IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgins, of Salford, in the County of Lan-
caster, Machine Maker, and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, of the same
Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING
ENGINES."
Sealed the 18th January 1861, and dated the 4th August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgins and
Thomas Schofield Whitworth at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 4th August 1860.
1.1
We, JAMES HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, and THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARDING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates, firstly, to a combination and also construction of
parts constituting a carding engine, whereby we are enabled more perfectly to
operate upon the material, so that for many purposes it may be fully prepared
in one machine; the operations thereof arising from such combination and
consecutive treatment of the material being equivalent, or nearly so, to the
use of a breaker and finisher. This combination consists, firstly, in providing

page_text: for a change in the relative surface speeds of the carding, cylinder, and of a
roller or rollers working therewith, so that they act at intervals and in turns
as strippers to each other. Beneath the "licker in" we employ a working
roller, which cards the material by connexion with the "licker in," and
beneath this another roller, which strips from the said first-mentioned roller
and delivers to the main cylinder, acting also as above described, by revolving
at variable surface speeds in reference to the cylinder. From the parts above
mentioned the material passes onward with the main cylinder to be operated
upon. by a series of endless travelling flats or other, apparatus, which by
removing strippings acts after the same manner, where it receives its final
carding, and is taken from the machine in the ordinary manner. In connexion
with the licker in and rollers combined therewith, as above mentioned, we use
casings or grids, which we mount upon hinges, so as to be capable of being
turned free from the cards; the said casings or grids being also connected to
levers fixed upon a shaft, whereby the said turning down may be effected.
In order, however, to move this apparatus bodily, so as to gain access to the
rollers, we mount it upon a separate portion of framing,, which may be moved
outward by a rack or by similar, means, or with the-same object we-mount
the rollers in a moveable framing. This portion of the framing being moveable
transverse ties for the other parts thereof are required, and these we apply in
the angular spaces left by the rollers. The variable motion of the stripper, as
above mentioned, we gain from the feed rollers; for which purpose we use
a cam, which acts by a lever direct upon a bar for shifting the strap.
Another part of our Invention refers to carding engines generally, and
consists in mounting the lap roller upon a moveable part of the framing. Also
we mount the top and bottom feed rollers upon the pedestal of the licker in,
and render them adjustable thereon. Also we mount the vibrating shaft of
the doffer comb in bearings, but under it 'dependent as regards its lateral
motion upon.centres or tightening screws.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd February 1861.
TO ALL. TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HIGGINS,. of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and THOMAS
SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, Her special license that
we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, 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." IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition,
amongst others, that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield
Whitworth, by an instrument in writing under, our 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 we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield
Whitworth, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by, the following statement and accompanying Drawings
(that is to say) —
The first part of our Invention is shewn in section at Fig. 1. The main
carding cylinder is shewn at A, in. connection with the upper part of which. is
a series of travelling flats B, mounted upon an endless chain, which is put in
imotion from any convenient, part of. the machine. The licker in is at C,
beneath which is a roller D, furnished with cards, as shewn, and revolving in
the direction of the arrow; beneath this is another roller E, also furnished
with cards, and revolving as indicated by the arrow. These rollers are driven
by any convenient mechanism, but the last mentioned (E) is caused to revolve at
two speeds, the one in which its surface moves slower than that of the cylinder A,
and the other in which it moves quicker, as described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to William Edward Newton, bearing date the Twenty-second
day of August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, No. 1847. The
material being taken from the rollers by the licker in is carded in.its. passage
to the cylinder by the roller d, and a portion thereof is carried. forward by the

page_text: said roller, while the remainder passes on to the cylinder in the usual manner.
The fibres which are carried-forward by the roller d are again carded by the
roller e; a division of the material here also taking place, a portion thereof being
conveyed direct to the cylinder, while the remainder passes on with the roller e
to be subsequently stripped therefrom by the cylinder a. The material thus
carded arrives in contact with the travelling flats b, and in such an open con-
dition as enables them to operate upon it with the greatest advantage, so that
many purposes the whole process may be conducted in one machine. The
operations above described having been continued for a time, the speed of the
roller e is so changed that the surface shall revolve faster than that of
the cylinder a, so that it then becomes a stripper and removes any fibres which
may have been carried past the doffer.
for
The next part of our Invention is shewn at Figs. 2 and 3, which represent
two methods of carrying out our Invention, both of them being top views of
the doffer comb and parts which carry it, the plan of mounting the comb
being that for which Letters Patent were granted to us bearing date the
Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred sixty, No. 1195.
In Fig. 2, a represents the comb carried by arms b, and tightened by a
rod c, according to the Specification of a Patent granted to us, bearing date
as aforesaid.
The arms B are fixed to a shaft d, which passes through a fixing e provided
with set screws f; the ends of which constitute centres on which the shaft
vibrates. This vibration is communicated by a lever g, which is connected to
the usual crank, the general arrangement being shewn at Fig. 1.
as a centre of
Fig. 3 represents a modification of this part of our Invention. In this
instance the end of the shaft & runs against a set screwf
motion, but the extent to which it may be forced forward is determined by a
conical part g✶ formed upon the lever g, and which fits into a recess formed
within the fixinge; the other end of the shaft simply turns in the fixing,
and there is not, therefore, any pressure in the direction of the length of
the shaft.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, we desire it to be understood,
that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,-
Firstly, the arrangement and combination shewn and described in reference
to Fig. 1, such arrangement being essentially the combination of the rollers d
and e, or one of them with flats.

page_text: Secondly, as applied to doffing combs of carding engines, causing the shaft
thereof to be carried by bearings adjustable in the direction of the length of
the shaft.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield
Whitworth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this First day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.