IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING AND SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsinan,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING AND
SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES." A communica-
tion from abroad by John Good, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 11th March 1879, and dated the 14th November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th November 1878.
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR DRAWING AND SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
[A communication from abroad by John Good, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to machinery for drawing and spinning various fibrous
substances, but more especially to machines for spinning rope yarn. The Invention
consists in a nipper of novel construction, through which the slivers, as they are
drawn from an endless chain of gill pins, pass to the flyer. Said nipper, which
also forms the condenser, is mainly composed of a mouth piece, which serves to
condense the slivers as they are drawn from the endless chain of gill pins, a yielding
throat or passage in rear of said mouth or mouth piece constructed so as not only
to spread the condensed slivers (that they shall be severally pressed and smoothed)
but also so as to conduct them in a way to facilitate their proper twisting, and
a gullet in rear of said throat constructed to round and smooth the condensed
slivers while receiving their preliminary twist. Said nipper also serves to regulate
or vary the size or thickness of the yarn to be produced, and to admit of the
passage of bunches or knots in the slivers without stopping the machine or breaking
the yarn.
To these ends the throat of the nipper is constructed of two longitu-

page_text: dinal portions or pieces formed to present respectively convex and concave surfaces
to the sliver with a rise or bridge in the rear of the one which has a concave surface
to produce a bend in the slivers as they are brought into line for twisting. One of
the said throat portions or pieces, preferably that which presents a convex surface,
is made adjustable and yielding relatively to the other of said portions or pieces to
vary the size of the throat for different sized yarns, and to adapt it to the passing
of bunches or knots as the slivers are drawn through the throat and spread,
pressed, and burnished or smoothed by the convex and concave surfaces of the
throat. The yielding portion of the throat it is preferred to construct in the form
of a pivotted jaw or lever arranged to impinge or bear in a curvilinear direction
down upon or against the slivers, and furthermore to guide or steady said yielding
jaw or lever by a tongue and groove fit of it with the other piece or portion of the
throat. Such yielding throat piece or portion may, when uppermost, rest upon the
slivers by its weight, it being aided by a spring, which gives to it additional
pressure, and provides for the self yielding and accomodating action of the throat.
Such spring may have its tension adjusted by means of a screw or otherwise. The
gullet in rear of the throat has its concave surface of lesser width than the concave
surface of the throat to conform to the contracted space occupied by the slivers when
being twisted.
Such nipper taken as a whole might occupy a fixed position between the endless
chain of gill pins and the flyer, but it is proposed to attach it to a rocking support
controlled by a spring or weight, so that it and the condenser which it here forms
will give and take or yield backwards or forwards with the variations in the
resistance of the draft of the slivers through it; and the Invention further consists
in a combination with a rocking or yielding condenser of certain mechanism for
automatically varying the velocity of the endless chain of gill pins from which the
slivers pass to the condenser for the purpose of ensuring uniformity in the yarn
being spun, and of arresting the motion of the gill pins in case of an extreme
obstruction to the passage of the slivers through the condenser, such speed varying
and stopping mechanism is composed of two or more fixed pulleys of different
diameters on a shaft connected with the flyer, and which may be a driving shaft
of the latter, a series of fixed and loose pulleys arranged on a counter shaft, and
connected with said fixed pulleys of different diameters by independent belts
gearing connecting said counter shaft with the endless chain of gill pins and a belt
shifter attached to the swinging support which carries the condenser and operating
by adjustment of the belts according to the resistance on the condenser to control
the supply of the slivers through the condenser by varying the dragging action of
the gill pins according to the necessities of the flyer to spin a yarn of uniform size,
or as any serious obstruction may occur to the passage of the slivers through the
condenser; this speed varying and stopping mechanism of the endless chain of gill
pins combines great simplicity with efficiency.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
May 1879.
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR DRAWING AND SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
A. communication from abroad by John Good, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America.
This Invention relates to machinery for drawing and spinning various fibrous
substances, but more especially to machines for spinning rope yarn. The Invention
consists in a nipper of novel construction, through which the slivers, as they are
drawn from an endless chain of gill pins, pass to the flyer; said nipper, which also
forms the condenser, is mainly composed of a mouth piece, which serves to condenso
the slivers as they are drawn from the endless chain of gill pins, a yielding throat
or passage in rear of said mouth or mouth piece constructed so as not only to spread
the condensed slivers so that they shall be severally pressed and smoothed, but also
so to conduct them in a way to facilitate their proper twisting, and a gullet in rear
of said throat, constructed to round and smooth the condensed slivors while
receiving their preliminary twist. Said nipper also serves to regulate or vary
the size or thickness of the yarn to be produced, and to allow of the passage of
bunches or knots in the slivers without stopping the machine or breaking the
yarn.
To these ends the throat of the nipper is constructed of two longitudinal portions
or pieces, formed to present respectively convex and concave interior surfaces to
the sliver with a rise or bridge in the rear of the one which has a concave interior
surface to produce a bend in the slivers as they are brought into line for twisting.
One of said throat portions or pieces, preferably that which presents a convex
interior surface, is made adjustable, and yielding relatively to the other of said
portions or pieces to vary the size of the throat for different sized yarns, and to
adapt it to the passing of bunches or knots as the slivers are drawn through the
throat, and spread, pressed, and burnished or smoothed by the convex and concave
surfaces of the throat. The yielding portion of the throat it is preferred to con-
struct in the form of a pivotted jaw or lever arranged to impinge or bear in a
curvilinear direction down, upon, or against the slivers, and furthermore to guide
or steady said yielding jaw or lever by a tongue and groove fit of it with the other
piece or portion of the throat. Such yielding throat piece or portion may, when
uppermost, rest upon the slivers by its weight, it being aided by a spring which
gives to it additional pressure, and provides for the self yielding and accom-
modating action of the throat. Such spring may have its tension adjusted by
means of a screw or otherwise. The gullet in rear of the throat has its concave
interior surface of lesser width than the concave interior surface of the throat to
conform to the contracted space occupied by the slivers when being twisted.
Such nipper taken as a whole might occupy a fixed position between the endless
chain of gill pins and the flyer, but it is proposed to attach it to a rocking support
controlled by a spring or weight, so that it and the condenser, which it here forms,
will give and take or yield backwards or forwards with the variations in the re-
sistance of the draught of the slivers through it; and the Invention further consists
in a combination with a rocking or yielding condenser of certain mechanism for
automatically varying the velocity of the endless chain of gill pins, from which the
slivers pass to the condenser for the purpose of insuring uniformity in the yarn
being spun, and of arresting the motion of the gill pins in case of an extreme
obstruction to the passage of the slivers through the condenser. Such speed
varying and stopping mechanism is composed of two or more fixed pulleys of
different diameters on a shaft connected with the flyer, and which may be a driving

page_text: shaft of the latter a series fixed and loose pulleys arranged on a countershaft, and
connected with said fixed pulleys of different diameters by independent belts and
gearing connecting said countershaft with the endless chain of gill pins and a belt
shifter attached to the swinging support which carries the condenser and operating
by adjustment of the belts, according to the resistance on the condenser to control
the supply of the slivers through the condenser by varying the dragging action of the
gill pins, according to the necessities of the flyer to spin a yarn of uniform size, or
as any serious obstruction may occur to the passage of the slivers through the con-
denser. This speed varying and stopping mechanism of the endless chain of gill
pins combines great simplicity with efficiency.
The Figures in the accompanying Drawings illustrate so much of a machine for
drawing and spinning hemp and other fibrous materials and details thereof as is
necessary to explain the Invention.
Fig. 1 is a side view of such a machine in part with the Invention applied and
constructed in duplicate forming a twin or double machine, that is, with duplicate
flyers arranged side by side, and duplicate chains of gill pins and other parts for
spinning two independent yarns, but the Invention is equally applicable to a single
machine, and it will here be described more particularly with reference to the
spinning of a single yarn; Fig. 2 is a sectional end view of the same looking in
direction of the arrow x in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section
thereof on the line y, y, in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a transverse section upon a larger scale
of certain fast and loose pulleys for controlling the action of the gill pins by the
swinging or yielding condenser or nipper and condenser combined; Fig. 5 is a plan
view of the improved nipper and condenser; Fig. 6, a side view of the same;
Fig. 7 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof, mainly on the line a¹, x¹, in Fig. 5;
Fig. 8 is a transverse section of the same on the line x2, x³, in Fig. 7; and Fig. 9 is
a further transverse section on the line ³, ³.
