AN IMPROVED. MARE AT ADRADAMITO BAD MUD MAN OF SEWING THREAD "
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Keats, of Leek, in the County of Stafford,.
Boot and Shoe Manufacturer, for the Invention of “AN IMPROVED.
MARE AT
ADRADAMITO BAD MUD MAN OF SEWING THREAD "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said John Keats at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th June 1871.
I, JOHN KEATS, of Leek, in the County of Stafford, Boot and Shoe
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING.
THREAD," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce cable laid sewing thread
from raw silk and other fibrous materials of a better quality and in a
more economical manner than heretofore.
It is well known to silk. throwsters that the fibre and the cocoon
varies considerably in thickness throughout its length, and that it is
necessary to distribute this inequality when combining a number of
fibres together so as to produce an even thread.

page_text: Now the first part of my Invention relates to an improved mode of
distributing this inequality, which is supposed to be due to the gradual
exhaustion experienced by the silkworm in giving out the silk fibre;
and the second part of my Invention relates to a mode of twisting silk
and other fibres, and at the same time converting them into a cable laid
thread.
Supposing it is required to prepare, say, three threads of raw silk for
conversion into a cable laid cord or sewing thread, I take a bobbin filled
with doubled strands or fibres laid together in any given number. This
doubled strand I wind off on to three bobbins, arresting the winding after
any given number of yards (say 30) has been rewound. These bobbins
I mount on a common axle, and I provide opposite to them traversing"
guides for laying the silk on their respective bobbins. When the first
thirty yards is wound upon the first bobbin the machine will be stopped
automatically, and the fibre being cut and the ends secured the rewinding:
proceeds on the second bobbin. This having received its thirty yards
the winding is recommenced on the third bobbin, and upon this a
double amount of silk may be rewound before the winding is arrested.
Then in like manner the silk is cut and the end is secured in a notch
in the side of the bobbin; the rewinding is then continued on the a
second bobbin (the ends of the silk being first joined up), and continued
until the same length as before is run upon this second bobbin. The
rotation of the bobbins being now arrested the silk is cut and the ends
secured as before. The silk to be rewound is now pieced with that on
the first bobbin, and a double length (60 yards) is run upon the a
first bobbin. This operation is repeated as described until the supply
bobbin is exhausted, when it may be replaced by another, and the
operation will proceed until the three bobbins are filled. Several groups
of these bobbins will be combined in one machine, the number of
groups depending on the number of bobbins an attendant may be a
enabled to superintend. By laying together the silk strands of these
bobbins and forming therewith a single thread it will be readily under-
stood that the inequalities which occur in the filaments composing the
yarn which filled the supply bobbin will be so distributed as to neutralize
the inequalities, and thus ensure a thread of great uniformity.
Continuing my illustration of making a three-thread cable laid cord
constituting a sewing thread, I provide a rotary table on which are
mounted three bobbin carriers equidistant from a common centre. Thesé

page_text: carriers have an independent rotary motion on their table, and they are
each provided with a spur wheel, which gears into a central spur wheel
mounted on a spindle, which passes through the hollow axle of the
rotary table. The table and the central spur wheel are driven in the
same direction, but the latter at a greater speed than the former. By
this means the carriers are caused to rotate in an opposite direction to
the table, while at the same time they carry their bobbins around the
axis of the table. Above this axis is an eye to which the silk, flax, or
other strands on the bobbins are led through guides attached to their
respective carriers. The strands are passed up through the cye to a
bobbin, which is intended to receive the finished thread, and suitable
apparatus of any approved or well-known construction is provided for
laying the thread thereon as it is formed. On rotary motion being given
to this apparatus the combined filaments or strands on the several.
rotating bobbins will be twisted into threads, and the three threads as
they are thus formed will be converted into a cable laid cord by the
revolution of the bobbin carriers around the common centre, the twist
of the cord being in the opposite direction to the twist of the threads of
which it is composed.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Keats in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KEATS, of Leek, in the County of Stafford, Boot and Shoe Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Keats, Her special licence that I, the said
John Keats, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Keats, 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 law-
fully, might make, use, exercise, and-vend, within the United Kingdom
1

page_text: of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF SEWING THREAD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Keats, 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 John Keats, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
..
The object of this Invention is to produce cable laid sewing thread
from raw silk and other fibrous materials of a better quality and in a
more economical manner than heretofore.
It is well known to silk throwsters that the fibre of the cocoon varies
considerably in thickness throughout its length and that it is necessary
to distribute this inequality when combining a number of fibres together
so as to produce an even thread.
Now the first part of my Invention relates to an improved mode of
distributing this inequality, which is supposed to be due to the gradual
exhaustion experienced by the silkworm in giving out the silk fibre ;
and the second part of the Invention relates to a mode of twisting silk
and other fibres, and at the same time converting them into a cable laid
thread.
Supposing it is required to prepare, say, three threads of raw silk for
conversion into a cable laid cord or sewing thread, I take a bobbin filled
with doubled strands or fibres laid together in any given number. This
doubled strand I wind off on to three bobbins, arresting the winding
after any given number of yards (say thirty) has been rewound. These
bobbins I mount on a common axle, and I provide opposite to them
traversing guides for laying the silk on to. their respective bobbins.
When the first thirty yards is wound upon the first bobbin the machine
will be stopped automatically and the fibre being cut and the ends
secured the rewinding proceeds on the second bobbin. This having

