IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING YARNS OR THREADS INTENDED TO FORM ELEMENTS OF VARIOUS LOOM FABRICS AND FOR CROCHET WORK AND KNITTING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Whytock, of Edinburgh, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING YARNS OR THREADS INTENDED TO FORM
ELEMENTS OF VARIOUS LOOM FABRICS AND FOR CROCHET WORK AND KNITTING.”
Sealed the 3rd August 1855, and dated the 1st June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Whytock at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the 1st
June 1855.
I, RICHARD WHYTOCK, of Edinburgh, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING YARNS OR THREADS INTENDED TO FORM
ELEMENTS OF VARIOUS LOOM FABRICS AND FOR CROCHET WORK AND KNITTING," to
be as follows:-
Instead of colouring yarns upon cylinders or tables, as usually practised, I
colour them by two pullies revolving in contact, the one under and the other.
above the layer of threads, the lower one being charged with colour; and also
by means of one or more pullies pressing upwards upon a plate of glass or
other hard substance placed over the layer of threads.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of June, 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 Richard Whytock, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Whytock,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Whytock, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COLOURING YARNS OR THREADS INTENDED TO FORM ELEMENTS OF VARIOUS LOOM
FABRICS AND FOR CROCHET WORK AND KNITTING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I; the said Richard Whytock, 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..
'g'
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Whytock, 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 thereof (that is to say) :-
.
The object of this Invention is to produce or communicate,parti-colours to
yarns or threads of fibrous substances by an improved process. Various plans
have hitherto been in practice for this purpose. The most common have been
to print the yarns on the upper surfaces of tables as when printing cloths, and
latterly upon cylinders, round-which-the-yarn-has been coiled. In the latter
case, the colours have been imparted to the yarn by pulleys, or small wooden
wheels, charged with colour from a box or reservoir in which tho, pullies
have revolved, travelled. under and across the cylinder.... According to my
improvements, I retain the use of pulleys, but I dispense with the employ
ment of a cylinder for winding the yarn or thread on, and in some cases I
dispense with the use of a table; and when I-use a table, I apply thereto
pulleys or color wheels in such manner that they act on the under surface of
the table.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I shall proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same.
In Figs. 1 and 2 of the Drawing: ist represented a frame A, furnished with
rack-work and slides on the upper edges of the side frames, upon which

page_text: is to be passed, the pulley apparatus? The threads or yarns to be coloured
having been previously placed upon a beam B attached to the end of the
frame A are made to pass lengthways along the frame in a position to be
colored by either of the two methods above mentioned.
.
:
....I shall first describe the process of printing under, the table 'top'; and then
the second process, where the yarn or thread is pressed between two traversing
pulleys; the ultimate object in view in both cases being more advantageously
to obtain parti-colored yarns or threads, suitable for loom fabrics and for
crochet and knit fabrics; for, which latter purposes I wind the yarns or threads
into skeinstor balls containing, all the tints necessary to complete a piece of
crochet or knittedswork of one continuous 'thread:
Insthes side view, Fig given of the frame A in Sheet No: 1, the half
of it shews the table, consisting of a plate of glass C strongly framed and
hinged upon the frame Athis plate C is also shewn at E in Fig. 4, which
is an end views of the frame A Instead of glass, this plate may be of any
hardsubstance butasit requires frequent cleaning, and as it allows the
workman to see when the threads are fully coloured, it is preferable to be of
glass to any other substance
The use of the hinges D is to allow the plate to be raised and folded back
in order to its being cleaned after each operation. Flie under side of this
plate, when placed over the yarn, serves-the-purpose of a roof, against which
the charged pulley presses the yarn. The following is the method by which the
pulleys are applied An apparatus, consisting of a color box and pulleys (5),
a couple of rails (6)(6), and two sliding bearers 5* a connecting shaft (7) and
a spiral or screw, 8, are combined as shown, and are used for passing the colour
box to and fro under the glass plate The screw propels the box and pulleys
from side to side of the frame. This combined apparatus is caused to travel
along the racks and slides, either by short steps by a pall worked by the left
hand, or by longer steps when required by a handle upon the connecting shaft,
which again is furnished with toothed wheels on each end, to ensure the
parallel motion of the moveable apparatus:
As in the printing of yarns or threads upon cylinders, the width of the color
pullies may be varied; and the racks be made to correspond, and all portions
of the yarns or threads that may at the time be under the glass which require
the same color are to be printed, and then the color box and pulley are to be
changed for next color
3.
Instead of as heretofore, using one-pulley revolving partially immersed in
the color, and fimparting by its upper surface the color to the yarn, I use two
pulleys, the one above the other but not in actual contact with it, yet so nearly'

