IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS OF DYEING SILK AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS, AND IN OTHER OPERATIONS ACCESSORY THERETO
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of Harris
and Mills, of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS OF DYEING SILK AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS,
AND IN OTHER OPERATIONS ACCESSORY THERETO." A communication from
abroad by I. M. Duchamp and Company, of Lyons, in the Republic of
France.
Sealed the 12th September 1879, and dated the 15th July 1879.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th July 1879.
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 23,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE PROCESS OF DYEING SILK
AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS, AND IN OTHER OPERATIONS ACCESSORY THERETO."
A communication from abroad by I. M. Duchamp and Company, of Lyons, in the
Republic of France.
The dyeing of silk and other textile materials is effected upon hanks or skeins,
or collections of hauks or skeins connected together, which are plunged into a vat
or vessel containing the bath, by suspending them by means of parallel rods resting
at their ends upon the edges of the vat or vessel, each rod carrying ordinarily a
number of banks or skeins tied together and forming two collections of several
skeins each. .
.
These hanks or skeirs are successively. displaced or shifted on their rods so as
to plunge into the liquid the part which was uncovered and to replace it by the
part first immersed.
This operation is effected not only in the dye baths, but also in those employed
for the washing and other accessory operations, and even in the air; it is therefore
the most important manipulation of dyeing in the skein or bank.
This very delicate operation has not hitherto been capable of being effected
mechanically in a practical manner; the machines heretofore tried occupy much
space, require new and special plant, and are too widely separated in their mode of
action from the manipulation now in use not to seriously influence the results, not
Price Bd1

page_text: only of the turning about or shaking over, but also of the following operations of
-dyeing
The object of this Invention is to operate-mechanically by completely imitating
the human-hand, by utilising consequently the present plant and giving-the-power
of finishing an operation by hand in case of accident to the machine. Similar
results will thus be obtained economically and rapidly, and even improved by
affording the possibility of operating if needed in baths of very high temperature or
strongly acid.
The following is a description of the manual operation-which it is required to
imitate..
All the hanks or skeins, or collections of the same, are supported in the bath by
rods at spaces apart, of from about a quarter of an inch to about three eighths of
an inch, two operatives, each following one of the long sides of the vat or vessel,
first seize the first collection of hanks or skeins by the upper part which is not
immersed, raise it vertically, maintaining the rod supported on the vat or vessel
and then plunge it into the bath, so that the part which was immersed rests in
its turn upon the rod. They then carry the rod forward and deposit it at
generally about sixteen inches from its original position, which gives them the
necessary space to perform the like operation upon the next rod, and so on to the
last.
In this operation all the rods have advanced by, generally, about sixteen inches,
the two operatives then retake them in the reverse direction by three or four at a
time and replace them in their original position without touching the hanks or
skeins; they can then recommence the operation of turning about or shaking
over.
It will be understood that this operation necessitates the employment of
experienced operatives to manipulate the 'hanks or skeins without breaking or
crossing the threads, and in considerable number, as two good operatives cannot
attend to more than about 50 rods.
In performing the above described operation mechanically, which is the object of
the present Invention, the same vat or vessel is preserved in which the hanks or
skeins are suspended in the same manner, but each rod is replaced by a couple of
similar rods, each of which in its turn fills the functions of the hand of the operative
to manipulate the hanks or skeins, whilst the other serves as means for support
and transport; each of these couples rests in the notches of two racks fixed upon
the long sides of the vat, and which assures their being placed in regular order.
It will be already understood that by means of these two rods transported in a
direction parallel to themselves, each following a determined trajectory, the skeins
can be raised out of the bath, returned to it, carried forward, and caused to
redescend into the bath by transposing the rods, so that the skeins may then be
supported by the-part.first immersed.
Further, these various movements are obtained by two hooked forks descending
from a carriage running horizontally above the vat or, vessel, and provided with
a cam motion hereafter described, and suitable to cause the hooks of the two forks
to travel in a path following any desired trajectory; these hooks seize the rods by
their ends, carry them in the desired direction, and replace them in inverse order
at a certain distance, during this time the carriage has advanced as far as the space
between two collections of skeins, and similar evolutions recommence upon the
next couple of rods, and so on to the last, where the carriage having run the
length of the vat or vessel is brought back to the point from which it started.
Then all the rods are raised at the same time and carried to their first place by the
action of two moveable racks hereafter described, and the operation of turning
about or shaking over can recommence.
This description presents the principle of the Invention in its more complete
form, that is to say, with the power of directing the rods at will and consequently
to reproduce very faithfully the movements of hand, work, or to modify them

