NEW AND IMPROVED MACHINES AND MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING WOOL, COTTON, HEMP, AND OTHER FILAMENTOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1807

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
WILLIAMS, of Finsbury Square, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS is most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
Iis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, and bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of
April, in the forty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Samuel
Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom called England, His
Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention
communicated to me, the said Samuel Williams, by a foreigner residing abroad,
of "NEW AND IMPROVED MACHINES AND MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING
WOOL, COTTON, HEMP, AND OTHER FILAMENTOUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Samuel Williams,
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: .
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Williams, do hereby declare that the said Invention is described in
manner following (that is to say) :-
It consists in and is founded on principles hitherto unemployed in preparing
and spinning hairy and woolly substances, and so different from the methods
now in use that to describe it will be to distinguish it fully from those methods.
It is well known that when a cylinder rolls on a plane, every point in the
circumference of that cylinder describes a curve, called a cycloid, and that if a
cono turns on its axis while the latter gyrates round a given centre, coinciding
with the summit of the oone, that then every point in the circumference of the
cone will describe a spherical cycloid, and, in fine, that if a cylinder of a smaller
diameter revolves round its axis and rolls within a hollow cylinder of a larger
diameter, that then every point of the smaller cylinder will describe an epi-
cycloid within the larger cylinder. On this principle, then, is founded the first
branch of the Invention. The surfaces of the contiguous bodies are to be
furnished with a great number of hooks or card wires adapted to this kind of
motion, and every time they meet. if there is wool between them, the hooks of
both surfaces will seize each one half of the whole, and divide it each time
that such contact takes place; so that after a certain number of turns the wool
will be fully opened and prepared for the further operations preparatory to
spinning.
A little observation will lead to the reflection that if, while a smaller cylinder
rolls on a plane, a larger fixed to it be considered with respect to its surface,
that any point in the latter surface will describe a curve of the nature of the
cycloid, but forming a loop, so as to move backward for a moment, while the
common centre of the two cylinders is moving forward. For example, if in
Figure 8 the cylinder a roll on the plane b, c, every point in the circumference
of the cylinder d, d, will describe a looped curve c, f.g, as before stated. A
new system of opening or carding filamentous substances is founded, then,
on the general principle of cycloidal and epicycloidal motions, so merlified as
to rub to any degree by the relative diameter of the gyrating cylinder cum-
pared with that of the wheel which gives its motion.
To give this idea a more practical form. let a, b, Figure 1, be a plane, on
which the cylinder e rolls. It is there plain that every point of e describes a
cycloid, but if the two surfaces of a, b, de., be furnished (as in Figure 2) with
hooks or card wires, then a mass of woolly substance d will be pierced by every
wire in each surface, and forcibly opened every time the cylinder
passes over
it; and if, instead of a long plane a, b, a circular one be adopted (as in
Figure 3), and in lieu of cylinders a come a be employed then this repitition

page_text: of effect will take place every time the axis of the cone gyrates round the
centre of the plane, and thus the hairy substance, though placed on one region
only of the latter, will be soon divided and equally distributed on the whole
surface of both the cone and the plane; if, further, two or more cones b, c,
(Figure 3 and 4) be used, rubbing against each other while they roll on
the plane (the latter being circular or conical, as may be preferred), then
will they perform at the same time the double operation of opening and trans-
posing the substance by the cycloidal action, and of carding it by friction, as in
the common methods. But the most useful form of this Invention is, perhaps,
that represented in Figure 5, when a, b, is a large hollow cylinder, furnished
with hooks as before stated. In this cylinder, and on a crank or eccentric
axis c, turns and gyrates the lesser cylinder d, bearing teeth similar to the
former. A fixed toothed wheel placed at one end of the larger cylinder a, b,
and of a diameter equal to it, working in another wheel equal to the smaller
cylinder d, and fixed to its axis, causes the latter to revolve as often as it would
do by merely rolling on the surface of the larger cylinder, thus ensuring the
epicycloidal motion above referred to. If, then, the feeding cylinder e, by a
motion properly combined, bring wool into contact with the gyrating cylinder d.
a part of such wool will be taken at every gyration and carried across the
larger cylinder to some point b or f, according to the ratio that may exist
between the diameter of the greater and the lesser cylinder, which ratio must
be varied as the texture of the wool and other circumstances may require.
In the same Figure y represents a receiving cylinder, (so called because it
receives the wool from the gyrating cylinder,) which, by a slow motion in the
direction 1, 2, g, conducts the opened wool up to g, whence it is discharged by
methods similar to those used in common mechanical carding.
Figure 6 contains a repetition of the same system, but with some extension.
Here the wheel d, fixed to the axis of the small cylinder, is considerably
smaller than its diameter, and of course as this gyrates (its wheel taking into
that e, f,) any point in the circumference of the small cylinder moves backward
for a moment, while its axis moves forward on the principle developed in the
8th Figure. This being the case, wool lying on the surface a, b, will be both
carled by the friction of the surfaces, and transposed from region to region
of the great cylinder, as in the former example. One thing remains to be
observed, which is, that as, in order to add the carding principle to the trans-
posing one, the ratio of the diameter of the wheels d and e, f, is considerably
increased, and might thus cause the machine to card more than is desirable.
the wheel e, f, is placed in a concentric position between the cocks 1, 2, 3, 4,
but so as to recede from the pressure of d, and only turn it in as much as

