IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLING YARNS OR THREADS OF SILK AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE MLOREN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Davidson, of Leek, in the County of Stafford,
Silk Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLING
YARNS OR THREADS OF SILK AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
MLOREN
"
Sealed the 19th April 1864, and dated the 24th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Davidson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
October 1863.
I, JOHN DAVIDSON, of Leek, in the County of Stafford, Silk Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the. said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DOUBLING YARNS OR THREADS OF SILK AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN
THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention is particularly applicable in doubling silk threads for sewing
purposes, but it may be employed in doubling woollen and other yarns and
threads.
My Invention consists in producing a three-fold thread out of a single one,
and the machinery for effecting this may be conveniently made in the fol-
lowing manner-The bobbins or cops of single threads are mounted on a
carriage, which travels towards and from the bobbins on which the three-fold
threads are wound. On commencing a loop is formed at the end of each
single thread, which loop is secured or wound on the bobbin; through this

page_text: loop the thread is passed by an instrument connected to the frame supporting
the bobbins; the end thus passed through the loop is caught by a pair of
rollers connected to the carriage, which in going out lays three folds of thread
from each bobbin or cop side by side when the carriage is at the extent of its
outward run, which may be thirty yards or more or less; the single threads
are secured while the loops remain on the rollers, and in running in the three
ends are wound together on the bobbins. When the carriage is in the loops
are brought by the rollers over a frame, through which the instrument
above referred to again passes the single end, after which the carriage runs
out as before. The bobbins, with the three ends wound upon them, are
then taken to the ordinary spinning or throwing mills, or the spinning or
throwing may be performed in the machine above described when the
carriage is out or during the running in thereof.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Davidson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DAVIDSON, of Leek, in the County of Stafford, Silk Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date. the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in' the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Davidson, Her special license that I, the said John David-
son, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Davidson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DOUBLING YARNS OR THREADS OF SILK AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN
THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Davidson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Davidson, 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 (that is to say):-
My Invention is particularly applicable in doubling silk threads for sewing
purposes, but it may be employed in doubling woollen and other yarns and
threads, and it consists in producing a three-fold thread out of a single one,
and in the machinery requisite for effecting this object.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to.
describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Figure 1 represents an elevation in section of my improved machinery for
doubling yarns or threads; Figure 2 is a front view of part of the carriage;
Figure 3 is a back view of part of the headstock, shewing the driving appa->
ratus; Figures 4 and 5 are ground plans of part of the machinery, and
Figure 6 is a front view of part of the headstock.
a are the bobbins containing the silk or other yarn to be doubled; sixteen
or other convenient number of these bobbins are supported on pegs projecting
from the board b, which with the end frames c and wheels d form the carriage.
running upon the rails e.. The traverse of this carriage is by preference about
thirty yards, but it may be made to traverse more or less. The yarn from each
of the bobbins a is taken over and under the three rollers a¹, above one of
which is a break, consisting of a piece of cloth or other soft material fixed to a
weighted rib a³, one end of which bears on the cross rail f, on which are
inclined planes for raising and lowering the breaks off and on to the yarns;
this is effected by the lever f¹, to which a cord is attached, passing over a
guide roller and secured to the rail f; the lever f¹ is weighted by the lever g
mounted on the shaft g¹. The yarn after leaving the roller a¹ passes between.