page_text: wherever it would be advantageous, but frequently this can be dispensed with to
simplify the mechanism.
For example, there could be fixed to a carriage one of the forks, upon which the
other will temporarily deposit one of the rods and come to retake it after having
placed the other in position. This is the type given as example by the Drawing
annexed: An invariable distance can also be preserved between the two rods of
a couple by uniting them in a single instrument which may be either a frame or
a board edged with two rods or a rod bent to suitable form. In these various and
other analogous cases it is only required to modify the trajectories, taking notice of
the conditions imposed so as to approach as near as possible to the desired
effects.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 represents a side elevation partly in
section, and Figure 2 a sectional end view of a vat or vessel with the improved
means or apparatus applied thereto.
The carriage A travels upon two beams B, B, suspended from the ceiling or
carried by columns, it carries a fixed fork C, C, furnished with a hook at each
extremity, the moveable fork D, D, carries two hooks superposed at each branch; it
is suspended by the cylindrical shaft E at the end of the large lever F, G, H, the
fixed point of which is at H, and which carries at the point G a roller running in
a groove formed in the cam K which determines also the movements of the fork in
a vertical direction, the weight of the latter and of the lever are balanced by a
counterpoise I.
The horizontal movements of the fork are obtained by a second groove formed
on the opposite side of the cam K, and which receives the roller J, L, M, the fixed
point of which is at L, and which is articulated at M upon a socket running with
little friction upon the shaft E.
The pulley N, furnished with a friction or other clutch, gives motion to the
shaft O, which is grooved its entire length, and upon which slides the endless
Screw which by taking into the pinion 61 gives motion to the shaft b of the cam.
The shaft b gives motion by a pinion to the wheel d', and consequently to a
pinion e, which by rolling upon the rack P fixed to one of the beams produces the
advance of the carriage. In one revolution of the cam the fork D, D, will execute
therefore a series of evolutions, the form of which will depend on that of the
grooves in the
and during the same time the carriage will advance in the
direction of the arrow a distance equal to that between two consecutive couples
of rods.
cam,
The rods i, i, are arranged in couples in the notches of the fixed racks R, R,
extending along the long sides of the vat or vessel. They are each formed of a
cylindrical shaft, with two enlargements near the extremities to maintain their
distance apart.
The following is the mode in which the operation is accom-
plished-
The moveable fork after having operated upon the couple f which it has just
placed in position, comes again towards the couple g, of which it seizes only the
upper rod, to raise it a certain height and deposit it provisionally in an intermediate
notch between the two groups. Then it comes again and seizes the lower rod,
which it deposits upon the hooks of the fixed fork C, C, where it leaves it to come
and retake the first rod in the notch h, where it seizes it by its lower hooks. It
again rises towards the fixed fork, raises the second rod which was there deposited
by means of its upper hooks, and is then charged with the two rods in inverse
position, which it then deposits in the notch p next to the preceding couple after
having executed one or several cscillations, the object of which is to agitate the
skeins or banks in the bath to reestablish the parallelism of the fibres.
During this time the carriage has advanced one tooth, and a similar series of
movements are then produced upon the following couple. When the carriage has
arrived at the end of the vat or vessel an automatic disengaging gear operated by
the shaft arrests the motion, and the carriage is then brought back by hand or
mechanically.

page_text: To replace the rods all at once in their original notches the moveable racks S, S.
are raised_by-turning-the-handle-m,-which-by-means-of-suitable gearing gives
motion at the same time to four racks similar to those marked T. As soon as the
rods are raised the moveable racks are pushed the distance desired, and they are
caused-to-descend again into their normal position.
The-moveable racks S,-S, also serve to raise and to sustain the banks or skeins
out of the bath, or to move them to and fro horizontally in the air or in the
-bath-
The vats or vessels can also be rendered independent by fixing to the floor or to
the columns supporting the carriage all the apparatus of the fixed and moveable
racks; thus the various baths could be brought into position underneath the hanks
or skeins without having to displace them.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the mode in which
the same is carried into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim is,
the execution of the operations herein described by means of forks carried by a
carriage running above the vat or vessel, and acting upon rods carrying the hanks
or skeins so as to imitate and to improve upon the movements of the operative
when working by hand, in manner and for the purpose substantially as herein
shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.