A, A¹, indicate the frame of a twin machine for spinning rope yarn from hemp
or other fibrous material; B, B, are the endless chains of gills pins from which the
slivers are drawn by the action of the flyers C, C; and D, D, are the nippers forming
the condensers, through which the slivers pass to the flyers. Each endless chain
B of gill pins, which may be of any suitable construction, passes at its delivery
end around and in gear with pitched reel heads or wheels E, E, through which a
traverse motion may be communicated to the chains.
F, F, are counter driving shafts of the flyers, each of said shafts carrying a pulley G,
by which motion is communicated through a pulley H and belt b to the draw tube
and capstans I, I, of either flyer; said flyers inay be of the usual or any suitable
construction.
Each nipper and condenser D is provided at its forward or receiving end with a
mouth or mouth piece c, which serves to condense the slivers as they are drawn
from the endless chain of gill pins, and to conduct them into a throat formed by
the nipper in rear of said mouth piece; this throat is constructed to present
opposite or upper and lower convex and concave surfaces d, e, between which the
two slivers are drawn by the flyer, one of said surfaces being made yielding. These
surfaces.are formed respectively on two portions f, g, of the nipper, as for instance,
the convex surface d on the upper portion f, and the concave surface e on the lower
portion g. The convex surface d is here made the yielding one, the portion fon
which is formed, being constructed in the shape of a jaw or lever working on.a
rear pivot h, and of arc shape from said pivot as a centre at its forward end, which
fits over a correspondingly shaped front end of the portion g of the throat, whereby
said portion f having the convex pressing surface d bears down in a curvilinear
direction upon the slivers towards their line of motion through the throat, that is.
between the convex and concave surfaces d, e. The front end of the portion ƒ has
its convex pressing surface d within a groove i (Fig. 8) on said end, which groove.
receives within it a tongue k, having the concave surface e of the throat. This
tongue and groove construction of the portions ƒ and g steadies and guides the
working or yielding portion f of the nippers; said yielding portion f not only bears>

page_text: by its weight down on the slivers passing through the throat but is held or forced
down by a spring which admits of its yielding to vary the capacity of the throat
and insures an elastic pressure on the slivers. Such spring is here represented as
extending across the back of the jaw or lever portion f, and as connected at its one
end with a screw stanchion m, having one or more nuts n to vary the tension of
the spring, and as engaging at its opposite end under a hook o, so that on releasing
said spring from the hook, the yielding portion f of the nippers may be thrown up
or back as presented by dotted lines in Fig. 7 to facilitate the entry or removal of
the slivers when necessary. Arranged in the rear of the throat is the gullet r,
which is of concave construction on its interior lower surface, but of quicker
curvature and of less width than the concave surface e of the throat, and which
connects with the latter by a rise or bridges 8 (Fig. 7) at the rear end of the throat;
this bridge produces a bend in the slivers as they are brought into line for twisting
within the gullet, and insures the twisting of the several slivers. A nipper and
condenser thus constructed not only provides for the self opening or accommodating
action of the throat to the slivers passing through it, subject to pressure and
variation by hand adjustment of the spring to adapt it to different sized yarns, but
the convex and concave construction of the throat spreads or flattens out the slivers
so that they all receive a positive pressure, thus giving a more perfect smoothing
and polish to the slivers, each of which, by the action of the flyer, receives
twist within the gullet as it leaves the deflecting rise or bridge at the end of
the throat.
ณ
The concave gullet also has the effect of further polishing the slivers and of
rounding them during the twisting of them to form yarn. In this way or by
these means a smoother or more highly polished and more perfectly twisted
yarn of uniform size may be produced, and facility is afforded for the passage of
ordinary bunches or knots in the slivers without stopping the machine or
interrupting the supply.
