CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CARDING, DRAWING, SLUBBING, AND ROVING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN SHAW,
of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of December, in the tenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Shaw, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Shaw, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said John Shaw, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CARDING, DRAWING, SLUBBING, AND
ROVING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Shaw, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Shaw, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):
My Invention refers, firstly, to an improvement in the carding engine,
whereby I am enabled to prevent the loss of so much of the staple under
operation as is at present allowed to fly off from the licking-in roller and main
card cylinder while the carding engine is in operation.
This improvement I
effect by providing a covering to those parts of the circumference of the
licker-in roller and main cylinder which are between the feed rollers and the
doffer cylinder, but below the line of the axes of the main card cylinder and
licker-in roller.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents, in section, a portion of
a carding engine with my improvements applied thereto. A is the main
cylinder; B is a curved plate or shield of metal, supported by angular side
plates, bolted to the framing of the engine.
Figure 2 represents, in section, one of these angular side plates for securing
the curved plate in the requisite position for covering a portion of the
periphery of the main card cylinder, and yet allowing of the free action of that
cylinder. C is an endless band of "lattice work," composed of laths (some-
what longer than the breadth of the main cylinder) laid parallel to each other,
and attached breadthways to the outer face of an endless band of felted cloth
or other suitable material. D is one of a pair of guides, fixed to the main
framing, and intended to make the lattice work travel in a curve, so as to
cover as much of that portion of the periphery of the main cylinder desired to
be enclosed as is not covered by the curved plate B.
At Figure 3 one of the guides D is shewn in the section, with a lath or rib in
contact with its under surface. E, E, E, E, are rollers for supporting the
lattice work, and to the axle of one of these rollers a cog wheel or friction
pulley is keyed, which, being put into connection with any convenient adjacent
driving parts of the machinery, will communicate a forward motion by the
endless lattice-work. By this means the staple will be prevented from flying
off during the working of the engine, but the dust and refuse matters will be
allowed to fall between the laths on to the cloth, which carries them forward,
and deposits them on the floor, or into any proper receptacle.
The second part of my Invention refers to an improvenient in the drawing
or slubbing frames, and consists in mounting the "guides" or "tumblers" in
such a manner that the breaking of a sliver will allow the tumbler to
change its position and thereby stop the action of the machine. At Figure 4

page_text: the parts requisite for carrying out this improvement are shewn in side
elevation. The sliver of cotton, wool, or other substance, in passing from the
cans to the drawing rollers, is conducted through a guide or tumbler a,
attached to the upper end of a lever b, which is provided at its lower end
with a catch c. On either side of the lever b a projecting piece d, somewhat
in the shape of an inverted V, is cast. These projecting pieces (see the front
view, Figure 5) rest upon a knife edge standing up from a bracket e, which
is bolted to the back plate of the machine, and is intended to support the
lever b, and allow it to vibrate freely when required; g is a weighted rocking
lever, attached to a clutch box h, shewn in front view at Figure 5, which
works upon a shaft i. The lever g is provided with a tappet k, which rides
over a cam or tappet l on a shaft m, connected by gearing with the main
driving shaft of the mechanism. At every rotation of the shaft m it will be
seen that the lever g will rock suddenly, and by means of the clutch box h
cause the shaft i to make part of a revolution. To this shaft a "feeler " n is
fixed, and in such a position that, when moving with its shaft, it just clears the
catch c of the lever b. Now if by the breaking of the sliver (the tension
of which in the proper working of the machine draws the tumbler a suffi-
ciently forwards to prevent the catch c of the lever 6 from interfering with
the motions of the "feeler "n) the lever b is allowed to find its centre of
gravity, as shewn by dots in Figure 4, the end of the " feeler "n will come
in contact with the catch c, and thus its vibrations will immediately cease.
The rotation however of the shaft m will cause the rocking of the weighted
lever g to continue, which being connected, as before stated, with the sliding
part of the catch box h, will cause it to slide laterally on the shaft i. To this
part of the catch box a crank lever o is connected by a pin projecting from an
arm of the lever, working in a circular groove in the boss of the catch box. The
other arm is provided with a notch, which receives the end of an arm p, fixed
to a rod q. To this rod q is also connected the forked rod for throwing the
driving strap from the fast to the loose pulley. When therefore the catch c
stops the motion of the feeler n, and consequently the shaft i, the moving
part of the catch box will be thrown off from the stationary part fixed to the
shaft i, and in sliding along the shaft i it will cause the lever o to vibrate and
release the arm p. If then an upward impetus is given to this arm by a
spring or weight, it will rise and cause its shaft q, together with the forked
rod (for shifting the strap), to rock, the driving strap will be slidden from the
fast to the loose pulley, and the action of the machine will be suspended. It
will be obvious that if the bracket e is provided with a V bearing, and the
lever 6 with a knife edge, or if any other delicate mode of suspending the