the stationary brackets h and the moveable clips h¹ jointed to the levers h³,
the longer arms of which are connected by wires ³ and cords to the shaft g';
the yarn then passes through the stationary eyes-i, the moveable eyes i",
and the stationary eyes ²; the eyes are formed at the upper ends of the
bent wires, which are hinged at ; under these wires passes the rail j,
which is raised and lowered by the incline e¹, fixed on the floor near the
headstock of the machine acting on the bowl ; this bowl is supported in
the bar, which is connected to the rail; by a cord passing over guide
pulleys. The yarn after leaving the eyes 2 is taken to the roller k forming
part of the headstock, and returns from thence to the rollers / supported on

page_text: studs fixed to the rods , each of which is supported in bearings fixed to the
carriage; to the rods are fixed segments, gearing in racks m fixed to a
rail m', which is moved endwise by the lever m², the lower end of which has
a bowl acting on the incline e, see Figure 4. The rollers k are supported in
brackets fixed to the cross rail ², near to which is the round bar k³, from
which the lifting wires project; near the bar ³ is the rail n supporting the
instruments n; the rail n has rollers n at its under side, which are supported
by the lower rail n². The yarn after it has been doubled, as will be described
hereafter, is guided by the rollers o, supported on studs projecting from the
stationary rail o¹, and then by the rollers p supported on studs projecting from
the rail p¹, to which the traversing motion is given by a heart or eccentric in
the usual manner to distribute the yarn evenly over the bobbins q, which are
driven by the friction pulleys fixed to the shaft ; to each bobbin q is fixed
a ratchet wheel q', the retaining catches q of which are hinged to the framing
of the headstock. The shaft is driven by the shaft s, on which are
mounted two fast pulleys & and s, and three loose pulleys s², s³, st, see
Figure 3. This shaft has an end motion given to it, when required, by the
handle lever s, and to it is connected by a key and groove the pulley s" for
giving motion to the shaft t by the strap t' and pulley t. To the shaft t is
fixed the grooved pulley t, which by means of the band u, the ends of which
are attached to the roller u, supported in bearings fixed to the carriage,
imparts to it the requisite to-and-fro motion. To the axle of the roller u¹ is
fixed a ratchet wheel with a retaining catch, by turning this roller partly
round the band u is tightened when required. The pulleys s¹ and sare
driven by a crossed and an open strap, the former is guided by the fork v¹, and
the latter by the fork v, both these forks are fixed to the frame v², at the
lower side of which are two bowls acted upon by the inclines w and w¹ on the
upright bar w², the lower end of which is jointed to one arm of the elbow
lever ; to the other arm of this lever is jointed the end of the rod x¹, which
is connected to the racks a², only one of which is shewn in the Drawing; each
rack a gears into a pinion, to the axle of which is fixed a lever a; one of
these levers is placed near the head stock, and the other near the extremity
of the rails e. The mode of operation of the machine is as follows:-The
various parts are in the positions they occupy when the carriage is receding
from the headstock. When the carriage has arrived near the end of its
outward run the bowl b¹ connected to the carriage comes under the end of
the lever and turns it over or into the position shewn by dots; the pinion a³
then acting on the rack 2 moves the rod a¹ and elbow lever, so as to
depress the vertical bar w, the inclines on which acting on the bowls on the

page_text: strap fork rods traverse the open driving strap from the pulley to the
loose pulleys, and the crossed strap from the loose pulley to the loose
pulleys, the driving straps being both on loose pulleys the remainder of the
outward run of the carriage is performed by the attendant turning the
handle on the shaft s. After the carriage has passed beyond the lever a,
the under side of the lever g comes in contact with a stud projecting from a
post, (not shewn in the Drawing,) by this means the lever g is turned about
one-fourth round on its axis, thus bringing it into the position indicated by
dotted lines; in turning over the latch 92, jointed to the lever g, acts on the
clapper g', which strikes the bell g', and gives notice to the attendant who
remains near the headstock. The turning over of the lever g also releases
the lever f which sets the rail f, with inclines, at liberty to be drawn back
by springs, thereby allowing the weighted ribs a to drop, and apply the
breaks to the rollers a¹ to prevent more yarn being drawn off the bobbins a
by the momentum of the rollers. The turning over of the lever g and shaft g¹
slackens the cord h³, and allows the clip h' to be pressed by a spring against
the bracket h, thus holding the yarns while they are being wound on the
bobbins during the running in of the carriage.
