IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING, DOUBLING, AND TWISTING SILK, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Barnaby Angelo Murray, of Dublin, Professor of
Languages, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING, DOUBLING,
AND TWISTING SILK, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 17th August 1855, and dated the 24th February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Barnaby Angelo Murray
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th February 1855.
I, BARNABY ANGELO MURRAY, of Dublin, Professor of Languages, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING,
DOUBLING, AND TWISTING SILK, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in combining the operation of
winding silk direct from the cocoon to the reel with that of twisting the fibre,
instead of the ordinary process or processes.
To effect this, instead of employing a single reel for several fibres or yarns,
each fibre or yarn is wound on a separate reel, to which a double motion is
given, viz., a revolution on its axis to roll or take up the silk, and a horizontal

page_text: revolution round a centre, in order to twist the thread which is at the same
time regularly spread on the wheel by a guide. These different motions are
communicated by simple clock-work gearing acting within the carriage in
which the reel is mounted, the carriage itself revolving with the spindle.
My Invention consists, in the second place, in arranging the reels and
guides for the fibres or yarns in such a manner that both the reels which are
giving off fibres or yarns and that which is taking up the combined yarns or
thread shall impart a twist to the said yarns and thread, the taking-up
reel giving a twist in a direction contrary to that of the others. When
this arrangement is applied to ordinary mills to wind from a skein or
bobbin on which untwisted silk is wound, the effect is, first, to dispense
with the ordinary winding operation; and, secondly, to do double work, by
having both bobbins spinning or twisting simultaneously.
And my Invention consists, thirdly, in doubling and twisting silk on the
bobbins, by having two bobbins with twisted silk on them placed in a bobbin
carriage, the twisted fibres or yarns being-drawn together over two guides
and through the eye of the reel frame, the carriage and reel both spinning or
twisting, but in a contrary direction to that of the bobbins.
These arrangements may be applied to other fibres or yarns and threads
besides those of silk.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Barnaby Angelo Murray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BARNABY
ANGELO MURRAY, of Dublin, Professor of Languages, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Barnaby Angelo Murray, Her special licence that I, the said Barnaby
Angelo Murray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Barnaby Angelo Murray, 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
Ereland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN WINDING, DOUBLING, AND TWISTING SILK, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Barnaby
Angelo Murray, 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 Barnaby Angelo Murray; do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say (reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon) :-
My Invention of " Improvements in Winding, Doubling, and Twisting Silk,
Flax, and other Fibrous Substances," consists, in the first place, in combining
the operation of winding silk direct from the cocoon to the reel with that of
twisting the fibre by spinning from the reel, instead of the ordinary process
or processes.
To effect this, instead of employing a single reel for several fibres or yarns,
each fibre or yarn is wound on a separate reel, to which a double motion is
given, viz., a revolution on its axis to roll or take up the silk, and a horizontal
revolution round a centre, in order to twist the thread which is at the same
time regularly spread on the reel by a guide. These different motions are
communicated by simple clock-work gearing acting within the carriage in
which the reel is mounted, the carriage itself revolving with the spindle.
My Invention consists, in the second place, in arranging the reels and guides
for the fibres and yarns in such a manner that both the reels which are giving
off fibres or yarns and that which is taking up the combined yarns or threads
shall impart a twist to the said yarns and thread, the taking-up reel giving a
twist in a direction contrary to that of the others. When this arrangement
is applied to ordinary mills to wind from a skein or bobbin on which untwisted
silk is wound, the effect is, first, to dispense with the ordinary winding opera-
tion; and, secondly, to do double work, by having both bobbins and reel
spinning or twisting simultaneously.
And my Invention consists, thirdly, in doubling and twisting silk on the
bobbins, by having two bobbins with twisted silk on them placed in a bobbin
carriage, the twisted fibres or yarns being drawn together over two guides
and through the eye of the reel frame (when the large reel frame herein-after
referred to is used), the carriage and reel both spinning or twisting, but in a
contrary direction to that of the bobbins.

