CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SLUBBING, ROVING, SPINNING, TWISTING, AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MALCOLM
MCGREGOR, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Malcolm McGregor, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Malcolm McGregor, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Malcolm McGregor, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SLUBBING, ROVING, SPINNING,
TWISTING, AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Malcolm McGregor,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Malcolm McGregor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by a Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention of certain improvements in machinery for slabbing, roving,
spinning, twisting and doubling cotton and other fibrous materials consists in a
peculiar mode of constructing, combining, and mounting the spindle and its
appendages for roving, spinning, and doubling the fibres of cotton and other
The
materials in a throstle frame or other roving or doubling machine.
particular object of this improvement is to give steadiness to spindles of very
slender forms by the adaptation of stationary tubes embracing the spindles,
which tubes are designed to prevent the vibratory action of the spindles when
revolving with very great speed, and also by the lightness of the spindles to
enable them to be driven by an inferior power to that which would be required
to perform the same work by any of the ordinary constructions of roving,
spinning, or doubling machinery.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 represents a spindle; a, a, having a
fly b, b, fixed on its upper end; the bobbin, tubes, rails, and other appendages,
being shewn in section. The spindle is supported by the bottom rail c without
the necessity of a step, and by the tube b, b, which embraces the spindle, and
extends nearly to its top. It is made fast to the stationary or bolster rail e by
the collar f, which is sunk into the bolster rail, and is secured by a screw
nut g, the spindle passing vertically through the tube, and as the spindle
revolves, it is kept steady, and relieved from friction by means of bushes
inserted into the upper and lower ends of the tube. Upon the lower part of
the spindle, warve h is fixed, by which the spindle is driven through the
agency of a band from a cylinder roller, or barrel, as usual. The bobbin i, i,
fits loosely on the stationary tube d, and is supported by the copping rail k.
The copping rail is intended to traverse, that is, to be raised and depressed in
the machine by any of the ordinary modes, for the purpose of traversing the
bobbin up and down upon the stationary tube, as upon a common spindle; a
slight variation in the mode of mounting the spindle and bobbin, as shewn in
Figure 2, to which the principal part of the foregoing description will apply.

page_text: a, a, is the spindle, and it will be perceived that in this modification of the
Invention the stationary tube d, which steadies the spindle, is something shorter
than the former Figure; the spindle passing through the fast tube as before,
and on the neck of the spindle above the top of the tube d, a collar is
screwed. This collar is about half an inch deep, made something larger than
the external diameter of the fixed tube d, and is slightly conical. A cylindrical
shell or tube m, m, having a rim n at its bottom is passed over the stationary
tube d, and mounted on the top of the spindle a, the upper part or shoulder of
the shell bearing upon the collar l, and the rim n at bottom falling into
a circular groove made in the collar f of the fast tube. The bobbin i is
now placed loosely on the shell m, as on a common spindle, and the flyer b
being screwed down on the top of the spindle, the shell m is by that means
pressed tightly against the collar 1, and firmly attached to the spindle, of which
it must now be considered to have become a part, acting like a common
spindle as they revolve together, and without rubbing against the surface of
the fixed tube d, which tube is intended to operate as before described, (viz.,)
to give stability, and to prevent the spindle vibrating when revolving with very
great rapidity.
The application of these improvements enables roving, spinning, and
doubling frames to produce from the lowest to the highest numbers or counts
of yarn an effect hitherto deemed impracticable in frames of the common.
construction, and which is obtained with the advantage of a great reduction of
friction, perfect steadiness, and extraordinary celerity of motion, producing
double quantities in the same hours of labour, and even more in proportion to
the fineness of the numbers and quality of the material, with also a great saving
of waste in relation to the quantities produced. For the coarser numbers of
yarn, the first-described construction acts remarkably well on account of its
affording an increased tension or drag when required, which may be varied at
pleasure by increasing or diminishing the area of the under surface of the bobbin,
bearing upon the copping rail. For finer numbers, the modification described
in the second construction is more particularly applicable, the friction of the
bobbin being greatly relieved by the rotary motion of the shell or tube in con-
nexion with the spindle, which, however rapidly driven, is prevented from
vibrating by the stationary tube round which it revolves.
In witness whereof, I, the said Malcolm McGregor, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
MALCOLM (L.S.) McGREGOR.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of April in
the fifth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Malcolm McGregor come before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.