IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING THREAD ON BOBBINS OR SPOOLS."
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Bash, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Machinist, and Henry Levy, of Piccadilly, in the County of
Middlesex, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
WINDING THREAD ON BOBBINS OR SPOOLS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Bash and Henry
Levy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th February
1879.
"IM-
SAMUEL BASH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Machinist,
and HENRY LEVY, of Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant.
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING THREAD ON BOBBINS OR SPOOLS."
This Invention relates to the construction of machinery for winding sewing
cotton or thread onto small bobbins, spools, or reels, and consists of certain improve-
ments upon the machine for that purpose invented by us, and for which Letters
Patent, No. 2871, were granted to us bearing date July 27th, 1877.
The first part of our present Invention relates to the apparatus for traversing
the guide rail to and fro so as to lay the thread evenly on the bobbins from end to
end.
Instead of employing a right and one left hand threaded screw and two half nuts
for this purpose, we now propose to employ only one screw.
This screw is of a much coarser pitch than heretofore and is driven at a much
slower speed than formerly, so as to get the required amount of traverse, and the
direction in which this screw revolves is alternately reversed by the following
means:
On the back end of the screw is keyed a bevil wheel gearing with two bevil
pinions mounted loosely upon a short transverse shaft. This shaft has a constant
rotary motion in one direction imparted to it by means of a bevil pinion gearing
with a bevil wheel keyed at one end of the said shaft. On the inner face of each

page_text: of the loose bevil wheels above mentioned is a half clutch box, and between the two
is a double clutch sliding on a feather or key upon the transverse shaft. This
double clutch box is provided with a neck embraced by a fork attached to a sliding
bar underneath the transverse shaft, one end of which bar is jointed to a lever
oscillating upon a central stud or fulcrum. The other end of this lever is formed
with a notch into which takes a tooth or stud projecting from the vertical rocking
spindle (mentioned in the Specification of our former Patent hereinbefore
referred to).
The traversing screw acts upon a half nut which is capable of turning upon a
rocking shaft, and is held firmly in gear with the traversing screw by means of a
bell-crank lever acted upon by a spring. This same lover, by means of an inclined
plane, lifts the half nut out of goar with the traversing screw, when required, for
the purpose of adjusting the position of the guides. The bell crank lever is actuated
by a cam lever worked by a cam on the cam shaft.
To enable the operative to start winding the bobbins from the reverse end when
required, a bracket or pin is fixed on the cam lover, which coming in contact with
a projection fixed on the vertical rocking spindle throws the V-shaped plate
on the other side of the double inclined plane, and thus reverses the action of the
traversing screw.
The second part of our improvements relates to the action of the thread guides.
According to our previous Patent (above referred to) the thread guides rested
with their whole weight upon the surface of the thread on the bobbins during the
whole process of winding. Instead of this being the case we now propose to keep
the thread guide just out of contact with the bobbins (or merely touching them
lightly) during the greater part of the process of winding, and to let them bear with
their wholo weight on the same, merely towards the completion of the operation,
say, for the last two layers of thread.
For this purpose we employ a cam working loosely upon a shaft but kept in
position laterally by a collar upon each side. Fixed to this cam is a quadrant with
ratchet teeth.
Attached to the guide carriage is a stud carrying a pawl or catch which takes up
one tooth of this quadrant at each forward movement of the carriage, and as soon
as it has taken up one tooth it comes into contact with an inclined plane which
lifts it out of the teeth, the quadrant being held firmly by means of a retaining
catch. Thus each movement of the carriage causes the cam to be turned on its
shaft a small portion of a revolution equal to one tooth of the quadrant. Fixed to
the side of the cam is an adjustable inclined surface acting against a roller on one
end of a lever, the other end of which raises the guide rail gradually as the winding
proceeds.
When the winding is nearly completed an adjustable stop on the cam raises the
pawl out of the teeth of the quadrant and thus prevents it from taking up any
more teeth, whereby the guides are allowed to rest with their whole weight upon
the surface of the bobbins and thus give an increased firmness and gloss to the outer
layers of thread.
The third part of our Invention relates to the arrangement of the knives for
cutting the nick in the edge of the bobbin for fixing the outer end of the thread.
Instead of employing a separate knife bracket and lever for each spindle, we now
propose to employ a long horizontal rail having a series of snugs for holding the
nicking knives (one for each knife). This rail is actuated by two levers, one at or
near each end, each lever being worked by a separate cam on the cam shaft.
The fourth part of our Invention relates to the arrangement for removing the "fag
end" of the thread, that is, the inner end of the thread which is left projecting over
the head of the bobbin. Instead of employing the arrangement described in our
former Specification for cutting off this "fag end," we now propose to employ a bar
fixed on the front rail which carries the guide stocks, this bar being so attached to
'the guide rods as to be readily adjustable.

page_text: Fixed on this bar in a series of springs (one to each spindle), each of which, as
the carriage comes back, acts against the lower end of a small lever, the upper end
of which the spring presses against the end of the bobbin, and as the latter revolves
rapidly the "fag end" of the thread is rubbed off between the two surfaces. As
the guides lift, the bar and springs are moved sideways so as to be out of the way
of the levers and thus prevent them from rubbing against the bobbin ends any longer.