page_text: .
received its thirty yards the winding is recommenced on the third
bobbin, and upon this a double amount of silk may be rewound before
the winding is arrested. Then in like manner the silk is cut and the
end is secured in a notch in the side of the bobbin; the rewinding is
then continued on the second bobbin (the ends of the silk being first
joined up) and continued until the same length as before is run upon
this second bobbin.. The rotation of the bobbins being now arrested the
silk is cut and the end secured as before. The silk to be rewound is
now pieced with that on the first bobbin and a; double length (sixty
yards) is run upon the first bobbin. This operation is repeated as
described until the supply bobbin is exhausted, when it may be replaced
by another and the operation will proceed until the three bobbins are
filled. Several groups of these bobbins will be combined in one machine,
the number of groups depending on the number of bobbins an attendant
may be enabled to superintend. By laying together the silk strands
of these bobbins and forming therewith a single thread it will be
readily understood that the inequalities which occur in the filaments
composing the yarn which filled the supply bobbin will be so distri-
buted as to neutralize the inequalities, and thus insure a thread of great
uniformity.
In Sheets I. and II. of the accompanying Drawings I have shewn an
arrangement of mechanism for distributing and thereby neutralizing
the inequalities of raw silk fibres according to the first head of my
Invention.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of so much of a winding machine as will
serve to explain its construction; Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of the
same; and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section shewing the machine
as double, a double set of winding-on bobbins being actuated from a
common. driving shaft. a, a, a, represent the stationary bobbins which
are filled with doubled strands or fibres laid together in any given
number. These bobbins are each provided with a swivel guide a¹ for
leading off the doubled strands to be rewound on to rotating bobbins
b, b, b; of these bobbins 6, the Drawings shew three for each bobbin a,
but there may be a less or a greater number if desired.
The groups of bobbins 6 are severally strung upon an independent
square shaft 6, as shewn detached and on an enlarged scale at Fig. 4.
These shafts are rounded at their extremities and are carried in bearings
at the upper part of the framing. At one end these shafts are severally
•

page_text: fitted with a spur wheel b³, through which rotary motion is transmitted
to the bobbins. The shafts at their other end are screwed to receive a
clamping nut b³. In gear with the spur wheels 6* are spur pinions c
keyed to a cam shaft c', which receives motion from the main driving
shaft & through a band d¹. The doubled strands as they are led off by
their swivel guides a¹ are passed over guide pulleys e, thence over guide
rods and between the guide pins of a horizontal traversing bar f to the
bobbins b. When rotary motion is imparted to the bobbins 6 and a
traverse motion is given to the guide bar f the strands will be drawn
off from the bobbins a and laid upon the bobbins b. The arrangement
for effecting this traverse motion is shewn at Figures 1 and 3, where
f¹ is the traverse motion rod. Pivotted to a vertical rock lever f³ is a
bowle, the lower end of which bears upon a heart cam fs on a cross
shaft f. Keyed to this shaft is a bevil wheel f5, which through a train
of wheels is driven by the shaft d. The rotation of the cam f³ and the
consequent traverse of the guide pins of the bar f along the length of
their respective bobbins is so timed with respect to the rotation and
growing diameter of the bobbins b as to ensure the
distribution
of the strands over the bobbins as they are wound on.
.
L
proper
In order to arrest the winding on at a determined moment (say a
on completion of the winding of thirty yards) an arrangement which
is best shewn detached and on an enlarged scale at Figures 5 and 6 is
employed; Fig. 5 being a sectional elevation of the stop motion, and
Fig. 6 a partial plan view of the same. The shaft c¹ through which
rotary motion is communicated to the winding-on bobbins is provided
with a locking cam c³ which is intended to receive and become locked
by the catch of a weighted lever c³ which the same is raised into contact
therewith. This lever is pivotted to a standard, which carries also a
pivotted rod .c' which overlies the lever. This rod rests on the stud
axle of a worm wheel c³, which worm wheel carries a projection c. The 3
worm wheel gears into and is driven by a worm c" on a short spindle
which carries at its lower end a worm wheel that receives motion from
a worm on the horizontal shaft g connected with the other moving parts
of the machinery. As therefore the wheel c³ in its rotation brings up
the projection c³ into contact with the rod c. (which it is timed to do, a
as I have assumed, at the completion of the winding-on of thirty yards)
it will lift the rod c' off the stud axle, and by reason of its being slightly
bevilled it will throw it out of line of the stud axle and drop it on to

