AN IMPROVED BRAIDING MACHINE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest Edmond Rafer,
of No. 31, Rue d'Enghien, at Paris, in the Empire of France, for the
Invention of "6 AN TERRAZED BEAM"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugène Germain Rafer
and Ernest Edmond Rafer at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th December 1867.
We, EUGÈNE GERMAIN RAFER and ERNEST EDMOND RAFER, of No. 31, Rue
d'Enghien, at Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BRAIDING MACHINE," to be as
follows:-
The principal objection to existing machines for the manufacture of laces,
twists, braids, or other articles produced by convolution, or the winding of
separate threads, strands, or other flexible substances round each other is the
deficiency of speed in the working of the machinery, the primary cause of
which results in the necessity of successively withdrawing the bobbins bearing
the threads from, and drawing them to the centre of the machine at the
point where the threads cross for the purpose of producing the twist or braid,

page_text: the consequence of which is an inequality in the length of the threads which
occurs as often as the crossing takes place. And in order to preserve an
equal tension on the threads, weights, springs, and other means are employed,
which by their jolting or jerking when the machine works rapidly cause the
threads to break, for the centrifugal force tends greatly to their rupture as
the weights are impelled against the sides of the tubes in which they work,
and independently of this the resistance produced by the friction of the weights
against the tubes creates an excess of tension which inevitably determines the
destruction of the threads.
The object of this Invention is to remedy these inconveniences, and at the
same time admit of increasing the speed five-fold. It is founded on the
principle that any section made in a sphere is a circle, all the points of which
are at equal distances from the centre of the sphere. If, therefore, a shuttle is
made to move round the circumference of this circle, and bearing a thread,
the end of which will pass by the centre of the sphere the length of the
unwound thread will form a cone, having for its base the circle on which the
shuttle runs, and as generator, the thread itself equal to the radius of the
sphere, it therefore follows that in the whole course of the shuttle the length
and tension of the thread will be regular, since all difference of distance
between the shuttle and the point where the twist takes place (which is
naturally the centre of the sphere) is obviated, and the machine therefore
be worked at an increased velocity without fear of breaking the threads.
may
The machine consists of a foundation plate provided with two sockets cast
in iron with it, in these are fixed two iron shafts, the axes of which are in-
clined at the same angle on each side of an upright, the summit of which is
the crossing point of the threads. On each of these shafts a small angular
toothed gear wheel is mounted, one of which bears on its boss a rim pulley,
which communicates motion to the wheel (which it receives from any motive
power), and transmits the same to the other wheel. On the upper part of
each of these wheels a disc in steel or iron is fixed by means of three screws,
the rims of these discs are each furnished with five hollow teeth, the discs
being so fixed that the teeth perfectly agree or coincide when two of them
reach the point of contact of the gear wheels, these teeth are destined to sieze
and conduct the shuttles as will be described hereafter. Two cast-iron crowns
connected by four arms to sockets screwed on a screw cut part of the shaft
form a circular space outside the discs, which is concentric to thein, and which
is equal to that formed by the separation of the discs at the point of contact
of the gear wheels. The interior of these crowns' and the perimetre of the

