Improvements in Combing Machinery.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 8th June, 1893-Accepted, 8th July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Combing Machinery.
I FREDERIC TER WEELE of 21 Boulevard Poissonnière, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in combing machinery, and is designed
chiefly to improve the working of what is known as the Hubner combing machine.
The improvements include a modification of the feed mechanism, also of the
nipping surfaces for holding the fibre while under the action of the gill comb; an
improved air blast guard; means for traversing the fibres to the drawing-off
rollers; the application of air blasts to the travelling fibres; a nipping guard for
retaining the fibres against the action of the drawing-off rollers; means for holding
the uncombed portions clear of the drawing-off rollers, and a novel arrangement
of those rollers.
As an improvement in the feed mechanism, a metal band secured at one end to
the main circular frame is laid under the feed roll, brought up over a guide roll,
and weighted, taking the place of the ordinary feed-retaining wire.
The fibre, as it passes from the feed roll, is caught between the fixed frame and
a rotating nipping plate, the contact surfaces of these parts being such, that the
fibre is pressed into a serpentine form by means of interlocking Vshaped annular
ribs, with which they are provided. One of the ribs of the circular nipping plate
is serrated, to take a firm hold of the fibres, and carry them forward.
The gill comb or carder works in front of a curved faced guard, which is made
hollow, and serves to deliver a blast of air onto the fibre, as it is acted upon by the
gill combs.
The fibre, after undergoing this combing, passes under the action of a blast of
air delivered from a pipe carried by the main framing. The fibre, still held
between the nipping surfaces, passes over a guide roller on its way to the drawing
off rollers, where the fibre under treatment is released from the nip of the
V shaped ribs, the nipping surface of the frame, opposite the drawing off rollers,.
being cut away.
The fibres are here caught by a nipping guard loosely attached to the inner
periphery of the main frame. This guard is free to slide vertically over guide.
pins, and is held up against the fibre by means of counter-weighted cords.
The pins of a retaining comb enters the fibre as it comes into line with the
drawing-off rollers, and thus act upon the fibres in conjunction with the nipping
guard. An inclined bar attached to a fixed portion of the machine, serves to hold
up the uncombed portion of the fibres, as it leaves the nipping surfaces, and comes
into line with the drawing-off' rollers, and thus prevents their being seized and
delivered out of the machine by the drawing-off rollers.
The lower drawing-off roller is formed with flanges which serve to support the
upper roller, and keep it in place.
By this arrangement, the bite of the rollers is brought near to the main frame,.
and the action of drawing is thereby improved. An endless band works over the
upper roller, and a second endless band is brought up to the lower roller. Thus, a.
travelling channel is provided for receiving and carrying away the combed fibres.
Dated this 10th day of September 1892.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: :
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Combing Machinery.
I FREDERIC TER WEELE of 21 Boulevard Poissonnière, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Engineer, do 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 :-
The improved circular comber which constitutes the object of the present
application, is characterised by the special arrangements of the feed, of the
nipping, of the air blast guard, of the gill comb or card roller, and of the drawing-
off rollers; it is further distinguished from the Hubner combers in use, and from
which it borrows the principle of action, by the addition of an air blast, or
re-dresser of the fibres after combing; of a pressure or guard plate acting in
combination with the retaining comb, to prevent the uncombed filaments forming a
bunch behind the comb; and of a bar for preventing the broken fibres, on leaving
the feed plate above the circular comb, from falling back, and mixing with the
combed fibres at the time of the drawing.
For the purpose of explaining all these new arrangements, reference is made to
the following description and the accompanying drawing, which represents, by way
of example, an improved Hubner circular comber.
DESCRIPTION.
Fig. 1 shews in plau, and a quarter full size, the arrangement of the improved
comber.
Fig. 2 shews, on the same scale, the developement of the nipping edge of the
circular frame of the comber.
Figs. 3, 4, and 5, are respectively a radial section made following the line 1-2
of Fig. 1, a face view, and a plan of the feed arrangement.
Fig. 6 is a radial section following the line 3-4 of Fig. 1, shewing the arrange-
ment of the air blast guard of the gill comb or carding roller.
Fig. 7 is a radial section, following the line 5-6 in Fig. 1, of the air-blast
straightener of the combed fibres.
Figs. 8, 8, and 8", shew various sectional forms of the nipping surfaces in
full size.
