FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING OR TWISTING AND WINDING TOBACCO
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Legg at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th April
1869.
I, ROBERT LEGG, Millwright and Engineer, of 14, Owen's Row,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
SPINNING OR TWISTING AND WINDING TOBACCO," to be as follows:-
The object of my present Invention of further improvements in
machinery for spinning or twisting and winding tobacco is mainly to
increase the usefulness of certain machinery and appliances for this
purpose, for which Her most Gracious Majesty was pleased to grant me
Letters Patent numbered 3013, and dated 1st October 1868, and consists,
firstly, in the construction and use of a pair of endless cross belts of
leather or other flexible material set at such an angle with respect to each
other that the cord of tobacco, after having been loosely formed on the
advancing surface of the feeding table in passing between them may be
screwed forward and pressed firm without abrasion of its surface.
Secondly. As a further means of preventing abrasion of the surface
of the cord of tobacco in the addition of sheaves, antifriction rollers, or

page_text: fair leader pulleys to the flyer or winding arm used for conducting
the cord of tobacco to the reel.
And, thirdly. In the construction and use of a machine the general
configuration of which is modified to embody the first and second
improvements herein provisionally specified.
The machine is constructed and used as follows: A table is
furnished with a travelling band, on the advancing surface of which
the tobacco is fed or laid by the attendant. An upper band or a roller
may be made to press upon the tobacco as it passes along the first men-
tioned band, and so far the arrangement is only a modification of the
construction described in my Provisional Specification dated 1st October
1868, No. 3013, but instead of the cord of tobacco being passed as
therein described directly to a common flyer or winding arm, I now
compel it to pass between two travelling bands, by which it is consolidated
without abrasion of its skin, the said bands being placed at such an
angle with the direction of the cord that their surfaces may move in a
course corresponding with the twist on the surface of the cord. The bands
are set in motion by suitable gear wheels in connection with a main
driving spindle and are made to press on the cord of tobacco with a
variable degree of yielding pressure, so that any required thickness may
pass between them, and any required degree of pressure may be obtained.
After passing between the oblique bands the cord of tobacco receives a
small additional amount of twist and is conducted by fair leader pulleys
along the flyer or winding arm, which I now fix on a horizontal or
nearly horizontal driving spindle; this spindle is also made to carry the
bobbin or reel on which it is desired to wind the work done. The reel
is made to fit freely on the horizontal spindle and is caused to revolve by
the tension of the cord. A slight resistance is offered to the rotation of
the reel by a friction band pressing against a projecting part of its hollow
axis. I also make the reel to slide to and fro on the spindle in the
direction of its length, so that every part of its length may be brought
successively under the end of the flyer in order that the work may be
wound regularly upon it. The placing of the flyer and reel spindle in a
horizontal position involves the placing in a similar position of the
spindles of the traverse motion. The traverse motion I employ is a
right and left hand screw groove cut on a cylindrical piece of metal and
connected by a bar with a true ring groove in a wheel on the reel axis.
The traversing cylinder is made to revolve at a proper rate to correspond
with the varying diameter of the constantly filling reel by a modifica-

page_text: tion of my differential traverse driving mechanism described in the
former Provisional Specification to which I have herein-before referred.
The changes of proportional velocities of the various parts of the machine
required for different varieties of work are effected by change gear
wheels or stepped band pulleys on the various spindles. The whole
of the mechanism is mounted on a light frame, by preference a pro-
longation of that which carries the feeding table. The machine may
be driven either by hand or by any other motive power.