CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO THE PREPARATION OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF SPINNING
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
CHEETHAM, Junior, of Hollins Mill, Staley Bridge, in the County of Chester,
Cotton Spinner; send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain; bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of June, in the first year of the reign, did, for
Herself, Hér heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said David
Cheetham, Her especial licence, full power, sole' privilege and authority,
that I, the said David Cheetham, my executors, administrators, and, assigns,
and such others as I, the said David Cheetham; "my 'executors, administrators,
and assigns, should agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed; my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY APPLICABLE
TO THE PREPARATION OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE
OF SPINNING;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
David Cheetham, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention; and in what manner the same' is to be performed, to be
eurolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery' within six' calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part, recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more-fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, .the' said
David Cheetham, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-
.My Improvements in the Machinery applicable to the Preparation of Cotton
and other Fibrous Substances for the Purpose of Spinning consists in the
employment of certain mechanism or apparatus for conducting the sliver of
cotton or other material direct from either the carding engine or drawing
frame) usually employed in the preparation of the material previously
to spinning) and winding or coiling the same upon bobbins, or into cylin-
drical forms, instead of delivering the sliver into cans as usually practised.
By these methods of preparing the cotton or other material for the roving and
spinning process the labour is considerably diminished and the sliver placed in
a much more convenient and desirable form, for the purposes of roving and
spinning, than when it has been packed into cans as hitherto commonly
practiced.
My improved mechanism or apparatus to be employed for the first-
mentioned of these purposes is represented in the Drawing annexed, in which
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus (drawn upon a scale of about
one fourth the real size), Figure 2 an end view, and Figure 3 a plan or
horizontal view of the same as seen from above.
In these Figures it will be seen that similar letters of reference are marked
upon corresponding parts of the mechanism; and I wish it to be observed that
the apparatus is supposed to be placed immediately in front of the delivering
rollers of either an ordinary carding engine or drawing frame, as employed in
cotton manufactures in the situation usually occupied by the cans in this par
of the preparation process. The stationary standard framework a, a, a,
supports the horizontal shafts b, b, and c, c. Upon the shaft b, b, the bobbin
frame or sliding carriage d, d, is mounted. This carriage d supports the
pivots or axle of the bobbin e in segmental slots, upon which bobbin the sliver
of cotton is to be wound as it comes from the trumpet guide. The bobbin
bears upon the surface of the revolving roller f, and is turned upon its axis by
the friction of the two surfaces.
In order that the method of conducting, laying, and winding the sliver on to
the bobbin may be clearly understood, I have represented in Figures 2 and 3
at 9, 9, the delivery rollers of either a carding engine or drawing frame,
where the sliver h is seen passing to the bobbin e, through the trumpet guide i,
and presser lever or finger j, which presser lever is shewn detached in two
positions at Figs. 4 and 5. It will be observed that the end of the lever bears
against the periphery of the roller f, and that the lever is weighted so that any

page_text: amount of pressure may be put upon the sliver as it passes through the eye,
and under the end of the lever to the bobbin without bringing the finger j
against the surface of the bottom. The spur wheel k, taking into a pinion l,
fixed on the shaft c, is to be put into gear with the carding engine or drawing
frame to which this improved bobbin frame is connected, when, through the
pinions m upon the shaft c, and the wheel n upon the shaft 6, the shaft 6 will
receive rotary motion, and communicate that motion to the surface roller f,
which will then, by the friction of the surfaces, cause the bobbin e to revolve,
and consequently wind on the sliver conducted by the lever or finger j. In
order to lay the sliver in helical coils upon the bobbin, the whole of the
carriage d, d, with the bobbin e and surface roller f, is made to traverse
or slide upon the shafts b, c, to the extent of the required length of the
bobbin. This is effected through the agency of the pinion o, upon the
end of the bobbin spindle, which works into a spur wheel p, mounted
upon a stud at the side of the sliding carriage d; upon this wheel the
bevil pinion g is fixed, which takes into a similar bevil pinion on the top of
the shaft r. The lower end of this shaft has a pinion s taking into a rack t,
which is fixed upon the framing a, a, in front of the machine. Hence the
rotation of the shaft r and pinion s, taking into the fixed rack t, causes the
carriage d, with the bobbin, &c., to slide to and fro in front of the trumpet
guide i and delivering rollers g, as they present the advancing length of sliver,
and by these lateral movements, in conjunction with the rotary movement
before described, cause the sliver to be wound upon the bobbin in uniform
helical coils from end to end of the bobbin. It will readily be perceived that
as the bobbin is driven by the friction of the surface roller f, its smaller
diameter, when the bobbin commences to wind on the sliver, will revolve
much faster than when the bobbin has become nearly full; consequently a self-
adjusting differential motion is obtained, which accommodate the taking-up
speed of the bobbin to its increasing diameter, the delivery of the sliver from
the carding engine or drawing frame being always uniform, and as the spindle
or shaft of the bobbin runs in curved or segment slots u in the carriage, the
bobbin is allowed to rise as the sliver accumulates upon it, and the spur
wheel p is kept always in gear with the pinion o upon the bobbin end.
Another feature of my Invention is represented in Figure 6, which exhibits
an ordinary roving bobbin v, but I vary the usual method of mounting the
.bobbin in the creel. I indent the ends of the bobbin spindle at u, and have a
pointed stud or pin w fixed upon the creel rail for the bobbin to be supported
and turn upon instead of the common mode of allowing the pointed end of a
bobbin spindle to turn in a cup or recess in the creel rail. By this improve-

