IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING YARNS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR LINEE Commo AND ARE VARNO IS IT HARD" HING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Colin Mather, of the Salford Iron Works, Man--
chester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING YARNS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR
LINEE Commo AND ARE VARNO IS IT HARD"
WASHING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Colin Mather at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
February 1866.
I, COLIN MATHER, of the Salford Iron Works, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING YARNS, APPLICABLE 'ALSO FOR WASHING
LINEN, COTTON, AND OTHER YARNS IN THE HANK," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for washing yarns,
applicable also for washing linen, cotton, and other yarns in the hank. For
this purpose a frame is employed, to which a to-and-fro motion is given; this
frame carries a number of rollers, divided by preference into two sets, one on
each side of the frame. The banks are placed over these rollers, and hanging
down from them they dip into troughs containing water or liquid, so that as
the frame moves to and fro the banks are drawn through the water or liquid
in the troughs first in one direction and then in the other. Whilst this
is taking place the rollers on which the hanks are hung are also caused to
rotate, so that every part of each hank may be equally acted upon. The

page_text: motion is conveniently given to the rollers by mounting a pulley on the axis of
each pair of rollers, and passing around these pulleys is a cord, which is held
at each end of the machine, and the more completely to equalize the action of
the apparatus this cord has a slow motion given to it by passing it around
a pulley on the main or driving axis. The moving frame is connected by a
link with a lever, which by a connecting rod receives motion from a crank on
the main or driving axis, and thus the frame receives its to-and-fro movement.
The rollers which receive the hanks should be made square in section, but
with the angles rounded. The troughs for containing the water or liquid are
so arranged that they can be raised or lowered as desired; they slide in guides
on the main frames of the machine and have motion given to them from hand
wheels actuating worms and worm wheels, on the axes of which latter are
pinions gearing with racks fixed to the troughs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Colin Mather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd August 1866..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COLIN
MATHER, of the Salford Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year
of Iler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Colin Mather, Her special licence that I, the said
Colin Mather, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Colin Mather, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING YARNS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR
WASHING LINEN, COTTON, AND OTHER YARNS IN THE HANK," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Colin Mather, my executors or ad-
ministrators, 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,

page_text: 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 Colin Mather, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for washing
yarns, and is applicable for washing linen, cotton, and other yarns in the hank.
For this purpose a frame is employed, to which a to-and-fro motion is given ;
this frame carries a number of rollers, divided by preference into two sets, one
on each side of the frame. The hanks are placed over these rollers, and
hanging down from them they dip into troughs containing water or liquid, so
that as the frame moves to and fro, the hanks are drawn through the water or
liquid in the troughs, first in one direction and then in the other. Whilst
this is taking place the rollers on which the hanks are hung are also caused to
rotate, so that every part of each bank may be equally acted upon. The
motion is conveniently given to the rollers by mounting a pulley on the axis
of each pair of rollers, and passing around these pulleys is a cord, which is
held at each end of the machine; and the more completely to equalize the
action of the apparatus this cord has a slow motion given to it by passing it
around a pulley on the main or driving axis. The moving frame is connected
by. a link with a lever, which by a connecting rod receives motion from a
cránk on the main or driving axis, and thus the frame receives its to-and-fro
movement. The rollers which receive the hauks should be made square in
section, but with the angles rounded. The troughs for containing the water
or liquid are so arranged that they can be raised or lowered as desired; they
slide in guides on the main frames of the machine, and have motion given to
them from hand wheels actuating worms and worm wheels, on the axes of
which latter are pinions gearing with racks fixed to the troughs.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation; Figure 2 an end elevation; and Figure 3
a plan view of a machine arranged in the manner above described.
aa is

page_text: to and fro. Projecting from each side of this carriage are any desired
number of rollers d*, d*, upon which the banks of yarn to be washed are
placed; these rollers are by preference square in section, the corners being
rounded off, as shown in Figure 1; at each end of the rollers is a circular
flange to prevent the hanks from slipping off. On each of the axes which
carry the rollers d*, d*, is a pulley e, around each of which an endless cord f
is passed, as shown in Figures 1 and 3; this cord also passes around two
.rollers g, one at each end of the machine. One of these rollers has a slow
rotary motion imparted to it by a pulley g¹ on its axis, being driven by a
band from a pulley on the driving axis h. The cord is thus caused constantly
to turn slowly in one direction. As the frame c is moved first to one end
of the machine and then to the other the hanks carried by the rollers are
swung to and fro in the troughs b, and at the same time the rollers carrying
the hanks are caused first to revolve in one direction and then to revolve in
the opposite direction, and as the cord is as above mentioned constantly driven
slowly in one direction the rollers will revolve more quickly when going in one
direction than in the opposite direction, so that the same part of the hank is
never twice in the same place when the frame is at the end of its movement
in either direction. The to-and-fro motion is given to the carriage d by a
crank pin on a disc i on the driving axis h, giving motion by a connecting
rod to a lever k, which at its upper end is by a connecting rod connected to a
projection on the carriage d.
.
The arrangement above described for giving a rotary and to-and-fro motion
, to the rollers d* which carry the hanks is the one that I prefer to employ, but
other means may be resorted to for giving this motion to the rollers. The
troughs 6 can be raised or lowered in guides in the framing by means of
racks m fixed to their ends; into these racks pinions carried by axes n gear;
on each axis is a worm wheel n', into which a worm o gears, and on the
axis of this worm is a hand wheel by means of which the axis can be turned
and the trough 6 thus raised or lowered as desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said Colin Mather, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
COLIN MATHER. (L.S.)