The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-26
A GREAT INVENTION.
Ring Spinning Apparatus That VIII
Double the Capacity of all Cotton,
Wooden and SILK MILLS.

Chlcopee, where he labored upon great
wheel in the midst OF which the rider
was to sit and propel himself at marvel
GUS speed. The wheel was shown In this
city and proved impracticable. So folks
up this way regarded Belanger, who was
backed then and since by Josiah Quincy.
But now the Boston Globa says that the
inventor has perfected a ring-spinning
apparatus that can instantly double the
capacity of all the cotton, wooden and
silk mills in the world, and may event.
ually quadruple it.
Here is the story: Mr.. Belanger. as the
result of three years of har1 and unin-
terrupted application to the perfection of
his idea, has sprung to comparative afflu-
ence, with delightful summer home at
Sea View, in which he may lave himself
in an onyx bath-tub and enjoy all the
other luxuries that good taste can suggest
and money procure. 1t was far from
thus in the days Of his earlier struggles,
which included the invention of many
things. notably one-wheel bicycle, none
of them commercially successful. It is
understood that for his ring-spinning in
vention Mr.. Belanger received So, 500, 900
in stock of the new com any and very
substantial sum in cash besides.
In Mr.. Belanger's case, history, in a
| large degree, repeated itself for it was by
accident, and after he had been long at
work on the wrong end of his problem,
that he stumbled across the vital principle
of his perfected inventiOn-that of spin
ming ring and traveller working in COM
pressed air cushion. 1t is only though
the application of this compressed air
principle that it has been found possible
to reach the speed attained through Mr..
Belanger's invention, for the old Carroll
ring, invented by a Worcester man 30
years ago, would simply burn up from
friction if it was run at the nve-mile-
a-minute rate of the new ring. 1t was to
a suggestion made by George o. Draper,
one of the young mem bers of that famous
family, in charge of the cotton machin-
| cry works at Hopedale, that Mr. Belanger
owes his first inspiration. Three years
ago Mr.. Draper came to him and pointed
out that the great fault Of the spinning
frame was that it could not be run faster
AT high speed, he explained, friction
caused heat which either destroyed t he
usefulness Of the ring or burned the
traveller, or caused the thread to be satur-
ated with oil, which it was necessary to
employ IN order to keep the friction
down. BeIanger got a spinning frame,
connected it to an electric motor, and
began to puzzle oyer the problem. In
his complete ignorance of spinning
machinery he misunderstood Draper. He
|, r-yl,A t.~-~ l.
not be run at high speed without heating
its bearing. This was not so, for the
spindle tapsrs to o point which Sits on
hard steel base, and the whole is inn
mersed in oil, so that there is very little
friction and the spindle and it's seat keep
cool, no matter how fast the spindle re-
wolves,
Mr.. BeIanger wasted considerable time
before Mr.. Draper happened to drop into
his shop and told him that he was work.
ing on the wrong end of the problem,
and showed him just what was needed.
When woman winds a bobbin for her
sewing she performs something
like the act for which a spinning frame
was invented. In the factory frame the
bObbin or spindle is upright instead of
horizontal and the wool or cotton strand
comes down from overhead, passing slow
" around a series OF plane and huted
cylinders which compress it and shold it
while the bobbin is spinning at furious
rate, twisting and pulling out the short
and soft strand into the long and tough
thread. In place Of the woman S right
thumb and fOretnger imagine a fixed
ring which encircles the whirling bobbin
and travels up and down slowly on
frame, holding the strand Of thread and
guiding it on the b0bbin, and you Will
be able to understand just what Belanger
worked upon. The Old device now In use
is what is known as the Carroll ring, in
Woo rcs % 1Nrro ~.
name who is now alive in Worcester.
1t is stationary and t1uted SO as to fur
nish little track in which rams the eve
technically known as the traveller, through
which the thread passes. This little cir
clet of steel wire, about an eighth of an
inch IN diameter, carrying the thread,
must travel around the ring as fast as the
thread is wound upon the bobbin Its
limit OF speed is from, 1000 to 10, 600 revo-
lutions minute. When run at IA 600
revolutions, the tiny traveller will last
only two minutes At $1,000 revolutions
it is burned up in less than ten seconds
on account of the tremendous heat gener-
ated By its rotation around the ring
Belanger tried running the ring in ball
bearings. This arrangement, which has
held the record up to date as the nearest
approach to elimination of friction
proved worthless. At the tremendous
speed at which tbs ring was revolved,
enough heat was generated to oxydize the
balls, which on being taken out crumbled
to dust. Metals of all kinds were tested,
with the same result. The molecules of
aluminium and brass seemed to take up a
different arrangement, producing a brit
tie substance like nothing ever seen be-
fore.
The thought so suddenly came to Bel
anger, Why not make the ring revolve
as well as the traveller? That thought
was the seed which brought forth the per
feet fruit. First Beianger made a metal
casing to hold the ring while it was re-
volving. He abolished the traveller alto
gether and bored tiny hole through the
ring to carry the thread. The inertia of
the ring as compared to that of the
broke. The speed had to be applied grad
uaIly, or the thread would snap before
any speed had been attained The in
ventor put back the traveller and fixed it
SO that both traveller and ring were free