Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Drawing and Combing Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Apr., 1890-Accepted, 7th June. 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by JOSEPH IMBS, of 48, Rue de Bondy, Paris, France,
Engineer.]
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Drawing and
Combing Fibrous Materials.
I, ERNEST DE PASS, of 78 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Fellow of the
Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The present invention consists in a general disposition of mechanical arrangements.
whereby the whole of the operations (as regards cotton, wool,) which follow the
scutching or beating, and which precede the terminal operations of preparation for
spinning, and used for combing, are considerably simplified.
In the processes now in use the operations which take place in a combing
establishment are always the following.
A carding to separate the material; one or more drawings and doublings to
equalise and parallelise the carded slivers; a laying or uniting into laps so as to
obtain the material in the requisite form for the combing machine; a transferring
to the combing machine, and a passing of the combed material through several
drawing and doubling frames to regularise the combed sliver.
'
My invention has for its object to considerably simplify all this complication, and
to proceed only by two series of operations, one the drawing, and the other the.
combing, and then to proceed almost directly to the terminal operations of preparation
for spinning.
I consider that carding previous to combing is not so indispensable as is at present.
believed, and I have conceived the idea of immediately passing the raw cotton, for
example, or the cotton coming from the scutchers or beaters, between drawing
devices fulfilling the three following conditions:-
1. Construction of a special drawing frame for acting upon an increased width of .
work so that the large laps of fleece furnished by the ordinary scutchers or beaters
may be acted upon.
2. Close ratch or proximity of the point where the material is held by the feed
roller in relation to the point where it is seized by the drawing roller, in order to
permit of effectively acting upon the clusters of fibres which are the most entangled,
and upon groups of fibres disposed almost transversely in the lap or fleece.
3. Pressure of the feed roller acting, not, as usual, in the ordinary drawing frame,
on a definite line, but being distributed over an ample surface and permitting the
fibres disposed longitudinally to glide into the mass when the drawing roller drags or
draws them.
Under these conditions I consider that a drawing operation would act effectively on
the raw cotton, or upon the lap or fleece of the scutcher or beater, and separate the
material still in disordered tufts as well as straightening and lengthening the fibres
without these latter having been previously carded, and that thus a condition of the
ibrous mass would be directly obtained which would permit of the advantageous
working of a combing machine.
The general arrangement of the drawing frame which I construct for this purpose
s shewn on an approximate scale of 3rd, and in longitudinal section, by Fig. 1 in the
nnexed drawings.
Figs. 2 and 3 shew the drawing devices only, and on a larger scale; and Fig. 4
hews a front elevation of the drawing roller.
A (Fig. 1) is the winding off of lap roller which supports the lan taken from the
:
:

page_text: scutcher, the fleece of which travels.along the table t. If the material consist of long
and fine staples incapable of sustaining the scutching operation, there may be
substituted for the table t, an endless chain or apron suitable for spreading out the
material. Situated in a line with the table t is a cast iron cross beam K forming a
trough which receives two rollers B and C, the one B3 heing optional and employed to
compress or condense the fleece, and the other (: constituting the feed roller, and in
front of which the trough forms a thin nose similar to the feed device of a carding
engine. These two rollers B and may receive their pressure in common from an
upper roller G of large diameter. I can make the roller snooth, or fluted, as it
would be in a carding engine, and as shewn in Fig. 1, but I prefer to make it as
shewn in Fig. 2 where it is composed of an axis c onto which are-threaded a number
of. brass sleeves in which are embedded the dents. When a sufficient number of
these sleeves have been threaded on their axis they are all tightened up together
between a shoulder and a nut, thus forming one piece with the axis and constituting
an efficient urchin of the necessary length; the short, firm, and sufficiently openly.
set dents with which it is clothed at the same time enabling it to work with. a
moderate pressure on the surface of the sleeves and by the slight penetration of,
the dents.
The lower drawing roller D which is placed very near the nose of the trough is
fluted and is of large diameter.
In Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 it will be seen that the lower drawing roller D, instead of
having a pressure cylinder, is pressed by an endless leather band or belt s, which
passes around small hollow rollers p, revolving on rods u which pass through small
brackets or supports a fixed at intervals along the large cast iron transverse beam y.
This beam imparts the pressure to the band or belts by its weight and by the action
of springs tightened up at pleasure by the hand wheels, forming nuts upon their.
spindles. The said transverse beam y also carries a stretching.roller for tightening
the belt. By this arrangement I am able to draw or seize the fibres at a very slight
distance from the point o where the material leaves the feed roller or urchin c.
Fig. 4 shews laterally at the extremity of the transverse beam y, a claw j, which is.
furnished with a heel ¹, and a bent head, which latter engages with a groove Z
formed in the handwheel or nut z. By rotating this handwheel or nut, the entire
pressure appliance, may be raised from the roller D at the times of stopping the
machine, and then fresh rods u may be passed through the small hollow.rollers p.
by pushing out those already in. place and thus supply the said hollow rollers p, with
the necessary amount of lubricant which they require.
The rods are, for this purpose; provided with an oil groove or channel, and have
also one of their extremities pointed, and the other, hollowed out. By reason of the
relation of increased speed given to the drawing roller, relatively to the feed roller
the material issuing forms a true veil which becomes contracted into a largo sliver by.
the funnel and by the action of the calender rollers I, I', preferably followed by a
rubber or condensing apparatus F, F¹, which either directly, or by suitablo
intermediary, supplies the sliver to an ordinary winding can (not shewn, in the
drawings), or to a winding up apparatus.
This sliver may pass directly to the lap machines, or to any other, ordinary.
machine, for laying the material in the desired form for feeding the combing
machines.
By reason of the close ratch or proximity of the drawing device to the feed roller,
as above described, only the small balls or buttons existing in the material, andi
composed of dead fibre or very short immature fibres, as exist in all the productions>
of cotton, can escape the straightening effected by this machine. The elimination..
of such balls or buttons by the combing is very easy and does not increase the
quantity of waste produced, for the material which composes such balls or buttons
only consists of. short staples which must be eliminated, whatever treatment: the
material is subjected to, before the combing. The combed material itself is obtained
more easily, with perfect purity, and suffers less than by the ordinary method: It is.
a matter of no importance that the waste from the combed material is not so well

page_text: separated, for the waste must, in any case, be treated by a carding operation. I
obtain in the manner described a machine of small dimensions, extremely simple, and
capable of a daily production of 200 to 300 kilos.
This machine may be used for the subsequent combing, in place of five or six
carding engines which represent an outlay and working ten times greater.
The direct conversion into a veil and into a parallelised sliver, by the drawing of a
fleece or lap from the scutcher, is an operation which has never before been attempted
nor even forseen, and by constructing a machine capable of effecting this operation
for cotton, for example, I obviously produce a novel machine for this industry, which
may, for instance, be called a "raw drawing frame," (étirage dégrossisseur). Further-
more, by employing this operation and this machine in place of carding, and
preparatory to combing. I also manifestly produce for the combing a new mode
of treatment.
It will be evident that, although this machine and this method principally
concern the treatment of cotton, various other fibrous materials may be treated
thereby.
:
Having made this modification in the ordinary processes used, it only remains for
ine to improve some of the details of the combing machine itself, in order to obtain a
complete simplification of the entire existing complication. This I do by improving
the manner of feeding the combing machine, and also the manner of gathering its
product or yield, so that this latter shall be in accord with the object I have in
view, and suitable for being brought directly to the slubbing frame, for instance.
These improved details in the combing machine, for effecting this purpose, are
shewn in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 6 a plan, and Fig. 7 is a detail view of the
special combing contrivance.
