IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR POLISHING THREADS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by. Christopher Tuer, Robert
Howarth, and Joseph Pimbley at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd August 1869.
We, CHRISTOPHER TUER, of Farnworth, in the County of Lancaster,
Ironfounder, ROBERT HOWARTH, of the same Place, Millwright, and
JOSEPH PIMBLEY, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR POLISHING
THREADS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to those machines in which the thread is
polished in the hank, and consists, in the first place, in so arranging the
rollers which carry the hanks that they both be moved in equally so as
to adjust them to the brush cylinder as it wears, instead of, as hitherto,
moving in only one roller. The bearings are carried by suitable slides,
which are connected together, and they are worked in or out as required
by means of a screw and hand wheel. In machines of this description
certain gearing is used for the purpose of increasing the distance between
the rollers after the hanks have been put on, so as to give the thread
the necessary amount of tension, but the gearing and framing have
hitherto been constructed on a principle which necessitates the rollers

page_text: removed.
Our Invention consists, in the second place, in so arranging the
gearing and framing of the gates which carry the rollers that it will not
be necessary to lift the rollers out of their places for this purpose. We
accomplish this as follows:-Instead of having the gearing and frame-
work arranged as heretofore we arrange it so that at one end no part
projects beyond the upper part of the circumference of the top roller, or
below the lower part of the circumference of the bottom roller, nor
beyond the rollers in width, so that the yarn may be slipped on at the
end without removing the rollers, and may be taken off in the same way
after being polished. There are two or three arrangements of gearing
which will allow of the framework being so constructed as to leave the
ends of the rollers free, as described above. The one we prefer to adopt
consists of screws working through nuts in the bearings which carry the
rollers, these screws being furnished-with small worm wheels, which are
actuated by worms on a shaft, to which a revolving motion is imparted
by ordinary mechanism. By means of a common form of reversing
motion the screws may be caused to revolve in either direction so as to
increase or decrease the tension on the thread. By the arrangement of
gear above described we are enabled to use two gates, which has the
advantage that while the thread on one is being polished that on the
other may be removed and a fresh supply put on.
In the next place our Invention consists of a new arrangement of
gearing for imparting motion to the mechanism, which increases the
distance between the rollers and puts the tension on the thread, by
means of which when the gate is turned away from the brush cylinder
the distance between the rollers is decreased, so as to relax the thread
and allow of its being taken off, and when the gate is again shut to
the brush cylinder the tension is again put on the thread. This we
accomplish as follows:-The revolving motion is imparted to the rollers
by means of bevil gear, but the bevil wheel which works into the wheel
on the roller also drives another which runs on a stud on the opposite
side of the centre upon which the gate turns. The gearing which
increases and decreases the distance between the rollers is worked from
a wheel on the roller shaft, so that when the gate is turned away from
the brush cylinder it brings the bevil wheel on the roller in gear with
that on the stud, and thus reverses the motion and brings the rollers

page_text: nearer together. The hanks are then taken off, a fresh supply put on,
and the gate again shut up to the brush cylinder. The bevil wheel on
the roller being thus brought into gear with the first bevil the motion
is again changed, the distance between the rollers increased, and the
tension put on the thread.
Our Invention consists, in the next place, in a new mode of actuating
the thread distributor. Instead of using a chain for this purpose, as
hitherto, we use a screw working in a nut, which carries the distributor.
The screw is furnished with a right and left hand thread, and the nut
is not of the usual form but has a swivel tongue, which projects into the
thread of the screw. A constant revolving motion is imparted to the
screw. The effect of this arrangement is that the nut is traversed along
the screw till it arrives at the end; it is then turned into the other
thread and traversed back again, and thus a to-and-fro motion is im-
parted to the distributor. We prefer to use one screw with a right and
left hand thread, but we might use a screw with a single thread, and an
intermittent reversing motion or two separate screws, with a throwing
in-and-out motion to the nuts. Formerly the brushes have been put on
the brush cylinder separately, and a great deal of time is occupied when
changing them by having to screw or unscrew each one by itself.
Our Invention next consists in linking these brushes together, or
attaching them to chains or bands, so that they form as it were a sheet
of brushes, which can be readily put round the roller drums and fixed
thereto or taken off all at once.