IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WINDING YARNS OR THREAD
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Addison Cox, of Lochee, Dundee, in the
County of Forfar, North Britain, Power Loom Linen Manufacturer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WINDING
YARNS OR THREAD."
Sealed the 6th October 1854, and dated the 7th August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Addison Cox at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
7th August 1854.
I, GEORGE ADDISON Cox, of Lochee, Dundee, in the County of Forfar,
North Britain, Power Loom Linen Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR WINDING YARNS OR THREAD" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to various novel arrangements of winding machinery
for winding yarn or other threads in the different operations of the manufac-
turer. The spindles for holding and driving the pirns or coils of yarn are
made of iron, or other suitable metal, and they are covered with leather, gutta
percha, india-rubber, or other frictional substance.
Each spindle is disposed in a horizontal direction, and is made to revolve by
its frictional contact with the circumference of surface wheels, carried on shafts
or spindles, which are arranged horizontally and at right angles with the main

page_text: or centre shaft of the machine, from which latter shaft they are driven. When
the pirn has been filled with yarn by the winding action, it stops automatically.
This movement is produced by the pressure of the spindle, and against a lever
or spanner, which disengages a duly arranged catch, and permits a pair of
eccentrics or cones situated beneath the spindle to disengage the frictional
surfaces, bringing the spindle clear of its driving discs or wheels. Should a
thread break during the winding action, or should it be necessary to stop any
spindle for any other reason, a small thumb handle, projecting from the catch
or stop, gives the attendant the necessary- means of providing such stoppage.
This thumb handle requires but a very slight pressure to throw it off, and
thus permit the eccentrics to lift the spindle. clear off the driving discs or
wheels.
The same lever or spanner which bears upon the spindle end serves to afford
power by means of a weight or spring, for effecting the hard or soft winding on
of the yarn upon the pirn. An eccentric motion is also fitted up, in connection
with the driving gear of the machine, for the purpose of increasing the velocity
of the spindle when the yarn' is winding on the small part of the pirn, thus
imparting a uniform speed to the take-off of the yarn from the reels or
holders. This same eccentric motion gives a variable motion to the guides for
laying the yarn on the pirns. There is also a weight attached on the eccentric
motion shaft for balancing the power required for driving the machine.
SPECIFICATION. in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Addison Cox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ADDISON Cox, of Lochee, Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain,
Power Loom Linen Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year of. our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Addison Cox, Her special license that I, the said George Addison
Cox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Addison Cox, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should- at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all. times there-

page_text: after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WINDING YARNS OR THREAD," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Addison Cox, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 George Addison Cox, do hereby de-
clare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to various novel arrangements of winding ma-
chinery for winding yarn or other threads in the different operations of the
manufacture of textile fabrics. The spindles for holding and driving the pirns,
cops, or coils of yarn are made of iron, or other suitable metal, and they are
covered with leather, gutta percha, india-rubber, or other frictional substance.
Each spindlo is disposed in a horizontal direction, and is made to revolve by
its frictional contact with the circumference of surface wheels, carried on shafts
or spindles, which are arranged horizontally and at right angles with the main
or centre shaft of the machine, from which latter shaft they are driven. When
the pirn has been filled with yarn by the winding action, it stops automatically
and without any extraneous attention. This movement is produced by the
pressure of the spindle end against a lever or spanner, which disengages a duly
arranged catch, and permits a pair of eccentrics or cams situated beneath the
spindle to disengage the frictional surfaces, bringing the spindle clear of its
driving discs or wheels. Should a thread break during the winding action, or
should it be necessary to stop any spindle for any other reason, a small thumb
handle, projecting from the catch or stop. gives the attendant the necessary
means of providing such stoppage. This thumb handle requires but a very
slight pressure to throw it off, and thus permit the eccentrics to lift the spindle
clear off the driving disc or wheels. The same lover or spanner which bears
upon the spindle end serves to afford power, by means of a weight or spring, for
effecting the hard or soft winding on of the yarn upon the pirn. An eccentric
motion is also fitted up, in connection with the driving gear of the machine, for
the purpose of increasing the velocity of the spindle when the yarn is winding

