IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DYEING SILK AND OTHER YARNS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and
Harvey Heywood, of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Dyers
and Printers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DYEING SILK AND OTHER YARNS."
Sealed the 25th May 1869, and dated the 27th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Dickins, Albert
Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th November
1868.
We, THOMAS DICKINS, ALBERT LUNGLEY DICKINS, and HARVEY
HEYWOOD, of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Dyers and
Printers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DYEING SILK AND
OTHER YARNS," to be as follows:
Our Invention consists in placing hanks of yarns upon a framework
or rollers which is submerged in the dye vat, and raised upward and

page_text: downward or moved to and fro. An arrangement we at present propose
is to adapt the hanks to rollers by which they are stretched into regular
form. To these rollers a slow rotatory motion is imparted, while they
are at the same time periodically lifted out of and plunged into the
water or dye bodily, or moved to and fro therein. We propose to employ
a separate vessel for each pair of rollers, and to couple those of two
vessels together, so that while one pair is ascending the other pair will
be descending; but fixed rods may be used instead of revolving rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and
Harvey Heywood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th May
1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
DICKINS, ALBERT LUNGLEY DICKINS, and HARVEY HEYWOOD, of Mid-
dleton, in the County of Lancaster, Dyers and Printers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Dickins, Albert
Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood, Her special license that we, the
said Thomas Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Thomas Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND DYEING SILK AND OTHER YARNS,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said Thomas Dickins,
Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals (or under the hand and seal of one
of us), should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: 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..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Harvey Heywood, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in placing hanks of yarn upon a framework
or rollers submerged in a vat, and raised upward and lowered or other-
wise moved therein; and we also impart rotatory motion to the said
rollers while they are alternately lifted out of and plunged into the fluid
or moved to and fro therein.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a section of the
apparatus which we have found to answer our purpose, and Fig. 2 is a
view taken at right angles to Fig. 1; and we will in the first instance
suppose that the operation of washing is. to. be performed either before.
or after mordaunting or dyeing..
At a is a vat which we will at present consider as one chamber, that
is, without the partition b, excepting as a bridge for supporting an
upright stationary rod c. Upon this rod is a sliding boss d, provided
with an arm e, which carries at its outward end two reels f, furnished
with flanges g. Upon the arm e is mounted a lever h, so as to be capable
of turning upon a centre i, and its lower end carries two other reels",
also provided with flanges. Upon this lever hare mounted clicks k, l,
capable of turning upon a centre m, and on the same centre is also a
tumbler lever n, provided with a projecting pin o. The click k, as shewn
in the Drawing, is in connexion with a rack p, and the other click./ is
at times (as hereafter to be described) placed within a notch.q in the
arm e. To the sliding boss d is connected a rod q*, the upper end of
which is jointed to a lever r, which vibrates upon a. centre 8, and is
provided with a roller in contact with a cam u, mounted on a.shaft v.
Upon the rod c are mounted arms to,, 10*,, which carry at their outward
ends a vertical rod x, upon which is a sliding arm y projecting from the
boss d. The upper arm wo is furnished with a square on, its end which.
(excepting at intervals. hereafter to be mentioned) is embraced by, a.

