Improvements in Apparatus for "Breaking" and " Opening " Waste Fibres.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Jec., 1889-Accepted, 4th Jan., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for "Breaking" and " Opening "
Waste Fibres.
We JOHN DANIA TOMLINSON and CHARLES TOMLINSON of the firm of James
Tomlinson of the Solio Iron Works Rochdale in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
and JOSHUA PORTER, Manager at the said Works do hereby declare the nature of
this Invention to be as follows:-
32
Our said Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for "breaking' and
"teasing" textile fibres in the condition of "hard" or "soft" wasto such for example
as cotton cop bottoms, cotton tares and other waste fibres, commonly intended for
re-spinning and manufacture into. sheetings, quilts, towelling, wadding and the
like. Such machines are worked with single breaking cylinders or with two or more
such cylinders, to which the waste is carried by feeding or drawing rollers and
travelling aprons. When working with a single cylinder apparatus, the lap of fibro
under treatment can be turned each time it is submitted to the cylinder so that
hoth sides of the lap are thoroughly acted upon. But in the case of an apparatus
having several breaking cylinders all revolving in the same direction as is at present
the case, the lap is carried from cylinder to cylinder without being turned and as
a consequence one side only of the lap is thoroughly treated the other side being
insufficiently broken. To remedy this defect in multiple-cylinder machines we
arrange that each breaking cylinder is caused to revolve in a direction contrary
to its predecessor and successor so that in a six cylinder machine for example three
alternate cylinders will revolve in one direction and the other three alternate cylinders
will revolve in the contrary direction. The effect of this arrangement is that suppose
the first cylinder to revolve in such a direction_as_will carry the lap beneath the
cylinder and act upon the upper side of the lap the next cylinder to which the lap is
automatically transferred by the apron and rollers will by virtue of its altered
direction of rotation carry the lap above the cylinder and act upon the lower side of
the lap and so on alternately until the lap reaches the delivery end thoroughly treated
on both sides. It will of course be evident that instead of altering the direction of
revolution of each successive cylinder as set forth each alternate pair or set of
cylinders might be so reversed but we consider that the better arrangement is to
alter the direction of revolution of each successive cylinder as set forth.
In conjunction with the aforesaid novel method of operating the breaking cylinders
or in conjunction with single or multiple cylinder machines operated in the ordinary
manner our further improvements refer to the feeding or drawing rollers which
are employed to feed or carry the lap of waste to the breaking cylinder or from
one breaking cylinder to another. It should be explained that on account of the
frequent shortness of fibre in the waste treated in these machines it is an advantage
to bring the nip of the drawing rollers as close up to the surface of the breaking
cylinder as possible. Of course this can only be attained by making the diameter
of the feed rollers as small as possible. The top roller of these feed rollers is
weighted so as to nip and hold the lap the weight being applied at the bearings or
journals. But when a weighted roller of small diameter is used to feed laps of
coarse material and full of inequalities as such laps of waste often are, it not
unfrequently happens that the top roller or both top and bottom rollers are sprung or
bent apart in their length by some passing lump or inequality thereby loosening or
destroying the hold or nip of the rollers upon the material and therefore causing
bad work. To overcome this defect in these rollers we weight the top roller not at
the journals as heretofore but at the inner side of the journals and between the
frames so that the points between which the bending of the roller can take place

page_text: are brought closer together and the roller made correspondingly stiffer and less
liable to bend or spring. A convenient position at which to apply the weighting
means is at the reduced ends of the roller on the inner side of the journal but we
do not limit ourselves to this as the weighting might be applied at other parts in
the length of the roller. The bearings or bearing pedestals might also be brought
further in towards the imiddle of this roller and the weights applied directly over the
bearings as is now the case. Both the top and bottom rollers might be weighted or
supported in the herein before described manner so as to prevent undue yielding in
each of the rollers. By means of the said improvement we are enabled to reduce the
diameter of the feed rollers and so bring the nip closer up to the breaking cylinder
without diminishing the effective working breadth of the machine or while retaining
the normal diameter of the feed rollers we might increase the breadth of the machine
or we might obtain a combination of these advantages.
