AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Brook, of the Firm of Jonas Brook and
Brothers, of Meltham Mills, near Huddersfield, in the County of
York, Cotton Thread Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN
Sealed the 4th October 1870, and dated the 9th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Brook at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1870.
I, CHARLES BROOK, of the Firm of Jonas Brook and Brothers, of
Meltham Mills, near Huddersfield, in the County of York, Cotton Thread-
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to improve the character of dressed
sewing thread, and to render it better suited for sewing machines than
heretofore.
It is important in the preparation of sewing thread that it should
have a smooth surface, which facilitates its passage through the work to
form stitches therein, and prevents it from fretting, by reason of its being
repeatedly drawn through and through the cloth, and it is especially

page_text: needful that the thread used in sewing machines should have flexibility
or flexion as opposed to shortness or liability to crack like straws, in order
that it may form a good open loop for the admission of the shuttle, or
the looper. To secure this end, I propose to remove from the thread its
present wiry character which it has attained during the dressing.
operation. This I effect by subjecting the glazed or polished thread,
whether in the form of a cop, or in the hank, to the action of steam in a
steam chest from which the air is exhausted or partially exhausted
before the steam is admitted thereto. The dressed thread I draw off
from the reel or beam of the polishing machine and wind it onto bobbins
from which I transfer it to an expanding and contracting recl. Or I
may wind the thread as it comes from the polishers directly onto an
expanding and contracting beam. These reels I make of sufficiently
large diameter to present the thread when wound thereon in an extended
surface to the steam. The expanding reel or beam used will be of a
skeleton form, thus admitting the steam to circulate freely about the
thread. The action of the steam will be to contract the thread
and increase its elasticity without deteriorating the smoothness of the
polished surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Brook in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BROOK, of the Firm of Jonas Brook and Brothers, of Meltham Mills,
near Huddersfield, in the County of York, Cotton Thread Manufacturers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Brook, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles Brook, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Brook, 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, excrcise, and

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING COTTON THREAD," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Brook, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 Charles Brook, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to improve the character of dressed
sewing cotton thread, and to render it better suited for sewing machines
than heretofore.
It is important that sewing thread should in its preparation receive
a soft, elastic, and smooth surface, as its passage through the work to
form stitches therein is thereby greatly facilitated, and the thread is
prevented from fretting by reason of its being repeatedly drawn through
and through the cloth. It is also especially needful that the thread
used in sewing machines should have flexibility or flexion as opposed
to shortness or liability to crack like straws when bent, in order that it
may form below the work a good open loop for the admission of the
shuttle or the looper, as the case may be. To secure this end I propose
to remove from the dressed thread now generally known as glacé or
polished thread its present wiry character which it has attained during
the dressing operation. This I effect by subjecting the stiffened and
glazed or polished thread to the action of steam in a steam chest, from
which the air is exhausted or partially exhausted before the steam is
admitted thereto. The dressed thread as it leaves the polishers I wind
on to skeleton reels of any suitable construction. Those which I have
employed in my experiments were constructed of two discs of wood
connected together by cross bars, some of which were held in place by
wedges, in order that when the thread was wound on the reel it might
be slackened by knocking out the wedges and allowing the loose bars

page_text: under the tension of the thread to be drawn nearer the centre of the
reel, and thus virtually reduce its perimeter. I may however prefer to
use reels formed with disc ends having radial slots therein to receive the
cross bars, and to adjust the position of the bars by means of a pair of
cams, by turning which all the bars may be tightened up or slackened
simultaneously. These reels must be made of sufficiently large diameter
to present the thread when wound thereon with an extended surface to
the steam: The skeleton form of the reel admits of the steam circu-
lating freely through it and about the thread, and the action of the steam
being to contract the thread it is necessary that the thread should be
slack upon its recl (to allow of this shrinkage of the thread) or otherwise
the reel would be broken under the contractile force, or the thread
would not acquire the elasticity which it now gains, and that without the
smoothness of the polished surface being deteriorated.
The importance of this increased elasticity, which gives greater cer-
tainty of a full round loop being formed and presented fairly to the nose
of the shuttle, or the point of the looper, will be fully appreciated by all
persons familiar with the use of the sewing machine, as the tendency
of the wiry thread at present employed is to crack and twist, and thereby
form loops which the shuttle or looper will miss, is too commonly
experienced to require comment.
I would remark that the dressed cotton thread may be submitted to
the steam in the form of hanks, but I do not recommend the adoption
of that plan of treatment.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improve-
ment in the Manufacture of Sewing Cotton Thread," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent. I claim, submitting
dressed cotton thread to the action of steam, in the manner and for the
purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Brook, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.