Figs. 9 and 10 are respectively a radial section made following the line 7, 8, in
Fig. 1, and an internal elevation shewing the arrangement of the pressure or guard
plate acting in combination with the retaining comb.
Fig. 11 represents a front view of the drawing-off rollers.
Fig. 12 shews the bar for preventing the mixing of the broken and uncombed
fibres with the combed fibres."
In all these figures,. the same parts are designated by the same letters of
reference.
It is known that the operation of combing is subdivided into several phases, thus,
feeding, or the drawing of the fibres the nipping, the combing, the end of the
nipping, and the drawing-off the combed fibres.
It is also known that the organs"producing these different phases, are the fixed
circular frame A; its rotary nipping plate B, the feed roller C, and its accessories,
the gill comb or carding roller D and its guard E, the retaining comb F, its guide
and its accessories, and the drawing-off rollers G and their endless apron.
These principal organs are retained in my improved circular comber. 1 bring
them to memory for the better understanding of the particular arrangements which
I have designed. For describing these. arrangements, I will now follow the order
of the phases of the operation.

page_text: FEEDING.
The fibres to be combed, which pass out at a between the edge of the frame A.
and the nipping plate B, are seized (Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5) by the feed roller C,
under which presses a metallic band m, instead of, as heretofore, a simple iron
wire. This band or ribbon of steel is fixed at m', passes under the feed roller, and
over a guide pulley r, and is then attached to a counter weight, which gives it
the necessary tension. The feed roller itself, instead of having a metallic surface,
or being covered with buff leather, is covered with caoutchouc c.
The advantage of this arrangement is to be able to place the feed organs
tangentially to the circular frame A, and thereby allow them to seize the fibres just
at the point of tangence, which cannot take place when the iron or copper wire
is used, which grips the fibre two or three millimeters from the frame, as it does not
reach the edge of the roller.
The fibres gripped between the band and the feed roller, are drawn, by reason of
the rotation of the nipping plate B, and of the rotation of the roller C.
NIPPING.
The fibres drawn are immediately nipped. The nipper destined to this end
requires neither buff leather or caoutchouc covering, nor pins; it is at once strong
and effective. This nipper (Figs. 8, 8A, SB,) is composed of two parts, the acting
surfaces of which are formed with interlocking annular ribs, and so shaped
relatively to each other, that the surface of the nipping plate B in contact with
the material, shall be greater than the surface of the frame A in contact with the
said material. According to this arrangement of the nipping surfaces, the friction.
augments with the increase of tension put upon the fibres of the material.
In this manner, all the weight of the nipping plate serves to nip the material on
an edge more or less wide, and the drag only operates by the tension of the material
on the edges of the grooves.
The material being folded in zigzag is already retained behind the nipper
properly so called; hence a very efficacious nipping.
The nipping surfaces, it will be seen, admit of being varied in form. Thus, in
Fig. 8, the faces of the annular ribs 1, 2 of the plate B are grooved or fluted
vertically, such grooves being rounded, and increasing gradually in depth from the
base to the edge of the rib, leaving, however, small flat portions between the
grooves at the edge of the annular rib, and constituting serrations, as slewn in
the plan view Fig. 8*.
Fig. 8 shews a modification, in which the nipping plate is furnished with a
single rib 1, grooved as just described, and entering a corresponding groove in the
circular frame A. This arrangement secures as efficient a nip and drag as that of
the arrangement shewn at Fig. 8. Fig. 8B shews a similar section of nipper to that
illustrated by Fig. 8A, the edge of the annular rib 1 being in this case serrated, as
above mentioned.
.
The gripped fibres are brought opposite the gill comb or carding roller, which is,
as is well known, partially enveloped by a guard E, which serves to support .the
fibres during the combing.
To ensure the fibres being caught by the pins of the gill comb, I project upon
them an air blast under pressure.
The guard plate is cast with an air channel e, which receives air from a pipe
entering one end of the channel, the other being closed; the air thus admitted is
distributed by lateral openings inclining downwards.
The fibres once combed and disengaged from the gill comb by the continuous
rotation of the nipping plate, which carries them with, it, are submitted to the
,

page_text: action of an air blast coming from a perforated pipe placed concentric with the
nipper (Figs. 1 and 7). This pipe, as well as the channel e, is supplied with air by
any suitable air compression apparatus. The pipe f may be placed above or below
the sheet of combed fibres, for the purpose of heating down or raising the fibres,
according as the comb has beaten down or raised them.
