The first American revolving flat card (Fie. I) was introduced by the Pettee Machine Co., of Newton Upper Falls, Mass. it was constructed after the best English models, and illus trates to advantage the general ideas in use. The Lowell Machine Shop has put an Amer ican revolving flat card on the market having several new improvements. The arch is so constructed that the flexible bend is placed close to the cylinder, and its method of setting with the shields prevents all fly from blowing out and packing itself around the bend and chain-blocks. In all revolving flat cards it is highly essential that the cylinder should be capable of perfect adjustment, and also that the flexible bends on which the flats travel may be set so that the flats will be perfectly concentric. As the teeth wear or become ground, this setting is necessary, and every part of the flat mechanism needs to be perfectly constructed in order that these slight variations may be made. Howard have a very ingen ious arrangement of conical concentric bends on which the flats rest, which are adjusted in position by screws and inclined surfaces. Each screw has a dial with a pointer, so that by turning each dial a definite distance the bends will all be ad justed alike. They also have a new way of attach ing card clothing, using no rivets. Platt Bros., of Old ) limn, England, have lately adopted a new flexible bend with slots and screw ad justment which admit of the direct setting by the gauge of the flats to the cylinder. They are also so arranged that the flats are ground on the under side while in position.
The Whit in Machine Works have endeavored to so improve the American top flat card as to enable competition in single carding with the English machine. This card (Fig. 2) will produce 100 lbs. and upward per day of fine carding with the minimum amount of waste. The sides mud arches of the card are built entirely of iron, and the construction is simple, so that changes can be readily made. The main cylinder is 42 in. and the doffer 18 in. in diameter, measured without the clothing. Both are accu rately ground, and ate balanced to a speed largely in excess of that used in practice. The cylinder is clothed close up to either edge, securing a carding surface 371 in. wide. The clothed surface of the doffer is slightly in excess of this The card is provided with 40 iron flats, the arc described by these being greater than formerly, and equal to fully two fifths of the circumference of the cylinder. The flats are now made 1 in. wide. with clothed surface of -H in. They are planed and ground perfectly true to receive the clothing, and, being heav ily ribbed are free from the possibility of warping or twisting. The ends of the flat are also planed, and thus their correct pitch with the surface of the cylinder is accurately and uni formly obtained. The device for adjusting the flats consists of a square steel body terminat ing at either end in at pin. The lower pin, having a fine thread cut upon it, passes through a
rib in the card arch, and is secured on both sides of the rib by a tint. Thus any flat may be accurately and quickly adjusted. Mortises, accurately spaced, and planed into a second rib on the card arch, receive the square bodies of the adjusting-pins, thus preventing any lateral motion. The adjusting-pin is further secured by a screw passing through the square body into the arch. The top flat passes over the upper part of the adjusting-pin and finds a true bearing on a small collar turned upon the upper side of the body of the pin. They claim for this device great ease and nicety of adjustment, and perfect immovability when set.. A quick stripper, that lifts, strips, and replaces a flat in less than four seconds, is used, and is geared at both sides to avoid torsion. A simple device is attached by which the feed may be instant ly stopped, and also the doffer thrown out of gear with coiler and calendar lulls. Many American cards in use are being changed over to the coner system, the Foss & l'evey cards especially, with better results. The latter card is being improved in addition by the use of the shell-feed.
combers are only used on very fine work. their field is somewhat limited. If some way could be devised to increase the production of a comber with no increase of ex pense, it might pay to use them to a much greater extent.. as the advantage is obvious, Doh son & Barlow, of Bolton, England, have improved the Heilman comber by a change in the combing cylinder (Fig. 3). Formerly the cylinder possessed only one series of combs and one fluted segment. Thus it required one complete revolution of the cylinder to get one length of combed fiber. The manufacturers have succeeded in introducing a second series of combs and a corresponding socond fluted section, which doubles production at the same speed ; al lows of a lower speed, which produces better results, and ut largely increased production. The old-fashioned process of preparing comber-laps has been to take slivers from the card, put them through one process of ordinary drawing-, and the slivers from the drawing were then put through a small sliver-lap machine nand made into a lap for the comber. This old process makes it lap that consists of a series of slivers laid side by side, and is not of one uniform thiekness, but first has a thick and then it thin place. It is obvious that the nipper of the comb can not act as well upon this lap as if the thickness were uniform throughout, and fur ther that where the thin places are there is danger of good cotton passing through into waste on account of the defective nip: also, wItere the thick !daces come, the pins are required to (10 to much work and the quality at once suffers.