IMPROVE MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREAD OF COTTON OR LINEN, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, OR SEWING SILK, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES UPON BOBBINS OR SPOOLS
Year: 1859

page_text: Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Surrey, for the Invention of
LETTERS PATENT to George
Park, Brixton, in the County of
"IMPROVE
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREAD OF COTTON OR LINEN, OR OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS, OR SEWING SILK, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES UPON BOBBINS OR
SPOOLS." A communication from abroad by Lawson C. Ives, of Hartford;
-
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 22nd June 1859, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the. County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS.
APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREAD OF COTTON OR. LINEN. OR OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS, OR SEWING SILK. OR SIMILAR ARTICLES UPON BOBBINS OR SPOOLS,"
[Price 8d.]

page_text: (communicated to me from abroad by Lawson C. Ives, of Hartford, Con-
necticut, United States of America,) and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
These improvements are specially applicable to the winding of cotton,
thread, or sewing silk upon the ordinary spools upon which thread is wound
and sold, the ends of which spools are conical, or irregularly conical, thus
forcing each layer or course of thread wound thereon to be longer, or contain-
more turns of thread than that layer upon which it is wound, the longest layer
being the outermost one. But these improvements will also be useful in wind-
ing spools whose ends are perpendicular to the axes thereof, and where all the
layers are of the same length, and the object sought and attained by these
improvements is the winding of threads upon spools layer upon layer, and cach
layer filling the whole length of the spool with great regularity and precision,
without any attention on the part of the operator or attendant other than that
required in removing and replacing spools, in cutting thread and fastening
the ends when the spool is full, and in attaching the end of thread to a fresh
spool and setting the machine in motion.
The description will proceed with reference to the Drawings, in which
Figure 1 is an elevation of that end of the machine on which the bobbin is
mounted, which is called the front of the machine; Figure 2 is a plan or top
view of the machine; Figure 3 is a side elevation of a pattern cam, or traverse
changer; Figure 4 is an end elevation of the same; Figure 5 is a develop-
ment of this cam upon a plane surface; Figure 6 is a detail Drawing, in sec-
tion, of the cam and the lips in which its steps or projections act to change
the traverse or direction of winding of the thread upon the spool or bobbin;
Figure 7 is an elevation in detail of the latch and its socket or keeper on the
rigger Figures 8, 9, and 10, are respectively a plan, an end elevation, and
side elevation of a modification of apparatus for stopping the action of the
machine when a spool is full.
The machine or apparatus consists of a bed plate with two end plates or
uprights attached thereto, and in these in proper boxes are mounted a shaft A,
which supports the spool on which the thread is to be wound, a shaft B
carrying a right and a left-hand screw, such as 1 and r, and a traverse rod C.
The shaft A is provided with a pulley, such as a', to receive a belt, which gives
motion to the whole apparatus; also with a conical pulley, such as *, and
has on the end projecting from the front of the machine a socket, into which
a spindle is to be inserted on which the spool is mounted, and below this shaft

page_text: lies a rod, to which is attached a link p, to which is connected a hand lever R,
and near the end of this rod are two projections o, o, the rod, the projections,
and the lever, being for the purpose of removing and replacing spools. The
shaft B with its conical pulley b', and right and left-hand screws lies parallel
to the shaft A, and is driven by a band such as b, the use of the conical pullies
being to vary the relative velocity of the shafts, and thus render the same
screws useful in the winding of threads of different diameters. The traverse
rod is so mounted as to have a sliding motion in the direction of its length only,
and mounted in the end of it as a thread guide and presser. This presser as
a whole, consists of a notched piece of metal D' mounted on a plate D, which
is free to turn on an axis on the end of the traverse rod, and is forced to carry
the notched piece towards the axis of the spool by means of a spiral or other
spring contained in a box D. The plate D is provided with a handle, by
means of which the attendant can lift the notched piece away from the spool,
and if necessary, control the degree of pressure, and this degree of pressure
may also be varied by turning the spring box, and holding it in 'the required
place by a dog taking into the notches shown in the Drawings. The notched
guide is prevented from falling too far by a stop, such as shown in the Draw-
ings, working in a slot in the plate, and attached wherever convenient.
It is important that the presser and guide should be mounted directly upon
the traverse rod, as the risk of back lashing at changes of the traverse or of
the guide not following the lead of the screws with accuracy, or of pausing
until the motion of the screws takes up the slackness of joints when the direc-
tion of motion of the traverse rod is reversed is thereby diminished. Such
risks would be increased by numerous joints between the presser and the nuts
which are actuated by the screws.
In order to wind thread layer upon layer with accuracy, the traverse rod
must cease to move in one direction, and commence moving in another as
nearly instantaneously as possible, such change of motion taking place when
any layer is completed, and in ordinary spools the traverse rod must move
through greater distances after each reverse or change of motion until the
spool is filled. In order to effect this operation, there is mounted upon the
traverse rod on proper pivots or hinges two levers or swinging bars 1E, .E,
the one carrying a section of a right hand, and the other a section of a left
The best plan of
hand nut corresponding with the screws on the shaft B.
mounting these bars is by means of adjustable pivots with set screws, as
shewn in the Drawings, the object being to permit .the bars.to swing freely,
while at the same time they communicate instantaneously to the traverse.rod

