IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZING AND DRYING YARNS PREPARATORY TO WEAVING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Cooper, of Frome, in the County of
Somerset, Woollen Cloth Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
Sealed the 12th September 1860, and dated the 23rd March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Cooper, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
March 1860.
I, BENJAMIN COOPER, of Frome, in the County of Somerset, Woollen
Cloth Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZING AND DRYING YARNS PREPARATORY TO WEAVING,"
to be as follows:-
"
My Invention of improvements in sizing and drying yarns preparatory to
weaving relates more particularly to the preparing of woollen yarns for
weaving, but may also be employed for the preparation of other yarns.
The Invention consists in sizing and preparing the yarns in the quill, spool,
bobbin, or nap, or as the yarn comes from the spinning machine, thereby
obviating the necessity of winding, reeling, or hanking the yarn as is now
generally the case.
In carrying out my Invention, I take the yarn in the form in which it
comes from the spinning machine, and I place the quills, spools, bobbins, or

page_text: naps in a frame, which is then lowered into the size or preparation usually
employed for dressing yarns. The size may be in either a hot or cold state,
but I prefer the former, and make use of the size at about the temperature
usually adopted when sizing yarns.
The sizing vessel may if preferred be a close vessel, so that when the yarns
have been immersed, air may be either pumped out, or forced in, so as to
facilitate the penetration of the size into the interior of the nap, spool, or
quill of yarn, or sufficient pressure to effect the purpose may sometimes be
obtained by simply making use of a vessel of such a depth as will cause the
size to be forced into the mass of yarn by simple bydrostatic pressure.
It has been found that under ordinary circumstances ten minutes will be
sufficient to perfectly saturate the yarn, after which the frame containing the
spools, quills, or naps, is lifted out of the size vat, and the yarn is then trans-
ferred to another frame or box, which is placed in a hydro-extractor for the
purpose of driving off or expelling the superfluous water.
The yarn is then placed in a stove or steam closet, and left there until
sufficiently dry for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Cooper, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BEN-
JAMIN COOPER, of Frome, in the County of Somerset, Woollen Cloth Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Benjamin Cooper, Her special licence that I, the said Benjamin
Cooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Benjamin Cooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 SIZING AND DRYING YARNS PREPARATORY TO WEAVING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Cooper, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under my hand and seal, 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 six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Cooper, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say)
-
My Invention of "improvements in sizing and drying yarns preparatory to
weaving, relates more particularly to the preparing of woollen yarns for
weaving, but may also be employed for the preparation of other yarns.
The Invention consists in sizing and preparing the yarns in the quill, spool,
bobbin, or nap, or as the yarn comes from the spinning machine, thereby
obviating the necessity of winding, reeling, or hanking the yarn as is now
generally the case.
In carrying out my Invention, I take the yarn in the form in which it
comes from the spinning machine, and I place the quills, spools, bobbins, or
naps in a frame, which is then lowered into the size or preparation usually
employed for dressing yarns. The size may be in either a hot or cold state,
but I prefer the former, and make use of the size at about the temperature
usually adopted when sizing yarns.
The sizing vessel may if preferred be a close vessel, so that when the yarns
have been immersed, air may be either pumped out, or forced in, so as to
facilitate the penetration of the size into the interior of the nap, spool, or quill
of yarn, or sufficient pressure to effect the purpose may sometimes be obtained
by simply making use of a vessel of such a depth as will cause the size to be
forced into the mass of yarn by simple hydrostatic pressure.
It has been found that under ordinary circumstances, ten minutes will be
sufficient to perfectly saturate the yarn, after which the frame containing the
spools, quills, or naps, is lifted out of the size vat, and the yarn is then trans-
ferred to another frame, which is placed in a hydro-extractor for the purpose
of driving off or expelling the superfluous water. The yarn is then placed in
a stove or steam closet and left there until sufficiently dry for use.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a front or side elevation of the
apparatus, which I intend and prefer to employ in carrying out my Invention;
Fig. 2 is an end elevation, and Fig. 3, a plan view of the same.
a, a, is a
large tank or vessel containing the size or other preparation, which may if