page_text: e, f, shall be bridled by a factitious resistance applied to it, depending on the
will, and to be determined by the strength of the staple submitted to the
operation.
:
The 7 Figure represents a still further extension of the principle, or
rather a combination of it with another new and useful property.
In order
to secure the perfect feeding and equal issue of the opened staple, the outer
cylinder is composed of a chain of staves moving in a circular groove in each
cheek of the frame, furnished with hooks as before. This chain, by. a slow
motion in the direction' 1, 2, brings the wool into contact with the gyrating
cylinder, keeps it then as long as is necessary, and then carries it out at 3, to
be combed off at 4 in the usual manner. Figure 9 represents the manner
of forming this chain of staves by the hinges 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. a, b, is a longi-
tudinal section of one of them, to shew the tenons which fit into the circular
groove above mentioned.
Another principle which is employed for carding, and which it is intended 1
should be considered as one of the grounds of this Patent, is that of a series
of revolving cylinders, whose touching surfaces move-the-same way, but have
each a swifter motion than its predecessor, so that if the cylinder a (Figure 10)
go round once per second, 6 should revolve 1 or twice in the same time,
€ 2 or 3.times, &c., according to the progression that may have been adopted. a
By this system the surface on which it is chosen to lay a given quantity of
woolly matter is enlarged indefinitely, and the woolly matter thus opened so
completely that if desired no, two hairs shall touch each other, and by adding
another series of cylinders e, f, g, h, with motions progressively slower, the
same wool can their be again collected into, as small compass as may be
required for the purpose of forming it into a ribbon or large thread; and thus
it may be prepared in the most homogeneous manner for spinning.. And here
it may be observed that in this system all the card wires are not used as
hooks, but if there be no cards with perpendicular wires, which are preferable,
and which it is intended making under this Patent, a perpendicular effect is
obtained by placing on some of the cylinders common cards in a crosswiso
direction, whose wires are thus upright, if considered with respect to the line,
of their motion, and as they act both before and behind (according as the
cards of a given cylinder act on those of its predecessor or are acted on by
those of its follower), the wool is in reality carded both backward and forward s
(as in common handcarding), whereas the common mechanical card only acts
in one direction, and thus never-turns-the-wool-nor thus fully-cards it... It_
remains only to say that, after the operation is performed with these perpen-:
dicular cards, a certain number of cylinders are employed with hooked cards

page_text: as at h, to receive the work of these, and to deliver it on the usual principles.
As to the motions of these cards, whether in the increasing or decreasing series,
they are produced, as in all similar cases, by proportionate wheels acting from
one to the other, or by a lever or chain common to all, as convenience may
suggest.
In Figure 11 is represented the form preferred for the upright card wires,
in order that, besides the steadiness they acquire by passing through the card
leather, they may have a basis of their own. This basis is a triangle, formed by
an horizontal bend a, and the two portions of wire d, e, that precede the bends
b, c, which turn up the wire and form the card tooth, properly speaking. f is
the plan of this tooth; g, a view or elevation of it from a point opposite the
first-mentioned angle; and a, b, c, a perspective view. By examining the plan
f, and comparing it with Figure 12, it is evident that these wires can be set
very close to each other, without any of them riding over each other behind
the leather. The principle reasons for preferring these wires are, that they can
be made with less materials and greater ease than the common card wire,
be placed with much greater exactness with respect to the carding surface,
and that they can act both behind and before, as the system of carding repre-
sented in Figure 10 requires. An essential thing in the use of cards is to
be able to place them on the cylinders so as that no interval may exist between
them, and of course without nails. This may be done in the following
manner: The plates of cards c, d, are placed (entirely filled with wires)
rather obliquely across the cylinders, and each end of the leather is fixed to
a metallic tight'ner a, b, (see Figure 13,) turning upon the axis of the
cylinder, and to this is fixed a ratchet wheel e, into which falls the catch f.
fixed to the tight'ner. The cards being all screwed to the latter, it is forced
round either by a lever acting on the teeth of the ratchet, or on an endless screw;
but whatever be the means, this operation stretches excessively the card
leathers, and as by the obliquity of their position these are placed on a convex
surface with respect to the line of traction, the basis of the card wires are
strongly pressed against the surface of the cylinder, and acquire the necessary
stability without the use of nail or screw on any part of the cylindrical surface.
As every increase of obliquity in the position of the card plates leaves the less
room between them, the action of the tightner will evidently croud them
together if they are tolerably well placed previous to its operation. If the
card cylinders be long, a tight'ner is used at both ends.
Now, with respect to spinning the above substances, the principle of it is
founded in giving to the thread a twisting motion, not only as is usual at either
end of it, but at some intermediate point between these ends, which is in fact

