IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR POLISHING OR FINISHING THREAD
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR POLISHING OR FINISHING THREAD."
- A communication.
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR POLISHING OR FINISHING THREAD."
-A communication.
Sealed the 23rd November 1855, and dated the 20th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th June 1855.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR POLISHING OR FINISHING
THREAD" to be as follows:-
In the improved machinery for polishing or finishing thread, which forms
the subject of the present Invention, the banks of thread are stretched over
pullies or rollers, some of which are weighted for the purpose of keeping the
hanks at proper tension. The thread is then submitted to the operation of a
rubbing or polishing apparatus of peculiar construction, and which consists of
a cylinder furnished with rubbers arranged around its circumference in
diagonal curves, or in the form of a series of helicoids. A travelling motion
is, communcated to the hanks of thread by causing one or more of the rollers
over or round which the hanks pass to rotate at a certain speed.

page_text: The rubbing cylinder, with its helicoidal or diagonal rubbers or polishers,
should be driven at considerable velocity, and may be made to act either on
the upper or under side of the hank, as may be found most convenient, and by
its rapid rotation it will quickly polish the threads as they are moved slowly
forward. By placing the rubbers or polishers in a diagonal direction round
the cylinder, they are made to act more effectually on the separate threads,
which by the peculiar action of the polishers will be caused to roll over or turn
round, and thus be polished on all sides. The threads thus polished will leave
the machine in a rounded form instead of being flattened, as is sometimes the
case when the rubbers are placed parallel with the axis of the cylinder, and
are made to act on the thread at or nearly at right angles thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward, Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thercafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR POLISHING OR FINISHING THREAD,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said. William Edward Newton, 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.

page_text: 1, at 1, the sand wimam Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The improved machinery for polishing or finishing thread, which forms
the subject of the present Invention, consists of certain improvements upon
an Invention for a similar purpose, and for which I obtained Her Majesty's
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth February, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-six. The banks of thread in the improved machinery are,
as in the former machines, stretched over pullies, bars, or rollers, some of which
are weighted for the purpose of keeping the hanks at proper tension. The
thread is then submitted to the operation of a rubbing or polishing apparatus,
consisting of a cylinder furnished with rubbers, which I sometimes arrange
around the circumference of the cylinder in diagonal curves, or in the form of
a series of helicoids. A travelling motion is communicated to the hanks of
thread by causing one or more of the rollers over or round which the hanks
pass to rotate at a certain speed, which of course must be rather slow in com-
parison to the speed of the rubbing cylinder.
The rubbing cylinder, with its rubbers or polishers, should be driven at
considerable velocity, and may be made to act either on the upper or under-
side of the bank, as may be found most convenient, or on both sides, as in
the machines described in my former Patent, and by its rapid rotation this
cylinder will quickly polish the threads as they are moved slowly forward. By
placing the rubbers or polishers in a diagonal direction round the cylinder, they
are made to act more effectually on the separate threads, which by the peculiar
action of the polishers will be caused to roll over or turn round, and thus be
polished on all sides. The threads thus polished will leave the machine in a
rounded form instead of being flattened, as is sometimes the case when the
rubbers are placed parallel with the axis of the cylinder, and are made to act
on the thread at or nearly at right angles thereto.
In the machines described under my former Patent, only four beaters or
polishing bars are employed, but I now propose to increase the number to six
or eight bars on each cylinder, as it has been found that by increasing the
number of polishing bars, and placing them nearer to each other a better effect
is produced. I also find it advisable to support the threads by passing them
over supporting bars, rails, or rollers while they are being acted upon by the
polishers.
In order, however, that the present improvements, for which I have obtained