page_text: so that the upper one lifts the color from the verge of the other or lower
pulley, while the latter is made to revolve by means of an open band in a
.contrary direction to supply the color from the box. The rotary motion given
to the upper pulley as it traverses is thus communicated to the lower pulley.
In this way the quantity of color may be equalized and regulated both to
economize the color and to ensure better work.
I will now describe the next part of the Invention, which dispenses with
cylinders, and also with printing on tables. In all printing processes pressure
more or less seems necessary. This I provide by means of another pulley,
travelling and revolving exactly over the color pulley, the two pulleys pressing
the yarn betwixt them. The apparatus above described as travelling under
the glass is necessary; in this case the upper pulley replaces the plate F.
Fig. 3 shews the upper pulley taking the place of the glass. The upper
pulley (9), which cannot be connected directly with the apparatus under the
yarn, must yet travel and revolve in concert with it. The mode by which
this is secured is as follows:-A square bar of iron is fixed, as seen at 10;
upon this bar is a brass slide, having a stud or axis, upon which the upper
pulley is placed. The pulley's first motion is to keep time with the traveling
color pulley as it passes from side to side of the frame, but it must also keep
time in revolving round its centre with the color pulley below, and besides its
motion at its verge or periphery must be also exactly the same as its motion
across the threads, so that the passage of the two pulleys shall not displace or
disturb the threads. It is necessary here to premise that the rotary motion of
the lower or printing pulley must be provided for, since in this case, there is no
table or fixed object upon which it can roll and obtain rotary motion. It is
therefore necessary, first, to provide for the passage of the upper pulley simul-
taneously with the printing pulley; and, second, to secure for it a motion round
its axis, so that this rotary motion may be carried downwards to the color
pulleys under the yarn.
First, the direct motion of the upper pulley, that it may be always over the
printing pulley. The pulley must be made to slide upon the iron rod (10) by
means of a band or cord, one end of which is fixed to the driving wheel, by
which the screw is made to revolve that causes the color box to travel; so many
turns of the driving wheel acting on the axle of the screw sends the carriage
across, and a reverse motion of so many turns brings it back. This same
alternate motion may be made to act upon the upper pulley, for which one end
of the band or cord will be coiled round a pulley fixed upon the driving wheel;
the other end of the cord will be attached to a weight (11), the cord passing:
over, a small wheel on the opposite. side. Thus the alternate motion of the

page_text: driving wheel as it coils and uncoils will elevate the weight, and again allow
it to descend, and the pulley upon the rod slide from right to left in the given
time. Then for the rotary motion of the upper pulley, this is secured by very
simple means. A small cord stretched in a line with the pulley's lower surface
and passing round its verge will effectually produce this motion, and at the
exact speed required, while this same motion will be communicated_to_the_
lower pullies through the layer of threads. Of course the ends of the cord that
encircle the upper pulley must for the time be fixed to the brackets (13) that
carry the iron rod (10) and the pulleys. When the portion of the yarn under
the glass or under the operation of the pulleys has received all the colors
intended, it is passed away into a shallow case of corrugated iron on the
same level; the case must be long enough and wide enough to contain the
threads in the same position. In this case, this portion of the yarn, and in
their turn the succeeding portions, are to be either dried by a current of hot
air, or first strained and then dried. When dried, the threads will pass still
in their relative position upon a large reel; if not strained in the first instance
in the damp state, they will be so afterwards in separate portions, and lastly
washed and wound for use.
What I claim as new in this printing process is, first, the printing by
pulleys pressing the yarn upwards against the glass plate or flat substance,
under which a considerable length of yarn or thread be placed evenly ready
to be printed.
Second, the printing by pullies without table or cylinder, but coloring
between revolving pulleys, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Whytock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
RICHARD WHYTOCK. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN EWART YORSTOUN,
Master Extraordinary for Scotland, of the
High Court of Chancery in England.