IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SPINNING YARNS OF FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SPINNING YARNS OF FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND
OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS."-A communication from abroad by Ernest
Bazin, of Paris, Engineer.
Sealed the 8th February 1870, and dated the 17th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th August 1869.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SPINNING YARNS OF FLAX, HEMP,
TOW, AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS," (a communication from Ernest Bazin,
of Paris, Engineer,) to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to spin yarns of flax, hemp, tow, and
textile materials in general, but more especially for the fabrication of
rope yarn employed in the manufacture of cordage or ropes. The
machine may be composed of six (or any other convenient number of)
flyers on each side, supported in a suitable frame and capable of
turning on pivots. These flyers carry the sliver cans or cylinders which

page_text: contain the material to be spun, and also the arrangements for nipping,
compressing, rounding, and twisting the thread. Each can is held
in its flyer by means of set screws, which serve at the same time for
centering the can. The flyer
The flyer being caused to revolve communicates
this motion to the can which contains the rovings of material to be
spun, which latter is coiled in the can in the form of superposed rings
arranged spirally and eccentrically in order to facilitate its delivery.
The roving issues through a central hole in the lid of the can and passes
first through an eye in a support fixed to the flyer, and then through the
nipping apparatus formed of two semi-cylinders (one fitting in the
other) mounted on and pressed together by springs, after which it passes
between two grooved pulleys, which compress and round the roving
preparatory to its being twisted, and oppose the necessary resistance to
the traction in order to obtain the parallelism of the fibres whilst the
twist is being put in. The yarn then passes through the groove of
another pulley which is mounted on a rod attached to the flyer, but is
out of the centre, and it is this eccentricity which effects the twisting
of the yarn. It will be understood that the amount of twist imparted
to the yarn will depend upon the relative speeds given to the flyer and
to the apparatus which effects the traction of the yarn. The yarn on
leaving the twisting pulley passes through the hollow upper axis of the
flyer round a plain guide pulley and on to a reel to which a suitable slow
revolving movement is given, or instead of a plain guide pulley a drawing
roller with a spiral groove may be substituted, the said roller being
driven by gearing, the speed of which as well as of the reel may be varied
at pleasure. Between the guide pulley and the reel the yarn passes
through a spiral polisher to lay the fibres, and also through a recipro-
cating or traversing guide to lay the yarn even on to the reel. If desired
the yarn may be caused to pass through a bath of tar between the
drawing rollers and the reels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex, 3
Gentleman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
ycar of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that I, the
said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 APPARATUS FOR SPINNING YARNS OF
FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS," (a communication to me
from abroad by Ernest Bazin, of Paris, Engineer,) upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 Bristow Hunt, 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 in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to spin yarns of flax, hemp, tow, and
textilé materials in general, but more especially for the fabrication of
rope yarn employed in the manufacture of cordage or ropes. This
machine is designed for spinning directly on to the reel or drum, and
thus to dispense with the bobbin generally employed in spinning. In
ordinary spinning the flyer gives the twist, and the bobbin always placed
between the arms of the latter winds on the thread as it is produced, but
the bobbin and the flyer (that is to say, the twisting and winding) turn
in the same direction and at almost equal speeds. If on the contrary
the thread from the flyer which is the twisting instrument does not turn
in the same direction as the latter then there will ensue an untwisting
of the thread.

page_text: The principle upon which the present improved system is based is
quite the opposite to that hitherto employed, wherein the material to be
spun does not turn but the flyer and the bobbin turn only. The improved
principle is that the material turns as well as the flyer, and it is the
winding on drum or reel that does not turn, that is to say, that the
roving turns in the same direction and at the same speed with the flyer,
and the thread issuing from the latter winds itself on to the drum or reel
which turns on its own axis to wind on the thread merely, but is com-
pletely independent of the rotary movement of the flyer which is the
twisting instrument. This is the principle upon which the whole system
sought to be protected by the above in part recited Letters Patent rests,
reservation being made of the various applications or modifications
thereof which may emanate therefrom.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for "Improved
Apparatus for Spinning Yarns of Flax, Hemp, Tow, and other Textile
Materials," I will now proceed to describe more in detail the manner
in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly understood
I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and
have marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding
with those in the following explanation thereof, that is to say:--
.
• Figure 1 is an end view of the improved spinning frame arranged
vertically; and Figure 2 a vertical section through the line 1-2, in
Figure 1, showing three spindles.
Each spindle is composed of a flyer A of sufficient dimensions to
admit of a roving can P (or ordinary receptable for the material to be
spun being fixed between its two arms. This can (represented by blue
lines in the Drawing) is fixed at the bottom by the aid of two pins on
to a plate situated at the lower part of the flyer, and is held at its upper
part by two pressure screws at vand v¹ entering two lugs fixed on the
upper rim of the can.
The frame holds the flyer in a vertical position
by means of a bearing placed at the upper part and a footstep placed
beneath, and allows it to turn on its own axis, by the means shown on
the Drawing. Between the arms of the flyer A and above the roving
can are placed the following parts:-Firstly, a piece of steel a pierced
with a conical hole and intended to take out any "kinks" that may be
formed in the roving during its passage, and to round it as a first
operation; secondly, a loose carrier pulley b, in the groove of which the

