A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MA- CHINERY FOR CARDING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THомAS
WATERHOUSE, of Edgley, in the County of Chester, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the fifth year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Waterhouse, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Thomas Waterhouse, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Thomas Waterhouse, my exors, adiiors, and assigns,
should agree with, and no other, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of " A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MA-
CHINERY FOR CARDING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIAL;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, thesaid Thomas
Waterhouse, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Waterhouse, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists in the addition of certain mechanical arrangements to an ordinary
carding engine, by which the carding or work performed is much improved;
Price 1

page_text: and the manner in which this improvoment or improvements are to be per-
formed and carriod in effect, will be seen by reference to the annexed Draw-
ings and the following description thereof. In these Drawings the same
lettors and figuros of reference lenote the same parts throughout, and the
soule to which the Drawing are inade is marked thereon.
My improvement or improvements consist in theapplication of certain rods
or straight edges, ns hereafter shown. In that class of carding engines in
which top rollers and clearers are employed, either in conjunction with or
without top cards or flats, the material in the process of carding is retained
on the roller by the rod or straight edge, as hereafter described, and subjected
to a carding or combing action, which does not take place in the ordinary
arrangement, when this part of my improvements is not applied.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side view of an ordinary card, with tho ordinary flats
or top cards a, the main cylinder A, and two revolving top cards B, provided
with clearers or swifts b; and Figure 2 an enlarged section of the parts to
which my improvements are applied. Supposing the carding engine to be in
action, the various cylinders will revolve in the direction indicated by the
arrows, and, without referring to the action of any of the ordinary parts of
the machine, the cotton or similar fibrous material will proceed round the
revolving rollers B, in the direction of their rotation, until it is stript off by
the clearer or swift 6, and delivered again to the main cylinder A. The direc-
tion in which the cotton or similar fibrous material passes from the roller B
to the clearer 6, when my improvements are not applied, is seen in a dotted
lino at 2 b, Figure 2, in which case the carding cylinder B is moroly
cleared by the clearer b, and the cotton or similar fibrous material delivered
to the main cylinder A in a similar state to that in which it was received
from the roller B. The bar or straight edge c, which is seen in section at
Figures 1 and 2, passes the whole length of the roller Band clearer b, and is
supported at each extremity by the framing of the machine. The sectional
form of the rod may be circular, or it may bo flat, with a circular edge, or
tapering like a wedge, with the thinner edge rounded, or of any other form
that may be found more suitable; but the diameter of the rod, or thickness of
its edge, should be adapted to suit the length of the fibre or staple of the
material to be carded, which any person practically acquainted with carding
will readily discover. By the application of this bar orstraightedge, and in
the position described, the cotton or other fibrous material, in the process of
carding, is held in the card on the roller B until it has passed under the rod e
or straight edge, when it is taken up by the swift or clearer b, which, in addi-

page_text: tion to clearing the fibrous materials from the carding roller B,cards or combs
it in as much as it is seized by the clearer b,before the fibre is free of the card
on the roller B.
Another modification of this part of my Invention is seen at Figure 3, where
the clearer is represented at the opposite side of the roller B to that seen at
Figure 2, by which arrangement the same or similar results are or may be
obtained.
My next improvement consists in the introduction of a bar or straight edge
between the ordinary licker-in and dirt roller or clearer, by means of which
the cotton or other fibrous material is more effectually cleared of motes and
other injurious matter before it is delivered to the main cylinder than hercto-
fore. Figure 3 represents a section of the main cylinder A, with the licker-in
O placed in the ordinary position. Below the licker-in is placed the dirt
roller P, which revoles slowly, and has a constant tendency to strip or clear
the licker-in, while the straight edge c, which in this arrangement comes in
close contact with the cards on the dirt roller, allows the licker-in to retake
the cotton or other fibrous material, freed from moats and dirt, and deliver
it to the main cylinder A. In this Figure it will be observed that the rod or
straight edge c is formed to cover the side of the dirt roller P nearest the
main cylinder, so as to prevent any moats or dirt escaping to the main
cylinder.
According to my present experience, the application of my improvements to
the carding engine has enabled me to obtain from thirty to fifty per cent.more
work from the same engine than before the improvements were applied.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be performed and carried into effect, I do not claim as
my Invention any of the ordinary or well-known parts of the carding engine
to which my improvements are applied, as already described; but I do claim
the application of a bar or straight edge between the clearer or swift b and the
carding roller B, together with a similar application of a bar or straight
edge between the licker-in O and dirt roller P, as set forth and described at
Figures 1,2,and 3. All which improvement or improvements being, to the best
of my knowledge and belief, new, and never before used in that part of Her
Majesty's Dominion called England, I deliver this as my true and faithful
Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Waterhouse, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, One thousand
night hundead and Sombor tren
THO (L.S.) WATERHOUSE.
i

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the 'Twenty-second day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Thomas Waterhouse came
before our said Lady the Queen in her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, audall and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Eurolled the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord