IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING SEWING THREAD AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Halbert, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Mill Manager to the Firm of "William Clapperton and
Company," Thread Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WINDING SEWING THREAD AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR"
Sealed the 17th July 1877, and dated the 19th February 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Halbert at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th February 1877.
WILLIAM HALBERT, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Mill
Manager to the Firm of "William Clapperton and Company," Thread Manu-
facturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING SEWING THREAD AND IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
This Invention has reference to a new or improved shape and manner of winding
or building cops of thread on to central hollow supporting cores or cops of paper,
pasteboard, or other like cheap material, or it might be of wood, as pirns or bobbins
without projecting rims or ends, all ready for use, in sewing and embroidering
machines, or it might be in other machines and for other purposes, either from the
large bobbins or hanks, or from the long chains into which the thread is usually
prepared, ready for being finally wound for use, after being spun and bleached, or
otherwise dressed, polished, or dyed.
And the Invention further consists in a new or improved construction of winding
machine or mechanism for winding the said cops of thread, all which will save
much time and labour in the producing of sewing and other thread ready for use as
stated.
The nature and novelty of the first part of the Invention, which refers to the
shape and mode of winding or building the cops, consist in winding the thread
cylindrically or in parallel layers (not in conical layers as heretofore) on to their
slightly tapered or nearly parallel supporting cores or cops (placed on the winding
spindles) from the beginning to the end of the winding or building, but having the
two ends of the cop conical by causing the first layers of the thread to be laid on

page_text: or built to the full length of the cop desired and gradually shortened at both ends,
each single or double layer of the thread or traverse of the laying-on bar or finger
until the cop is built to the required diameter, leaving a long nearly parallel part in
the centre. This has the advantage of enabling a larger quantity or longer length
of thread to be wound on one cheap central core, which is easily removed from the
winding spindle and placed tightly on a small portable spindle of corresponding
shape, and revolving in tension springs or screw centres in the sewing or other
machine where it is to be unwound for use; or it might be placed on fixed spindles
so as to revolve loosely, either horizontally or vertically, according to the direction
in which the thread is led off or unwound from the cylinders to unwind the thread
in the same manner as from the ordinary wooden bobbins.
The second part of the Invention, which refers to the improved construction of
machine or mechanism for winding the new or improved cops as stated, in parallel
rows from end to end, and shortening the traverse of the building rail and laying-on
fingers or eyes at each end as the cops are built to form the conical ends which hold
the thread as firmly and prevent it ravelling out as effectively as the rims of bobbins,
consists all as follows:-As regards the general construction of the side frames and
longitudinal rails and the arrangement of spindles and mode of driving them, these
may be all substantially similar to the ordinary winding, twisting, and doubling
frames, namely, with end and intermediate transverse open, nearly rectangular cast-
iron frames secured together by their longitudinal rails or stays, with the winding
spindles preferably ranged vertically a few inches apart longitudinally, revolving in
collar bushes in the upper front rail, and in footstep bushes in the rail below it.
The spindles are driven by cords passing over a pulley on each, between the rails,
from a drum on the first-motion fast and loose pulley shaft carried in bush bearings
at near the same height in the back or middle of the said open transverse frames,
according as the machines are double or single, with sets of spindles along both
sides. The upper ends of the spindles project above the top rail, at a proper height
for the attendant to put on the hollow cops or cores, which, as stated, are of a
nearly parallel or slightly tapered form for ease of removal when the thread is wound
or built on them.
The large reels or bobbins of thread or fly hank reels from which the supply
thread is taken are ranged in a bank at the front lower part of the frame (but it
might be on the top behind the spindles when desired), each end or thread being
carried over one or more round guide rails or rollers, one preferably covered with
flannel or other slight tension or friction-producing surface, and thence one or more
times round the smooth grooves of a small polished screw-cut tension bar in front,
and below the round edge or top building reciprocating rail attached to the upper
end of four vertical sliding bars working in bush guides secured to the front rails or
frame, and with lateral slotted sockets or other equivalent at their lower ends, for
being connected to and reciprocated by the front end of the transverse lever, all
connected and fulcrumed on a rocking shaft, as a rocking frame counterbalanced by
back weights on the shaft, or a balance weight in front, with a cord acting upwards
and passed over a pulley to the weight. This lever frame is actuated by one top
transverse lever in the centre connected at the front free end by a pendant link
which isconnected below to the front part of the lever frame. The top lever is
actuated by a long connecting rod near its fulcrum, jointed to a shifting stud and
bush in the curved slot of a new differential lever and screw bracket combined,
fulcrumed at the front of the frame so as by the screw and slot to give the differ-
ential shortening motion to the reciprocating lever frame and building rail, over
which the threads pass to the winding spindles through the action of the ordinary
heart cam or motion by an anti-friction roller in the back free end of the lever,
working over the cam, the shaft of which is carried in bush bearings at the lower
part of the frame below the first-motion drum shaft, which drives it through a
train of reducing spur pinions and wheels on an intermediate stud or spindle and a
counter or intermediate shaft carried in bearings in the front middle part of the
main side frames, and a belt passed round a reverse drum cone on the countershaft

page_text: and one on the heart-cam shaft.. The belt is shifted on the cones by a double fork-
ended lever, to give a gradually slower motion to the cam shaft as the set of cops
are being built and enlarging in diameter, so as to lay on the spiral layers of thread
uniformly throughout the cop, and have them as close at the finish as at the
beginning.
The forked lever or bar (which embraces the leading-on side of the belt over each
cone) is carried and traversed by a deep minor screwed eye in the centre on a long
screw spindle carried in bearing brackets projecting down from the side frames, the
screw being turned by a ratchet wheel, and a turning or feeding pawl and rocking
lever mounted on its one end and actuated by the free end of a connecting rod
worked by a crank or eccentric on the counter cone or other shaft of the machine.
Each revolution of the heart cam raises its differential slotted screw lever so as by
a fixed ratchet pall or other equivalent acting in the teeth of a small ratchet wheel
on one end of the screw working in the bush of the pin to shift the latter from the
end of the slot furthest from the fulcrum of the lever slowly or gradually towards
the end of the slot nearest the fulcrum so as to give a less motion at each rise of the
lever to the rocking levers and rising and falling or thread-building bar, connected
to and actuated by this bush and pin, and thus shorten the whole set of cops at their
ends as the layers of thread are being built, giving them a conical form, and so
making them firm at the ends as before stated.
The rising and falling thread-building or laying-on bar or rail is fitted with a
thread laying-on finger, jointed on the inside in front of each spindle, and long
enough for the laying-on point of the finger to reach and rest on the cop when
beginning to wind the thread thereon, the thread passing from the bar over a
smooth rounded groove at the front of the finger, substantially in an equivalent
manner to the laying-on or building finger in the ordinary bobbin thread filling or
winding machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Halbert in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
August 1877.
"
WILLIAM HALBERT, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Mill
Manager to the Firm of "William Clapperton and Company," Thread Manu-
facturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING SEWING THREAD AND IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
My said Invention has reference to a new or improved form and manner of
winding or building cops of thread on to central hollow supporting cores or cops of
paper, pasteboard, or other like cheap material, or of wood if preferred, as pirns or
bobbins without projecting rims or ends, all ready for use, in sewing and embroidering
machines, or in other machines and for other purposes, either froin the large bobbins
or hanks, or from the long chains into which the thread is usually prepared, ready
for being finally wound for use, after being spun and bleached, or otherwise dressed,
polished, or dyed.
And my Invention further consists in a new or improved construction of winding
machine or nechanism for winding the said cops of thread, which improvements
will save much time and labour in preparing sewing and other threads ready for
use as stated.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing my said Invention
inay be properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the several Figures on
the Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended for that purpose, the same
reference letters indicating the like parts in all the Figures where shown.