Dated this 28th day of February 1889.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
*6
Improvements in Apparatus for " Breaking" and Opening "
Waste Fibres.
We JOHN DANIA TOMLINSON and CHARLES TOMLINSON of the firm of James
Tomlinson, of the Soho Iron Works, Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
and JOSHUA PORTER, Manager of the said Works, 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 and accompanying
drawings:
Our said Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for « breaking " and
teasing" textile fibres in the condition of "hard" or "soft"waste such for
example as cotton cop bottoms, cotton tares and other waste fibres commonly
intended for re-spinning and manufacture into sheetings, quilts, towelling, wadding
and the like. Such machines are worked with single breaking cylinders or with two
or more such cylinders, to which the waste is carried by feeding or drawing rollers
and travelling aprons.
When working with a single cylinder apparatus the lap of
fibre under treatment can be turned each time it is submitted to the cylinder so
that both sides of the lap are thoroughly acted upon. But in the case of an apparatus
having several breaking cylinders all revolving in the same direction as is at present
the case, the lap is carried from cylinder to cylinder without being turned and as a
consequence one side only of the lap is thoroughly treated the other side being
insufficiently broken. To remedy this defect in multiple-cylinder machines we arrange
that each breaking cylinder is caused to revolve in a direction contrary to its pre-
decessor and successor so that in a six cylinder machine for example three alternate
cylinders will revolve in one direction and the other three alternate cylinders will
revolve in the contrary direction. The effect of this arrangement is that suppose
the first cylinder to revolve in such a direction as will carry the lap beneath the
cylinder and act upon the upper side of the lap the next cylinder to which the
lap is automatically transferred by the rollers will by virtue of its altered direction
of rotation carry the lap above the cylinder and act upon the lower side of the
lap and so on alternately until the lap reaches the delivery end thoroughly treated
on both sides. It will of course be evident that instead of altering the direction of
revolution of each successive cylinder as set forth each alternate pair or set of
cylinders might be so reversed but we consider that the better arrangement is to
alter the direction of revolution of each successive cylinder as set forth.
In conjunction with or apart from the aforesaid novel method of operating the
breaking cylinders or in conjunction with single or multiple cylinder machines
operated in the ordinary manner our further improvements refer to the feeding or
'

page_text: drawing rollers which are employed to feed or carry the lap of waste to the breaking
cylinder or from one breaking cylinder to another. It should be explained that on
account of the frequent shortness of fibre in the waste treated in these machines,
it is an advantage to bring the nip of the drawing rollers as close up to the surface
of the breaking cylinder as possible. Of course this can only be attained by making
the diameter of the feed rollers as small as possible. The top roller of these feed
rollers is weighted so as to nip and hold the lap, the weight being applied under
present forms of apparatus at the bearings or journals. But when a weighted roller
of small diameter is used to feed laps of coarse material and full of inequalities as
such laps of waste often are, it not unfrequently happens that the top roller or both
top and bottom rollers are sprung or bent apart in their length by some passing
lump or inequality thereby loosening or destroying the hold or nip of the rollers
upon the material and causing bad work. To overcome this defect in these rollers
we weight the top roller not at the journals as heretofore but at the inner side of the
journals and within or between the frames so that the points between which the
bending of the roller can take place are brought closer together and the roller made
correspondingly stiffer and less liable to bend or spring. A convenient position at
which to apply the weighting means is at the reduced ends of the roller on the
inner side of the journal but we do not limit ourselves to this as the weighting might
be applied at other parts in the length of the roller. Both the top and bottom rollers
or either the top or the bottom roller might be weighted or supported in the herein-
before described manner so as to prevent undue yielding in each of the rollers. By
means of the said improvement we are enabled to reduce the diameter of the feeil
rollers and so bring the nip closer up to the breaking cylinder without diminishing
the effective working breadth of the machine or while retaining the normal diameter
of the feed rollers we might increase the breadth of the machine or we might obtain
a combination of these advantages.
