CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING AND REGULATING THE POWER FOR DRIVING OR WORKING MACHINES EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING, DYEING, PRINTING, AND FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL. TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
NASMYTH, of Patricroft, near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the twelfth year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Nasymth, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said James Nasmyth, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as
I, the said James Nasmyth, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time
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 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR
COMMUNICATING AND REGULATING THE POWER FOR DRIVING OR WORKING MACHINES
EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING, DYEING, PRINTING, AND FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said James
Nasmyth, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the sald
James Nasmyth, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, 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 method of and apparatus for communicating and
regulating the power for driving machines employed in manufacturing, dyeing,
printing, and finishing textile fabrics apply principally to machines employed
in textile manufactures, and consist in communicating the power requisite for
driving each separate machine or system of machines of the same character or
description by means of a separate and distinct steam engine placed in direct
and immediate connection therewith, and so arranging the lever connected with
the cock or valve which regulates the supply of steam to the said engine that
the attendant workman shall be enabled to communicate, regulate, and discon-
nect the power which drives the particular machine or system of machines
under his superintendence, at the same time that he is able to inspect the
operation of the said machines. In order more fully to explain the nature
and object of my said Invention I would here remark, that in the management
of the several machines employed in the various processes connected with textile
manufactures it is very desirable that the workman should at all times have
direct and immediate control over the power which drives the machine or
system of machines under his charge, in order that he may be able at any
instant to set in motion or disconnect the said machine or set of machines
without in any way interfering with the operations of the machinery adjacent,
and also that he may be enabled to regulate the speed of the said machine or
system of machines from the greatest desirable amount of velocity to the
slowest degree of motion he may require whilst the said machines are in motion.
These objects have hitherto been but partially attained by certain arrangements
and modifications of connecting and disconnecting apparatus, catch or clutch
boxes, &c., which communicate the motion to the several machines from the
system of shafting through which the power of the steam engine is transmitted.
In my improved method of communicating the power to such machinery, the
most direct and perfect controul is given to cach workman over the power
which drives the machine or system of machines under his care.
This object
I effect in a most simple manner, by placing the handle or lever of the cock
or valve (which regulates the supply of steam to the engine) so near to the
machine which it drives that the attendant or workman may be enabled to
watch or inspect the progress of the operation under his charge, and at the
same time he can at any instant arrest or modify the velocity of the said

page_text: machine or set of machines at his own discretion, or according to the require-
ments of the textile fabrics which he superintends. Another object to be
attained by my improved method of communicating the power for driving such
machines or set of machines is, that any particular machine or system of
machines may be driven separately without the necessity of working a large
steam engine with its train of heavy shafting, gearing, &c.; and also that any
number of machines may be connected to or disconnected from the driving
power without the liability to breakage or disarrangement (caused by the
shock or jerk), which exists under the present system when heavy machinery
is thrown in or out of gear with the driving power.
I would here suggest,
that in the process of dyeing, printing, and many other operations wherein a
large quantity of steam is required for heating, drying, and other purposes,
the steam should be used at a high pressure for driving the engines, and
subsequently pass off to the other processes for which it is required at a lower
pressure. The great importance of the objects to be attained by my improved
method of communicating and regulating the power for driving such machinery
will at once be evident to the practical manufacturer, and may be well exem-
plified as applied to the machines for printing calico and other similar surfaces,
more especially those wherein several colors forming one pattern are printed
by the machine at one and the same operation, in which, according to the
peculiar nature of the work which they have to perform, it is necessary to
adjust. and regulate the several parts of the said machine with the greatest
accuracy and delicacy previous to commencing the process of printing, and as
the accuracy of the said adjustments is liable to be deranged (especially when
such machines are actuated, as heretofore, by means of gearing, which is
common to several adjacent machines,) it is requisite for the attendant work-
man to arrest the progress of the machine, in order that he may be enabled to
ascertain whether or not the operation is proceeding in a satisfactory manner.
In the ordinary method of communicating the power to such machines by
means of clutch boxes and other similar contrivances, the connecting and dis-
connecting of the machines is invariably accompanied, more or less, by a shock
or jerk, which is sometimes found to have the effect of disturbing the accurate
correspondence of the several parts of the pattern, thereby occasioning what is
technically termed a "misfit," and frequently, if unobserved, spoiling the piece
of goods. In my improved method of communicating and regulating the
power which drives the machinery, the attendant workman, having accurately
adjusted the several parts, can cause the movement of his machine to com-
mence in the most gradual and delicate manner, and keep it so moving that
he may not only be enabled to examine the accuracy of the process whilst the

page_text: machine is in actual motion, but also, by reason-of-the-extreme-command.
which he possesses over the velocity of his machine, he may-perform the most
delicate adjustments of the several parts without totally arresting the progress
of the machine. As soon as he finds all the parts in a satisfactory condition
and fit state of adjustment, he may gradually increase the speed of his engine
to the utmost desirable velocity, and again, when necessary, reduce the same,
in order to examine whether the operation is proceeding in a satisfactory
manner, and so proceed again without actually stopping the machine, the
effect of which will be that the piece would not be spoiled, as it is now liable
in many cases to be; but that the work in question will be performed in a
much more perfect and satisfactory manner, and in a much shorter space of
time than it has hitherto been effected, which several objects are attained by
my improved method of communicating power to the said machines whereby
the handle of the valve or cock for regulating the supply of steam to the
engine (which drives the machine or set of machines) is always accessible to
him, whilst his attention is still engaged with the said machine or set of
machines. In order fully to illustrate the practical application of my said
improvements I bave attached to these presents two Sheets of Drawings repre-
senting the adaptation of my Invention to some of the machines used in textile
manufactures; and in the annexed Drawings the ordinary parts of the machines
are drawn in outline only, whilst the driving power or steam engine is repre-
sented as shaded with color by way of distinction; a, a, in all the Figures
representing the handle or lever by which the workman controls and regulates
the supply of steam to the engine.
In Sheet 1 of the Drawings, Fig. 1 represents the application of my Inven-
tion to a "calendering machine," and Fig. 2 shews the same as applied to a
"mangle."
In Sheet 2 of the Drawings, Fig. 1 shews the adaptation of my Invention to
a "padding machine," and Fig. 2 represents the application of the same to a
four-color calico "printing machine."
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention, I would
remark in conclusion, that I do not claim as my Invention any peculiar con-
struction, form, or arrangement of steam engine as adapted to the purposes
aforesaid. But I do claim as my Invention the improved method of commu-
nicating and regulating the power for driving or working machines employed
in manufacturing, dyeing, printing, and finishing textile fabrics, by placing a
separate and distinct steam engine in direct and immediate connection with
each machine or system of machines, and so arranging the handle of the steam
valve or cock that the attendant workman may at all times have perfect control