1
Figures 1 and 2 are respectively an end view and a front side view, with part of
the centre as broken away to save room in the Drawing, of one general construction
or arrangement of winding machine for the new or improved mode of winding

page_text: sewing thread, all in accordance with and illustrative of one modification and
adaptation of my said Invention or improvements for the said purpose; and Figure 3
is a plan of the same machine, with part of the centre broken away, corresponding
to Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a finished cop of thread half full size, as wound in the
machine, shown in Figures 1 to 3, on a slightly tapered hollow paper cop or core in
the new manner and form ready for use in sewing machines, all in accordance with
this Invention.
Referring to these Figures, 1 to 4, the first part of the Invention, which refers to
the shape and mode of winding or building the cops of thread A, consists in
winding each row of the thread nearly cylindrically or in parallel layers from end
to end (not in conical layers as heretofore) on their slightly tapered or nearly
parallel supporting cores or cops a (placed on the winding spindles B) from the
beginning to the end of winding or building (as seen in the view of a finished cop
in Figure 4), but having the two ends A, A, of the cop conical, by causing the first
layers of the thread next the cop a to be laid on or built to the full length of the
cop desired, and gradually shortened at both ends each single or double layer of the
thread or traverse of the laying-on bar or finger C, c, of the winding machine,
Figures 1 to 3, and shown detached in plan and edge view in Figures 5 and 6, until
the cop A is built to the required diameter, leaving a long nearly parallel part A³ in
the centre. This has the advantage of enabling a larger quantity or longer length
of thread to be wound on a single supporting cop or core (preferably of paper or
other cheap material) which is easily removed when finished from the winding
spindle B, and placed tightly on a small portable spindle S of corresponding shape,
and revolving in tension springs 8, or screw centres, as s¹, in the sewing or other
machine where it is to be unwound for use, preferably made in a portable or bracket
form, as seen at T in side elevation in Figure 7, for being screwed or otherwise
attached to the frame or table of the sewing machine, or otherwise these cops so
wound and finished might be placed on fixed spindles, so as, in any case, to revolve
loosely, either horizontally or vertically, according to the direction in which the
thread is led off or unwound from these cylindrical cops A, and unwind the thread
in the same manner as from the ordinary wooden bobbins.
Referring particularly to Figures 1 to 3, the second part of the Invention, which
refers to the improved construction of machine or mechanism for winding the said
new or improved cops A, as stated, in parallel rows from end to end, and shortening
the traverse of the building rail C and laying-on fingers or eyes c at each end as the
cops are built, to form the conical ends A¹, A', which hold the thread as firmly
and prevent it ravelling out as effectively as the rims of bobbins, consists all as
follows: As regards the general construction of the main side frames D, D¹, and
longitudinal rails D", D1, D2, D³, and the arrangement of spindles B, and mode of
driving them; these may be all substantially similar to the ordinary winding,
twisting, and doubling frames, namely, with end and intermediate transverse open
nearly rectangular cast-iron frames D, D¹, secured together by their longitudinal
rails or stays D", D, D², D³, with the winding spindles B preferably ranged
vertically, a few inches apart longitudinally, revolving in collar bushes in the upper
front rail D, and in footstep bushes in the rail D₁ below it, as seen particularly
in Figure 2. The spindles are driven by cords 6 passing over a pulley B¹ on each
between the rails, from a drum b¹ on the first motion fast and loose pulley shaft 611,
carried in bush bearings 6111 at near the same height in the back of the said open
transverse frames D, D, D¹, for single machines, as seen in Figure 1, but where the
winding machines and frames are made of the double class, with a set of spindles
along each side of the machine; the drum and shaft b₁, 6", would be arranged along
the centre of the machine, and the parts necessary for the building of the cops
duplicated on the other side for the second row of spindles. The upper ends of the
whole row of spindles B project above the top rail D" at a proper height for the
attendant to put on the whole set of hollow cops or cores a for the thread z to be
wound on at once, which cores, as stated, are of a nearly parallel or slightly tapered
form, for ease of removal when the thread is wound or built on them.