page_text: any horizontal motion that may be imparted to them. If either of these levers
were lifted (while the machine is in motion), so that the nut thereon engaged
with its corresponding screw, then would the traverse rod move as that screw
directed when that nut was dropped, so as to release itself from the screw, the
traverse rod would cease to move, and when the other nut was lifted so as to
engage with its screw, then the traverse rod would commence to move in the
reverse direction. In order to accomplish automatically this alternate lifting
and dropping of the levers, there is mounted upon the shaft B a pattern cam
or traverse changer, such as G, which is bored out so as to turn freely upon
the shaft. When this cam is slipped on the shaft, one end abuts against a
stationary collar, and set and jam nuts, such as h, k, are brought to bear against
a disc of leather or cork inserted in a recess or socket turned out in the other
end of the cam, the object of the arrangement being, that the cam shall revolve
with the shaft, being carried by the friction between the nut and the disc of
cork, unless it be locked fast, and that when locked fast the shaft may revolve
at full speed inside of it. From the periphery of the cam stand out a number
of steps or projections, as plainly shewn in the Drawing.
On the end of each swinging bar or drop lever E is formed a lip F, or these
lips may be separate pieces secured in place by set screws, as shewn in the
Drawings. These lips are sufficiently thin to (see Figure 6) slide freely
between the steps or projections on the traverse changer, and are so mounted
on the swinging bars that they will engage with the projections.
Each drop lever may be prevented from dropping too low by a stop such
as ', and its lowest position should be such that the nut which it controls shall
be out of contact with its corresponding screw thread. Now, the operation of
these parts is as follows:-Suppose that the lip F is in its highest position
resting on one of the projections, and the machine is in motion, then the nut
pertaining to F will be in gear with the screw r, and the lip, and consequently
the traverse bar and traverse guide will be moving towards the rear of the
machine. At the same time the lip F will be resting upon the step or pro-
jection next lowermost with its nut out of gear, and will follow the motions of
the traverse rod towards the rear of the machine. As soon as the end of the
lip F slips off of the step or projection on which it rested, the nut that it
governs will drop out of contact with the screw thread, the motion of the
traverse bar will cease, and the traverse changer or cam will be unlocked,
and commence to revolve through the friction connection; as it revolves, it
will almost instantaneously lift up the lip F2, until the nut governed by it
engages with its screw, when the cam will be locked fast again, and the

