A NEW ART OR MANUFACTURE FOR CON- FOR CONVERTING CERTAIN KINDS OF SILK WASTE INTO YARNS OR THREADS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilson Hadwen, of Kebroyd Mills, in the
Parish of Halifax, and West Riding of the County of York, Cotton
Spinner, for the Invention of "A NEW ART OR MANUFACTURE FOR CON-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wilson Hadwen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1859.
I, JOHN WILSON HADWEN, of Kebroyd Mills, in the Parish of Halifax, and-
West Riding of the County of York, Cotton Spinner, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention of "A NEW ART OR MANUFACTURE FOR CONVERTING
CERTAIN KINDS OF SILK WASTE INTO YARNS OR THREADS," to be as follows:-
The kind of silk waste to which my Invention applies, is that which is
technically known by the denomination of "soft waste," and may be more'
particularly defined as the waste made from silk, after the same has been
manufactured into threads or yarn in contradistinction to the waste made in
the
process of manufacturing such threads or yarn out of raw silk. It consists
usually of waste made in winding or in weaving silk after the same has been
discharged or dyed. Heretofore the modes of manufacturing this kind of waste.

page_text: into yarn have been two. The first has been by dressing it in a manner
ordinarily practised and well known, and then cutting it into short lengths-
and. treating it after the manner generally adopted for short stapled fibro such
The second has been by spinning the wasto either upon mules or
throstles, after breaking up the masses into fibre by a process invented by.
Messrs. George Bridge and Job Hamer, and for which Letters Patent were
granted to them, bearing date the 22nd day of December, 1857, and numbered
3145.
The general principle of the new method of my Invention is the application
of the ordinary preparation and spinning of long stapled fibre to the purpose
of spinning yarn from "soft silk waste" in the state of long fibre. The first
process which I use is that known as "filling and dressing." It is performed
by the aid of machinery in ordinary use for the same or a like purpose, and
its effect is to open, unravel, and straighten the fibres of the waste.
The second process is that of forming the dressed fibres into a continuous
sliver, and this I perform by means of a "spreading machine," similar to that.
by which the like operation is effected in the manufacture of flax or worsted.
I subject the slivers so obtained to the, further operations of drawing and
doubling by machinery similar to that used in flax or worsted drawing, modi-
fying and adjusting it to suit the peculiarities of the material, and not restricting
myself to any special form or construction of machine, nor as to the number of
drawings and doublings. I then rove the finished sliver by the application of
roving machinery with or without gills, using such a succession of frames as
may be found convenient, and modifying the same to suit the material. Tho
"rove "thus prepared I spin into yarn upon throstles or mules, according to
the quality of the yarn to be produced.
The before specified combination of processes applied to the manufacture of
yarns or threads from uncut and long fibred "soft silk waste" constitutes my
Invention
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wilson Hadwen in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st September 1859.
TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILSON HADWEN, of Kebroyd Mills, in the Parish of Halifax, and West
Riding of the County of York, Cotton Spinner, send greeting...
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth 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 me, the said John
Wilson Hadwen, Her special licence that I, the said John Wilson Hadwen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Wilson Hadwen, my executors, adininistrators, or assigns, should at any time.
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention of "A NEW ART OR MANU-
FACTURE FOR CONVERTING CERTAIN KINDS OF SILK WASTE INTO YARNS OR THREADS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Wilson Hadwen, 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 bo
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent
Oflice within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said John Wilson Hadwen, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
:-
My said Invention has reference specially to those kinds of silk waste which
come under the denomination of "soft silk waste," being the refuse or wasto
of thrown or twisted silk, from which the gum has been discharged, and so
called in contradistinction to "hard waste," or the waste obtained from silk
with the gum in it. By the appellation "soft silk waste," I intend to designate
such waste as is made in winding, warping, or weaving thrown, spun, or
doubled silk, and all waste made from tram, organzine, or spun silk which
has undergone the process of dyeing, or has had the gum otherwise discharged
from it. From this definition I expressly exclude all "gum waste," "husks
and knubs," "perished or damaged cocoons, and generally all undyed,
unsoftened, and undischarged silk waste, and desire it to be clearly understood
that wastes of the descriptions lastly mentioned do not fall within the scope of
the Invention, in respect whereof the Letters Patent herein-before partly
recited have been granted.
Soft silk waste" has hitherto been regarded as an article of comparatively

page_text: slight value and utility. Its ravelled and knotty condition, and the length,
tenacity, and entangled state of its filaments render it very refractory and
difficult to manage, and have hitherto caused its reduction into fibre available
for spinning to be considered practicable only by considerable labor and
expense, and as being attended with great loss of material and deterioration
of quality. The process which has hitherto been most usually resorted to for
preparing and spinning waste of this description has been that of cutting it
juto short lengths, and then carding, drawing, and spinning it in the manner
of short stapled fibre such as cotton. Another process which has been brought
into use to some extent for the same purpose is one invented by Messrs.
George Bridge and Job Hamer, and for which Letters Patent were granted
to them bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven. The last-mentioned process, like the former,
effects the division of the filaments into short lengths, so as to render them
capable of being carded, prepared, and spun upon machinery adapted to the
preparation and spinning of short stapled fibre.
My Invention is founded upon the discovery that "soft silk waste," although
it cannot be rendered so tractable and facile of treatment as "hard or undis-
charged waste," and although the conversion of it into yarn has hitherto been
considered impracticable, except by previous reduction into the state of short
fibre, and the sacrifice thereby of much of the lustre and beauty of the material,
can by the adoption of the process or series of operations which I am about to
describe be prepared and spun into yarn by methods and upon machinery
similar to those applied and used in the preparation and spinning of long
stapled fibre such as flax or worsted, a mode of treatment whereby the gloss
and lustrous appearance of the silk are in a great measure retained. The
general nature or principle therefore of the new art or manufacture which
constitutes my Invention, is that of preparing and spinning "soft silk waste"
by methods and upon machinery similar to those ordinarily applied and used
in the case of long stapled fibre, the processes of cutting or breaking up into
short lengths and of carding being dispensed with, and the waste converted
into yarn in the state of long fibre.
The processes or operations which I use are as follows:-The waste having
been previously assorted and partially opened by hand, if necessary, is first
submitted to the process of dressing as performed by the common "silk-
dressing machine." This machine is in common use for dressing silk waste,
and operates by opening, unravelling, straightening, and drawing out the fibres
or filaments, and combing out the foul or refractory portions which cannot be

