IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."ALFICATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgins, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, of
the same Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgins and
Thomas Schofield Whitworth at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 9th September 1873.
We, JAMES HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, and THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates firstly to certain spindle arrangements specially
applicable to that system of spinning and doubling known as the ring

page_text: and traveller principle. For this purpose we employ a stationary spindle
upon which the wharve is mounted, the bobbin or spool being as we will
now assume connected thereto by any ordinary means. The upper part
of this bobbin or spool fits upon the conical end of a short spindle, which
runs in a footstep at the bottom of a recess formed in the stationary
spindle, and the bobbin or spool and running spindle therefore become
suspended, the latter being provided with an upper bearing at the top of
the aforesaid recess.
In another arrangement we also use a stationary spindle provided at
its upper end with a part of smaller diameter upon which is placed a
tube with a conical part for carrying the upper end of the bobbin or
spool, the lower end thereof being connected to the wharve which as
before is mounted on the stationary spindle. For driving the bobbin or
spool we cause a pin on the wharve to act against an inclined slot,
whereby the said wharve is slightly lifted. A modification is designed
for use when flyers are employed. For this purpose we use the same
short suspended spindle as that first described, and mount the flyer
thercon in the usual manner, but we provide an upper bearing for it by
means of a boss of spherical form situate within a tube mounted upon
the fixed spindle and which carries the wharve.
When the apparatus is fitted up for work the aforesaid spherical boss
and the tube are united by a pin which passes through them. The
bobbin runs at its upper end upon the said tube and at its lower part
upon a collar mounted to run either clear of or upon the tube, and pro-
vided with a flange on which the bottom of the bobbin rests, and
beneath which flange is adapted the usual drag or the said flange may
run upon the bare rail or in a recess formed therein. The aforesaid
spherical boss may be adapted to spindles on the ring and traveller
principle.
Another part of our Invention refers to the construction of certain
parts of ring and traveller frames, whereby we secure greater accuracy
in the relative positions thereof.
As these machines are now constructed the spindle rails are formed in
two separate parts, which are drilled separately for the reception of the
spindles, and it has been found that when subsequently fitted together
they do not always assume a position in which the rings are in their true
position. To avoid this we cast the two rails together in one piece and

page_text: drill them through for the reception of the spindles and the lifting rods
and the desired true positions are thus obtained. This union of the parts
may be for the whole width of tlie frame or in sections for any desired
number of spindles, but the effect in either case will be, that if any one
part become deranged in position the other will move bodily with it.
This casting of the rails together may of course include any part used to
support the spindle apparatus.
In order further to secure accuracy we cast supports upon the spindle
rail to carry the roller beam, and we can therefore gauge it accurately to
the centre of the spindle, or the position of the beam may be gauged by
the thread guide, and we use the aforesaid part which carries the roller
beam as a guide for the lifting rods. This part of our Invention so far
as the spindle rails are concerned we apply to the construction of the .
mule.
The next part of our Invention relates to doubling frames, and
consists in a method of stopping the drawing off from the creel when an
end breaks, for which purpose we cause the said breakage to hold the
thread behind the rollers so that they will slip over it instead of drawing
it forward.
The arrangement we propose is as follows:-Upon a fixed centre is an
arm which carries a blade bearing upon the thread in front of the rollers
the other end of the said arm having a projecting part capable of binding
the thread against a fixed part or in a recess at the back of the rollers,
when an end breaks the above-mentioned blade falls and by causing the
arm which carries it to turn upon its centre, binds the thread so as to
hold it against the friction of the rollers.
The above-mentioned blade may act in concert with a stationary blade
which supports the thread, and we propose to decrease the power of
drawing forward the thread by causing the turning of an arm to lock
the top roller and so prevent it from revolving, a method of effecting
which is to apply a projecting part to the said arm which falls into a
ratchet wheel or other such notched surface fixed on the axis of the
roller.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th March 1874.
I TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and
THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Huggins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, Her special license that
we, the said James Huggins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
James Huggins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our executors admini-
strators, 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
AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition,
amongst others, that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield
Whitworth, 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, 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 Thomas Schofield Whitworth, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (and accompanying Drawings), that is to