Each of these nippers and condensers might occupy a stationary position between
the endless chain of gill pins and the flyer it operates in connection with, but it is
preferred to attach it to a rocking support controlled by a spring or weight, so that
it will give and take or yield backwards and forwards as the resistance through it
is increased or diminished by variations in the supply of the fibre and to combine
with such rocking support of the condenser irrespective of its herein before described
nipper like construction mechanism for automatically controlling the drag action of
the chain of gill pins to insure uniformity in the yarn being spun. This mechanism
should operate in connection with the flyer, and be so arranged that when the resist-
ance on the condenser is increased by a two free supply of fibre a slower motion is given
to the endless chain of gill pins, and when the resistance on the condenser is diminished
by a too scanty supply of fibre said chain is moved at a higher velocity, and is
altogether stopped in case of an extreme obstruction to the passage of the slivers
through the condenser. To these ends, and to accomplish the same in a simple and
efficient manner, each endless chain speed regulating and stopping mechanism is
constructed substantially as follows:-Each condenser or combined condenser and
nipper D is mounted on a rocking support M, having its pivot a below and urged
towards the endless chain of gill pins by a weighted arın N; on each flyer counter
driving shaft F are two fast pulleys R, S, of unequal diameters; these pulleys are
connected by bands 61, c', with a series of fast and loose pulleys d', e', f, g', and h',
(see more particularly Fig. 4) upon a shaft T, which has on it a screw that gears
with a worm wheel ' fast on an upright shaft U; this upright shaft carries on its
upper end a bevil pinion, which gears with a bevil pinion on the shaft of the
pitched reel heads or wheels E of the endless chain of gill pins. The fast and
loose pulleys d', e¹, ƒ¹, g³, and h¹ are all of uniform diameter or thereabouts.
The pulley d', which is furthest from the condenser, is a loose pulley; the next
pulley e, a fast one; the two next pulleys f', g¹, loose ones; and the pulley h', a
fast one.
The smaller pulley R, of the two driving pulleys R, S, is here arranged
furthest from the condenser D. Connected with the rocking support M by a

page_text: rod m' is a belt shifter V, controlling the bands 61, c¹. In the operation of the
machine when the resistance on the condenser is increased by a too free supply of
fibre the rocking support M is moved away from the endless chain of gill pins, and
the band 61, of the smaller driving pulley R, shifted from the loose pulley fi on to
the fast pulley e¹; this gives a reduced speed to the endless chain of gill pins, and
so diminishes the supply of fibre. On said supply slackening off, the rocking con-
denser, by the diminished resistance on it, moves back, under the influences of the
weighted arm N towards the endless chain of gill pins, and causes the band b₁ to
be returned on to the loose pulley f¹, and as the resistance on the condenser, still
further diminished by the decrease in supply of fibre, the band c¹, of the larger
driving pulley S, is shifted from the loose pulley g¹ou to the fast pulley . This
latter adjustment gives an accelerated movement to the endless chain of gill pins to
increase the supply of fibre, which, accumulating again in the condenser causes the
bands b', c¹, to be shifted back on to the loose pulleys f¹, g', and before the supply
can be toned down to its proper extent moves the band b¹ of the smaller driving
pulley R back on to the fast pulley e', when the operation is repeated as before. In
case, however, of any serious obstruction occuring to the passage of the slivers
through the condenser, the latter, by the resistance which is presented to it, is
moved sufficiently away from the endless chain of gill pins to throw both
bands b, c, on to the loose pulley d¹, and so arrest the motion of the endless chain
of gill pins till the obstacle is removed.
21
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Machinery for Drawing and Spinning Hemp, Flax, and other Fibrous Substances
as communicated to me from abroad, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First. A nipper, which also operates as a condenser of the slivers as they pass
from the endless chain of gill pins to the flyer constructed with a throat having
convex and concave interior surfaces, one of which is made yielding, substantially
as described.
Second. The combined nipper and condenser constructed with a condensing
mouth or mouth piece, a throat having convex and concave interior surfaces, one
of which is made yielding, a rise or bridge at the rear end of the throat, and
a concave gullet in rear of the latter, essentially as and for the purpose described.
Third. The combined nipper and condenser having its yielding throat portion
constructed of a jaw or lever pivotted in the rear, and arranged for operation in
relation with the stationary throat portion or piece, substantially as and for the
purposes described.
Fourth. The combination in mechanism for controlling the motion of the end-
less chain of gill pins for the purpose of insuring uniformity in the supply of fibre,
and of arresting the motion of said chain when the feed is obstructed of fast
driving pulleys of different diameter connected with the flyer, a series of fast and
loose pulleys on an independent shaft in driving connection with the endless chain
of gill pins, bands connecting the pulleys of said shafts, and a belt or band shifter
controlled by the yielding condenser of the machine, essentially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.