page_text: The large reels or bobbins of thread Z, z, from which the supply of thread is
taken are shown as ranged in a double bank or angled platform of nearly vertical
spindles, supported on brackets D', projecting out from the main frames D, D¹, at the
front beneath the spindles; but these bobbins might be so ranged on the top of the
frames behind the spindles when desired; or hanks of thread on reels might be so
ranged, in either case so that the thread from each bobbin Z is carried up through
the guide eyes e in the bar e¹ over or round one or more guide rails or rollers E, Ĕ¹,
(one of which is preferably covered with flannel or other slight tension or friction
producing surface), and thence one or more times round the smooth round grooves f
of a small polished screw-cut tension bar F, all carried on the brackets D³, projecting
out from the side frames D, D¹, in front and below the round edge or top building.
reciprocating rail C, attached to the upper end of four vertical sliding bars C¹,
working in bush guides C¹¹, secured to the front rails D, D1, of the frame, and
with lateral slotted sockets C or other equivalent at their lower ends, for being
connected to and reciprocated by the front round acting ends of the transverse
levers C, all secured on the rocking shaft C3, and by longitudinal rods C in front,
so as to oscillate as a rocking frame in bush-bearing blocks C1111, secured to the
back part of the frames D, D₁, considerably below the first motion shaft b¹¹, the
frame being counterbalanced by the back weights C³, secured to the shaft C³, or it
might be by a cord attached to the frame in front, and acting upwards and passed
over a pulley with a balance weight attached to it. This lever frame C, C³, is
actuated by a single top transverse lever G fulcrumed at G¹ to a bracket projecting
up from the centre of the side frame D₁ behind, and connected at the front free
end by a pendent link or connecting rod G above, and connected below at G² to
the front part of the levers Cs of the lever frame C2, C3. The top lever G is
actuated by the top end of the long connecting rod H jointed to a shifting eccentric
or crank stud hand lever g fulcrumed on the lever G some distance in from its free
end towards its fulcrum joint G¹, with a holding or friction spring g on the under-
side, the lower end of the connecting rod H being jointed at h to the stud and
bush H in the curved slot i of the new differential lever I, with screw J and
bracket combined, fulcrumed on the stud bracket at I at the front of the frame,
so as by the action of the screw J, which shifts the bush H¹ in the curved slot i of
the bracket i, carried on the lever I, to give the differential shortening motion to
the lever G and reciprocating lever frame C2, C3, and building rail C, over which
the threads pass to the winding spindle B direct, or round the building fingers o
through the action of the ordinary heart cam or motion K by an antifriction
roller I in the back free end of the lever I, working over the cain K, the shaft K¹
of which is carried in bush bearings K" at the lower back part of the frames D, D¹,
below the first motion drum shaft 6", which drives it through a train of reducing
spur pinions and wheels L, L', and L", L², the wheel L¹ and pinion L" being
carried on an intermediate stud L₁ secured to the one frame D), and which actuates
the wheel L of the intermediate shaft L³ carried in bush bearings at L' in the
front middle part of the main side frames D, D, and which has the belt drum
cone M mounted on it,, having the belt m passed over or round it, and a corre-
sponding reverse cone M¹ on the heart cam shaft K' below. The belt m is shifted
on the cones M, M', by a double fork-ended lever m² to give a gradually quicker
motion to the cam shaft K¹ as the set of cops A are being built, and enlarging
in diameter so as to lay on the spiral layers of thread at a uniform rate through-
out the building of the cop, and have them as close at the finish as at the be-
ginning.