page_text: to twist one end of the thread and untwist the other. This idea is embodied
in its most simple form in Figure 14, where the two pinchers a, b, hold the
thread c, d, but without motion, while those e, being turned round the thread,
untwist the part f of the thread, and increase the twist of the other part g.
Now it is evident that the untwisted part is weakened or rendered extensible
while the other part holds so much the stronger together as it is the more
twisted. In any machine, then, possessing the drawing properties, if a thread
passes from cylinders having a given motion to others moving faster, and is
almost untwisted as it goes, it will give way in the untwisted part and lengthen
in proportion to the drawing tendency. To perform then this untwisting ope-
ration, a ring a is used (see Figure 15, 16, and 17.) running on two grooved
cylinders b, c, (or mounted in any other way, so as that the axis of its motion
may coincide with that of the thread); the said ring a carrying two forks e, c,
and those bearing on screw points, two light cylinders i, k, pressed against each
other by a small spring n, n, n, placed at the opposite ends of the forks. By
these cylinders the thread is held fast with respect to its circular motions, and
if a revolve it is turned round its axis, being twisted at one end and untwisted
at the other, as above mentioned. But this is so ordered that the twisted part
is always contiguous to the drawing cylinders,, as at o, Figure 16. Thus,
then, if a thread more or less twisted come from p, pass through the feeding
cylinders r, the decomposer a (having the required velocity), and also through
the drawing cylinders S, to the bobbin t, the thread will be untwisted, drawn
out and retwisted as it passes, and be wound upon the bobbin as much longer
and finer than before as the velocity of the drawing cylinders shall have been
greater than the feeding ones. It is almost needless to add that these motions
given by the wheels A, B, and the the pinions D, E, working into the wheels F, G,
whose numbers and diameters are in the ratio required by the fineness of the
thread, and the degree of twist existing or sought for. It may be proper to
observe that the method described is not the only one for performing this un-
twisting operation, among many others the method shewn in Figure 18 is selected
as an example. It is nothing more than three pullies a, b, c, with or without
grooves, placed in the untwisting ring d, over which the thread passes as at
1, 2, 3, and by the friction of which the operation is performed as before. It is
scarcely necessary to add that any method fit to turn the thread round its axis
without obstructing its longitudinal motions may be usefully employed for the
same purpose; this truth is self evident.
It remains now to describe the new system for the operation of drawing.
It consists in performing this operation by the sole friction of the thread round
the drawing surfaces, and without that pressure of cylinders which constitutes

