IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR: THE PREPARATION. AND SPINNING OF FLAX AND. OTHER. FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1865

page_text: RETTERS PATENT to James Combe, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
and Kingdom of Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR: THE PREPARATION. AND SPINNING OF FLAX AND. OTHER.
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 20th April. 1866; and dated the 28th October 1865..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Combe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his- Petition, on the "28th
October. 1865.
I, JAMES COMBE, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, and Kingdom. of
Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION. AND SPINNING OF FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in a new and improved application of springs
for the purpose of giving an unvarying pressure on the drawing and retaining
rollers, or on the drawing rollers alone, in machinery for preparing and spinning
flax and other fibrous substances.
The first head of the Invention has reference to the springs for giving
pressure when a banger is used not connected with the bottom roller, but
with a rail or bar attached to the framing of the machine.

page_text: The Invention relates, secondly, to the combination of the said improvements
with an arrangement whereby the strain on the rollers is much diminished by
causing each pressing roller to be acted upon by a 'hanger which has a
corresponding bearing on the drawing roller.
The Invention relates, thirdly, to a simple and novel arrangement which
limits the pressure that can be put on the pressing rollers by the worker to
the elastic strength of the springs. A long nut which transmits the pressure
of a coiled spring to the pressing roller bush is made to be turned by hand
when changing a roller, and it cannot receive any more turns than will suffice
to bring the screw which fits in it into contact with the main hanger. This
screw is forked at its upper end to embrace the hanger, and on the upper end
of the hanger a screw is cut to receive an adjusting nut. At the termination
of the thread of this screw is a shoulder which serves as a stop for the upper
coil of the pressure spring which is dropped over the screwed end of the
hanger, the spring cannot therefore be crushed by the nut above (which is
turned by handles attached thereto), but is always left at such a length as to
be elastic in its action. In some cases it may be desirable to. introduce a
small spring to form the stop for the forked head of the screw. Instead of
connecting the hanger with a fixed rod or bar of the framing it may be made
to embrace the bearing of the drawing roller. The tendency of the presser
spring will thus be to draw the pressing and drawing rollers together. The
advantages derived from these improvements are, first, that the evils resulting
from the vibration of the levers and weights of the present arrangement which
cause an excessive and unequal strain on the roller are avoided; secondly, by
the introduction of the hangers with two bearings, one of which acts on the
axle of the pressing roller and the other on that of the drawing roller directly
opposite, the strain is self-contained between each short part of the drawing
roller and the pressing axle opposite it, and by this means there is little more
pressure on the bearings which support the drawing rollers than the mere
weight of the rollers, the result of this being that the strain on the drawing rollers
is reduced to a small fraction of what it is in the ordinary arrangement, and
this allows the size of the drawing rollers to be reduced to as small a diameter
as is desirable for making the drawing operation uniform and perfect, a result
that was unattainable before; third,, it simplifies the machines, and reduces
the wear and tear.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Combe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES.
COMBE, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, and Kingdom of Ireland, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Combe, Her special licence that I, the said James Combe,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Combe, 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
THE PREPARATION AND SPINNING OF FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the.
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Combe, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Combe, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements consist in a new and improved application of springs.
for the purpose of giving an unvarying pressure on the drawing and retaining
rollers, or on the drawing rollers alone, in machinery for preparing and
spinning flax and other fibrous substances. The springs I use in combination
with an arrangement whereby the strain on the rollers is much diminished,
each pressing roller being acted upon by a hanger, which has a corresponding
bearing on the drawing roller, thus making the pressure self-contained; or I
employ a simple and novel arrangement which limits the pressure that can be.