The forked lever or bar m¹ (which embraces the leading-on side of the belt m
over each cone M, M¹,) is carried and traversed by a deep minor screw eye m¹ in
the centre of the bar m¹ working on a long screw spindle m" carried in bearing
brackets m², projecting down from the side frames D, D', and rails D2, the screw m¹ii
being turned by a ratchet wheel n and a turning or feeding pawl and rocking
lever n', both mounted on the one end of the screw m, and actuated by the upper
free end of a connecting rod. n worked by the crank n² (or it might be an

page_text: eccentric) on the cone and heart motion shaft K₁ of the machine. Each revolution
of the heart cam K raises its differential slotted screw lever I, i, by the antifriction
pulley I, so as by a stationary ratchet pawl o or other equivalent acting in the
teeth of a small ratchet wheel o¹, carried on one end of the screw J, working in the
bush H of the pin h, at the bottom of the connecting rod H, to shift the bush and
pin from the end of the slot i furthest from the fulcrum I¹ of the lever I slowly or
gradually towards the end of the slot i nearest the fulcrum, so as to give a less
motion at each rise of the lever I to the rod H and the rocking levers G and C², C³,
and consequently the up-and-down motion of the thread building bar C and fingers c
connected to and actuated by this bush H¹ and pin h, and thus shorten the whole
set of cops A at their ends A¹, A¹, as the layers of thread are laid on or built, so
giving them the conical form at both ends, and making them firm so as not to
unravel, as herein-before described in reference to Figure 4.
The rising and falling thread building or laying-on bar or rail C is fitted with a
thread laying-on finger c jointed on a pinching screw c¹ in a groove on the inside
in front of each spindle B, and long enough for the laying-on point of the finger to
reach and rest on the cop or core a when beginning to wind the thread thereon,
the thread passing from the bar C over a smooth rounded groove at the front of
the finger c, substantially in an equivalent manner to the laying-on or building
finger in the ordinary bobbin thread-filling or winding machines, as seen particularly
in the enlarged views Figures 5 and 6.
When the whole set of cops of thread A are coinpletely wound and finished on
their spindles B as described by the regular traverse of the building rail C due to
the action of the heart K and the improved differential acting screw lever I, J, i,
the attendant tilts the hand lever g backwards on the lever G so as to lower the
latter and the oscillating frame C2, C3, and building rail C, and take a turn or two of
each of the threads round the spindle B below the core cop a, so as to fix all their
ends when the machine is stopped by the hand shifting and retaining rod R and
forked belt lever R' shifting the driving belt u from the fast pulley U on to the
slack pulley U to allow the finished cops to be drawn up off the spindles by the
hand of the attendant when a new set of the core cops a are inserted on the
spindles, when the hand lever is turned back to its normal position to raise the
oscillating frame C2, C3, and building rail C, all ready for starting the machine
again, and resuming the winding of the cops by lifting the threads up on to the new
core cops a. To measure the thread z wound on each of the whole set of spindles
the thread of one spindle at ¹ is carried up from the grooved tension bar F, f, round
the pulley p of a measuring index with reducing wheels P.
'
These new or improved constructions of parallel cops of thread A with conical
ends A¹, A¹, are for providing a large quantity of endess thread on each for use, and
being unwound in the same manner as thread from wooden bobbins in sewing and
embroidering machines, thus saving the expense of such bobbins.
Referring to the differential screw lever I, J, i, it will be understood that a
segmental feather might be used for the pin or lower end h of the rod H to work on
(instead of the slot or groove i) by the action of the nut H¹.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not confine myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The general construction or combination and arrangement of parts of a
winding machine for the winding of sewing thread in the form of nearly cylindrical
cops in parallel layers throughout, with nearly conical ends formed by shortening
the length or traverse of these rows, all substantially as and for the purposes
herein described and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modifica-
tion thereof.
Second. The construction and use of a differential acting or screw shifting lever
to be actuated by the heart motion in winding machines for the winding of cops of

page_text: thread in the parallel manner with conical ends, all substantially in the manner
herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any
mere modification thereof.
Third. The winding of thread in the nearly cylindrical or parallel cops with
conical ends for sewing or other purposes, all substantially as herein described in
reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification
thereof.
Fourth. The construction and use of a portable spindle S with tension spring 8 or
pinching screw g¹ for the use of these new or improved cops in sewing or embroi-
dering machines, either with or without a small portable carrying bracket, sub-
stantially as herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying
Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Halbert, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and
seventy-seven.
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM HALBERT. (L.S.)