page_text: discs are turned with a dovetail, and thus form a regular trapezium, the axis
of which passes by the point of central crossing; the base of this trapezium,
that is to say, the edges of the turned parts of the crown and of those above
the gear wheels are therefore perpendicular to this axis, and it will be per-
ceived that if a shuttle is made to slide on this circular course or road, it will
always maintain the same distance from the point of crossing no matter what
position it occupies. The form of the shuttles employed is that of a sabot or
shoe made of steel, the transverse section of which exactly corresponds in form
with the circular space in which it moves; the top of the shoe is circular,
having for its radius the distance from the crossing point to the bottom of
the circular space so as to admit of the ready passage of the shuttle from one
wheel to the other, sideways the shuttle is equally formed of two segments or
sections of a circle terminating in a point at each end, it is hollow and fixed
in the space by means of the axis of the bobbin is a pin or ring which the
teeth of one of the discs sieze and draw the shuttle along, the latter bears at
a short distance from the bobbin an iron wire guide, bent back in the form of
a loop in the middle and at the top; the middle loop corresponds with the
centre of the bobbin or reel, the thread passing from there into the upper
loop or bend, which conducts it to a hook terminating the axis of the reel,
from whence it is directed towards the crossing point, and at the lower part of
the guide is a small wooden pulley, round which an endless india-rubber
thread passes, which surrounds the base of the bobbin so as to form a brake
for regulating the delivery of the thread. Supposing a shuttle to be placed
in its circular guide in front of one of the teeth of the gear wheels it will be
perceived at once what course it will pursue, after having described the cir-
cumference of one of the wheels it reaches the point of contact guided up to
that moment by the points formed by the intersection of the two crowns.
Then in order to facilitate its passage on the other wheel a steel needle point is
employed, pivoting outside an axis, and furnished with a spring, which directs
the shuttle in its proper course, this point passes lightly the point of intersec-
tion of the crowns directly on the joint of which it is placed. By this means,
the shuttle is never abandoned, and directly it leaves the end of one of the
crown guides it is engaged in the other by aid of the needle. It will be
observed that each shuttle describes a perfect figure of an 8, or in other
words two tangent circumferences forming the bases of two equally tangent
cones, having for their summit the crossing point of the threads, and pro-
duced by the axes of the bobbins and threads, which are thus preserved from
stretch or strain whilst the shuttles are working; the tension of the threads

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest Edmond Rafer in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EUGÈNE
GERMAIN RAFER and ERNEST EDMOND RAFER, of No. 31, Rue d'Enghien, at
Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest Edmond Rafer, Her special
licence that we, the said Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest Edmond Rafer,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest Edmond Rafer, our executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 "AN IMPROVED BRAIDING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest Edmond Rafer,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 we, the said Eugène Germain Rafer and Ernest
Edmond Rafer, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings,
that is to say:
The principal objection to existing machines for the manufacture of laces,
twists, braids, or other articles produced by convolution, or the winding of

page_text: separate threads, strands, or other flexible substances round each other, is the
deficiency of speed in the working of the machinery, the primary cause of
which results in the necessity of successively withdrawing the bobbins bearing
the threads from and to the centre of the machine at the point where the
threads cross for producing the twist or .braid, the consequence of which is an
inequality in the length of the threads, which occurs as often as the crossing
takes places. And in order to preserve an equal tension on the threads
weights, springs, and other means are employed, which by their jolting and
jerking when the machine works rapidly cause the threads to break; for the
centrifugal force. tends greatly to their rupture, as the weights are impelled
against the sides of the tubes in which they work, and independently of this
the resistance produced by the friction of the weights against the tubes
creates an excess of tension, which inevitably determines the destruction of
the threads.
The object of our Invention is to remedy these inconveniences, and at the
same time admitting of increasing the speed five fold. It is founded on the
principle that any section made in a sphere is a circle, all the points of which
are at equal distances from the centre of the sphere; if, therefore, a shuttle is
made to move round the circumference of this circle and bearing a thread,
the end of which will pass by the centre of the sphere, the length of the
unwound thread will form a cone having for its base the circle on which the
shuttle runs, and as generator the thread itself equal to the radius of the
sphere; it therefore follows that in the whole course of the shuttle the length
and tension will be regular, since all difference of distance between tho
shuttle and the point where the twist takes place (which is naturally the centre
of the sphere) is obviated, and the machine may therefore be worked at an
increased velocity without fear of breaking the threads.
On reference to the accompanying Drawings our manner of realising the
above-named principle will be at once perceived.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a machine for manufacturing simple
twists, and has five shuttles; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; Fig. 3, a horizontal
plan of part of the same; Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, an elevation and section of
the shuttle; Fig. 9 is a plan representing the arrangement for producing flat
twists; Fig. 10 is the mode of making round plaits or of recovering a body of
any substance.
A is a foundation plate provided with two sockets B, B', cast in iron with
it, and in which two iron shafts G, G', are fixed, the axes of which pass by
the point o, where the crossing of the threads takes place, and which are