page_text: traverse rod, will, with the thread guide, commence to move in the opposite
direction, that is, towards the front of the machine.
While the lip F2 was being lifted by the traverse changer, the lip F¹ dropped
upon its stop, or the next projection below that it formerly occupied and as
F moves towards the front of the machine, F¹ follows it, entering and resting
in the same space between two projections, but with its nut out of contact with
the screw, as that nut lies at a greater distance below its controlling lip than
the nut governed by F lies below F, that is to say, when both
lips are in the same space between two projections, the nut on F may be in
gear with one of the screws, while the nut pertaining to F¹ is just out of gear
with the other.
The traverse rod continues to move towards the front of the machine until
lip F drops off the end of the projection or step in the traverse changer,
which is then unlocked, and lifts F¹ so as to put its nut in gear, while the nut
of F itself falls out of gear with the screws. The traverse rod, therefore,
again commences to move towards the rear of the machine, and so continues
to do until the lip F¹ again falls off of the projection which held it up. The
office of the cam, therefore, is to permit one nut to drop out or be released
from gear, and to throw the other nut into gear when each successive layer
of thread is completed; and its shape and motion may be variously modified,
so long as it produces such effects automatically. It may, moreover, be
mounted upon a shaft other than that carrying the screws, if thought desirable,
and may be caused at times to rest, and at others to move rapidly in many
ways known to mechanics, so long as it acts to govern the motion of nuts or
their equivalents substantially in the manner specified.
Spools, on which sewing thread or cotton is wound, are generally turned
with conical heads or ends; each layer of thread is therefore longer than the
one below it, and each traverse of the traverse rod must be of greater length
than the one preceding it; each lip, therefore, must hold the nut it governs
in gear for a longer time, as each successive layer of thread is wound, and each
step or projection on the traverse changer is therefore made longer than the
one which it follows as the cylinder revolves, as clearly shewn in the Drawings,
especially in Figure 5, and the relative length of steps must be governed by
the shape of the heads of the spool. The thread may be wound so as to fill
spools of any shape by a proper change of length of projections, the longest
of which must be as much longer than the shortest, as the outermost layer of
thread is longer than the inшost or first course or layer.
The lips are in the best form of the machine, adjustable so that they may

page_text: be brought towards, and separated from each other; when separated, they will
cause their respective nuts to remain less time in contact or engagement with
the screws. When brought together the opposite effect takes place; spools of.
different lengths may therefore be wound accurately with the same traverse
changer.
It is important that the winding should be stopped at the instant that the
spool is filled and the last course completed; first, for the reason that the latter
will then present a smooth surface from end to end of the spool. Second,
because the machine will then have all parts in the right position to commence
winding another spool; and for this purpose I have contrived a stop motion,
two modifications of which I will describe.
The first is shewn in Figures 1, 3, and 7. A rigger or shipper, X, is fitted
so as to slide freely in the frame of the machine, and is drawn backwards by a
weight or spring; and when in its rearmost position it holds the driving band
on a loose pulley, or in other well known ways stops the machine; when drawn
forward by hand, it draws the band off of a, loose pulley so as to put the
machine in motion, and is held in that position by a latch L dropping into a
socket on an arm depending from the rigger. If the latch be lifted, the
spring or weight will draw the rigger backward, and stop the machine. The
latch L is pivotted at L, and has attached to it an upright link (clearly shewn
in Figure 1,) to which is connected one arm of a bent lever. The other arm
of this lever rises vertically along side of that end of the traverse changer
nearest the nuts K, K, and from this end of the traverse changer projects a
small pin n, see Figures 3 and 4.
machine, strikes the upper end of
socket, the rigger is drawn back-
The pin is so located on the cam,
When this pin, in the revolution of the
the bent lever, the latch is lifted from the
wards by its spring, and the machine stops.
that the latch will be lifted at the period when one of the lips drops off of the
last projection, and the machine would, if not prevented, run for a short time
by its own momentum after the belt was thrown off, thus commencing a new
layer or course of thread. To prevent this, I have divided the last and longest
projection (see Figures 3 and 5) at o, and moved a short portion of it farther
around the pattern cylinder or traverse changer. By this means the belt will
be thrown off when the lip drops upon the short piece o, and the lip will ride
on that short piece, thus causing the outer layer of thread to be wound until
the machine loses its momentum and stops. I have by trial regulated the
length of the short piece or step of the last
effect, and a length, such as shewn in the
projection so as to ensure this
Drawings, will be effective in