page_text: the raised end of the lever c³. This will cause the other end of the
lever to be overweighted, and it will therefore rise and throw its catch
into contact with, the cam c, thus the cam will be locked and the
rotation of its shaft and consequently of the bobbins 6 will be arrested.
The duty of the attendant will then be to cut the strand and secure the
end, and then to apply the strand to the next bobbin in succession; he
will then replace the rod c* upon the stud axle, and the lever c³ being
relieved of the weight of the rod will fall to its normal position, thus
leaving the cam shaft free to revolve and continue the driving of the
bobbins b.
A somewhat similar arrangement is provided for stopping the action
of the winding-on machine when a strand breaks. This arrangement is
shewn in sectional elevation at Fig. 7. The strands as they leave their
respective bobbins on their passage to the bobbins 6 are led over guide
pulleys e and guide rollers e¹ passing under hinged wires or rods c
which are held in position by the tension of their respective strands.
Theso rods are pivotted to standards which carry rock levers c³ having
at their rear ends catches to take on to cams c10 mounted on the cam
shaft c. On the breakage of a strand the rod c³ will fall upon the
lever and tip up its tail end and cause it to arrest the rotation of the
cam shaft. The attention of the attendant will thus be called to
the broken strand, after piecing which he will start the machine as
before.
.Sheet III. of the Drawings illustrates the second head of my Inven-
tion, which relates to improved machinery for twisting silk and other
fibres and converting them into cable laid thread. The arrangement
shewn further illustrates the making of a three-thread cable laid cord;
for which purpose I provide a rotary table and mount thereon three
bobbin carriers equidistant from a common centre. These carriers have
an independent rotary motion on their table, and they are cach provided
with a spur wheel which gears into a central spur wheel mounted on a
spindle which passes through the hollow axle of the rotary table. The
table and the central spur wheel are driven in the same direction, but
the latter at a greater speed than the former. By this means the
carriers are caused to rotate in an opposite direction to the table, while
at the same time they carry their bobbins around the axis of the table.
Above the bobbins and carried by the table is a guide plate through eyes
in which the silk, flax, or other strands on the bobbins are led. Thence

page_text: they pass to a bobbin or reel intended to receive the finished thread,
and suitable apparatus of any approved or well-known construction is
provided for laying the thread thereon as it is formed..
Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional elevation of so much of a twisting
and cord laying machine as will serve to explain its construction and
mode of working; Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation of a rotary table and
its fittings; Fig. 10 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 11 is an end
view of one of the bobbins and its carriage detached; Fig. 12. is a
partial plan view shewing the arrangement of a series of tables; and
Fig. 13 is a plan view of a reel intended to receive the cord as it is
manufactured. By reference to Fig. 12 it will be seen that the
machine is provided with two rows of tables which may extend to any
desired length, that length being limited to the capacity of the attendant
to watch the operations of the machine. A, A, are the tables made
hollow to enclose the gearing employed for driving the bobbin carriages.
The table A (see Fig. 9) is keyed to a hollow spindle A', which runs
in a cup bearing set in the main framing of the machine. Through the
hollow spindle A' passes a spindle B, which runs in a cup bearing
carried by the main framing, and has keyed to its lower end a belt
pulley B'. To the upper end of this spindle B is keyed a spur wheel B³,
which gears into spur pinions B³, which are keyed on to the hollow
spindles of the bobbin carriers B. The bobbins B³, which are filled
with the silk or other fibres to be twisted into cable laid cord, are, as
shewn in the Drawing, mounted in groups of three on each table. They
are supported in their carriers by the upward pressure of elastic
friction supports B, the stems of which pass through the hollow spindles
of their respective carriers. The silk or other fibres of these bobbins
are led up through a guide plate C and over a guide roller D to an eye
or twistle E, when they are passed to the winding-on reel F. Rotary
motion is communicated to the tables A from a drum G by means of
belts G¹ which pass around belt pulleys A² keyed to the hollow spindle
of the table. In a similar manner rotary motion is communicated from
a drum E to the spindle B by means of belts H', which pass over the
pulleys B' of the spindles B.
It will now be understood that on rotary motion being given to this
apparatus the combined filaments or strands on the several rotating
bobbins will be twisted into threads, and the three threads as they are
thus formed will be converted into a cable laid cord by the revolution of

page_text: the bobbin carriers around the common centre, the twist of the cord
being in the opposite direction to the twist of the threads of which it
is composed.
The arrangement of the gearing for transmitting motion to various
parts of the machine is clearly shewn by the red lines, and for altering
the relative speeds of the first and second twist by the blue lines in
Fig. 8.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Mode of and Apparatus for the Manufacture of Sewing Thread," 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,―
First. The mode above described of distributing and thereby neu-
tralizing the inequalities of silk fibres preparatory to converting the
same into thread.
Second. The arrangement of apparatus above described for twisting
silk and other fibres and converting the same into cable laid thread.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Keats, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
TATT TTMA