IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Tatham, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO
MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
Sealed the 10th October 1879, and dated the 16th April 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Tatham at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th April 1879.
JOHN TATHAM, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker. "IM-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
My Invention refers, firstly, to a method of forming a cop upon the bare spindle,
or in conjunction with paper or other such tubes, in what are called ring and
traveller frames.
The object of this part of my Invention is to make a firm cop, and this I
accomplish by imparting to the copping rail an upward or downward motion varying
from, in mechanical arrangement or speed, or in addition to that which is now
commonly used.
This varying or additional motion I employ for causing successive lappings of
thread to be bound together. Supposing the spinning and winding to be going on
as usual in a ring and traveller frame, but on the spindle instead of on a bobbin or
spool, as is the more common practice, I cause the ring rail to descend or rise
throughout or at intervals by motions varying from those which are used for the
said winding, whereby the laps become bound together with the coils which have
been produced. This falling or rising motion may be effected by any suitable hand
lever or other such apparatus, or may be timed by any ordinary arrangement con-
nected to the gearing of the machine, and may extend throughout the whole length
of the cop or through a portion thereof only, and it may be constant in extent or
variable in distance.
Secondly. When it is desired to keep the threads at a given uniform angle when
passing from guide wires to the travellers I cause guide wires or guide rings to
move with the up and down motion of the copping rail, and I allow a distance
between the guide wire and the top of the spindle sufficient for taking off the cop.

page_text: I also make the diameter of the spindle to suit the angle of the thread between the
traveller and the spindle for large or small cops.
Thirdly. When the cops are full, ready for doffing, the copping rail being near the
top of the spindle, I lift the cops a little way up leaving the parts of the spindles
bare where I commence to build the cops, and then (if desired) I run the
gum brush
on the spindles or put on split tubes, hereafter referred to. I then lower the copping
rail to that part of the spindles where the building of the cops commences, and a
few coils of yarn which form part of the cops are wound. The full cops which have
already been lifted up are then removed, by which means the threads are severed,
and the machine is then ready for work again.
Fourthly. My Invention relates to paper or other such tubes which are used in
mules and other spinning or doubling machines to form a support for the spun or
doubled material. To facilitate the adaptation of these tubes I form them with a
longitudinal slit straight or curved, by means of which they may be adapted to the
spindle without passing them over the end thereof, and by this adaptation I com-
mence building the cop at once upon the tube with yarn that forms a part of the
cop, and without the waste which now takes place by winding below the tubes, and
in order to increase the facility of adaptation I notch out an end or ends of the said
slit.
A special tube I employ is is composed of thin wood shaving twisted into a
spiral which may be sprung open for adaptation.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Tatham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th October
1879.
JOHN TATHAM, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker. "IM-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
My Invention refers, firstly, to a method of forming a cop upon the bare spindle,
or in conjunction with paper or other such tubes, in what are called ring and
traveller frames. The object of this part of my Invention is to make a firm cop,
and this I accomplish by imparting to the copping rail an upward or downward
motion varying from (in mechanical arrangement or speed) or in addition to that
which is now commonly used, and this varying or additional motion I employ for
causing successive lappings to be bound together. In describing the application of
my Invention as I now practice it I shall have to refer to certain parts which are now
known, but that which I do claim will thereafter be pointed out. In the accompany-
ing Drawing Fig. 1 is a cross section of a ring and traveller frame with my
improvements added thereto, and Fig. 2 is a partial side view of the same. At 1 is
the ring rail, and at 2 the bolster rail, the former carrying the rings 3 and connected
to the usual poker bars. At 4 is a shaft on which is a roller 5, one end of a chain 6
being attached thereto, the other end being connected to a bracket 7 extending from
the poker bar. When therefore this shaft 4 is turned the ring rail 1 may be raised
and afterwards allowed to fall by its own gravity, and to effect this (according to
the most simple form of my Invention) there is a hand lever 8 on the shaft 4, which