page_text: the usual system. The bodies employed for this purpose are at a small distance
from each other, and the thread receives its motion by clinging to their unpo-
lished surfaces. In Figures 16 and 17 this operation of drawing by friction
is performed by a number of cylinders 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, placed so as to bend the
thread as much as possible, and all having a motion very nearly equal. The
thread in passing round them, and being tightened by the counter pull of the
bobbins p and t, lay hold of surfaces both of the feeding and drawing cylin-
ders, and receives their motion respectively. And altho' this is one method,
and a good one, of drawing by friction, there are many others which it is need-
less to describe; one other method is however added in Figure 18, where a, b, arc
two cylinders having both the same motion, placed near, but rather obliquely, to
cach other, so that the thread 1, 2, 3, passing from one round the other may
not tend to ride upon itself. It is evident that the thread passing two or three
times round these cylinders will cling to their surfaces as before-mentioned, and
take the motion they may have received from the rest of the machine.
This subject is finished by remarking that, for simplicity, but a single system of
simultaneous untwisting and drawing has been supposed, but that those systems
may follow each other to any number, and in any proportions of velocity so as
to draw down at one passage the largest thread to the smallest size required.
Figure 10 is the plan of a new kind of chain calculated to communicate
motion from one wheel or machine to another in a uniform manner. The
several articulations of this chain, as a, a, b, are made in the form of a
chevron in blazonry, or like a pair of compasses open, and they are intended to
take in wheels of which the teeth are formed in like manner. Thus before one
link or tooth has ceased to act, the next is already acting, and for this reason,
there is no interval or inequality of motion. d, d, d, are the places of some of
the centre pins round which the joints turn to permit the bending of the chain.
Figure 20 is the plan of a chain possessed of the same properties, but with
solid links, the chevrons being fixed or cast in relief upon them. These chains
are useful in a great number of cases of general machinery, and especially in
the communication of equal motion for the operations of preparing and
spinning divers filaments.
Figure 21 offers an useful improvement on spinning machines, arising out
of the untwisting system. It is intended to avoid the necessity of always using
spindles, and to reel the thread as it is spun. The parts a, b, are the drawers,
and c, the untwister; d, d, e, e, are light reels, one for giving, the other for
taking the thread (or the thread may be taken from a bobbin, with or without
a twisting motion, and given to the reel, and, vice versa, from the reel to the
bubbin). To use this system, as here drawn, provide a skain of thread of a

page_text: certain number, or fineness, but twisted more than enough for that number.
Then, by passing that skain through this, system, it will be drawn from the recl
d, d, by a,-untwisted by c, lengthened by the difference of the motion of a and b,
and in fine wound on the reel e, e, in a state for sale; where note, that the
lattér réel must have a tendency to envelope all the thread given by the drawer;
but not strong enough to break it. This can easily be obtained by friction; and
note also, that the reels may be single instead of double, as represented-at fg.
..In Figure 22 is shewn the kind of teeth employed for the movements of
the wheels, by which the use of cords or strings is avoided in the machinery.
The teeth are essentially oblique or of a screw form. (but without its functions),
and that whether-mado as chevrons or single, as in the wheels q, r, of this
Figure. The principal desideratum is that the extent of the obliquity be as
great or greater than the distance between two contiguous teeth. The axis of
two wheels thus working (if it be intended to save all the friction), must also
be in the same plane, for it is not understood-that a wheel with oblique teeth,
fit for an endless screw, and in which, by accident,'another wheel works, or
that a wheel whose teeth are oblique, that-those-of another. wheel situated on
another plane may work into them, makes any part of this Invention. In this
instance the obliquity is intended to do away the friction and inequality of
action that exists in common wheel work. As to the section of these teeth it
is subject to the same laws as that of common teeth, and such is their remark
able properties; tliat if they wear, at all they will give, cach other the epicy-
cloidal. form. (viz,: to that part of the tooth. that exceeds the calculated
diameter.); but when that; and the division are become perfect by wearing; they
will then (supposing the matter hard and the resistance moderate) cease to
wear, and last without oil almost for ever.. It may be observed also that the
same principle applies likewise to bevel-wheels, and that while. in cylindrical
ones the teeth are threads of a screw of which the functions are suppressed, so
in the bevel ones, they are solid helica, increasing in dimensions and distance
as they fold obliquely round the surface of a.cone.
Having mentioned in; the former part of this Specification a machine which
twists and draws at the same time, it may be as well now to describe it under
one of its forms, for it admits of 'many. In Figure 23, A, B, are the sections
of two toothed wheels connected with the-two tubes a, a, and b, the latter
turning in the former, and the outside one turning in a proper collar. The
wheel A is connected with the tube b, at the other end of which is fixed the
bevel wheel c, c, which therefore occupies the-inside of the said wheel B. To
the large tube, and at its opposite end, is fixed the second wheel d, d, which
therefore is placed without the wheel A. In the hollow of each wheel is placed

