Improvements in or relating to Combined Hopper Feeders and Openers employed in the Preparation of Cotton and other Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Sept., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 14th June, 1895-Accepted, 20th July, 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Combined Hopper Feeders and
Openers employed in the Preparation of Cotton and other
Fibrous Materials.
I, FREDERICK TOPP, Managing Director of the Firm of Topp and Hindley
Limited, Causeway Mills, Farnworth near Bolton in the County of Lancaster,
Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of my said
invention to be as follows:-
This invention refers to improvements in or relating to combined hopper feeders
and openers employed in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous materials and
is designed to automatically regulate the working of the same according to the
weight or amount being supplied thereto to produce regular or uniform weight of
laps. This I carry into effect by providing the back side of hopper with lattice
work through which operate revolving discs with curved arms or fingers to regulate
the delivery of cotton or other fibrous material as required. The said discs are
disposed on a shaft mounted in bearings fixed to the hopper or other convenient
position of the machine. On the end of the aforesaid shaft is fixed a worm wheel
driven by a worm mounted on a shaft actuated by bevel wheels from the beater or
other shaft of the machine. The bevel wheels are thrown in and out of gear to
regulate the revolving discs and arms or fingers by means of a lever and rod, the
latter being provided with adjustable stops operated by a flap or lattice carrying
the cotton or other fibrous material to be operated upon.
Dated the 13th September 1894.
EDMUND CHADWICK, F.I.C.P.A.,
Agent.
Improvements in or relating to Combined Hopper Feeders and
Openers employed in the Preparation of Cotton and other
Fibrous Materials.
I FREDERICK TOPP, Managing Director of the Firm of Topp and Hindley
Limited, Causeway Mills, Farnworth near Bolton, in the County of Lancaster,
Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers, 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 :—
My said invention relates to combined hopper feeder mechanism employed in the
preparation of cotton and other fibrous materials and is designed to automatically
regulate the working of the same according to the weight or amount being supplied
thereto so as to produce regular or uniform weight of laps.
My invention will be best understood from a reference to the annexed sheet of
illustrative drawings.
"
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a portion of the hopper of an apparatus of this
description showing my invention applied.

page_text: Fig. 2 is a side view of the same.
Fig. 3 is a view of the feed shaft and fingers appearing in Fig. 1.
Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate details of the mechanism for throwing the feed finger
shaft in and out of gear.
The hopper sides are marked a. Into the front of the hopper there descends a
shute which may be a continuation of the ordinary trunk shute by which the
cotton is conveyed from the mixing room or floor above.
At the foot of the shute b I arrange a series of discs c on a cross shaft d the said
shaft d being carried in bearings in the sides of the hopper. The discs c carry
projecting fingers c¹ and the shaft, discs and fingers revolve in the direction shown by
the arrow. Just beneath the discs and fingers there is the usual bottom lattice e
carried on the carrying rollers ff¹ and in its ordinary position there is the spiked
sheet g lying at an angle and carrying the cotton up to the ordinary beaters which
do not appear in the drawing.
The spiked sheet 9 is carried on the rollers h h¹.
k
In the upper part of the hopper, I pivot a flap or plate i the pivot shaft j being
carried in bearings in the sides a of the hopper. This flap i is supported at about
the position shown in the drawings by the influence of a counterbalance weight k
which is suspended to the outer end of a lever / fixed on the projecting end of the
pivot shaft, the suspension rod being marked m. When the cotton accumulates.
too much in the hopper its level rises until it presses against and lifts the flap i as
indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 so as to turn the pivot shaft which by mechanism,.
to be hereinafter described, interrupts the feed until the bulk of cotton in the
hopper becomes diminished sufficiently to allow the flap to return to its normal
position whereupon the feed is renewed. The connection between the pivot shaft
and the feed finger shaft d is as follows. The suspension rod m carrying the
weight passes through a lever n projecting from an excentric bush o which bush o
is carried in a bracket p bolted to another bracket pl secured to the side of the
hopper. The bearing bracket p and the carrying bracket pl are shown in Fig. 7.
