IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER YARNS OR THREADS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Fletcher Cottam, of the City of Manchester,
Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER YARNS OR THREADS."
Sealed the 7th January 1859, and dated the 11th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Fletcher Cottam
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th August 1858.
I, SAMUEL FLETCHER COTTAM, of the City of Manchester, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MA-
CHINERY FOR DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER YARNS OR THREADS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in so constructing doubling frames, that as soon as
the yarn or thread breaks, the top roller ceases to revolve.
The top roller is held in position by the yarn or thread as long as it remains
unbroken, but when it breaks the top roller slides down inclined ledges on the
cap bar, and consequently the friction between the bottom and top rollers
ceases, and the yarn is no longer drawn off the bobbins in the crecl; by this
means the waste occasioned by the lapping or winding of the yarn or thread is
avoided. The mode of constructing my improvements may be considerably
modified.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Fletcher Cottam in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
FLETCHER COTTAM, of the City of Manchester, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Fletcher Cottam, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Fletcher
Cottam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Fletcher Cottam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER YARNS OR THREADS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Fletcher Cottam, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Samuel Fletcher Cottam, do hereby
declare 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, that is to say):-
The nature of my Invention consists in so constructing doubling frames that
as soon as the yarn or thread breaks, the top roller ceases to revolve. The top
roller is held in position by the yarn or thread as long as it remains unbroken,
but when it breaks the top roller slides down inclined ledges on the cap bar,
and consequently the friction between the bottom and top roller ceases, and
the yarn is no longer drawn off the bobbins in the creel; or the top roller
may be supported in a weighted lever, and also held in contact with the bottom
roller by the yarn or thread, consequently when the yarn or thread breaks, the
contact ceases, and the yarn is no longer drawn off the bobbins in the creel:
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, and readily carried

page_text: into operation, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents in section part of a doubling frame, to which my improve-
5 ments are applied; and Fig. 2, a plan of the same. The dotted lines a
represent the yarn to be doubled; 6 is the water trough, and c is the rail in
the trough under which the yarns pass, they are then guided over the pegs d
in the rail e, and then under the bottom roller f, around the top roller 9, the
pivots of which are supported by the cap bar j, and thence to the flyer h, by
which the doubled yarn or thread is wound on the bobbin i, in the usual
manner.
It is well known to persons conversant with doubling frames that the yarn
is drawn off the bobbins in the creel by the friction of the top roller g, on the
bottom roller f, consequently the yarn continues to be drawn off the said
bobbins as long as the top roller remains in contact with the bottom roller,
even though the thread should break between the top roller and the flyer.
Now my improvements consist in so supporting the top roller, that the tension-
of the thread holds it in contact with the bottom roller, so that the moment
the thread breaks the contact between the two rollers ceases, and no more
yarn is drawn off the bobbins in the creel. One mode of effecting this is
shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, in which the pivots of the top roller are supported
in inclined grooves in the cap bar j, so that when the thread breaks the top
roller (which had before been held in the position shewn by the full lines) falls
down the incline of the cap bar into the position indicated by dotted lines,
that is to say, out of contact with the bottom roller. The cap bar jis con-
nected to the stand by the angle bracket k, the object of which is to be able
to vary the angle of the incline to suit the yarn to be doubled, the angle of the
incline of the cap bar can be regulated so that when one of the yarns to be
doubled breaks, the single yarn not being sufficiently strong to hold the top
roller in its place, will also break and allow the top roller to run down the
inclines, thereby preventing bad work.
Figs. 3 and 4 represent a modification of my Invention, in these views each
top roller g revolves in a forked lever m, these forked levers are supported on
a rod n, the weighted end of each forked lever bears upon the horizontal pino,
the other extremity of which is furnished with an eye for the yarn or thread
to pass through. Each pin o is acted upon by a spring p, or by a weighted
lever. The mode of operation is as follows:-As long as the yarn or thread
continues to pass from the top roller to the spindle and flyer, the yarn or
thread passing through the eye of the pin o holds the other extremity of this

page_text: pin under the weighted end of the lever m, but as soon as the yarn or thread
breaks the pin o is pressed forward by the spring p, thereby liberating the
end of the weighted lever m, which in dropping raises the top roller g off the
bottom roller f, and the contact between the two ceases. In some cases the
pin o may be dispensed with, and the forked lever m furnished with an
adjustable weight sufficiently heavy to preponderate over the weight of the
top roller, which is held in contact with the bottom roller by the yarn or
thread, consequently as soon as the yarn or thread breaks, the preponderating
weight of the lever m raises the top roller out of contact with the bottom
roller. By moving the weight nearer to or further from the fulcrum of the
lever m this arrangement can be made applicable to yarns of various degrees
of fineness. By means of my improvements the amount of waste is very con-
siderably reduced.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described two modes of
carrying the same into practical operation, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the details given, and I declare that I claim the so con-
structing doubling frames that the top roller is held in contact with the
bottom roller by the tension of the thread, in order that when the thread.
breaks the contact between the top and bottom rollers ceases.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fletcher Cottam, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
S. F: COTTAM. (L.S.)