IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PREPARING SILK TO BE SPUN
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greenwood and John Batley, of Leeds, in
the County of York, Machine Makers, and John Salt, of the same
Place, Silk Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING SILK TO BE SPUN."
Sealed the 19th October 1858, and dated the 19th July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greenwood, John
Batley, and John Salt, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 19th July 1858.
We, THOMAS GREENWOOD and JOHN BATLEY, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machine Makers, and JOHN SALT, of the same Place, Silk Spinner, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR PREPARING SILK TO BE SPUN," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improved machinery for preparing silk to be spun, relates,
first, to a novel or improved arrangement of machinery for opening the cocoons
or waste silk, and consists in the combination of two opening cylinders pro-
vided with suitable teeth or combs, and two separate feeding apparatuses, so
that the silk may be fed in at both ends of the machine. We prefer to gear
these two opening cylinders together by means of spur or intermediate gearing,
so arranged as to cause them both to rotate at the same speed, and one of

page_text: them is mounted on moveable bearings, or on a sliding frame, which will
admit of the cylinder with its feeding apparatus being moved nearer to or
further from the other cylinder, either while in operation or otherwise, as
may be required. By this means the teeth or combs of the two cylinders are
made to intersect and thereby to open out the loops made by each of them in
the silk as it is taken from the feeding apparatus. When the combs on the
cylinders are filled or charged with opened silk, the machine is stopped, and
the opened silk is removed therefrom by means of boards or books, as is well
known. The opened silk is then conveyed to the dressing frame, and when
both ends of, it have been combed out, the combed silk is placed on a pair of
endless travelling sheets or bands, and conducted into a machine which we
denominate the "separating spreader," which forms the second head of the
Invention, and consists of a large wheel or disc, armed on its periphery with
gills or with rows of heckle or gill pins or teeth. On each side of this large
wheel are placed one or more wheels of smaller diameter, armed with gill
pins or teeth of a similar kind. The silk is conducted by the feeding
apparatus to that part of the machine where the peripheries of all the wheels
are about the same level, so that the gill pins or teeth of all the wheels will
be inserted into the stricks of silk at the same time. On each side of this
combination of pinned wheels is placed a pair of drawing-off rollers, so
arranged as to draw off the longer fibres from each side. or end of the strick,
Icaving the shorter fibres in the pins or teeth of the wheels. As the pinned
wheels rotate, and after the long fibres are drawn out of the stricks, the teeth
or gill pins of the smaller wheels are gradually withdrawn from the silk,
leaving the latter in the teeth or gill pins of the larger wheel. Two other
pairs of drawing-off rollers are adapted to the sides of this wheel, for the
purpose of drawing out the, remaining fibres from the gills or teeth. The
silk in this state is ready to be passed through the ordinary drawing frames,
from whence it may be transferred to the roving frames; but before the
sliver is taken to the drawing or to the roving frames, we pass it over a
steam chest, in which are mounted a series of pairs of metal or other rollers,
which may be driven at progressively increased speeds, so that the silk will be
conducted over the steam chest, and ultimately deposited in tin cans or upon
suitable bobbins ready for the subsequent operations; or the silk may be con-
ducted at once to the back rollers of the drawing or the roving frames. The
object of thus passing the silk between the pairs of rollers, and over this steam
chest, and which improvement forms the third head of the Invention, is to
alter its electrical condition and to elongate the sliver, and thus straighten the
fibres, so as to render the silk more workable in the subsequent operations

