A Spinning Mule Stop-motion Controlled by the Rim Band.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 20th Apr., 1892—Accepted, 21st May, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Spinning Mule Stop-motion Controlled by the Rim Band.
We JAMES PICKFORD of Number 117 Ashton Road, Mechanic, JOSEPH TAYLOR
of Shaw Road, Mechanic, and JOSEPH WHITEHEAD of the Up-steps Hotel, Inn-
keeper, all of Oldham in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention has reference more particularly to the rim bands of mules employed
in textile manufactures.
The rim band of a mule drives the tin roller during the "stretch" or outward run
of the carriage as is well understood. It is of importance that this band shall not
become too slack for the reason that when not suitably tight there is a slip between
the band and the band pulley on the tin roller shaft the consequence being that the
calculated amount of twist is not imparted to the yarn.
This band is liable to stretch or elongate with use and thereby to become slack
and also the band may fail by partial breakage as for example by the breakage of
one of the strands of the band or the band may escape from its position upon one or
more of grooved pullies.
The object of our invention is to provide for the stoppage of the mule at the
times when the conditions are unsatisfactory according to the above indications.
We mount a feeler lever or arm below the part of the band which is passing to
the rim pulley during the stretch and we employ this feeler to unlock a part which
when released is acted upon to cause the stoppage of the mule.
The said feeler is adapted to be moved over by the band when the latter sags
excessively and drops into contact with the feeler. The part upon which the band
operates is by preference adjustable upon a lever which is mounted upon a shaft or
is attached to a rock shaft and the said part may be made with a notch or with two
or more notches. In common practice three notches might be required to suit the
triplex band.
When the sag of the band brings the band down so that it will bind in one or
more of the notches the feeler is moved over. A catch arm carried by a swing
lever which is connected with parts which arrest the movements of the mule is
sustained clear of a revolving toothed wheel spider or projection by a locking catch
which is connected with the said feeler. When the feeler is moved over by the band
as aforesaid the said catch lever drops and is acted upon by the wheel or spider
whereby the swing lever is caused to transmit movement to connected parts which
effect the stoppage of the mule by acting upon any suitable part or parts whereby
such stoppage can be effected. In one arrangement the rock shaft which carries
the swing arm is provided with a lever which at the indicated times acts upon the
strap lever or on the strap relieving apparatus which is connected with the strap
lever.
When a strand of the rim band breaks or when the band escapes from its grooves
as aforesaid the unravelled strand or the escaped band as the case may be acts upon
the feeler to effect the object of our invention.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1801.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Spinning Mule Stop-motion Controlled by the Rim Band.
We JAMES PICKFORD of Number 117 Ashton Road, Mechanic JOSEPH TAYLOR
of Shaw Road, Mechanic, and JOSEPH WHITEHEAD of the Up-steps Hotel, Inn-
keeper, all of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature
of this 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 :-
Our invention has reference more particularly to the rim bands of mules
employed in textile manufactures.
"
The rim band of a mule drives the tin roller during the "stretch
or outward
run of the carriage as is well understood. It is of importance that this band shall
not become too slack for the reason that when not suitably tight there is a slip
between the band and the band pulley on the tin roller shaft the consequence being
that the calculated amount of twist is not imparted to the yarn.
The said band is liable to stretch or elongate with use and thereby to become
slack and also the band may fail by partial breakage as for example by the
breakage of one of the strands of the band or the band may escape from its
position upon one or more of the grooved pullies.
The object of our invention is to provide for the stoppage of the mule at the
times when the conditions are unsatisfactory according to the above indications.
We mount a feeler lever or arm which we will term a detector below the part of
the band which is passing to the rim pulley during the stretch and we employ this
detector to lock or sustain a part which when released drops into position to be
acted upon to cause the stoppage of the mule. The said detector is adapted to be
moved over by the band when the latter sags excessively and drops into contact
with the detector such movement of the detector effecting the release of the afore-
said parts.
In order that our invention may be clearly understood we will describe the same
with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our improved detector apparatus the plane of the
view being parallel with the direction of the movement of the mule carriage.
In this view the ordinary back shaft is represented in cross section by a, the rim
band appearing at b, and a portion of the mule headstock framing at cc.
To this framing is fixed a bracket d which carries a rock shaft e or it might be a
fixed spindle or stud upon which the parts might be mounted to rock. Upon the
said rock shaft is fixed a lever and upon the upper end of this lever is hinged a
party which we will term the stop catch. This stop catch is formed in two parts
bolted together in order that the length of the stop catch may be adjustable. Upon
the back shaft is fixed a toothed wheel and the stop catch is formed with a tooth
or projection g' which is suitably shaped to engage with the teeth of the said
wheel. The stop catch by reason of its own weight tends to fall into position for
the tooth to come into contact with the wheel on the back shaft but during the
ordinary working of the mule the stop catch is sustained clear of the wheel by
means of a locking catch i which is loosely mounted upon the shaft e and is
adapted to engage with the tail or short arın g² of the stop catch.
