CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
KNOWLES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the First day of August, in the third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Knowles, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Knowles, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Knowles, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no other,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England
and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF COTTON
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Knowles, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Knowles, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements in machinery or apparatus used in the preparation of
cotton and other fibrous substances consist, firstly, in the application of a
certain novel arrangement of mechanism to carding, drawing, and roving
machines used or employed in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous
substances for spinning; and, secondly, in the application of a single twisting
tube or guide to drawing and roving frames, and used also in combination with
my aforesaid improvements, for the purpose of imparting sufficient tenacity
to the sliver before winding it upon a bobbin, to enable it to be unwound
without injury in the subsequent process.
The principal feature of novelty in the first part of my improvements is
effected by passing the sliver as it proceeds from the doffing end of the
carling engine along and around a moveable expanding guider, which prevents
any unequal tension or stretching of the sliver as it is condutced to the bobbin
at whatever part of the bobbin the sliver may be winding on. But in order
that these improvements may be better understood, and the mode of bringing
them into practical operation further explained, I have attached to these
Presents a Sheet of Drawings, which sufficiently illustrate their application,
and I have marked the same with figures and letters of reference, 'in which
similar letters are placed upon corresponding parts of the mechanism in. 'all
the Figures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2a side elevation, representing the first part of
my improvements as attached or applied to a carding engine for carding cotton;
Fig. 3 is a plan or horizontal view, as seen from above; and Fig. 4is a vertical
section taken through the same; and it will be observed that the improvements
are only applicable to those machines in which the filaments, slivers, or slubbings
of cotton, &c. are wound upon bobbins instead of being placed in cans. Part
of the cast-iron framings of an ordinary carding engine is shewn at a, a, which is
the doffing end, and b'is the filament of cotton, proceeding through the trumpet
or cone c to the ordinary drawing box d, d; from thence the cotton proceeds 'in
a band or sliver along the jointed guider d', d, and around the central pro-
jecting pin e, which is placed at the middle of the guider 'upon an ordinary
swivel or rule joint. The sliver of cotton thus-proceeds through the guidef,'f,
and under the pressing roller g, g, whence it is coiled or wound upon the
bobbin h, h, as it revolves upon the drumi, i. Motion, may be given to my
improved conibination of machinery from any convenient 'part of the carding
engine, or other machine to which it is applicable. I effect this in the carding

page_text: engine as follows, namely:-The shaft being a part of the carding engine which
is used for giving motion to the drawing rollers, a small pulley
m is fixed upon
it, and a strap being passed round this pulley, and a larger pulley n fixed on the
axis of the drum or bed roller i, i, this drum is caused to revolve, and by friction
of contact enables the bobbin to wind on the sliver. At the same time, by means
of the mitre wheels o, o, and shaft v, motion is communicated to the mangle
pinion p and mangle rack 2, in order to traverse the guide or arm f (which
is fastened to the rack q) from end to end of the bobbin as the bobbin winds up
the sliver. It must be here observed, that as the bobbin winds up each suc-
ceeding layer of the sliver its diameter increases, and consequently its speed
decreases, and the guide or arm ƒ always traversing at the same speed, the coils
of the sliver, which in the first, layer. are wound upon the bobbin side by side,
are in each succeeding layer wound on further and further apart, and make a
smaller and smaller portion of a whole. revolution straight round the bobbin at
each extremity of the traverse. It must also be observed that the traverse of
the arm or guide f is made about an inch shorter at each end than the distance
between the bobbin heads, and as the diameter of the bobbin increases by the
continuous winding-on of the sliver, the first or under layers will expand by the
pressure of the upper layers. By these arrangements the bobbin may be filled
to twice the size of the bobbin heads, and the mass of sliver which is above
the bobbin heads will have conical ends, without the use of any other shorten-
ing motion whatever, and the coils will not slip off at the ends. I thus attain
the desirable object of making a large roll of sliver without incurring the great
expence of large bobbin heads. I shall now proceed to shew the use of the
expanding guider d', d. The distance from the unvarying point, where the
sliver is delivered from the carding engine, to the varying points on the bobbin
where it is wound up, gradually increases as the point of winding up becomes
further from the middle of the bobbin and nearer its ends. The sliver; therefore,
having to extend through this increasing distance, would manifestly be stretched
more and more as the distance encreased, unless it were allowed to be inconve-
niently slack when the distance was short. The expanding guider d', d', is
applied to remedy this slackness or stretching. One of its ends is fixed. on a
pivot y (as will be seen by the Drawings) just under the point at which the
sliver is delivered; the other end is fixed upon a pivot, at the guiding end of
the guide or arm f, and about the middle it has a rule joint, on which is fixed a
pin e. The expanding guider d', d, thus reaches across the varying distance,
and by means of its pivots and joint, when that distance is short it is considerably
bent, and as that distance increases it is gradually straightened. By means of
the pin e the sliver is made to follow the direction of the expanding guider, and

