CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING OR POINTING THE CARDS IN CARDING ENGINES.
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Allen, of Cheadle, in the County of Chester,
Cotton Spinner, and William Johnson, of Newton Moor, in the same
County, Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING OR POINTING THE CARDS
IN CARDING ENGINES.'
Sealed the 24th March 1863, and dated the 24th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Allen and William
Johnson at the. Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 24th January 1863.
We, WILLIAM ALLEN, of Cheadle, in the County of Chester, Cotton
Spinner, and WILLIAM JOHNSON, of Newton Moor, in the same County,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING OR POINTING THE
"CARDS' EMPLOYED IN CARDING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the grinding of the wire "cards" on the cylinders,
rollers, or flats, employed in carding engines, and is designed to produce taper
or needle-like points at the carding extremities of the wires constituting the
cards. The ordinary method of grinding cards has been by means of an emery
roller, having a hard and even surface or periphery, which grinds the cards
into the form termed "chisel edged."

page_text: Our improvements consist in the employment and use of a cylinder or
cylinders or rollers having their surfaces or peripheries corrugated or ribbed in
a direction across their axes, and coated with emery or other grinding material,
a reciprocating motion across the cards and parallel to the axis of the card
roller being imparted thereto, so that the sides of the grinding corrugations,
elevations, or ridges come into contact with the wires, as well as the apex of
the ridges, and thus produce taper points upon the cards, which are more
efficient in their operation upon the cotton. These elevations, corrugations,
or ridges, may either be formed helically or coiled around a roller, which we
prefer, or they may be composed of a series of rings side by side, and they
may consist of india-rubber, gutta percha, or other yielding substance, coated
with emery, or they may be made of wood or other non-elastic substance, but
we prefer an elastic substance beneath the emery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Allen and William Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
ALLEN, of Cheadle, in the County of Chester, Cotton Spinner, and WILLIAM
JOHNSON, of Newton Moor, in the same County, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Allen and William Johnson, Her special license that
we, the said William Allen and William Johnson, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Allen and
William Johnson, our 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GRINDING OR POINTING THE 'CARDS'
EMPLOYED IN CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said William Allen and William Johnson, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, or their, or one of

page_text: 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 iminediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
KNOW NOW YE, that I, the said William Allen, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
Our Invention relates to the grinding of the wire "cards" on the cylinders,
rollers, or flats employed in carding engines, and is designed to produce taper
or needle-like points at the carding extremities of the wires constituting the
cards. The ordinary method of grinding cards has been by means of an emery
roller having a hard and even surface or periphery, which grinds the cards
into the form termned "chisel-edged."
Our improvements consist in the employment and use of a cylinder or
cylinders or rollers having their surfaces or peripheries corrugated or ribbed in
a direction across their axis, and coated with emery or other grinding material,
a reciprocating motion across the cards and parallel to the axis of the card
roller being imparted thereto, so that the sides of the grinding corrugations,
elevations, or ridges, come into contact with the wires as well as the apex of
the ridges, and thus produce taper points upon the cards, which are more
These elevations, corrugations,
efficient in their operation upon, the cotton.
or ridges may either be formed helically, that is, coiled around a roller in a
spiral course, which we prefer, or they may be composed of a series of rings
side by side, and they may consist of india-rubber, gutta percha, or other
yielding substance coated with emery, or they may be made of wood or other
non-elastic substance, but we prefer an elastic substance beneath the emery.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, made upon a scale of
about three inches to the foot, and having similar letters of reference marked
upon corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is an end view of a machine, wherein a spirally ribbed or corrugated
grinding cylinder is adapted to grind and point the cards of the rollers
employed, as above stated, for carding engines, wherein two are ground
simultaneously; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a front view of
the arrangement of apparatus as employed to grind and point the cards on the
main carding cylinder; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the corrugated

page_text: or grooved and ribbed surface shewn in this instance, and for the sake of
example, in the form of a roller, the elevations and grooves being formed or
arranged in a double or right and left handed spiral course or direction on its
periphery.
in
In Fig. 1, a, a, is the framing of the machine, in which is supported the
driving shaft b, which drives, by means of the strap and pulley c, the right and
left handed screw d, and causes the roller or cylinder e to traverse from end to
end of the two card rollers f, f, the application of such traverse motion, and
the means of effecting the same, being now well known; the card rollers f, f
are adjusted to the surface of the grinding roller by means of the adjustable
bearings, and are also driven by straps g, g, from the driving shaft.
The chief feature of this portion of our Invention consists in the use and
application of a corrugated surface for grinding and pointing cards, that is,
consisting of elevations and depressions either formed spirally or in an annular
direction, or in any form desired around or upon the exterior surface of such
grinding roller, one example of which is shewn in Fig. 4, wherein a double
spiral is applied, 1, 1, being the elevations or ridges, and 2, 2, being the
depressions or furrows. These elevations and depressions may be constructed
many ways, but we prefer to cut out a channel in the desired form on the
surface of a metallic roller or other roller, to form a confining guide or support
and to fill such space with a band of india-rubber or elastic or non-elastic
material, so that it projects above the surface of the roller, and forms the ridge
or elevation, having either a round or flat apex, as may be desired; it is then
to be covered with emery, and effects the pointing of the cards by the action
of the ridges against the sides of the wires as the roller alternately traverse
from end to end, and also grinds the surface of the cards simultaneously. We
would here remark that the same corrugated surface may also be applied to
the ordinary "strickle" commonly used for grinding cards, and that such
corrugations be formed in a helical, or spiral, or other shape, and made elastic
or non-elastic, and formed upon a short roller traversing, as shewn, or upon a
roller extending the entire width of the card cylinders to be operated upon,
or the emery may be cemented on the roller to the required depth, and then
grooved or cut into the ridges and furrows.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly
understood that we claim the use, application, and employment of a corrugated
ribbed, or palpably uneven surface, covered with emery or grinding material,
for the purpose of grinding and pointing the cards employed in carding engines

page_text: in contradistinction to the use of a plain surfaced roller coated with emery as
hitherto employed, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated
in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Allen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM ALLEN. (L.S.)