CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Halliwell, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County
of Lancaster, Foreman, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS"
MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Halliwell at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th May 1858.
I, ROBERT HALLIWELL, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster,
Foreman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists, first, in an improved combination of
machinery for effecting the changes performed by the cam shaft in the mules
known as Roberts' patent self-actors.
My improved machinery consists of a lever or combination of levers, and of a
weight or spring connected to the carriage, and acting on the said lever or levers.
This weight or spring, with the lever or levers, act on the machinery for putting.
in and out of gear the apparatus for drawing out and putting up the carriage;

page_text: also, for putting the drawing rollers in and out of gear; also, for putting the
backing-off friction cones in and out of contact, and for moving the driving
strap on and off the fast and loose pulleys.
Secondly, in the application of duplex levers, with wheels, &c., moved or
worked by the squaring shaft or by any other motion in connection with the
movement of the mule carriage, for the purpose of moving the driving strap
on and off the fast and loose pulleys at the commencement and completion of
the stretch.
Thirdly, in the application of a latch and bar in connection with the strap
fork rod, for putting the backing-off friction cones into contact for backing off
when the driving strap has been moved off or nearly off the fast pulley.
Fourthly, in the application of a break in contact with the backing-off cone
wheel, for the purpose of preventing the noise and breakage of the said wheel
in consequence of back lash when the backing-off takes place.
Fifthly, in an improved combination of machinery, consisting of an endless
band or chain passing over pulleys or wheels and shafts or levers, put in
motion by the winding-on barrel or screw of the radial arm, whereby a
positive motion is obtained for regulating the winding on of the yarn on the
spindles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Halliwell in the Great Seal Patent Office on tho
11th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HALLIWELL, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Foreman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Halliwell, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Halliwell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Halliwell, 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 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Halliwell, 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 Robert Halliwell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
My Invention is applicable to self-acting mules for spinning and doubling;
and it consists, first, in an improved combination of machinery for effecting
the changes performed by the cam shaft in the mules known as Roberts'
patent self-actors.
My improved machinery consists of a lever or combination of levers, and of
a weight connected to the carriage, and acting on the said lever or levers.
This weight, with the lever or levers, act on the machinery for putting in and
out of gear the apparatus for drawing out and putting up the carriage, and ou
the machinery for putting the backing-off friction cones out of contact.
Secondly, in the application of duplex levers, to which motion is given by
wheels in combination with the squaring shaft or other convenient part of the
mule, for the purpose of moving the driving strap on and off the fast and
loose pulleys at the commencement and completion of the stretch.
And, thirdly, in the application of a latch or curved plate and bar in con-
nection with the strap fork lever, for allowing the backing-off friction cones to
be drawn into contact by a spring for backing-off when the driving strap has
been moved off or nearly off the fast pulley.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a self-acting mule to which my improvements
are applied; Fig. 2 is an end elevation, taken from the back of the same;
and Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detached views of parts of my improvements.
a is the rim shaft, to which are fixed the driving pulley a', and backing-off
friction cone a²; is the twist shaft, which is driven by a worm on the rim
shaft; c is the lower shaft, which is driven by the spur wheel a³, fixed to the

page_text: boss of the pulley a, loose on the rim shaft a. To the end of the shaft c is
fixed a bevel wheel c', which gears into the bevel wheel d, loose on the vertical
shaft d; to the lower end of which is fixed the bevel pinion da, gearing into
the wheel e¹ on the scroll shaft c; f is the front, roller shaft, which is driven
from the rim shaft a by a train of wheels, shewn best in Fig. 2, and by an
horizontal shaft g; his the squaring or drawing-out shaft, which is driven
from the shaft g by differential wheels, in the manner described in, the Spe-
cification of Letters Patent granted to the within-named Robert Halliwell and
John Metcalfe in One thousand, eight hundred and forty-eight; i is the
carriage supporting the spindles j and the faller and counterfaller shafts k, l.
The faller motion is clearly shown in Fig. 1, and does not require to be par-
ticularly described here.
m is the winding-on quadrant, which is worked by
the pinion m on the front scroll pulley shaft m². The parts above enumerated,
and all the others necessary to complete the mule, and which are not more
particularly referred to hereafter, are made in the usual manner.
My Invention consists of an improved combination of parts for putting in
and out of gear tho machinery for drawing out and putting up the carriage,
and for putting the backing-off friction cones in and out of contact. The
lever i, which is similar to the long lever used in Roberts' patent self-acting
mules, vibrates upon the fulcrum stud n¹; the front end of this lever is held
up while the carriage is going out by the catch 22³, and to the back end of the
lever is hinged the bar n. To the carriage square i' is jointed, the weighted
lever o, furnished with a bowl o', which, as the carriage moves to and fro,
runs on the upper surface of the lever n. The upper end of the bar is
jointed to tho horizontal arm of the bell-crank lever 2, which is mounted on
the stud n³, fixed to the framing; to the vertical arm of the lever n' is jointed
the horizontal rod p, which slides to and fro in a bracket p', projecting from
the framing; to the rod p is fixed the incline p2, which acts on a bowl pro-
jecting from the lever p³, by which the drawing-out catch box is worked; to
the rod pis also fixed the stud p, for acting on the lever p, shewn also in
Fig. 3. At the upper end of the lever p is a slot in which a stud fixed to
the cone fork lever p' enters; on this stud is mounted a bowl p³, which is
held in contact with the catch or curved plate q, by the spring p", fixed at one.
end to the lover p, and at the other to the rod p. The curved plate 7 vibrates
on a fixed stud q'. To the twist shaft 6 is fixed a pinion &', gearing into the
pinion?, fixed to the second twist shaft r, which is sometimes used in mules
for spinning fine numbers. To the shaft r is fixed the finger, which as the
shaft revolves comes against the stud s¹, projecting from the bar s, and raises
it off the studs, fixed to the framing. In coarse spinning, when the twist.