page_text: a small piece of drawing machinery, composed of a bevel wheel e, its axis f,
and its communicative wheel g. It consists further of two fluted cylinders h, i;
that marked i (see the upper wheel) being mounted in a moveable frame k,
and pressed against h by the spring t. Of the two bevel wheels c, c, one works
in c and the other in d, thro' a slit in the plate of the wheel A. If therefore
one of the wheels, as A, were to revolve about the common centre, while the
other remained at rest, the bevel wheel & would turn the circulating wheel e,
and give motion to the drawing cylinders of the wheel A; and the same effect
would be produced in the wheel B by the wheel c; but in such case the motion
of the drawing cylinders would be too great relatively to the twisting motion
of the whole, and therefore a rotary motion is given both A and B in the same
direction, in order that the drawing tendency may be the result of the difference
of such motion, by which means a great deal can be twisted against a moderate
length of drawing, which would have required more complicated mechanism
had the drawing motion been taken from any fixed pinion, which last method
may however be adopted when thought proper. An essential property of this
mechanism is that it draws and twists at the same time in any desirable pro-
portion, and also that it smooths and refines the thread between A and B, with
little or no addition of twist, in order to prepare it for the last operation of
twisting and windling on the bobbin. But, N.B., that sometimes only one of
the drawing systems, as A, e, h, i, k, is used, when the kind of thread admits
or requires it. It may be as well to precede the description of the most
usual form of this new spinning machine by some general observations on
the use of oblique cards, which are hereby claimed as a new Invention.
If, in Figure 24, the card A, B, turn in the direction A, B, having its wires
hooked in the direction of the arrows; and if, in the part of the oblique
card C, D, which touches A, B, its teeth be directed like the punctuated
arrows a, then these teeth, after the card has made half a revolution round its
axis y, z, will be placed in the direction of the black arrows b, the points directed
downwards; and if then a circular comb, formed like the crown wheel of a watch,
be applied, with its teeth parallel to the hooks of the card, such comb will strip
the card of its contents by driving back the filaments in the same lines they
were laid on in by A, B, but in a contrary direction, thus producing a roller
like that cross one produced by common carding. But if, as in Figure 25,
the card A, B, turn the same way while C, D, is sloped the contrary
way, having its teeth positioned as the dotted arrows a, then the hairs or fila-
ments will leave A, B, and be placed on C, D, obliquely across the hooks of
its card wires, and when these shall have been carried half a revolution
round the axis y, z, they will be found in the position of the black arrows b,

page_text: that is, nearly horizontal, with the filaments nearly vertical. In this state of
things a similar comb, whose teeth should be directed in the same lines as the
card wires, would sweep the filaments off the card by taking them nearly at
right angles, producing a ribbon composed of hairs placed somewhat obliquely
in the direction of its length, which is the best position for the subsequent
operations of spinning when a smooth thread is required; the former opera-
tion being preferable when a hairy thread is wanted, as for cloths, &c.; and
they both grow out of the use of oblique or diagonal cards, on which in
general this branch of the Invention is founded; and with respect to this
obliquity it admits of an infinite variety, as well in the relative position of
the touching cards, as in that of the hooks or wires on each, there being no
other bounds to this variety but a parallel position on the one hand and a
right angular position on the other. A series of these narrow cards with
diagonal teeth are also sometimes part on a cylinder or cone A, B, Figure 26,
which is made to work against the cylinder of a common card, as C, D, same
Figure (placing another series opposite these so as to sweep the intervals a, b, c,
&c. of said cylinder, as two sets of common straight hooked cards have been
before done), and to these diagonal cards the circular combs d, e, f, g, are
applied, and under or near them an equal number of spinners, such as A, B,
Figure 23, or bobbins, m, n, Figure 22, or both, if necessary; see their places
at h, i, k, l, when this form is employed.
Another new method of dividing into several portions or ribbons the
sheet of filament which is found on a given cylinder of any card is
this: A series of divergent cones a, b, c, d, e, f, Figure 27, are used for
that purpose, each turning on its own axis, properly inclined and touching
said cylinder in the line A, B; these cones are furnished with diagonal
or straight cards; if the former the combs are immediately applied to
them, and near these an equal number of spinners or bobbins in the manner
just mentioned.
See also h, i, k, l, m, n, same Figure. This system of
diverging figures may be also used to open long filaments, and that by
fixing to them proper cards or hooks, some leaning to the one side and some
to the other (but in general more to one side than to the other). When,
therefore, any mass of filament is laid on these hooks in the line A, B, that
mass will be considerably widened in the line h, n, and lie across the series of
figures, and here the filament is unhooked by a set of thin rollers placed in
the intervals of the figures a, b, c, as is shewn in the Figure 28, where it
is evident that if a turn, 6 will turn also (by the pressure of the trans-
verse filament), and will drive off the filament stretched between any two
figures b, c, and so for the other figures.