A first very important improvement relates to the form given to the material for
feeding the machine. In all combing machines where it is essential to feed with a
lap of slight thickness, it is necessary to employ first an ordinary drawing, and then
a lap machine for forming a roll of thin lap or fleece, in which case, where such slight
thickness is indispensable, there is no other practical way of producing these laps
except by the lap machine. It is true there is a method employed in many wool
combing machines, and in Hubner's cotton combing-machine, consisting in feeding by
coarse slivers, each unwinding from a hobbin in a creel, but this method can only be
employed in a machine, or for a material, allowing of great thickness, and should the
fibres be short, as in cotton, it is then requisite to give to these slivers a certain
amount of twist, as is necessary when using Hubner's combing machine, without
which they could not draw off from their bobbins. It will therefore be seen that each
time a thin fleece is required the rolls from a lap machine must be employed. Now, I
have discovered that these rolls contain many serious defects, which are still more
serious for my purpose, proposing, as I do, to effect a perfect working for short fibres.
In the first place these rolls adhere and unwind irregularly necessitating constant care
to correct them, and thus occasioning irregularities in the material entering as well as
in the product issuing. Again, when it becomes necessary to join a full roll to that.
which is finishing, the joining for the whole width of the rolls is made at one time,"
which always produces either a thickness or a thinness in the product, and besides-
frequently destroys the combs. Furthermore, both surfaces of the lap, as it is
unwound, are always found to be covered with raised, deranged, and reversed super-
ficial fibres, which have adhered to the preceding layer and, by entering the feed
nipper in an unfavorable position, increase the waste. Moreover, it has required a
still further operation to produce these rolls, viz. that of the lap machine, and the
irregularites which the unwinding and the piecings occasion in the combed product,
necessitate afterwards to be corrected by supplementary operations, which should not
be required if the combed material came out quite regular by reason of a more
rational or satisfactory feeding. Impressed with all these inconveniencies which
binder the satisfactory result which should be obtained by the considerable doubling
which takes place in a combing machine, I have devised a novel method of feeding,

page_text: .whereby all these defects are avoided. Instead of drawing the sliver upon an
ordinary doubling and drawing frame, and then producing the rolls of fleece on a
lap machine, I effect the second drawing of the sliver, that which precedes the combing,
on an appropriate machine forming cans which contain several (say 4) assembled and
independent coupled fine slivers without mutual twist, and capable of being separated
when coming from the can. In order to prevent the superficial fibres of these slivers
being raised and disarranged, when coming from the cans, I employ, by preference,
rubbed (or condensed) slivers, that is to say, slivers produced by a fine drawing frame
with rubbing (or condensing) apparatus. I supply the combing machine directly
with these cans (Figs. 5 and 6) and I pass the four slivers of each can through the
holes of a guide plate u, situated at the entrance to the combing machine. With 25
or 30 moderate sized cans of sliver proceeding from the rubber-drawing-frame, I
thus have 100 or 120 fine slivers entering juxtaposed into the machine and forming a
perfectly uniform thin fleece, without any fibres being disarranged by the adhesion
which rolls produce.
When, then, I make a piecing, this piecing or joining only affects four isolated
fine slivers out of the whole 120 slivers, and this piecing can neither destroy the
combs nor change the regularity of the combed product; in fact, by suppressing one
operation, viz. that of the lapping, I thus obtain all these important improvements.
Instead of bringing and placing behind the combing machine the said cans coming
from the rubbers, I may, if desired, bring and place bobbins q¹ (see Fig. 5) formed of
a disc or flange and a rod q³ which will have been placed previously in the empty
can and removed therefrom together with the rubbed product when this can is full.
It is obvious that this method of feeding the combing machine is equivalent to feeding
from cans themselves.
A second improvement relates to the manner employed for collecting the combed
veil (which comes from the combing contrivances) into a narrow sliver capable of
being received into a can. For this purpose it is usual to employ a fixed funnel,
through which the veil is drawn by drawing rollers, and in which it is condensed.