The locking catch i is attached to or connected with the herein before mentioned
detector which is also loosely mounted upon the shaft e. The said detector is
represented by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and is separately illustrated by Fig. 2 which
is a back view of the part.
In this example the detector is formed in two parts and k¹ which are secured
together by means of a bolt in order that the length of the lever or otherwise the
height of the part k and as a consequence its distance below the rim band may be
capable of adjustment.

page_text: The detector is secured upon a boss which is formed upon the locking catch i
so that the two parts can turn together upon the rock shaft or the parts may be
otherwise connected The upper part of the detector would be shaped to suit the
requirements. In the example the detector is adapted for use in connection with
a "triplex band" and is forked or formed with three notches or clefts which clear
the band so long as it remains suitably tight. When the band would become
excessively slack the sag or lowering of the band would bring the band into
contact with the detector which would be moved over or caused to turn upon the
shaft e thereby moving the locking catch i in the indicated direction. This move-
ment of the part i would unlock or release the stop catch g which would drop and
the tooth g¹ would engage with the wheel h which by striking the said tooth would
thrust away the stop catch thereby moving the lever in the indicated direction.
This movement of the lever would cause the shaft e to rock in its bearings whereby
a lever or part fixed upon such shaft could be caused to effect the stoppage of the
mule by acting upon suitable parts. In the example a lever is fixed upon the
shaft e and is provided with a pin m which bears against the ordinary swing lever n
which is mounted upon the shaft o.
It will be seen that the movement of the upper
end of the lever toward the left as described would cause the lever / to move in
the indicated direction. An arm p upon the lever / would act in the ordinary or in
a suitable manner upon the strap lever or upon the strap relieving apparatus which
is connected with the strap lever the result being that the belt or belts would be
shifted on to the loose pulley or pullies. One end of the ordinary rod which is
connected with a lever which is acted upon by the mule carriage to shift the belt or
belts when the carriage is arriving at the end of the stretch appears at q. As the
parts which directly effect the stoppage of the mule vary in mules of different makes
we have not considered it necessary to enter into further explanations of the details
of such parts but the manner in which the movement of the lever may be utilised
to effect the stoppage of the mule wholly or in part will be readily understood by
those who are practically conversant with the subject.
When a strand of the rim band breaks or when the band escapes from its grooves
as aforesaid the unravelled strand or the escaped band as the case may be acts upon
the detector to effect the object of our invention.
As the important feature in our invention is the use of a detector or lever
adapted to be acted upon by the rim band in the manner and at the times herein
set forth we do not confine ourselves to the details of the parts which appear in
connection with the said detector in the drawings. We may connect the said
detector with other suitable parts which will arrest the movements of the mule or
of parts of the mule in any suitable manner.
In place of the toothed wheel / we may apply a spider or a part of any suitable
formation so long as it will strike the stop catch g or a projection thereon when
the stop catch drops and will thereby move over the leverf. As the detector
would require very little force to move it over it may not always be considered
necessary to make it of the forked or notched shape represented in Fig. 2 as for
example a tee headed lever or a bar carried by a lever or a lever frame might be
used for the purpose. We may make the detector in the form of a lever carrying
an anti-friction bowl arranged to be acted upon by the sag of the band and
connected with or formed in one piece with the locking lever the depression of the
said bowl when acted upon by the band effecting the unlocking of the stop catch
or of a part which would arrest the movements of the mule or of parts of the same.
Such a modification is indicated by the dotted lines at r.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1.) The combination of parts for application to a mule to effect the stoppage or
partial stoppage of the same when acted upon by the rim band on its becoming
slack or defective substantially as set forth and indicated.

page_text: 2.) As applied to a mule the detector adapted to be acted upon by a slack or
defective rim band and to release a stop catch which by moving into position to
be acted upon by a wheel, spider or part on the back shaft is caused to set in
motion parts which effect the stoppage of the mule or of parts thereof substantially
as set forth and indicated.
3.) The detector k connected with the locking catch the lever carrying the
stop catch
and the wheel or a spider or part taking its place in combination
with ordinary or suitable parts for effecting the stoppage of a mule or of parts of
a mule substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
4.) A detector of the nature herein indicated adapted to be acted upon at times
by the rim band of a mule and connected with parts which when acted upon or
released by such detector will arrest the movements of the mule or of parts of the
mule substantially as set forth.
Dated this 14th day of April 1909
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.