page_text: when the distance is short, the otherwise inconvenient slackness of the sliver is
taken away by its bent form, and as the distance increases its straightening
prevents any stretching of the sliver.
Fig. 5 represents a front, and Fig. 6 a side view, of my improvements
as applied to a drawing machine; a, a, being the framing of the apparatus ;
b, the sliver of cotton, proceeding through the trumpet or cone c to
the front or delivering rollers d, d, from thence the sliver proceeds exactly
as above described, along the jointed guider d', d', and around its central
projecting pin e. It will be seen in this apparatus that this expanding
guider is placed vertically instead of horizontally, as in the one previously
described. The reciprocating twisting motion may be applied in many ways;
but it is shewn in the Drawings as communicated by the crank or eccentric p;
fixed on the end of the shaft 7, working the twisting cord or band q, q, back-
wards and forwards, which cord, having its ends fastened to two convenient
parts of the framing, passes round the twisting tube w, and gives to it a similar
motion; r, r, are guide pullies to guide the band q to and from the tube, one of
them being fixed on the bow springs, which gives elasticity to the band; t, t, is
a small inclined plane for the purpose of throwing off the sliver any oil that may
escape from the twisting tube in working. It is necessary to have the aperture
in the upper part of the twisting tube oblong, so that the sliver will not slip round
within it. A very important feature in this my new combination of machinery
is, that it is applicable to the drawing frame now in use, without any alteration.
or derangement of their parts, except such as shewn above. From the
expanding guider d', d', the sliver proceeds through the tube'w, fixed in the
guide or arm f, and under the pressing roller g, whence it is wound upon the
bobbin h, revolving upon the drum i, i, as in the carding engine; the only
important difference between the apparatus, as applied to a carding engine
and the other machines being the addition in the latter of the tube w, through
which the sliver is passed, to give it sufficient tenacity to be unwound from the
bobbin in the subsequent process without injury. I give motion to my new
combination of machinery in the drawing frame as follows, namely, a small
pulley m being fixed upon the shaft t, which is a part of the drawing frame now
in use, and a strap being passed round this pulley, and a larger pulley n on the
axis of the drum i, i, the traverse and winding up of the sliver are effected, as
above described in the carding engine. The tube w may have motion given to
it so as to make it twist the sliver either one way only, or first one way and then
the other, which last is called a reciprocating twisting motion. The first
motion may be easily applied by any competent mechanic, and, as it will be less
useful than the other, I do not think it necessary for me to describe its appli-

page_text: cation. The method of doffing full bobbins from this improved apparatus in
all the Figures is exceedingly simple and effective, and it is done by merely
releasing the catch from the side of the framework and removing the full
bobbin, while the end of the sliver may be immediately passed round the empty
bobbin, which has been placed in the machine without otherwise disturbing
the machinery, or stopping the operation of any of the working parts. But
as the mode of doffing is an important part of my Invention when applied to
the drawing and roving frames, in consequence of their running at a very great
speed, I will describe it more particularly. The red lines in Figure 6 shew
the position of some parts of my machinery during this process. When the
bobbin is full, as at h in Figure 6, the catch z being raised, allows the front
part 1 of the frame to be turned upon its centre at 2, until its tail piece 3,
coming in contact with the under side of the stationary framework, stops it. At
the same time, the full bobbin following the frame h, rolls along the surface at
the drum i, and continues to wind on the sliver until the sliver is broken off.
The empty bobbin 5 is now dropped in to its place, where it is supported by a
short projecting piece of the stationary framework, from which the full bobbin
became free in consequence of its increased diameter. As the full bobbin
continues to wind on till the sliver is broken off, no particular hurry is neces-
sary, and the attendant may deliberately turn the broken end round the
The full bobbin is now to be
empty bobbin, which then begins to wind on.
removed, and the frame h raised to its former place, where it is again held by
the catch until the succeeding doffing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Knowles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.
THOMAS (L.S.) KNOWLES.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of January, in
the third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Thomas
Knowles, came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
1
all and avow thing therein contained and