AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY POR SPINNING AND TWISTING SILK AND WOOL, AND FOR ROVING, SPINNING, AND TWISTING, FLAX, HEMP, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
MOLINEUX, of Stoke St Mary, in the County of Somerset, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-six, in the seventh year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis Molineux, His
especial licence that I, the said Francis Molineux, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Molineux, my exors, admors, or
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, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY POR
SPINNING AND TWISTING SILK AND WOOL, AND FOR ROVING, SPINNING, AND TWISTING,
FLAX, HEMP, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Francis Molineux, by an
instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His 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
Francis Molineux, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say)-
My Invention of an Improvement in Machinery for Spinning and Twisting
Silk and Wool; and for Roving, Spinning, and Twisting Flax, Hemp, Cotton,
and other Fibrous Substances, consists in a peculiarly constructed bobbin and
carriage adapted to spinning machinery, by the employment of which the
ordinary flyer is dispensed with, and the yarn conducted to the bobbin in a
straight line, avoiding the irregular and oblique tension of the yarn, which takes
place when passed through the arm of the flyer, as in the usual operation of
spinning. The bobbin, instead of riding upon a straight vertical spindle, is
placed horizontally upon an axle bearing in a carriage, having a whirl attached
to it, and is spun round in an horizontal direction for the purpose of giving a
regular twist to the yarn or filaments operated upon, which is kept straight
while twisting, and is drawn with uniform tension. There is fixed on the axle
of the bobbin a friction wheel, the periphery of which runs round (as the
carriage revolves) upon a stationary plate, and causes the bobbin, with its axle,
to turn slowly by the friction of the wheel upon the plate, and to take up or
coil the thread as it becomes spun; or this may be effected by the employment
of bevelled gear or bevelled friction wheels, or by several other variations of the
same principle.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed, Figs. 1 and 2 are representations
of the bobbin and carriage, with the whirl, in different positions. Fig. 3 is
the carriage and whirl as it would appear sideways when detached from the
stem upon which it is to turn. Fig. 4 is the stem, made hollow, as shewn by
the dotted lines: This is intended to be screwed or otherwise fixed into the
rail of the spinning frame. Fig. 5 is a detached view of the friction plate,
with its pin. Fig. 6 is the horizontal shaft or axle of the bobbin, having the
friction wheel affixed to it, which is to run round upon the friction plate, and
also the latteral spring designed to bear against the end of the bobbin, for the
purpose of holding it upon its axle with a certain degree of tightness by the
elastic force excrted between the collar and the wheel, which tempers or allows
the bobbin to turn, to accomodate its taking-up power to the increasing
diameter as it fills, the tension being always equal. This latteral spring is seen
detached in two views at Fig. 7. The bobbin, with its wheel and latteral
spring, is shewn in section upon its horizontal axle at Fig. 8, and the mode of
tightening it up against the latteral spring is there seen to be by means of a

page_text: collar and screw nut, which are seen detached in Fig. 6. Any number of the
stems a (shewn detached at Fig. 4) are to be fixed into the rail in front of
the spinning frame, and upon each of these is to be placed one of the carriages
with the whirl (b, as Fig. 3), which is there confined to to the stem by a nut e,
allowing it to revolve freely. The upper part of the whirl b is formed with
bent arms d, d, constituting a carriage for the the axle e, e, of the bobbin f to
bear in. The pin g of the friction plate his next inserted in the hollow steni a,
having a worm or helical spring i coiled round it, for the purpose of pressing
the plate h up against the periphery of the wheel k upon the axle of the
bobbin, in order to produce the necessary friction, and which plate his pre-
vented from revolving by the end of a small screw j acting in a groove
or slot in the side of the pin g. The bobbin f, with the wheel k, and
latteral spring 1, fixed upon the axle e, e, in the manner before described,
is now to be placed in the carriage or arms d, d, of the whirl b, by
inserting the pivot or center at the wheel end of the axle into a small
recess in the arm, and allowing the socket attached to the spring to em-
brace the pivot at the reverse end, as shewn more evidently in Figs. 1 and
8, in the latter of which the spring is seen drawn back and the pivot released
from the cap. The bobbin thus mounted is with its carriage now turned round
rapidly in a horizontal direction, by means of a cord from a rotatory drum
passing round its whirl in the same way that spindles are usually actuated in
ordinary spinning machines. The filaments of wool, cotton, flax, silk, or any other
fibrous material intended to be spun, being prepared as in the ordinary way, are
to be brought down in a direct line and attached to the barrel of the bobbin ;
the whirl carriage and bobbin is then set in motion by the means before de-
scribed, when the filaments will be twisted into a yarn or thread, and the bobbin
being at the same time made to turn slowly upon its axle by means of the
wheel and friction plate, as before explained, the thread thus spun will be
progressively taken up, that is, coiled round the bobbin, and as a fresh supply
is constantly given out from the delivering rollers, the filaments will be
twisted and the thread taken up upon the bobbin, without deviating from a
straight line; consequently the tension will be uniform throughout the length
of thread operated upon, which is not the case in the employment of a flyer
where the thread in taking up is drawn nearly at right angles to that direc-
tion in which it was twisted or spun. In some cases I should effect the
taking up, that is, the coiling of the thread or rovings upon the bobbin, by
means of gear, in preference to the friction wheel and plate above described;
one method of doing which is shewn in Fig. 9. a is a socket or cup to be
fixed into the rail of the spinning machine for the lower end of the tube b, to

