IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING. BURRING. CLEANING. AND CARDING COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO OPENING TWISTED YARNS AND WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Alton Calvert, of the City of Manchester,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS
FOR OPENING. BURRING. CLEANING. AND CARDING COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO OPENING TWISTED YARNS AND
WOVEN FABRICS."
Sealed the 19th February 1861, and dated the 19th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Alton Calvert
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th September 1860.
I, FRANCIS ALTON CALVERT, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING, BURRING, CLEANING. AND CARDING COTTON. AND
FIBROUS MATERIALS. PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO OPENING TWISTED YARNS
AND WOVEN FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention consists in an improved arrangement of
parts forming an opening and burring machine, and in an improved mode
of applying currents of air for separating the seeds and burrs from which
the fibres have been stripped from those to which part of the fibres adhere.
The combing or picking cylinder is furnished above with a perforated

page_text: casing opening into a chamber in which a current of air is produced by
a fan or otherwise, and below with a perforated casing and with a grid
near the feed rollers. The fibres are taken off the combing or picking
cylinder by a fine toothed cylinder, from whence they are stripped by a
revolving brush in the usual manner; the guard roller for striking the
burrs, seeds, or other foreign matter off the fine toothed cylinder is placed
above a channel in which a strong current of air is produced; this current
is so modified that the seeds and burrs when cleared of fibre will drop,
while those to which fibres still adhere are carried back to the combing
or picking cylinder.
The second part of my Invention consists in cleaning cotton and other
fibrous materials by causing it to be drawn by a current of air through a
trough or channel provided with a series of grids placed at an angle to
the direction of the current; by this means the fibres are impelled from
one grid to the other and loosened from the dirt or dust which drops
through the grids; the fibres are then drawn forward and deposited on
the surface of an ordinary perforated dust cylinder and delivered by a
pair of calender rollers to a lap machine or otherwise disposed of.
The machine above described may be used after the fibrous materials
have been opened or partially cleaned by any of the machines now
employed, or after the machine forming the third part of my Invention,
which consists of a drum covered with wire teeth or spikes, and furnished
above with a series of retaining rollers; the fibrous material after passing
between feed rollers is taken by a licker-in to the toothed or spiked drum,
by which, and the retaining rollers, it is thoroughly opened previous to
being taken off by a suitable stripping cylinder. The fibres, motes,
seeds, and other impurities are struck violently downwards, where they
are met by a strong current of air that carries the fibres forward, while
the impurities drop; this machine can also be used as a carding engine,
in which case a doffer must be applied in lieu of the stripping roller and
by changing the teeth of the drum and other rollers as a picking machine
for opening twisted yarns and woven fabrics.
The last part of my Invention consists in making the teeth of the wire
drums employed in the machines above referred to, or for any other
machines, where the same are applicable, of such a shape that they point
or hook in both directions, whereby when one edge of the teeth is worn,
by reversing the position of the drum or roller it may be again worked
until the other side of the tooth is worn.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Alton Calvert in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, FRANCIS
ALTON CALVERT, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Francis Alton Calvert, Her special licence that I, the
said Francis Alton Calvert, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Francis Alton Calvert, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 MACHINERY AND
Apparatus FOR OPENING. BURRING. CLEANING, AND CARDINC COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS. PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO OPENING TWISTED YARNS
AND WOVEN FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis
Alton Calvert, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Francis Alton Calvert, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
The first part of my Invention is shewn at Figures 1 and 2, the former
being a side elevation, and the latter a section; it consists in an improved
arrangement of parts forming an opening and burring machine, and in an
improved mode of applying currents of air for separating the seeds and
burrs, from which the fibres have been stripped, from those to which part
of the fibres adhere. The combing or picking cylinder a is furnished with
feed rollers a¹, as usual, and it is made with ten or other convenient

page_text: number of blades of steel, either curved or set at an angle of about forty-
five degrees, the front edges of which are serrated. Below the cylinder
is the ordinary grating, and above it is a perforated casing 6, opening into
a chamber c, in which a strong draught is created by the fan x, or other-
wise. The fibres are taken off the combing or picking cylinder a by
the fine-toothed cylinder d, the teeth of which are made in the manner
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the
Eighteenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine,
No. 12,427, or according to my present improvements, which will be
hereafter described, and which are applicable to the various machines
employed in opening, burring, cleaning, and carding fibrous materials or
twisted yarns and woven fabrics. Under the fine-toothed cylinder d is
the guard roller e, made in the usual manner, which strikes the burrs,
seeds, or other foreign matters off the surface of the said cylinder d.
The guard roller e is placed above the channel f formed partly by the
curved plate g; the channel f opens into the receptacle h to receive the
burrs; the current of air above referred to is admitted at the bottom of
the receptacle h, and passes upwards through the channel f and between
the cylinders a and d through the casing b into the chamber c, from
whence it is conveyed to the fan x by side trunks. The fibres are stripped
from the fine-toothed cylinder d by the brush i in the usual manner.
When the machine is at work the seeds and burrs that are cleaned of
fibre drop down the channel f through the current of air into the
receptacle h, while those seeds or burrs to which fibres still adhere are
carried back by the current of air to the combing or picking cylinder a to
be again operated upon until free from fibre, when they drop into the
receptacle h.
The second part of my Invention, which is shewn in Sheet 2, at
Figure 3, consists in cleaning cotton and other fibrous materials by
causing it to be drawn by a current of air through a trough or channel k
placed by preference in a vertical position, and provided with a series
of grids, placed at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the direction
of the current; by this means the fibres which are supplied at or con-
veyed to the top of the channel are impelled from one grid to the other,
and loosened from the dirt or dust, which drops through the grids / into
the receptacles 1, which are furnished with doors for discharging the
same; the fibres are then drawn forward and deposited on the surface of
an ordinary perforated dust cylinder m, and delivered by a pair of
calendar rollers n to a lap machine, or otherwise disposed of. The

