IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FEEDING CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ferrabee, of Brimscombe Port Mills, near
Stroud, in the County of Gloucester, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FEEDING CARDING ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ferrabee at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
February 1867.
I, JAMES FERRABEE, of Brimscombe Port Mills, near Stroud, in the
County of Gloucester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR FEEDING CARDING ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements upon the Invention for which I
obtained Provisional Protection dated Oct. 4th, 1866,. No. 2562, and consists
in forming the thin fleece or sheet sliver as it comes from the doffer of the
preparing engines into a rolled sliver or ribbon, and in delivering the same in
parallel lines to the feed apron of the next carding engine in succession, or
the ribbon may be delivered in layers, one overlaping the other. This end I

page_text: attain by applying to the opening and preparing machines a smooth roller or
rollers in front of the doffer, and setting such roller or rollers at an angle
thereto, and at a level to receive the sliver as it is doffed, their object being
to deposit the sliver upon a cross apron running in a line parallel with the
axle of the doffer. The inner roller (if two are used) or that nearest the
doffer is made short to occupy the space as near as may be between the doffer
and the outer roller, and thus to prevent the sliver from falling before it has
reached the outer roller. The sliver falling from this roller is by reason of
the oblique position of the roller spread upon the travelling apron, on arriving
at the end of which it is gathered up into a revolving trumpet-mouthed' tube
and condensed into a ribbon; or it may pass between guides which will
contract it laterally and deliver it to a pair of pressing rollers by which it will
be formed into a soft ribbon sliver. The same result may be obtained by
placing the cross apron at an angle with the doffer, and allowing the fleece.
sliver as it is stripped from the doffer to fall thereon. The sliver thus formed
may be deposited on a travelling apron which will conduct it to the carding
engine to be fed, where it is to be taken up and employed in any approved
manner.
As a further improvement, however, I propose to adapt this improved
mode of preparing sliver to what is known in the trade as the Apperly feed,
which consists in laying the sliver in parallel diagonal lines on the feed apron.
The sliver is taken up from the endless apron on to which it was deposited by
the condensing rollers, and carried forward by a vibrating frame and apron,
such as that described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me and
bearing date June 6th, 1859, No. 1383, and deposited by the traverse of that
frame upon the feed apron of the carding engine. This vibrating frame
consists of two frames jointed together at their upper ends, and it is provided
with rollers to support the endless apron which it carries. The fixed fulcrum
of this frame is at the receiving end of the frame, and the delivery end is
fitted with grooved or flanged runners which traverse over a pair of rails or
rods set diagonally over the feed apron of the engine to be fed, and parallel
with the direction in which the lines of roping forming the feed are intended
to be laid.
:
The delivery end of the frame thus supported is connected to the traveller
of the Apperly feed, and it thus supplies the traveller with a continuous
ribbon or soft roping instead of the twisted roping heretofore employed in the
like apparatus. By this combination of apparatus I am enabled to adapt
the Apperly feed to the laying of a soft and open ribbon or roping incapable
of supporting its own weight, which greatly facilitates the further carding

page_text: operations, more particularly when long stapled wools are used, prevents the
frequent breaking of the "roping" when short stapled material is used, and
produces more even threads on the condenser.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Ferrabee in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FERRABEE, of Brimscombe Port Mills, near Stroud, in the County of Gloucester,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Ferrabee, Her special licence that I, the said James Ferrabee,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Ferrabee, my executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
FEEDING CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Ferrabee, 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Ferrabee, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to improvements upon the Invention for which I
obtained Provisional Protection, dated October Fourth, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six, No. 2562, and consists in forming the thin fleece or
sheet sliver as it comes from the doffer of the preparing engines into a rolled