page_text: At the
which the whirl c and carriage d is attached to bear and revolve in.
upper end of the carriage an eliptical ring e is attached, in order to allow the
thread or yarn to pass from the guide rollers to the bobbin in a straight line.
fis the bobbin as before, mounted upon an horizontal axle; g is a bevelled
toothed wheel affixed to the axle; and is a spring and collar pressing between
the wheel g and the bobbin f, for the purpose of holding the bobbin upon the
axle with some degree of tension when the socket i in which the pivot of the
axle turns is screwed up to its bearing; k is a central stem passing through
the cup a and the tube b, which stem is intended to be stationary in the rail of
the spinning machine for the apparatus to revolve upon; at the upper part of
the stem a toothed pinion is affixed, which is intended to take into a toothed
wheel m; this last-mentioned wheel is attached to a perpindicular shaft n,
mounted in the frame or carriage d, at the top of which shaft there is a
beveled pinion o taking into the beveled wheel 9, above mentioned. By this
arrangement it will be seen that, as the whirl and carriage, with the bobbin,
revolves in a horizontal direction, the stationary pinion causes the wheel m to
turn, and this turning of the beveled pinion o drives the beveled wheel
also the bobbin, round in a vertical direction, causes it to take up or coil the
yarn or thread as it becomes spun. The quantity taken up, that is, coiled upon
the bobbin, will depend upon the comparative diameters of the wheels and
pinions, which is well understood by mechanics, and must of course be varied
according to the quality of the article operated upon. A similar effect may
also be produced by employing wheels having smooth peripheries covered with
cloth, or some such material, instead of toothed wheels, in which case the
friction of the parts coming in contact will cause the wheels to turn, and effect
the taking up upon the same principle as described above.
9, and
At-
Another method of taking up by means of gear is exhibited at Fig. 10, in
which a is the whirl turning upon the fixed stem b; c, c, c, is the carriage upon
which the bobbin d bears and revolves in the manner before described.
tached to the top of the stem b is a fixed pinion e, which takes into an inter-
mediate wheelf, and this actuates another toothed wheel g, these wheels being
enclosed between a pair of circular plates h, h, which arrangement is shewn
more perfectly in the horizontal view, Fig. 11. The wheel g is affixed to a
cylindrical tube i, that slides round upon the upright part of the carriage, and
at the top of this tube a pinion / is affixed, which takes into a faced wheel l.
The faced wheel is represented upon a short axle let into a hole in the standard,
and has a female screw, which receives the end of the axle of the bobbin at
the reverse side of the carriage. The contrivance for temporing is attached,
which consists of a screw m, having an arm n, with a circular washer o, as

page_text: shewn in the detached Fig. 12. The axle p, p, being passed through the
washer and bobbin (having cloth rollers between), screws into the socket, as
before said. The tempering may be adjusted to any degree of friction by
turning the regulating screw m for the purpose of pressing up the bobbin to
the face wheel.
A third mode of taking up by means of gear is shewn at Fig. 18, the parts
of the bobbin and carriage and the tempering being the same as before de-
scribed. In this instance the manner in which the wheels and pinions take
into each other to effect the taking up will be sufficiently understood by an
inspection of the Figure.
A fourth mode of taking up by means of gear is shewn at Figs. 14 and 15,
where, instead of the fixed pinion, a circular inclined plane a is made to take
into the side of a bevelled toothed pinion b, at the back of which is a cylin-
drical pinion c taking into a wheel d above, upon the axle e of the bobbin f.
From the employment of this contrivance a more delicate material may be
operated upon, and a much finer thread produced than by any other description
of spinning machinery hitherto known; indeed, a machine with these improved
bobbins and carriages adapted is capable of effecting all the delicacy of the
finest hand spinning. I have described the filaments under the operation of
being spun as descending in a perpendicular direction, or nearly so, to the
bobbin, which is placed upon a horizontal axle; but I do not mean to confine
myself to that particular position, as the spinning or twisting may be performed
either in a vertical, horizontal, or oblique direction; and also the bobbin may be
adapted either to take up, or, by altering its situation, to deliver, as occasion
may require in the formation of threads, or yarn, or rovings, of whatever material.
Lastly, I wish it to be understood, that the important feature of my Invention,
and that which I particularly claim, consists in mounting the bobbins of a
spinning frame upon axles, being at or nearly at right angles to the direction
of the threads or yarn operated upon, and adapting a wheel upon each said
axle or one edge of the bobbin to a friction plate or gear, or friction wheels, in
order to turn the bobbin upon its axis in one direction, as it is spun round in
another direction, for the purpose of performing the spinning and taking up by
one operation. And which said contrivance is, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Molineux, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
FRANCIS (L.B.) MOLINEUX.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid Francis Molineux came
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.