IMPROVEMENTS IN, AND IN MACHINERY FOR, PREPARING, SPINNING, TWISTING, AND DOUBLING SILK
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for an Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN, AND IN MACHINERY FOR, PREPARING, SPINNING,
TWISTING, AND DOUBLING SILK." A communication from abroad by Monsieur
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th December 1880.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN, AND IN MACHINERY FOR,
PREPARING, SPINNING, TWISTING, AND DOUBLING SILK." [A communication from
abroad by Monsieur Justin Louis Auguste Aubenas, ainé, of Paris, France.]
The improvements which form the subject of this Invention comprise a process
and machinery for preparing and spinning silk, and a new or improved description
of spindle for twisting and doubling so as to produce at one operation silk twists
or organsines of any description.
The object of the process of preparing and spinning silk is to permit at all seasons
of the filaments being drawn from cocoons of any kind, and particularly the
double cocoons of the Bombyx mori and the uncultivated or wild breeds.
The spinning mill or machine which is employed for the purpose of this Inven-
tion includes the following essential parts:-1st, a pan of round form intended
for the beating or clearing (battage) of the cocoons and the finding of the filaments;
2nd, two pans in the form of troughs, each comprising a certain number of
spinning compartments (say 12) to form a corresponding number of threads. These
two pans or troughs are by preference placed respectively at the two sides of the
first pan, which is situated in the middle of the machine. The water in the first
pan is heated by steam, either in a perforated or a closed pipe. The other two pans
are heated at their ends and for a portion only of their length. A pipe commu-
nicating between the first pan and the two others ensures a regular and uniform
temperature of the water. The cocoon holders perforated with holes are immersed

page_text: partly in the water of the different pans, so that the cocoons which are prepared
for spinning, or which require re-beating do not cool. This is very advantageous
for the pulling out of the filaments or for the rebeating.
The spinning operation is effected as follows:-The attendant at the beating pan
prepares the cocoons (doubles them) by means of a scouring with great ebullition;
she then beats them, pulls out the filaments and cleans them. She then places the
cocoons carefully in their holders, which are in front of her, and passes them to the
spinning attendant at the right or left, as the case may require. This attendant
places the cocoon holder on her right. When a break occurs she places the cocoons
in another holder and passes it to the beating attendant. The separated filaments
of the cocoons are united together in a guide, and are led through the partition of
the spinning mill or machine opposite the pan and a little above the level of the
water. The filaments pass into a part of the mill where the atmosphere is kept in
the most favorable state for the good formation of the thread.
The attendant at the part where the crossing and winding take place receives the
thread from the spinning attendant and crosses it on itself. The thread is then
guided to the winding bobbin.
Two steam pipes produce a first desiccation of the thread during the crossing, and
a third pipe completes the drying of the thread before winding. Each bobbin may
receive one or more threads. If two threads are wound together a stop or brake,
which comes into play when one thread breaks, is placed between the roller which
produces the movement and that which carries the bobbin.
In the middle of the machine, or in other convenient position, an ordinary
doubling machine may be employed, but the improved apparatus for doubling which
I will now proceed to describe is preferred.
This apparatus consists of a vertical rotating main shaft, supported at its lower
end in a step and guided at its upper part by a plate. On this shaft are keyed
two discs, the lower of which supports the twisting spindles; these spindles pass
freely through the upper disc and carry toothed wheels. Two short vertical shafts
connected to the lower disc participate in the rotary movement of this disc; they
carry at their lower ends pinions which gear with a toothed wheel loose on the
main shaft. In consequence of their movement with the lower disc and of the
gearing just described, the short shafts receive a rotary motion, which they transmit
by means of other toothed gearing at their upper ends to the twisting spindles.
On these spindles are loosely mounted toothed wheels which carry the bobbins, and
these wheels receive rotary motion from other wheels. The threads are distributed
by flyers; they pass through agate holes in a plate keyed on the main shaft. This
plate has two holes for simple organsine, three for twist (cordonnet), or a greater
number according to the kind of cord to be produced. Finally the threads pass
through holes in the guiding plate before referred to and reach the upper part of
the apparatus where the doubling is effected.
By giving to the wheels which drive the spindles and those which drive the
bobbins a different number of teeth, a differential movement is obtained; thus the
movement of the bobbin can be accelerated a sixtieth more or less. To obtain
different degrees of twisting without changing the relation of the gearing, bobbins
of different sizes may be employed.
In the modification of the twisting and doubling apparatus above described, the
pinions on the lower ends of the short shafts gear internally with a toothed wheel.
These shafts carry a single upper pinion, which through the instrumentality of a
wheel loose on the main shaft gives movement to the twisting spindles and to the
wheels of the bobbins.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th June 1881.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN, AND IN MACHINERY FOR,
PREPARING, SPINNING, TWISTING, AND DOUBLING SILK." (A communication from
abroad by Monsieur Justin Louis Auguste Aubenas, ainé, of Paris, France.)
The improvements which form the subject of this Invention comprise a process
and machinery for preparing and spinning silk, and a new or improved description
of spindle for twisting and doubling, so as to produce at one operation silk twists
or organsines of any description.
