IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SPOOLS OR BOBBINS UPON WHICH THREAD OR TWINE IS WOUND FOR SEWING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marcus Brown-Westhead, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Merchant, and Robert Smith, of the same
Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO
SPOOLS OR BOBBINS UPON WHICH THREAD OR TWINE IS WOUND FOR SEWING
AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 8th June 1869, and dated the 15th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marcus Brown-
Westhead and Robert Smith at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th December 1868.
We, MARCUS BROWN-WESTHEAD, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, and ROBERT SMITH, of the same Place, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO SPOOLS OR BOBBINS UPON WHICH THREAD OR TWINE IS WOUND FOR
SEWING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the use of an adjunct to spools.or bobbins
whereby the thread or twine is in a great measure prevented from uncoil-

page_text: ing beyond the length which it is desired to draw off. For this purpose
we cause the thread or twine to pass through or in contact with a
revolving drag connected to the spool or bobbin. The arrangement we
at present propose is to place a disc or segment upon the bobbin end,
provided with a centre upon which it can revolve. The thread or twine
passes through an aperture in this disc or segment and drags it round
when a length is being drawn off. The drag may be permanently
attached or supplied as a separate apparatus to be applied at pleasure
to full bobbins.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Marcus Brown-Westhead and Robert Smith in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MARCUS
BROWN-WESTHEAD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant,
and ROBERT SMITш, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the--Fifteenth-day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Marcus Brown-Westhead and
Robert Smith, Her special license that we, the said Marcus Brown-
Westhead and Robert Smith, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Marcus Brown-Westhead and Robert
Smith, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SPOOLS OR BOBBINS UPON WHICH THREAD
OR TWINE IS WOUND FOR SEWING AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition,
amongst others, that we, the said Marcus Brown-Westhead and Robert
Smith, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals (or under
the band and seal of one of us) should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent

page_text: Office within six, calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Marcus Brown-Westhead, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say)
==
Our Invention consists in an adjunct to spools or hobbins whereby the
thread or twine is in great measure prevented from uncoiling beyond
the length which it is desired to draw off.
Fig. 1 represents in section and Fig. 2 in top view the most simple
form by which our Invention may be carried into effect, these views, as
in the case of others which will be described, being upon a scale larger
than that usually adopted for sewing cotton, in order that the construc-
tion and arrangement may be more clearly scen. The spool or bobbin is
shewn at a, the thread or twine thereon being denoted by the blue
colour. Upon one end of the bobbin or spool is a disc of cardboard or
thick paper b, through which a pin c passes, and is driven into the filled
up centre of the said bobbin or spool, it being made up solid for that
purpose, but the said pin is not sufficiently driven in for the head to
bind upon the disc so as to prevent it from turning. The end of the
thread or twine is passed through a perforation in the disc, as shewn by
the blue line; when, therefore, a length is drawn off for use the said disc
is caused to revolve, but as it requires some degree of force to cause
that motion, it acts as a drag and tends to prevent the thread or twine
from unwinding beyond the required length.
Figs. 3, 4, represent a modification. In this instance a portion b only
of the disc is used and formed of metal; it is confined to the bobbin by the
piu c, as before described, and is in like manner provided with a perfora-
tion through which the end of the thread or twine passes. The operation
is the same as in Figs. 1 and 2. So far the apparatus described has
been applied to the spool or bobbin as a fixture, and not specially
adapted to be used a second time, although it might be; but we will now
describe two other arrangements in which our Invention is adapted in
another manner, the object being to provide for readily transferring it
to another spool or bobbin when one has been emptied.
Fig. 5 is a section of the spool or bobbin, the thread or twine being
represented as before by the blue colour; Fig. 6 is a plan view and

page_text: Fig. 7 a detached view of the part constituting our Invention. Referring
to Figs. 5, 7, d is a spindle provided with a shoulder e, above which is a
part of smaller diameter, and provided at its end with a screwed
portion g. Upon this part f is placed a disc h, and a cap i is then
adapted to the screwed part. The disc is therefore confined between
this cap and the shoulder e, but not tightly, and is therefore at liberty to
turn. This apparatus may be made of ivory, bone, wood, or other
suitable material, and when a bobbin or spool is required for use the
spindle d is placed in the central hollow part thereof, and it is caused to
be held there with sufficient tenacity by the spindle d having been
formed slightly taper. The end of the thread or twine is then passed
through an aperture formed in the disc h, and any required length
may be drawn off, the said disc being capable of revolving.
Figs. 8, 9, and 10 shew another modification, the differences being the
method. by which the apparatus is held in the bobbin, and in the addition
of means for obtaining an increased drag. Fig. 8 represents a section of
the bobbin with our Invention applied; Fig. 9, a plan view, and Fig. 10
a detached view of the parts constituting the improvement. The spool
or bobbin is at a, and the blue colour as before represents the thread or
twine. At 7 is a short tube projecting into-the-central hollow part of the
spool or bobbin, and carrying at its lower end a bent piece of metal m,
which pressing by its elasticity against the inside of the bobbin retains
the whole apparatus in its place. Upon the upper part of the tube / is
a flange n, between which and a turned-over portion of the end of the
said tube is a disc o carrying two arms p provided with apertures
through which is passed a rod q of ivory, bone, or other suitable material
formed at one end with a nob r perforated at 8.
Within the tube / is a
spring t, abutting at his lower end against a fixed part, and provided at
its upper end with a plate u, which presses against the rod g. The
clastic force of this spring, therefore, acting through the medium of the
rod presses the disc o against the turned-over end of the tube l, and
when the nob r is turned, and with it the said disc, a certain amount of
resistance has to be overcome proportionate to the elastic force of the
spring t, and thus an increased drag is effected. The end of the thread
or twine is passed through the perforations in the nob r, and when a
length is drawn off the said nob r and disc o are caused to revolve, but
governed by the aforesaid drag.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that we claim, as secured to us under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, and for the purpose above set forth, the use of a
revolving drag placed upon an end of the spool or bobbin, whether such
drag be adapted permanently or so as readily to be detached therefrom
and applied to another spool or bobbin.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marcus Brown-Westhead, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
M. BROWN-WESTHEAD. (L.S.)