page_text: put on the pressing rollers by the worker to the elastic strength of the springs
or any portion of this.
In the accompanying 'Drawing various applications and modifications
of the Invention are shewn. Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation shewing the
spring pressing arrangement as applied to a roving or drawing frame, the 'full
lines shew the arrangement for the self-contained pressure between the
drawing roller a and its pressing roller b. When the self-contained pressure.
is not required the lower end and bush c¹ are dispensed with, and the hangert
is continued down and hooked to a rail or bar d, attached to the framing of
the machine as shewn by the dotted lines; Figures 2 and 3 are details of
the same, and similar letters refer to the like parts; Fig. 4 shews 'the appli-
cation of limited spring pressure to a wet spinning frame for flax, with saddles
on the rollers; Fig. 5 shews another application of the same, where there are
no saddles but separate hangers p, q, for the drawing rollers rand retaining
rollers t, the single stands w at present in use are also dispensed with.
The Invention, as illustrated by the arrangement shewn at Fig. 1, will be
best understood by describing the method of putting a pressing roller b into its
working position, the hanger c being in its place with either the brush c¹ under
the roller a, or with its end attached below to the frame:; the pressing rollerb
is put into its proper position, and the bush & put down on it; the tube nute is
then turned by hand more or less according to the size of the pressing roller/b,
but so as to bring the ends of the forked screw e into contact with the washer
or plate f¹, the hand nut f having been previously screwed up against the stop
pin f, the position of which is such as to prevent the shoulder of the 'forked
screw e¹ coming into contact with the head of the hanger bolt c. During
this time, by the spring being relaxed, the attendant can only by means of the
tube e bring the bearing parts into contact. When this has been done the
spring f is compressed by the hand nut f" till any required pressure is put on,
as may be indicated by marks on the finger g, or till the upper washer f
comes into contact with the upper shoulder of the hanger bolt, which is
adjusted to give the greatest pressure required, and which prevents the
attendant compressing the spring of further. Instead of the stop pin f
a weaker separate spring between the head of the hanger bolt and the
shoulder of the forked screwe¹ may be used. In Figure 4 the full lines shew
the application of the limited spring pressure to wet spinning frames. Where
the pressure is to be self-contained two saddles h, i, are used, through which
the screwed spring wire k passes. When the self-contained pressure is not
required the spring wire or screw k is carried back, as shewn by the dotted
lines, and the back saddles i are dispensed with. The method of adjusting

page_text: the spring pressure to the various sizes of the front pressing rollers m-is
similar to that described before for Fig. 1, the screw n in this Figure
corresponding with the tube nut in Figures 1 and 3, and the nut o; with
the forked screw e; Fig. 5 shews an arrangement for wet spinning frames,
where each pair of rollers and t has a separate hanger p, 9. The bottom
roller r is carried in the ordinary manner, but between each pressing axle is
a hanger p, which is steadied by the projecting piece p¹. On the hanger pis
also a projection or shoulder p², between which and the sliding bush p³ of the
bottom roller the springs is placed. When a pressing roller is put in
the bush, p is slidden along the hanger screw p till it bears on the axle r¹;
the small snug is then screwed down the hanger p until it is close to the
bush p, when the set screw is tightened down, and thus the pressure of the
spring is brought upon the pressing roller r¹. This set screw pe has a shoulder
or head p, so that it cannot be screwed down above a certain length, which
limits the pressure to the elastic force of the spring
the back rollers t, t, the pressure is
hanger, which is steadied by a rail
as the reach is altered. The spring s¹ in this case is above, and as the
pressing roller does not vary in diameter no arrangement to meet this is
required.
or any part of it. For
applied by a separate spring s¹ and
that moves with the back roller bush
The advantages derived from these improvements are,-
First, that the evils which result from the vibration of the levers and
weights of the ordinary arrangement (which causes an excessive and unequal
strain on the rollers) are avoided.
Second, by the introduction of the hangers with two bearings, one of which
acts upon the axle of the pressing roller, and the other on that of the drawing
roller directly opposite, the strain is made self-contained between each short
part of the drawing roller and the pressing axle opposite it, and by this means
there is little more pressure on the bearings which support the drawing rollers
than their own weight, the result being that the strain on the drawing roller
is reduced to a small fraction of what it is in the ordinary arrangement,
which allows the size of the drawing rollers to be reduced to as small a
diameter as is desirable for making the drawing operations uniform and perfect,
a result that was unattained before.
Third, it simplifies the machines by dispensing with U bars in preparing
machinery and the single stands and saddles in spinning frames, and reduces
the wear and tear by removing the weight from the bearings, and thus prevents
the rollers wearing down from their proper position.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in

page_text: machinery for the preparation and spinning of flax and other fibrous
substances, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim, the means above described for giving pressure to the drawing and
retaining rollers of preparing and spinning machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Combe, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES COMBE.. (L.S.)