the City and
County of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island and United States of
America, and Rufus Stafford, residing at Smithfield, in the County and
State aforesaid.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bous-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th September 1861.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IN-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for combing
cotton and other fibrous materials, and the machinery is more especially appli-
cable for combing cotton or other fibrous material having a short staple. The
machine is constructed in such manner that successive tufts are taken from
the sliver of material to be combed; both ends of each tuft are combed on each
side of the fibre, and the tufts are deposited in such manner that they overlap
one another and are reunited into a continuous sliver, the noils and waste
being made to pass off at a different point from the machine. The material

page_text: to be combed is for this purpose fed to the machine through feed rollers
mounted on arms, which are pivoted to the machine, and which are made to
oscillate at stated times. Successive tufts of the material are taken from these
rollers by means of a number of nippers arranged at equal distances apart
around a common axis, the jaws of the nippers being parallel to the axis.
Six nippers are, by preference, employed; the fixed or stationary jaws of the
nippers are fixed at their ends to two dises, which can turn on the axis around
which the nippers are arranged; the moveable jaws of the nippers are carried
by arms which turn on pius fixed to the discs; the moveable jaws have also
fixed to them other arms, on the ends of which are rollers which work in a
grooved cam fixed on the axis. Six notches or recesses are formed in the
peripheries of the discs, and the discs are rotated with a step-by-step motion,
means of clicks or pawls on arms fixed to the axis, entering the notches, a
to-and-fro motion being given to the arms. The cam on the axis is so formed
that as each nipper is brought opposite to the feed rollers the jaws of the
nipper will be open; the end of the sliver is then inserted by the feed rollers
between the jaws of the nipper as the arms on the axis move back, so that the
clicks or drivers upon them may enter fresh notches in the discs; the jaws of
the nipper are closed by the partial rotation of the cam, and the end of the
sliver will thus be held by the nipper, and when the feed rollers move
back the nipper will retain a tuft of the fibrous material; at the next partial
rotation of the discs the next nipper will be supplied with a tuft of fibrous
material, and in like manner all the nippers will in succession be filled. As
the nippers are, by the rotation of the discs, brought round to the point
opposite to that at which they are supplied with a tuft, the jaws of the nippers
are, by the action of the cam, caused to open at the end of the backward
motion of the arms; the end of the tuft which before was projecting from the
nipper will then be held by one of another set of nippers, arranged in like
manner to that above described, around another axis parallel to the first axis;
a step-by-step motion is given to this second set of nippers in like manner to
and at the same time as the first set, so that each of the second set of nippers
will in succession be filled with tufts from the first set. Each of the second
set of nippers, after it has received a tuft, will, at the next partial rotation of
the discs carrying the second set of nippers, bring the tuft into a position to
be acted on on one of its sides by a rotating cylinder covered with card or
other combing teeth, which will comb one side of the free end of the tuft; at
the next partial rotation of the discs the tuft will be brought into a position
to be acted on by another cylinder rotating in the opposite direction to the first
cylinder; this second cylinder will comb the other side of the free end of tho