lever carries a click 9 taking into the teeth of a ratchet wheel 10 mounted on the
said shaft 4. Now supposing the spinning to be going on for the formation of a
cop in any known manner upon the bare spindle, or upon a paper or other such tube
placed thereon, the coils of yarn will be wound thereon in successive spiral rings
which are comparitively loose, there being no means of binding them together. But
suppose that during the ordinary winding, above referred to, the hand lever 8 is moved
upward the click 9 will drive the ratchet wheel 10, and consequently shaft 4, whereby
the chain 6 will be coiled upon its boss so as to draw upward the poker bar and
elevate the ring rail 1, and if this elevation be effected at a quicker rate than that
necessary for ordinary winding it is evident that the thread is caused to bind the
coils already wound, so that the whole becomes bound (as it were) together. This
operation may take place at any required interval during the formation of a cop,
and may extend throughout the length thereof, or may be confined to any particular
part of the same where it is most desirable to bind the threads together. The
above effects have been described as due to raising the hand lever 8, but of course
the same effect may be accomplished by turning it downward (after it has been
raised) so as to allow the rail 1 to descend faster than it would do for the ordinary
operation of winding. Thus far I have described how the object of my Invention
may be carried out by hand, and I now proceed to explain how the same effect
may be automatically performed. Upon the shaft 11 of one of the tin drums is a
toothed pinion 12 taking into a wheel 13 which drives another wheel 14 on the
axis 15 of which is a bevil 16 in gear with another 17 mounted on a shaft 18, the
lower end thereof being provided with a worm 20 taking into a wheel 21, the
shaft 23 of which carries a cam 22 which is thus caused to revolve in the direction
of the arrow, and the surface of this cam from a to b represents (as will presently
be seen) the lift of the rail, and from a to c the drop.
In contact with the cam 22 is a bowl 24 mounted in a lever 25 which
turns upon a centre 26 and carries by means of a pulley 27 one end of a
chain 28, which, after passing over a pulley 29 is attached at its other end to
a pulley 30 carried by the shaft 4 above referred to. For the present I confine
myself to a description of those operations which constitute the subject matter

page_text: of my Invention, that is, without considering those arrangements which are
necessary, as is well known, for the building of the cop. According to the
positions shewn in the Drawing the ring rail is partly lifted by the cam 22 by
the part between the points a and 6 on the bowl 24, the lever 25 having been
caused to turn downward on its centre 26, so as to draw the chain 28 and cause
the shaft 4 to revolve, thereby drawing up the chain 6, as above described.. A
further revolution of this cam 22 continues thus to elevate the ring rail until the
whole of the lift has been 'accomplished, the bowl 24 being then at the point a, and
it is then that the essential feature of my Invention comes into operation. The
cam continuing to revolve presents a smaller radius to the bowl, and the ring rail
begins to drop and continues; to do so until the point c is reached, but instead of
doing so at the same rate at which it was lifted it descends more rapidly than it
rose; and it will be seen that for this reason the coils of yarn instead of being
wound side by side as usual are caused to overlap at. an angle those previously
deposited, so as to be, as it were, to bind the whole together, whereby a firmness of
the cop is effected. By inspecting the form of the cam 22 it will be seen that it does
not (on the dropping side) go down gradually to the lowest point, it might do so,
but the variations are simply for the purpose of regulating the form of the cop,
an arrangement which is well known in ordinary spinning; but it will be seen
that by my Invention (in the form described) there is an independent principal,
namely, that of varying the relative speeds of the rising and falling of the ring
rail for the purpose above described; and it will be 'obvious that by reversing
these relative speeds that the lifting of the said rail may be the quicker, the same
effect being accomplished. It will also be evident that by altering the shape of
the cam 22 the angular laying of the threads may be varied so as to be more
or less at any desired part of the cop. I would also observe that while the
operation is going on automatically, as above described, that if the lever 8
be operated by hand the crossing may be regulated as it may seem desirable.
The above describes the essential characters of this part of my Invention; but
it has been assumed (and the positions of the parts shewn in the Drawings
agree with that assumption) that the cop is being built upon its already formed
base; the production of this base is however, as is well known, necessary, and there
is consequently no novelty in this operation, and it may be performed by means of
any of those arrangements which have been already adopted or publicly proposed.
