Improvements in or relating to Combined Feeders and Openers employed in the Preparation of Cotton and other Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th June, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 20th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 20th Apr., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Combined Feeders and Openers
employed in the Preparation of Cotton and other Fibrous
Materials.
We, MARTIN MUSGRAVE, of the Firm of John Musgrave and Sons Limited,
Atlas Mills, Halliwell, Bolton, Cotton Spinners, and CHARLES EDWIN COOPER
of 263 Chorley Old Road, Halliwell near Bolton, Manager, both in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention to be as
Follows:-
This invention refers to improvements in or relating to combined feeders and
openers employed in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous materials and is
designed to automatically regulate the working of the same according to the weight
or amount being supplied thereto. In the hopper are mounted prongs against
which the cotton or other fibrous material operates, and when below a certain
When the
quantity or weight the apparatus is set in motion to feed the machine.
quantity or weight is in excess it operates against the prongs and stops the feeding
apparatus. This we carry into effect by mounting on the creeper shaft a worm
gearing into a worm wheel mounted on a shaft placed outside the hopper. The
fatter shaft is divided, each part being fitted with one half of a claw toothed
clutch, the sliding portion of the latter being mounted on a key or feather and slid
in and out of gear by a forked lever and other levers and rods from the shaft
carrying the operating prongs in the hopper. The side of the sliding portion of
the clutch is provided with a disc fitted with a pin which operates in conjunction
with a hole or slot on the bottom side of a fixing carrying a shaft on the outside of
hopper, by which the apparatus is always stopped at one point when the knife or
shutter is depressed to close the outlet from the pipe or trunk supplying the
material to the machine. On the shaft carrying the sliding portion of the clutch
is mounted an adjustable disc crank, to which is attached an adjustable connecting
rod to regulate the stroke of knife or shutter according to the amount of material
to be supplied. The knife or shutter may be applied to slide either parallel or
otherwise by any mechanical means.
Dated the 19th June 1894.
COMPLETE STECHETUATION.
Improvements in or relating to Combined Feeders and Openers
employed in the Preparation of Cotton and other Fibrous
Materials.
We, MARTIN MUSGRAVE, of the Firm of John Musgrave and Sons Limited,
Atlas Mills, Halliwell, Bolton, Cotton Spinners, and CHARLES EDWIN COOPER,
of 263 Chorley Old Road, Halliwell, near Bolton, Manager, both in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
277

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention refers to improvements in or relating to combined feeders and
openers employed in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous materials and is
designed to automatically regulate the working of the same according to the weight
or amount being supplied thereto. In the hopper are mounted prongs against
which the cotton or other fibrous material operates and when below a certain
quantity or weight the apparatus is set in motion to feed the machine. When the
quantity or weight is in excess it operates against the prongs and stops the feeding
apparatus.
And in order that our invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying two sheets of drawings in which―
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one arrangement of a hopper feed made in accordance
with our invention and in which the cotton or other fibre is supplied to the hopper
through a trunk.
Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is an end elevation at the feed end.
Figs. 4 and 5 are details on a larger scale of part of the mechanism.
Figs. 6 and 7 are two views of another arrangement of hopper feed made in
accordance with our invention and in which the cotton or other fibre is supplied to
the hopper by a travelling lattice.
Referring first to the arrangement illustrated by Figs. 1 to 5,-the sides of the
hopper ore marked A, the hopper front A', the feeding trunk B, the bottom
Inttice Cand the spiked apron D. These are of the usual construction and arrange-
ment and in the following description we will confine ourselves to those parts which
are directly affected by our invention.
As
Within the hopper we suspend a series of prongs a which are secured to a shaft b
extending across the top of the hopper and supported in bearing brackets c.
clearly seen in Fig. 1 the prongs a descend to within a certain distance from the
travelling lattice Cthe cotton or other fibrous material being carried by the lattice C
beneath and between the prongs a. In Fig. 1 a portion of the hopper side A is
shown removed to allow the curved end of the nearest prong to appear.
end of the prong shaft we fix a lever and counter balance weight and upon
the other end we mount a lever e. Beneath this lever and pivoted upon a stud
At one
to the side of the hopper or to an auxiliary fixed bracket we mount a bell crank
lever A rod connects the lever and the horizontal arm of the hell crank
lever the connected arms of the respective levers being slotted for the purposes of
adjustment. The extremity of the vertical arm of the bell crank lever is tormed
as a clutch fork to engage with the sliding half of a toothed clutch /'. The
enlarged section of this toothed clutch shown at Fig. 4 will render its construction
more clear. The constantly revolving half of the clutch is fixed on one end of
a shaft carried in hearings secured to the side of the hopper. Upon the other
end of the shaft is fixed a bevel wheel which gears with a bevel wheel & on the
j
rear roller shaft of the lattice C. The result of this arrangement is that the
shaft and half clutch revolve uninterruptedly. The shaft m which carries
the half clutch lies in line with the shaft and is supported in similar bearings m² m².
The half clutch is secured to the shaft m by a feather key and groove so that the
half clutch while compelled to revolve with the shaft m is also capable of sliding
to and fro thereon for the requisite extent. Therefore by operating the bell crank
lever the half clutch can be slid out of driving contact with the half
although to prevent such slipping out of contact except at the arranged times we
fix a peg in the boss of the half clutch which bears against the face of the boss
of the bearing bracket m so that the half clutch can only be slid out of gear
with the half at the times when this peg a comes opposite to the slot or recess m
formed in the face of the bearing bracket boss, see Figs. 4 and 5. The opposite
end of the shaft m carries a crank disc o and the crank pin of the said disc is
connected by a rod p to a slotted bracket fixed on the end of the shutter or

