IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PICKER SPINDLES OR GUIDE BARS OF LOOMS POR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bryan William Stevens, of the Firm of Robert
Armstrong and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PICKER SPINDLES OR GUIDE BARS OF LOOMS POR WEAVING."
Sealed the 4th December 1868, and dated the 30th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bryan William Stevens
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th September 1868.
I, BRYAN WILLIAM STEVENS, of the Firm of Robert Armstrong and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PICKER SPINDLES OR GUIDE BARS OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as
follows:-
The picker spindles or guide bars of looms for weaving are ordinarily
made of solid rods or bars of iron or steel. In order to diminish the
friction of the picker when working on the said bar and to render a
lubricant unnecessary the said spindles or guide bars when made of iron
are sometimes coated or covered with glass. In the application of this

page_text: coating of glass to the said spindles or guide bars there is considerable
difficulty in obtaining a perfectly continuous and uniform coating, in
consequence of the mass of metal to be heated before the glass is per-
fectly fused on the surface of the spindle or guide bar, and the coating
of glass is in consequence frequently imperfect or defective.
My Invention consists in making the said picker spindles or guide
bars hollow, that is, of tubes of iron instead of solid bars, and in coating
or covering the said hollow or tubular iron spindles or guide bars with
glass or enamel. The coating of glass or enamel is applied in the
ordinary manner. By glass or enamel I mean any vitreous or semi-
vitreous compound or mixture which by heat can be fused into a
continuous and smooth coating attached to the surface of the spindle or
bar. By making the said spindles or bars hollow or tubular the glass or
enamel applied thereto, in consequence of the small amount of metal to
be heated, is rapidly fused thereon, and a continuous and uniform
coating of the said glass or enamel readily and with certainty obtained.
Picker spindles or guide bars manufactured according to my Invention
are smoother on their working surface and more truly cylindrical in
figure than picker spindles or guide bars made in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bryan William Stevens in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRYAN
WILLIAM STEVENS, of the Firm of Robert Armstrong and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, 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 successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Bryan William Stevens, Her special licence
that I, the said Bryan William Stevens, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Bryan William Stevens, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the

page_text: 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PICKER SPINDLES OR GUIDE BARS OF LOOMS POR. WEAVING," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Bryan William Stevens,, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bryan William Stevens, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The picker spindles or guide bars of looms for weaving are ordinarily
made of solid rods or bars of iron or steel. In order to diminish the
friction of the picker when working on the said bar and to render a
lubricant unnecessary the said spindles or guide bars when made of iron
are sometimes coated or covered with glass. In the application of this
coating of glass to the said spindles or guide bars there is considerable
difficulty in obtaining a perfect, continuous, and uniform coating in
consequence of the mass of metal to be heated before the glass is per-
fectly fused on the surface of the spindle or guide bar, and the coating;
of glass is in consequence frequently imperfect or defective.
My Invention consists in making the said picker spindles or guide
bars hollow, that is, of tubes of iron instead of solid bars, and in coating
or covering the said hollow or tubular iron spindles or guide bars with
glass or enamel. I make the said tubular spindles or guide bars from
long pieces of iron tubing made in the ordinary way, and cut into the
required lengths before being covered or coated with glass or enamel..
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in elevation and
longitudinal section an iron picker spindle or guide bar made and
covered with glass or enamel according to my Invention. The said
spindle consists of a hollow cylinder or tube of iron marked i, covered
with a thin coating of glass or enamel marked k. The said covering or
coating of glass or enamel, as will be seen by the Drawing, does not

