IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR 'LAYING' OR 'TOPPING' TWINE OR CORD MADE FROM FLAX, HEMP, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Grayson Harrison, of Lancaster, in
the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR 'LAYING' OR 'TOPPING' TWINE OR CORD MADE FROM FLAX, HEMP, OR
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Scaled the 28th November 1878, and dated the 1st October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Grayson
Harrison at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st October 1873.
I, ALEXANDER GRAYSON HARRISON, of Lancaster, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR 'LAYING' OR 'TOPPING' TWINE OR CORD MADE
FROM FLAX, HEMP, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to bo as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are to lay the twine or cord with a
greater amount of regularity and evenness than has been hitherto
attained, to run the machine at an increased speed without excessive
vibration, and at the same time to dispense with a great amount of

page_text: machines.
The improvements relate,-
Firstly. To the method of driving or revolving the bobbins upon
which the threads or strands of yarn to be laid are wound to give the 5
first or forward twist to them.
And, Secondly. To tho method of drawing down or feeding the threads
or strands of yarn to the revolving spindles and flyers, which twist
them together in the reverse direction and lay the twine or cord on to
the laying bobbins.
I use a frame of the ordinary construction with vertical spindles and
flyers with conical tops, and I mount the yarn bobbins at the top of the
frame in inverted flyers with their axes (i.e. the axos of the bobbins)
horizontal, and I drive these flyers by means of endless bands passing
round grooved pulleys or wharves, and round a long drum or cylinder 1
placed at the back of the frame.
For drawing down the yarn or threads I employ beneath the lower
end of each hollow axis or flyer a small flanged drum or pulley, and
cause each strand or thread to make two, three, or more turns round its
respective drum or pulley in passing to the conical top of tho flyer. 2
These flanged drums or pulleys are mounted upon two horizontal shafts
to which a slow revolving motion is imparted by means of a spur or other
gearing actuated from any convenient part of the machine.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
GRAYSON HARRISON, of Lancaster, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 30
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Alexander Grayson Harrison, Her special license
that I, the said Alexander Grayson Harrison, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Grayson
5 Harrison, 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 lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
“IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR 'LAYING' OR 'TOPPING' TWINE OR CORD MADE FROK
FLAX, HEMP, OR OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Grayson Harrison, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under I, 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 Alexander Grayson Harrison, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that
is to say) :-
The objects of this Invention are to lay the twine or cord with a
greater amount of regularity and evenness than has been hitherto
attained, to run the machine at an increased speed without excessive
vibration, and at the same time to dispense with a great amount of
unnecessary gearing and other apparatus hitherto employed in such
machines.

page_text: Such being the nature and object of my said Improved Apparatus
for 'Laying' or 'Topping' Twine or Cord made from Flax, Hemp,
or other Fibrous Materials," I will now proceed to describe in detail the
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, and in order that the same may be clearly understood I 5
have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings, and have marked the same
with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the
following explanation thercof:-
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a front elevation; Fig. 2, an end
elevation; Fig. 3, a plan view; and Fig. 4, a vertical section of so much 1
of a twine laying or topping machine as is requisito to illustrate my
Invention.
I use a frame a, a, of the ordinary construction with vertical
spindles b, b, flyers c, c, and laying bobbins d, d, and I mount the yarn
bobbins e, e, at the top of the frame in inverted flyers f, f, with their axes 1
(that is the axis of the bobbins) horizontal, and I drive theso flyers by
means of endless bands 9, 9, passing round the grooved pulleys or
wharves h, h, and round long drums or cylinders i, i, placed at the back
of the frame.
For drawing down the yarn or threads I employ beneath the lower 2
end of each hollow axis or flyer an india-rubber covered drum k, k, and
a small flanged pulley 1, 2, and each thread or strand passes through the
eye of a guide m, m, then round and over the india-rubber drum k, k,
and thence over or once or more round the flanged pulley 1, 1, and so on,
to the flyer c, c, which lays it on to the laying bobbins d, d. The india- 2
rubber covered drums k, k, and flanged pulleys 1, 2, are mounted upon
two horizontal shafts n, n, and o, o, to which a slow revolving motion is
imparted by means of spur or other gearing (shown by the dotted
circles) actuated from any convenient part of the machine.
Having now described the nature and object of my said improved 3
apparatus for "laying" or "topping" twine or cord made from flax,
hemp, or other fibrous materials, together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I
would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly. The apparatus for driving or revolving the bobbins upon 8
which the threads or strands of yarn to be laid are wound.

page_text: And, Secondly. The method of and apparatus for drawing down or
feeding the twisted threads or strands of yarn to the revolving spindles
and flyers which twist them together and lay the twine or cord thus
formed on to the laying bobbins, as herein-before more particularly
described and illustrated by the Drawing annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Grayson Harrison, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred
and seventy-four.