improvements in Machinery for Preparing Wet or. Sized Cops, and in Appliances for Holding them in Loom-shuttles.
Year: 1886

page_text: improvements in Machinery for Preparing Wet or. Sized Cops,
and in Appliances for Holding them in Loom-shuttles.
I, JOHN AHLSTEDT of Derby Street, Bolton in the County of Lancaster, engineer
and machinist do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what inanner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
:
My invention relates to machinery for preparing wet or sized cops for use in the
loom by compressing them for the purpose of expelling the excess of moisture and
at the same time fixing them upon spindles or skewers and to the construction or
shape of such spindles or skewers together with appliances for holding them in the
shuttles while weaving.
1
The usual manner of preparing wet or sized cops is to put them upon spindles
or skewers and to place each cop singly under a press with a reciprocating up and
down motion and provided with suitable cups for the bottom and top of the cop
and to compress them for the purpose of expelling the excess of water, after which
they are removed from the spindle or skewer and transferred to the weaving shed
and pushed upon the usual shuttle tongues. This is not only a slow process, but
the repeated handling of the cop and especially the pushing of the compressed wet
and adhesive cop upon the shuttle tongues causes the cop ends to become deranged
and a great quantity of waste to be made.
My improvements consist in so arranging the machine for compressing the cops
that several cops are brought simultaneously under the action of a presshead for
expelling the excess of moisture and after the presshead has ascended are removed
from under the same and a fresh lot of cops is advanced by self acting mechanism
under the presshead, and in using loose spindles or skewers for supporting the
cops in the press of peculiar construction or shape, which remain in the cops after
compression and can be inserted with the cops on them into sockets arranged for
receiving and holding these spindles or skewers in the shuttles instead of the
ordinary shuttle tongues.
And in order that my improvements may be more readily understood and
carried out, I have hereunto appended a sheet of drawings marked with letters of
reference similar letters denoting similar parts on the different figures.
:
Figure 1 shows a front view of the machine for compressing cops; figure 2
a longitudinal section of the same; figure 8 a top view and figure 4 a sectional

