CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS' IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Oldfield, of the firm of Oddy, Thompson,
and Oldfield, of the Adelphi Iron Works, Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Makers, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
Sealed the 12th August 1856, and dated the 15th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Oldfield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1856.
I, EDWARD OLDFIELD, of the firm of Oddy, Thompson, and Oldfield, of the
Adelphi Iron Works, Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Makers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS'
IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING,' to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of an improved combination of parts for effecting the
guiding of the yarn on to the spindles, called the copping motion. In per-
forming my Invention, a short copping rail is made to travel to and fro on the
carriage by means of racks and pinions, as in some mules of the present con-
struction; this copping rail is allowed to drop during the building of the bottom
of the cop by a shaper plate, having an incline at one end and supporting an
in line beneath the other end of the copping rail. The positions of the faller wires
are influenced by the copping rail, so as gradually to wind the yarn higher up
the spindle as usual; the lever bearing on the copping rail is jointed to a link
binged to a lever on the copping faller shaft, to which lever is also jointed a
catch working on a segment fixed also on the copping faller shaft. When

page_text: the carriage is at the end of its stretch the long lever drops, thereby bringing
a stud against the end of a lever which is connected to the catch above referred
to; by this means the second drop of the long lever can only take place when
the catch falls into the notch in the segment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Oldfield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
OLDFIELD, of the firm of Oddy, Thompson, and Oldfield, of the Adelphi
Iron Works, Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Makers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Oldfield, Her special license that I, the said Edward Oldfield,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Oldfield, my 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, usc,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Oldfield, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of 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 I, the said Edward Oldfield, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say):
:-
The nature of my Invention consists in an improved combination of parts
applicable to self-acting mules for guiding the yarn on to the spindles, tech-
nically called the copping motion.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the principal parts of a self-acting mule to
which my improvements are applied; Figure 2 is a front elevation, and
Figure 3 a plan of the same.
a is the framing of the headstock; b, the front drawing roller; c, the
carriage square; d, the spindles; e, the copping faller shaft; and f, the
counter faller shaft. The parts above enumerated, and all the others requisite
to complete the mule, excepting those relating to the copping motion, are made
in the usual manner. To the carriage square c is attached a bracket h, sup-
porting one end of the plate i, the other end of which is supported by the
rail j, fixed to the woodwork of the carriage; the plate i has grooves for
guiding the plate k, which is slidden to and fro along the plate i by means
of the rack l, which is fixed to the carriage rail, as shewn in Figure 2, or
to the floor of the room; the wheel m, fast on the shaft m', gears in the
rack 1, and to the upper end of the shaft m' is fixed the pinion m², gearing
into the intermediate pinion m³, which drives the rack k', fixed to the
plate . To the right-hand end of the plate k is a bearing for the screw n,
which moves the shaper plate o along the plate k in the following manner :-
To the plate i is fixed a stud i', and to the screw n is fixed the ratchet
wheel n; during the running out of the carriage, the curved piece n' comes
against the stud', and as the piece n' is fast to the click lever n², hinged to
the screw n, it is evident, that as the piece n' is raised by coming against
the stud it moves the ratchet wheel n³ partly.round, and as the screw n
is tapped into a nut projecting from the shaper plate o, the motion given to
the screw n moves the shaper plate, as in other copping motions. To the left-
band end of the shaper plate o is jointed the piece o¹, the level of which can
be adjusted by means of the regulating screw, seen in Figure 1. The copping
rail p is guided at one end in the projection on the plate k, and at the other
end by the slot piece ; the lower side of the copping rail p bears on the
shaper plate o and piece o¹. To the plate i is hinged the lever q, from which
projects a stud for the anti-friction bowl r, bearing on the copping rail
P; the
lever q is connected to the copping faller shaft e by means of the links q',
hinged below to the lever q, and above to the lever t, loose on the shaft e;
to the lever t is jointed the click t, which bears upon the segment s, keyed
on the shaft e. The click t¹ supports the upper end of the bent lever u, the
fulcrum of which is a stud fixed in the plate i, and the lower end of which is

page_text: jointed to the lever v, hinged to the carriage square .c. The long lever w,
which is constructed as usual, is connected at the outer end to the
upright lever a, the upper end of which is jointed to the latch a. The
mode of operation is as follows:-The various parts are shown in the positions
they occupy, when the carriage is going out, and. when the cop bottom
is about half formed; the plate is supposed to be moving towards the
drawing rollers, and when the carriage is at the end of its stretch the
bowl r is over the right-hand end of the copping rail p. As soon as the
backing-off commences the copping faller shaft e is drawn down in the usual
manner; so as to bring the notch in the segment s opposite the end of the
click t; the click t' then takes into the said noteli, thereby lowering the bent
lever u, and allowing the long lover w to perform the second drop; tho said
long lever w having before been held up by the stud in the lever a bearing
on the end of the lever v, the backing-off is completed, and the various parts
are put into gear to take the carriage up in the ordinary manner. When the
carriage is home, the under side. of the click t¹ slides up the incline y, thereby
disengaging the click t¹ from the notch in the segment s, and allowing the
fallers to rise in the usual manner. By means of the improvements above
described, the sector wheel and pinion, and the parts connected therewith, are
dispensed with, and the guiding of the yarn on to the spindles is effected with
moro accuracy and fewer parts than by the copping motions hitherto generally
employed:
Having this described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I wish it to be understood that I make no claim to any of
the parts above described when taken separately; but what I do claim is, the
improved combination of parts forming the copping motion of self-acting mules
as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Oldfield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
EDW. OLDFIELD. (L.S.)