IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING OR TWISTING TOBACCO
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Ward, of the North of England Advertizer
Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SPINNING OR TWISTING TOBACCO."
Sealed the 19th May 1868, and dated the 25th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Ward at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th November
1867.
I, ROBERT WARD, of the North of England Advertizer Office, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING OR TWISTING TOBACCO," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for spinning
or twisting tobacco, by which improvements the spinning machine is placed
under the control of the spinner. For this purpose I employ a table with
the spinning hook at one end of it; this hook is mounted on a cone placed
longitudinally with the table and having loose sheaves at each end.
suitable distance, by preference below, is placed another cone to which the
moving power is applied; it may be hand, steam, or other power; the two
cones are connected by a belt. The belt is operated upon by an arm or
handle running the whole length of the table, and so placed as to be moved

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Ward in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WARD, of the North of England Advertizer Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Ward, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Ward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Ward, 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 SPINNING OR TWISTING TOBACCO," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Ward, my executors or administrators, 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, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Ward, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
spinning or twisting tobacco, by which the spinning machine is placed under
the control of the spinner; this is done by means of a cone of suitable length
placed longitudinally with the twister and having loose sheaves at each end.
At a suitable distance above or below, but by preference below, is placed
another cone to which the moving power is applied (either steam, hand, or

page_text: other power), the two cones being connected by a belt. The belt is operated
upon by an arm or handle running the whole length of the table, and so placed
as to be moved in either direction by the pressure of the body or by the hand,
or by both, or either, as circumstances suggest.
Figure 1 of the Drawing shows a side view of my machine, and Figure 2
an end view. In all the Figures the same parts are indicated by the same
capital letters.
The standards are indicated by the letter A ; letter B is an ordinary table,
down which the tobacco is.spun; C is the upper cone placed in a line with
the reel E. This cone has a loose sheave a, a, at each end; D is the lower
cone, which is constantly in motion, being acted upon by the sheave or
pulley K, to which the power is attached; G is the arm or handle which
extends down the table, and which enables the spinner to move the belt I in either
direction, according as he wishes to go fast or slow, or to move it on to one of
the loose sheaves a, a, when he requires to stop. To effect this latter object
more quickly and satisfactorily the same action of the arm G, by which the
belt is run on to a loose sheave, brings into operation the brake F. This will
be better understood by reference to Figure 4. The arm of the brake c, c, is
hinged at one end 6, and at the other it is made of a V-shape. On the upper
side of the arm G is a plate (shown more clearly at Figure 8, letter b) of
suitable length and with depressions, which correspond with the loose sheaves
of the upper cone. When the end of the arm of the brake falls into one of
these depressions it causes the saddle a to fall on the circular end of the reel,
and so stops the impetus which would otherwise cause the reel to revolve after the
motive power was withdrawn by means of the loose sheaves. The construction
of the saddle will be more clearly seen by reference to Figures 5 and 6, which
are drawn on an enlarged scale. The letters a to these Figures indicate a
frame of suitable shape to carry two bands of leather or other suitable
material (b, b, b,) to which it is fastened by the screws c, c. The frame is
attached to the arm of the brake g by means of the bolt d, which is made of
a screw fashion, so that the saddle can be adjusted to the reel end by turning
the nobf. c is a nut to fix the saddle more securely. The arm of the machine
is fixed to the table by means of two supports H, H, a side view of which is
given in Figure 3, and by which they will be better understood. Letters &
indicate the support; 6 is a sectional view of the arm; c, c, is a bolt for
keeping the arm in its place, and d is a plate with a slit in it of suitable length
to allow of the arm being moved in either direction, as will be more easily
understood by reference to Figure 8, letter a. To the top of the bolt c, c, is
screwed a pointer, as shown more clearly by Figure 7.
As will be seen by

page_text: reference to Figure 8, the plates a, a, furnish indexes by which the spinner is
enabled to see how to move the arm so as to quicken or slacken the speed of
the reel or to stop it. By moving the arm to the. left so that the pointer which
is fixed is placed opposite Figure 1 the slowest speed is attained, and by
moving it in the opposite direction to Figure 3 the highest; by moving it to
the extreme of either end of the slit the belt is placed on one of the loose
sheaves and the reel is stopped. Figure 9 is a side view of a machine in
which the cones are lengthened in order to obtain a greater range of speed
where different thicknesses of twist are required to be spun at the same
machine. For greater convenience of stopping it is provided with four loose
sheaves a, a, a, a, and the cone is broken up into three fast portions b, c, d,
the index plates and the brake plate being altered to correspond. The
spinning machine is thus placed perfectly under the control of the spinner, so
that hand, steam, or other power may be applied to drive a number or set of
machines.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I wish it to be
understood that what I claim is, the use of an arm running down the whole
length of the table, or nearly so, as circumstances require, to enable the
spinner to operate upon the mechanism; the use of cones to regulate the
speed, and the use of loose sheaves in connection with one of the cones to
withdraw the motive power from the reel.
I also claim the arranging machinery for spinning or twisting tobacco,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Ward, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
ROB. WARD. (L.S.)