Edwin Budding & George Lister - Patent Concerning Carding Machines

Means of covering the cylinders of carding and scribbling engines with wire-cards; rovings delivered from such engines, and condensing the same; apparatus for sharpening or grinding the points of the cards; which latter apparatus may also be employed for grinding other articles.

9788 15th June 1843

George Lister.

Edwin Budding.

THE

LONDON JOURNAL

AND

REPERTORY

OF

Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures.

CONJOINED SERIES.

No. CXLVIII.

RECENT PATENTS.

TO GEORGE LISTER, of Dursley, in the county of Gloucester, card manufacturer, and EDWIN BUDDING, of the same place, machinist, for certain improvements in the means of covering the cylinders of carding and scribbling-engines with wire cards; and in condensing the rovings delivered from such engines; and also in apparatus for sharpening or grinding the points of the cards; which latter apparatus may also be employed for grinding other articles. - [Sealed 15th June, 1843.]

IN covering the cylinders of carding and scribbling-engines with fillets or bands of wire cards, considerable difficulty has heretofore been found in distending and keeping the fillets or bands tight, and at an equal tension upon the peripheries of the cylinders, whilst they are being fastened down thereon. The first part of the present invention is intended to obviate this difficulty, and consists in the employment of a peculiar apparatus, by means of which the long fillet or band of wire card is continually held in tension, whilst it is stretched over, and wound in a helical curve round the periphery of the cylinder.

VOL. XXIV.

158

Recent Patents.

The second feature of the invention is a means of condensing the rovings or slivers of filamentous materials, delivered from carding-engines, so as to give them a tenacity sufficient for the future operations of spinning. This is effected by passing the collection of fibres, delivered from a narrow band or fillet of wire cards, between two rubbing surfaces, by the friction of which the fibres are compressed together, and made to adhere into the compact form of slubbings.

The third head of the invention is an improvement in apparatus for grinding or sharpening the points of the wires of cards and other articles; which is effected by the use of fillets of leather or other suitable material, covered with emery or other grit; which fillets are wound round suitable cylinders, and may be readily replaced, when worn, by the substitution of fresh or new fillets of a like kind.

Fig. 1, in Plate VII., is a side elevation of the machine for covering the cylinders of carding-engines with bands or fillets of cards. a, a, a, represents the cylinder about to be covered, which is made in the ordinary way of constructing carding cylinders; b, b, is the fillet or band of card, in the act of being wound round the cylinder in a helical curve; c, c, c, is the frame-work or standards of a carding-engine, on which the axle or shaft of the cylinder is mounted in the ordinary way; d, d, is a slide-rest, similar to those used for turning wood rollers or cylinders, and which is made fast to the two side-frames of the engine by screw-clamps or otherwise. Upon this slide-rest is mounted a sliding-carriage e, on which is fixed a stationary hoop or barrel f. From the front of this sliding-carriage a socket is pendent, which carries the axle of a pinion g. Along the under side of the front edge of the slide-rest there is a rack h, h, affixed, which the teeth of the pinion g, take into. It will hence be perceived, that by turning the winch i, the pinion will be made to rotate, and, by its action in the teeth of the rack h, will cause the sliding-carriage e, with its hoop f, to move laterally. 

When a fillet or band of wire cards b, is to be attached to the cylinder a, it is passed round the hoop or barrel f, the end of the fillet being made fast to the periphery of the cylinder, near its edge, in the usual way. The fillet is held tight against the periphery of the hoop f, by means of a friction-clamp k, which is pressed tight against the face of the card-fillet by springs. The clamp k, is held by two sliding-rods, passed completely through the hoop in two places. Upon each of these sliding-rods 1, there is a compressed helical spring m, acting outwards, which is resisted, at one end, by the interior of the hoop f, and at the other by an adjustable nut n, capable of being moved upon the rod 1, for the purpose of giving any required degree of tension to the spring. By these means the friction-clamp k, is drawn with considerable force, so as to produce any required pressure of the clamp upon the card-fillet. An adjustable nut or stop p, is screwed upon each of the sliding-rods 1, for the purpose of opening the clamp, when the fillet is first introduced.

Having thus distended the fillet of card, in order to wind it round the cylinder a, in a helical curve, the cylinder must be made to revolve upon its axis, and, at the same time, the hoop f, and friction-clamp k, must be moved laterally; the latter of which is done, as before described, by hand, by turning the winch i, and pinion g, which moves the hoop and friction apparatus along the slide-rest. The rotation of the cylinder a, is effected by means of a toothed wheel q, q, temporarily fixed upon the end of the shaft of the cylinder, by means of four screws r, r, r, r, standing radially, or by any other convenient means. This mode of attachment is desirable, in order to apply the wheel to axles of different diameters. The wheel q, has two circular bosses or shoulders extending from it, one on each side, upon which the eyes of a forked bracket s, fit loosely, so as to enable the wheel to turn freely therein, and the arms of the brackets are confined laterally upon the bosses, by rings t, t. In order to mount this forked bracket upon the bosses of the wheel, the fork is made in two pieces, and connected together, at the outer end, by screws. This outer end of the forked bracket has a socket, in which a vertical shaft u, is supported, and turned by a winch. Upon this shaft is fixed a worm v, which takes into the teeth of the wheel q; hence, by the rotation of the shaft and worm u, v, the cylinder a, with its wheel q, is made to revolve slowly, and to wind round its periphery the fillet of card, which is drawn from between the hoop f, and clamp k, and by the friction of their surfaces is held with sufficient tension to distend and lay the band or fillet tightly and evenly round the cylinder. In order to hold up the outer end of the forked bracket, it will be found convenient to apply thereto a support w, which is made adjustable, as to length, by a part of the support sliding in a socket, thereby enabling the apparatus to be adapted conveniently to carding-engines of various heights.

