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on one of Messrs. Lord Brothers' “ Duplex Openers,” which, beside the Opener Cylinders, have two Beaters and a Laphead, similar to a Lapper. The “ Opener" has two Feeding Aprons, one above the other, and the cotton is taken directly from the Mixing Bin, and fed or spread on each of these Aprons, without weighing, about ten inches in thickness. Two of the Laps made on the “ Opener" are then placed on the Apron of the Finisher Lapper, and the Lap for the Card is made from them.

It will be observed that the Laps operated on by the Feed Regulator on the Finisher Lapper, are not made under very favorable circumstances, owing to tho great amount and thickness of cotton spread upon the Opener Aprons. A series of trials on sixty different Laps made on each Lapper, being one hundred and twenty trials in all, give the following results :

The greatest difference being 11 ounces, and 101 of the 120 having a difference of one-quarter ounce The 120 yards weighed 1,002] ounces, and the average weight was 8.35 ounces per yard. I ought, perhaps, to state that we were not running these Lappers very constantly at the time the trials were made, on account of the limited demand for cloth, and I think this fact was unfavorable to the best results of the Feed Regulator.

The conclusion to which I have arrived, from what I have observed, is this,—that the Feed Regulator or Evener, as improved and attached to the Messrs. Lord Brothers' Lappers, will insure a more even Lap, both in its breadth and length, than can be made by weighing in the usual manner, beside dispensing with the labor of weighing and care in spreading.

There are some other points about the Messrs. Lords' Lappers which are worthy the attention of manufacturers, but do not pertain especially to the subject of “ Eveners or Regulators as applied to Lappers.”

DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVINGS.

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Fig. 1 is an elevation of a Blowing or Scutching Machine, to which the Improved Self-Acting Feed Regulator is applied.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an elevation on an enlarged scale of part of the Regulator. Fig. 4 is a plan, and Fig. 5 an elevation, of Fig. 3.

a is the beater, b the feed roller, c the holders or feeding trough, which is divided lengthwise into any convenient number of parts, each of about 14 inches wide, mounted loose on the cross shaft d. To each holder c is cast a lever e, to which are suspended the rods f, the lower-ends of which are wedge-shaped, and pass between the rails g. Between the wedges of the rods f are cylinders i, fitting in grooves in the rails g. The last rod f, at the left-hand side, is

8 held in position by the tail of the set screw j (see Fig. 2), and the last rod, at the right-hand side, is provided with a slot, in which is a stud for the link k; the other end of the link k is jointed to a stud in the bell crank lever l, n, the end n of which is forked, and joins to the çone lever o; this bell crank lever is jointed to a stud in the bracket m. The strap lever o is connected to the lever p by toothed segments (as shown in Fig. 1). The levers o and p guide the cone strap s up and down the cones q and r, forming part of the Regulator secured to Edward Lord by former letterspatent. To the upper end of the shaft of the cone r is fixed a worm, gearing into a wheel on the feed roller b.

The fulcrum stud of the bell crank lever l, n, is adjustable in a slot in the bracket m, the link k, and the leg n of the bell crank lever are made in two pieces, connected by bolts, so as to be lengthened or shortened, to allow for the requisite adjustment of

the parts.

The mode of operation is as follows: The various parts of the machine are shown in the positions they occupy when the requisite quantity of fibrous substances is being supplied to the feed roller b

by the feeding apron.

In order to retain the cone strap s in this position, it is not essential that the feed should be uniform throughout the width of the machine ; for it is evident, if some of the holders c are depressed by an excess of fibres, and a corresponding number of others rise, owing to the feed being too thin in those parts, then the rising of some of the wedges of the rods f will be compensated for by the depression of the others; but if the aggregate amount of fibres supplied to the feed roller b be too great, it becomes necessary to reduce the speed of the said feed roller; and to accomplish this, the cone strap s has to be raised up nearer the small end of the driving, and the thick end of the driven cones. This is accomplished in the following manner: As soon as any number of the bolders c have been depressed, owing to the excess of feed, the wedges of the rods f, in rising, act on the cylinders i, and cause the rods f to incline slightly towards the right-hand side of Fig. 2. These rods cannot incline in the contrary direction, being held by the set screw j; the combined action of all the wedges of the rods f acting on the last rod causes it to draw the link k and bell crank lever l, n, in the direction of the arrow—thus raising the horizontal arm n of the bell crank lever, and moving the strap s up the cones q and r, until the speed of the feed roller is reduced, so as to correspond with the thickness of the feed. When the supply of cotton is too little, the feed roller requires to run faster, and the contrary action takes place, which is effected by the holders c approaching the feed roller—thus causing the wedges of the rods f to fall, and allowing the rods to incline in the contrary direction ; bell crank lever I, n, is then moved in the contrary direction, and the strap s is moved towards the thick end of the driving, and the small end of the driven cones, and the feed roller is driven correspondingly faster.