In order however to make the whole arrangement complete I proceed to describe
how the formation of the base of the cop may be effected in conjunction with some
of those parts which immediately effect the purposes of my Invention: Upon the
lever 25 is mounted a shaft 30 carrying at its outward end a ratchet wheel 31,
which is carried by the vibration of the said lever against a click 32 mounted on a
loose arm 33, which comes against a fixed stop 34, thereby turning the shaft 30 a
portion of a revolution, and through the medium of a worm 35 partially turning
the pulley 27, to which the chain 28 is made fast. Upon the pulley 29 is a
finger 36, which at the commencement of making a cop is in contact with the
chain 28 so as to press it outward and take up part of the chain, but in the position
shewn the base of the cop has been formed. Supposing now that the said base is
being formed, the lowering of the ring rail, as above described, will, by turning the
pulley 29, press this finger against the chain so as to neutralize a portion of the
lowering effect, but as at each traverse a portion of the said chain is taken up by
the worm 35 the lowering gradually decreases for the building of the cop bottom.
During this operation the finger 36 (by the successive shortenings of the chain 28).
is gradually being turned away therefrom, and when the cop bottom has been
formed will fail to reach it, after which the successive lifts are governed by the
worm 35 only until the cop is completed. Similar motions to those above described
are imparted to the parts on the other side of the frame by the chains: 40, 41.
These arrangements however for the building of the cop do not constitute any part
of my Invention, and they may be varied according to any well known means.
My Invention of causing the layers of yarn to be laid at angles, as above described,

page_text: may be supplemented by giving additional effect while the base of the cop is being
made in the following manner:-At 43 is a tappet mounted on a shaft 44, which
is driven from the wheel 14 through the medium of another wheel 45, and at 46 is
a chain attached at one end to a stationary part at 46*, and at the other to a
pulley on the aforesaid axis 4. At the commencement of the base of the cop
chain 46 is within range of the tappet 43, and by acting upon it turns the shaft 4
so as to effect an extra angle just as it has been described may be effected by the
hand lever 8, but when the base has been formed the tightening of the chain 28
will have loosened the chain 46 so as to cause it to hang down without range of the
tappet 43. Secondly. My Invention consists in a method of doffing the full cops
and commencing fresh ones. When the cops are full ready for doffing, the copping
rail being near the tops of the spindles, I lift the cops a little way up, leaving the
parts of the spindles bare where I commence to build the cops, and then (if desired)
I run the gum brush on the spindles or put on split tubes, hereafter to be referred
to. I then lower the copping rail to that part of the spindles where the building
of the cops commences, and a few coils of yarn which form part of the cops are
wound. The full cops which have been already lifted up are then removed, by
which means the threads are severed, and the machine is then ready for work
again. Thirdly. My Invention consists in a method of forming and adapting paper
or other such tubes which are used in mules and other spinning or doubling
machines to form a support for the spun or doubled material. To facilitate the
adaptation of these tubes I form them with a longitudinal slit, straight or curved,
by means of which they may be adapted to the spindles without passing them over
the tops thereof, and by this adaptation I commence building the cop at once upon
the tube with yarn that forins a part of the cop, and therefore without the waste
which now takes place by winding below the tubes. These slits I widen at the
bottom to increase the facility of adaptation. Fig. 3 shews a tube supposed to be
of paper constructed on this plan, it having a longitudinal slit 50 formed therein,
and by being pressed against the face of the spindle it is readily adapted in any
required position; Fig. 4 represents another construction. In this case the slit is
of a spiral form, and may be illustrated by those spiral wood shavings which are
used for lighting purposes, and called spills. In this case the adaptation may be
effected by screwing them on from the end of the spiral. These tubes may be used
for the purposes of the second part of my Invention, and the winding then com-
mences on the tube itself, or they may be applied to mules or other spinning or
doubling machines.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that I
claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent and for the
purposes above set forth,-Firstly. As applied to ring and traveller frames, making
cops on the bare spindle or in conjunction with paper or other such tubes, imparting
to the copping rail a downward or upward motion, varying from or in addition to
that which is now used for forming the cop. Secondly. The method of doffing and
commencing the cop upon the bare spindle or tube. Thirdly. As applied to spinning
or doubling machines generally, the use of paper or other such tubes formed with
longitudinal slits, straight or spiral.
As witness my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, One thousand