In order that our said invention may be properly understood we will now proceed
to describe the same more particularly with reference to the annexed illustrative sheet
of drawings.
Fig. 1 of the said drawings is a side elevation of a portion of a multiple cylinder
breaking machine illustrating more particularly that portion of our invention which
relates to the alternate reversal of the direction of rotation of the breaking cylinders
so as to treat the lap on both sides. Only so much of the machine is shown as is
necessary to illustrate our invention.
The enlarged views Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5, illustrate more particularly the improved
methods of weighting the feed rollers which constitute the second part of our invention.
Referring in the first instance to Fig. 1 the breaking cylinders are indicated by
the dotted circles a, a' and these are so geared and driven as to revolve in contrary
directions relatively to each other. It is to be understood that the side frames b
are of sufficient length to support six or any greater or less number of such cylinders.
In that portion of the machine which is shown, the cylinder a revolves towards the
right hand as indicated by the arrow and the cylinder a revolves in the contrary
direction that is towards the left hand as indicated by the arrow. It will be under-
stood that in this class of machine the periphery of each cylinder is furnished with
teeth which act upon the lap, the cylinders being surrounded by metal shields which
stand at a short distance from the teeth. In the cylinder a the lap is acted upon
between the cylinder and that portion of the shield c which extends over the top of
the cylinder. In the cylinder a¹ the lap is acted upon between the cylinder and
that portion of the shield c¹ which extends beneath the cylinder. In the first case
the lower side of the lap is acted upon, in the second case the upper side of the lap
is treated and this alternate treatment of both sides of the lap is carried on through-
out the whole length of the machine. The dotted circles marked d. d show the
position of the ordinary so called "wire cage rollers" through which the lap passes
from cylinder to cylinder in the machine. They are merely cylinders of crossed or
woven wire which reduce the lap, puffed by the breaking treatment, to smaller
dimensions. The circles marked e. e are the ordinary compressing rollers which

page_text: compress the lap and pass it between the cutter plates f. f to the feed rollers g. gi
gg which transfer the lap to the breaking cylinders a. a¹. When the machine is
in operation the material is fed by an endless travelling apron to the first breaking
cylinder of the series which does not appear in the drawings and which treats the
material we will suppose on the upper side of the lap and will therefore revolve
towards the left hand like the cylinder at. On emerging from this cylinder the lap
passes through the cage rollers d. d compressing rollers e. e cutter plates f. f and
feed rollers 9. g¹ to the cylinder a which carries it up in the direction of the arrow
and beneath the shield c and so breaks or treats the lap from the lower side. The
lap is removed from the cylinder a by the doffer h and proceeds as before to the
cage rollers d' d' compressing rollers e' e cutter plates f¹ and feed rollers g² g³ to
the cylinder a which as has been noted revolves in a direction contrary to the
cylinder a and therefore carries the lap downward and within the shield c¹ acting
upon the upper side of the lap. This alternate treatment of both sides of the lap
is carried on until it has traversed the entire series of cylinders and is delivered at
the delivery end of the machine. It is obvious that instead of each alternate cylinder
rotating in a relatively reverse direction as shown and described the cylinders might
be arranged in sets of two or more, each set rotating in relatively different directions
to the preceding or succeeding set.
The second portion of our invention, namely that which relates to the weighting of
the feed rollers is indicated to a certain extent in Fig. 1 but is more clearly detailed
by the enlarged views Figs. 2 to 5. As stated in the foregoing part of this specifi-
cation the fibre of the material most frequently treated by this class of machine is
generally short so that it is necessary or advisable to bring the nip of the feed rollers
as close up to the teeth of the breaking cylinders as possible so that the distance
between these shall not be more than the length of the fibre. This as has been said
necessitates the use of feed rollers of corn paratively small diameter. These rollers are
at present weighted just over the bearings, and as a considerable distance exists
between the bearings in the direction of the breadth of the machine that is to say
between the side frames, it will easily be understood that rollers of such small
diameter can be easily bent or sprung apart at or near the centre of their longth
without greatly affecting or lifting the weighted bearings if any unusual inequality
or lump or mass of tangled fibre should pass between the rollers. The object of
our invention is to lessen the tendency of the feed rollers to spring apart at the
centre by practically reducing the length of the limits within which the said rollers
are subjected to this bending or springing apart, by reducing the distance between
the weighted bearings. Under our invention instead of weighting the said rollers
immediately over or opposite to the usual bearings supported on the frames, we
weight the rollers on the inner sides of the journals and within and between the
franes so that the points hetween which the bending of the rollers can take place
are brought closer together and the rollers made correspondingly stiffer and less
liable to bend or spring. Referring to the drawings Fig. 2 shows the feed rollers y² g³
in section and the improved mode of weighting the top roller g2 in side elevation.
