IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FOR COMBING AND COMBING COTTON
Year: 1871

page_text: 66
LETTERS PATENT to John Nasmith, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FOR COMBING AND COMBING COTTON,
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 9th January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Nasmith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th January 1871.
I, JOHN NASMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FOR COMBING AND COMBING
COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows :-
My Invention relates, firstly to the machines used for making laps
for combing machines, and consists in a method of constructing the
bobbins or spools upon which the said laps are wound. For this purpose
I mount the wooden block between two discs as usual,, but, through

page_text: the whole a spindle passes provided with a screw working in a nut at
one end, and when this spindle is turned the whole is bound firmly
together.
Secondly. My Invention refers to those machines for combing which
are constructed on that principle known as Heilmann's, and refers, firstly,
to the lap of material, which rests as is well known upon a surface drum
or drums, and consists in causing the web to pass between two surfaces,
whereby the fibres are more perfectly unwound. The method I pro-
pose is to use a roller resting upon one of the surface drums and
mounted in suitable brackets a similar apparatus which cause it to press
thereon.
Another part of my Invention refers to the "detaching" and top
rollers or other rollers connected therewith, and consists in so mounting
them that only those parts thereof which act upon the materials are
exposed. This I effect by the use of a guard or shield for the other
parts thereof. The plan I propose for carrying out this part of my
Invention is to continue the bushes in which the said rollers run, so
that they abut against the working surfaces. In order to prevent oil
from passing to the working surfaces of the rollers I propose to form
grooves which reccive superfluous oil and pass it off..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Nasmith in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NASMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Nasmith, Her special license that I,
the said John Nasmith, my executors, administrators, and assigns; or
such others as I, the said John Nasmith, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others; from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,

page_text: should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING FOR COMBING AND COMBING COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said John
Nasmith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Nasmith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said 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), that is to
say :-
My Invention relates, firstly, to the machines used for making laps
for combing machines, and consists in a method of constructing the
bobbins or spools upon which the said laps are wound.
Secondly. My Invention refers to those machines for combing which
are constructed on that principle known as Heilman's, and refers firstly
to the lap of material which rests upon a surface drum or drums, and
consists in causing the web to pass between two surfaces whereby the
fibres are more perfectly unwound.
Thirdly. My Invention refers to the detaching and top rollers of the
said Heilman machine and consists in so mounting them that only those
parts thereof which act upon the material are exposed. The first part
of my Invention is shewn in two views at Figs. 1 and 2. At a is the
ordinary framework of the lap making machine, which is provided on
each side with vertical projecting parts 6 forming guides for blocks c,.
turning in these blocks are axes d, d*, of the ordinary flanges e between
which is placed the usual wooden block f. At g is a pulley handle
which is furnished with a spindle h extending through the axis d and
from thence through the block f and axis d*. The spindle h is screwed
at the opposite, end to the pulley handle as at i and the outside of the
axis d* is tapped to receive the said screw. At karc the usual surface
rollers for winding the lap, and at are racks or rods for weighting as
usual the axis d, d, and consequently the block f. The parts having

page_text: been put together as shewn and described, the pulley handle on being
turned and bearing by a shoulder against the axis d draws forward by
means of its screw the other axis d*, by which means the two discs e
are caused to be bound firmly to the block f. When a lap has been
formed the pulley handle g being turned backward, the spindle h is
unscrewed and may be drawn through the block f so as to permit its
removal. The Drawing represents the axis d* as provided with a' steel
cap piece m screwed thereon, and which is tapped for the reception of
the screw i. This is a mere matter of construction in order to make
the parts more durable.
The second part of my Invention is shewn at Figs. 3, 4, which
represent certain parts of a combing machine on the aforesaid Heilman's
principle. At 1 is the bracket carrying the two surface rollers 2, 2*,
which as usual unwind the material from the lap 3, the course of the
At 4 are brackets
said material being indicated by the red line.
extending from the frame 5 and provided at their upper ends with
inclined surfaces 6 against which is placed the axis of a roller 7
resting upon the surface roller 2, and between these two the sliver of
material passes. As this sliver is unwound it has according to the
ordinary arrangement a tendency to adhere to the unwound part of the
lap, but according to my Invention the roller 7 draws it downward and
tends to prevent that defect.
My third improvement is shewn at Figs. 3 and 4, before referred to,
and at the detached views Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8. At 8 is the "detaching"
roller and at 9 one of the top rollers, the latter of which is carried by
the arm 10 which turns upon the centre of motion 11 as is well known.
It is to these rollers that this part of my Invention refers, and is
designed to obviate a defect which I will in the first place explain.
The rollers 8, 9, are unlike in one important respect to rollers of other
machines used in the manufacture of textile materials, for instead of
having a continuous rotatory motion in the same direction they are
caused to revolve first in one direction and then in the other, and from
this peculiar motion an injurious result arises in this manner. According
to the ordinary construction the rollers 8, 9, are continued beyond those
portions of their surfaces which act upon the tufts of material before
they reach the bushes which support them, and flyings or loose particles
of fibres become attached to the said parts between the working surfaces
of the rollers and their said bushes. These particles, do not lap, in

