IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF MACHINERY FOR STEERING AND ROWING CONTON " PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mercer, William Bodden, and William
Higginson, all of the firm of Messieurs Higginson and Company, of
Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Spindle and Flyer Makers, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF MACHINERY FOR
STEERING AND ROWING CONTON
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Mercer, William
Bodden, and William Higginson, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 5th December 1857.
We, WILLIAM MERCER, WILLIAM BODDEN, and WILLIAM HIGGINSON, all of
the firm of Messieurs Higginson and Company, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Spindle and Flyer Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF MACHINERY FOR
SLUBBING AND ROVING COTTON," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the pressers of flyers, and consists in an improved
mode of connecting centrifugal pressers to the flyers; the presser is hinged to
a projection near the upper part of the flyer leg, and clips round the lower end
of the leg; the hinge of the presser is so constructed that the presser is
prevented rising or falling or flying off when the spindle stops, and the shape
of the presser is such that the roving or slubbing is wound on tighter at the
commencement than at the full bobbin.
Our Invention is applicable to single or double pressers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Mercer, William Bodden, and William Higginson,
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
MERCER, WILLIAM BODDEN, and WILLIAM HIGGINSON, all of the firm of
Messieurs Higginson and Company, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Spindle and Flyer Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-soven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Mercer, William Bodden, and William Higginson, Her
special licence, that we, the said William Mercer, William Bodden, and
William Higginson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William Mercer, William Bodden, and William
Higginson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF MACHINERY FOR SLUBBING AND ROVING COTTON,"
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Mercor, William
Bodden, and William Higginson, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and
seals, 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.
upon
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Mercer, William Bodden,
and William Higginson, 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):-
Our Invention relates to the pressers of flyers, and consists in an improved
mode of connecting centrifugal pressers to the flyers;, the presser is binged to
a projection near the upper part of the flyer leg, and clips round the lower end
of the leg; the hinge of the presser is so constructed that the presser is
prevented rising or falling or flying off when the spindle stops, and the shape

page_text: of the presser is such that the roving or slubbing is wound on tighter at the
commencement than at the full bobbin.
Our Invention is applicable to single or double pressers.
And in order that our improvements may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 is an edge view, and Figure 3 a
plan, of a flyer to which our improvements are applied. a is the flyer furnished
with two pressers b, b. To each leg of the flyer is soldered or otherwise
attached a projection c, to which the upper end marked d of each presser leg
is hinged; the lower ends of the presser legs clip round the ends of the flyer
legs. In putting together our improved pressers and flyers, the lower end of
the presser leg is slipped on to the end of the flyer leg, and then the bent part
d of the presser leg is inserted into the slot in the projection c; the hinge
pin e is then passed through the projection c, and the bent part d of the
presser leg and then rivetted, thereby holding the presser so that it can neither
rise nor fall; and in order to prevent the presser flying off when the spindle is
stopped, the end of the bent part d is bevelled, as shewn in Figure 3, and
when the presser is sufficiently distant from the bobbin to allow the same to be
doffed, the bevelled end comes against the projection c on the flyer leg. In
Figure 3 the pressers are shewn in the positions they occupy when the spool
or bobbin is empty; when the spindle is put in motion the centrifugal action
of the presser leg keeps the pressers against the spool with the requisite force
to wind the slubbing or roving on to the spool, as in centrifugal pressers of the
usual construction. And as the slubbings or rovings accumulate on the
bobbin or spool this force gradually diminishes, owing to the shape and
position of the presser leg, so as to wind the slubbings or rovings less tight
when the bobbin is full than at the commencement. The dotted circle f in
Figure 3 represents the empty bobbin or spool, and the larger circle g repre-
sents it when full; one of the pressers is also shewn in dots in the position it
occupies when the bobbin or spool is full.
Figure 4 represents part of a flyer to which a modification of our Invention
is applied; in this instance the projection c is narrow, and the upper end of
the presser leg fits on each side of it.
We wish to remark that our Invention is applicable to either single or
double pressers.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner of
performing the same, we declare that we claim the improved mode of

page_text: connecting or hinging pressers to flyers, as shewn and described, or any
modification thereof to effect the same objects.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Mercer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILLIAM MERCER. (L.S.)