page_text: on the small part of the pirn, thus imparting a uniform speed to the take-off
of the yarn from the reels or holders. This same eccentric motion gives a
variable motion to the guides for laying the yarn on the pirns. There is also a
weight attached to the eccentric motion shaft for balancing the power required
for driving the machine.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several explanatory Figures on the two Sheets of
Drawings hereunto attached.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, is a side elevation of a portion of a
winding machine constructed according to my said Invention, and Figure 2,
on the same Sheet, is an end elevation of the machine, as looking on the end
at which the driving details are placed.
Figure 3, on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, is a plan, corresponding to Figure 1
on Sheet 1; Figure 4, on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, is an end elevation of the
machine as taken at the opposite end to that represented in Figure 2; Figures
5 and 6, also on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, are enlarged views of the spindle
details; the former representing the spindle in end view, as resting between
its driving pulleys, and the latter shewing the spindle in longitudinal section,
and in connection with the details of the stopping movement. The framing of
the machine is made up of the transverse or end standards A, of cast iron, and
the several longitudinal cast-iron bars B, in which are the bearings for the
various spindle drivers and other details. The driving details are carried in a
separate framing C, bolted up against one end of the main frame. They consist
of a pair of driving pulleys D, carried upon a short transverse shaft E, revolving
in bearings in the framing C. On the shaft E is keyed a bevil wheel F, in gear.
with a bevil wheel G, fast upon a short longitudinally disposed shaft, the inner
end of which has fast upon it a pinion H, in gear with a spur wheel I, fast on
a parallel shaft J, carried in bearings towards one side of the frame C. On
this shaft J is keyed an eccentric spur wheel K, arranged to gear with a corre-
sponding eccentric spur wheel L, upon a parallel shaft M, carried in bearings
in the frame C. It is by means of these eccentric wheels K and L, that the
variable notion is obtained to suit the varying quantity of yarn on the pirns.
The shaft M has keyed upon a spur wheel N, in gear with a pinion O, upon a
parallel shaft P, upon which shaft is a spur wheel Q, in gear with a pinion R,
on the upper central shaft S, running along the entire length of the winding
frame, being carried in suitable bearings in the transverse frames A. The
shaft S has fixed upon it at intervals a series of bevil wheels T, which are in
gear with and drive a series of bevil wheels U, fast on the inner ends of a
number of transverse horizontal spindles V, disposed on opposite sides of the

page_text: centre shaft S, and revolving in bearings in the longitudinal frame bars B.
The spindles V each carry a pair of wheels W, which serve for driving the
winding spindles X. One of these winding spindles is shewn in longitudinal
section in Figure 6, and it consists of a central iron or steel spindle Y, which
is covered with leather or other frictional material Z. Each winding spindle
X lies between and bears by its frictional surface upon the peripheries of two
adjacent pairs of wheels W, the rotation of which causes that of the spindle
and of the pirn a carried upon its outer end. The yarn or thread to be wound
to the pirn or cop form is brought to the machine in the form of hanks b,
mounted upon reels or swifts c, and the reels are supported in open bearings in
brackets d, standing out laterally from the framing. The yarns or threads
pass up from the reels c, over a guide rail f, and round the guide pins g, to the
pirns a. The guide pins gare fixed to a longitudinal bar h, which is traversed
out and in by means of the ordinary heart movement, so as to lay the threads
evenly along the pirns, the length of traverse of the bar h being exactly equal
to the length of the cone on the pirn. The outer end or cone of each pirn a
lies between a pair of check pieces i, which assist in shaping the cone, and in
causing the build up of the thread to be firm. As the pirn becomes full it
pushes the spindle X towards the centre of the machine, causing it to act on
the lever j, by means of which it becomes disengaged from the driving details.
The lever vibrates on a centre at k below, and it is formed with a short arm l,
upon which a weight m can be adjusted, thereby affording a means of regu-
lating the pressure of the lever on the spindle and pirn. The lever j is
arranged as represented on a larger scale in Figure 6, so as to act on a rod n,
the other end of which is jointed to a small upright catch lever o, in front of
the pirn. When the lever j is pressed back by the full pirn, it draws the rod n
and the catch lever o, so as to set free a spindle p above. This spindle p is
capable of turning in bearings in the longitudinal frame bars B, and it has
fast upon it two segmental cams or eccentrics q, and an eccentric weight r, the
latter being arranged as to give the spindle a tendency to turn the cams to their
most elevated position. These cams are immediately below the winding
spindle X, and when the catch lever o sets the spindle p free, the cams turn
on their spindle, and lift the winding spindle X out of contact with the driving
wheels W, so as to stop the communication to it of the winding motion. The
catch lever o is made with a projecting thumb piece s, by means of which the
attendant can release the disengaging movement at any instant, as when the
thread breaks, for example. Each individual winding spindle is fitted with
similar disconnecting details, so that one or more may be stopped at pleasure
without affecting any other portion of the machine. As the rate at which the
.

page_text: spindles are driven varies, according to the quantity of yarn upon the pirn,
this variation being effected by means of the eccentric wheels K, L, as already
described, the amount of driving power required will also obviously vary.
This variation, however, is counterbalanced in the present machine by means
of a weight t, adjustable upon a lever or spanner u, fast on the shaft M,
through which the driving power is transmitted. This weighted lever is so
adjusted upon the shaft as to act in concert with the power, when more
power is required, whilst it acts against or absorbs the power when a less
amount of power is required.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means for winding yarn or thread, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of winding yarn or thread by means of hori-
zontally disposed spindles lying upon the peripheries of and driven by surface
wheels upon horizontal spindles, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of stopping the motion of the spindles of yarn or
thread winding machines, when horizontal spindles are used, by means of cams
or equivalent mechanical details, arranged to lift or move the spindles out of
contact with the surface driving wheels, on the releasing of a catch either
by hand or by the action of the spindle itself when full, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said George Addison Cox, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
GEORGE ADDISON COX. (L.S.)