page_text: inclined at the same angle on each side of the upright passing by the point o.
On each of these shafts are mounted two small angular-toothed gear
wheels D, D', the wheel D bears on its boss a rim pulley E which commu-
nicates motion to the wheel (which it receives from any motive power) and
transmits the same to the wheel D¹. On the upper part of each of these
wheels D and D¹ a disc F, F', in steel or iron is fixed by means of three
screws a, a, a, the rims of these discs are each furnished with five hollow
teeth g, being so fixed that they perfectly coincide when two of them reach
the point of contact of the gear wheels; these teeth are destined to sieze
and conduct the shuttles, as will be described hereafter. Two cast-iron
crowns G, G', connected by four arms H to sockets screwed on a screw-cut
part of the shaft form a circular space outside the discs F, F, which is con-
centric to them, and which is equal to that formed by the separation of the
discs at the point of contact of the gear wheels. The interior of these crowns
and the perimetre of the discs are turned with a dovetail, and thus form a
regular trapezium, the axis of which passes by the point of central crossing o;
the base of this trapezium, that is to say, the edges of the turned parts of the
crown and of those above the gear wheels are therefore perpendicular to this
axis, and it will be perceived that if a shuttle N is made to slide on this cir-
cular course or road it will always maintain the same distance from the point
of crossing o, no matter what position it occupies. The shuttle N represented
by Figs. 4, 5, and 6, consists of a sabot or steel shoe c, the transverse section
of which exactly corresponds in form with the circular space in which it
moves. The top of this shoe is circular in shape, having for its radius the
distance from the crossing point o to the bottom of the circular space, so as to
admit of the ready passage of the shuttle from one wheel to the other; the
sides of the shoe are formed equally of two segments or sections of a circle,
each end of the sabot terminating in a point, and has an opening or slot
traversing it sideways. The axis d of the bobbinf is also hollow forming a
tube, the base of which is fixed in the sabot, and is strengthened with a ring h,
which the teeth g of the discs F, F¹, sieze and draw the shuttle along; the
latter bears at a short distance from the bobbin an iron-wire guide i bent
back at a height corresponding with the centre of the bobbin, and terminating
in a loop or bend at the end, the thread passes by the loop in the centre of
the guide, ascends to the elbow of the crooked part, passes through a slit j
made in the upper part of the tubular axis d, then passes through an eye K',
surmounting a metal shaft inside the axis d, and is then directed towards
the crossing point. The object of the shaft 7 is to regulate the delivery of the