page_text: machines made after the Drawings, which are on a scale of nine inches to the
foot.
Another modification of this same contrivance is also represented in the
Drawings in Figures 8, 9, and 10. A bell crank m is there represented as
pivotted on the bed plate of the machine, and by means of a lever acting on
the link of the latch lever L, before referred to. When the bell crank is
moved in the direction of the arrow (Figure 10) the latch will be lifted, and
the machine thrown out of gear. The upper end of the bell crank lever is a
spring tending to bear in the direction of the arrow (Figure 9) against the
hub, and the pin n, as it comes around, moves the upper end of the bell crank
away from the shaft, and into the path of one of the lips F1, so that when that
lip strikes the upper end of the crank the latch will be lifted and the machine
thrown out of gear, and when it has thrown the crank arm to its limit of
motion the arm will pass the end of the pin n, and fly back against the hub,
thus removing itself from the path of the lip, and permitting the latter to act
as it usually does until the spring arm is again thrown into its path by the
action of the pin n. The position of the arm m should be so adjusted with
reference to the lip that the belt shall be thrown off so long before the last
course of thread is wound that the machine will run by momentum just long
enough to complete that course.
In both the modifications of the stop motion the parts return to their proper
position in readiness to latch the rigger fast when pulled into place to start
the machine by the counterbalancing of the levers or by the use of springs.
In case the thread that is being wound breaks, or that all the thread is wound
off of the supplying bobbin, it is important that the machine should stop at
once, so that the spool shall not make a turn without thread being wound upon
it; if the contrary should happen, one layer and consequently all above it will
be irregular, unless the machine were run backwards to the place at which
thread was last wound upon the spool. It is also important that the thread
should be delivered to the presser guide under a constant tension so as to
ensure regularity of work. Having these objects in view, I have combined
with the winding apparatus a stop lever and tension apparatus, shewn clearly
in Figures 1 and 2. A standard or arm m is fitted somewhere between the
supplying bobbin and the presser guide, and carries pins, such as 1, 3, and 5,
and on one of the end plates of the machine or in any other convenient place
is pivotted a lever P, provided at its free end with pins, such as 2 and 4; this
lever or a projection from it lies directly above the upright link of the latch
lever L, in such manner that when the free end of P is not held up, it will

page_text: fall upon the link, and by its weight lift the latch out of its socket and stop
the machine. The thread (represented in the Drawings by a red line) passes:
from the supply bobbin over a pin on the arm under a pin on the lever; and so
on in succession to the notch in the presser and guide thread, and when the
machine is started the drag on the thread will hold 'up the free end of the.
lèver, but when the thread breaks anywhere between the supplying bobbin
and the spool on which thread 'is being wound the lever: will drop and the
machine will stop. The weight of the lever will produce a certain amount of:
tension; and the degree of tension can be varied by changing the position of a
shifting weight, such as that shewn at W, in the Drawings:
The form, position, and relative arrangement of parts in the machine may be
varied without departing from the principles of the Invention; so long as they'
have the same mode of operation, by which the same results are obtained; andi
any stop motion 'may be used in place of those described, so long as so com-
bined with a pattern cam" or traverse changer as to cause the motion to cease
when that cam has properly directed the filling of a spool by winding thereon:
successive layers of thread! The precise kind' of tension employed is, more-
over, immaterial, so long as so combined with a stopping lever that the
breaking of a thread shall cause that lever to stop the machine.
What is claimed as new in the before-described machine or apparatus,
iś,―
First, the combination substantially in the manner herein-before set forth,
of a traverse changer with right and left hand screws, and with nuts which are
alternately in gear with such screws, the combination operating as a whole,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.
Second, a traverse changer, substantially as such described, provided with
successive projections or steps, and'acting on lips, as before set forth:
Third, a stop motion, substantially such as either of those before described'
for causing the machine to come to rest when a spool is filled in combination
with automatic apparatus, substantially such as is set forth for regulating the
length of motion and change of direction of motion of a guide through which
thread is delivered to a bobbin.
Fourth, adjustable lips, substantially such as set forth and represented in
the Drawings, in combination with a traverse changer, whereby spools of
different length may be wound by the use of the same traverse changer.
Fifth, in combination with lips and nuts a presser guide mounted
directly upon the traverse rod, as contrasted with a guide mounted on a
carriage, which moves with the traverse rod by the agency of jointed con-

page_text: nections, whereby the machine is cheapened and performs its work with
greater accuracy.
And, lastly, in combination with apparatus substantially such as specified
for controlling automatically the motions of a thread guide, a tension appa-
ratus, and stop motion, which arrests the motion of the whole machine when a
thread breaks by substantially the mode of operation set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
R. BROUNING,
New Court,
St. Swithin's Lane.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)