Improvements in Ring Spinning Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1898
Improvements in Ring Spinning Machines.
I, MICHAEL EDWARD SULLIVAN, of No. 961 County Street, New Bedford, in the
County of Bristol, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Merchant,
do hereby declare that the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The invention has reference to the class of spinning machines in which the
bobbin, tube or spindle on which the yarn is wound is driven and the drawn out
roving is twisted and layed on the bobbin, tube or spindle by a traveler sliding on
a ring.
Ring-spinning machines are driven at such high speed that the yarn between the
traveler and the guide-eye above the axis of the spindle is, by the centrifugal
force, thrown outward as it revolves around the spindle and interferes with the
yarn of the adjacent spindles.
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Various forms of what are commonly known as "separators" have been used
to prevent the interference of the yarn of one spindle with the yarn of adjacent
spindles, these have usually been placed between adjacent spindles.
The high speed of the revolving driving cylinders, the bands connecting the
spindles with the driving cylinders, the spindles with the revolving yarn, and
other moving or revolving parts of the mechanism of a ring-spinning machine,
keep the air below the enclosed top and between the rows of spindles on the two
sides of the machine in constant agitation, and produce strong air-currents which,
rushing inward near the floor and prevented from passing upward by the table,
or enclosed top of the machine, flow outward between the spindles and carry lint,
floating fiber and impurities to be caught by the rapidly-revolving yarn, the ex-
pansion or ballooning of which facilitates the collection of these floats on the
yarn.
One object of my invention is to protect the yarn, on its passage to the spindle,
against the air-currents and the floats carried by them.
Another object of my invention is to prevent excessive ballooning and the
interference of the threads of adjacent spindles.
Figure 1 is a front view of the two end parts of a ring-spinning machine provided
with my improvement,-the central portion being cut out to reduce the length of
the drawing.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of one side of the same.
Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the curtain-rod.
In the drawings similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts
in all the figures,4, 4, indicate the end frames of the machines; 5 the bolster-
rail; 6 the reciprocating ring-rail; 7 the lifter-rod for operating the ring
rail; 8, 8, the rings; 9 the bobbins supported on the spindles 10, 10; 11 the
front beam; 12 the top or board closing the space between the two front beams
on opposite sides of the machine; 13 the finger-board provided with the usual
pig-tail wire, or guide-eye, 14, through which the yarn passes to the usual traveler
on the ring 8 and from this to the bobbin 9.

page_text: To the above-described usual parts of a ring-spinning machine, I have added
the curtain 15, secured by means of hooks, pins, or in any other suitable manner,
detachably or permanently, to the ring-rail 6 at the lower edge and to the curtain-
roll 16 journaled in brackets 17 secured to the front beam 11 at the upper edge,
The curtain-roll 16 may be one continuous roll extending the length of the machine,
or it may consist of a number of rolls. The curtain-roll, or rolls, may be the usual
well-known self-winding curtain-rolls in which a coiled spring acts to wind the
curtain on the roll, or it may be provided at one end with the cord 18 wound
around a part of the curtain-roll 16 and provided at the suspended end with the
weight 19.
To enable others skilled in the art to use my invention, I will now describe its
operation more fully. The curtain 15 may be made of any suitable flexible
material. Ordinary cotton cloth answers all practical purposes. An open fabric
which, while it allows air to pass through, prevents the float and lint to pass
through, may be used. One edge of the curtain, or a succession of curtains, being
secured to the ring-rail and the other edge to the self-winding roller 16, the
curtain adapts itself to the reciprocation of the ring-rail and always keeps the
space between the roller and the ring-rail 6 closed, so that the air-currents
and lint or float can not reach the yarn as it passes to the bobbin or
spindle, thereby keeping the yarn clean and free from floats. The curtain 15
forms a flexible, yielding surface along the rear of the row of spindles, and
sufficiently close to the same to prevent the excessive ballooning of the yarn and
the interference of the yarn of adjacent spindles.
In practice, I find that it requires one or more turns of a spindle, even at the
highest speed, to exert sufficient centrifugal force on the yarn to cause it to bow
outward or balloon perceptibly, and that the yarn, by coming in contact for a
considerable length at each revolution with the surface of the curtain 15, does
not acquire sufficient centrifugal force to bow outward or balloon so as to come in
contact with the yarn of the adjacent spindle. I further find that the spindles
may be placed closer together than is now customary without the yarns of the
adjacent spindles interfering with each other even at a higher speed than is now
generally used; consequently the number of spindles in a machine may be increased
as well as the speed, and a corresponding increase in the production secured.
It is obvious that a curtain secured to the frame of the machine in the rear
of the spindles, which does not interfere with the reciprocation of the ring-rail,
may be stationary and produce approximately the effect of the self-rolling curtain
herein described.
It is also obvious that the curtain 15, whether fixed or rolling, prevents floats
from being carried in between the spindles from the front and limits the ballooning
of the yarn.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
Claim 1. In a ring-spinning machine, the combination with the spindles, the
reciprocating ring-rail and a fixed part of the machine, of a curtain secured to
the ring-rail, and a self-winding curtain-roll supporting the upper part of the
curtain, whereby the yarn is protected against floats and excessive ballooning,
as described.
2. In a ring-spinning machine, the combination with the front beam and
the ring-rail of the machine, of the roller 16 supported in suitable bearings above the
highest reciprocation of the ring-rail, a curtain secured to the roller and to the
ring-rail, and means, substantially as described, for automatically rolling up and
letting out the curtain, whereby the space between the ring-rail and the front
beam is closed by the curtain.
3. In a ring-spinning machine, the combination with the frame of the machine,
the bolster-rail, the spindles supported on the bolster-rail and the ring-rail, of a

page_text: curtain supported on the machine in the rear of the spindles, whereby the balloon-
ing of the yarn is limited, as described.
4. In a ring-spinning machine, the combination with the spindles, the reciproca-
ting ring-rail and the front beam of the roller 16, the cord 18, the weight 19 and
the curtain 15 secured to the roller and to the ring-rail, whereby the curtain is
automatically adjusted to close the space between the ring-rail and the front
beam, as described.
Deted thin 00nd day of Decahan
T 1907
MICHAEL EDWARD SULLIVAN.
Signed in presence of:
Joseph A. Miller, Jr.,
B. M. Simms,
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.