Before the carriage com-
mences to run in, the attendant turns the shaft partly round by the
handle, thereby lifting the wires k, and throwing the feeding end of the
yarn off the pulley k, and looping the said feeding end and the second end
with the ends reaching from the pulley k to the headstock. The running in
of the carriage is accomplished by the attendant at the headstock, who now
moves the shafts endwise by means of the handle s; this end motion of the
shaft pushes the driving pulley s¹ through the crossed strap, and brings the
open strap on to the centre loose pulley s at the same time the pinion 58 on
the shaft s is brought into gear with the pinion
the bobbins q are driven for winding the three-fold thread on to them, and the
catches are all lifted off the ratchet wheels q' by turning partly round the
hinged rail to allow the bobbins to revolve. During the running in of
the carriage no alteration takes place in the position of the parts until the car-
riage is within two or three yards from the headstock; the first operation that
then occurs is caused by the roller be on the carriage coming against the under
side of the lever placed near the headstock; the lever 'is thus moved
from the left to the right side of the pinion a³, which acting on the rack a
and rod a restores the elbow lever x to the position shewn in Drawing,
thus bringing both driving straps on to loose pulleys; the remainder of the
inward run of the carriage is performed by the attendant turning the handle 5.
The next operation is performed by the bowl at the end of the lever m³
on the shaft r', by which

page_text: coming against the incline e, in passing along which the lever m² acting on
the cross rail m¹ causes the racks m to turn the segments one-fourth round,
thus bringing the rods and bowls into the position shewn by dotted lines in
Figure 1, and leaving the yarn over the brackets ; at this time the bowl on
the lever m² suddenly drops down the incline e³ to restore the rods and
bowls to their horizontal positions. The yarn is now passing around the
bracket, the attendant now moves the rail n in the direction of the arrow in
Figure 6, thus bringing the instruments n¹ against the centre yarn, which it
raises by the bowls n³ rising up the inclines n'; the yarns thus caught hold of
and raised are pushed laterally by the instruments n' to the extent of the level
plates n, in order to loop the centre yarn over the outer bowl 1, by the
bowls n³ dropping down the inclines nº, and the rail n in being brought back
to its original position causes the bowl n³ to lift the incline n', which is hinged
to the plate n. During the above operation the bowl runs up the incline e,.
and the cord attached to the bar j² lowers the rail j, thus leaving the looped
wires at liberty to take up the slack-feeding end of the yarn caused by the
pulleys, leaving the second and third ends on the brackets k¹ in passing from
the vertical to the horizontal position. The attendant then moves the shaft s
endwise by the handle s to bring the open strap on to the fast pulley s³ for
taking the carriage out again; the wheels and are drawn out of gear, and
the retaining catches q² are dropped into gear to prevent the doubled yarn
being drawn off the bobbins during the neat outward run of the carriage.. At
the commencement of the outward run the bowl at the lower end of the
lever m² enters the groove e', and in passing along it opens the incline e²;
which is hinged to the parallel side of the groove e', and the incline e regains
its former position by means of a spring as soon as the bowl has passed.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that three separate ends of a
single yarn and from a single bobbin are carried out by the carriage, the said
ends being parallel or nearly so to each other; when the carriage is out the
ends are looped together in order that they may be in the proper position,
when the carriage is up, for passing the feeding end through the two others,
so that at the next outward run of the carriage a fresh length of three-fold
yarn may be drawn off the feed bobbins. By thus doubling silk or other
yarns or threads I am enabled to produce doubled yarns of great uniformity of
size, for it will be apparent that when the three ends to be doubled are drawn
from the same bobbin, as above described, the thread produced will be more
uniform than when the three ends are taken from three separate bobbins as
heretofore customary.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I wish to observe that I do not limit myself to the
arrangement of machinery shewn, as the same may be considerably varied or
modified; but what I do claim is,―
First, the doubling of three thicknesses of yarn or thread from a single
yarn as described, or by any other suitable combination of machinery.
And, secondly, the improved arrangement of machinery described and shewn
for doubling yarns or threads.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Davidson, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN DAVIDSON. (L.S.)
JOHN DAVIDSON. (L.S.)