IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING YARNS FOR LOOMS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Nairne, of South Inch Mill, Perth,
in the County of Perth, Flax Spinner, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING YARNS FOR LOOMS."
Sealed the 23rd July 1858, and dated the 24th January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Nairne
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th January 1853.
I, WILLIAM NAIRNE, of South Inch Mill, Perth, in the County of
Perth, Flax Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING YARNS FOR LOOMS" to be as follows:-
My improvements in dressing yarns for looms consist of placing
under every dressing brush a box or vessel containing the dressing
material. A roller revolves slowly in the dressing material, and the
dressing is thereby taken up by it either in a greater or less quantity,
according as the doctor is set. The dressing brushes take the dressing
off the surfaces of the rollers (by rubbing slightly upon them as they

page_text: revolve) and spread it upon the yarn, consequently the dressing may be
used thicker, and therefore the yarn will be more easily dried.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Nairne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM NAIRNE, of South Inch Mill, Perth, in the County of Perth,
Flax Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Nairne, Her special licence
that I, the said William Nairne, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Nairne, 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, usc, exercisc, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRESSING YARNS FOR LOOMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Nairne, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 William Nairne, 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 thereof (that is to say):

page_text: My improvements in the machinery for dressing yarns for looms
consists in an apparatus which supplies the yarn with dressing, without
the necessity of diluting the said dressing with water, which impairs
its adhesive and fibre laying properties, soaks the yarn in flour and
water, making it difficult to dry, and stiff and brittle when it is dry,
while its fibres are not so well laid as when coated with dressing
undiluted.
The machinery by which this is performed consists of a box in which
a roller revolves slowly; to this roller is applied a straight edge, or
docter, "as a similar instrument used in cylinder printing is called," so
placed in the box that it can be set. nearer or farther from the roller;
and partly upon the distance of this straight edge from the roller, as
well as upon the speed of the roller, the quantity of dressing put upon
a given length of warp depends. In the box containing the roller is a
false or moveable side, which gathers the dressing in towards the roller,
so that most of the dressing in the box may be used up before it be
necessary to add more; for it must be kept in mind, that with this
improvement the dressing may be used so thick that unless it were
gathered in about the roller it would not flow towards it. The brush
or brushes which spread the dressing on the yarn and brush down the
fibres gently touch the above-mentioned roller, and by wiping the
dressing off its upper surface conveys the quantity required to the yarn.
But for the better understanding of my Invention I hereto annex
Drawings, which I shall now describe.
Note. Like letters refer to the same things in all the Figures. A,
is the yarn or warp to be dressed; B, is the brush; C, is a roller,
working amongst the starch (in the starch box D) for giving starch to
the brush; E, is the docter, for regulating the quantity of starch given
out to the brush; F, is a piece of sheet iron for preventing the dust
from the brush falling amongst the starch; G, is a false or moveable
side for pressing the starch up to the roller; I, is the screw for regu-
lating the false side G; H, is a screw for regulating the docter.

page_text: I claim the application by machinery of undiluted dressing to yarns
dressed by machinery for power looms.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Nairne, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
JN° ALCOCK.
WILLIAM NAIRNE. (L.S.)