page_text: plan with the revolving plate hereinafter described removed; figure 5 a section of
one of the cups for holding the spindle or skewer in the compressing machine;
figure 6 the improved spindle or skewer as inserted in the socket of the shuttle
while weaving, in full size; figure 7 the socket and skewer in the position in
which the latter can be inserted or removed.
The machine consists of a base plate a with a cylindrical rim a¹ a², boss a³ and
bracket a³ cast on it. Two pillars b 6¹ are fixed to the base plate and stayed at
the top by an open frame c. On the pillars the presshead d; connected by
studs d d to a guide plate d³, can slide, and is moved up and down by a
connecting rod attached to the forked which is actuated from a crank pin or
tappet or their equivalents from a shaft above, which may be supported by hangers
or brackets from the ceiling or walls of the room or on pillars or standards fixed to
or upon the base plate a and rotated by any ordinary means. On the cylindrical
rim a¹ a¹ a circular plate c rests and can be rotated by the bevil wheels e¹ and g
and is held in its position by the pivot e rotating. in a bearing in the boss a³.
Round the edge of the plate e a number of cups h are placed at equal distances
from the centre and from each other. Twenty four such cups are shewn on the
drawing, but any other number divisible by the number of cops compressed at one
time may be used. The cups are turned out to the shape of the cop bottom and
recessed cylindrically to hold the spindles or skewers and are further perforated to
allow the water to drain off, and are driven tightly or screwed into the plate e.
Into the press head a number of caps i are fixed centrally with and at the same
distance as the cups h, turned out to the shape of the cop tops and perforated for
the passage of the skewers or spindles. Four such caps are shewn on the drawing,
but any other convenient number may be used.
J
The spindles on skewers s are shaped as shewn on figures 6 and 7 of the drawing.
The lower end is turned cylindrical and fits into the recesses in the cups h and into
the sockets in the shuttles hereinafter described. The other part is turned taper
and of the same shape and diameter as the spindles on which the cops are spun, as
indicated by the dotted lines on figure 6. Hollows or corrugations are then turned
on it as shewn. The cops after being wetted or sized are placed upon the skewers,
which can be done readily as the outlines of the, skewers are identical with the
hole in the cops. They are then inserted into the recesses of the cups h and
brought under the presshead, which on descending compresses the cops endways
and expels the superfluous water. During this compression the yarn is pressed
inwards and fills the bollows on the skewer and as the press head rises, the cop
does not expand again to its former length but remains firmly fixed on the skewer
so that it can be transferred to the shuttle without having to be pulled off the
skewer and pushed upon a shuttle tongue, whereby waste is prevented.
The cops may be brought under the presshead by rotating the plate e by hand,
by means of bevil wheels and a handle on the horizontal shaft, but are preferably
brought under the presshead and removed from under the same by selfacting
mechanism. Such mechanism may be of any ordinarily used or known kind for
rotating circular tables of pressing or heading machines, but is preferably made as
shewn on the drawings. The shaft g¹ of the bevil wheel g turns in the bearing g'
and bracket a³ and carries loose upon it a band pulley k round which a band is
passed weighted at the end and attached to the sliding plate d³. A ratchet
wheel is fixed upon the shaft g' and a pawl k² held in gear by a spring is
mounted upon a stud screwed into the band pulley k. A number of recesses or
their equivalents are formed on the underside of the plate e and a catch m is
arranged oscillating on pivots in the brackets or pillars m² m² and pressed upwards
against the plate by a spring m³ acting on its outer end, which is connected by a
cord or chain to the sliding plate da or the presshead d. As the presshead moves
upwards, the band pulley is rotated and the pawl slides over the ratchet teeth.
When the presshead has nearly reached the top of its lift, the catch m is pulled by
the cord out of the recess, or notch on the plate e. When the presshead commences
to descend, the hand pulley k is turned by the weight, and the pawl k³ catching

page_text: into the teeth of the ratchet k¹ turns the shaft and the plate e until the catch m
drops into the next recess or notch on plate e, when the rotation of the plate e and
shaft g is arrested. As the presshead descends further the band slips round the
pulley. The number of recesses or notches on plate e is equal to the number of
cups h divided by that of the number of cops pressed simultaneously. The cops
having been ranged in the cups by the attendant are thus brought selfactingly
under the press and are removed from under it after compression.
The socket arranged in the shuttle for receiving the skewers is particularly shewn
by figures 6 and 7.
A spring n is arranged in the shuttle for holding the socket o
in its position in the same way as for a shuttle tongue and the socket is of similar
shape as the root of such tongues and can be turned partly round the pin o³.
A hole is drilled up the socket of the same diameter as the cylindrical end of the
skewer and a portion of the metal cut away as shewn at o¹. A circular groove is
turned into the cylindrical part of the skewer and a catch p oscillating on a pin p¹
arranged in the shuttle, which when the socket with the skewer is in the position
shewn on figure 6, projects into this groove and thereby holds the skewer firmly
in its position during weaving. By turning up the skewer as shewn on figure 6,
it can easily be withdrawn and a fresh skewer and cop inserted.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
Firstly. In machines for compressing cops the use of a circular revolvable plate e
with cups h, ranged at equal distances from the centre and each other, substantially
as herein before described and shewn on the drawings.
Secondly. The use of a presshead carrying several caps for compressing several
cops simultaneously in combination with a circular revolvable plate as claimed
under the first claim.
Thirdly. The mechanism for rotating the circular plate intermittently substan-
tially as shewn on the drawings and herein before described.
Fourthly. The formation of the spindles or skewers with corrugations and a
circular groove substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as
shewn on the drawings.
Fifthly. The arrangement of the socket and catch for holding the spindle or
skewer in the shuttle while weaving, substantially as hereinbefore described and
shewn on the drawings.