IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph Holt, and James Holt, of
Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Makers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS FOR SPINNING."
Sealed the 17th June 1879, and dated the 21st December 1878
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph
Holt, and James Holt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
21st December 1878.
HENRY STOCKS HOLT, JOSEPH HOLT, and JAMES HOLT, of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Machine Makers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING."
Our Invention relates to the combination of a willow with a cap machine, the
object being to cause a certain number of discharges from the willow to afford
material for the completion of a lap, and that when such lap has been perfected the
operations of both machines shall cease simultaneously, whereby we are enabled to
avoid the deleterious effect of unnecessary opening action upon the material, and at
the same time produce a lap thereof in the well known manner. For these purposes,
we use the arrangement for which Letters Patent were granted to us, dated
September 7th, 1874, No. 3074, or other apparatus in which a self acting willow is
arranged, and we cause the opening of the door which discharges the material; to
give motion to a ratchet wheel or similar appliance which carries a stud, cam, or
equivalent apparatus, and this after a given number of discharges arrives in contact
with an arrangement which throws off the ordinary catch of the lap machine, and
as this is connected with the feed motion of the willow, that also is stopped,
whereby there is a simultaneous stopping of the two machines and no material is
left in the willow to be acted upon injuriously while the lap machine is not at
work. This arrangement may be reversed by causing the lap machine to effect
the aforesaid stopping.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph Holt, and James Holt in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st June 1879.
HENRY STOCKS HOLT, JOSEPH HOLT, and JAMES HOLT, of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Machine Makers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL FOR SPINNING."
Our Invention relates to the combination of a willow with a lap machine, the object
being to cause a certain number of discharges from the willow to afford material for
the completion of a lap, and that when such lap has been perfected the operations of
both machines shall cease simultaneously, whereby we are enabled to avoid the dele-
terious effect of unnecessary opening action upon the material, and at the same time
produce a lap thereof in the well known manner. In describing our Invention, we shall
shew and refer to that arrangement of willow for which Letters Patent were granted
to us, dated September Seventh, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, No.
307+, but it will not be necessary to describe the operation thereof, as it is precisely the
same as that which is explained under our former Specification, and the Drawing is a
copy thereof, with exceptions which will be hereafter referred to; Fig. 1 is a side view
of the combined machines, and Fig. 2, a plan view thereof. As it will be necessary
to refer to some of the old parts of our formerly patented willow, we shall refer to
them by the use of the same numbers of reference as were then employed, using a
higher series of numbers for the new arrangement. At 50, is the cage of the lap
machine; at 51, the delivery rollers; at 52, the lap rollers; and at 53, a lap in
process of being formed, all of which parts as well as those at the beater end being
constructed and operating in the usual manner; at 54, is the usual hand lever for
disengaging the ordinary driving wheel 55 when a lap has been completed, but in
this instance it is held up by a catch 56, turning on a centre 57, the said lever
being provided with a projecting pin 58. To the lower end of the catch 56 is
jointed a rod 59, the other end of which is provided with a lever 60, turning
loosely on a stud 61, and provided at its upper end with an incline 62, which at
periods hereafter to be referred to arrives against a pin 63, projecting from a click
64, which according to the position shewn is in gear with a ratchet wheel 65,
mounted on the stud 61. Turning loosely on the said stud 61 is a lever 66, jointed
at its outward end to a rod 67, the upper end of which is connected to the arm
through means of which the door 33 of the willow is opened, such arm being turned
by the rod 34, as described in our former Specification aforesaid. The lever 66 is
provided with a driving click 68, and when therefore the door 33 is opened, the
lever 66 being turned upon its centre, the said click 68 will move the ratchet
wheel 65 through a portion of a revolution, and carry a projecting pin 69
(extending therefrom) a step towards the lever 60. For the feed motion of the
willow the strap and pulley 3, 4, and parts connected therewith of the former
arrangement are omitted, and the following method is adopted. The ordinary
wheel 55, of the lap machine by means of intermediate gearing drives a pair of
bevil wheels 70, one of which is on a line shaft 71, provided with spur wheels 72,
which drive another line shaft 73, and on the end of this is a bevil 74, taking into
another on the axis of the pinion 6 of our former Specification, and then on to the
operating parts, as formerly described. At 75 is a creeper or lattice projecting into
the willow, and driven from the line shaft 71 by means of bevil wheels 76, and
answering substantially to the ordinary creeper, but in this instance it extends to
the usual rollers 77 of the lap machine, and may therefore be considered as the
ordinary feed apron thereof. The rollers 77, are driven through the medium of the
bevils 76. At 78 is a shute, which guides the material on to the feed apron 75,
when it is discharged through the door 33. The operation is as follows:-The
material is fed to the willow in the ordinary manner, and is operated upon therein
for the desired time precisely, as described under our former Patent aforesaid. At

page_text: each opening of the door 33, the material is delivered by the ordinary operation
of the machine on to the shute 78, from whence it passes to the apron or lattice 75
and is conveyed thereby to the usual rollers 77 of the lap machine, and from
thence by the cage 50 and other ordinary parts to be formed into a lap as at 53.
During these operations another also has been going on for at each opening of the
door 33 the rod 67 will be drawn upward, thereby turning the lever 66 on its
centre and causing the click 68 to drive the ratchet wheel 65 through the space of
one or more teeth, and the operations will thus continue (the lap in the meantime
being formed) until a sufficient number of discharges from the willow have taken
place to form the intended lap. When that has been accomplished, the pin 69 will
have arrived in contact with the lever 60, and by causing it to turn upon its centre
will draw forward the rod 59, thereby causing the catch 56 to turn upon its centre
free of the pin 58, and the said lever then falling will withdraw the usual driving
wheel 55 from gear, whereby the motions of the line shafts 71, 73, will be arrested,
the bevil wheels 74, 76, cease to revolve, and the whole operations of the combined
willow and lap machine will be suspended, the door of the former being open.
When the rod 59 is drawn forward as above described, the lever 60 by being
turned upon its centre brings the incline 62 on its upper end against the pin 63 on
the click 64, thereby raising the said click and allowing the ratchet wheel 65 to be
turned back by means of a weight 80 into the starting position. The finished lap
is now removed, and when that has been done the attendant by placing the wheel
55 into gear (as is now usual for the lap machine) causes the line shafts 71, 73, to
revolve, and the combined operations of the two machines will go on, as above
described. The pin 60 is made adjustable on the ratchet wheel 65, whereby any
desired number of deliveries from the willow may be used to form a lap. We have
above described our Invention in combination with the arrangement specified under
our former Patent aforesaid, but we do not limit ourselves thereto as other arrange-
ments of self acting willows may be employed, and we would also remark that the
arrangement may be reversed by causing the lap machine to effect the simultaneous
stopping of the two machines. Having thus described the nature of our said
Invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, the combination of a willow and lap machino with arrangements for
mechanically arresting the motions of both machines when a lap of desired size has
been formed and the door of the willow is open.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Holt Holt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy nine.
JOSEPH HOLT. (L.S.)