IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES USED FOR SPINNING COTTON, FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Farran and James Walsh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th September 1876.
JOHN FARRAN, Spinning Master, and JAMES WALSH, Cotton Spinner, both of
Over Darwen, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING
MULES USED FOR SPINNING COTTON, FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
This Invention relates to the friction box used in Platt's and Parr, Curtis, and
Madeley's self-acting mules, and those of a similar nature or construction, the
friction box being liberated or put out of gear when the mule carriage is being
drawn out during the operations of drawing and spinning, and in gear when the
carriage is being drawn back or put up.
Hitherto the liberation of the friction box has been effected by a cam on the cam
shaft of the headstock, the cam acting by means of rods and levers on the moveable
part of the friction box so as to put it out of gear when the carriage is drawn back,
or or put up ready for the next change. In this arrangement as the motion of the
cam shaft is not positive, it has been found by experience that if from any cause the
cam shaft should fail to work (as is frequently the case), the scroll bands are
instantly broken and other parts damaged, thereby causing great loss of time and
incurring considerable expense; and the object of our Invention is to obviate these
defects by liberating the friction box by positive motions obtained by causing the
back of the square of the carriage, or by bowls, inclines, or projections upon it to
act upon, or give motion to levers, rods, and other appliances in order to raise the
moveable part of the friction box perfectly independent of the cam shaft.
In that description of self-acting mule in which the liberation of the friction box
is effected by a fork or clip at one end of a double lever at present worked one way
by a cam on the cam shaft, and the other way by a spring, we propose to work the
fork independent of the cam shaft by means of a three-armed lever, which is acted
upon or put in inotion by the back of the square of the carriage, when it is drawn
back or put up ready for the next change.
In another arrangement we connect an incline or bowl to the arm of the double
lever opposite to the fork arm, and cause it to be acted upon by a bowl or incline
on the back of the square.
In that description of mule in which the liberation of the friction box is effected
by a fork at one end of an arm fixed to a vertical rod or shaft, we connect to the
D...931

page_text: back of the square of the travelling carriage a bracket carrying a bowl or incline,
which when the carriage is nearly drawn back or put up ready for the next change,
comes in contact with an incline or bowl fixed to the vertical rod or shaft carrying
the fork, and liberates the friction box; or instead of fixing the incline direct to
the vertical rod we make it part of a slotted lever connected to the rod by studs or
pivots.
In another arrangement we fix a two-armed lever on the scroll shaft, one arm
being in contact with the floor shaft lever which works the fork of the friction box,
and another arm so placed that it can be acted upon by a fixing, bowl, or projection
at the back of the square or carriage.
In another arrangement we fix to the shaft carrying the floor shaft lever a
vertical arm or lever having at the top an incline or bowl which can be acted upon
by a bowl or incline connected to the back of the square for giving motion to the
floor shaft lever and liberate the friction box, or instead of the vertical arm or lever
we employ a horizontal one for the same purpose, and place a bowl or incline upon
the same, to be acted upon by a fixing, bowl, or incline, connected to the back of
the square or carriage.
In another arrangement we use the back of the square itself for acting on a two-
armed lever, having one arm connected to the rod or shaft carrying the fork, or we
cause the back of the square to act on a block or snug jointed to two links, one
jointed at the bottom to a stationary bracket, and the other to the rod carrying the
fork, or we fix an incline or bowl on the rod to be acted upon by an incline or bowl
fixed to the back of the square or carriage.
In another arrangement we fix an upright shaft to the back of the headstock,
upon which we fix an incline, snug, or projection, which coming in contact with a
projection, bowl, or incline, on the back of the square gives motion to the fork
which regulates the friction box.
In another arrangement we fix an upright shaft to the back of the square of the
carriage, which carries an incline, snug, or projection, which coming in contact with
a stationary or dead stud gives motion to the upright shaft and thus depresses or
raises the friction box out of gear, as the case may be.
In another arrangement we bolt a bracket to the back of the square of the
carriage with a stud carrying a two-armed lever, the botton arın of which as the
carriage is put up ready for the next change comes in contact with a stud or
projection, the other arm depressing the lever which regulates the friction box.