AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE APPLICATION OF TALLOW OR OTHER LUBRICATING SUBSTANCE TO SIZED YARN, THAT IS, YAEN AFTER HAVING PASSED THE SIZE TROUGH, BY MEANS OF A CIRCULAR BRUSH
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Aitken, of the Firm of Thomas Aitken
and Son, Manufacturers, of Tottington-higher-end, Parish of Bury,
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
APPLICATION OF TALLOW OR OTHER LUBRICATING SUBSTANCE TO SIZED YARN,
THAT IS, YAEN AFTER HAVING PASSED THE SIZE TROUGH, BY MEANS OF A
CIRCULAR BRUSH."
Sealed the 5th September 1871, and dated the 9th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Aitken at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th June 1871.
I, JOHN AITKEN, of the Firm of Thomas Aitken & Son, Manufac-
turers, of Tottington-higher-end, Parish of Bury, County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE APPLICATION OF TALLOW OR OTHER LUBRICATING SUBSTANCE TO
SIZED YARN, THAT IS, YARN AFTER HAVING PASSED THE SIZE TROUGH, BY MEANS
OF A CIRCULAR BRUSH," to be as follows:-
I am aware that tallow has been applied to yarn before the date of
this Invention, but it has either been applied mechanically mingled with

page_text: the size, or when the yarn has been in a moist condition, and it has
been found in operation that.in the latter case the moisture has repelled
the tallow, and that a much larger quantity of tallow has had to be-
applied to the yarn than it would naturally absorb.
It has also been found in operation that the tallow applied in the
old manner has not prevented the disintegration and dissipation of the
size.
But by my application I first of all dry or nearly dry the yarn so as
to prepare it; this I find to be effected when the yarn (as,in the case of
the sizing machine) is about to leave the large drying cylinder. At
this point I place a trough containing tallow or other lubricant kept in
fluid condition by a pipe or pipes heated by steam or otherwise. In this
trough I place a circular brush revolving at a rather slower rate than
the yarn, which brush applying the tallow to the yarn in the condition
above indicated supplies to the yarn just so much tallow as it is in
condition to receive. The condition of the yarn which, as it will be
seen, regulates the quantity of tallow taken up is readily ascertained
by the feel of the yarn or by its changing color, and this point having
been ascertained the operative fixes the tallow trough and brush at that
point. This point will vary according to the quality of the yarn passing
through the machine, and the point at which the tallow will have to be
applied will consequently vary; but what I wish to draw attention to
is, that the yarn according to my process should first be brought into
the right condition of dryness or partial dryness, and at that point the
tallow applied.
In this application the difficulty hitherto felt of mingling yarn, tallow,
and size is altogether removed.
Where the tallow and size have been comingled before application
the yarn has taken up quite a different proportion of the sizing material
than has been desired, and hence the quantity of ingredients applied to
the yarn has been altogether beyond the control of the operative, but
by this process of sizing first and lubricating afterwards, the two opera-
tions being perfectly distinct, are at the same time thoroughly under
control.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John. Aitken in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th. December 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
AITKEN, of the Firm of Thomas Aitken and Son, Manufacturers, of
Tottington-higher-end, Parish of Bury, County of Lancaster, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Aitken, Her special licence that I, the
said John Aitken, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Aitken, 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 “AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE APPLICATION OF TALLOW
OR OTHER LUBRICATING SUBSTANCE TO SIZED YARN, THAT IS, YARN AFTER HAVING
PASSED THE SIZE TROUGH, BY MEANS OF A CIRCULAR BRUSH," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Aitken, 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 John Aitken, 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 :-
I am aware that tallow has been applied to yarn before the date of
this Invention, but it has either been applied mechanically mingled
with the size or when the yarn has been in a moist condition, and it has
been found in operation that in the latter case the moisture has repelled

page_text: the tallow, and that a much larger quantity of tallow has had to be
applied to the yarn than it would naturally absorb.
It has also been found in operation that the tallow applied in the
old manner has not prevented the disintegration and dissipation of the
size.
By my application I first of all dry or nearly dry the yarn so as to
prepare it this I find to be effected when the yarn (as in the case of the
sizing machine) is about to leave the large drying cylinder. At this
point I place a trough containing tallow or other lubricant kept in fluid
condition by a pipe or pipes heated by steam or otherwise. In this
trough I place a circular brush revolving at a rather slower rate than
the yarn advances, which brush applying the tallow to the yarn in the
condition above indicated supplies just so much tallow as it is in con-
dition to receive. The condition of the yarn which, as it will be seen,
regulates the quantity of tallow taken up, is readily ascertained by
the feel of the yarn or by its changing colour, and this point having been
ascertained the operative fixes the tallow trough and brush just at that
point. This point will vary according to the quality of the yarn passing
through the machine, and the point at which the tallow will have to
be applied will consequently vary; but what I wish to draw attention
to is, that the yarn according to my process should first be brought into
the right condition of dryness and at that point the tallow applied.
In this application the difficulty hitherto felt of mingling yarn, tallow,
and size is altogether removed.
Where the tallow and size have been comingled before application
the yarn has taken up quite a different proportion of the sizing material
than has been desired, and hence the quantity of ingredients applied
to the yarn has been altogether beyond the control of the operative, but
by this process of sizing first and lubricating afterwards the two opera-
tions being perfectly distinct, are at the same time thoroughly under
control.
And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood and
more readily carried into effect I will now proceed to describe the same,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which
shows in Figure 1 an elevation of my improvements and connected parts
as applied to sizing machines or slashers; and Figure 2 is an elevation
of a winding machine (so called) with a tallow box applied between the
two fast wraiths; Fig. 3 is a plan of the same; Fig. 4a transverse view
.