This may suffice when the veil is of no great width, and also when the fibres are.
long and firmly united, but if the fibres be short, or of a rather smooth nature,
giving them little bond or mutual adhesion after the simple union by superposition,
which has taken place, and especially if the combed veil is very wide and it is.
necessary to gather it from a considerable width, this usual method is insufficient,
because the folds which form the veil, which is being narrowed, become bulky and,
turned over in an irregular manner, and get above the edges of the veil and by rubbing
in an inverted position against the walls of the plate or funnel which guides them,
causes the fibres to become disarranged, bent and formed with curls or locks injurious.
to the ulterior working.
All these unfavorable conditions are met with in my
combing machines, and in all combing machines resembling mine, on account of their
great width, and destined for treating short fibres which have little mutual adhesion
after their union by superposition.
1 have therefore devised a novel and peculiar arrangement which completely
remedies these defects and which consists of a double funnel, or of two successive
parts, one being fixed near the drawing rollers, as usual, but I give to it only a slight.
width, the other, which is fixed to the seizing nipper and moveable therewith, is
of the full width.
:
Figs. 5 and 6 shew this funnel. In these figures A is the seizing nipper, and a
the roller with which this nipper is provided, and which delivers the combed veil.
with an intermittent movement. In front of this roller I fix to the nipper the first
and large funnel corset or guide plate X which moyes therewith and upon which
the veil receives a first narrowing between the bent or rounded edges thereof.
In this first travel of the combed veil, it is not the drawing of the drawing
rollers m which acts upon the veil, as the whole of the plate moves with the nipper,
but it is, on the contrary, and especially, the roller a which impels the veil and
causes it to travel upon the plate. Hence it results that the edges of the veil
freely encounter the curved or bent edges X³ causing these edges to rise up and

page_text: fall upon the folds of the veil and thus regularly enclose them as if an exterior
appliance had seized the edges of the veil and had folded or rolled them up. The
entire veil thus comes out from the funnel-plate X already narrowed about two
thirds of its width, and containing. all its lateral folds. regularly enveloped by the
turned over edges of the; veil itself, without any one fibre-or sliver being rubbed or
inverted against the walls and thus becoming turned back again. In this manner
the veil reaches the ordinary fixed funnel y which is of the usual width, and in which!
it travels by the action of the drawing rollers m, but where it has only to undergo
a final narrowing, without the folds becoming further disarranged when completing,
the condensing operation.
A third very important improvement for enabling the satisfactory ulterior utilization:
of the combed product supplied by the combing machine (especially if it is a question>
of short fibres) is that the combed sliver shall have all its fibres very intimately bound
together the one with the other, and especially that the superficial, fibres, shall be
firmly attached to the combed sliver. Indeed, any person who has practised cotton
combing, knows the serious inconvenience which the combed sliver presents when; it
rises up or unwinds behind the first subsequent machine; the sliver in leaving the
accumulated layers in the can, or in sliding against the rims of the cans, etc., always
causing the superficial fibres or groups of fibres to become partially detached, reversed,."
and to take up an injurious position.
To absolutely remedy this serious defect, I now propose to apply to the combing"
machine itself, in advance of the receiving can, a rubbing appliance which rolls and
condenses the combed sliver and gives particularly the required consistency to the
superficial groups of fibres: I make this rubber (see Figs. 5 and 6) either composed'
of a band or belt S and roller S¹, or of two bands or belts S and S", as is shewn, by-
dotted lines in Fig. 5. The driving gear may, for instance, consist of a bevilled
pinion e fixed upon the main shaft O, and driving the shaft of whieli carries the
crank plate o actuating the vertical connecting rod. o³ which gives to the two
appliances S and S' or S", their opposed reciprocating movement in the usual manner.
The combed sliver is then, and in this manner, received into the can R, after having
been placed in, conditions which will prevent its fibres from becoming disarranged"
when being fed into the subsequent machine.