Fig. 3 is a view at right angles to Fig. 2 showing one of the side frames in cross
section. The right hand side of the frame section in Fig. 3 represents the inner side.
The ordinary bearing of the top and bottom feed rollers is marked i a similar bearing
existing upon the other frame. Between the journal and the fluted portion of the
top feed roller g² is a turned neck and upon this we place a half bush the top of
the bush having a recess to receive the toe of a hook the shank of which extends
downward and is screwed to receive a nut m which adjusts a vee edge stop n which
enters a notch in the back of a weighted lever o the end of the said weighted lever
engaging with a fulcrum vee edge or toe projecting from a bracket bolted to
the inner side of the frame b. The toes or projections also cast on each side of
the bracket serve as flanking guides to keep the lever from shifting laterally ou
the vee edge or fulcrum p. The lever a which is shown broken off for want of
space is weighted similarly to the corresponding lever o in Fig. 4.
of the top roller g' is similarly weighted. By weighting the top roller as described
The other end
3

page_text: and at the point indicated in the drawings and more particularly in Fig. 3 we diminish
the limits within which the roller is liable to bend or spring by double the distance
indicated by the letter in Fig. 3 the result being that the top feed roller is much
stiffer and less liable to bend because of this reduction of the distance between the
supporting points. It will be evident that by duplicating the weighting arrangement
on each side and supporting the bottom roller in the manner shown at Figs. 4
and 5, the bottom feed roller will be made subject to the same advantages which we have
described with relation to the top roller. But with reference to this dual arrangement
we may remark that the breaking cylinder should run against a fixed top or a fixed
bottom feed roller and where the directions of rotation of the breaking cylinders
are reversed relatively to each other, the fixed feed roller is either above or below
accordingly as the cylinder runs in one direction or the other. For example the
method of weighting the top roller in conjunction with a fixed bottom roller as shown
at Figs. 2 and 3 is intended to apply in such a case as the cylinder a' in Fig. 1
where the lap is treated beneath the cylinder. In the case of the cylinder a Fig. 1
which runs in the contrary direction, the top feed roller g is fixed, and the bottom
feed roller is supported from beneath by the weighting appliances shown particularly
at Figs. 4 and 5 and also indicated in Fig. 1. In this arrangement the hook
instead of being hung upon the half bush k is, suspended upon one end of a double
lever s pivotted at the other end of the levers exerting an elastic lifting pressure
upon the under half bush through the connecting portion u.
The lower feed
roller is carried inside of the frame in the half bushes k¹. The lever o is weighted
by a weight which can be adjusted to suit any required pressure on the bottom
feed roller. The herein before described methods of weighting or elastically supporting
the feed rollers are designed to be used either as applied to existing machines or in
conjunction with the improved reversed cylinder arrangement shown at Fig. 1 and
herein described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
111
(1). In machinery or apparatus for-breaking and opening waste fibres and baying
more than one-breaking or opening-cylinder-causing the said cylinders to
alternately opposite directions, either singly or in sets, so as to act upon both sides
of the lap at one operation substantially as described and shown.
(2). In machinery or apparatus of the indicated description for breaking and opening
waste fibres weighting the upper or lower feed rollers or both in conjunction at points
which lie within the side framing, for the purposes and substantially as described and
shown.
Dated this 30th day of November 1980
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.