IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE REELING OR WINDING OF SILK COTTON, OR OTHER THREAD
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake of the firm of Haseltine, Lake,
"
& Co., Patent Agents Southampton Buildings, London for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE REELING OR WINDING OF SILK
COTTON, OR OTHER THREAD Communicated to him from abroad by
James Monroe Grant of Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America
Superintendent of Silk Manufacturing
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th November 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London,
" IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE
REELING OR WINDING OF SILK, COTTON, OR OTHER THREAD" Communicated
to me from abroad by James Monroe Grant of Hartford Connecticut United
States of America Superintendent of silk manufacturing
This invention relates to a novel manner of winding or reeling silk, cotton, wool,
or other threads, upon the reels in a reeling machine preparatory to their being
dyed, and of tying and looping or lacing the skeins thus formed to prevent their
becoming entangled and displaced in the dyeing process.
The object of the said invention is to provide means for reeling an improved
skein of thread, whereby a greater quantity can be reeled upon the same machine
in a given time than is practicable with the means ordinarily employed, and to
provide at the same time for making the skeins in a proper form to receive the
dye in the best manner, and be ready, after the dyeing, to be placed upon the swift
for unwinding on to bobbins in the customary manner.
In the method heretofore employed, the thread, previous to being immersed in
the dye, is wound into skeins upon a reeling machine, in which some twenty or
more small skeins (containing generally one thousand yards or less) are wound
upon a set of parallel bars around an axis, forming a long reel. Each skein is tied
up by itself, and the reel is taken down or collapses to release the separate skeins.
These small skeins are then dyed and afterwards placed separately upon swifts to
again unwind them. Larger skeins than those above named have been found
inconvenient, if not impracticable, on account of their becoming entangled in the
dyeing, and difficult to unwind.
By means of the present invention I am enabled to wind skeins of twenty four
thousand yards or more in each separate skein upon the reels, thus saving a great
amount of labour in taking down the reels to remove the skeins, and having the

page_text: advantage that the larger skeins wound in the improved manner can be placed at
once upon the swifts and unwound without difficulty.
In carrying the said invention into practice I wind the thread upon the reel
in the form of a wide band in which the thread crosses from side to side as it is
wound, somewhat in the manner heretofore employed, but so arranged as not to
form single skeins by passing one layer over the other; I prefer to have the thread
cross in five-sixths of a revolution of the reel, although other proportions will answer
the same purpose; when the required quantity has been wound, I lace the skein
or band, before it is removed from the reel, in one or more places, generally upon
opposite sides of the reel, so as to divide it into a number of parts and hold it in
its flat or band-like condition. This lacing constitutes the chief point of the said
invention, and preserves the skein in its shape and prevents it from becoming
entangled in the process of dyeing.
After lacing, the skein is removed from the reel and passed into the hands of
the dyer. After winding in the manner above described, the skein is so layed
(one thread crossing the other) that its texture is more open than even the small
skeins wound in the ordinary manner, and although much larger, the dye readily
-penetrates to every part and ensures a uniform colour. The several threads cannot
become matted together as with the ordinary skein' wound in the customary
manner.
In the accompanying drawing illustrating the said invention.
Figure 1, shows a skein of thread wound and laced according to the said
improved method.
Figure 2 shows the skein placed upon a swift ready to be wound off on to
.bobbins.
a is the skein 6 is the lacing by which it is held -in form. while being dyed
c-shows a part of the skein drawn apart so as to show the structure and the
manner in which the threads-cross each other; d is the swift. upon which the
skein-is-placed for unwinding..
When the skein has been placed in its proper position-upon-the-swift, the
lacings are removed and the thread can then be unwound without difficulty,
there being much less entanglement between the separate strands than with the
small skeins wound in the customary manner. By means of the said invention a
great saving is effected in the cost of manufacture. The waste of material is
greatly reduced and less skill than heretofore is required in winding after the
dyeing, thereby dispensing with the highly paid skilled operatives now employed
on this work.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign Correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I Claim :-
First A skein of silk, cotton, wool, flax or other thread, wound upon a reel
diagonally from side to side in the manner described, and laced back and forth
across its width to preserve its form, substantially as described.
Second-The combination of the lacing b with a wide skein of silk, cotton, wool,
flax, or other thread, in which the strands are diagonally crossed, substantially as
described.
'
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Seventh day of November in the year of our Lord