Cast or attached to each spindle bush is a plate carrying on the right side the
before mentioned lever and having on the left a projection carrying a spring which,
when the thread hook has carried the outer end of the thread over the bobbin end,
siezes it and holds it firmly in position ready to commence winding on the next
bobbin.
At the lower end of each guide lever we have an adjusting screw for the purpose
of setting or adjusting each guide separately and exactly to its own spindle or
bobbin.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Samuel Bash and Henry Levy in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th August 1879.
SAMUEL BASH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Machinist,
and HENRY LEVY, of Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING THREAD ON BOBBINS OR SPOOLS."
This Invention relates to the construction of machinery for winding sewing
cotton or thread onto small bobbins, spools, or reels, and consists of certain improve-
ments upon the machine for that purpose invented by us, and for which Letters
Patent, No. 2871, A.D. 1877, were granted to us bearing date July 27th, 1877.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention, we 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
we have annexed hereunto two Sheets of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in
the following explanation thereof:-
The first part of our present Invention relates to the apparatus for traversing the
guide rail to and fro so as to lay the thread evenly onto the bobbins from end to
end, and is illustrated by the side view, Fig. 1, and plan view at Fig. 2.
at a, a.
Instead of employing a right and a left hand threaded screw and two half nuts for
this purpose, as heretofore, we now propose to employ only one screw, as shown
This screw is of a much coarser pitch than heretofore, and is driven at a
much slower speed than formerly, so as to get the required amount of traverse, and
the direction in which this screw a, a, revolves is alternately reversed by the
following means (see also enlarged back wiew, Fig. 3.):—
On the back end of the screw a, a, is keyed a bevil wheel b, b, gearing with two
bevil pinions c and d mounted loosely upon a short transverse shaft (shown detached
at e, e). This shaft is formed with shoulders for the purpose of keeping the wheels c
and d from moving endwise on the shaft.
The shaft e, e, has a constant rotary motion in one direction imparted to it by
means of a bevil pinion f receiving motion from the main driving shaft, as shown in
the Drawing, and gearing with a bevil wheel g keyed at one end of the said
shaft e, e, (see also Fig. 2).
On the inner face of each of the loose bevil wheels c and d above mentioned is a
half clutch-box h, and between the two is a double clutch i sliding upon a feather
Thus the double clutch i is constantly
or key upon the transverse shaft e, e.
revolving with the shaft e, e, and it will be evident that when moved into gear
with one or the other of the loose bevil wheels c, d, (which face each other) it will
cause the traversing screw a, a, to be driven either to the right or the left, as the
case may be.
The double clutch i is provided with a neck embraced by a fork h, k, attached to
a sliding bar 1, 2, underneath the transverse shaft, one end of which is jointed to a
lever m, m, (Figs. 1 and 2) oscillating upon a central stud or fulcrum. The other
end of this lever is formed with a notch into which takes a tooth or stud n pro-
jecting from the vertical rocking spindle o, o, (mentioned and marked 2, 2, in the
Specification of our former Patent herein before referred to).
The traversing screw a, a, acts upon a half nut p, p, which (see enlarged detached
view, Fig. 10, Sheet 2) is capable of turning upon a rocking shaft q, q, and is held
firmly in gear with a traversing screw by means of a bell crank lever r, r, and a
sliding bar 8, 8, acted upon by a spring t, t.
This bell crank lever r, r, by means of an inclined plane u (Fig. 10) lifts the
half nut p out of gear with the traversing screw, when required, for the purpose of
adjusting the position of the guides when the spooling process commences. The

page_text: bell crank lever r, r, is actuated by the sliding bar 8, 8, worked by a cam v, v, on
the cam shaft w, w. To enable the operative to start winding the bobbins from the
reverse end when required, a bracket or pin x, x, is fixed on the sliding bar 8, 8,
which coming into contact with a projection y fixed on the vertical rocking spindle
o, o, throws the V-shaped plate 24 on the other side of the double inclined plane
(marked 25 in our former Specification), and thus reverses the action of the
traversing screw a, a, (see plan view, Fig. 11, Sheet 2).
The second part of our improvements relates to the action of the thread guides,
and is shown in section at Fig. 4 and front view at Fig. 5). According to our
previous Patent above referred to the thread guides rested with their whole weight
upon the surface of the thread on the bobbins during the whole process of winding.
Instead of this being the case, we now propose to keep the thiread guides just out
of contact with the bobbins (or merely touching them lightly) during the greater
part of the process of winding and to let them bear with their whole weight on the
same, merely towards the completion of the operation, say, for the last two layers
of thread.
