IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Benjamin Gray, of Glenanne, in the County of
Armagh, in Ireland, Flax Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Benjamin Gray at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th August 1879.
WILLIAM BENJAMIN GRAY, of Glenanne, in the County of Armagh, in Ireland,
Flax Spinner. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINES."
My Invention relates to the spinning or twisting of yarn and thread and other
similar materials, and provides new means of steadying the spindles and regulating
the drag on the bobbins while being filled.
For these purposes I dispense with the neck-rail now ordinarily employed in
spinning and twisting machines, and I provide sockets fastened firmly to the builder-
rail, each of which receives a spindle, and, being prolonged into a hollow axle or
pivot carries thereupon a light free-fitting tube, furnished at the lower extremity
with a friction warf or disc. The combined socket and axle or pivot afford an
extended and elevated bearing for the spindle, which revolves in the hollow or bore
thereof.
The bobbins are made reversible, and without bushing or chambering, and are
bored so as to fit over and upon the above mentioned tubes to which they are
keyed or otherwise fastened. They may be of greater capacity than those now
employed, and proportioned in size to the fineness of the yarn to be wound on
them.
I apply the drag to the tube by means of a weight acting on the friction warf*
in the ordinary way, or by means of adjustable plates or tappets acting on the disc.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in. pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Benjamin Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
February 1880.
WILLIAM BENJAMIN GRAY, of Glenanne, in the County of Armagh, in Ireland,
Flax Spinner.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN, SPINNING AND, TWISTING MACHINES."
The said Invention relates to the use of sockets, axles or pivots, tubes, and other
contrivances constructed and employed as hereinafter described, in machinery for
spinning and twisting yarn, thread, and other similarly manufactured materials,
with a view to make better provision for steadying the spindles and regulating the
_drag on the bobbins or spools while being filled..
For the purposes of my Invention I use in the manner hereinafter described a
socket of brass or other suitable material firmly fastened to or fixed in the builder-
rail and prolonged into a hollow axle or pivot through and in which a spindle rises
and rotates. Upon the hollow axle or pivot I place externally a light freely fitting
tube of iron or other suitabe material, having a snug or rib to key or secure the
bobbin or spool which it is intended to carry, and furnished at the lower extremity
or base with a friction warf or disc which is grooved upon the face or periphery.
A combined socket and axle or pivot such as I have described is provided for
each spindle with which the machine is supplied and affords it an extended and
elevated bearing; and by this arrangement I am enabled to dispense with the
neck-rail hitherto ordinarily employed in spinning and twisting machines.
I supply the socket with a flange and I countersink the builder rail to receive it.
-A screw or bolt or screws or bolts driven through a perforation or perforations in
the flange into the builder rail will keep the socket firmly in position. In order to
give it greater stability and accuracy and to facilitate the removal of the spindle I
pass the socket through the builder'rail in a bore fitted to contain it, and make the
portion which passes through of larger diameter than the portion which forms the
axle or pivot, and in this preferable arrangement the flange is countersunk in the
underside of the builder, rail.
The bobbins or spools are made without bushing or, chambering, and are bored
so as to fit over and upon the tubes which I have described above. A notchi or
groove is cut longitudinally in the bore of each bobbin or spool in order to admit
the snug or rib with which the tube intended to carry it is, provided, and the bobbin
or spool is thus keved or secured upon the tube. The bobbins or spools may be
made reversible. They may also be of greater capacity than those hitherto ordinarily,
employed, and be proportioned in size to the fineness of the yarn or thread which
is meant to be wound upon them.
361
- I also apply drag to the tube by means of a weight acting on the friction warf
in the ordinary, way, either alone or supplemented by the use of adjustable friction
plates attached to the builder rail and acting upon the warf at the base of the tube.
These plates are attached by screws or pivots at one end to the builder rail and pass
horizontally under the warf on each side of the spindle, and the separation of the
opposite or free ends brings the contact of the plates nearer to the circumference of
the warf and thus extends the friction surface. The warf or plates may be clothed
to increase the friction.
And in order that the said Invention may be more fully understood I shall now
proceed to refer to the Drawings on the Sheet hereunto annexed, the same letters
of reference being used throughout all the Figures to indicate the same or corres-
ponding parts of said machines.
Figure 1. is a transverse section of the builder rail of a spinning frame, shewing
the socket, axle or pivot, tube, friction warf or disc, adjustable friction plate, and
bobbin or spool in section, a contained- spindle with flyer, and the ordinary neck.
rail and step rail.

page_text: Figures II. and III. represent varied methods of constructing the socket and
fastening it in or to the builder rail; and
Figure IV. represents adjustable plates arranged to act upon the warf attached
to the tube so as to aid in controlling the velocity of the bobbin or spools.
a is the builder rail; b is the socket having the flange c countersunk in the
builder rail and fastened thereto by the bolts or screws d, d; e is the prolonged
hollow axle or pivot, having several annular depressions or broad grooves internally
and externally to facilitate the lubrication of the spindle and tube; fis a bobbin or
spool, and the black line separating the axle or pivot e from the bobbin or spool, f,
represents the tube which carries the bobbin or spool and is furnished at its
lower extremity or base with the friction warf or disc g. A snug (or rib) on the
tube is represented by a broadened black line and a longitudinal groove to receive
it by a dotted line along the inner edge of one side of the bobbin or spool f; his a
spindle passing through the builder rail, socket, and axle or pivot, and carrying a
flyer at the upper extremity; is an adjustable friction plate; is the neck rail
now ordinarily employed in a spinning frame to afford a bearing for the spindle,
but which I am enabled to dispense with by the use of the socket b and axle or
pivote; and m is the step rail of a spinning frame.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I would have it to be understood that I do not claim the
use of sockets nor of axles or pivots, tubes, and friction warfs or discs, bobbins or
spools, nor of adjustable plates, except where the same are constructed specially and
employed as herein described, nor of any of the parts thereof; nor do I claim the
use of builder rails, spindles, and flyers, step rails, bolts or screws, nor of any of the
separate mechanical parts which form the compound automatic regulating and
bearing machinery used by me, but I claim,--
First. The use in spinning and twisting machines or frames of sockets arranged
with axles or pivots bearing the spindles, and constructed and employed substan-
tially as described and shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Secondly. The use in spinning and twisting machines or frames of tubes arranged
with friction warfs or discs, and constructed and employed substantially as described
and shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Thirdly. The use in spinning and twisting machines or frames of adjustable plates,
constructed and employed substantially as described and shewn in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Fourthly. The use in spinning and twisting machines or frames of bobbins or
spools, constructed and employed substantially as described and shewn in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fifthly. The construction and application of automatic regulating and bearing
apparatus, such as is shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed, in the manner and
for the purposes hereinbefore described.
Sixthly. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the automatic
regulating and bearing machinery, constructed and applied substantially in the
manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated in the several
Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Benjamin Gray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty third day of February, in the year of our