page_text: machine above described may be used after the fibrous materials have
been opened or partially cleaned by any of the machines now employed,
or after having been operated upon by the opening and cleaning machine
forming the third part of my Invention, which is shewn in Figure 4, and
is constructed as follows:-A pair of feeding rollers o, with suitable
teeth, delivers the fibrous materials slowly to a licker-in o', having keen
hooked teeth, which carries them forward over a fine grate to the
cylinder q; this cylinder is furnished with spikes or teeth, similar to
those on the rag machine, with this difference, that I prefer to make
them flat instead of round, as will be hereafter fully described; the fibrous
material is stripped from the licker-in by the cylinder q, and is carried
forward to what I term a series of retaining rollers 71, 72, up to 712, which
are furnished with keen hooked teeth pointing towards the action of the
cylinder q, the motion of the retaining rollers at their points of contact
with the cylinder q is in the same direction; the cylinder q brings the
fibrous materials forward to the first retaining roller marked 71; they are
then taken up by the keen hooked teeth, and there held while the
cylinder q is going on with the process of opening; the second retaining
roller is continually stripping or backing off the fibres from the roller r³,
and delivers them again to the action of the cylinder q, where they are
again caught up and retained by the teeth of the said roller; this
operation is repeated by all the retaining rollers until the fibres become
thoroughly opened. In setting the retaining rollers care should be taken
that more space is left between the surfaces of the cylinder q and the
retaining rollers at the commencement of the series than at the end, to
prevent the shortening of the fibres. The last roller of the series,
marked 13, becomes a stripper, and is furnished with teeth hooked in the
opposite direction; the cylinder q then throws the fibres off into the
channel k¹, which is in communication with the zig-zag trunk marked k
in the preceding Figure, while the heavier portions of the dirt fall
through the grids s into the receptacles below. When this machine is
used for carding fibrous materials, the only difference consists in dis-
pensing with the stripper 73 and substituting a larger retaining roller,
which answers the purpose of a doffer, and brings the fibres forward to
the front, where they are doffed by a comb in the form of a sliver or
otherwise.
A similar machine is used for opening twisted yarns and woven fabrics,
but care must be taken that the spikes or teeth on the cylinder q and
retaining rollers are made of sufficient strength for the purpose. In all

page_text: cases the teeth or spikes on the cylinder q should not be hooked so as to
carry the fibrous materials forward by its rapid motion, and leave them
imperfectly opened; for example, if the teeth or spikes of the cylinder q
were hooked like those of the retaining rollers r, the result would be
as follows: The fibrous material would be nipped and otherwise injured
and carried forward to the stripper or doffer in an imperfectly opened
condition, and the surface of the cylinder q would ultimately become
loaded or clogged, and therefore would require a cylinder or brush
running at a greater velocity than the said cylinder q to clear its
surface. The approximate speeds of the cylinders and rollers are as
follows: The licker-in o¹ about four hundred revolutions per minute,
the cylinder q about six hundred revolutions per minute, the retaining
rollers from sixty to one hundred or more or less, according to the
materials to be operated upon, and according to the quantity of work
to be performed. My improved mode of constructing toothed cylinders
is as follows: A plate of steel, of any suitable length, width, and thick-
ness, is divided into narrow strips, cut across the grain of the metal;
the teeth are then punched in one side of these strips, and at the same
time the teeth are bent at right angles to the other side, which remains
blank, and bears on the surface of the cylinder. When wound on, these
strips of toothed wire are bound on the cylinder by a wire, the shape
of which varies according to the purpose for which the cylinder is
intended. For the burring machine the binding wire comes nearly level
with the tops of the teeth, and leaves a channel at each side for the
fibres to be drawn into, as shewn at Figure 5. The teeth are suitably
hooked to take hold of the fibres. For the carding engine the binding
wire is flat on one side and convex on the other, as shewn in Figure 6.
The teeth or spikes on the wire are straight, or nearly so; the binding
wire and the toothed steel strips are held down at intervals by suitably
formed staples; by this means the grain of the metal is parallel with
the teeth or spikes.
The last part of my Invention consists in making the teeth of the wire
drums employed in the machines above referred to, or for any other
machines where the same are applicable, of such a shape that when one
edge of the teeth is worn, by reversing the position of the drum or roller
may be again worked until the other side of the teeth is worn, as shewn
on the cylinder q in Figure 4.
it
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim,-

page_text: First, the improved arrangement of parts forming an opening and
burring machine, as shewn and described in reference to Figures 1 and 2.
Secondly, the improved mode of applying currents of air in combina-
tion with the picking cylinder, the fine-toothed cylinder, and the guard,
in the manner and for the purposes described in reference to Figures 1
and 2.
Thirdly, the application of a trough or channel furnished with grids
set at angles, for the purpose of cleaning cotton and other fibrous
materials, as shewn and described in reference to Figure 3.
Fourthly, the combination of the toothed or spiked cylinder q and the
retaining rollers r, when used in the manner and for the purposes
described in reference to Figure 4.
Fifthly, the improved modes of constructing toothed wire cylinders, as
described and shewn in Figures 5 and 6.
And, sixthly, the improved toothed wire cylinder, shewn in Figure 5,
in which the space between the teeth is on the same or nearly the same
level as the teeth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Alton Calvert, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
F. A. CALVERT. (L.S.)