page_text: sliver or ribbon, and in delivering the same in parallel lines to the feed apron
of the next carding engine in succession, or the ribbon may be delivered in
layers, one overlapping the other; this end I attain by applying to the opening
machine or first carder and to the preparing machine or second carder used in
preparing woollen fibres for spinning one or more smooth rolls or rollers in
front of the doffer and setting such roller or rollers at an angle thereto, and
at a level to receive the sliver as it is loffed, the use of these, rollers. being to
deposit the sliver in the form of a band upon a cross apron running in a line
parallel with the axle of the doffer. The like effect I also propose to obtain
by the use of an endless apron as a support for the sliver, the apron being
mounted in a corresponding position in front of the doffer.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2, a front
elevation of the mechanism whereby I obtain from, say, the first carder a thin
sliver, which after being condensed into a soft ribbon sliver is delivered in
diagonal lines upon the feed apron of the second or it may be the third carder,
which completes the series commonly used in preparing woollen fibres.
A is the doffer of the first carder from which the wool is taken in the usual
way by a deffing comb not shewn in the Drawing; B, B', are diagonal rolls
mounted in bearings b, b, attached to the frame of the carding engine; the
angle which these rolls form with the axis of the doffer A will depend on the
width of sliver required; D is a cross apron carried by rolls C, C, and driven
in the same way as described with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the
Drawings of the above named Patent. The diagonal rolls B, B1, are driven at
a suitable speed by means of bands on the V pulleys a, a, a, a³, which,
through gear wheels c, c, transmit rotary motion to the longer roll B, and
which roll in its turn gives motion through a band and pullies b¹ to the
smaller roll B'; this inner roll is made short to occupy the space as near as
may be between the doffer and the outer roller and thus to prevent the sliver
from falling before it has reached the outer roll. The sliver falling from this
roll is by reason of the oblique position of the roll spread upon the travelling
apron D, and on arriving at the end of that apron it is condensed into a
ribbon;
this may be effected either by gathering it up into a revolving
trumpet-mouthed tube or it may pass between guides which will contract it
laterally and deliver it to a pair of pressing rollers by wbich it will be formed
into a soft ribbon sliver, or the same result may be obtained by placing the
cross apron at an angle with the doffer and allowing the fleece sliver as it is
stripped from the doffer to fall thereon. In the Drawing I have shewn the
sliver as coming under the action of a pair of compressing rolls F carried by
bracket armis E from the main framing of the carding engine. The under

page_text: roll F is driven by the V pulleys ff: The ribbon sliver formed by the com-
pression of the rolls F, or it may be by a revolving trumpet mouth as above
stated, may be deposited on a travelling apron, which will conduct. it to the
carding engine to be fed where it is to be taken up, and employed in any
approved manner.
As a further improvement. I propose to adapt. this improved mode of pre-
paring sliver to what is known in the. trade as the Apperly feed, which consists
in certain apparatus for laying the sliver in parallel diagonal lines on the feed
apron of the preparing and the finishing carders. For this purpose the sliver H
as it passes from the rolls F is received on to a creeper cloth G driven by
a band and V pulleys g, g; this creeper cloth G carries the sliver forwards to
a vibrating frame and apron now to be described.
Fig. 3 is a plan view, and Fig. 4 a front elevation of the Apperly feeding
apparatus with my vibrating frame I, I', attached thereto; this vibrating
frame has its fixed fulcrum in standards K, and its travelling end is connected
to the traverse motion of the Apperly feed and receives motion therefrom;
this end of the frame is fitted, with stud axles to receive the guide wheels i, i*,
which travel over guide rods i, i, suitably supported on the frame of the
carding engine intended to receive the diagonal feed. The axle of the
wheel is connected by means of a link to the traveller L, which delivers
the sliver or roping H to the feed apron of the engine. The vibrating
frame I, I, carries an apron M which receives the sliver H from the creeper G
at an uniform speed and conducts it to the traveller L, to be delivered by it in
diagonal parallel lines on to the feed apron. The frame I, I' and traveller L
are moved to and fro by the well-known endless travelling strap of the Apperly
feed, a pin affixed to which strap enters a vertical slot in the traveller L; this
pin through the constant rotary motion of the strap L' imparts the requisite
reciprocating motion to the traveller, and thus causes it to lay the sliver in
diagonal lines on the feed apron in the same way as the "roping" is at present
done by the Apperly apparatus.
From the above explanation it will be understood that the object of the
improvement is to form a much softer and more open sliver than the "roping,"
and to support it without stretching until it is received by the nipping rolls of
the Apperly feed.
Ilaving now described my Invention of "Improved Machinery for Feeding
Carding Engines," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I claim as the Invention secured to me by the above in part recited Letters
Patent,-
First, forming the thin fleece or sheet sliver (as it is stripped off the doffer)

page_text: into a rolled sliver or ribbon, in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
And, second, the application of the vibrating frame and apron to an Apperly
feed as described, for the purpose of supporting the sliver without stretching
on its passage to the traveller.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Ferrabee, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
CHARLES ROWE,
Engineer,
Brimscombe.
JAMES FERRABEE. (L.S.)