IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR TWINING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Mellodew, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Spinner, John Duxbury, of the same Place, Mechanic, and
Edmund Layfield, of the same Place, Manager, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING
OR TWINING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 17th December 1858, and dated the 2nd July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Mellodew, John
Duxbury, and Edmund Layfield at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 2nd July 1858.
We, THOMAS MELLODEW, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Spinner,
JOHN DUXBURY, of the same Place, Mechanic, and EDMUND LAYFIELD, of the
same Place, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR
TWINING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention refers to that motion of mules and similar machines used for
spinning and doubling or twining termed "winding on," and consists in a
method of governing the action of the regulating screw ordinarily used.
For this purpose we cause a part projecting from the carriage to give rotatory
motion to a scroll or scrolls or conical pullies, which being thus caused to
rotate communicate a variable motion to the screw by a band or chain and

page_text: suitable gearing. This arrangement we adapt both to hand and self-acting
machines, the scroll in the former case if caused to travel with the screw being
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Mellodew, John Duxbury, and Edmund Layfield in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
MELLODEW, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Spinner, JOHN DUXBURY,
of the same Place, Mechanic, and EDMUND LAYFIELD, of the same Place,
Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second 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 Mellodew, John Duxbury, and Edmund Layfield, Her special license
that we, the said Thomas Mellodew, John Duxbury, and Edmund Layfield,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Thomas Mellodew, John Duxbury, and Edmund Layfield, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR TWINING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said Thomas Mellodew,
John Duxbury, and Edmund Layfield, or one of us, 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 I, the said John Duxbury, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our Invention refers to that motion of mules and similar machines for

page_text: spinning and doubling or twining termed winding on, and consists in a method
of governing the action of the regulating screw ordinarily used. For this
purpose we cause a part projecting from the carriage to give rotatory motion
to a scroll or scrolls or couical pullies, which being thus causod to rotate
communicate a variable motion to the screw by a band or chain and suitable
gearing. This arrangement we adapt both to hand and self-acting mules, the
scroll in the former case if caused to travel with the screw being turned by
apparatus fixed to the framing or other ordinary part.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood, we will proceed
to describe the Drawing accompanying this our complete Specification.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of so much of the winding-on motion of a self-
acting mule as is necessary to explain the improvement; and Fig. 2 is a view
taken at right angles. The quadrant is shewn at a, the regulating screw at b,
and the nut at c; to the bottom of the screw is attached a bevil pinion d, which
gears into another pinion e, upon a shaft f. On this shaft is a spur pinion g,
which through the intervention of others h, i, k, communicates with the
conical or scroll pulley 1; over this a chain m passes, and from thence to
another conical or scroll pully n, which is mounted so as to turn loosely upon
the shaft f. To the latter of these scrolls or pullies is fixed a ratchet wheel o,
working within the teeth of which is a click or driver p, mounted upon a bell
crank lever, 2*, the centre of motion of which is the shaft f, upon which it
turns loosely. To the other arm q* of the bell crank lever is attached a
chain r, connected at, its other end to a treadle s, mounted so as to turn upon
a centre at t, and this treadle is formed with an inclined plane u, against
which a roller v attached to the carriage arrives, as hereafter to be explained.
To the arm q* of the bell crank lever is attached a cord or chain w, which
passes over pullies, and carries at its other end a weight y, by which means
the treadle s is turned upward, and the click or driver carried over the teeth
of the ratchet wheel, but the extent of this motion is determined by a fixed
stop. The operation is as follows:-Upon the commencement of forming a
cop the chain m is wound upon the scroll or pulley 7, and its other end is on
the smaller diameter of the other scroll or pulley n. As the carriage of the
mule runs out the roller v therein arrives in contact with the inclined plane
upon the treadle s, which will thus be caused to turn upon its centre. This
will effect a turning of the bell crank lever q, q, so as to carry forward the
click p of the ratchet wheel o, which will therefore be caused to perform a
portion of a revolution, and the scroll or pulley n moving therewith will by
turning the other scroll or pulley and gearing k, i, h, g, e, d, effect a traversing
of the nut o by the screw. This having been accomplished and the roller v

page_text: having retreated from the treadles, the weight y will draw it again into the
position shewn, at the same time moving the click a driver over the teeth of the
ratchet wheel in preparation for another turning thereof. As these successive
movements take place the chain m will act upon varying diameters of the
scroll or pulley, and thus the requisite variation in the winding on will be
effected. The nut c having arrived at the extent of its determined traverse, a
part thereof will arrive in contact with the weight y, which being thus lifted
will allow the treadle s to fall so as no longer to be acted upon by the roller v.
To restore the parts to the starting position the click is lifted from the ratchet
wheel and the screw turned by hand as usual, and this will effect the restoration
of the chain to the position first described.
I have above shewn and described our Invention as carried out by one
arrangement, but we do not confine ourselves thereto, as many modifications
may be made in the detail without departing from the principle, whether the
same be applied to self-acting or to hand mules; and we would observe that if
the scrolls or pullies be required to travel with the carriage, that rotatory
motion may be imparted to them by apparatus fixed to the framing or other
stationary part; and we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, the use of conical pullies, scrolls, or equivalent apparatus for
the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Duxbury, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOHN DUXBURY. (L.S.)