page_text: extend the whole length of the spindle, the ends being left uncovered
with the glass or enamel.
I prefer to apply the glass or enamel in the ordinary way, that is, I
coat the hollow or tubular spindles with gum water or other adhesive
matter, and dredge or dust on to them the enamel or glass composition
in fine powder. "A layer of the powder attaches itself to the adhesive
matter on the spindles, and is fused 'thereon into a continuous coating of
glass or enamel by heating the spindles in a muffle or heating apparatus.
The glass and enamel which I have found to answer well in practice
have the following compositions :-
Grey Mixture.
White Mixture.
lbs.
lbs.
*830
ozs.
Sand
10
Sand
30
دو
"
Red lead
33
Red lead.
45
Boracic acid
20'
Cúllett
"
Cullett
114
Nitre
.
"
Bicarbonate of soda 16
Soda
"
"
30-0
4 8
4
"
"
Nitre
-
1
2
White arsenic
3
"
دو
8호
Manganese
The grey mixture produces a colourless or nearly colourless glass or
enamel which has a grey appearance when applied to the iron owing to
the grey colour of the iron underneath it, and the white mixture is an
opaque or semi-opaque white enamel; but I do not limit myself to any
particular composition of glass or enamel. By glass or enamel I wish it
to be understood that I mean any vitreous or semi-vitreous compound
or mixture which by heat can be fused into a continuous and smooth
coating attached to the surface of the spindle or bar. I support the
hollow or tubular spindles or guide bars in the muffle for the purpose of
fusing the coating of glass or enamel thereon by means of the rack or
apparatus represented in side elevation in Figure 2, end elevation in
Figure 3, and plan in Figure 4; Figures 5 and 6 represent parts of the
same separately.
The said rack consists of a framing composed of three series of plates
of iron marked a, a², the said plates having the figure represented. The
horizontal parts of the said plates form the base or foundation for the
whole apparatus. Rigidity and strength are imparted to the plates a, a²,
by the stays b, b, bolted to the top and base part thereof. Between the
upright parts a, a, of the plates at the top two longitudinal angle bars or

page_text: plates c, c, are bolted. The outer edge of each of the horizontal portions
of these bars or plates are formed into racks in which the upper ends
of the spindles d are supported, that is, a series of cross slots having
semicircular ends are made in the said plates; these slots are marked *.
The shape of the rack plates c is best seen in the separate view of one of
the plates, Figure 5, and also in the plan Figure 4. On the base parts a³
of the plates a, a², longitudinal angle bars fare fixed, in which a series
of holes f is made of a size proper to receive the ends of the hollow
spindles d. The holes f in the plates fare situated equidistant from
The
each other and directly under the slots c* in the rack plates c.
spindles d to be heated in the muffle are placed in the rack in the
manner represented in the Drawing, and are prevented from falling
therefrom by means of the fixing plates e.. A portion of one of these
fixing plates is shewn separately in plan in Figure 6. The said fixing
plates e are placed upon the tops of the rack plates c, so that their
inner edges overlap the said rack plates and bear against the spindles d,
as best seen in Figure 4, eyes e on the said fixing plates e passing
between the spindles d. By means of pins or cotters g passed through
the eyes e and the holes in the rack plates c the fixing plates e are
secured in their places upon the said rack plates, and the spindles are
thereby held firmly in the rack. By withdrawing the pins or cotters g
the fixing plates e may be detached from the rack plates and the spindles
removed from the rack. In Figure 4 the fixing plates e are broken off
in order the better to exhibit the shape of the rack plates. Although
the rack described and represented answers very satisfactorily, yet I do
not limit myself to any particular apparatus for supporting the spindles
in the muffle or heating apparatus. By making the picker spindles or
bars hollow or tubular as herein-before described and illustrated the
glass or enamel applied thereto, in consequence of the small amount
of metal to be heated, is rapidly fused thereon, and a continuous and
uniform coating of the said glass or enamel readily and with certainty
obtained.
Invention
Picker spindles or guide bars manufactured according to my
are smoother on their working surface and more truly cylindrical in
figure than picker spindles or guide bars made in the ordinary way.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details hercin described and illustrated,

page_text: as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements in the picker
spindles or guide bars of looms for weaving,-
Firstly. Making the said picker spindles or guide bars of hollow
cylinders or tubes of iron for the purpose and substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly. Covering hollow or tubular iron picker spindles or guide
bars with a coating of glass or enamel for the purpose and substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bryan William Stevens, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
BRYAN WILLIAM STEVENS. (L.S.)