page_text: of preparing and spinning, and thus to produce a smoother and more perfect
yarn.
Another improvement in machinery for preparing silk consists in the
employment of rollers made of glass, in place of the metal rollers heretofore
used. This improvement we propose to use in combination with our other
improvements above mentioned, but it is also applicable to the machinery
heretofore used in the manufacture of silk.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Greenwood, John Batley, and John Salt, in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wе, THOMAS
GREENWOOD and JOHN BATLEY, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine
Makers, and JOHN SALT, of the same Place, Silk Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Greenwood, John Batley, and John Salt, Her special license"
that we, the said Thomas Greenwood, John Batley, and John Salt, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas
Greenwood, John Batley, and John Salt, 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 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PREPARING SILK TO BE SPUN," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Greenwood, John
Batley, and John Salt, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 Thomas Greenwood and. John
Batley, on behalf of ourselves and of the said John Salt, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the saine is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
Our Invention of "Improved Machinery for Preparing Silk to be Spun,"
relates, first, to a novel or improved arrangement of machinery for opening
the cocoons or waste silk, and consists in the employment of two opening
cylinders (provided with suitable pins or comb teeth) which receive the silk
from separate feeding apparatus, and as the silk accumulates on their periphery
are brought nearer together, so that the pins or comb teeth of the two cylinders
may intersect and thereby open out the loops made in the silk by the pins of
the respective cylinders as they take it up from the feeding apparatus.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved
opening machine, and Fig. 2 is an elevation of the feeding end of the machine.
A, A', are two cylinders fitted at their periphery with rows of pins or comb
teeth, and mounted, the one on bearings carried by the main framing B, and
the other by bearings carried by a sliding portion B¹ of the framing. These
cylinders are each provided with feeding heads C, C, which take the fibre from
the aprons D, on to which it has been spread by the attendants, and deliver it
on to the pins of the respective cylinders. The frame B' slides in V's or guides
on the main framing, and a horizontal screw shaft E, mounted in bearings in
the framing B is tapped into lugs attached to the frame B', for the purpose of
imparting a slow traverse motion thereto, and bringing the cylinders more
closely together as the operation of filling the comb teeth proceeds. The
driving power is conveyed to the cylinder A from a belt pulley a on a stud
axle, which carries a spur pinion 6, in gear with a spur wheel c on the axle of
the cylinder. A train of spur gearing 1, 1, 1, conveys rotary motion through
a spur wheel d to the cylinder A¹, and the rotary motion of the feceding rollers
is conveyed from the shafts of their respective cylinders by means of the trains
of wheels 2 and 3. A band pulley e, on the axle of the cylinder A, conveys
motion by means of a band to a similar pulley f, the stud axle of which is
mounted on a bracket bearing at the side of the main framing. This stud axle
carries a woring, which takes into a worm wheel on the screw shaft E, and by
this means a slow axial motion is given to the screw shaft, which consequently
imparts a progressive forward motion to the frame B¹, together with the
cylinder and the feeding head which it carries, which motion is in due time
arrested by the adjustable stop ; thus, as the silk accumulates upon the comb
pins, the cylinders are gradually brought so near together that the pins of the
one cylinder in describing their circuit will be caused to intersect those of the
opposite cylinder, and comb out the tails or looped ends of the tufts of silk

page_text: which have been fed on to the rows of pins. When this operation is com-
pleted, the machine is stopped, and the opened silk is removed therefrom by
means of boards or books, as is well known. The opened silk is then conveyed
to the dressing frame, and when both ends of it have been combed out, the
combed silk is placed on a pair of endless travelling sheets or bands, and
conducted into a machine which we denominate the "separating spreader,"
which forms the second head of the Invention. This machine consists mainly
of a large vertical wheel or disc, armed at its periphery with radial pins or
comb teeth, and mounted between two wheels (or it may be more wheels) of
smaller diameter, and similarly provided with pins or teeth. At a point where
the peripheries of these wheels coincide, drawing-off or stripping rollers are
situated at either side of the group of wheels, and at another point of the
periphery of the large wheel a second set of drawing-off or stripping rollers
is provided, the former being intended to take off the long and the latter the
short staple. The silk is fed to the large comb wheel by the feed cloths or
bands. Fig. 3 shows this machine in side elevation, and Fig. 4 is an elevation
of the drawing-off end of the machine. a, a, is the main framing, in the
centre of which is mounted the large wheel b. On the axle of this wheel is
keyed a spur wheel c, into which gears a worm wheel d, mounted on a hori-
zontal shaft e. Motion is imparted to this shaft (through spur gearing f, f¹,)
from a belt pulley f, on a stud axle projecting from the end of the framing a,
and through the worm d and spur wheel c a slow rotary motion is com-
municated to the large wheel b. Affixed to standards g, g, are stud axles,
which carry the small wheels b', 6', the pins of which when they reach their
highest elevation are on a level with the pins of the wheel b. At this point
of their periphery, and at either side of the wheels are mounted rollers h, h,
for separating the longer fibres from the staple fed to the pins or comb teeth.
The staple which is laid upon the endless bands (as it comes from the
opening machine) is carried upwards by means of the feeding rollers k, and
deposited upon the pins of the large wheel b, and as it passes forward the pins
of the smaller wheels enter the silk, and support the overhanging ends of
the longer fibres until they are brought into the bite of the stripping rollers h, h.
Rotary motion is communicated to the lower feed roller k by means of gearing
driven by the spur wheel c, and the rotary motion of the small wheels b' is
derived from the drag of the silk fibres, which extend across the pins of these
and of the central. driven wheel. In the rear of the stripping rollers, and
mounted in each of the standards which carry them, is a trumpet-mouthed
tube or twirl ', which receives the fibres as they pass from between the
strippers h, and serves to condense them and guide them to the delivering