When the cylinder has been thus covered with the fillets or bands of wire cards, the end of the fillet may be held by a pair of pincers, as shewn at æ, in fig. 2; a cord or strap y, being attached to the arms of the pincers, which cord or strap is fastened at the other end to a pin or stud z, on the sliding carriage; and by that means the end of the fillet is held tight upon the cylinder, whilst it is being secured by nails or other means. As the cylinders of carding and scribbling-engines are sometimes covered with sheet cards, the apparatus last described, and shewn at fig. 2, may be employed for the purpose of holding the sheets distended, whilst they are being affixed thereto.

The lesser cylinders, such as the doffers, workers, and strippers of a carding-engine, may be covered with fillets of card by the same means and apparatus as that above described.

The fillets, bands, or sheets of card having been properly secured upon the peripheries of the card-cylinders, the whole of the apparatus, marked from d, to w, is to be removed. The ordinary appendages may then be applied, and the engine may be made ready for work.

The improvements in condensing the rovings or slivers of filamentous materials, delivered from a carding-engine, is represented at fig. 3, which is a side elevation of a portion of a carding-engine, with the novel parts attached thereto. The fibres of the material having passed through the carding-engine in the ordinary way, they are taken off the main cylinder by the doffer-cylinders a, a. These doffer-cylinders are formed with series of separate rings, or narrow annular bands of wire cards, from which the slivers are severally taken in strips, and conducted between rubbing surfaces, consisting of the rollers b, b, and the superincumbent pressers c, c, from whence they are led off to lapping rollers, bobbins, or any other suitable receivers. Fig. 4, represents a partial top horizontal view of fig. 3, shewing the forms and positions of the parts more evidently; and fig. 5, is a section taken vertically through the rubbing surfaces only. The slivers from the bands or rings of the doffer-rollers, being taken off by doffer-combs, or any other ordinary means, are severally conducted over the surfaces of the revolving rollers b, b, and the fibres are in that situation pressed upon by the surfaces of the hollow pressers c, c. These pressers slide upon axles or horizontal guide rods, d, d, and may receive reciprocating lateral movements by means of a T-formed lever e; which lever works upon a fulcrum pin at its centre, fixed in the standard frame. A crank or excentric pin f, at the end of a horizontal shaft g, operates in a slot at the foot of the lever, and as the shaft g, is made to revolve by any convenient means connected with the engine, the lever is caused to vibrate, and thereby to slide the pressers c, c, upon their guide rods, to and fro in lateral directions; or their lateral movements may be effected by any other suitable means. Upon each of the axles or guide rods d, d, a roller h, h, is fixed, which pinches the fibres of the carded material against the rollers b, b, whilst the pressing and rubbing is effected behind them. By these means the several strips of sliver become compressed and condensed into distinct strands, or into the condition generally denominated slubbings, and are thence led off by the rotation of the rollers h, h, to be lapped, wound on bobbins, or into receptacles ready for spinning. It may be further observed, that the rubbing surfaces, both of the rollers and the pressers, should be covered with leather, or some other material capable of producing a slight friction, in order to render them slightly adhesive. A modification of this contrivance is shewn at figs. 6, and 7, by means of which, slivers which are taken from card-bands in oblique directions may be condensed. Fig. 6, is a horizontal representation; and fig. 7, a vertical view of the improved parts detached. a, is the band answering to the doffer-cylinder; b, the friction roller; and c, the presser. The sliver, doffed obliquely from the card-band a, is passed between the revolving roller b, and the reciprocating sliding presser c, by which the fibres are brought together into a condensed state, and led off under the roller h, in the form of what is called wool-rollers, prepared for the mule or billy; the rotary motion of the roller b, and the reciprocating motion of the sliding pressers c, being effected by any convenient means, as described in reference to the preceding figures.

In preparing cylinders for grinding the points of cards, and other articles, long strips or fillets of leather, or other suitable material, are coated with a cement and emery or other grit, in the usual way of preparing emery cloth or emery paper; the said strips or fillets are then wound tightly round the cylinders. in the manner above described; and when the emery or grit of such bands has been worn off by use, so as to be no longer capable of working, the rollers are stripped, and recovered with fresh fillets.

The patentees claim as their invention, Firstly, -the mode of distending and holding tight and even, fillets, bands, or sheets of wire card upon the surfaces of cylinders, by means of the friction and tension apparatus; and also the means of winding the fillets or bands of wire card upon such cylinders, as described, however that apparatus may be modified or varied in form or position. Secondly, the mode of pressing or condensing the slivers or rovings of wool, and other filamentous materials, delivered from carding-engines, by means of the rotatory rollers and reciprocating sliding surfaces, as described. And Thirdly,-grinding the points and edges of wire cards, and other articles, by the use of fillets of leather, or other suitable material, covered with cement and emery or other grit, and wound round the peripheries of cylinders, as shewn in the drawings, whereby the grinding surfaces may be readily replaced after they have become worn. [Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, December, 1843.]