IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robertson and Charles James Waddell,
both of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES"
Sealed the 7th May 1867, and dated the 10th November 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robertson and
Charles James Waddell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 10th November 1866.
We,. WILLIAM ROBERTSON and CHARLES JAMES WADDELL, both of the City
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDING ENGINES," to
be as follows:-
. The Invention relates to carding: engines and to that part known as the
doffing comb. To produce the oscillations of the crank of the carding engine
a pinion is fastened upon a short shaft held in a socket bolted upon the
framing and geared with the doffer wheel; on the other end of this shaft is
fastened a wheel external or internal, and geared therewith another internal
or external, larger or less' according to the number of oscillations desired, and
held in oscillating contact therewith by means of central pins. The
oscillating. wheel is connected by a rod to the doffing comb frame, and com-;

page_text: municates its oscillations thereto. By this arrangement the oscillations of the
comb are always true to the surface speed of the doffer, the pinion by which
the doffer is changed also changing relatively the number of oscillations of its
doffing comb. The motion of the oscillating pinion may be derived however
from any convenient point other than the doffer wheel without materially
changing the motion itself by which the oscillations are produced.
Various modifications of the parts of the Invention may be employed with-
out altering them in any substantial manner. Instead of central pins a crank
and pin may be substituted, or one or both of the pins may be oval shaped,
whilst both may be out of the centre. The same means of producing oscilla-
tions may be employed where more than one comb is used in the same
machine, and the combs whose surface combing is alike in quantity may be
connected together, but each doffer may by the Invention described move its
own comb at the rate due to its surface velocity. The same motion and
oscillations may be produced by frictional wheels, but this also is only a
modification of the Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robertson and Charles James Waddell in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
ROBERTSON and CHARLES JAMES WADDELL, both of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Robertson and Charles James Waddell, Her special licence that
we, the said William Robertson and Charles James Waddell, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Robertson and Charles James Waddell, our 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, 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 CARDING ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said William Robertson and Charles James Waddell, our

page_text: executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said William Robertson and Charles
James Waddell, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
The Invention relates to carding engines and to that part known as the
doffing comb. To produce the oscillations of the crank of the carding engine
a pinion is fastened upon a short shaft held in a socket bolted upon the
framing and geared with the doffer wheel; on the other end of this shaft is
fastened a wheel external or internal, and geared therewith another internal
or external wheel, and larger or less according to the number of oscillations
desired, and held in oscillating contact therewith by means of central pins.
The oscillating wheel is connected by a rod to the doffing comb frame, an:1
communicates its oscillations thereto. By this arrangement the oscillations of
the comb are always true to the surface speed of the doffer, the pinion by
which the doffer is changed also changing relatively the number of oscillations
of its doffing comb. The motion of the oscillating pinion may be derived
however from any convenient point other than the doffer wheel without
materially changing the motion itself by which the oscillations are produced.
Various modifications of the parts of the Invention may be employed without
altering them in any substantial manner. Instead of central pins a crank and
pin may be substituted, or one or both of the pins may be oval shaped, whilst
both may be out of the centre. The same means of producing oscillations
may be employed where more than one comb is used in the same machine,
and the combs whose surface combing is alike in quantity may be connected
together, but each doffer may by the Invention described move its own comb
at the rate due to its surface velocity. The same motion and oscillations may
be produced by frictional wheels, but this also is only a modification of the
Invention.
And in order that our Invention may be more fully understood and more
readily carried into effect, we will now proceed to describe the accompanying
Drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a transverse section, and Figure 2 a
sile elevation of one form of our improvements. a¹ is a short shaft in the
bracket A, having keyed on one end a pinion a³, geared into and receiving

page_text: motion from the doffer wheel d; cast with or keyed on to the other end of
this shaft is the internal toothed wheel b', geared into which is the loose
wheel, held in oscillating contact with it by means of the pin c¹ on the
The
crank c, the shaft of which works in the socket in the shaft a¹.
wheel 6 is fastened to or cast with the rod 68, and thereby connected to the
lever f¹, which is keyed on to the doffer comb stock f, to which it transmits
the oscillations derived from the motions of the wheels 62 within the wheel b¹.
It is obvious from this arrangement that the motion of the comb stock f³, and
therefore of the comb which is attached to it in the usual way, will always be
in exact proportion to the relative sizes of the pinion a' and the doffing
wheel d, and the number of oscillations of the doffing comb, if suitable wheels
are employed always true to the surface speed of the doffer, the difference
between the diameter of the wheels 61 and 62 into the diameter of the wheel b
giving the number of oscillations which the wheel 6 will receive from the
arrangements described.
Figure 3 is an end elevation, and Figure 4 a side elevation of another
arrangement of our improvements. The same letters are used in these Figures
as have already been used in Figures 1 and 2. It will be observed that the
wheel 6 is in this case cast with or keyed upon the shaft a¹, and that the
internal toothed, wheel b¹ is loose, swinging by the rod 63 on the pin f³ in the
lever f, and kept in oscillating contact with the wheel by means of the
pin c on the tail c bearing against the fixed pin c; by this arrangement the
same results will be obtained as in the former arrangement, one oscillation
fewer to the round being communicated.
Our Invention may also be modified in either of the following ways:-
First, iustead of the crank c, shewn in Figures 1 and 2, two pins or any other
suitable mechanical guide may be used, or with certain sizes of wheels both
pins and the crank may be dispensed with, such wheels being self-gearing;
secondly, instead of deriving the motion of the pinion a direct from the
wheel d, one or more change wheels may convey the motion from one to the
other; thirdly, when more than one comb is used or more than one cylinder
is doffed, the same means may be employed for producing oscillations, and
the combs whose surface doffing is alike in quantity may either be connected
together, or each doffer may move its own comb at the rate due to its surface
velocity; fourthly, instead of toothed wheels being used for producing the
oscillations frictional ones may be employed.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as our Invention
the method described and shewn, and any modification thereof, whereby the

page_text: oscillations necessary for working the doffing combs of carding engines are
obtained.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Robertson and Charles James
Waddell, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven.
WILLIAM ROBERTSON.
(LS.)
CHARLES JAMES WADDELL: (L.S.)