IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING AND SPINNING MACHINERY FOR FLAX, HEMP, JUTE, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Somerville Dear, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING AND
SPINNING MACHINERY FOR FLAX, HEMP, JUTE, WOOL, OR OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIAL."
Scaled the 30th June 1874, and dated the 2nd April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Somerville Dear at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd April 1874.
I, SOMERVILLE DEAR, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRAWING AND SPINNING MACHINERY FOR FLAX, HEMP, JUTE, WOOL, OR OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIAL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the preparation of flax, hemp, and other
fibrous materials for the operation of spinning, and it consists in an
improvement upon the chain sheet drawing mechanism, whereby the
gills or fallers used in preparing the sliver are enabled to approach
nearer to the nip of the drawing rollers than heretofore. This object I:

page_text: effect by fitting the gill bars with rows of pins of varying lengths. Thus
the pins of the front row I make shorter, say, by half an inch, more or
less, than the pins of the back row. This enables me to advance the
forward chain wheels nearer to the drawing rollers, and the gill pins as
they come round to the drawing rollers will leave the sliver at a point
much nearer the nip than has yet been attained in the machine to which
my Invention applies.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Somerville Dear in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SOMERVILLE
DEAR, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Somerville Dear, Her special
licence that I, the said Somerville Dear, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Somerville Dear, 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, use, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRAWING AND SPINNING MACHINERY FOR FLAX, HEMP, JUTE, WOOL, OR OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Somerville Dear, 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 Somerville Dear, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
.
This Invention relates to the preparation of flax, hemp, and other
fibrous materials for the operation of spinning, and. it consists in an
improvement upon the chain sheet drawing mechanism designed to
enable the gills or fallers used in preparing the sliver to be advanced
nearer to the nip of the drawing rollers than heretofore, and thereby
to afford a more efficient support to the travelling sliver. This object I
effect by varying the length of the gill pins, instead. of (as heretofore)
making the front and back rows of the gills or gill bars uniform.in
length. Thus according to my improvement I make the pins of the
front row shorter (say, by half an inch, more or less) than the pins of the
back row, and I am thereby enabled to advance the gill bars nearer to
the drawing rollers than heretofore, and consequently provide for the
gill pins as they come round to the drawing rollers, leaving the sliver at
a point much nearer the nip than has yet been obtained in the machines-
to which my Invention applies.
By reference to the accompanying Drawing, which shews in section
at Fig. 1a drawing head made on the old plan, and at Fig. 2 a drawing
lead made on the new plan (the scale of both Figures being the same),.
the advantage of my Invention and also the mode of carrying it out will
be clearly understood.
In these Figures A is one of a pair of chain wheels, around which the
endless chain sheet of gills B, B, revolves, and C, C, are the drawing
rollers; D, represents the line of the sliver as it is drawn by the
rollers C from the gills B. The gill bars are furnished with two rows of
gill pins a, b. In Fig. 1 these pins are shewn of uniform length, but
the pins of the front row in Fig. 2 are some half inch shorter (as already
stated) than those of the back row, the length of latter remaining as
lieretofore. The verticality of the gill pins while in action is secured by
means of fixed guides acting upon crank arms C* of the gill bars, as is
well understood, the arrangement in this respect being unchanged and
alike in both Figures.
The dotted lines E, E, F, F, indicate the respective courses of the
points of the two rows of pins. By comparing the courses thus indicated
:

page_text: in the two Figures it will be seen that where they are cut by the line D
(the line of traverse of the sliver) they are appreciably nearer to each
other in Fig. 2 than in Fig. 1. As however the course of the pins a is
of necessity the same in- both with relation to the nip of the drawing
rollers (the gills being always brought up as close as possible to the
rollers) it follows that the gill pins & when they reach the point marked *
(that being the point at which they leave the sliver) will have approached
much nearer the nip in the new arrangement Fig. 2 than in the old
arrangement Fig. 1. The importance of this change will be fully
appreciated by the practical spinner when it is stated that the machinery
represented by the Drawing Fig. 2 reduces the "stretch" by five-
sixteenths of an inch. This is due to the shortening of the pins a, a,
and the advance of the gill bars A towards the drawing rollers, a
distance equal to the reduction in the radius of the curve described by
the pins a.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements in
Drawing and Spinning Machinery for Flax, Hemp, Jute, Wool, or other
Fibrous Material," and explained the manner of carrying the same into:
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited.
Letters Patent. I claim, the arrangement of chain gill head above
described with reference to Fig. 2 of the Drawing, whereby the length
of the "stretch" is reduced, and a more efficient support is afforded than
heretofore to the sliver while being drawn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Somerville Dear, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
SOMERVILLE DEAR. (L.S.)