page_text: the ordinary sense of the term, upon the said parts as in the case of
rollers of other machines relating to textile materials, but are rolled by
the backward and forward motion of the surfaces by which they are
carried into small lumps or pellets which then become detached and
adhere to the combed sliver injuring its quality to a considerable degree.
This defect I avoid by the use of guards or shields which extend over
those parts as aforesaid of the rollers which are between the working
surfaces and their bushes. Fig. 5 represents a detached view of a portion
of the detaching roller 8, and Fig. 6 a cross section thereof, which roller
as is well known extends across the whole breadth of the machine.
Two of the working surfaces are shewn at 8, 8*, connected together by
the part 13, and at 14 are the brackets which support the said roller.
According to the usual method of constructing these parts the brackets
14 carry short bushes in which the parts 13 turn backward and forward,
but according to my Invention I extend the said bushes as shewn at 15
from one working surface 8 to the other 8*. It therefore follows that
any straying particles of fibrous material cannot reach the vibrating
part 13, but is deposited upon the extended stationary bush 15. The
bushes 15 are formed in two parts as seen at Fig. 6 and these are kept
together by their situation within the brackets 14, or they may constitute
a part of the said brackets; Fig. 7 represents one of the top rollers,
that is a roller for one "head" with its bushes. The working surface
is at 9 and would according to the usual plan be continued by an
uncovered part until it entered the bushes in which it turns say at 17,
but according to my Invention the said bushes are continued from the
said points 17 to 18 where they are in contact or nearly so, with the
working surfaces 9 and any fly or straying fibres proceeding therefrom
deposit themselves upon stationary parts. The bushes are mounted in
the ordinary rocking lever 10 in the usual manner.
It will now be understood according to the arrangements shewn of
the detaching and top rollers that fibrous material separated from the
tufts is deposited upon stationary surfaces, and that it cannot therefore
be rolled into those small lumps or pellets which constitute the defective
result of the ordinary arrangement. Any detached fibres which adhere
to the stationary bushes may be removed by hand at pleasure. In
Fig. 5 the bushes are chambered out at 20 by increasing their internal
diameters so as to leave circular grooves into which the oil may run, and
from thence the superfluous quantity escapes through holes 21. In

page_text: Fig. 7 the axis of the roller 16 is formed with enlarged rounded parts 19
and their smaller diameters therefore constitute circular grooves or
channels which receive superfluous oil and prevent it from running on
to the working surface of the roller, the angular periphery of the parts 19
preventing such oil from flowing towards the roller. Fig. 8 represents
a modification of Fig. 6 so far as the oil receptacle is concerned. In
'this instance the rounded parts 19 are replaced by conical surfaces 19*
which as in the former instance afford grooves or channels for the oil
which is prevented from reaching the working surface of the roller by
the angular periphery of the said parts.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,
Firstly. In reference to the bobbins or spools of lap machines as
aforesaid, the use of the screwed spindle passing through the whole of
the bobbin or spool.
Secondly. As applied to such combing machines as aforesaid causing
the web to pass between one of the unlapping rollers and a roller
resting thereon.
Thirdly. As applied to such combing machines as aforesaid the use of
the extended bushes above described for the detaching, and top rollers
or of similar guards or shields for protecting those parts of the said
rollers which are not working surfaces.
2
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nasmith, have hereunto set 2
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.