page_text: roving passes; thirdly, a special piece c called a "smoother," the
details of which are represented full size at Figure 4. The thread issuing
from the flyer passes through the axis, which is pierced for that purpose,
and then over a pulley d to its destination.
Figure 3 represents another arrangement of spinning frame, which is
in the horizontal form. The roving can P is placed between the arms
of the flyer A which is designed to cause the twisting of the material x
to be spun, but the twisting is effected by the aid of a flyer provided in
its interior with a "smoother" c turning at the same speed as the flyer
which carries the roving can. Two metal trumpets d, d, placed at cach
extremity of the two hollow shafts facilitate the progress of the roving.
This horizontal spinning frame is represented as spinning directly on to
the reel D which effects the "hanking" of the thread during the
operation of spinning.
Figure 4 represents a "smoother" C, which is composed of a metal
frame in which a cushion e slides against a second fixed cushion e' fixed
also in the frame. The movable cushion e has a rod f, part of which is
secured. A helical spring acting against the frame pushes a nut E
which is screwed on the rod f, and thus presses the faces of the two
cushions together. The material to be spun or twisted passes between
the cavities made between the two cushions e and e¹, and by the aid of
the nut E more or less tension can be given to the spring and hence
more or less pressure on the material. A polisher of plain or tarred
cloth or other suitable material may be placed between the two
cushions.
Figure 5 represents a drawing pulley G intended to draw the thread x
forward as it is spun in order to deliver it to the various preparations
which it may undergo directly and immediately according to this new
system of spinning. The groove of this drawing or dragging pulley is
provided with a fillet of india-rubber in order to prevent the slipping of
the thread during its traction. In front of this pulley are two fixed
polishers C, C'.
Figures 6 and 7 represent two different winding on drums. Figure 7
shows a very narrow drum T, to which rotary movement is given by a
friction cone H imparting a differential motion. It will be readily
understood that two much tension of the thread would cause the cone
to slip and not give motion to the drum, and when the contrary effect
takes place the drum would revolve and wind on the thread. Figure 6

page_text: represents a drum T of large dimensions, which should also be driven
by a friction cone, but by reason of its width the thread should be laid
by a traversing guide or other suitable means in order to wind it on in
a regular manner. The principle on which this system is based being
to cause the material to be spun to turn in the same direction as the
flyer or twisting instrument and with an equal speed various mechanical
means may be employed to arrive at this result. I have however merely
shown two of these on the Drawings. The roving can in Figure 1 is
placed in the interior of the twisting flyer itself, and at Figure 3 the can
is placed in a special flyer required to transmit the rotating movement
to the material to be spun, and the flyer which is the twisting instrument
is (as may be seen on the Drawing) completely separate from the can
containing the roving.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The apparatus being in
motion, the flyer A and the roving a will have sufficient rotation imparted
to them to give a twist between the "smoother" of the twisting flyer
and the fixed "polishers" placed either in front of the drawing pulley or
of a winding-on drum. It will be understood that the twisting of the
thread takes place by reason of the rotary movement of the flyer and
of the traction of the thread caused by the drawing pulleys or winding-
on drum, and there cannot exist any torsion in the opposite direction
between the roving can and the twisting polisher, because the material
to be twisted turns in the same direction and at the same speed by reason
of the torsion. This torsion or twist of the material would not cause
any inconvenience in passing beyond the fixed polishers, but if it passed
beyond the twisting polisher placed in the flyer it is evident that the
roving would become entangled, and a certain pressure of the cushions
of the polishers on the material is required in order to prevent the twist
from descending to the roving, and also a well regulated traction of
the thread in order that the winding on should keep pace with the
twisting.
This system, by dispensing with the employment of the bobbin which
holds the thread during the whole operation of spinning, allows of
spinning directly on to winding-on drums of considerable diameter, and
renders the operator complete master of the thread during the operation
of spinning. In rope making the operator has the facility of polishing,
spinning directly on to the recls, passing through tar, and making into
hanks or winding on to drums. This system dispenses with winding on

page_text: to bobbins or drawing back, which always takes the twist out of the yarn,
and in spinning it obviates the loss of time occasioned by the frequent
change of bobbins; the system is therefore economical and practicable.
A modification of the combination of the spinning appliances shown
at A', A", A, in Figures 8, 9, and 10 will give even better results.
A' is the holding or pressing instrument formed of two springs, the upper
ends of which form a split truncated conc; A" are two spring flattening
rollers holding the material sufficiently to allow the required torsion to
be given to the roving in order to maintain the parallelism of the fibres
before twisting. A are spring cushions constituting the instrument for
twisting the roving. This roving undergoes a kind of smoothing or
polishing in passing between the spring pincers A¹; it then becomes
flattened between the cylinders A", and partly held against the drawing
or traction exerted above. Lastly, it is rounded by the cushions A, and
its twisting is effected between the instrument which draws the roving
forward and this cushion which by its pressure hinders the twist from
descending to the rollers or flattening cylinders A". This pressure is
regulated by the aid of two springs r,, and screwed nuts 8, 8'.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
Improved Apparatus for Spinning Yarns of Flax, Hemp, Tow, and
other Textile Materials," together with the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I claim as the Invention (communicated to
me by the said Ernest Bazin), the method and means herein-before
described of causing the material to be spun or roving to be turned in
the same direction and at an equal speed with the twisting flyer or other
organ performing the same office, which method constitutes the principal
feature of this Invention, and which by the aid of a traction operating
on the thread allows of its being spun directly on to the drum
independently of the rotary motion of the twisting flyer.
I also claim the application of this principle to machines for twisting
or doubling yarn, and in this case I would observe that a simple plate
carrying the bobbins of yarn to be wound would replace the roving cans,
but in all cases the operation would be the same for two, three, or more
yarns as for one roving of raw material. This system may be applied
to the machines now in use.
I also claim particularly the forms and arrangements of the various
parts of the mechanism specially adapted for spinning yarns of hemp

page_text: or flax, as shown on the Drawings, and above more particularly
described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
BRISTOW HUNT. (L.S.)