CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
SMITII and RICHARD HACKING, both of Bury, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixteenth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and
forty, in the third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Richard Smith and Richard Hacking, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
Richard Smith and Richard Hacking, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as we, the said Richard Smith and Richard Hacking,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR SPINNING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that we, the said Richard Smith and Richard Hacking, should
cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Richard Smith and Richard Hacking, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed,
and the following description thereof (that is to say):-
Our Improvements in the Construction of Machinery for Spinning Cotton
and other Fibrous Substances consist in. a novel arrangement and construction
of mechanism or apparatus adapted for the purpose of rendering the driving
headstock of those particular spinning machines called "mules" self-acting,
which peculiar arrangement of machinery comprizes great simplicity of the
working parts, and also the more economical expence of labour required in
attending the same during the operation of spinning. As the various requisite
evolutions of the "mule" are well understood by persons conversant with
spinning, it is only requisite for us here to describe those particular movements
which are affected by our improved construction of headstock.
Firstly, "the going out of the carriage," which commences in all mules
simultaneously with the delivery of the cotton from the drawing rollers, and
the rotation of the spindles and termination of the "stretch" is completed,
or the carriage with the spindles has arrived at its furthest destination from
the drawing rollers, when the rotation of the rollers cease, and the revolution
of the spindles continues a short period.
Secondly, "the backing off," or uncoiling of the few spiral turns of yarn
which are left on the bare or upper part of the spindle during the process of
spinning, which is accomplished by reversing the direction of the revolution of
the spindles.
Thirdly, "the winding on" of the yarn to the spindle in the form of a cop,
and which is required to be uniform in its tention, throughout the different
circumferences of the cop, during the "going in" of the carriage.
Fourthly, "the going in of the carriage," which proceeds simultaneously
with "the winding on" of the yarn, and which takes the carriage again up to
the drawing rollers, and the mule is in a position to perform another "stretch,"
or recommence its operation.
The principal feature of our improvements is to perform these four move-
ments by means of the friction of contact of certain rollers or pulleys, each in
connection with certain mechanism for performing such motions respectively,
and brought successively into action at the required period. We would here
remark, prior to entering into further detailed description, that our improve-
ments do not apply to the other requisite movement of the mule, " the
depressing of the fallers," or in any way to the driving of the spindles, which

page_text: may be done in the usual manner. But in order that these improvements
may be more perfectly explained and fully detailed, we have attached to these
Presents two Sheets of Drawings, containing several views of our improved
mule headstock, and marked the same with figures and letters of reference,
placing similar letters upon corresponding parts of the mechanism in all the
Figures
In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 is a plan or horizontal view of a self-acting mule
headstock, as seen from above, and Figure 2 a side elevation of the same, the
carriage end being shewn in section.
In Sheet 2, Figure 3 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the
headstock, and Figure 4 is an end elevation of the same. The framing of the
headstock is shewn at A, A. The carriage B, B, with the spindles C, C, run
upon the rails D, D, taking the yarn from the drawing rollers E, mounted
upon the roller beam F, as usual. The main driving pulley G is keyed upon
the main cross shaft H, which has a pulley I at the other end, and a strap J
extending around it, and the pulley K upon the other cross shaft L, for driving
the spindles. The "going out of the carriage" is effected as follows:-As
the main driving shaft G revolves, a bevilled friction pulley a, covered with
leather or other friction surfaces, acts against a friction bevilled pulley b, which
is brought in immediate contact with it, when the carriage, after having per-
formed the previous "stretch," is run in; " this bevilled pulley 6 slides upon a
feathered shaft c, and now causes that shaft to revolve; this shaft c carries at
its other end a bevilled pinion d, driving the bevilled wheel e, at the upper end
of the vertical shaft f; upon the lower end of this shaft is keyed another bevilled
pinion 9, driving the bevilled wheel h, upon the end of the horizontal shaft i,
which extends the whole length of the carriage race; a small toothed pinion j,
upon this shaft gears with a toothed wheel k, upon the side of which is a notched
wheel l, around which the chain m passes, and into which it gears. One end of the
chain m is screwed to the back of the carriage B, and after passing round the
wheel, proceeds around a grooved pulley n at the further end of the
"stretch," and thence back again to the carriage; and thus, as long as
the bevilled friction pulleys a and b are in contact, the carriage will continue
to run out. We would here remark that the wheels j, k, and 1, are repeated
at each end and in the middle of the carriage, in order that the same may be
properly squared or adjusted, and also that the vertical shaft f is also furnished
with a pair of mitre wheels o, o, and spur wheels o*, o*, in order to drive
the drawing rollers E. The carriage being now run out, the contact of the

