Improvements in and applicable to Carding Engines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Jan., 1892-Accepted, 27th Feb., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and applicable to Carding Engines.
We GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTHI of the firm of Ashworth
Brothers of Moss Brook Works Collyhurst Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Machine Makers do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows :
Our invention relates to carding engines and principally to the machines which
are employed in the carding of cotton. In the cases of engines which are provided
with chains of travelling flats it is customary to subject the flats in succession to
the action of a grinding roller. Prior to our invention each flat whilst being
ground has been held in contact with carriages which have moved with the flat
during the grinding and as a flat has passed out of the range of action of the
grinder the said carriages have been taken back to receive the next flat. We
make each carriage with a curved face to suit the working faces on the flat ends
as is usual and we form it with a flat shank which slides in a slot in the part upon
which the carriage slides. Pius or screws pass through this shank and through
or over plates or slide pieces which slide on prepared faces as the carriage moves
to and fro the said pins or screws being split at the end or being secured by means
of split pins or of rings the intention being that the parts shall not be liable to
shake out of position. A spiral spring attached to the said shank takes back the
carriage. A cover may be applied to keep dust from the slide surfaces. The
carriage is taken forward by the contact of the flat with a projecting rib or part
which may be fixed or movable so that it can be withdrawn to release the flat or
the flat may be pushed off by a rocking lever actuated by one of the flats in the
chain, or be released by its own movement as it drops off the end of the lever.
In case the tension or weight of the chain of flats would not be sufficient to ensure
the release of the flat we may employ means to increase such tension such for
example as wheels pressed by springs upon the chain of flats. As the flats pass
into and out of carding action they are lifted from contact with the bends as they
approach the carrier wheels owing to the clearance which is necessarily provided
for the turning of the flats as they leave the bends. This lifting of the flats
leaves an opening for the escape of cotton and it is not possible with existing
arrangements to effectually close this opening. To remedy this defect to some
extent we apply guides on which the flats slide when leaving their curved path
around the main cylinder so that the flats are still kept to a fixed path of motion.
This path of motion would preferably be tangential to the bends. We bring up
the edge of the breast or closing in plate as closely as possible to the line of
departure of the tangents from the bends and shape the said edge to correspond
to the said tangents so that the flats pass almost in contact with the beveled edge
of the breast plate as they pass out of or into action. The tangential guides are
shaped to provide the necessary clearance for the turning of the flats after they
have passed over the edge of the breast plate. The said guides are preferably
applied to be adjusted on the bends. In the cases of bends which are provided
with steel ribands we may form the said guides by applying suitably shaped
packings below the ribands or the outer ribands. In some cases we fix the guides
to the sides of the bends, such guides being suitably formed to act upon the face
of each flat bar and to lift and guide the bar over the edge of the breast plate.
The laps of cotton which are supplied to the carding engine are often very
irregular in thickness. We propose to apply an indicator which will register such
irregularities with a view to the obtainment of the exercise of greater care in the
formation of the laps. As a lap is being fed to the "taker in” the sheet of fibrous

page_text: material passes below a roller which rises and falls to a greater or lesser extent,
according to the more or less irregularity in the thickness of the sheet. We make
use of this rising and falling movement to give motion through suitable multi-
plying levers and parts to a pencil or scriber which would indicate the variations
by means of a line marked upon a moving sheet or riband of paper or material 5
as in the case of other variation recording apparatus. To ensure that the flats
nearest the carrier wheels shall bed upon the bends we provide the carrier wheels
with seating rings of vulcanized rubber the back rib ends of the flats bearing upon
and being pressed into such rings or we employ spring pressers or pressers acted
upon by springs or loads. To clear the draw-box rollers we apply a clearing roller
below the draw rollers and mount such clearing roller in bearings which are
carried by springs so that the roller can yield downward as the fluff accumulates
upon its surface. We may form the bearings to hold a supply of tallow in order
that they may not require frequent attention.
Dated this 22nd day of April 1801
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James' Square, Manchester, Agents..
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and applicable to Carding Engines.
We GEORGE ASHWORTH and ELIJAH ASHWORTH of the firm of Ashworth 2
Brothers, of the Moss Brook Works, Collyhurst, Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Makers, 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 :
-
Our invention relates to carding engines and principally to the machines which 2
are employed in the carding of cotton. In the cases of engines which are provided
with chains of travelling flats it is customary to subject the flats in succession to
the action of a grinding roller. Prior to our invention each flat whilst being
ground has in some cases been held in contact with carriages which have moved
with the flat during the grinding and as a flat has passed out of the range of action 3
of the grinder the said carriages have been taken back to receive the next flat.
We make each one of such carriages with a curved face to suit the working faces
on the flat ends as is usual and we form it with a flat shank which slides in a slot
in the part upon which the carriage slides. Pins or screws pass through this
shank and through or over plates or slide pieces which slide on prepared faces as 3
the carriage moves to and fro the said pins or screws being split at the ends or
being secured by means of split pins or of rings the intention being that the parts
shall not be liable to shake out of position. A spiral spring attached to the said
shank takes back the carriage. The laps of cotton which are supplied to the
carding engine are often very irregular in thickness. We propose to apply an
indicator which will register such irregularities with a view to the obtainment of
the exercise of greater care in the formation of the laps.
To ensure that the flats nearest the carrier wheels shall bed upon the bends we
provide the carrier wheels with seating rings of "rubber" the back rib ends of the
Hats bearing upon and being pressed into such rings. To clear the draw box 4
rollers we apply a clearing roller below the draw rollers and mount such clearing
roller in bearings which are carried by springs so that the roller can yield down-
ward as the fluff accumulates upon its surface.
Our invention will be most clearly understood when described more fully with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
The drawings on Sheet 1 illustrate our improvements in the flat grinding
mechanism Figs. 1 and 2 being front elevations of part of a flat grinding bracket
which would be applied to a carding engine in the ordinary manner.
In the said drawings a is the upper end of the bracket B is the aforesaid