page_text: In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood and carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of the machine above referred to for winding and
twisting the silk direct from the cocoon; Fig. 2, represents the reel and its
carriage detached; Fig. 3 is a plan or horizontal view of the vessel for holding
the cocoons; Figs. 4 and 5 represent, detached, the carriages of a long and
short reel respectively; and Fig. 6 is a plan or horizontal view of a machine
above referred to for twisting silk or other fibrous substance both from the
giving-off reels and taking-up reels.
A, A, (Fig. 1,) is the frame or standards of the machine; B is the driving
shaft; C is a metal collar, which may be slidden along the shaft B, and secured
to it by screws; D is a disc of wood, fixed to the collar C, and having con-
nected to it a wooden hoop E, by means of springs F, F. This hoop E has
its flat surface covered with buffalo leather or vulcanized india-rubber. G is a
spindle, turning in suitable bearings at its upper end in the frame A, and at
its lower end in a socket fixed in the rail A*; H is a boss or roller, fixed
on to the spindle G, the surface of which is covered with buffalo leather,
so as to produce friction against the similarly covered surface of the hoop E,
and cause the former to receive motion from the latter. The required
degree of pressure from the hoop E against the boss or roller H is regulated
by means of the sliding cylinder C on the shaft B. At the upper end of
the spindle G is a journal, extending through the upper bearing of the
spindle, and forming the pivot or axis of the reel carriage I, within which
is mounted the reel K. At the side of the carriage I is fixed a box L,
containing a train of clock-work gearing, by means of which the reel K
is made to turn, so as to take up the silk as it is delivered from the
cocoons. M is a wheel, which is made to drive or set in motion the clock-
work gearing, by means of which the reel K. is made to turn, so as to take up
the silk as it is delivered from the cocoons. M is a wheel which is made to
drive or set in motion the clock-work gearing by the friction of its circum-
ference upon a bed or race at N, made elastic by being covered with vulcan-
ized india-rubber, or pressed against the wheel by any suitable description of
spring. On the axle of the wheel M is a pinion, through which the motion of
this wheel is communicated to the train of gearing, reacting to the axis of the
reel K. The system of wheel-work may be varied, so as to form the medium
of communicating either more or less speed to the axis of the reel, and thereby
to adapt the rate of the taking-up motion of the reel to the amount of twist
required to be produced in the silk. O is a bevilled piece of metal or inclined

page_text: plane, which is made to turn on its axis by means of its connection with the
gearing from the wheel M, and thereby to impart a traversing motion to the
wire guide P, as the more or the less projecting part of the inclined plane is
brought in contact with the extremity of the said guide, the latter being
pressed against the former by means of the spiral spring P. By the' com-
paratively small motion thus imparted by the inclined plane O to the end of
the guide P, the reverse end carrying the silk fibre is made to pass through a
larger space, and in this manner the silk is wound regularly upon the reel.
Qis the vessel containing the cocoons; it is shewn in plan view at Fig. 3.
In this vessel there is a number of looped wires R, R, fixed across the same,
through the loops of which wires the fibres of the cocoons pass, and by which
the latter are kept asunder as well as prevented from rising out of the water
in the vessel Q as they are drawn forward by the action of the machine.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The cocoons having been prepared
in the usual manner for reeling, the fibre or fibres of one or more is or are
drawn over two fixed guides S and T, one (S) being placed over the cocoons,
the other T over the reel K, (a tension guide pressing down the thread
between them,) then through the eye of the reel frame, and lastly through
the traversing guide P, and attached to the reel K. When the motion power
is applied to the shaft B, the hoop E is made to revolve, and by the friction
of its flat surface against the circumference of the boss or roller H, fixed on
the spindle G, gives motion to the latter, thereby causing the reel carriage I
to revolve, the rotation of which carriage imparts motion to the train of clock-
work gearing through the wheel M, and causes the reel K to revolve on its
axis, and take up the silk with the calculated rapidity as it proceeds from the
cocoons, the traversing guide P (worked as described or otherwise worked)
spreading it regularly on the reel. Skeined in this state the silk is fit for
several manufacturing purposes, having been more or less twisted in order to
adapt it to the nature of the intended work. For other purposes the reels are
arranged as represented at Fig. 6, (that is to say) the twisted fibres or yarns
proceeding from two or more simple reels, as at V, V, are drawn together over
two guides as before (except that one guide is over the reels instead of over
the cocoons), then through the eye of the frame or carriage of a third reel, as
at W, furnished with clock-work gearing, similar to that shewn in Fig. 1.
The reel at W is then put in motion, the reel W as it takes up by means of
its clock-work gearing the combined yarns from the other two reels giving a
twist in a direction contrary to that given by the said two other reels. In
this instance the required tension is produced by weighting the reels. In order
to double and twist silk on the bobbins, two bobbins having twisted silk on

page_text: them are placed in a bobbin carriage; the threads proceeding therefrom are
drawn together over two guides, and through the eye of the reel frame or
carriage, as before, to the taking-up reel, which takes up the silk, delivered
from the bobbins by means of its. clock-work gearing. In this instance the
carriage and reel both spin, but in a contrary direction to the twist of the
bobbins. In the event of a thread passing from one of the bobbins breaking,
the other bobbin is stopped by a wire falling into a notch therein, which wire
was supported by the thread before the latter was broken.
I would here remark that the arrangements above described may be
adapted and applied to other fibres, yarns, and threads besides those of silk.
Having. thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
mean or intend to confine myself to the precise arrangements of mechanism
shewn and described. But what I claim as of my Invention is,—.
First, the combination of winding silk direct from the cocoon with the
twisting of the fibre by spinning from the reels, as described.
Secondly, the arrangement of reels and guides in such a manner as to
impart a twist to the yarns from the giving-off reels and to those on the
taking-up reel simultaneously, but in opposite directions, as described.
And, lastly, the operation of doubling and twisting yarns and producing
threads by causing the bobbin carriage and the takeing-up reel both to spin,
but in a contrary direction to the bobbins.
In witness whereof, I, the said Barnaby Angelo Murray, have hereunto
subscribed my name and affixed my seal, the Twentieth day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five
BARNABY ANGELO MURRAY. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of
FALCONER ATLEE,
2, Rue Jean Goujon, Paris.