page_text: Another method for opening and carding filamentous substances is
this: On a body of a proper figure, A, Figure 29, are placed the
necessary hooks or card wires, which, by the contact of other bodies B, C,
opens and cards the filament in the usual way, but here these hooks are
placed in circular rows, and between each pair of rows passes a por-
tion of an endless line or chain E, going from the said body to that D, and
returning under A, until all the intervals are filled, when the two cuds of this
line are brought together by means of proper direction pullies. If then the bodies
A and D turn, any filament engaged between the hooks of A will be pushed off
by the lines when they leave F in a tangent, and thus be ready for recarding
or spinning as may be thought proper. The series of lines at E serve at the
same time as a feeding cloth. The same system may also be applied to the
same purposes without lines, and that by suitable metallic rings A, B,
Figure 30, hung round a body C, of a smaller diameter, and between its rows
of teeth as before mentioned. Here it is evident that if C revolve, A, B,
will roll on its surface (weighed down, if necessary, by the cylindrical weight D),
and thus push off the filaments at E, the motion of C being in the direction
of the arrow. One of the practical forms of this Invention shall now be
described. a, a, Figure 22, 31, are the feeding cylinders, which receive the
cotton in the form of a ribbon, and deliver it (by a slow motion taken from the
central axis through the wheels b, c,) to the central horizontal card A; observe,
also, in Figure 31, a new method of feeding by enveloping one of the feeding
cylinders with an endless cloth or leather d, so placed around a roller above d
as to bend more or less according to the length of the staple round the card A,
and press the cotton or wool softly against it, and thus equalize the feeding and
save the card from injury by any metallic contact. One or more endless cloths
or leathers x, y, may be used, made to run on rollers as swift as the card, and
to cover the naked parts of it so as to prevent the filament from being thrown
off' by the centrifugal force. From A the cotton or other filament passes to
the oblique card B. whose teeth are placed as before explained in Figure 24.
This card receives its motion from the central axis by the wheel and screw e
applied to the wheel f, the said wheel and screw being supported in a frame
formed like the dotted lines above B. The circular comb h, placed obliquely
with respect to the card B, plunges its teeth between those of the card, turns
by the contact, and strips the card of its filaments, which are immediately
taken from the comb by the spinning system described in Figure 23, and placed
at i in these Figures. From this latter machinery the thread descends to the
spindle k, l, the flyers of which move a little faster than the bobbin m, n, so
that the difference winds up the thread just as fast as the spinning system

page_text: furnishes it, and the coming thread, by the form of the bobbin, drive down
what was already wound, so as to gather-a very large quantity before it becomes
necessary to change the bobbins. The latter, it must be noted, is covered by a
cylinder o; p, fixed to its bottom, and rising nearly to the top, so as to prevent
the thread from flying unequally off the centro as tho bobbin diminishes to
give it room. qr, are the two wheels whose unequal numbers, acting on equal
pinions, cause the winding differenco above mentioned. N.B. This machi-
nery may work upward as well as downward, or the card axis may be horizontal
and carry several central cards, opposite to several drawing systems and
spindles, but the principles would remain the same. Sometimes the filaments
may be taken directly from the card B, by the spinning system, and also. by
pressing cylinders having no motion but round their axis. The same may also
be donc from the comb, either delivering the filament directly to the spindle k;
or to the spinning system. Sometimes one or two pairs of drawing cylinders
without twist are interposed between the machinery i and the spindle k, in order
to refine and smooth the thread previous to twisting,
In the former part of this Specification two forms of the watch or untwister
have been explained; another form shall now be given, which is, perhaps, more
convenient, altho' its principle be the same. A, B, Figure 32, is the section of
a wheel like those of Figures. 22 and 23; turning on a cannon.C. In this
wheel is screwed the untwisting machinery D, E, composed of four .sharp
grooved pullies a, b, c, d, which receive and bend the thread as it passes through
the cannon C, from the giving to the taking cylinders. The two pullies b, c,
are mounted on screws fixed in the moveable plate c, which can assume the.
position f, g, by which means a wire or hook passes directly-from-D through
the cannon, to bring up the thread, and this, when e resumes its present posi-
tion, is bent four times, viz, to the right of a, to the left of b, to the right of c,
and to the left of d, where it leaves the machine in the prolonged axis of the
cannon C. These bends of the thread and the action of drawing so connect it
with the pullies that turning round the cannon C-they undo any required pro-
portion of the twist contained in a given thread, which thereby becomes exten-
sible, as before mentioned.
Figure 33 represents another form tliat may be given to the receiving system.
S is the spindle turned by a proper wheel working in the pinion P. The wheel
a, at once cylindrical and bevel, runs loose on S, and receives its motion from
another wheel in the manner of those 1, 7, Figure 22. The pinion goes
through the bottom of the circular box 2, 1, and communicates the motion of
a to the wheel c, but the wheel c is a part of the flyers d, e, which turn on the
upper end of the spindle s, receiving the thread at from the spinning system.

