A NEW SYSTEM OF SPINNING AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Simon Boucher, of Warchin, in the Province
of Hainaut, Spinner, for the Invention of "A NEW SYSTEM OF SPINNING
AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Simon Boucher at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
30th August 1870.
I, SIMON BOUCHER, of Warchin, in the Province of Hainaut, Spinner,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW SYSTEM
OF SPINNING AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
This new system of spinning bears the name of the Inventor Simon
Boucher, and consists in the application of as many sets of rollers or
blocks for steeping (jeux de moufles) as there are spindles in the
spinning wheel. The sets of rollers or blocks are placed in tanks for
the purpose, and are so connected together by means of a frame that the
whole set are put in motion by a single movement and made to perform

page_text: their part with more or less expedition according to the amount of work
required to be done; these sets of rollers or blocks may be placed in the
water receptacles of the spinning wheel or throstle frame, they are also
constructed to receive the slubbing in a rough state, and by their
mechanical action cause it to pass slowly through the water, the length
of time which this slubbing remains in the water can be regulated at the
wish of the worker according to the nature of the material, (that is to
say, it can be kept in the water sufficiently long to give it the necessary
amount of steeping required for spinning. This mechanical system of
steeping in addition to its economical advantages has a very beneficial
effect on the health of the workpeople employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Simon Boucher in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th February 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIMON
BOUCHER, of Warchin, in the Province of Hainaut, Spinner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Simon Boucher, Her special licence that I,
the said Simon Boucher, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Simon Boucher, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "A NEW SYSTEM OF SPINNING
AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Simon Boucher, 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 performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Simon Boucher, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to throstles and other spinning machines for
spinning flax, hemp, or other fibrous materials, and consists in new and
improved arrangements for causing the rovings or slubbings to circulate
or travel through water of any required temperature in order to soak
and separate extraneous matter, and thereby more efficiently prepare
them to be spun than has hitherto been attained.
These improvements will be clearly understood by the following
description thereof, reference being had to the Figures and letters on
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan of one
end of a throstle having my improvements connected to it; Fig. 2 a
transverse section, and Fig. 3 a front view of the same, and Fig. 4 is a
plan; Fig. 5 a transverse section, and Fig. 6 a front view of some of the
parts.
At each side of the machine below the spools or bobbins containing
the rovings I fix a tank or trough marked T containing heated water and
place in the tanks as many levers A, A', carrying sets of rollers or
rollers and guide as there are spindles, the levers being curved in such a
manner that the rollers are below the surface of the water. Each lever
is jointed as at to the inner edge of the tank so that it can be raised
and lowered as required, and the lever A carries either two grooved
rollers c¹, c¹, Fig. 4, or two plain rollers c, c, and a grooved roller d, and
the lever A¹ carries two plain rollers c, and a grid or guide e. At the
back of each lever near the bobbins containing the rovings there is an
eyelet or funnel through which the roving passes before it arrives at the
rollers, and the object of having these rollers is to enable the rovings to
be a sufficient time in the water to effectually prepare them.
This Invention is based on the fundamental principle that the time
the roving should be circulating or travelling in the water should be
proportioned to the absorbing power of thic fibre, and therefore I use
rollers having a greater or lesser number of grooves or guides, and also

page_text: having more or less divisions to regulate the speed of the drawing
rollers as required.
In one case the rovings pass through guides to the eyelets or funnels
then over the rollers c¹, c¹, to the drawing rollers h. In another case
from the eyelets they pass over the rollers c, and over the grooved
roller & to the rollers h, or they pass over the rollers c and between the
dents of a guide or comb e. Thus the roving after being past through
its corresponding eyelet, and over either the grooved rollers, or over the
plain rollers and guides is repeatedly passing forwards and backwards
through the water, and finally drawn out by the rollers h.
The water may be cold or heated in any desired manner, but I prefer
to use the water from the condenser of the steam engine, the water
in most cases being required to be comparatively at a low degree of
heat.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim, the improved
system of enabling rovings to circulate or travel several times through
water over the same space either in one direction or in another by means of
grooved rollers or plain rollers and guides, as all such improvements are
herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Simon Boucher, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.