Usually a, set of cards is linked together in worlring, the product of the scribbler being automatically carried to the " intermediate," and that of the latter to the condenser card. This is done to obviate certain defects of the scribbler, which has a tendency to deliver the wool in an uneven sheet from the last doffer. The purpose of the intermediate feed is to so present the wool to the next machine that their irregularity shall not lead to defective results. There are a con siderable number of these " feeds," but the most characteristic are those known as the " Scotch feed," " Marsden and Blamire's feed," ancl the " ball feed." In the Scotch feed the wool is doffed from the scribbler doffer by the comb, and delivered upon a narrow travelliog apron in the form of a sliver 3-6 in. broad, which passes through a series of rollers, whose object is to compress it and secure its adhesion whilst in transit to the next machine. From these rollers, it ascends to a travelling apron or belt arraoged overhead, upon which 'it is carried to a point over the lattice-feed of the next machine. Descending here, it is given to a travelling carriage, paseing between two rollers as it is carried from side to side of the lattice-feed. The carriage lays the sliver obliquely across the feed, the edge of one layer overlapping that of the preceding to nearly half its width, by which means a uniform layer or sheet of material is formed for delivery to the card. This, entering the feed-rollers obliquely as deposited, has its inequalities to a great extent obliterated.
The arrangement known as Marsden and Blamire's feed, though not very different in principle, diverges considerably in its details. As the film of wool is doffed, it is laid upon a travelling lattice, which moves away from the doffer, and delivers the material through several guide-rollers to another lattice, mounted on a carriage underneath the top lattice, and which moves inwards and outwards, that is towards and from the doffer, thus causing the scribbled material to be deposited in layers until a sufficient thickness has been formed. The carriage lattice upon which the wool is thus laid, however, moves in a direction transverse to the upper one and to the direction in which the wool is delivered from the machioe. this manner, the scribbled material is delivered sideways to that in which it has heen carded, as in the preceding feed, and passing between a pair of rollers, is received by another, and wound into a lap. When fully formed, this can he removed without stopping the machiae.
This feed is very suitable for a low description of work, as it obviates the breakages, of sliver that are apt to occur when the preceding form is used. It will be obvious that the fibres of wool in passing through the scribbler have been laid approximately parallel, and are doffed in that con ditioa. The transverse delivery of the lap to the next machine causes the fibres to enter sideways, by which the inequalities of the lap are eliminated. This has also the effect of destroying the parallel arrangement of the fibres, crossing them in differeat directions, and so aiding in the pro duction of a messed fibre condenser thread, the best arrangement of the material in a thread for cloth which has to be shrunk or milled iu the finishing process ; it also assists materially in the production of a full nap upon the fabrie, the end of every fibre lying on the surface of the threads. This system of feeding is in most general use where the " set " consists only of the scribbler and conclensor.
One or other of the three systems of connecting or feeding the succeeding machines from the scribbler, or modifications of them, will be found everywhere in use. Special circumstances vvill always decide the adoption of the most snitable.
The cheese-shaped balls of wool from the scribbler, Fig. 1451, are taken to the " intermediate," and
to a greater or less number as required are placed in a creel or bank a shown in Fig. 1453, an illustration of the intermediate carding-engine. As given, it represents a machine 60 in. wide, with one cylinder, six workers, six strippers, " fancy," and doffer. In the creels, the balls rest on their eelges upon two rows of rollers b, and are maintained in the vertical position by slight bars c. The rollers are made to revolve and unwind tho sliver from the balls by means of the bevelled gearing at one end of the oreol, as shown in the figure, thus delivering the sliver without strain, which, if permitted to occur in a slight degree, would attenuate it, and thus render the product irregular. The elivers are conducted between a series of vertical pins, to prevent any overriding and uneven disti ibution as they pass through the food-rollers, and thonce through the series as named above. This°, being preeisely similar in their functions and details, except in the matter of clothing, which is finer, need not further be noted.
Emerging from the intermediate card, the wool is doffed in the form of a fiat sliver, which, by an apparatus, is conoentrated or condensed from the width of the machine (in this instanoo 60 in.) to about 4 in. wide, and whioh, in its passage from this machine, is compressed between the small rollers e seen on the left of Fig. 1453. It is then conveyed by one or other of the feeds, or modifica tions thereof, to the finisher-oard, Fig. 1454, which is similar to the preceding, excepting in the feeding apparatus being different, and more like the Seotoh feed previously described. Here the carding is completed. Attached to, and working in combination with it, is the condensing-machine, by which the carded wool is delivered in narrow ribbons from the doffers—one or two, as it may be single or double—and which, passing between the rubbers, are, by a rapid transverse movement of the leathers, rolled or condensed into a coarse round thread. The doffer-cylinder of the condensor card is modified, by the clothing being divided, so as to form rings separated from each other by given spaces. The effect of this is that the film of wool is doffed by the comb in narrow ribbons or strips, instead of, as in the preceding eases, in one sheet. The machine shown in Fig. 1454 repre sents the latest make of the double rubber-condensor. After the sliver strips or ribbons leave the doffer, they are conducted between the pairs of leather aprons a a' , each pair forming a " rubber." These aprons are stretched each between two rollers, and neatly sewn together, so as to form a travelling apron when the rollers are made to revolve. One of each pair is placed above the other, near to but not quite in contact. -Appropriate gearing at the aide causes them to revolve, by means of which, tho ribbons of wool would be carried forward in that form, did not another movement intervene to prevent it. This is a lateral movement of the leathers in a direction transverse to that of their revolution, each leather moving in this manner in the opposite way to its associate. The effect is to rub the sliver strips into a round thread, as stated, in the same manner as if they had been rubbed between the palms of the hands. The strips of sliver are thus both carried along and rolled as they come from the doffer, this being done without their suffering attenuation. These aprons extend across the machine, and vary in width from 12 to 20 in., according to the work they have to perform. The condensed threads, after they leave the rubber, are conducted through a guide-comb b and upon condensor-bobbins placed in the standards to receive them. These when full aro removed and are ready for the creel of the mule.