Cotton or other Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1886

page_text: Cotton or other Fibrous Materials.
We JOHN THOMPSON of the firm of Curtis Sons and Company Machine Makers
of Phoenix Works Chapel Street Ancoats Manchester in the County of Lancaster
and THOMAS BARKER of the same place Foreman do hereby declare the nature of
our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES EMPLOYED FOR CARDING
COTTON OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
"
Our invention relates to that part of the carding engine known as the "feeder
the object of the said invention being to obtain a perfectly even and regular feed
of the cotton or other fibrous material to the "taker-in" roller, and hence to obtain
a more uniform delivery of carded cotton.
The feeder usually consists of a plate or shell having a raised and curved lip at
the back, against which a fluted roller is pressed down by means of two heavily
weighted levers bearing upon the steps or bearings of the axle, one at each end of
the roller the cotton being fed forward by the revolution of the fluted roller and
it has been found in practice that the pressure of the two weighted levers upon the
ends of the axle have had a tendency to cause the feed roller to become slightly
curved upwards towards the centre so as to bear less upon the cotton or other
fibrous material towards the centre than towards the edges and consequently the
feeding forward of the cotton or other material has been irregular and uncertain
which has prevented the uniform delivery of the carded cotton.
In some cases the "feeder" consists of two fluted rollers the upper one being
pressed downwards at each end by weighted levers and the lower one supported in
fixed bearings at each end. In this case the evil is doubled as the same force
which caused the upper roller to be deflected upwards in the centre causes also a
downward deflection of the centre of the bottom roller and hence the gap between
the two towards the centre becomes wider than in the former case.
The object of our invention is to remedy these defects, and the nature of our
said invention will be readily understood on reference to the drawing hereunto
annexed and the following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1, on the drawing is an end view Fig. 1 is a section and Fig. 2. an
elevation of a “feeder" of the construction first above described consisting of a

page_text: feed plate or shell a, a in combination with a fluted feeding roller b, b the axles of
which at each end pass through a step c, c which is pressed downwards by means
of a weighted lever d, d.
On referring to Fig. 2 it will be evident that in consequence of the downward
pressure of the levers d, d at each end, and inasmuch as the steps c, c do not rest
on the bottom of the slots in which they are held (see Fig. 1.) the ends of the
roller b, b at the points **pressing upon the plate a, a act as fulcra and there
is a tendency as before stated to arch the roller up in the centre and thus decrease
the "
nip" of the roller at this part and the result is an uncertain and irregular
feed.
•
In order to remedy this defect we give a corresponding curve or deflection to the
upper surface of the feed plate a, a so that when the weighted levers are applied
to the ends of the axles of the feed roller b, b the "nip" on the cotton or other
fibrous material shall be the same at the centre as it is at the edges thereof and
hence a perfectly regular "feed" is obtained.
We prefer to effect this as shown on the drawing by means of an abutment
piece e, e, underneath the centre and a tie or tension rod f, f.
This tie rod f,f has a head at one end and a nut at the other, and the abutment
piece e, e causes it to be deflected downwards in the centre as shown at Fig. 2;
It will be evident that on tightening the nut the tie-rod e, e will be drawn straight
and will cause the centre of the feed plate a, a to be deflected upwards so as to
follow the curve of the feed roller caused by the weighted levers as aforesaid.
We would however observe that the same effect might be produced by means of
a screw or wedge placed underneath the centre of the feed plate and abutting
against the floor or other fixed and solid basis; or the upper surface of the feed
plate may be planed or otherwise formed to the required curve, but as before
stated we prefer the tie-rod or truss principle.
In "feeders of the second above described form consisting of a pair of fluted
rollers between which the cotton or other fibrous material is fed we counteract the
tendency to deflect or curve the rollers upwards and downwards by means of two
short rollers bearing against the surface of the feed rollers, one above.the centre of
the top feed roller and the other below the centre of the bottom feeding roller,
each short roller being carried in a forked bearing adjustable by means of a screw.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
The method of and apparatus for equalizing the " 'nip" of the feed roller or
rollers of carding engines by the application of pressure at the centre of the feed
plate, or the feed roller or rollers, or both, or by making the feed plate in a curved
form substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings
annexed.