IMPROVEMENTS SPINNING, DOUBLING, THROWING, AND REELING SILK, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1863

page_text: Sealed the 21st August 1863, and dated the 27th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Houghton Albinson
and Henry Hooton Cocker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 27th February 1863.
We, JOHN HOUGHTON ALBINSON and HENRY HOOTON COCKER, both of
Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Silk Spinners, Doublers, and Throwsters,
do. hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
SPINNING, DOUBLING, THROWING, AND REELING SILK, AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
Our first improvement consists in adapting the usual wrapping machine
now employed for testing the size of silk to the English weights and measures
reduced to the decimal system, and in applying thereto a balance with a
graduated quadrant for indicating and ascertaining the weight and size of the
skein produced.

page_text: Our second improvement consists in applying the usual cleaners to the
winding frame, thereby performing the operations of cleaning and winding
simultaneously.
Our third improvement consists in the application of the usual throstle
doubling frame now employed in doubling cotton yarn, to perform the opera-
tions of spinning, doubling, and throwing silk threads, either organzine or
tram; in order to render the above machine suitable for silk, we apply thereto
additional drag rollers or pulleys for increasing the friction on the thread.
We also apply the doubling frame for winding and spinning silk direct from the
cocoons.
Our fourth improvement relates to reeling, and consists in winding the silk
threads from the bobbins produced on the machines above referred to, in skeins
of 1,000 yards or other suitable length; the size is ascertained by a balance
with a graduated quadrant. These skeins are divided into portions of 100
yards. By this means the manufacturer is enabled to regulate his transac-
tions by positive length instead of by weight as now customary. This will be
of great benefit in the silk trade, as it is well known that the weight of silk can
be augmented in the various processes to which it is subjected by the addition
of soap and other foreign matters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Houghton Albinson and Henry Hooton Cocker in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
HOUGHTON ALBINSON and HENRY HOOTON COCKER, both of Bolton, in the County
of Lancaster, Silk Spinners, Doublers, and Throwsters, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said John Houghton Albinson and Henry Hooton Cocker, Her
special license, that we, the said John Houghton Albinson and Henry Hooton
Cocker, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said John Houghton Albinson and Henry Hooton Cocker, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein

page_text: 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 SPINNING, DOUBLING,
THROWING, AND REELING SILK, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Houghton Albinson and
Henry Hooton Cocker, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, 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 we, the said John Houghton Albinson and Henry
Hooton Cocker, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
Our first improvement consists in adapting the usual wrapping machine
now employed for testing the size of silk to the English weights and measures
reduced to the decimal system, and in applying thereto a balance with a
graduated quadrant for indicating and ascertaining the weight and size of the
skein produced.
Our second improvement consists in applying the usual cleaners to the
winding frame, thereby performing the operations of cleaning and winding
simultaneously.
Our third improvement consists in the application of the usual throstle
doubling frame now employed in doubling cotton yarn to perform the opera-
tions of spinning, doubling, and throwing silk threads, either organzine or
tram; in order to render the above machine suitable for silk, we apply thereto
additional drag rollers or pulleys for increasing the friction on the thread.
We also apply the doubling frame for winding and spinning silk direct from the
cocoons.
Our fourth improvement relates to reeling, and consists in winding the silk
threads from the bobbins produced on the machines above referred to in skeins
of one thousand yards or other suitable length; the size is ascertained by a
balance with a graduated quadrant. These skeins are divided into portions
of one hundred yards.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, we will proceed to describe the accompanying 'Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a wrapping reel of the usual construction to which our
improvements are applied. a are the swifts containing the skeins of silk
to be wound again into skeins on the reel b and c the indicating dial pro-
vided with an index, which is driven from the reel by worm and pinion in the
usual manner. The dial is divided into one thousand parts, corresponding to
the number of yards wound on the rcel, consequently one entire revolution
of the index would denote that the skein on the reel was one thousand yards
in length. In like manner the graduations on the dial will denote any shorter
length of skein. The wrap reel shewn in Fig. 1 is made, by preference, with
ten swifts a, so as to be able to wind ten skeins at once on the reel b; but a
greater or less number may be used; and in some cases the silk may be reeled
from bobbins instead of from skeins. The skeins produced on the reel b are
then weighed by the improved graduated quadrant shewn in Fig. 2, which is
divided into yards and deniers. The pointer d of the quadrant e, when in the
position shewn in the Drawing, indicates that the skein on the balance, if one
thousand yards long, weighs one hundred and sixty ten-thousandths part of a
pound, and if the skein be five hundred yards long, it is three hundred and
twenty ten-thousandths part of a pound. The figure 70 on the deniers' scale
indicates a skein of five hundred and twenty yards as now used in the trade.
When the weight and size of the skeins are thus accurately ascertained, they
are classified and then doubled to produce one even thread.
Fig. 3 represents an elevation of part of a silk-winding frame of the usual
construction, to which our improvements are applied. f are the swifts; g, the
guide rail; and h, the bobbin on which the silk is wound in the usual manner.
Our improvements consist in applying between the guide rail g and the
bobbin the cleaner i, shewn in Fig. 4. These cleaners are similar to those
used in ordinary silk cleaning frames, but by applying them to the winding
frame as now proposed, the operations of cleaning and winding are performed
simultaneously. We wish to observe that we do not intend to dispense with
the ordinary cleaning machine, but by applying cleaners to the winding frame
the coarser impurities are removed in winding, thus leaving less to be done by
the regular cleaning machines; the cleaning is thereby better performed.
Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of a machine similar to the ordinary throstle
doubling frame usually employed for doubling cotton yarn, to which our
improvements are applied. i, i, are two rows of bobbins, the silk threads from
which are taken through the water or other liquid in the trough k, then around
or over the grooved pulley 1, by which the requisite additional drag or friction
is given, then over the guide rail m, and between the rollers n, n, to the