page_text: guide or tumbler is adopted, a similar elect to that above described win De
produced.
The third part of my Invention refers to improvements in the rovings or
slubbing-flyer employed for winding the sliver of the cotton, &c. on to bobbins.
The objects of this part of the Invention are to prevent in some degree the
friction of the sliver down the hollow arms of the flyer, to lay the sliver in a
compact and even state on the bobbin, and also to perform the operation with
greater expedition than heretofore. These several results may be obtained
either separately or combined, according to whether one or more of my
improvements are adopted to the same flyer. In order to obtain the first-
mentioned advantage, I form the hollow arms of the flyer so that the longi-
tudinal opening produced by the edges of the metal (comprising the arm) not
uniting shall be in that side of the arm which in its rotation meets the air,
instead of being in the outside part of the flyer. The sliver will thus, when
thrown by centrifugal force against that part of the inner face of the arm
which is farthest from the centre of motion of the flyer, slide down a smooth
surface without the possibility of being drawn between the edges of the
metal. The opening also made in the top of the arm to allow the sliver to
enter and pass down to the bobbin, is now made so as to present itself to the
air whilst the flyer is rotating, by which means, if from any cause the sliver
runs slack, it will have a tendency to remain in the tube.
Figure 6 is an elevation of my improved flyer; and Figure 7 is a plan view
of the same. a, a, are the hollow arms, which carry at their lower ends
friction guides or arms a capable of turning freely on their sockets, to allow
of the increasing diameter of the bobbin; 6 is the spindle, and c the bobbin.
The vertical tube d of the flyer, which receives and is supported by the end
of the spindle, has attached to it a horizontal bar e, the ends of which
embrace the arms of the flyer, and keep them from expanding laterally when
driven at a more than ordinary speed.
It has been heretofore considered necessary that to produce a firm and
compact winding of the sliver, a considerable pressure should be laid on what
is commonly called the presser lever, which guides the sliver from the hollow
arm to the bobbin, and for this purpose many plans have been devised to
get, by the employment of springs, an uniform elastic pressure; but the
pressure of the spring being necessarily greater on the full than the empty
bobbin, it has been proposed to counterbalance this defect in the presser by
means of centrifugal force, so that when the pressure of the spring was too
great, the lever should be relieved, and when not exerting the desired pressure,
centrifugal force, obtained by the rotation of the flyer, should assist in main-

page_text: taining the pressure of the lever on the bobbins. I have found, however, after
a variety of experiments, that the pressure thus given to the lever is not
required for the firm and uniform winding on of the sliver, but that such
pressure creates an amount of friction which may be advantageously dispensed
with. In place of employing a spring or other presser, I find it only neces-
sary to balance the guides or arms a* by means of a weighted socket, so as to
prevent or remove the tendency which they have to fly off from the bobbin
by centrifugal force, such weight, when suitably proportioned, presenting a
dead resistance to any movement of its arm. By constructing and applying this
weighted socket as shewn at Figure 8, which represents a guide or arm
detached, I keep the hooked or guiding end of the arm in contact with the
bobbin while the winding on of the sliver is proceeding, and obtain from the
sliver itself (which is lapped two or more times round the arm) the requisite
drag for giving firmness and consistency to the bobbin.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First, preventing the waste of staple during the carding operation, by
enclosing the exposed or underneath part of the carding engine which lies
between the feed rollers and the doffer cylinder, and thus preventing the flying
off and consequent waste of the loose fibres of the staple under operation.
Secondly, I claim the mode of stopping the operation of drawing and
slubbing frames when the sliver is broken, as herein-before described.
And with respect to the last part of my Invention (viz.), the improved flyer,
I would remark that I am aware it has been proposed to employ a weight in
connection with the presser lever, but the object was in that case to modify
the power of the spring which kept the lever in close contact with the bobbin,
and thus to preserve a uniform pressure on the bobbin. I am also aware that
it has been proposed to obtain this pressure by centrifugal force alone; I do
not, therefore, claim the conveying of pressure to the arm which guides the
sliver to the bobbin by means of a weight, but under this head of the Invention I
claim generally the mode herein-before described of constructing flyers, whereby
they may be driven at a greater speed than usual, by reason of the increased
steadiness of the arms and the diminution of friction in the operation. And
particularly I claim the mode shewn in the Drawings, whereby I am enabled
to counteract the tendency which the guides or arms a* of the flyers have to
fly off from their work by the centrifugal force given to them by the rotation of
their flyer, and at the same time prevent the useless pressure of the arms