page_text: damper in the case of a pipe or trunk feed, and the slot in the bracket 7 is
intended to make provision for the adjustment of the damper r. The opposite end
of the said damper is pivoted at a so that as the crank disc o revolves, the damper
is vibrated up and down across the opening A' in the end of the hopper A through
which the material is fed from the trunk B.
When the machine is in operation the cotton or other abrous material fed to the
hopper in this arrangement by the trunk B is carried forward by the lattice C to
the spiked apron D which lifts it in the usual manner to the spiked clearing
cylinder E. The cotton thus struck or cleared from the spiked apron D accumulates
at the foot and is apt to pack and disorganize the proper working of the feeder
unless the feed supply is diminished or cut off so as to permit the apparatus to
overtake and deal with the material already supplied.
Our invention effects this dimination or interruption of the supply automatically
in the following manner :-
r
As the cotton cleared from the spiked apron D accumulates behind the prongs a
the weight of the material presses upon the prongs sufficiently to turn the prong
shaft raising the counter balance weight and lever and turning the lever
downward so that by means of the connecting rod it operates the bell crank
lever and slides the half clutch out of gear with the half so as to arrest the
rotation of the shaft m and crank disc thereby closing the feed in this case by
stopping the movements of the damper r. As the object of stopping the damper
is to diminish or arrest the supply of material to the hopper the parts require to be
so arranged that the damper will be stopped only when in its lowered position.
This is the function of the peg n extending from the half clutch and acting in
combination with the slot or recess in³, in the boss of the bearing bracket. m' as
already described. The peg is set to synchronize in its movements with the
crank pin of the disc o consequently when the crank pin is in its lowest position
the peg a is similarly situated. The slot or recess is therefore cut in the lower side
of the face of the boss as shown in Fig. 5 so that if the back pressure of the cotton
should begin to act on the prongs before the peg n is opposite to the slot the shaft /
cannot yield nor can the half clutch / be slid out of driving contact until the peg n
has come opposite to the slot at which time the damper r is also at the foot of its
stroke and therefore in a position to retard or cut off the feed. When the arrest of
the feed has enabled the apparatus to deal with and remove the surplus behind the
prongs the counter balance weight moves the prongs back to their normal position
and the bell crank lever is operated to slide the half clutch again into driving
contact with the half whereby the damper is vibrated as before and the feed is
re-established. We thus obtain such automatic regulation of the feed that the
inconveniences and drawbacks inseparable from unregulated feeding are entirely
obvinted.
,
We do not confine ourselves to the form of damper described and shown as a
sliding instead of a vibrating damper or any other suitable means for controlling
the feed supply might be adopted and used in conjunction with our regulating
mechanism.
When a travelling lattice is employed in place of a trunk for conducting the
cotton or other fibre into the hopper the only alteration necessary is to arrange for
the automatic regulating mechanism to stop and start the travelling feed lattice in
place of stopping and starting a vibrating damper or the like. In Figs. 6 and 7 the
elbow lever acts as before upon the sliding half clutch fitted upon the short
shaft m carried in a bearing m'; on one end of the half clutch is secured a cam h
with two surfacce, one circular, the other shaped as a lifting cam and upon this cam
rests a bowl carried by an arm u pivoted to a bracket secured to the hopper
frame A. The end of this arm u is weighted at a and connected by a rod w to an
elbow lever pivoted to a bracket y the vertical arm of the lever e engaging with
the strap fork guide rod of a driving belt 8 on the pair of pulleys 2 which by a
train of spur gears 3, 4, 5 and 6 give motion to the travelling lattice 7 which passes
over a roller mounted upon the same axis as the spur wheel 6.
.2°

page_text: h
The clutch is shown in gear and the driving belt 8 is on the fast pulley the
howl resting upon the circular part of the cam . the feed lattice 7 is travelling
and fibre is being supplied to the hopper; but when there is an excess of fibre in
the hopper the elbow lever,nctuated by the pivoted prongs a as before described,
moves the half clutch out of gear with its driving half and the movement of
the part stops the rotation of the shaft m and also moves the circular part of the
cam from under the bowl which falls off the cam, and thereby allows the
weight to draw down the arm and move the elbow levere thus shifting
the driving belt S from the fast to the loose pulley and stopping the travelling
Inttice 7 and further feed of libre, until the prongs a cause the elbow lever to
again move the half clutch & into gear with the part when the bowlt travels
up the cam surface back to the circular portion of the cam simultaneously
lifting the arm and moving the driving belt. 8 back from the loose to the fast
pulley and so re-starting the travelling feed lattice 7 and conducting more fibre into
the hopper.
We wish it to be clearly understood that we do not limit ourselves to the exact
construction and disposition of parts comprising the mechanism for transmitting the
motion of the pivoted prongs or their equivalent, such as a door or shutter, to the
means for controlling the feed supply, where such details are capable of modifica-
tion by a competent mechanic familiar with the class of machines to which our
invention relates.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The combination with means for conducting feeding or admitting cotton or
other fibrous material into the hopper of an opening machine, of regulating
mechanism for automatically controlling and regulating the supply of fibre in order
to prevent over feeding substantially as herein set forth.
2. In a hopper feed, the arrangement use and application of the pivoted prongs
or their equivalent connected by rods and levers or the like with a sliding clutch or
its equivalent as means for automatically regulating and controlling the feed of
cotton or other fibrous material substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein set forth.
3. The general arrangement and combination of parts substantially as and for
the purposes herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5 of the accompanying
drawings.
4. The general arrangement and combination of parts substantially as and for
the purposes herein described with reference to Figs. 6 and 7 of the accompanying
drawings.
T: 101 180
H. B. BARLOW & GILLETT,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for Applicants.