page_text: Now if these flyers and the box q, r, turn together, but with a different velocity,
the thread brought by d, e, will be thrown against the hollow sides of the box
and carried gently round it, so as to be gathered up as fast as it leaves the other
machinery, and thus will be obtained the triple object of winding up a very
weak thread without danger of breaking, of winding up a large quantity with-
out stopping, and of winding it at once in the form of a skain so as to avoid the
necessity of reeling. N.B.-The flyer d, e, might be turned from above by a
pinion at a, and thus the wheels a, b, c, be suppressed, but the taking out of the
thread would be less convenient.
Figure 3 shews a different method of placing the circular comb
(h, Figure 22). If A, B, be a card (similar to that B, Figure 4), the comb
placed as at e, with its axis directed toward that of the card, and its teeth
plunged among those of the case, will drive off the filaments as at f, where
they may be taken immediately by the spinners, Figure 23, or any other
mechanism having the property of twisting and drawing at the same time. The
dlots on the card shew the direction of the card wires in this instance.
It may be now proper to mention and describe several other methods of pre-.
paring and spinning filamentous substances. Let A, Figure 35, be a card or
comb for receiving the filament delivered by the feeding cylinders B (placed as
well as A in any given position), when A revolves B gives out the filament
with a proper velocity; but the same line in the ribbon or filament is always
placed on the same circle of teeth in the card, whence arises more or less in-
equality of thickness in the sheet of feeding. To prevent this imperfection a
backward and forward motion in direction of the axis of A is given to the frame
which carries B, as is expressed by the two arrows on B. That motion is here
given by a crank C of very small radius moving swiftly, and thus changing con-
tinually the place of the approaching filament on the card A. This system is
called the skaking feeder, and it should be observed that as it is necessary the
shake should be nearly parallel to the surface of A, the frame which contains
B must inove in a slide or round a centre far beyond D.
In Figure 36 is shewn another system of feeding which is called the throwing
feeder, and this is its principle. A is a kind of hollow box containing the filament
in a state of ribbon (or connected longitudinally in any other state); when the
box turns, the wheel D circulates round the pinion C, which is concentric with the
axis of revolution of the box, and is either fixed or turned with the box as the
necessary proportion of draft may require. By these means one set of the
pressing cones or cylinders x, y, z, receives and communicates to the other sets the
motion necessary for drawing the filament out of the box and delivering it at E
with a proper velocity, and as the cylinders are at a distance from the centre of

page_text: motion of the box, they describe a circle round A, and would deliver filament to
any number of combs or cards that should be placed in that circle (say those B,
Figure 22, or A, B, Figure 41).
Figure 37 shows another method of feeding applicable to long filaments,
such as flax, &c. It is a cylinder a, thro' which passes an endless ribbon made
of any proper material, whose width is just equal to the inner circumference of
a. This ribbon passes over two rollers B, C, one of which, aided by a third
roller, presses it and draws it forward in the direction D, a, e. By these means
the ribbon changes its place in the cylinder, so that any wool or other filamentous
substance laid on it at D will be rolled up on entering the cylinder, and there
pinched more or less according to its quantity. Thus the filament will be
delivered regularly to combs or cards at the end e, and be held by pressure only.
This is a kind of mechanical distaff to which points or hooks are sometimes
applied going thro' the ribbon and converging to the centro of the cylinder, so
as to hold the filament still faster; and note, that instead of a cylinder one may
use any other prismatical figure, with two or more ribbons uniting in it, for tho
samo purpose.
Here follows the description of a method of pressing filamants, whether for
feeding or drawing, which possesses new and important properties. If two
cylinders, Figure 88, are destined to work together, the surface of each is cut
into a very fine screw of many threads, both of the same kind, whether right or
left handed, which, when they come together, touch only by the convex surfaces
of these threads, which cross each other in the line of contact, and thus really
pinch but a part of the filament existing between them, and even this part
changes every moment. Hence there is no danger of breaking any one hair,
altho' it should pass at the same time between two pair of cylinders moving with
unequal velocities, as it cannot be held by both but for an imperceptible
moment. In Figure 39 let 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, be five rulers (more orless), with two
rows of pins driven into them at a, b; place a hair between these pins, and if
the rulers are then displaced (by proper mechanism at c) so that 2 and + move
a given distanco in opposite directions, and 1 and 5 any other listance double of
the former, then the hair or filament will have a-sumed the position c, 7, and if
these movements be continued the pins of the two exterior bars will quit the
hair entirely, as will afterwards those of the bars 2 and 4 also, thus leaving the
hair placed longitudinally on the middle bar, which may or may not be a
furnished with pins like the rest. Now, the same thing would have taken
place with respect to any number of filaments placed parallel to these across
the bars, all these hairs would have been united on the bar 3 in a fasces ready
to become a thread by the sole operation of twisting. This system becomes of