page_text: tnft; at the next movement of the discs the tuft will be brought opposite to
the point at which it was taken hold of by the nipper carrying it; this nipper
will then deliver the tuft to one of a third set of nippers arranged and worked
in a similar manner to the two former sets; this nipper will hold the clean
end of the tuft. When the nipper is moved one step it will bring the free end
of the tuft into a position to be cleaned on one of its sides by a card cylinder,
and at the next movement of the nipper the free end of the tuft will be cleaned
on its opposite side by another card cylinder; the tuft is now perfectly combed,
and the next movement of the nipper will bring the tuft opposite to the point
at which it was taken hold of, and the nipper will then deliver it on to a doffer
or cylinder covered with teeth, and in like manner each of the third set of
nippers will in succession deliver a perfectly clean tuft on to the doffer; the
tufts being made to overlap each other, the overlapping tufts are removed from
the doffer in the usual manner in the form of a continuous sliver. The
rotating cylinders which clean the tufts have the noil removed from them by
means of rotating cylindrical brushes, which deliver it to doffers from which it
is taken in the ordinary manner. The arms, which are fixed to the three
parallel axes, and which carry the clicks or drivers which give the step-by-step
motion to the discs carrying the nippers, are, at their lower ends, pin-jointed
to a bar to which a to-and-fro motion is given by a crank; this to-and-fro
motion of the bar causes the axes of the arms to make a partial rotation,. first
in one direction and then in the other, and gives a to-and-fro motion to the
ends of the arms carrying the clicks or drivers, and the step-by-step motion is
thus simultaneously given to the discs carrying the three sets of nippers. The
feed rollers are, as before stated, carried on arms pivoted to the machine, and
on the axis which carries the arms is another arm, on the end of which is a
roller which works in a grooved cam on the crank axis, which gives motion to
the bar above mentioned; this cam is so formed as to give the required
to-and-fro motion to the feed rollers at the proper times. Instead of three
sets of jaws, two only can with advantage be employed, but in such case each
tuft would have the end that was detached from the sliver first combed; it
has, however, been found that a better result is produced by combing the tuft.
first in the direction in which the fibre is naturally laid. It is evident, also,
that any number of additional cylinders or sets of jaws can be introduced
without altering the principle of the Invention.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMBING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIAL," a communication from the Inventors, Cullen Whipple, a
person resident at the City and County of Providence, in the State of Rhode
Island and United States of America, and Rufus Stafford, resident at Smith-
field, in the County and State aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
Figure 1 is a side view of the entire machine; Figures 2 and 3 are side
views of the cylinders which handle the cotton or other material while it is
being combed.
The machine which is the subject of this Patent is particularly adapted to
the combing of cotton or other fibrous material having a short staple; and the

page_text: Invention to accomplish this purpose, as herein exhibited, consists in a mode
of operation whereby successive tufts of the material are separated from the
stock to be combed. Both ends of each tuft are combed on each side of the
fibre and the tufts deposited again in overlapping shingles and re-united in a
continuous sliver, the noils and waste being made to pass off at a different point
from the machine. The material to be combed is fed to the machine through
the feed rollers C; these feed rollers are mounted on arms D, which are
pivotted to the frame of the machine at 1, and which are made to oscillate
at stated times by the action of the grooved cam E upon the lower extremity
of the arm D.
The means by which the material is handled in its passage through the
machine consist of a number of jaws B, B, divided into three sets, No. 1,
No. 2, No. 3, parallel to each other. Each set is arranged like the floats of
a water wheel around a central shaft X, X, X", upon which the discs
A, A', A", in which the several sets of jaws have their bearings, are capable
of easily turning. The periphery of each of the discs has as many notches
cut in it as there are sets of jaws, so that by means of the pawls n, n¹, n",
attached to the arms L, L, L", keyed to their respective shafts X, X, X",
and connected by the rod N, N¹, which is worked by the shackle bar M, an
intermittent rotary motion is given simultaneously to each disc, and conse-
quently to the set of jaws attached thereto. The cams Q, Q, Q", being
secured upon their respective shafts X, X, X", oscillate with them, and
thereby each controls the opening and closing of the set of jaws which is
intermittently revolving around it, as is shewn in the Drawings.
Suppose, now, that the cotton or other material to be worked is introduced
between the feed rollers C at the front of the machine, the position of the
bell crank arm D, upon which the feed rollers are mounted, is such that the
end of the stock is presented between the open jaws B of the first cylinder.
The shackle bar M now commences to travel toward the left, and conse-
quently the cam Q causes the jaw B to be closed upon the end of the cotton;
so soon as this is done, the conformation of the cam E causes the arm D to
be moved towards the right, and consequently the feed rollers C are moved
away from the face of the cylinder; the result of this is, that a tuft of the
cotton is detached from the main body, and remains in the gripe of the jaws.
The shackle bar M now commences its stroke in the opposite direction, and
the disc A is moved another fraction of a circle, bringing a second pair of
jaws to the position occupied by the first pair. Each pair of jaws in succession
is thus supplied with a tuft of stock, the feed rollers alternately moving up to
and away from each pair to effect the result, as already described.

