CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lacy, Cotton Spinner, and Samuel Simpson
and Henry Smith, Managers, all of Travis Holme Mill, Walsden, near
Todmorden, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 15th September 1859, and dated the 31st March 1859..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lacy, Samuel
Simpson, and Henry Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 31st March 1859..
We, JOHN LACY, Cotton Spinner, and SAMUEL SIMPSON and. HENRY SMITH,
Managers, all of Travis Holme Mill, Walsden, near Todmorden, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is particularly applicable to roving frames and to mules and
throstles. In supplying these machines with slubbings or rovings, it is now
customary to support the bobbins in creels, and to make the back rollers draw
off the slubbings or rovings.

page_text: Our Invention consists in unwinding such bobbins by rollers or other
friction surfaces, to avoid the strain on the fibrous material, and to effect a
perfectly uniform delivery of the slubbings or rovings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and Henry Smith in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 29th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
LACY, Cotton Spinner, and SAMUEL SIMPSON and HENRY SMITH, Managers,
all of Travis Holme Mill, Walsden, near Todmorden, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and Henry Smith, Her special licence
that we, the said John Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and. Henry Smith, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John
Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and Henry Smith, our 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and Henry
Smith, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their, or one of our or 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 we, the said John Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and
Henry Smith, 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 (that is to say):-

page_text: Our Invention is particularly applicable to roving frames, and to mules and
throstles. In supplying these machines with slubbings or rovings, it is now
customary to support the bobbins in creels, and to make the back rollers draw
off the slubbings or rovings.
Our Invention consists in unwinding such bobbins by rollers or other
friction surfaces, to avoid the strain on the fibrous material, and to effect a
perfectly uniform delivery of the slubbings or rovings.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a machine for spinning, commonly
called a "throstle," to which our improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is a front
view of the same. a, b, and c, are the drawing rollers; at the end of the
back roller c is fixed a pinion d, gearing into the carrier wheel e which drives
the pinion f, fixed to the friction roller g, supported in the uprights h, h; to
the roller is also fixed the mitre pinion i, gearing into a similar pinion j,
fixed to the upright shaft k; to this shaft are also fixed the mitre pinions j³, j³,
and 3, which give motion to the pinions ¹, 2, and 3, fixed respectively to the
friction rollers g¹, g³, and g. The bobbins 1, 1, bear upon the friction rollers
9, 9, 9, and g, and the skewers passing through the bobbins are guided in
slots in the uprights h. The surfaces of the friction rollers revolve at the
same speed as the back roller c, consequently when the machine is at work,
the rovings are unwound from the bobbins 7, and delivered to the drawing
rollers without any strain on the fibrous material, thereby avoiding the
irregularities and liability to break which are inevitable when the rovings are
drawn off the bobbins as now customary.
Many variations may be made in the mode of constructing our improvements,
as for instance, the bobbins may be supported between two rollers m, m, as
shown in Fig. 3, in which case the skewers and slots for guiding them would
be dispensed with, or the bobbins might bear upon and be unwound by a drum
or by an endless belt passing over rollers.
Our Invention is also applicable to the machines for preparing called
roving frames, and to the machines for spinning called "mules," but it is not
necessary to give drawings to illustrate the application to such machines, as
any competent mechanic, with the foregoing instructions, could make the requisite
alterations for the purpose.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we declare that we claim the use of friction surfaces

page_text: for unwinding the bobbins, by which roving frames, mules, and throstles are
supplied.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Lacy, Samuel Simpson, and
Henry Smith, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN LACY.
(L.S.)
SAMUEL SIMPSON. (L.S.)
HENRY SMITH.
(L.S.)
JOHN LACY.
(L.S.)
SAMUEL SIMPSON. (L.S.)
HENRY SMITH.
(L.S.)