Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning and Preparing Filamentous Substances.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Dec., 1896-Accepted, 6th Mar., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning and Preparing Filamentous
Substances.
I, JULES DÉSIRÉ MOREL, of Roubaix, in the Republic of France, Manufac-
turer, 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 :-
The object of the cleaning process to which filamentous substances such as wool,
cotton and the like are submitted, is to free such substances, before they reach the
card, from the vegetable and other impurities found therein.
Numerous processes have been devised, and a large number of machines have
been constructed with this object, and the applicant has, for his part, devoted
much time to the study of this question.
The absolutely novel solution hereinafter described is based essentially upon the
construction of a receiving cylinder (in combination with feed cylinders with
alternating motion) in which the filamentous substance only is able to penetrate
when it leaves the feed cylinders, leaving the impurities upon the surface of the
receiving cylinder, which retains the said substance sufficiently at the place of
contact with the discharging cylinder in such a manner that the latter acts only
upon the vegetable and other impurities.
In order to realise this result, I have devised a series of arrangements which
are susceptible of alternative employment, that is to say of replacing one another.
As shewn in the accompanying drawings these various devices are based upon
the same principle and act in a similar manner upon the substances to be treated.
In these drawings, which are given by way of example only:
Figure 1 is a transverse section through a receiving or main cylinder composed
of grooved discs and of plates.
Figure 2 shews the cylinder partly in longitudinal section and an external
elevation of its lower portion.
Figure 3 is a transverse section through a receiving or main cylinder formed
by the assemblage of discs arranged in such a manner as to leave between them
grooves of a certain depth intended for the reception of the fibrous substance.
Figure 4 is an external view of Figure 3.
.
Figure 5 shews a transverse section through a receiver or main cylinder formed
of toothed crowns firmly fixed upon a roller, and separated one from the other by.
means of fixed rings.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of Figure 5.
Figure 7 represents a transverse section through a cylinder almost the same as
that already referred to, but in which the rings are movable and rest upon
suitable rollers.
Figure 8 shews a longitudinal section through part of the cylinder represented
in Figure 7.
Figures 9 to 16 shew, by means of sectional views and external elevations, a
receiving or main cylinder consisting of a cylinder the circumference of which
presents a helicoidal groove intended for the reception of a toothed wire.
Figure 17 is a diagrammatic view of a cleaning machine as a whole provided
with the receiving or main cylinder shewn in Figures 1 to 16. :

page_text: The first method of forming the receiving or main cylinder (Figures 1 and 2) is
as follows: Discs B and plates C. are arranged alternately upon a shaft A. The
discs B, which are of larger diameter than the plates C and have a double circular
rim, form the surface of the cylinder.
The discs B are separated one.from the other by the. plates C, but the rims or
flanges of the discs approach one another to within two to three tenths of a milli-
metre, thus forming upon the cylinder a series of extremely narrow circular
grooves d. In addition to these, other grooves e, which are equally narrow and
2 to 3 millimetres in depth, are formed upon the surface of the discs B; their
direction is oblique with regard to the circular grooves d.
Finally, between the external circumference of the plates C and the internal
circumference of the rims or flanges of the discs B, an annular space of two to
three tenths of a millimetre is left.
As already explained, the feed cylinders have an alternating motion in a
direction parallel to the shaft A, that is to say, perpendicular to the rotary motion
of the main cylinder.
It will be readily understood that under these conditions, the filamentous
substance being presented to the receiving cylinder by the feed cylinders, the
fibres or filaments alone, owing to their tenuity, cling to the various grooves upon
the cylinder and have a tendency to penetrate more and more within such grooves;
these latter are, however, too narrow to permit of the entrance of the vegetable
and other impurities, all of which remain upon the surface of the cylinder and are
alone presented to the discharging cylinders.
Figures 3 and 4 shew a receiving or main cylinder derived from that above
described; in this arrangement the plates C are omitted and the discs are united
and pressed together by means of the bolts a which pass right through them.
As in the arrangement previously described, these discs are provided with circular
grooves d, which are very narrow being formed by a saw cut about 3 millimetres
in depth made circularly upon the two cheeks of each disc. Transverse grooves e,
which may be either perpendicular or oblique relatively to the first grooves, are
formed upon the whole of the periphery of the cylinder.
