Improvements in and connected with Beaters employed in Opening and Cleaning Cotton and other Fibres.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Nov., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 17th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by AUGUST KIRSCHNER, of 9, Rue de Florence,
Paris, in the French Republic, Engineer.]
Improvements in and connected with Beaters employed in Opening
and Cleaning Cotton and other Fibres.
I, WILLIAM EDWIN HEYS of 70 Market Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:-
This invention relates to beaters such as are employed in machines for opening
and scutching cotton and similar fibres.
According to these improvements there is secured to the inner side of each
beater a wooden rail or cross piece upon which two or more staves are fixed parallel
with the arm.
These staves or ribs are furnished with points or dents in such a
manner that the first row of points is nearer to the centre of the beater than the
last row, intermediate points being arranged at intermediate distances from the
centre the points first in approach having a clearance of about 2 so that
the points do their work gradually. The wooden rail the staves and the beater
arms are covered and protected by sheet metal which prevents the cotton being
taken round and produces a useful amount of air current acting to project the fibres
towards the centre of the drum.
The ventilation of the beater may be regulated by adjustable covers or slides.
Dated this 15th day of November A.D. 1890.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Beaters employed in Opening
and Cleaning Cotton and other Fibres.
I, WILLIAM EDWIN HEYS of 70 Market Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
The essential part of scutching or beating apparatus for opening cotton or other
fibres and preparing them for spinning is the beater consisting of two or three bars
or rails carried by radial arms attached to a spindle.
The cotton being fed into the machine receives two or three blows for every
revolution of the beater according to the number of rails and is thus worked or
opened into small flakes. Suitable fans are employed in conjunction with the
apparatus to induce currents of air by which the flakes of opened cotton are carried
on to be further treated.
Beneath the beater is arranged a grate through which pass the burrs and other
heavy impurities and foreign bodies separated from the fibres by the scutching
action. The centrifugal force of the rotating beater throws the foreign matters
against the grate whilst an air current operating in opposition to the centrifugal
force directs the flakes of cotton in another direction.
According to these improvements the ordinary bars or rails of the beater are
replaced by bars or rails furnished with card teeth or projections, and fan blades
may be attached to the beater itself in substitution for the separate fan or fans
generally employed in connection with this class of machinery.

page_text: The operation of the improved machine is as follows,-
The cotton or other fibres are introduced as usual by the ordinary feeding
arrangement, and in addition to being batted or scutched are simultaneously carded
or combed, a process by which the fibres are much less damaged than by the
ordinary process. The combed fibres are preferably not drawn to the sieve
drum by a current of air induced by a separate fan but are propelled by the
combined beater and fan. As in the ordinary scutcher, the burrs and other
foreign bodies are thrown out through the grate by the centrifugal force of the
beater. The flakes of cotton are prevented from passing through the openings of
the grate by an air current which counteracts the centrifugal force of the fan.
This current of air is created by the fan blades attached to the beater. It is
therefore evident that the formation of the layer of cotton or lap upon the sieve
drun or cage as well as the cleaning or scutching is effected without any apparatus
but the combined carding beater and fan. The ventilating channels or trunks
serve the purpose of conducting the air that passes through the cage.
For the purpose of enabling my invention to be more easily understood I
have hereto appended a sheet of drawings reference to which is hereinafter
made.
Wooden cross pieces AA are attached to the radial arms of the beater and
carry rails or bars B B. These rails are furnished with a number of projections
or teeth arranged in rows as shewn in Figures 1 and 3. The teeth or projections
are so arranged upon the bars that the first row upon each bar is nearer the centre
of rotation than the last so that the points do their work gradually.
The wooden cross pieces A. and the radial arnis of the beater have attached to
them smooth iron plates or blades C which, combined, serve the double purpose of
preventing the fibres from clogging the arms of the beater, and by their action
as the blades of a fan, of creating a current of air. The air current thus
induced enters the apparatus through the grid or grate D and through the
openings E formed in the ends of the casing as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 and
through openings F formed in the upper part of the casing opposite to the
feeding arrangement (Figure 5). The air makes its exit through the sieve drum
or cage.
Between the spindle of the fan and the edges of the plates or blades C openings
are left the size of which has a considerable influence upon the volume and
strength of the current of air set up. If they are too small the cotton would
be propelled to the cage with less force and the amount of air drawn through
the grate would be smaller.
The quantity of air passing through the openings E and F may be easily
regulated by means of movable plates G and H. By varying the amount of air
passing through these openings the quantity of air and foreign bodies passing
through the grate D is regulated. The fibre is thus effectually prevented from
passing through the grate with the foreign matters.
The cotton or other similar fibre passing through this machine having been
cleaned and subjected to an elementary combing or carding, forms in a uniform
lap thus very considerably simplifying and reducing the work to be done by the
carding engine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what mannor the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,―
1. In a machine for opening and cleaning cotton and other fibres the com-
bination with the arms of the beater, of rails or bars carrying teeth or projections
the leading teeth or projections being further from the casing of the machine than
are the following teeth, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described
and illustrated.
2. In a machine for opening and cleaning cotton and other fibres the combination

page_text: with the beater, of fan blades constructed and arranged substantially as and for
the purpose herein before described and illustrated.
3. In a machine for opening and cleaning cotton and other fibres, adjustable air
admission ports or openings formed in the ends and upper part of the cover, and
constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
described and illustrated.
Dated this 15th day of August A.D. 1891.