page_text: carriage c is the bed bar upon which the carriage slides and d is the ordinary
pressing lever which holds the flat in close contact with the carriage during the
grinding operation.
Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section and Fig. 4 a cross section of the bed
The grinding roller is indicated by the dotted circle e in Fig. 1.
bar c.
bar c.
The carriage B is made with a curved face 6 and a rib as is usual. We form
the carriage with a flat shank which is fitted to slide in a long slot in the bed
The said shank passes through a slot in the plate of which slides with the
carriage. Split pins g pass through the shank and extend at each end over the
plate these pins keeping the carriage from falling out of place. The ends of
the pins are opened out as is usual when such pins are used. The carriage with its
plate is free to slide to and fro in the slot in its seating. The formation is simple
and effective and the parts which keep the carriage upon the bed bar are not
liable to shake loose or to become detached. Screws or bolts split at one end or
secured by means of split pins or rings might take the places of the pins g. A
cover may be applied to keep dust from the slide surfaces. The carriage is taken
forward by the contact of the flat with the rib b' as is usual.
In Fig. 1a flat is represented in position upon the carriage as when being
ground. In Fig. 2 the flat is represented as when dropping off the end of the
pressing lever this dropping withdrawing the flat from the rib 6' and releasing the
carriage which is then drawn back by a spiral spring into position to receive
the next flat.
The method whereby we propose to indicate irregularities in the thickness of
the cotton laps is illustrated by Fig. 5. In this fig. i represents one of the
weights with which are loaded the levers which bear upon the bearings of the top
feed roller. As the lap of cotton is fed forward the top feed roller rises and falls
according to the irregularities in the thickness of the lap as is well understood.
These movements of the top roller are imparted in an increased ratio to the
weights upon the levers. In a convenient position we mount a cylinder ; which
is provided with a row or with two rows of pins. A riband of paper is brought
from a reel and led over the said cylinder the pins taking into perforations in the
paper as in the cases of steam engine recording apparatus. The cylinder is caused
to revolve at a suitably slow speed by means of a cord & driven by a pulley on
the feed roller shaft or on a suitable shaft or by means of gearing actuated by a
cord, the cylinder carrying forward the paper and presenting it to a pencil at l.
The said pencil is carried at the end of the long arm of a bell crank lever m.
The short arm of this lever is connected by means of a link with the weight i.
As the weight rises and falls the pencil is moved to and fro the extent of move-
ment of the pencil being increased owing to the proportions of the lever so that
the movements of the feed roller bearing are multiplied twice-first by the loaded
lever and secondly by the lever m. The lines marked upon the paper propor-
tionately indicate the variations in the thickness of the lap. The indications
might be derived from a special roller arranged to press upon the fleece of cotton
and to rise and fall. The details may be greatly varied so long as the travelling
strip of paper and the pencil or a tracer acted upon to indicate the said
irregularities are employed. The pencil might be arranged to move in a straight
line as in a "Richardson" indicator for steam engines.
In Fig. 6 which is partly in section n represents one of the carrier wheels over
which the flats travel as they pass on to and off the curved bends of the carding
engine there being a carrier wheel at each side of the cylinder so that the flats
are carried by their ends this being the ordinary arrangement. We provide each
wheel with a seating ring o of "rubber" that is to say of vulcanised caoutchouc
the ring being sprung into a groove turned or formed on the wheel and being
cemented or otherwise secured in such groove if considered to be necessary. The
flat ends or the connecting chain links rest upon the elastic seatings of the wheels
as in the case of the flat represented by p. The wheels are so adjusted as that the
seatings press forcibly upon a flat which is in contact with the bends the result

page_text: being that the flats are prevented from being partially lifted away from the bends
at too early a period.
In Fig. 7 represent the lower draw rollers and s the clearing roller which
we apply thereto. This clearing roller is covered with felt or with a suitable
material which will take up the fluff or fibres from the draw rollers. The journals
of the rollers rest in bearings carried by spring arms t which keep the roller in
yielding contact with the draw rollers. Springs of any suitable form may be used
in place of the arms t. The rollers can be readily lifted out and replaced when
it is desirable to remove the accumulation of fibres.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The combination of parts as and for the purpose set forth and indicated with
reference to Figs. 1 to 4 of the attached drawings.
2. The carriage B formed with a flat sided shank fitted to slide in a slot in the
bed bar c and provided with the plate f, the split fastenings 9 or the equivalents
therefor, and the spring h in combination with the lever d for the purpose set
forth.
3. The paper-carrying cylinder; the pencil lever m and the connection of the
same with the weight i substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. Applying to a carding engine, recording apparatus having a revolving
cylinder presenting a riband of paper to a pencil or tracer which is connected by
levers and parts with one of the bearings of the yielding feed roller or of a roller
which yields as the lap passes forward to the taker in substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
5. The carrier wheel with an elastic seating for the flats substantially as set
forth and indicated.
6. The application to carding engine draw rollers of a clearing roller carried
by spring arms or bearers substantially as set forth and indicated.
Dated this 22nd day of January 1892.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James' Square, Manchester, Agents.