Figures 5 and 6 represent a receiving or main cylinder, comprising a cylinder E
fixed upon the shaft A, and around which are fastened the crowns B¹ having
transverse grooves e.
Between these crowns B' are arranged fixed rings i, maintained by their
base by means of bolts, and which have projections extending from to y
intended to keep the vegetable or other impurities in a raised position in order
that they may be the better acted upon by the discharging cylinder K.
The impurities may also be caused to approach the discharging cylinder, as
shewn in Figures 7 and 8, by rendering the rings i movable. In this case the
upper projections are not provided but are replaced by the excentricity of the
rings themselves, which then rest upon rollers L, N, O which keep them excentric
relatively to the cylinder. In these two annular arrangements, the taking up and
carrying on of the substance which is being treated is effected in the same manner
as before.
The arrangement shewn in Figures 9 to 12 comprises a cylinder E around
which is formed a helicoidal groove P which is oblique relatively to the surface
of the cylinder and is intended for the reception of the foot t of a metallic
strip T, of such a shape as to present, when in place, a helicoidal groove d and
transverse grooves e, of about 2 to 3 tenths of a millimetre, such grooves forming
the fundamental part of the invention.
As shewn in Figures 13 and 14, the arrangement above described may be
modified by making the helicoidal groove P of the same width as the space left
between its spirals; in this groove I arrange a first metallic strip H, the width of
which is reduced, at its outer portion, to a depth of about 3 millimetres. When
this first strip has been put in place, a second strip H' is interposed between the
spirals of the first; the foot of this strip is necessarily shorter than that of the

page_text: strip first placed in position, so that its external portion, which is likewise reduced
in size, is at the same level as the strip H.
Finally, Figures 15 and 16, which are on a larger scale than the preceding
figures, illustrate by means of a sectional view and an external elevation, a portion
of a cylinder of simplified construction; it consists of a metal cylinder E around
which is formed a helicoidal groove d some millimetres in depth, traversed by a
number of grooves e, which are of the same width as, but of less depth than, the
helicoidal groove.
In Figure 17, which is a diagrammatic view of the cleaning machine as a whole,
I have shewn, by way of example only, a method of supplying the machine with
the substance to be cleaned by means of an endless band X, from which the said
substance is engaged between a double series of feed cylinders D D', in order to
be carried on by a cylinder F which conducts it to a rotating brush G, provided
for transmitting it to the main cylinder. From this main cylinder, at the upper
portion of which the substance is freed from its impurities which are projected
upon the plate Y, the cleansed fibres are conducted in the oblique teeth of a
cylinder R, from which it is removed by an oscillating comb S.
The substance such as wool, cotton or the like which has been cleaned in this
manner, passes in the form of veil into a funnel R', on leaving which it is taken
up and carried along by two cylinders U between which it is pressed and which
it leaves in the form of ribbon guided by a second funnel R. The ribbon thus
formed then rolls itself upon a mandrel V, where it is reeled being fed along and
maintained by two rotating cylinders U.
The reel or bobbin thus obtained is then ready to undergo any appropriate
operation or further treatment.
The brush M which turns upon the main cylinder, might sometimes carry away
wooly fibres adhering to its bristles; in order to prevent these fibres from becoming
rolled upon this brush, I provide a small cylinder I, the covering of which serves
to remove from the brush such fibres as adhere to the latter and to deposit them
upon the cylinder R.
It will of course be understood that this general arrangement of a cleaning
machine is given by way of example only and that such arrangement may be
varied according to circumstances.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
A new machine for the preparation of filamentous substances such as wool,
cotton or the like, and for replacing cards and other machines hitherto employed
for this purpose, such machine being characterised by a receiving or main cylinder,
in which are formed or provided circular or helicoidal grooves, in combination
with transverse grooves, which latter may be either perpendicular or oblique
relatively to the first, the object of these grooves, which are no more than 2 to
3 tenths of a millimetre in width by a few millimetres in depth, being to receive
the fibrous substance only, leaving the impurities upon the surface of the cylinder
whence they are removed by a discharging cylinder.
Dated this 23rd day of December 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.