The above-described Feed Regulator is much superior to the one previously patented by Edward Lord, as it not only regulates the irregularities in the length of the feed, but also in the breadth ; for, if a handful of cotton be laid on all at one place, or taken off from one place, the apparatus immediately compensates for it.

Again, the holders being in narrow sections, and pressing towards the feed roller, retain fast hold of the fibres until struck by the beater or cylinder, notwithstanding the greatest irregularities in the thickness of the feed.

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ANTI-FRICTION LOOSE BOSS TOP ROLL.

BY DANIEL HUSSEY, Esq., OF NASHUA, N. H.

By invitation of the Board of Government I am here to day to give a description of the advantages to be derived from the “ AntiFriction Loose Boss Top Roll.”

Although I am sensible of the great honor done me by this invitation, it requires no small amount of assurance to bring before you a chicken of my own hatching, and to represent to you that it is not only a superior, but the best bird of its kind.

I will, therefore, before giving you a description of the Geared Roll, give some reasons why I was influenced to make the change.

After the cotton is well cleaned and carded, the thread from which our various fabrics are made depends for its quality almost entirely upon the Drawing Rolls. How important it is, then, that the Drafts should be properly distributed, the Doublings made in their proper places, and that the Rolls should be kept in the best of order. But I will not undertake to discuss this here, as requires more time and ability than I have at my command. I will simply say, that I consider it of too much importance to be neglected, and hope it may be brought before this Association, at an early day, for discussion.

Our worthy member, Mr. Forbes, of the Lancaster Mills, has taken the Lap from the Picker, passed it through the card in a masterly manner, well cleaned and opened, and carefully laid it away in the Railway box, more even in the running foot or yard, than can be retained in any known process of Drawing. Now comes the more difficult operation of taking the cotton as it lies in the Railway box, with its fibres lying in all directions, curled, knotted, crosswise and curved, and passing it through the various stages of Drawing, until its fibres are all straightened, laid paral

lel, and the sliver reduced to its proper size or number, to be twisted into an even and smooth thread. I say the various stages

I of drawing; for I consider the Railway head, Drawing frame, Speeder, Stretcher, Slubber, Fly frame, and Spinning frame, as only so many Drawing frames, for drawing, doubling and reducing the silver to its proper number and evenness, for twisting into yarn. The Speeder has its Flyers, Spindles, Cones and complicated machinery, for no other purpose than to put the cotton, or Roving, into a convenient form to be taken to the next machine, or Drawing Rolls, without injury.

Let us now return to the first process of drawing on the Railway head, and take the cotton where our worthy friend left it so nicely laid away, and pass it between the back drawing rolls of the Railway head. The Bottom roll is made of steel or iron, and fluted; the Top roll covered with cloth and leather, the Bottom or Fluted roll having all the work to do, both of drawing in the cotton, and, through the cotton, transmitting power to the Top roll; which last requires a considerable amount of force to make it revolve, on account of the heavy weight that rests upon it; this weight being further increased, or more than doubled, to overcome any friction that may be created by the want of oil, imperfect rolls, or by any foreign substance collecting on its bearings.

The effect of this large amount of weight, and consequently large amount of friction, is, in the first place, to wear off the sharp edge of the Fluted roll, making it more likely to slip under the cotton. Second, to destroy the cloth and leather coverings of the Top roll. So much weight upon the cotton has a tendency to destroy its barb, or beard, and also its elasticity. The effect upon all the rolls is the same, until the cotton reaches the Front roll, where you have to contend with the additional trouble of electricity, and winding up of rolls, which you all well understand. I think it must be admitted, that if the Top roll can be run independently of the influence of the cotton, or fluted boss, that it must be an improvement

The draft on the railway head is from three to five, varying with the number of cards, according to the views of the manager. The grist, or sliver, that comes from the railway head, must in any case be large, to prevent a too rapid movement of the front roll, and the consequence is, a large amount of electricity. I think, to save expense and for convenience, we are apt to run too many