page_text: friction pulleys a and b has to be discontinued, in order that the "backing-off""
may be performed; this is done by means of the worm p being keyed upon
the driving shaft H and driving the worm wheel 9 upon the end of the shaft r,
upon the other end of which there is a bevilled pinion s gearing in the
wheelt upon the cam shaft u. Now, as this shaft is caused to revolve, it
actuates the cam or tappet v which is fixed upon it, and depresses one end of the
catch lever w, which vibrates upon its fulcrum a (seen best in Figure 3, Sheet 2),
and raises the catch y at the other end from the end of the retaining rod z, which
has hitherto held the friction pulleys a and b in contact whilst the carriage was
"running out," by pressing against the pulley 6 by means of the upright arm 1,
and the continued revolution of the cam shaft v will then bring the cam or
tappet 2 in contact with the arm 3, vibrating in its centre pin 4, and thus, by
means of pulling the rod 5 and chains 6 round the chain pullies 7, will draw
the friction pully b away from the pulley a, and thus the "going-out" motion
will cease, owing to their contact being discontinued. The "backing-off"
motion is accomplished by means of the cam or tappet 8, fixed at the end of
the cam shaft u, as it revolves striking the pin 9 upon one end of the slide
rod 10; at the other end of the rod 10 is an inclined plane 11, which as the
rod is slidden inwards strikes an upright lever 12, connected by means of the
rod 13 to the shaft 14 of the "winding-on" pulley. This shaft 14 is also
connected by means of the link 15 to the shaft 16 of the "backing-off"
pulley 17, which pulley 17 is thus, by means of the inclined plane 11, brought
into contact with the large driving friction pulley 18, at the same time the
"winding-on" pulley is released. The pulley 17 now begins to revolve, thus
causing the strap pulley 19 (also keyed upon the shaft 16) to revolve with it, and
by means of the strap 20 also causes the pulley 21 to revolve; this pulley is keyed
upon the shaft 22, upon the end of which is a toothed pinion 23, driving
the wheel 24 upon the end of the clutch shaft 25. At the same time
that the "backing-off" pulley 17 has been brought into contact with
the friction pulley 18, as just described, the forked lever 26 has been
caused to vibrate upon its fulcrum 27 by the action of the same inclined
plane 11, and thus throw the clutch 28 into gear, causing the band pulley 29
to revolve, and thus actuate the endless band 30. This band 30 also passes
round another band pulley 31, from thence round a guide pulley 32, and round
the tin drum 33, which thus causes the drum to revolve about once in a con-
trary direction, and "back off" the yarn upon the spindle 34. Now in order
that there may be less "backing off" as the diameter of the cop increases,
the pulley 17 is made to traverse towards the centre of the pulley 18 as the
cop increases, and thus lose speed by means of the click 35 turning the

page_text: 66
ratchet 36, which is upon the end of the screw 37. To this screw is attached
the frame 38, to the upper end of which a fork catches hold of the boss of
the pulley 17, and slides that pulley upon its shaft along the friction surface
of the pulley 18, once during the formation of an entire cop, which is moved
back by hand when the cops are doffed. The machine is now in a position to
"wind on" the yarn to the spindles, which is done simultaneously with the
going in" of the carriage. It will be remembered that the bevilled friction
pulleys a and b were separated when the "going out" of the carriage was
completed, and the instant such separation takes place the flat periphery of
the pulley b is drawn against the covered friction surface of the large pulley 18,
and is thus immediately driven in the reverse direction, which it is evident
will cause the carriage to be run in by reversing the draught of the carriage
chains m, m, and at this exact period the tappet 8 has escaped the pin 9, upon
the rod 10, and allowed the weight 39 to slide the rod 10 again outwards, and
thus releasing the "backing-off" pulley 17, and bringing the "winding-on"
pulley 40 into contact with the large pulley 18, in which position they are
drawn in Fig. 1. The "winding-on" pulley is now made to revolve by the
friction of contact, and also carries upon its shaft 41 the strap pulley 42, from
which the strap 43 passes to the pulley 44, upon one end of the shaft 45,
upon the other end of which is keyed the bevilled pinion 46, gearing with the
wheel 47, which is loose upon the shaft L, until the "winding on" commences,
when it is made fast to the shaft by means of the clutch box 48 being thrown
into gear with it, the strap J having been previously passed upon the loose
pulley K by means of a strap lever; thus the shaft L is caused to revolve,
and by means of the band pulley 31 upon it, to cause the band 30 to turn the
spindles in the proper direction, and thus "wind on" the yarn. The clutch
box 48 is shewn detached at Fig. 5, in order to shew its internal construction.
Now in order that the "winding-on" motion may decrease in speed as the cop
bottom increases in diameter, the " winding-on" pulley 40 is also traversed
upon the shaft 41 towards the centre of the large friction pulley 18, by means
of the mitre wheels o, o, driven by the vertical shaft f by means of the
pinion 49, upon the shaft of the spur wheel o", driving the spur wheel 50,
mounted on a stud fixed to the framing A. This spur wheel 50 is provided
with a crank pin 51, to which a connecting rod 52 is attached, and as the
wheel 50 revolves, it gives reciprocating motion to the rod 52, and vibrates
the mortice lever 53 upon its fulcrum 54. The other end of the lever 53 is
attached to a sliding bar 55, to which is attached a fork, taking hold of the
boss of the " winding-on" pulley 40. In order to accommodate the
"winding on " to the peculiar build or shape of the cop, the lower end of the

page_text: fulcrum 54 forms the nut of a screw 56, which is turned in order to shift the
fulcrum 54, and thus vary the traverse of the "winding-on" wheels by means
of the click and ratchet 57. The going out of the carriage, the "backing-
off" of the yarn, and the winding on of the yarn (and of course the depres-
sion of the "fallers "), having now been completed, it only remains to place
the machine in a proper position to commence another "stretch" on "going
out" of the carriage. This is accomplished by bringing the bevilled friction
pulley b again into contact with the friction pulley a. A stop piece 58, fixed
to be back of the carriage strikes at the end of every stretch a lever 59,
carrying a friction roller 60; this roller is thus thrown against the rod 61,
and pulls the chain rod 62, which is attached at the point 63, to the sliding
retaining rod z, when the catch w falls and holds the friction pulleys a and b
in contact, when the evolutions of the headstock proceed as before.
In witness whereof, we, the said Richard Smith and Richard Hacking,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twelfth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.