page_text: 9
thread, and is screw-cut in the centre for receiving a rundle m, the diameter
of which is equal to that of the interior of the tubular axis d, and is provided
with a small pin or tail piece p engaging in a vertical groove n made in the
said axis; by this means the rundle is rendered motionless in a circular sense,
whilst it is capable of a vertical motion in turning the shaft l, on which it is
screwed, between the rundle m and the top of the axis d; the shaft is sur-
rounded by a spiral spring, and bears at its lower end a muffle in which it
freely turns, and which is furnished with a key engaging in the groove n of
the axis d. On this muffle g the end of a small lever rests articulated to the
shoe of the shuttle, and by means of a spring clasp r governs the ratchet
wheel 8, which latter regulates the motion of the reel by the spring ratchet t
with which it gears; the latter wheel bears three pins which enter into three
corresponding openings made below or under the reel and fix it to the spring
ratchet wheel; the result of this arrangement is that when the thread is drawn
past the 'point where the twist takes place it raises the shaft l, and com-
pressing the spiral spring which fixes its tension, the muffle q is drawn along
by the shaft l, and the,little lever vis raised and ungears the ratchet wheel s,
the spring ratchet being free the bobbin f is at once turned by a tooth and
pays out a little thread; as soon as the shaft / re-descends (set in motion by
the spring h) the lever vis reinstated, and the ratchets gears with the next
tooth, being pressed up to it by a spring x. The tension of the thread is
regulated at will according to its thickness, it being merely necessary to turn
back the shaft either one side or the other; the rundle m rises or descends
and compresses or sets at liberty the spiral spring. The shaft is also
intended to stop the machine in case of a thread breaking, or when the reel is
empty; for example, this shaft being no longer retained by the thread, and
actuated by the spiral spring descends till the eyelet K rests on the upper part
of the tube. The muffle q follows the shaft and draws out the under part of
the sabot, so that it meets in the course of the shuttle with the end of a lever
on which it acts for stopping the machine. Supposing a shuttle placed in its
circular guide in front of one of the teeth g, it is readily perceived what
course it will take; after having described the circumference of one of the
wheels it reaches the point of contact guided up to the last moment by the
points formed by the intersection of the two crowns; then in order to facilitate
its passage on the other wheel a steel needle point K2 is employed pivoting
outside an axis i, and furnished with a spring m which directs the shuttle in
its proper course. This point passes lightly the point of intersection of the
crowns directly on the joint of which it is placed; by this means the shuttle is

page_text: never abandoned, and directly it leaves the end of one of the crowns guides
it is engaged in the other by the aid of the needle. It will be seen that each
shuttle describes a perfect figure of an 8, or in other words, two tangent cir-
cumferences forming the bases of two equally tangent cones, having for their
summit the crossing point o of the threads, and produced by the axes of the
bobbins and threads, which are thus preserved from stretch or strain whilst
the shuttles are working; the tension of the threads being uniform the
machine may be worked at great speed without the fear of their breaking.
As to the crossing point o it is formed by the ring placed at the end of the
support M, which is fixed on the joint of the crowns. The twist made at this
point is stored and wound on a druin placed above it, and the winding of
which is regulated according as it is wished to produce a close or loose twist.
In manufacturing flat twists the same principle of sphericity as already
described is maintained, and similar elements employed in suchwise that all
the axes of the toothed wheels meet in a common centre, which is the crossing
point. This arrangement may be geometrically imagined by a series of cones
of the same dimensions meeting at their generators, the centres of the bases
of which are all on one circumference, having for their centre the point of
crossing, and keeping the circuit open. If there are 5, 7, 9, 11, or 13
elements, each shuttlo travels over them successively, retracing its steps as
shown by the blue arrows for the starting, and the red for the return of the
shuttles, see Fig. 9.-
When it is desired to cover any substance or form a close cylindrical or
round twist, it is necessary that the circuit should be made as represented in
Fig. 10, the shuttles will then pass over in the same manner the whole
circuit, and the crossings will be made at the point of contact of the wheels.
Fig. 10 indicates in red the passage made by the shuttles, supposing the
wheels turned on an horizontal plane. The shuttles may also be made to
slide in grooves cut in part of the cast-iron sphere, so that their axes are
always directed towards the centre of the sphere, and the length of the
unwound threads are always equal, consequently the same result can be
obtained without fear of danger to the threads.
From the foregoing description it will be observed that the advantages of
our system over those at present in use are, that our machines can be worked
at an increase of speed equal to five times that of the old system, and likewise
by the constant and regular delivery and tension of the threads they are
secure from breakage.
Having thus described our Invention, what we claim and desire to secure

page_text: by Letters Patent is, the construction of twisting and braiding machines
ased on the principle of sphericity, precisely as herein described and illus-
rated by the accompanying Drawings, reserving to ourselves the right of
arying the form and dimensions of the several parts mentioned, as well as of
he materials employed in their construction.
In witness whereof, we, the said Eugéne Germain Rafer and Ernest
Edmond Rafer have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.
E. G. RAFER. (L.B.)
E. E. RAFER. (L.S.)