Figs. 8 and 9 shew in side view, and in front view, another arrangement for working the
rubbing and condensing apparatus. The main shaft O is provided with a cam with lateral
protuberance. This came acts on a lever c¹, fixed to the vertical shaft c; which
by a second lever, c³, pushes the rod d, fixed to the coupling piece e, which receives,
the ends of the two axes of one of the rubbers S. This rubber S transmits the
pushing to the second rubber S by an intermediate piece s oscillating on a-gudgeon x
fixed to, the bearer T. A spring coiled around the rod d on its thin part, acts to
bring or move back the two rubbers S S when the cam c allows the levers cand c
with their vertical shaft c¹¹, to turn back.
.
1'
....
By means of these three important improvements; hereinbefore described; 1.effect
the general simplification which I desire to obtain in the successive operations, for
the product becomes, by reason of these three arrangements, so regular and
homogeneous that I can dispense with the transference, to, the subsequent and
successive drawing and doubling frames which have hitherto always been used after
the combing, and I can pass directly from the combing machine to the slubbing
frame.
As is well known, I employ in my combing machine tubular combs of small
diametre threaded upon an axis, and these tubes have, or had till now, dents
embedded therein, like the urchins of drawing frames for wool. Now, in certain
cases, with very fine materials, and in order to eliminate microscopically small knots,
soldered dents are preferable, as they are capable of being finer and placed nearer
together, and I now propose to make in this case, soidered combs while still retaining
the tubular form which is so convenient and advantageous for taking to pieces and
for repairing.

page_text: Fig 7 shews full, size and in, cross section such a comb, D, in place upon its.
axis E. It will be apparent that the tube is then constructed like a pinion of great.
length and the angular toothing of which has a suitable inclination for soldering:
thereto the rows of dents in the desired direction. By this: construction I can make
soldered combs of very small diameters which, by their tubular form, will be always
truly round; and which are applied by my usual method, that is to say, in separate:
pieces threaded altogether upon an axis. and tightened up between a flange and ai
nut with which the axis of the entire comb is provided, so as to form a single piece..
"It is evident that these improvements which I have fully described, are applicable.
to many kinds of combing machines, those improvements which relate more
particularly to the method of feeding and the rubbing appliance for condensing the
combed sliver being applicable to almost all cotton combing machines.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
.
1. The method of preparing fibres for combing, consisting in superseding the usual
carding operation by a drawing process operating upon the laps or fleeces of raw or
only scutched or heaten fibres, and by means of appliances permitting of a sufficient.
ratch or proximity of seizing, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The drawing apparatus, designed for the above purpose, effecting the necessary
conditions of width, of pressure, and of close ratch or proximity, and more especially
the, drawing contrivance composed of a powerful fluted roller furnished with a
pressure apparatus consisting of the leather belt or band, the cross hean carrying
intermediate supports with their two rods and their revolving tubes, and the
combination therewith of a feed device formed of a fluted roller, or toothed urchin,
working in a trough, substantially as described and shewn.
3. The method consisting in employing afterwards, instead of an ordinary drawing
frame, a fine drawing frame with rubbers, substantially as described.
4. The method of, feeding a combing machine by juxtaposing upon its feed table
a series of thin rubbed slivers which form a real fleece, said slivers coming from cans,
or from bobbins, each of which contains several coupled slivers, substantially as
described and shewn.
5. In a combing machine, the method of narrowing the combed veil effected in
two successive degrees, at first partially in a first funnel or corset moveable with the
seizing nipper, and producing the folding over of the edges of the veil on top of the
lap or fleece, and then, afterwards, completely. in a second and fixed funnel or corset,
substantially as described and shewn.
6. In a combing machine for cotton or short fibres, the application or employment,
on the delivery of the sliver, of a rubbing apparatus for imparting the desired
cohesion and strength to this sliver, and for intimately uniting all the fibres composing
said slivers, substantially as described.
Datel this ..
A 1000
19