IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Houldsworth, of Bradford, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR PREPARING COTTON OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING."-
Sealed the 27th September 1860, and dated the 3rd April 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Houldsworth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd April 1860.
I, WILLIAM HOULDSWORTH, of Bradford, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to machinery known as "carding engines," and in
which cylindrical doffers or card-covered rollers have been employed for
doffing or removing the fibrous substances from the cylinder or swift. Such
card rollers rotating in contact with the surface of the swift, their axes being
parallel to each other.
My improvements consist in the employment of an endless card belt or
web, or belt with teeth or points fixed therein, placed. in contact with the
surface of the swift, in lieu of the before-mentioned cylindrical doffer, to which
motion is given in the direction of the length of the said cylinder or swift, or
in line or parallel with the axes thereof. Such endless' belt may be of leather,
india-rubber cloth or any suitable elastic material, so as to be capable of

page_text: passing over a roller placed beyond each end of the said swift; the said belt
being supported between the rollers by a bed or rail on which it slides, and
thus doffs or strips the fibrous substances from the swift, carrying the same
forward continueously to and beyond one end of the said swift; from which
belt it is removed by ordinary nip rollers or drawing off rollers. Or, in place
of elastic material for such endless travelling doffers, suitable lengths of wood,
iron, or other rigid material, with teeth or points fixed therein, may be
employed, and either connected together by joints as an endless chain, with
suitable supports, or they may be disconnected and resting upon or in grooved
rails, so as to slide or be traversed along one rail, and return by the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Houldsworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOULDSWORTH, of Bradford, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Houldsworth, Her special license that I, the said William
Houldsworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Houldsworth, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON OR OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Houldsworth, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 William Houldsworth, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say).:—
This Invention relates to machinery known as "carding engines," and in
which cylindrical doffers or card-covered rollers have been employed for
doffing or removing the fibrous substances from the cylinder or swift, such
card rollers rotating in contact with the surface of the swift, their axes being
parrallel to each other.
The improvements consist in the employment of an endless card belt, or belt
with teeth or points fixed therein, placed in contact with the surface of the
swift, in lieu of the before-mentioned cylindrical doffer; to which motion is
given in the direction of the length of the said cylinder or swift, or in line or
parallel with the axes thereof. Such endless belt may be of leather, india-
rubber cloth or any suitable elastic material, so as to be capable of passing
over a roller-placed beyond each end of the said swift, the said belt being
supported between the rollers by a bed or rail on which it slides, and thus
doffs or strips the fibrous substances from the swift, carrying the same forward
continuously to and beyond one end of the said swift, from which belt it is
removed by ordinary nip rollers or drawing off-rollers. Or, in place of elastic
material for such endless travelling doffers, suitable lengths of wood, iron, or
other rigid material, with teeth or points fixed therein, may be employed, and
either connected together by joints as an endless chain, with suitable supports,
or they may be disconnected and rest upon or in grooved rails, so as to slide
or be traversed along one rail, and return by the other.
In carrying this my said Invention into practical operation, I have found
rigid material to answer best for such doffers, constructed and arranged in
manner as shewn or illustrated by the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in
which Fig. 1 is an elevation of framework supporting an endless-chain doffer
and suitable driving gear; and Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, also of a carding
cylinder or swift in contact. A is the chain doffer, which is made or con-
structed of metal; the particular form of the links will be more clearly seen at
Figs. 3 and 4, which are plan and cross section of one link, and a portion of
the supporting rail B, which is grooved to receive the ends or heads of the
joint pins or bolts C, which are flattened on two sides to fit and slide therein.;.
D, D', are two grooved pullies to support and propel the chain doffer. They
are mounted upon studs fixed in the framing, the studs D₁ being capable of
adjustment in the frame so as to regulate the tension of the chain. On the
boss of D is fixed a spur wheel E, which gears with a pinion F fixed on a
shaft G, which is driven with bevil gear by the main shaft H, which may
receive motion by pullies and strap, or gear, from the carding engine or other

page_text: source; I are a pair of drawing off rollers, which receive motion by shaft and
gear from the main shaft H, but which may be driven by a strap, if desirable,
from any convenient place or power, and the said drawing-off rollers may
be placed in any. suitable position in contact with the chain doffer. It will be
seen that when motion is communicated to the pulley D, the chain will be
carried forward thereby, and caused to travel around the two pullies, the
pulley D¹ being driven by the chain to which it is simply a carrier; the
grooved rails supporting and guiding the doffer betwixt the said pullies. And
it will be obvious that when this travelling chain is placed in contact with a
card cylinder.or swift in motion, it will strip or doff therefrom any fibrous
substance that may be on such cylinder, and carry it forward to the drawing-off
rollers, by which it will be taken off in a continuous sliver.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner
in which the same is performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the particular form, material, or .construction of doffer as
herein set forth, as it is clear that doffers forming endless chains may be made
of wood, or other rigid material; or endless belts, with teeth or cards, may be
made of leather, india-rubber cloth or other flexible material, and carried by
suitable pullies or rollers, and supported and guided by rails or bed plates, so
arranged as to keep such endless belt in contact with the surface of the
cylinder or swift, and motion given to the said belt in the direction of the axes
of the swift, so as to obtain a continuous sliver therefrom; but I claim the
application and use of endless chain or belt doffers caused to travel in the
direction of or parallel with the axes of the cylinder or swift substantially as
herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Houldsworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM HOULDSWORTH. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Houldsworth,
in the presence of
WM. TASKER, Patent Agent,
Halifax.