A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, GRASSES, OR ANY SUBSTANCE HAVING CONSIDERABLE LENGTH OP FIBRE
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH C.
DYER, of Boston, State of Massachusets, one of the United States, now
residing at Gloucester Place, Camden Town, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of Novem-
ber, in the fifty-third year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph C. Dyer, my exors, adñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said- Joseph C. Dyer, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention, communicated to me by a
certain Foreigner residing abroad, of "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF
SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, GRASSES, OR ANY SUBSTANCE HAVING CONSIDERABLE LENGTH
OP FIBRE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if
I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,

page_text: as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph C. Dyer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in manner following, that is to say :-
After having previously disposed the fibres or staple of my hemp, flax, or
other fibrous materials parellel to each other, or nearly so, by the combs or by
other fit previous methods, I do place or dispose the said material in a tube
or other suitable receptacle, by means of which the extremities of the mass of
fibres shall protrude, and be presented in a situation fit to be drown out by
small portions at a time, as in the common process of handspinning of flax,
and 1 do cause the said tube or receptacle to revolve slowly upon its own axis
or central line, in order that the fibres may be presented in succession from
different sides of the whole mass; and farther, instead of actually drawing out
'the said small portions by hand, I do make use of a succession of pincers,
plyers, or nipping instruments connected with and worked by machinery, and
regularly following each other in one and the same line, which may be either,
in preference, circular, or else of some other curve of revolution not greatly
differing from a circle, or else of the nature of endless revolving chain or
strap; and the said pincers, plyers, or nipping instruments are so disposed and
operated upon as that the same may and shall severally pass and arrive in the
succession thereof, with their mouths respectively open, into contact with the
said extremities of the mass of fibres, and shall be moved nearly parallel to the
line of the said fibres, and shall each upon such arrival close upon, seize, and.
draw out a small portion of the said fibres, and that the whole line of fibres,
by the said successive actions drawn out, shall immediately thereafter be
passed into 'connection with some one or other of the well-known apparatus
of spindles, flyers, and bobbins, or other contrivances by which fibrous mate-
rials are at present mechanically spun. And I do farther declare, that altho
my said Invention may be carried into effect and practice by various modes of
disposing the fibrous material to be acted upon by the pincers, plyers, or
nipping instruments, and the seizing and drawing out of the said fibres, may be
perforined by jointed pincers, plyers, or nipping, instruments, or by such as
are or may be moved in cells, sockets, or guides of various descriptions, and.
the delivery or conveying of the portion of fibres to the spinning apparatus
may be effected by different contrivances sufficiently manifest to workmen
duly qualified to perform works of this or the like nature, I do nevertheless
prefer the construction and means herein-after set forth, illustrated, and

page_text: described in the Drawings hereunto annexed) in all which the same letters
and figures do indicate the same things). And I do farther declare that the
same do contain divers matters and- things of essential use and advantage for
the performance of my said Invention; that is to say:
Firstly, I do place my nippers respectively, together with other needful
pieces of apparatus herein-after described, in or about six or any other con-
venient number of cross grooves or cells b, b, b, b, b, b (Fig. 1, F, and Fig. 1, G),
in the circumference of a wheel D, E, called the head, capable of revolving on
its center a.
Secondly, the construction and combination of the said nippers and pieces
are separately shewn in Figures 2, 3, and 4, wherein c, c, represents a piece or
bar of sufficient width or thickness to fit one of the said grooves or cells, and
to slide easily therein, when so placed, as that the thin steel claw d, proceed-
ing therefrom, shall stand in a direction perpendicular to the circumference of
the head, or nearly so; and e, e, represents another piece or bar separately
shewn in plan and section, and having therein a mortice or perforation i, i, to
receive the claw d, and adjusting screws' at the ends, or else in the piece c, c,
for regulating the precise distance between e, e, and c, c, and consequently the
elevation of the claw d, when placed upon each other, as shewn in the middle
Drawings marked with a star ; and at f, in Fig. 2, is also another claw,
which is then pressed up or otherwise, as in Fig. 3. The office of the claw f
is performed by a shoulder or small stop or otherwise, as in Fig. 4. One of
the claws is made moveable on a pin or joint. And in each of the said con-
structions, if c, c, be either absolutely or relatively moved towards c, the claw
or claws will be brought together or close, and will seize any fibres or other
material which may have been placed between them; and g, g, represents a piece
called the contracting slide, which rests upon c, c, along with e, e, and serves,
by a separate sliding motion, to bring the shoulder h against the fibres drawn
by the preceeding slides, and thereby to take away their divergence, and lay
them in one line, to be passed onwards to the spinning apparatus, as herein..
after more fully explained, and the thickness of e, e, and g, g, are together
equal to the thickness of c, c, as shewn in the lower left-hand Drawing of
Figs. 2, 3, and 4 respectively, so that the pieces e, e, and g, g, do in that state
fill the cross groove or cell of the wheel or head.
Thirdly, in Fig. 5 is seen, by a section supposed to pass thro' the center of
the head (Fig. 1), the manner in which the parts or apparatus last described
are placed in the said head, and in the said Fig. 5 are farther seen m, m, m,
a spring acting sideways, by which the piece e, e is prevented from receding
before the action of the claw when c, c, is moved, and by which also the said