page_text: conar o, and thus prevent it from bearing heavily on the bottom of the
chamber 9.
Fig. 3* represents a modification in one respect of the arrangement
shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, in this instance the bobbin 11 is not placed on
the spindle direct but upon a conical metal cap 4* attached permanently
to the spindle, and by this method we bring the lateral pressure of the
bobbin level with the tube 5, the conical piece 4* being hollowed out to
receive it.
The second part of our Invention is shewn in section at Fig. 3. At 3
is the stationary spindle fixed to the rails 1, 2, and at 4 is the running
spindle supported as before by the tube 5 screwed on to the fixed
spindle 3. The upper part of the running spindle is provided with a
spherical boss 14, the extreme periphery of which is fitted to the interior
of a tube 15 and in that position the two parts are made fast together by
means of a pin 16 passing through then. The tube 15 is provided with
the driving wharve 7, but its lower end does not in this case rest upon
the bottom of the chamber 8 before referred to, it being suspended upon
the stationary spindle. At 17 is the copping rail to which is fixed a
bush 18 just clear of the tube 15, and on the outside of the bush 18 is a
loose collar 19 formed with a flange 20 carrying a flannel washer upon
which the bobbin 21 rests; its lateral bearings are on the tube 15 and
collar 19. The flyer 22 its screwed on to the running spindle 4 in the
usual manner. By the use of the aforesaid spherical boss 14 we are
enabled the more readily to adapt the running spindle to the wharve
tube in its true central position.
The next part of our Invention is shewn in the partial section of a
ring and traveller frame at Fig. 4 and in side view Fig. 5. As theso
machines are now constructed the spindle rails are formed in two
separate parts which are drilled separately for the reception of the
spindles, and it has been found that when subsequently fitted together
they do not always remain correct for a true position of the rings. To
avoid this we cast the two rails together in one piece and drill them
through for the reception of the spindles, and we cast parts thereon for
carrying the lifting rods and roller beam. At 23, 24, are the two spindle
rails cast together in one piece, they being united by connecting parts 25
and provided at back with a bar 26 also cast with the rails. Extending
upward from the bar 26 and cast with it are uprights 27, the upper ends

page_text: of which are cast with the roller beam 28. One of the lifting rods is shewn
at 29 fixed in the bar 26 and beam 28, and the lifting beam 29* slides
thereon.
Figs. 6 and 7 represent a portion of a mule carriage constructed
p according to our Invention. At 23, 24, are the two spindle rails cast
together in one piece, the two parts being united by ribs 25, and the two
rails may therefore be drilled together as described in reference to the
throstle.
The union of the parts above described in reference to Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7,
may be for the whole width of the frame or carriage or in sections for
any desired number of spindles; but the effect in either case will be that
if any part become deranged in position, the other will move bodily
with it.
The next part of our Invention is shewn at Fig. 4 above referred to a
5 doubling apparatus being mounted on the roller beam. At 30 is the
water trough, and at 31, 32, the usual rollers around which the threads
pass on their way from the creel to the spindles. To the rail 33 is
attached a bar 34 bent downward in front and there provided with
apertures 35, one for each thread, and from this plate there extend fixed
arms 36 the outward ends of which carry a rod 37 situate just beneath
the threads. At 38 is a lever mounted so as to be capable of turning
upon a centre 39, but so balanced that its outward end 38* bears lightly
or is supported by the passing thread. At 40 is a short lever mounted
so as to be capable of turning with the aforesaid lever 38. Separate
levers 38, 40, are adapted to each thread to be doubled. When a thread
breaks the lever 38 is no longer supported, and the front end turning
downward upon its centre 39 carries with it the short lever 40 and
causes its end 40* to press the thread at the back of the rollers into the
recess 35, and there bind it and prevent it from being drawn forward by
the rollers which will then simply slip over it.
In order to decrease the power of the rollers to draw forward the
thread, we apply a pin or ratchet wheel 41 to the axis of the top roller
between which pins a projection 42 on the lever 38 arrives, when the
said lever turns downward upon its centre, thereby arresting the motion
of the said roller.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be

page_text: understood that in reference to the spindle arrangements described at
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 3*, we do not claim the suspension of the running
spindle, but and for the purposes above set forth we claim,―
Firstly. The general arrangement and construction of the spindle
apparatus described in reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, 3*, and particularly the
use of the inclined slot or slots 12, and pin or pins 13 working therein.
Secondly. The spherical boss of the running spindle illustrated at 14.
Thirdly. In ring and traveller frames casting the two spindle rails and
supports for the lifting rods and roller beam together in one piece.
Fourthly. As applied to the mule casting together the two spindle:
rails.
Fifthly. As applied to doubling frames binding the broken thread
behind the rollers by the use of apparatus illustrated by the levers 38,
40; also arresting the revolution of the top roller substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Schofield Whitworth, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH. (L.S.)