The object of the process of preparing and spinning silk is to permit at all
seasons of the filaments being drawn from cocoons of any kind, and particularly
the double cocoons of the Bombyx mori and the uncultivated or wild breeds.
In the annexed Drawings Figure 1, Sheet 1, is an elevation; Figure 2, Sheet 1,
a plan; and Figure 1, Sheet 2, a vertical section of the spinning mill or machine
which is employed for the purpose of this Invention. It includes the following
essential parts-1st, a pan a of round form intended for the beating or clearing
(battage) of the cocoons and the finding of the filaments; 2nd, two pans b, b,
in the form of troughs, each comprising a certain number of spinning compartments
q, q, q, (say 12) to form a corresponding number of threads. The two pans or
troughs are shewn in the plan as placed respectively at the two sides of the pan a,
which is situated in the middle of the machine, but the pan a may occupy any
other suitable position. The water in the pan a is heated by steam either in a
perforated or closed pipe. The pans b, b, are heated at their ends and for a portion
only of their length. A pipe r communicating between the pan a and the pans b
ensures a regular and uniform temperature of the water. The cocoon holders c, c,
perforated with holes are immersed partly in the water of the different pans so
that the cocoons which are prepared for spinning or which require rebeating do not
cool. This is very advantageous for the pulling out of the filaments or for the
rebeating.
The spinning operation is effected as follows:-The attendant at the beating pan
prepares the cocoons (doubles them) by means of a scouring with a great ebullition;
she then beats them, pulls out the filaments and cleans them; she next places the
cocoons carefully in their holders c, c, which are in front of her, and passes them to
the spinning attendant at the right or left, as the case may require. This attendant
places the cocoon holder on her right. When a break occurs she places the cocoons
in another holder and passes it to the beating attendant. The separated filaments
of the cocoons are united together in a guide and are led through the partition h,
Figure 2, Sheet 2, of the spinning mill or machine opposite the pan and a little
above the level of the water. The filaments pass into a part of the mill where
the atmosphere is kept in the most favorable state for the good formation of the
thread.
The attendant at the part where the crossing and winding take place receives
the thread from the spinning attendant and crosses it on itself at i. The thread
is then guided by the guides or devices u, v, to the winding bobbin. Two steam
pipes n, n, produce a first desiccation of the thread during the crossing, and a
third pipe p completes the drying of the thread before winding. On the left hand
half of Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, the winding is of a single thread; on the right
hand half the bobbin receives two threads. If two threads are wound together a
stop or brake, which comes into play when one thread breaks, is placed between
the roller which produces the movement and that which carries the bobbin.

page_text: In the middle of the machine or in other convenient position an ordinary
doubling machine may be employed, but the improved apparatus for doubling
which I will now proceed to describe is preferred.
This apparatus is represented in Figure 3, Sheet 2. It consists of a vertical
rotating main shaft a¹ supported at its lower end in a step and guided at its upper
part by a plate m. On this shaft are keyed two discs c¹, b', the lower of which b'
supports the twisting spindles e, e; these spindles pass freely through the upper
disc c¹ and carry toothed wheels 7, 1. Two vertical shafts d, d, connected to the
disc b¹ participate in the rotary movement of this disc; they carry pinions p, p,
which gear with a toothed wheel t loose on the shaft a. In consequence of their
movement with the disc b¹ and of the gearing t, p, the shafts d, d, receive a rotary
motion, which they transmit by means of the upper pinions q, q, and the wheels r, r,
to the twisting spindles e, e. On these spindles are loosely mounted tooth wheels 8, 8,
which carry the bobbins g, g, and these wheels receive rotary motion from the
pinions q, q, with which they gear. The threads are distributed by flyers h, h;
they pass through agate holes in a plate k keyed on the shaft a¹. This plate has
two holes for simple organsine, three for twist (cordonnet), or a greater number,
according to the kind of cord to be produced. Finally, the threads pass through
holes in the plate m and reach the upper part of the apparatus where the doubling
is effected.
By giving to the wheels r, r, and 8, 8, a different number of teeth a differential
movement of the bobbin and spindle is obtained; thus the movement of the bobbin
can be accelerated a sixtieth, more or less. To obtain different degrees of twisting
without changing the relation of the gearing bobbins of different sizes may be
employed.
In Figure 4, Sheet 2, I show a modification of the twisting and doubling apparatus
The difference
which can turn with greater speed than that shewn in Figure 3.
lies in the transmission of the movement, the other parts remain the same, and are
marked with the same letters as in Figure 3. In this modification the pinions p, p,
These shafts carry a
of the shafts d, d, gear internally with a toothed wheel t.
single upper pinion q, q, which through the instrumentality of a wheel f loose on
the shaft a' gives movement to the twisting spindles e and to the wheels 8, 8, of
the bobbins g,g.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention as communicated to me,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. The process and machinery for preparing and spinning silk, substantially
as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, and Figures 1
and 2, Sheet 2, of the annexed Drawings.
Second. Constructing apparatus for twisting and doubling silk, substantially as
herein before described and represented in Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 2, of the annexed
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
J. C. MEWBURN. (L.S.)