page_text: shaft is not required, the bar s is raised off the stud s by a lever acted upon
by the carriage. To the bar s is mounted the bowl s³, taking into the slot of the
curved plateq; the end of the bar s is jointed to the strap fork levert, which
is hinged to the stud t'. Upon the boss of the strap fork lever t are fitted the
weighted duplex levers and . To the squaring shaft h is fixed the
pinion h', gearing into the wheel , to the face of which is fixed a stud for
the bowl, seen also in Fig. 2; this bowl is brought alternately into contact
with the levers and t, as will be described hereafter.
The Drawing represents the parts of the mule in the positions they occupy
when the carriage, in going out, has performed about half its traverse. The
mode of operation is as follows:When the carriage arrives at the end of its
stretch, the finger disengages the catch n from the stud projecting from the
long lever n, which being pressed upon by the weighted lever o, then drops on
to the catch '; this change in the position of the long lever n causes the bar
to rise, and consequently moves the rod p in the direction of the arrow
sufficiently to cause the incline p to throw the drawing-out catch box out of
gear, thereby instantly stopping the outward motion of the carriage, the
drawing rollers having been previously stopped in the usual manner; the
carriage then remains stationary until sufficient twist has been put into the
yarn, at which time the finger comes against the stud s', and liberates the
bars, which then moves in the direction of the arrow, being influenced by
the weighted lever t acting on the strap fork levert, as shewn in Fig. 4,
which represents the parts in the positions they occupy when the carriage is
out, that is to say, the bowl 3 has then lifted the lever t, so that the stud
projecting from it is not in contact with the strap fork lever t, but the stud
projecting from the lever t is acting on the said strap fork lever, and causes
it to assume the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. As soon as the
bars has been liberated, as above described, by this means, the driving strap,
which during the going out of the carriage had been held on the pulley a' and
partly on the pulley a', is moved entirely on to the pulley a'.
When the bar
s is moved as above described, the bowl s moves the curved plate 7 until the
bowl p enters the recessed part of the plate q, the spring then acting on
the levers and p7, press the backing-off friction cones into contact; the
backing-off is then effected, and the fallers are acted upon in the usual manner;
and when the faller has descended to its proper position for winding the yarn
on the cops, the faller arm comes under the faller rack ', the upright, to
which is fixed the inclined piece i, then drops, and the inclined piece i acting
on the trigger n, disengages the catch a' from the long lever n, which then
drops the second time; the dropping of the front end of the lever n disengages

page_text: the holding out catch in the usual manner, and raises the back end of the
said lever until it is latched on the catch no, the bar n' is thus again raised,
and the rod p is moved a second time in the direction of the arrow, thereby
slackening the spring p, aud bringing the stud p' against the lever p, which,
acting on the lever p, disconnects the backing-off friction cones; the stud p
projecting from the bar p, then presses against the strap fork lever t, and holds
it in position.
The bar , in rising the second time, acts on the lever n', to which the
putting-up catch box n is connected in the usual manner; the carriage then
commences running in, and when up the finger 7 disengages the catch nº, the
back end of the long lever n then drops, being pressed down by the weighted
lever o; the bar 7 in descending pulls the drawing-up catch box n out of
gear, and draws the rod p into its original position, as shewn in the Drawing;
the bowl has by this time raised the lever t in the manner above described,
and liberated the lever t, which then acts on the strap fork lever t, and brings
the bar s, the curved plate 7, and driving strap back to their former positions,
at the same time the incline p is brought from under the bowl of the lever p³,
thereby allowing the drawing-out catch box to be put into gear by the action
of the spring po. The drawing rollers having been put into motion, and the
fallers unlatched in the usual manner, the various parts are in their proper
positions for performing another stretch.
of
The catch, shewn by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 3, is for the purpose
keeping the backing-off cones out of contact until the curved plate 9 is brought
back to the position shewn in Fig. 1, it is then unlatched by the stud v
acting on the end of the catch v.
In the foregoing description and Drawing I have only referred to a self-
acting mule for spinning, but I wish to remark that my Invention is also
applicable to self-acting mules for doubling, and as these machines are very
similar in their general construction, it will not be necessary to describe the
application of my improvements to a mule for doubling.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I make no claim to
any of the well-known parts of the mule which I have shewn and described
in order to illustrate the mode of applying my improvements; but what I
claim is,―
First, tho application of the lever n, in combination with the weighted
lever o, bar n³, and parts acting in combination therewith, for putting in and
out of gear the catch boxes for drawing out and putting up the carriages of
self-acting mules.

page_text: Secondly, the application of the lever n, in combination with the weighted
lever o, bar n³, and parts acting in combination therewith, for putting the
backing-off friction cones out of contact, as described.
Thirdly, the application of the latch or curved plate 7, with the bar s, and
the parts acting in combination therewith, for allowing the backing-off friction
cones to be put in contact, as described.
And, lastly, the application of the duplex levert and t³, and the parts acting
in combination therewith, for moving the driving strap, as described,
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Halliwell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
ROBERT HALLIWELL. (L.S.)