page_text: desired be kept in a warm state by means of steam pipes or other suitable and
convenient appliances, which it will not be necessary to shew in the Drawing.
This vessel may if desired be provided with a cover whereby it will be closed
in; b, b, are upright standards for supporting the wheels or pullies c, c, over
which pass the chains c¹, c', from which gratings to receive the frames or open
boxes d, d, containing the yarns are suspended. The yarn as it comes from
the spinning machine in the form of spools, naps, or quills, or wound in the
required form is placed in the boxes or frames d, d, which are open at the top
and bottom for the purpose of freely admitting the size or other preparation.
The mode of arranging and securing the spools, naps, or quills of yarn in
these frames or open boxes will be best understood by referring to the
detached sectional view, Fig. 4, of one of the boxes; d', d³, Fig. 4) repre-
sent moveable laths having notches made on their upper edge to receive the
extremities of the wires, which pass through the spools, or quills of yarn.
These spools or quills are placed horizontally in the boxes in tiers or layers
one above the other, and are arranged in such a way that all the spools or
quills are separate from and do not touch each other. One layer or tier of
spools having been properly arranged at the bottom of the frame d, another
pair of laths is placed on the top of the lowermost one, and a second layer
of spools is arranged thereon, and so on, until the frame or open box d is full,
the laths d' are kept in their places by means of vertical bars d', which form
vertical slots for the laths to slide in. The uppermost layer of spools is
secured or prevented from rising by means of a hinged bar or narrow shutter
which when folded over the ends of the wires of the spools will hold the same
down.
In the Drawing, I have shewn three frames or open boxes d, d, at each
end of the apparatus, one set of boxes with the spools of yarn therein is
immersed in the size while the other set of boxes is lifted out of the
size for the purpose of re-charging them with fresh spools. The frames
or open boxes d, d, are placed upon the horizontal grating e, which is attached
to one end of the chains c', the other end of the chains after passing
over the pullies c above, being attached to the periphery of the central drum
or wheel f, which is actuated by an endless screw or worm g, on the upper
end of the vertical shaft h. This worm or screw g, gears into a worm wheel i
on the axle of which is a toothed wheel that drives a similar wheel j on the
axle of the drum or wheel f. The vertical shaft h is turned by means of the
hand wheel h', and the attendant is therefore enabled by turning the wheel h¹,
to raise the frames or boxes d out of the size, or to lower them into the same
as may be required. The sizing vessel may, if required, be covered in close so as

page_text: to admit of air being pumped in or out for the purpose of facilitating the
entrance of the sizing preparation into the yarn, but I have not usually found this
necessary, as for the generality of yarns the simple hydrostatic pressure of about
eighteen inches of liquid will be sufficient to cause the size to penetrate the spool,
sometimes, however, it may be found convenient and advisable to employ means
to facilitate the absorption of the size by the yarn, and when this is the case,
I prefer to employ the contrivance shewn at Fig. 5 in which k is an inverted
vessel, something resembling a gasometer. This vessel is attached to the
lifting chain c, and when the grating with the frames d thereon is lowered
into the size, a cock on the top of the inverted vessel k is opened in order to
allow the liquid to rise in the vessel, then when the vessel has sunk to the lowest
point the cock is shut, and the vessel is raised up again to the extent of the slack
of the chain, the effect of this will be that a vacuum will be formed in the vessel
k, and any air bubbles that may be contained in the spools of yarn will be ex-
hausted or drawn out, and upon again opening the cock l, the liquid will descend
and penetrate the spools; I have found by experience that if the size be used at
the temperature of about one hundred degrees to one hundred and forty degrees
Fahrenheit, nothing more than a slight hydrostatic pressure is required to
cause the size to penetrate; I have also found that the time required for
unloading and recharging one set of frames or boxes d is sufficient to allow
the size to act upon the yarns in the other set of boxes d, which are immersed
at the other end of the vessel a, and therefore no time will be lost. When the
superfluous moisture from the yarn in the elevated set of boxes & has run off,
the bozes with the spools or quills of yarn therein are placed in a centrifugal
hydro-extractor, which is shewn in sectional elevation at Fig. 6, and in plan at
Fig. 7.
This hydro-extractor consists of a cylindrical box or vessel m provided with
a vertical shaft n, to which rapid rotary motion is communicated by means of
suitable gearing, as shewn in the Drawing. The boxes d, d, are placed upon
a table, which is secured to the vertical central shaft n, and of course rotates
therewith. Below the boxes is an annular vessel or tank o to receive the
superfluous size as it is driven out by the rapid rotation of the boxes. This
size may from time to time be drawn off from the annular tank o, and be put
back into the sizing vessel and used over again.
The superfluous liquid having been driven off as much as necessary by the
mechanical action of he hydro-extractor shewn at Figures 6 and 7, the
boxes are next removed to a stove heated by steam, hot air, or in any other
convenient manner, whereby the yarn may be perfectly dried.
A convenient form of stove for effecting this object is shewn in the sectional

page_text: view, Fig. 8, in which p, p, p, are three steam or hot air pipes running parallel
to each other, and immediately above these are placed the boxes d, d, so that
the heat from the pipes may rise into and pass through the boxes and thereby
carry off the moisture and dry the yarn.
It will be evident that other modes of heating the air that passes through
the boxes may be employed, the plan above described will however be found
convenient and successful.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, as
aforesaid, sizing and drying yarns preparatory to weaving by operating upon
them in the quill, nap, or spool, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Cooper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
BENJ COOPER. (L.S.)