page_text: Letters Patent as aforesaid, may be clearly understood, I have shewn in the
accompanying Drawings different views of the improved machines for polish-
ing thread constructed according to the present improvements, or with the
present improvements adapted thereto.
Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a plan view of one of the improved machines; Fig. 2 is
a sectional view taken vertically in the line A, A, of Fig. 3, which represents a
front elevation of the machine. A and B are the shafts, upon which the
polishing cylinders C and D are mounted. These cylinders are each provided
with six polishers, which in this instance are placed parallel to the axis of the
cylinder or drum. On the shaft B of the lower cylinder D are mounted the
fast and loose pullies E and E', whereby motion is communicated to the work-
ing parts of the machine from any prime mover. In order to make the beaters
or polishers of the polishing cylinders act uniformly and regularly, the two
shafts A and B are provided with toothed wheels K and L, which gear into each
other, and consequently cause both the polishing cylinders to rotate at the same
speed. H, H, are the uprights of the framing; and I and J, the cross pieces of
the same. P is another cross piece which supports some of the working parts
of the machine; N, N, are horizontal bars fixed in the bracket M, which is
bolted to the back of one of the standards H. The hanks of thread to be
operated upon are shewn in the Figures by the red lines O, and are passed
round the horizontal fixed bars N, and also round the lower polishing cylinder
D, and over a supporting or steadying bar R, also fixed in the bracket M. The
hanks are further steadied while under the operation of the polishers by being
passed over the supporting rollers X, X, which are mounted in bearings in the
standard Q on the cross piece P of the framing. The thread is kept at proper
tension while being polished by means of the rollers S, round which the hanks
are passed, as shewn in Fig. 2, and these rollers are supported in hooks at the
ends of the rods T, which work in the sockets U, and are hooked at their
lower ends for the purpose of catching on to the upper ends of the weighted
bell-crank levers V.'
It will be seen that each bundle of hanks is weighted separately, so that
should they differ slightly in length each may be kept at the proper tension,
which may be regulated either by altering the position of the weight W on the
levers, or adding to or subtracting therefrom.
Keeping, each bundle of hanks seperately at the proper tension in the
manner above shewn and described, will be found. to be a very great advantage
in practice, and supporting and steadying the threads by means of the bar R
and supporting rollers X, X, while the polishing operation is proceeding, will
tend to prevent the threads from getting entangled. It is scarcely necessary to

page_text: say, that although I have only shewn four bundles of hanks as being operated
upon at one time by one pair of polishers, a greater number may be operated
upon simultaneously if required by increasing the length of the polishing
cylinders; and when the polishing operation has been completed, and it is
required to remove the hanks from the machine, and put on fresh hanks, this
operation will be facilitated by means of the levers Y mounted on a shaft that
passes under the front bar of the framing. These levers are connected
together at their ends by means of a horizontal rod or bar that passes under
the weighted levers V; and therefore when the levers Y are raised, as shewn
by dots in Fig. 2, the weighted levers V will be raised also, thereby releasing
the rods T and rollers S, and taking the tension off the hanks of thread, which
may then be removed from the rollers S at leisure by releasing the latter from
their hooks at the upper end of the rods T. I would observe that while this
is being done, the weighted levers V should be retained in an elevated position,
as shewn by dots in Fig. 2, by supporting the levers Y on a catch or stud, or
in any other convenient manner.
In Figures 4 and 5, in Sheet II., I have shewn a modification of the
machine above described. Instead of placing the polishing bars on the drums
or cylinders in a direction parallel to the axes of the cylinders, as shewn in
Sheet I., I arrange them in a diagonal direction round the cylinder, as seen
best in the plan view, Fig. 4. The hanks of thread are passed round tension
rollers S, as in the former instance, and over a supporting bar R and a
supporting roller X, but as the action of the polishing cylinders will be
scarcely sufficient in this instance to carry the thread forward, it is passed
between a pair of rollers Z, Z, to which a slow rotary motion is communicated
by means of suitable gearing, as shewn in the Drawing. The mode of
keeping the hanks in tension is precisely the same as in Figures 1, 2, and 3,
and motion is communicated to the polishing cylinders by means of a band
wheel or pulley on the shaft of the lower cylinder, and actuating the upper
cylinder by means of a band, as shewn by dots in Fig. 4. In this instance,
however, the cylinders are provided with eight polishing bars, and are made to
act on the outside of the hanks. I find in practice that this is effectual, and
that the threads are as well polished as if the polishing cylinder worked inside
the hanks, as in Figures 1, 2, and 3. If two polishing cylinders are employed,
as shewn in Figures 4 and 5, the work is very quickly performed, but it has
been found in practice that if only the lower cylinder is employed, and the
upper one altogether removed, a good result may be also obtained, and the
machine is less complicated. The polishing bars of the cylinders C and D
may be covered either with cloth, leather, or cow-hide. As most of the other

page_text: parts shewn in Figures 4 and 5 are similar in construction and operation to
those already described in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3, I do not consider
it necessary to give any further or more detailed description of them, as I
have, marked similar letters of reference on: corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Having now described the Invention of "Improved Machinery for Polishing
or Finishing Thread," that has been communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, as aforesaid, and shewn the best means with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured
to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
First, the method herein shewn and described, or any mere modification
thereof, of keeping the banks of thread in tension while under operation;.I
claim particularly, mounting the banks separately on rollers, so that each hank
or bundle of hanks may be kept at the proper tension without.reference to the
other hanks in the machine.
Second, I claim placing the polishing bars diagonally on the cylinders, as
herein shewn and described. *
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.***
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)