page_text: effectually disentangled and straightened. This process is continued until
the silk has been thoroughly cleared from neps, noils, and other foulness and
refuse, and the filaments have been combed out straight and even. The silk
dressing machine or frame by which this process is effected being in common
use, and the process itself commonly practised, neither of them requires to bo
described. The mode of dressing by this machine is recommended as the
most advantageous known to me, but I would observe that any other mode,
process, or machine which will effectually operate upon the waste in the
manner before mentioned may be substituted for the said dressing machine
and process at this stage of the manufacture.
The waste when sufficiently dressed is to be drawn, doubled, rove, and spun
upon machinery adapted for operating upon long stapled fibre. To this end
it is next submitted to the action of the "spreading frame" or "spreader
which is the first drawing machine. This machine is well known by the above
name, and is in common use in the flax manufacture, it is therefore
unnecessary to enter into any detailed description of it. It contains holding
and drawing rollers to draw out and elongate the sliver of waste, and keep the
same stretched while passing through gill combs, which occupy the space
between the two sets of rollers. The machine generally may be of the same
construction as those used for flax. The selection of the kind of gill combs to
be used is in a great measure arbitrary, but I prefer and recommend those on
the spiral plan as the gills thereof approaching more closely to the nip of the
drawing rollers thereby ensure the advance of the short filaments of the waste
uniformly with the long and contribute to maintain the evenness of the sliver.
The slivers formed by the "spreading frame" are again doubled and further
drawn by being passed through such a succession of drawing frames as may
be requisite to prepare them for the roving frame. These drawing frames
may be of the ordinary construction of those used in flax preparation, which
being well known and understood need not be described. I would, however,
remark that the rollers both of the spreading frames and the drawing
frames should be mounted in bearings, allowing considerable latitude of
adjustment, so that the distance between the rollers may be adapted to suit
the length of the staple of the silk under operation for the time being, silk
waste being a material in which the length of staple is very various. The
number of drawings and doublings which the slivers are made to undergo
must necessarily be regulated by the kind of waste used, and the quality of
the yarn to be spun, and must be determined in each case by the skill and
judgment of the manufacturer or superintendent.

page_text: The required number of drawings and doublings having been performed, the
slivers are formed into rovings by the operations of machinery of the same kind
as is used for roving flax, the elongations and doublings of the slivers being
repeated until they have been reduced to rove of the requiral grist. Flax
roving machinery and its mode of operation are both well known and under-
stood, and therefore require no explanation. The rove when obtained may bo
spun upon throstles or mules at the discretion of the manufacturer, due
regard being.had to the adaptation of each machine to the production of
peculiar qualities of yarn. Of the machines. mentioned there are several
varieties used in flax and worsted spinning, which are well adapted to the
purpose of spinning silk waste, in selecting from which the spinner must
necessarily be guided by his own practical skill and knowledge of the particular
quality of the yarn which he desires to produce. Tho machines themselves
being in ordinary use and well known, any description of them would bo
superfluous. The remark previously made as to the mounting of the rollers
of the drawing frames in adjustable bearings is of course also applicable to
the rollers of the roving and spinning machinery.
Before dismissing the subject, it may be proper to observe that in the case of
waste which has a portion of its filaments of unusual or. unmanageable length,
it may be advantageous to subject it either immediately before or after passing
it through the spreading frame to the action of plucking rollers, which are
rollers having considerable draught between them, and placed at such a
distance from each other as to permit no fibres to pass through them unbroken,
but such as are under a stated length. The construction of such rollers is
well understood, they being already in use for like purposes.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention, and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I finally declare and desire to have it under-
stood that I do not claim as of my Invention the application of the before
described combination of processes, or of any part or parts thereof to bard silk
waste or gum waste, nor to any other kinds or kind of waste than those
herein-before enumerated, defined, or described as "soft silk waste," and that
I do not claim any Invention of improvements in the construction of the
machines herein-before mentioned or of any of them; and that what I do claim
as new and of my Invention, and as the subject of the privilege secured to me
under the before in part recited Letters Patent, is the combination of the
several processes of dressing, drawing, doubling, roving, and spinning applied
in the manner, order, and succession, and by means of the machinery herein-
before set forth and mentioned to the manufacture of yarns or threads from

page_text: uncut and long fibred "soft silk waste;" and also the combination of the
several processes of drawing, doubling, roving and spinning applied in the
manner, order, and succession, and by means of the machinery herein-before
set forth and mentioned to the manufacture of yarns or threads from uncut
and long fibred "soft silk waste," after the said waste has been dressed,
combed out, cleared, or straightened by any suitable process or machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilson Hadwen, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
J. WILSON HADWEN. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the aforesaid John
Wilson Hadwen in the presence of
JNO. TAYLER, Patent Agent,
Manchester.