page_text: of tallow trough and brush. y is the yarn on its passage through the
machine. It arrives first at the immersion roller a after leaving the
section beams y¹, this immersion roller a being capable of elevation
and depression for the purpose of the yarn being more or less saturated
with size. From the immersion roller a the yarn y passes between the
two pairs of squeezing rollers 6 and 6'. From the latter it passes to
the large drying cylinder c, in passing around which it is partially and
nearly wholly dried. On the surface it is fully dried. Underneath this
roller or cylinder c I place a tallow trough d, the tallow being kept in
fluid condition by a steam pipe or a number of steam pipes & passing
through the tallow. In the tallow in this trough I place a circular
brush b³ revolving in bearings either in the trough or the framing b³, b',
at a comparatively slow rate, by means of which I lift the tallow from
the trough and bring it into contact with the yarn y on the cylinder c.
It will be observed that the yarn has at this point become so dry as to
be an absorbent of the tallow, it is not so when holding a large quantity
of moisture the yarn in such state is repellent of tallow. I have therefore
indicated the point in the drying cylinders at which ordinary yarn has
by drying lost so much moisture as to cease to be repellent of tallow
and become an absorbent thereof. Different qualities of yarn may
require a farther point of advance on the cylinder c, or the first point
may be even on the smaller cylinder c³. This point is easily ascertained
and ascertainable both by the feel of the yarn and its changing color.
There are also special reasons for my being particular as to this point,
firstly, to obtain a good absorbent; secondly, to have the tallow fully
under control; thirdly, to put just so much on by the brush as will be
useful for the yarn and not more.
I may illustrate the utility of my plan by the following facts :-On
two experimental machines I have used only 80 lbs. weight of tallow
for saturation, whereas by former applications 450 lbs. weight were used,
and while all the good properties were retained and even increased in
the yarn the excess of tallow was pure saving. By attending to the
condition of the yarn when the tallow is applied, and by the use of a
brush as a kindly and withal thorough applicant, I have obtained these
results. In addition to the saving of tallow the health of the operatives
by the improved state of the loom shed is amazingly improved, the
rooms being as free from dust as a well-fitted drawing room. My plan
prevents both a waste of tallow in its application under proper conditions,

page_text: 1
and it also prevents the disintegration and flotation of china clay,
barytes, and antiseptic, which have an injurious effect as floating dust
.upon the health of the operatives. My plan has also the effect of saving
size as being thoroughly under control, and such quantity only being
used as will have the effect desired, this point being easily ascertained.
and as easily controlled. as the use and application of tallow itself.
J
:
My use and application of tallow may be employed either where the
yarn to be sized is wound upon section beams, as on stashers or sizing
.machines, but also when it is sized after what is called chain or some-
times ball winding, in which the yarn is always used quite dry, so that
after the warp has passed the wraith or wraiths, whether fast or loose,
'I elect to use three wraiths, one loose and two fast, and between the
"two fast ones to apply the tallow to the yarn, see Fig. 3, but not so as
to exclude its application at any other place; but the yarn being at that
_place opened out and kept in open condition I choose that position as
best, but the yarn in this special machine does not need attending to,
as its condition throughout, as stated above, is perfectly dry. In Fig. 3
the loose wraith is marked e. The first fast wraith is marked c¹, the
second e³, the trough of tallow and brush are marked f, f¹. I elect the
point not, as above stated, because of anything but its convenience,
as any other convenient point would be equally suitable for the condition
of dry yarn, and of course suitably absorbent yarn obtains in this
machine throughout. The brush f¹ in this machine I drive at a slow
rate by means of the diagonal shaft ƒ³, worm ƒ³, and worm wheel f*,
the rate of rotation being 4 revolutions per minute when the tallow is
applied in this machine.
Here I desire to observe respecting the sizing machine that the core
of the thread of yarn may be in a moist state whilst yet the cuticle or
*skin, so to speak, may be so far dried as to absorb tallow with readiness,
.and this absorption is not a mechanical action upon the surface, which
may be obliterated by the counteraction of the moisture at the core as
.the gloss put upon yarn or thread by friction at its surface may be
dulled or destroyed by the evaporation of the moisture at the core. The
tallow once absorbed adheres to the yarn and keeps the size in the yarn
also. And although I have spoken of tallow only I desire it to be
understood that other lubricants may be used instead thereof. I wish to
. observe also that I use the expression beyond the size box" as
c
66
equivalent to the application of tallow to the yarn after another operation

page_text: has been performed upon it; as, for example, the total or partial
application of heat so as to make the yarn absorbent, not the mere
taking of the yarn to the other or tallow side of the same box, which
two sides of the box have only a partition of wood between, which
method has been claimed and used before in the Specification of Henry
Bernoulli Barlow, No. 145, 1870, January 18, and in which state the.
moisture repels rather than absorbs the tallow. But I tallow the yarn
beyond the size box, that is, after another operation has been or is being
performed upon the yarn, by which it is rendered absorbent of tallow,
and is also capable of control by the operative by either altering the
speed of the brush, the state of the tallow or other lubricant, or the point
at which it is applied to the yarn after sizing.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which it is performed, I declare that I claim as secured to me
thereby,-
-
1stly. The application of tallow or other lubricant in a fluid condition
by means of a circular brush when the yarn has been dried or partially
dried after passing through the size box in sizing machines.
2ndly. The application of tallow in the winding machine (so called),
in which I apply it between two fast wraiths, and after the yarn is opened
out by the loose wraith and kept out by one fast wraith.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Aitken, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
JOHN AITKEN. (L.S.)