For this purpose we employ a cam 1, 1, (Fig. 4) working loosely on the cam
shaft w, w, but kept in position laterally by a collar upon each side. Fixed to this
cam is a quadrant of ratchet teeth 3, 3, (see also enlarged views, Fig. 12, 13, and 14;
Sheet 2). Attached to the guide carriage 4, 4, is a stud carrying a pawl or
catch 5, 5, which takes up one tooth of the quadrant 3, 3, at each forward move-
ment of the carriage 4, 4, and as soon as it has taken up one tooth it comes in
contact with an inclined plane or stud 6, which lifts it out of the teeth, the
quadrant 3, 3, being held firmly by means of a retaining catch 7. Thus each
movement of the carriage 4, 4, causes the cam 1, 1, to be turned on its shaft w, w,
a small portion of a revolution equal to one tooth of the quadrant 3, 3.
Fixed to
the side of the cam 1, 1, is an adjustable inclined surface 8, 8, acting against a
roller 9 on one end of a lever 10, 10, the other end of which pushes the guide
rail 11, 11, and thus gradually raises the guides 12, 12, as the winding proceeds.
When the winding is nearly completed an adjustable stop 13 raises the pawl 5, 5,
away from the teeth of the quadrant 3, 3, and tlius prevents it from taking up any
more teeth, whereby the guides 12, 12, are allowed to rest with their whole weight
upon the surface of the bobbins, and thus give an increased firmness and gloss to
the outer layers of thread. After the winding is completed the cam 1, 1, regains
its former position by means of a pin z fixed upon the cam shaft, which raises the
retaining catch 7 out of contact with the quadrant 3 and allows it to fall back (see
back view, Fig. 14).
The third part of our Invention which relates to the arrangement of the knives
for cutting the nick in the edge of the bobbin for fixing the outer end of the thread
is illustrated by Figs. 6 and 7.
Instead of employing a separate knife bracket and lever for each spindle we now
propose to employ a long horizontal rail 14, 14, having a series of snugs 15, 15, for
holding the nicking knives, one for each knife. This rail 14, 14, is actuated by
two levers 16, 16, one at or near each end, each lever being worked by a separate
cam 17 on the cam shaft w, w. The levers are adjustable by means of a roller y*
capable of being moved up or down as shown at Fig. 6, Sheet 1 of the Drawings.
The fourth part of our Invention relates to the arrangement for removing the
"fag end" of the thread, that is, the inner end of the thread which is left pro-
jecting over the head of the bobbin. This is illustrated by Figs. 8 and 9, Sheet 1.
Instead of employing the arrangement described in our former Specification for
cutting off this fag end we now propose to employ a bar 18, 18, fixed on the
rail 11, 11, this bar 18, 18, being so attached to the rail as to be readily adjustable
(Fig. 9). Fixed on this bar is a series of springs 20, 20, one to each spindle, each of
which, as the carriage 4, 4, comes back, acts against the lower end of a small lever 21,
the upper end of which the spring 20 presses against the bobbin 22, and as the
latter revolves rapidly the "fag end" of the thread is rubbed off between the two

page_text: surfaces. As the guides 12, 12, lift, the bar 18 and springs 20 are moved sideways
so as to be out of the way of the levers 21, 21, and thus prevent them from rubbing
against the bobbin ends any longer than is necessary.
Cast or attached to each spindle bush (see Figs. 8 and 9) is a plate 23 carrying
on the right side the before mentioned lever 21, and having on the left a projection
carrying a spring 24 which, when the thread hook has carried the outer end of the
thread over the bobbin end, siezes it and holds it firmly in position ready to com-
mence winding on the next bobbin.
At the lower end of each guide lever 12, 12, we have an adjusting screw for tho
purpose of setting or adjusting each guide separately and exactly to its own spindle
or bobbin (see Fig. 15). In the lower arm of the guide lever 12, 12, is a slot
embracing a nut 25, which latter is adjustable in the slot by means of a set
screw 26.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention, together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, we wish it to be understood that we claim as our Invention,―
First. The improved mode of obtaining the traverse motion of the guide rail by
the combination of wheels, clutch boxes, and double clutch, as hereinbefore
described.
Secondly. The mode hereinbefore described of reversing the screw by means of
the fork, slide lever, and pin on the rocking spindle.
Thirdly. The construction of the shaft e, e, with shoulders, by which means the
wheels are held constantly in their respective places as hereinbefore described.
Fourthly. The construction of the half nut with inclined plane, and the bell
crank lever for holding down or lifting the said nut out of gear with the screw,
and the manner in which they are actuated by the cam, sliding bar, and spring,
substantially as described.
Fifthly. The method herein before described of starting the spooling operation
one way or the other by the adjustable pin on the sliding bar, and the projection
on the rocking spindle.
Sixthly. The mode of raising the guides during spooling as hereinbefore described,
and of allowing them to rest on the bobbins with their whole weight during the
latter portion of the winding, as hereinbefore described.
Seventhly. The improved mode of mounting and working the knives as herein-
before described.
Eightly. The improved method of cutting or rubbing off the "fag end" of the
thread as herein before described.
Ninthly. The method of adjusting each guide lever separately and exactly to its
own spindles, substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Bash (on behalf of myself and the
said Henry Levy), have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
Seventy nine