page_text: ment the spindle ends will be protected in the event of falling, and the bearing
be preserved instead of broken off, as is very commonly the case in the old
mode when the bobbin is rendered useless.
The other mode which I employ for winding or coiling slivers of cotton and
other materials into cylindrical forms is a modification of the former mode,
wherein, instead of winding the. sliver in helical coils upon a horizontal spindle
or barrel as before, I wind them in this apparatus in convolute coils round a
vertical spindle.
upright spindles a, a, answering to
One of the end discs -bis made fast
Fig. 7. represents in elevation two
the bobbins in the former machine.
upon the spindle, the other disc c is loose, and capable of sliding upwards
as the coiled material accumulates by successive laps between them, and
instead of causing the material as it coils to revolve-upon-a friction or
surface roller, I now place the friction or surface roller d upon the
coiled material. The two friction or surface rollers d,-d, are fixed upon, a
sliding horizontal shaft e, e, which is capable of moving to and fro in
brackets or bearings extending from a frame f.f.ff, for the purpose of
traversing the rollers d, d, from the centre to the circumference of the
discs b, c, and vice versa. This frame is also enabled to slide but in vertical
directions up and down upon its standards g, g, in order to adjust or. accommo-
date the rollers to the heighth or thickness of the cylindrical mass of coiled
material. The driving power by which the machine is to be actuated may be
applied in any convenient way to the horizontal shaft e, e, as by a band and
pulley h, having a tightening roller, or by any gear connected to the carding
engine or drawing frame, or in various other modes well known to mechanics.
The shaft e, being by these means made to revolve in accordance with the speed
with which the sliver is delivered, the rollers d, d, will also revolve with the
same speed, and the slivers conducted from the carding engine or drawing frame
through the trumpet guides i, i, will pass through a slot in the upper disc c, c,
under the roller d, d, and be made to lap upon the faces of the lower discs b.
The upper discs c, c, as before said, are enabled to slide upon the spindles a, a,
but are prevented from revolving with the spindles and lower discs b, b, by
arms k, k, connecting the upper discs with the frame f.
each roller d acts in the slot of the upper disc, and is
come in contact with the face of the lower disc, or with the material. lapped
upon it; hence, as the rollers d revolve, the friction of their surfaces produce
the rotary motions of the lower discs and their spindles, and cause the slivers
of cotton or other material as they are delivered from the trumpet guides to
be laid down flat by the rollers upon the faces of the lower discs. At the
The periphery of
thereby enabled to

page_text: taking into a wheel m,
This wheel carries an
lower part of one of the spindles a there is a pinion
mounted upon a stud at the bottom of the machine.
excentric or heart cam n, the periphery of which acts against two studs or anti-
friction rollers o, o, attached to the under part of a horizontal sliding bar p, p.
To this bar a perpendicular forked rod q is affixed, which fork embraces a
pulley r made fast on the sliding shaft e. Now it will be perceived that as
the spindle a revolves the wheel m will be made to carry the cam or heart
wheel n round, which, acting against the studs or rollers o, o, will cause the
bar p to slide to and fro, and with it the forked rod r, and consequently to
give that slow reciprocating movement to the sliding shaft e, and also to the
trumpet guide, which will traverse the rollers d, d, and the slivers of material
from the edge of each disc b, towards its centre, and vice versa.
By that
means the slivers of cotton or other material will be laid upon the discs b, b,
in convolute curves, and as the machinery continues thus operating the
successive convolute layers of sliver will be lapped one upon the other until
the cylindrical mass of material is of the required height or thickness, the
sliding discs c, c, being raised upon the spindles by the accumulation of the
material between the upper and lower discs. I may add, that, in order to
prevent the weight of the frame f with the shaft i through its rollers d, d,
bearing too heavily upon the slivers of cotton or other material lapped upon
the disc b, b, I may find it necessary to apply a counterpoise weight to the
carriage, which may be done by any ordinary means that shall be found
most convenient.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Cheetham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.