IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, DOUBLING, AND SPINNING "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, DOUBLING, AND SPINNING SILK
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hill, senior, and John Hill, junior, both.
of the City of Manchester, Machine Makers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, DOUBLING, AND SPINNING
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, DOUBLING, AND SPINNING
SILK."
Sealed the 1st February 1854, and dated the 23rd November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hill, senior,
and John Hill, junior, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 23rd November 1853.
We, JOHN HILL, senior, and JoHN HILL, junior, both of the City of
Manchester, Machine Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, DOUBLING,
AND SPINNING SILK" to be as follows:-
Our improvements consist in performing the operations of winding
silk from the cocoon, doubling and spinning it on a machine similar in
many respects to the machines used in spinning cotton called a mule.
The cocoons from which the silk is to be wound are placed in a trough.
containing warm water or other suitable liquid; the silk is conveyed
over 'guides and passes between a pair of rollers, which in revolving,

page_text: .
draw the silk off the cacoons. The produce of six or other suitable
number of cacoons is united or doubled at the rollers to form one
thread; these threads are twisted or spun, and wound on spindles
mounted in a carriage moving to and fro in the ordinary manner
employed in spinning cotton. We wish to remark that the silk threads
thus produced may sometimes be again doubled and pass through a
similar machine, to be again twisted together and wound on spindles as
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hill, senior, and John Hill, junior, in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN HILL, senior, and JOHN HILL, junior both of the City of Man-
chester, Machine Makers, send greeting:
at
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty' Queen Victoria; by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said John Hill, senior, and
John Hill, junior, Her special license that we, the said John Hill,
senior, and John Hill, junior, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said John Hill, senior, and John Hill, junior,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should 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
"IMPROVEMENTS. IN: MACHINERY, FOR WINDING, DOUBLING, AND SPINNING
SILK, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Hill, senior, and John Hill, junior, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and. seals, or under the hand and seal of either of us, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said. Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
.

page_text: 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 we, the said John Hill, senior, and John
Hill, junior, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is
to say:
The nature of our Invention consists in unwinding silk from cocoons
contained in a trough supported at the back of a machine furnished with
a moveable carriage, as in the machines called mules used in cotton
spinning, and in doubling, spinning, and winding the silk obtained from
the cocoons on to spindles supported in a carriage.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same, reference being had
to the annexed. Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents an elevation in section of our improved machine
for winding, doubling, and spinning silk. Figure 2 is a plan of part of
-the same machine.. a, is the framing of the headstock; b, the square
which supports the driving shaft; c, the roller beam; d, the carriage;
e, the spindles; f, the fallers; and g, the counter fallers... All these
parts are similar to those in general use for spinning cotton; h, is a
-trough extending the whole length of the machine; this trough is partly
filled with water, or other. suitable liquid, which is kept warm either by
steam admitted in the pipes h', or by other convenient heating' appa-
ratus. The cocoons from which the silk is to be unwound, after having
been previously softened in the ordinary. manner, are placed in the
trough.h, and the filaments of six or other number of cocoons are guided
between the wires i, and over the wires j, where they are united and
pass on to the rod k; from whence they proceed to the spindles e;: on
which they are wound after being twisted.
. Above the rod .k, is a roller l, which is supported by the levers 1,
fixed to the fulcrum shaft . We prefer to make the roller 7, of wood,
:covered with flannel or other yielding material:

page_text: The carriage d is now supposed to be going out, and the roller is
held above the rod k by the spring 1; but as soon as the carriage
arrives at the end of its stretch, the counterfaller shaft, by acting against
the lever m, causes the rod m', which is hinged to the lever 3, to draw
down the roller 7, until it bears upon the rod k; the latch ' then drops
under the catch on the segment ", and holds the rod k, and; roller l, in
contact during the going in of the carriage. The mode of operation is as
follows The attendant having unwound a sufficient length of filament
from all the cocoons, secures the filaments of six or other convenient
number of cocoons to each spindle; the carriage at the commencement
of the operation being close to the roller beam c.
Motion is then given to the carriage in the same manner as in mules
for spinning cotton, and as the filaments of silk are attached to the
spindles it is evident that as the carriage recedes from the roller beam c,
the cocoons are unwound, and as the spindles revolve during the going
out of the carriage, the filaments become by this operation, twisted
together. When the carriage is at the end of its stretch, the counter-
faller shaft, by acting on the lever m, pulls the roller 1, down on to the
rod k, as before described, thereby holding the silk threads fast between
the two; the carriage then runs in, and the fallers f. and g, being
acted upon eitlier by hand or by power as in other mules, distri-
bute the threads on to the spindles so as to build the cops; when the
carriage arrives close to the roller beam, the stud m² raises the balance
weight 1, which is fixed to the latch ', thereby liberating the said latch
and allowing the spring 1 to raise the roller off the rod k; the car-
riage then runs out again and unwinds a fresh portion of filaments
from the cocoons, which are twisted during the going out, and wound on
the spindles during the running in of the carriage. These operations
'continue until the cops are full. From the above it will be seen that
the operations of unwinding the filaments of silk from the cocoons,
doubling, and twisting them together are simultaneous, and the opera-
stion of winding the threads thus produced on to the spindles is
independent of the others.
.
We wish to observe that in some cases the upper roller 7, and parts
.for elevating and lowering it, may be dispensed with, and in other cases
a pair of rollers may be used in place of the roller 1, and rod.k....When

page_text: rollers are used they must be made to revolve during the going out of
the carriage, and remain stationary when the carriage goes in; in the
same way as the front drawing roller of mules for spinning cotton. A
pair of grooved straight edges may also be used so as to cause sufficient
friction on the threads without compressing them, as shewn in Fig. 3.
Instead of making the spindles recede from and approach the trough
containing the cocoons in the manner above described, the trough may-
be made to recede from and approach the spindles, but we prefer the
arrangement shewn in the Drawing. The silk threads thus produced
may be doubled in a machine similar to the one above described; when
this is the case, two or more of the threads produced on the first
machine are drawn off the cops (supported in a creel placed in the
same position as the trough in Figure 1), and twisted together during
the going out of the carriage, and wound on the spindles during the
running in of the same.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not
claim producing silk threads direct from the cocoon, but what we do
claim is the application of the machine called a mule, or other machine
furnished with a moveable carriage for winding, doubling, and spinning
silk as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Hill, senior, and John Hill,
junior, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twentieth
day of May, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Signed, sealed and delivered by the
within-named John Hill, sen', and
John Hill, jun', in the presence of
H. B. BARLOW,
Patent Agent,
JOHN HILL, SEN". (L.S.)
JOHN HILL, JUN. (L.S.)
Manchester.