A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LAMB, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Spindle Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of December, in the seventh year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Lamb, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Joseph Lamb, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said Joseph Lamb, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED FOR
PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, SILK, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS
MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Joseph Lamb, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Lamb, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention of a certain
Improvement or Improvements in Machinery used for Preparing and Spinning
Cotton, Wool, Flax, Silk, and similar Fibrous Material, to consist,--
Firstly, in an improved construction and arrangement of the spinning frame
called the throstle and frames for doubling or twisting two or more threads;
and,
Secondly, in a variety of improvements in the construction and arrangement
of the flyers used in preparing and spinning machinery; and the manner in
which the same are to be performed and carried into effect will be seen by
reference to the annexed Drawings and the following description :-
The scale to which the annexed Drawings are made is marked thereon, and
the same letter or figure of reference denotes the same part in the various
views and sections of machinery herein-after referred to.
I shall now proceed to describe the first part of my Invention, or that which
relates to the spinning machine commonly called the throstle, and frames for
doubling or twisting two or more threads.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawings represents a front view, and Fig. 2 an end
view, partly in section, of a throstle of my improved construction and arrange-
ment. In these Figs. A represents the fast and loose pullies from which the
machine receives motion by means of the driving strap in the ordinary manner;
B are the drawing rollers, and C the spindle of the machine. On the same
shaft on which the pullies A are supported is placed the drum D, best seen at
Fig. 2, and from this drum the flyers are driven by banding. These flyers are
not attached to the spindle as in ordinary throstles, but are supported in two
bearings in the rails e and e', between which the wharve or pulley is driven.
The construction of this part is shewn on an enlarged scale in section at Fig. 3,
and also separate at Fig. 4, in its relative position to the spindle and bobbin to
which it belongs. Near to the pullies A, and on the same shaft, is placed the
series of varying pullies E, which convey motion to a similar series G, placed on a
parallel shaft below (by means of a band), the relative speed of the two shafts
necessarily depending on the relative diameters of the pullies on which the
band is placed. This lower shaft, which carries the pullies G, also carries a
drum from which the spindles are driven by bands in the ordinary manner; and
although the drag or taking-up action of the bobbin is effected mainly by the
friction between the bobbins and the lifting rail f, on which they rest, yet this
drag or taking-up action is greatly tempered and modified by the command of
the relative speed of the spindle and flyer, which this arrangement presents;
and this relative speed can at any time be varied by varying the position of the

page_text: band on the reverse pullies E and G. The bolster rail I and step rail K are
connected together and arranged to move freely in a perpendicular groove in
the framing of the machine, their position being governed by a rack and
pinion, as seen at m and M, Fig. 2. The pinions M are placed on a shaft
passing the whole length of the machine, and revolved at pleasure by a small
handle. Supposing, therefore, the rack m and pinion M in the position seen
at Fig. 2, the spindles are at a proper elevation for the spinning action to
proceed; but as soon as the bobbins are full, and it is time to "doff" or remove
them from the spindles, the rails I and K are lowered by revolving the pinion
M in the direction of the arrow seen at Fig. 2, and the spindles following
leave the bobbins resting on the lifting rail f, from which they are more
readily removed than in the ordinary arrangement for taking them from the
spindles one after the other. There is also a small ratchet and dog or catch
attached to the shaft on which the pinions M are supported for the purpose of
keeping it stationary when required; but this and other minor arrangements
are too obvious to require any particular notice, and the similarity of the
doubling frame to the throstle already described renders any further description
unnecessary. The advantages presented by the first part of my improvement
or improvements consist in producing a greater amount by running at a greater
speed with less breakage. The thread or yarn being conducted in a perpen-
dicular direction to the flyer without the intervention of any guide, as on the
ordinary thread board, which enables me to spin softer and a full fourth finer
yarns from a given quality of cotton, with one fourth less power, while the
facility of applying these improvements to ordinary throstles or doubling
frames renders this part of my improvements applicable to such machinery
as is now in use.
The second part of my Invention which relates to the flyers used in
preparation and spinning machinery consists, firstly, in supporting in a more
effectual manner the spring which acts on the presser now in common use for
condensing the roving in slubbing or bobbin and fly frames. Fig. 5 represents
a front view of a flyer and spindle of an ordinary slubbing frame; and
Figure 6 a side view of the same flyer. In these figures is the spring
acting on the ordinary presser n, and supported in the lump or part
L in the usual position. This lump L is forged along with the leg of the
flyer on which it is placed, and consequently firm and perfect, instead of being
subject to the breakage and derangement experienced from the lump getting
loose or being removed, which has heretofore been of constant occurrence, this
part L having been only rivetted, brazed, or soldered to the leg of the flyer.

