IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR TWISTING AND LAYING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER. FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Ward, of Beaminster, in the County of
Dorset, Engineer and Iron Founder, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR TWISTING AND LAYING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER. FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
Sealed the 25th February 1862, and dated the 3rd September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Ward at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
September 1861.
I, DANIEL WARD, of Beaminster, in the County of Dorset, Engineer and'
5 Iron Founder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVED MACHINERY FOR TWISTING AND LAYING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the manufacture by machinery of what is
known in the trade as laid cord or laid twine, and which heretofore has usually
been manufactured in long rope walks, principally by hand labor. In carrying
out my Invention, the thread of which the laid cord or laid twine is to be made
is wound on bobbins, which are placed in the machine on spindles provided
with flyers and adjustable tension weights and springs. The laid cord or twine

page_text: may be composed of two, three, or more threads, and a twist is given to them
by driving the flyers in the proper direction by means of suitable gearing. For
the convenience of removing the bobbins from the spindles, the flyers aro
inverted and work freely on the spindle, and their arms aro prevented from
expanding by means of a hinged cross bar or ring. The threads having had
the requisite amount of twist put in them, they are conducted over a breast
roller to another spindle and flyer revolving in opposite directions to the former
ones. By this means the threads are laid and twisted together into a hard
twine or cord, which is wound on to the bobbin on the spindle by means of a
roller or pulley which is driven at a suitable speed by means of independent
gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Daniel Ward in tho Great Seal Patent, Office on the 3rd
March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
WARD, of Beaminster, in the County of Dorset, Engineer and Iron Founder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said Daniel Ward, Her special license that I, the said Daniel Ward,.
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said:
Daniel Ward, 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 Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MA-
CHINERY FOR TWISTING AND LAYING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, tho said Daniel Ward, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describo,
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 tho said Letters, Patent.
111
11

page_text: .
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Daniel Wärd, 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, réference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention of "Improved Machinery for Twisting and Laying Flax,
Hemp, and otlier Fibrous Materials," has for its object the manufacture by
machinery of what is known in the trade as laid cord or laid twine, and which
heretofore has usually been manufactured in long rope walks, principally by
hand labour: For this purpose the threads or yarns of which the laid cord or
laid twine is to be made are wound on bobbins, which are placed in the
machine on spindles provided with loose flyers, to which are applied adjustable
tension weights and springs, adapted to each other in such a manner as to
allow the yarn to come evenly off from the bobbins. The laid cord or laid
twine may be composed of two, three, or more threads or yarns; and a twist is
given to them by driving the spindles and flyers at a suitable speed. in the
required direction by means of suitable gearing. For the convenience of
removing the bobbins from the spindles when required, the flyers are inverted
and their upper ends are connected by' hinged cross bars, which may be raised
so as to admit of the removal of the bobbins. The hinged cross bars also
prevent the arms of the flyers from expanding. The threads or yarns having
had the requisite amount of twist put into them are conducted over a breast
roller to another spindle and flyer revólving in a direction opposite to that of
the spindles and flyers from which they first received their twist; by this means
the previously twisted threads or yarns are laid and twisted together into a
hard twine or cord, which is drawn on to the bobbin on the spindle by means
of a roller or pulley driven by independent gearing; at a speed proportioned to
that of the flyer, according to the twist required to be put into the finished
cord or twine.
:
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, I will proceed to describe
more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed, by reference to
the accompanying Drawings, in, which are represented such parts of the
machinery as are above referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents the parts as they would appear in à transverse section of
the machine; Figs. 2, 3, and 4 represent on an enlarged scale detached parts

page_text: A, A, are a pair of spindles with their bottom points resting on a socket in a
step rail. B, and their upper parts passed through a guide rail C; the spindles
aro also driven by wharves or pulleys D, D, from a drum E, as usual in spin-
ning machinery; F, F, are flyers fitting the spindles loosely and resting on a
collar formed thereon, as shewn. These flyers are open at the top, to which is
Applied a hinged cross bar (shown detached on an enlarged scale in Fig. 2),
with a hole in the centre to receive the top end of the spindle, the cross bar
being retained by its end being confined in a notch, as shewn. The flyers-F, F,
have adjustable springs applied to them, as shewn in the detached underneath
plan, on an enlarged scale, Fig. 8. They have also moveable weights G, G,
resting on the lower ends of the bent rods II, H, which weights may be changed
as required, in order to adapt them to the particular threads or yarns that are
being twisted. The use of these springs and weights in combination is to
regulate the delivery of the twisted thread or yarn from the bobbins I, I, so
that it may leave them evenly. These bobbins are placed on the spindles
(when the cross bars of the flyer are raised), and united thereto. by means of
a stud on a collar screwed on to tho spindle, being made to enter a hole in the
bottom of the bobbin. K, K, are guides for conducting the twisted threads or
yarns from the spindles to the breast roller L, whence they pass unitedly to the
single spindle and flyer M and N, conveniently placed for receiving the con-
tents of the pair of lower bobbins. This spindle M is for laying the previously
twisted threads or yarns and twisting them into a hard twine, and is driven by
toothed gearing, shewn at O, the spindle being mounted and lying horizontally,
as shown. P is a roller or pulley on the hollow shaft, driven by toothed gearing,
shewn at Q, for the purpose of drawing the laid cord or laid twine, and giving
it the required stretching as it passes to the flyer N and bobbin R, on which
it is wound. S is a strap with a weight suspended to it, for the purpose of
taking up the laid cord or laid twine. T is a traversing guide for the bobbin,
worked by an ordinary heart motion.
'
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark, that any convenient
number of sets of the twisting and laying spindles may be combined in one
machine and suitably driven; also, that the mode of producing the requisito
amount of friction in the flyers of the twisting spindles for the purpose of regu-
lating the even delivery of the twisted thread or yarn from the bobbins, and
the mode of drawing the twisted thread or yarn in its passage to the laying
spindles may be varied without departing from, the peculiar character of my
Invention; but what I claim as of my Invention is, the manufacture of laid

page_text: cord or laid twine by means of machinery, whereof the essential parts are a
pair or set of twisting spindles and their appurtenances combined with a laying
spindle and its appurtenances, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Ward, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
Que thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
EDWIN APLIN.
DANIEL WARD. (L.S:)
Beaminster,
Dorset,
Engineer and Ironfounder.