page_text: catch z, mounted on a centre carried by the framework 1, and the boss d
arm e, and reels f, f, are therefore prevented from turning upon the
rod c.
The axis of each reel fis provided with a ratchet wheel 2, which
when it is lifted passes in contact with a click 3, mounted upon a
centre so as to be capable of turning upward, but as it cannot turn
downward it is capable of driving the said ratchet wheel when it moves
downward. To the framework 1 is adapted a bracket 4, upon which is
mounted a lever 5 provided with a handle, and to this lever is jointed
one end of a rod 6, connected at top to a lever turning upon a fixed
centre 8, beyond which it carries an arm 9, drawn in one direction by a
spring 10, and provided at its upper end with a tooth 11. This arm 9 is
furnished with a wire or chain 12, which at its other end is attached to
a bell-crank lever 13, turning loosely upon the centro 14, and furnished
with a wire or chain 15. The operation is as follows:-Premising that
water can be allowed to flow at pleasure into the vat a, through the
pipe A, and that hanks B of yarn or thread have to be adapted to the
reels ff, the shaft by being turned acts through the medium of
the cam u so as to raise the lever r, by which means the boss d will be
caused to slide upon the rod c, and the arm e will convey the reels f, f',
upward out of the vat. The catch k is then withdrawn from the rack p,
which leaves the lever at liberty to be turned upon its centre i, so as
to bring the reels f' nearer to the other reels f, and in this position it is
retained by the click passing into the notch q, the tumbler lever n
being turned over so as to bring the projection o to bear upon the said
tooth, and so prevent it from disengaging itself. The two pairs of reels
being thus brought nearer to each other the hanks of yarn or thread
may then be passed over the flanges g, and after this stretched between
the reels by turning the lever h in the opposite direction, and confining
the hanks in their distendered position by passing the click k into the
rack p, and securing it in that position by the tumbler lever n, as shewn
in the Drawing. But in order to aid these operations, apparatus, the
construction of which has been described, is employed, and the action of
which is as follows:-Assuming that the height to which the lever r is
raised by the cam u is that shewn by the dotted lines, before the cam
has raised the lever tits full extent the attendant turns the lever 5 in
the direction of the arrow, by which means the rod 6 will be raised so as
to cause the lever 7 to turn upon its centre 8, and thus the point of the
arm 9 will be depressed below the position of the lever ", shewn by

page_text: 0
dotted lines. When, therefore, the said lever rises the projecting end 16
thereof will hook itself on to the arm 9, and the lever r, together with
the arm c and reels f, f¹, will be prevented from falling. In this
position, however, the cam u, by just touching the lever r, would cause
a vibration thereof, and the attendant, to avoid this, turns the lever 5 in
the opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow, and thus lifts the
arm 9 back into the position shewn in the Drawing, and as it is at this
time under the end of the lever r that lever is raised so as to entirely
withdraw the roller t from the action of the cam u, and the apparatus is
held stationary while the hanks are adapted as above described, although
the shaft may continue to revolve. The hanks having been placed on
the reels ff, the attendant pulls the wire or chain 15 so as to cause the
bell-crank lever 13 to turn upon its centre, and this, through the medium
of the connexion 12, withdraws the arm 9 from the lever r, which then
permits the roller t to rest upon the cam u, and as this revolves the
boss d, and consequently the reels f, f', move upward and downward,
lifting the hanks from the fluid and plunging them therein. At each of
these upward movements the ratchet wheel 2 passes the click 3, which
being free to turn upon its centre in that direction produces no effect,
but upon the downward motion taking place, the said click not being
able to turn drives the ratchet wheel, and thus causes the reels and
hanks thereon partially to revolve. When the hanks are sufficiently
washed they are removed by contracting the distance between the reels,
as above described.
The above description explains how the principle of our Invention
may be carried into practical operation, but we prefer to make the
machine in duplicate by providing the boss d with another arm, reels,
and other appendages, as shewn in the Drawing, and marked with the
same letters or numbers of reference with the addition of an *. We
prefer also to conduct the operation upon a plan not included in the
above description, but which we will now explain. The vat is divided
into two by a partition b, but the fluid is allowed to pass from the one
chamber to the other through an opening 17, and from thence through
another opening 18 and escape pipe 19. Supposing hanks to be adapted
to the reels ff, and f*,f*, or it may be to the reels f,f¹, only to
start with, the shaft will by the means above described cause the said
hanks to be raised from the trough and plunged therein, as already

page_text: upon reels or analogous apparatus, alternately raised and depressed,
moved to and fro, or caused to revolve in the washing fluid or dye stuff.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harvey Heywood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
HARVEY HEYWOOD. (L.S.)