Improvements in or applicable to Balling Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Jun., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 21st Feb., 1896-Accepted, 28th Mar., 1896
Improvements in or applicable to Balling Machines.
I JAMES MCILRAITH of Prospect Villas, Blackley, near Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Millwright, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My said invention relates to certain improvements in or applicable to machines
for winding thread yarn twine and the like into balls.
The first part of my said invention relates to means for placing tickets or labels
on the balls. This operation I effect by means of fingers or carriers mounted on
levers or arms projecting from a longitudinal rocking shaft. In combination with
the said fingers I use adjustable guides which enable various sizes of labels or
tickets to be used. When the ball has been wound to a suitable size the fingers
are caused to advance and to lay the ticket on the ball and to hold it there until
after as many further turns of the thread have been made as are needed to secure
the ticket. The fingers are thereupon withdrawn leaving the ticket secured in the
ball.
The second part of my said invention relates to the doffing or removing of the
finished balls. Instead of lifting the balls from the spindle as has hitherto been
the practice I so arrange the spindles that they may be caused to recede through
their bearings in the spindle rail. They are thus withdrawn from the interior of
the balls which are then free to fall or to be otherwise transferred to a trough or
suitable receptacle.
In combination with my said invention as above set forth I use the usual devices
known in balling or other thread winding machines for operating the spindles for
guiding holding and cutting the thread.
Dated First day of June 1895.
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70 Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Balling Machines.
1 JAMES MCILRAITH of Prospect Villas, Blackley, near Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Millwright do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
'
My said invention relates to certain improvements in or applicable to machines
for winding thread yarn twine and the like into balls.
In order to more fully set forth my said invention 1 will describe the same with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which the construction and application
of my said invention to one spindle of a balling machine is shown. It is however
to be understood that my invention is applicable to machines containing any
number of spindles.

page_text: Fig. 3 is a plan.
In the drawings a is one of the spindles which are mounted on spindle rails
secured to the usual framework e of a balling machine. The spindles are driven
at their lower ends in the usual manner. The ball indicated by dotted lines at B
(Fig. 2) is formed in the usual manner by a flier working in combination with the
spindle.
One part of my said invention relates to means for placing a ticket or label L
on the end of the ball.
This I effect by means of fingers or carriers d in which the ticket is placed while
the ball is being formed. The fingers are mounted on the arm e projecting
from a rocking shaft having its bearings in the frame c. The upper part e¹ of
the arm is vertically adjustable in the lower part e so that the height of the fingers
may be varied to suit balls of different sizes. A pinching screw e secures the
fingers at any desired height. At one end of the rocking shaft f is a lever y
provided with set screws gl g2 by means of which the angle through which the
shaft can oscillate may be regulated. A spiral spring g³ tends to keep the parts
last described in the position shown in Fig. 1 while the balling is proceeding.
When the ball is nearly finished the arme is pushed forwards so as to lay the
label L on the upper end of the ball where it is held until as many further turns
of the thread have been made as are needed to secure the label. The pressure
being now removed the spring 9 causes the shaft fto rock backwards and to
withdraw the fingers d while the label remains behind on the ball.
To permit of the accurate centering of labels of different sizes an adjustable
guide or gauge is used consisting of jaws hi (see Fig. 3) mounted on parallel
bars connected for example to a cross link k on a stud k¹ carried at one end by a
bracket on the frame c. By turning the cross link k about its stud the distance
apart of the jaws i h may be varied to suit tickets of different width.
Other convenient means as for instance right and left hand screws may be
employed for setting the parallel bars h¹i.
Another part of my said invention relates to the doffing or removal of the
finished balls.
Instead of lifting the balls from the spindle as has hitherto been the practice I
so construct and arrange the spindles that they may be caused to recede through
their bearings in the spindle rail. Each spindle is thus withdrawn from the
interior of the finished ball which is then free to fall or to be otherwise transferred
to a trough or suitable receptacle.
According to this part of my said invention each spindle a is mounted in a
bearing tube m secured to the spindle rail b. Between two collars a¹ a² on the
spindle is a sliding bearing n which is forced upwards by the spiral spring a³
bearing against the prolongation m¹ of the tube m or other similarly arranged
fixed bearing surface. A guide pin at taking through a slot in the tube m prevents
the rotation of the bearing n. The bearing n is provided with a rack into
which can gear the teeth of a pinion o¹ (mounted on the pinion shaft. o) when
required. A slot m² is made in the tube m to enable the teeth of the pinion and
of the rack to gear with each other. The pinion o' is only provided with teeth on
a portion of its surface the rest of which is plain.
When the ball is finished and the thread has been cut in the usual manner the
shaft o is rotated so as to bring the teeth of the pinion o' into gear with the rack
on the bearing n so as to depress the latter and with it the spindle which is thus
withdrawn from the ball. The depression of the spindle a effects the compression
of the spiral spring a³. The continued rotation of the pinion o' brings the teeth
thereof out of gear from the rack and presenting only the plain part of the pinion

page_text: the bearing n is thereby free to rise whereupon the resiliency of the spring a³
comes into play and the spindle is lifted into its former position.
The shafts o and fextend the whole length of the machine so that the operations
controlled by them are performed at all the spindles simultaneously. These shafts
may be turned by hand as for example by a handle o3 on the shaft o and by pressing
one of the arms e. The partial rotation of the shafts o and f may however be
effected by automatic mechanism controlled by change wheels so as to come into
operation at the right moment for different sizes of balls. Such automatic
mechanism may be arranged in various well known ways as will be well under-
stood by those conversant with such machinery. I wish it however to be
understood that such intermittent automatic mechanism forms no part of my
present invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
1. In a balling machine a sliding spindle working in a fixed carrier for the
purpose of withdrawing the spindle from the interior of the stationary ball
substantially as set forth.
2. The combination of a fixed bearing tube m, a sliding bearing na pinion o'
for depressing the same and a spindle mounted in the said sliding bearing substan-
tially as and for the purpose set forth and shown.
3. In a balling machine the combination of the rocking shaft f, the arm e and
the label carrier d substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
4. In a balling machine the combination of the jaws hi and the parallel bars h' i¹
for facilitating the centering of the label substantially as set forth and shown.
Dated this 18th day of February 1896.
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70 Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.