page_text: rollers h2. For imparting the requisite motion to these parts, the following
arrangement is provided at either side of the machine :-The axle of each of
the lower of the delivering rollers is fitted with a set of change pullies 1, from
which proceeds a band to a similar set of change pullies ¹ on a shaft 12, carried
by brackets at the side of the main framing. A pulley on the outer extremity
of this shaft is connected by a band with a pulley on the shaft e, and thus
rotary motion is communicated to the shaft 1, and so on to the delivery
rollers. A spur pinion on the axle of the lower delivery roller communicates
motion through an intermediate pinion to the axle of the lower stripping
roller h, and by means of a band which passes from a pulley 13 on the shaft 12,
and thence over guide pullies to a pulley on the tube h¹, an axial motion is
communicated thereto. By this means it will be understood that the fibres
of silk which are of sufficient length to project laterally beyond the small
wheels will be separated from the shorter staple, and delivered in the form
of a roping or sliver at opposite sides of the machine. The shorter staple
still remaining in the pins of the central wheel b, will be carried forward until
it is brought into a line with a double set of stripping rollers m, m, which
(from the pins of the small wheels not extending to this part of the circuit of
the large wheel) are set closer together than the pairs of rollers h, h, and are
thus enabled to strip off the shorter fibres from the pins. These fibres are in
like manner delivered in a continuous sliver from the machine at opposite
sides thereof by means of delivery rollers m¹, m³, rotary motion being com-
municated to these rollers, and to the strippers from the spur wheel f, Fig. 4,
through the train of gearing n, n. The silk as it is delivered from this
machine is ready to be passed through the ordinary drawing frames, from
whence it may be transferred to the roving frames; but before the sliver is
taken to the drawing or to the roving frames we pass it through a machine,
which constitutes the third head of the Invention, the object being to alter the
electrical condition, and also to elongate and straighten the fibres of the silk,
and thereby render it more workable in the subsequent operations of pre-
paring and spinning, and capable of conversion into a superior quality of
yarn. Fig. 5 is a side elevation, and Fig. 6 an end view of this machine.
It consists mainly of a steam chest fitted with rollers over and between which
the silk is passed, and thereby simultaneously heated and drawn into a smooth
sliver. a, a, represents a steam chest, mounted on a framing b, b, the side
plates or standards c, c, of which carry a series of pressing rollers d, d, made
of metal or glass. The lower rollers are geared together by means of spur
wheels, so arranged that a slight variation of speed, increasing from the
feeding to the delivery end of the machine, is given to the pressing rollers.

page_text: The face of the steam chest is recessed to receive the lower rollers, and
adjustable guides are bolted to the raised part of the face for guiding the
slivers from one pair of rollers to the other. The machine is fed from cans,
and after passing between the series of rollers, and being slightly drawn so as
to straighten the fibres, it is deposited into cans at the other end of the
machine, or may be wound upon suitable bobbins ready for the subsequent
operations, or, if preferred, it may be conducted directly to the back rollers of
the drawing or the roving frame. The arrangement for driving the pressing
rollers may be readily traced by reference to the Drawings, and will therefore
require no further explanation.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Preparing Silk to be Spun," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, we wish it to be understood, that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, we claim,-
First, the combination of opening cylinders, operating as above described.
Secondly, the arrangement of machinery for assorting different lengths of
fibre, and forming them into distinct slivers or rovings, as described.
Thirdly, the arrangement of steam chest and pressing rollers, operating as
above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Greenwood and John Batley,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eighteenth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine.
Witness,
JOHN WAINWRIGHT.
THOMAS GREENWOOD. (L.S.)
JOHN BATLEY.
(L.S.)