page_text: action is accommodated to the quality and quantity of the fibrous material so
as not to cut or injure the same; and 1, 1, represents another spring acting out-
wards against c, c, and thereby keeping the pieces or sliders up to their bear-
ings above the surface of the wheel or head, as far as may be regulated by
certain holes in side pieces put on, but likewise allowing the said pieces or
sliders to recede and sink down into the cross groove when pressed from
without; and p, o, n, represents two arms called guides, which are moveable
upon a pin or axis p, and kept in an erect position on each side of the wheel
or head by the action of the spring 9, which allows the said guides to give
way to pressure or reaction when exerted against them during the motion of
the wheel or head.
Fourthly, Fig. 6 exhibits the head viewed in the direction of its axis from
each side thereof, together with the several parts or pieces in or about the
cross grooves or cells respectively, all which have been herein-before described
by the same letters of reference, and may readily be understood therefrom.
Fifthly, Fig. 7 represents the same seen in a direction at right angles to
its axis, by which the situations of the pieces in the cross groves are more
distinctly seen, and the manner of sliding the same; and r* s*, r* s*, are two
or more adjustable side pieces which are concentric with the wheel or head, and
serve to react against the extremities of the sliding pieces c and g, and thereby
close or open the mouth or holding parts of c and e, and also bring the piece g
into the position, when required, for contracting and disposing the fibres into
one and the same line.
.
Sixthly, Fig. 8 shews a considerable part of the machine duly placed or put
together, wherein 1, 2, represent two pressing rollers, covered with leather, and
kept clean by a piece of wood covered with woollen cloth, and pressed against
them, with the occasional use of a little chalk, and the said rollers do act
against the head, and conduct the fibres to the spinning apparatus after the
nippers have quitted their hold (see Fig. 16); and 3, 3, shew the tail of one
end of the frame, which is pressed towards the head by the action of the lever
and weight 4, 5, 6. And r, r, represents the instrument called the hetchel
box for containing the flax or fibrous material, the same being cylindrical
without and square within, and the part from which the material is delivered
is conical. t, t, is the heckle upon which the said material is put, and com-
pressed thereon by the ladder u, w, kept down by the springs x. Fig. 9 shews
the same parts separately. And whereas it is requisite that the fibrous material
should be drawn by the nippers from different sides of the projecting portion
thereof at s, I do cause the said hetchel to revolve slowly in its own central
line or axis, as is shewn in Fig. 16, at 32, 33, and 34, or by other fit or obvious