From the diametrically opposite side of the excentric bush o there projects a
finger to which is suspended a weight by means of the suspended rod or link .
By adding or removing any ponderous addition such for example as small shot or
quicksilver to or into the respective weights k and I so counterbalance the two
weights that the excentric bush o is normally kept in the position shown at Fig. 5
for example. Through the bush o but excentrically disposed there passes the
inclined side shaft s the other end of the shaft being supported in the bearing w.
This side shaft s lies at an angle as shown at Fig. 2 and is the means of connection
between the shaft of the spiked sheet roller and the shaft d which carries the
revolving feed fingers c¹. At its upper end the inclined shaft s carries a bevel
wheelt which gears with a bevel wheel t¹ fixed on the projecting end of the shaft
of the upper spiked roller h¹. The teeth of these bevel wheels are made shallow so
that a slight movement is sufficient to throw them out of gear. The lower end of
the inclined shaft s carries a worm u which gears with a worm wheel on the
projecting end of the shaft d as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. It will now be
clearly understood that when the flap is lifted by the packing of the cotton.
beneath it, the pivot shaft j is so turned as to lower the weight k and turn the
bush o in its bearing p in the direction of the arrow. This has the effect of moving
the excentrically carried shafts in such a manner that the bevel wheel t is carried
away from and out of gear with the bevel wheel t'. The spiked sheet roller shaft
carrying the bevel wheel t¹ revolves constantly, being driven from the other side of
the hopper, but when the bevel wheel t is moved out of gear, the side shaft s stops.
and as the feed finger shaft d is driven from the said shafts the shaft d also stops,
and the feed of cotton from the shute b to the lattice e is interrupted, and remains
so until the bulk of cotton in the hopper has diminished so as to allow the flap i to
sink down to its normal position whereupon the feed again starts. The discs with
their projecting fingers e practically form a revolving bottom to the shute 6 so that
as the fingers revolve they carry down and supply the cotton to the lattice e, and
:

page_text: this supply is cut off as soon as the revolution of the discs and fingers ceases. By
this regulation of the supply to the hopper I am enabled to produce laps of more
homogeneous and even quality and thickness.
In the drawings and in the foregoing Specification I have referred only to the
hopper feed portion of the apparatus known generally as a combined hopper feeder
and opener, because the invention affects this part of the apparatus only. It will
however be understood that the indicated hopper feeder with its beaters and
clearers is placed in line with or connected to the ordinary opener, the complete
apparatus being known to those in the trade as a combined hopper feeder and
opener.
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.
1. The general arrangement, construction and combination of combined hopper
feed mechanism substantially as described and as illustrated.
2. In hopper feed mechanism having a trunk feed or shute, regulating the
delivery of fibrous material from the trunk or shute by the revolving discs and
fingers or their equivalent in combination with means for arresting the rotation of
such revolving delivery mechanism when the hopper becomes overfed and for
causing the rotation to be resumed when the hopper is relieved, substantially as
described and shown.
3. As means for regulating the feed of fibrous material to the hopper feeders the
pivotted and counterbalanced flap i arranged so as to be operated when the hopper
is overfed, in combination with the means for throwing the side shafts in and out
of gear with its driver and so arresting or renewing the delivery of material from
the trunk substantially as described and shown.
4. The general arrangement construction and combination of parts comprising
the improved hopper feed regulator, and consisting of the counterbalanced pivotted
flap i, acting upon the excentric bush o so as to move the shaft s in or out of gear
with its driver and so arrest or renew the revolution of the discs and fingers or
their equivalent, which regulate the delivery from the trunk feed, substantially as
hereinbefore described and shown.
Dated the 13th day of June 1895.
EDMUND CHADWICK, F.I.C.P.A.,
Agent.