page_text: Each pair of jaws which has taken a tuft is kept closed upon the cotton by
the action of the cam Q, Q, Q", until it reaches a point in the revolution of
the disc to which it is attached opposite to that where it seized hold of the
cotton, when its hold is relaxed, and it is seized by the jaws B' of cylinder
No. 2, the operation of which, as well as the operation of cylinder No. 8, is
in all respects identical with that of No. 1.
As each tuft in succession is transferred to the cylinder No. 2, it is held in
the jaws B by the end opposite to that which was seized by the jaw of
cylinder No. 1. In the progress of the revolution of cylinder No. 2 the tuft
is presented to the carding cylinder F, which consists of a roller covered with
card clothing or other combing teeth, and which revolves in the direction of
the arrow at any desired rate of speed obtained from a driving belt. One
side of so much of the tuft as projects beyond the jaws is thus combed while
the cylinder No. 2 is at rest. At the next position of No. 2 the tuft is brought
in contact with a similar combing cylinder F, which revolves by the same
means and at the same speed as the first, but in an opposite direction, and
thus the other side of the projecting end of the tuft is combed. Tho tuft now
half combed is carried by the intermittent motion of the cylinder No. 2 to a
point opposite to that at which it was taken from cylinder No. 1, and is
delivered to cylinder No. 3. Each tuft is seized in succession by one pair of
the jaws attached to No. 3 in the same manner, as has been described, when
speaking of the jaws of No. 2, and is held by the end which has been pre-
viously combed. As cylinder No. 3 revolves, each tuft is presented, first to
the combing cylinder G, and next to the combing cylinder G', which are in
all respects arranged, with reference to cylinder No. 3, like the combers
F and F with reference to cylinder No. 2. Every part of the tuft is thus
thoroughly combed.
When each tuft has arrived at a point opposite to that at which it was
seized by the jaws of No. 3, it is taken by the doffer H from the jaws which
have previously held it, and whose grasp is now relaxed. A batting of suc-
cessive shingling courses is thus formed upon the doffer, from whence it is
taken off in the usual way in the form of a continuous sliver. Underneath
each one of the combing cylinders F, F, G, G¹, is placed a brush R, R, S, S',
which clears the cylinder of the waste material, and doposits it upon the
doffers T, T, U, U, each of which is covered with card clothing. From
these cylinders the strippers y, y', w, w, operated in the usual way, remove the
waste, and it falls in thin battings of noils underneath tho machine.
Instead of three sets of jaws, as shown, two only can with advantage be
employed, but in such case each tuft would have the end that was detached

page_text: from the main body of the stock first combed; it has, however, been found
that a better result is produced by combing the tuft first in the direction in
which the fibre is naturally laid. It is evident, also, that any number of
additional cylinders or sets of jaws can be introduced without altering the
principle of the Invention.
I do not intend to limit myself to the special construction or arrangement
of the several parts, as described, but mean to include all merely formal
variations of the machinery performing the same mode of operation by
equivalent means. What I do claim as the Invention, and desire to secure
by Letters Patent, is,-
First, the mode of operation, substantially as specified, by means of which a
tuft of cotton or other fibrous material, after it has been detached from the
main body of the stock, is transferred to successive holding jaws, and subjected
to the operation of being combed alternately on both sides of each end, as set
forth.
Second, I claim the combination of a pair of vibrating feed rollers C with
a series of jaws B, B, having an intermittent rotary motion, substantially as
described, for the purpose of separating the stock to be combed into tufts.
Third, I claim the mode of operation, substantially as specified, by means of
which the jaws B, B', Bч, of the several sets are opened and closed at the
proper times, such mode of operation consisting of a jaw or a series of jaws,
to which a rotary motion around a central axis is imparted in combination with
the cam Q, Q, Qu, or its equivalent, having an oscillating motion, as herein
set forth.
Fourth, I claim giving to each series of jaws an intermittent rotary motion,
substantially as described, for the purposes specified.
Fifth, I claim a doffer cylinder H in combination with the cylinder No. 3,
so arranged as to receive the several tufts after they have been combed in
successive overlapping layers preparatory to being formed into a continuous
sliver, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)