page_text: methods. And whereas likewise the said revolution is calculated to produce a
side shuffle of the nature of twisting in the said fibrous material, I do counter-
act the same by disposing the hatchels of each several machine respectively. in
an oblique direction, sufficient to counteract or obviate the said effect, as is
shewn in Fig. 14.
.
Seventhly, in Fig. 11 (and also in Fig. 8) 17 denotes a fixed piece or sup-
port for 18, 18, a concave curved piece, within which revolves the arbor 19,
carrying four sliding weights 20, 21, 22, 23, which drop into and against
18, 18, at each descent during the said revolution, and pass off from the lower
extremity thereof, and press upon the fibrous material at the very time when
the nippers perform the act of seizing the same.
..
Eighthly, Fig. 12 shews another kind of weights, which pass thro' the
body of a wheel or shaft 41, as shewn in Fig. 18, and.do not require the curved
piece 18, of Fig. 8 and 11. At 42 is seen the side of one of the ends of the
said weight, which is anterior, while revolving; and at 42 the same weight..is
shewn by a side view, by which it is seen that it cannot fall out of the mortice.
in the wheel; and the effect of the said weight is that at its first descent the
corners 44, 45, fall upon the head D, E, Fig. 13, and do not then compress
the fibres because the inside is hollowed out (see Fig. 12), but so soon as the
weight or bar comes near or arrives at the perpendicular position, the part 43
performs that pressure, and this is made to happen at the same time, and with
the same effect, as that of the weight already explained by reference to Fig. 8
and 11.
Ninthly, in Figs. 8 and 10 the numbers. 9, 10, represent a piece of leather, or
other smooth flexible material, called the wetting strap, revolving upon the rollers
11, 12, in a trough of water, and against sponges on the ascending side, which
prevent its coming up too wet. And the thread, in passing from the pressing
rollers 1, 2, passes against the wetting strap, which, by a motion rather
quicker than that of the thread itself, wets and smooths the same. 14, 14,
are called thumb-pieces, and serve to press the threads lightly against the
wetting straps, and by a side, back, and forward motion, perform the action
which is usually done by the wetted finger and thumb in hand spinning. 15 is.
a bar to which the thumb pieces are attached by the connecting pieces 16 and
24. 25 is a pulley, having an inclined face at 25, 25, against which 15, 15, is
urged by a spring 31 (Fig. 16), and thereby the said back and forward motion
is produced and maintained in the said thumb pieces.
Tenthly, Fig. 15 and 16 exhibit two views of the machinery, sufficiently
compleat to shew the connection of the whole, and addition of other like
machinery thereto. And in the front view, Fig. 15, the numbers, together

page_text: with the descriptions herein-before made and contained; do indicate and afford
the explanations of the several parts.. In the side view, Fig:'16, the connec
tion of the whole, by wheelwork, from the first mover 35, will clearly shew to
any millwright or machenist of ordinary skill how, the same may be performed
and effected.
And I do farther declare that the same may be done in various well-known
ways, as may be prefered, according to local and other circumstances; and
that the numbers and velocities may be much varied; but may be nearly, and
with requisite accuracy, deduced from the said last-mentioned Drawings.
And, eleventhly and lastly, I do here state the course of operations as follows.
namely (1) the hemp, flax, or fibrous material is placed so that the forward
projecting ends thereof shall be over and in contact with the head; (2) the
head, by its revolution; brings a set of open nippers, beneath the fibres,, (3) and
at the same time the pressing weight insures and increases the quantity of
fibres which becomes disposed between the nippers; (4) the nippers close and
pass off, drawing fibrous material along; (5) the contracting slide of the next
succeeding cross groove is pushed against the drawn fibre and disposes. it strait,
notwithstanding the continued revolution of the hetchel; (6) the nippers pass
the first of the pressing rollers, which presses them and the guides down into
the head, (7) at the same time that the nippers open and quit the fibres, which
are now only held between the pressing rollers and the head; (8) the succeeding
set of nippers come under the fibre, and, by the course of operations already
mentioned, become charged, and pass under the pressing rollers as .before.
(9) In this manner a fine elongated mass of fibres passes onward, and is by the
operator directed along the face of the wetting strap, and under 'the thumb
piece, and thence to the spinning gear. (10) After the slides and other
apparatus belonging to the head has passed the pressing rollers, such parts
or portions thereof as require to be brought back to their first working posi-
tions, in order to pass again into operation with the fibrous material, are
restored to their positions by fit and duly placed pieces of the nature of r*, s,
of Fig. 7, (11) and by the said perpetuity of repétition the spinning process
may be continued at pleasure.
And the said machines may be multiplied to any extent, and worked either
in connection with each other, or separately and apart, as may be most
convenient and adviseable.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph C. Dyer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
JOSEPH C. DYER. (L.S.)
.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1814, the aforesaid Joseph C. Dyer came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Second day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fourteen.