A further advantage of this air blast is to remove the impurities which may be
found at the extremities of the combed parts.
The extremities of these fibres are afterwards guided forward in the direction of
the rotation, by means of the loose-roller g. (Fig. 1), mounted on the frame A, as
in other known combers.
DRAWING.
The fibres thus combed, raised, and laid, finally arrive at the drawing-off rollers.
At this point the nipping terminates by reason of a gap made at that part in the
ribs of the frame A. The fibres are now seized in the ordinary way by the
retaining comb F, mounted upon the cross bar F, and coming within the bite of
the drawing-off rollers (the upper one of which is enveloped by an endless
apron.); the combed fibres will be delivered by the aid of a second apron i¹, out
of the machine.
For preventing the bunch which the material forms behind the comb at the
moment of drawing, which especially takes place with the materials well prepared
& straightened before reaching the comb, I arrange (see Fig. 9 and 10) on the
interior of the frame, and opposite the drawing-off rollers G, a metal guard plate H,
which presses the material against the nipping plate. In this way, the fibres are
lightly held back, and those fibres not as yet seized by the drawing-off rollers,
have no longer a tendency to follow the movement of the adjoining fibres seized by
the drawing-off rollers. The metal guard plate II is loosely attached to the
inner periphery of the main frame, by means of guide pins v, engaging in vertical
.slots made in it. The guard is held in place by means of cords kk, from which
are suspended the counter-weights P. These cords pass over guide pullies / .
This
The drawing-off rollers and 1 (Figs. 9 and 11) are arranged so as to seize the
fibres as near as possible to the frame. The upper roller, resting on the lower
roller, is retained in position by the flanges u u', solid with the lower roller.
arrangement permits of the upper roller being brought very near the frame, and
allows, of its diameter being diminished. The upper roller has no longer
stopping rings to maintain it in place, but is composed simply of a fluted cylinder
of iron.
Reference will now be made to the bar which opposes itself to the accidental
mixture of the broken and uncombed fibres with the combed fibres. This bar T
(Figs. 9 and 12) is fixed upon the guide K of the cross bar of the retaining comb;
it is consequently stationary, and inclines upwards from the of the nipping to the
end of the delivery. The uncombed fibres which accidentally detach themselves,
are caught by this bar, and raised, so as not to be seized by the drawing-off' rollers,
and mixed with the combed fibres.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In the Hubner comber, in combination with the circular frame, the nipping
plate, and the feed roller, a metallic band m, fixed at m', and held at tension by a
counter-weight, the said band having for object the nipping of the fibres as
close as possible to the circular frame, in contradistinction to what takes place
with the iron or copper wire in common use, as explained with reference to the
drawing.
2. In the Hubner comber, in combination with the circular frame and the nipping
plate, a special arrangement of the nipper, consisting of annular ribs and grooves,
which interlock, and serve, without the help of elastic parts or of pins, to secure an

page_text: efficient holding of the fibres, the traverse of the fibres being assisted by the
grooved or serrated rib or ribs of the nipping plate, as explained with reference to
the drawing.
3. In the Hubner comber, in which the nipping plate, the gill comb or carding:
roller, and its guard, are combined with the circular frame, the application of an
air blast for pressing the fibres to be combed between the pins of the comb, as.
described with reference to the drawing.
4. In the Hubner comber, in combination with the circular frame and the
nipping plate, an arrangement of perforated pipe for delivering a blast of air onto
the combed fibres, in the manner and to the end indicated with reference to the
drawing.
5. In the Hubner comber, in combination with the circular frame, the nipping
plate, and the retaining comb, an arrangement of self-adjusting guard plate for
detaining the uncombed fibres, and preventing the bench which generally forms
behind the retaining comb, as explained with reference to the drawing.
6. In the Hubner comber, in combination with the circular frame and the
nipping plate, an arrangement of drawing-off rollers, in which the upper roller
lies between the fixed flanges of the lower roller, for the purpose of securing a
bite the nearest possible to the frame, as explained with reference to the drawing.
7. In the Hubner comber, in combination with the circular frame and nipping
plate, the inclined bar fixed on the guide of the retaining comb, for preventing the
accidental mixture of the broken and uncombed fibres with the combed fibres."
8. The whole of the preceding improvements, with a view to obtain a circular
comber exempt from defects, and producing a result as perfect as possible, as
explained with respect to the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 7th day of June 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.