page_text: bobbins o. This machine may be used for spinning, doubling, and throwing
silk threads, either organzine or tram, and for winding and spinning silk
direct from the cocoon. In some cases the grooved pulleys may be dis-
pensed with.
Fig. 6 is an end elevation, and Fig. 7 a front view of a machine for reeling
silk threads, to which our improvements are applied. This machine is similar
to those used in reeling cotton yarn. p, p, are two rows of bobbins containing
the silk to be reeled; the threads from these bobbins pass through the guides
q, q, fixed to the rails r, r, which are moved to and fro in the direction of their
length, to cross the threads on the reels s, s, by the usual heart motion, shewn
best in Fig. 6. This heart motion produces a skein of the usual description,
but when it is desired to divide the skein into portions of one hundred yards
or other definite length, the mechanism shewn to the left of Fig. 6 and to the
right of Fig. 7 is employed. To the axle of the reels is fixed a worm, gearing
in the wheel t, fixed on the short shaft t'; to the other end of this shaft is
fixed the crank pin t³, which acts on the catch u, taking into the rack u¹, which
in rising liberates the stop r¹ at the end of the rail r, and allows it to come
against the next shoulder of the step plate u; by this arrangement every skein
of one thousand yards may be divided into portions of one hundred yards,
which are kept separate by threading a piece of silk through them previous
to removing the skeins from the reels.
By means of the improvements above described the various operations of
spinning, doubling, throwing, and reeling silk are performed with the greatest
facility and accuracy, and the manufacturer is enabled to regulate his transac-
tions by positive length and weight instead of by weight only, as now customary;
this will be of great benefit in the silk trade, as it is well known that the weight
of silk can be augmented in the various processes to which it is subjected
by the addition of soap and other foreign matters.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish to observe that we do not intend to limit our-
selves to the details given; but we claim as our Invention,-
First, adapting the wrapping machine and the graduated quadrant now
employed for testing the size and ascertaining the weight of silk to the English
weights and measures reduced to the decimal system, as shewn and described
in reference to Figs. 1 and 2.
Secondly, the application of the usual split cleaners to the ordinary silk
winding frame, as shewn and described in reference to Figs. 3 and 4.
Thirdly, the application of the throstle doubling frame now employed in

page_text: doubling cotton to spinning, doubling, and throwing silk threads, and for
winding and spinning silk direct from the cocoon, as shewn and described in
reference to Fig. 5.
And, lastly, the improvements in silk reeling machinery shewn and described
in reference to Figs. 6 and 7.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Houghton Albinson and Henry
Hooton Cocker, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
J. H. ALBINSON. (L.S.)
H. H. COCKER. (L.S.)