page_text: Figs. 7 and 8 represent a front and side view of a similar flyer, having two
solid lumps L, and two presses on the same leg, by which arrangement the
amount of pressure required is divided between the two springs 1, 1, and the
flyer kept more steady on the spindle than when a single presser is used on
one side of the bobbin only.
Figs. 9 and 10 are front view and plan of a flyer with three legs, to which
pressers may be applied with the solid lump L, as already described; but the
advantage of this form of flyer with or without pressers is not only dividing
the pressure among these spindles when used, but a great improvement in the
running of the spindle, which is steadied by a more equal distribution of the
weight of the flyer, which removes all tortion from the top of the spindle and
renders the flyer as steady as the spindle itself, offering less friction to the
bobbin, and enabling me to run full one hundred and fifty revolutions more per
minute, and when the frame is stopped from whatever cause, one leg will
always be near the front, which is a great desideratum.
Fig. 12 represents a presser with a counterbalance O, by which the vary-
ing position of the presser during the filling of the bobbin is compensated,
and the equilibrium of the flyer maintained.
My last improvement consists in the arrangement and construction of a
flyer, with a small wharve or pulley at the lower extremity of the leg or legs
as seen in front and side view at Fig. 11, p representing the wharve or pulley.
This improvement principally applies to the throstle and doubling frame. The
thread or yarn being passed under the pulley instead of through the ordinary
loop or curl of the flyer, by which I obviate the cutting of the flyer by the thread
or yarn, as is experienced in the flyer now in common use. These pullies
may be made of any material sufficiently hard, but according to my present
experience I prefer hardened steel.
Having now described the nature of my Invention of a certain Improve-
ment or Improvements in Machinery used for Preparing and Spinning Cotton,
Wool, Flax, Silk, and similar fibrous Material, and also the manner in which the
same may be performed and carried into effect, I do not claim as my Inven-
tion any of the common or well-known parts of machinery herein-before
referred to; but I do claim, as respects the first part of my Invention, or that
which refers to the machine called the throstle and frames for doubling or
twisting two or more threads,-
First, the peculiar construction of flyer, and the arrangement for driving
such flyer independant of the spindle on which the bobbin is placed.
Second, the construction and arrangement of the pullies E and G for driving

page_text: the spindles independant of the flyer at a varying speed, and thereby tempering
and modifying the amount of "drag," or taking up of the bobbin.
Third, the elevating and lowering of the rails, in which the spindles are
supported by the means herein-before described, or any modification thereof,
for the purpose of facilitating the "doffing" as already described.
And as respects the second part of my improvement or improvements which
refers to flyers, I claim,―
First, the forging or producing one or more lumps or supports L already
described, as a solid part or portion of the leg or legs of the flyer on which
they are placed.
Second, I claim the arrangement and construction of flyers with two or
more presses on one leg of such flyers, together with the balanced pressers
shewn at Fig. 12.
Third, I claim the construction of flyers, with three or more legs, with or
without pressers.
And, lastly, I claim the application and arrangement of a wharve or re-
volving pulley at the extremity of the leg of the flyer for conducting the roving
yarn or thread to the bobbin, and thereby obviating the cutting of the flyer
loop or eye as already described, all which being, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, new, and never before practised in that part of Her Majesty's
dominion called England, I deliver this as my true and faithful Specification of
the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Lamb, have hereunto set my
hand and seal. this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One