page_text: more general use by the adoption of wheels or circular plates instead of of bars,
and to give them these unequal motions one method is to place a number of
them on hollow axes or cannons, one turning in the other, and being furnished
at their opposite ends with wheels of proper diameters to occasion these
differences. See A, B, Figure 40. Thus, then, by employing a good number
of plates surrounded with teeth, as at C, D, any given number of fasces
of wool or any other filament, requiring only to be twisted to become threads
under the most favorable circumstances, is produced. Supposing then that the
motions above described are so arranged as to produce six ribbons on the
twelve plates of Figure 40, as then the distance between each pair of ribbons
may be insufficient to permit the twisting of each without danger of conglo-
merating the whole, the following is one of the methods employed to obviate
this difficulty: the conical combs a, b, c, are used, which, taking between
the teeth of C, D, carry by the difference of their diameters and conicity each
line of filament to d, e, f, respectively, where they may be twisted and wound
up without danger, by any of the above-mentioned spindles. Various means
may be used to lay the wool or other filament upon this series of plates;
a moveable comb, like that of Figure 41, the revolving cards of common
machinery, or, in fine, either of the new alimentary systems just described. In
some, and perhaps in most cases, it will be best fel by the eccentric feeder of
Figure 36, so placed as to throw the filament on the plates in a diagonal or
helical direction, as shewn by the arrow, Figure 40. This system, under
several other forms, is also used, one of which is shewn in the 42 Figure.
There the plates above described are successively less and less, so as when
united to form a kind of cone a, b, while the teeth are placed on them, either
as in Figure 40, or parallel to the axis of their motion, or in a divergent or
convergent position; sometimes these differences of diameter are made such
as that the section of the whole may offer a circular hollow c, d, to which any
round card or comb E (or the centrifugal feeder) may apply with exactness,
so as to give filament to all the plates; but all these forms are] branches of the
same Invention. Another means of separating the several partial ribbons
formed on the above-mentioned system consists ingiving to each successive
plate a different centre and a different diameter; thus in Figure 43 all the cir-
cumferences would coincide at a, but at would be far enough asunder to
permit the twisting of each fasces without mixing several together. The Figure
shews how this eccentricity can be obtained, viz, by the insertion of humlar
prisms c, e, n, to fill up the difference between the diameter of any given
cannon and that immediately abovo it. It is hardly necessary to observe that
the motions are given to these plates by proper wheels, as in the case of.

page_text: Figure 40. Another system employed for producing small ribbons of any
filamentous substance is shown in Figure 44. The throwing feeder or a circular
card is placed in the centre C, and round it any proper number of combs,
a, b, c, d, e, converging to the circumference of the given circle so as to mix
their teeth as it were, and form there a kind of card, receiving filament from
either of the above feeders. These combs have a given motion round their
respective axes (either all the same way, or every other one in a contrary
direction), and by their divergency the filament is separated into a number of
equal elements, that need only be twisted at f, g, h, &c., to form distinct threads,
which is the object in view. N.B.-These combs are straight or plain, as at
a, b, conical as at m, n, or cylindrical, with their teeth sloped to the right or
left, as their various positions and motions may require. They are also composed
sometimes of several plates with unequal motions, like the system of Figure 42.
And N.B. that sometimes other combs, as 0 (placed obliquely in an opposite
position), are applied, which, by their motion in different planes, comb and
smooth the filament for the subsequent operations of spinning; and this last
system assumes any proper dimensions according, as it is intended to open
large quantities of filament, or to produce small ribbons, to be spun imme-
diately, as in its present connection.
Another system of spinning, which is claimed as a new Invention, is the fol-
lowing-A, Figure 45, is part of a revolving card filled with a filamentous
substance (or it represents the circle in which the throwing feeder revolves),
and B is a conical comb, with its teeth converging towards the centre, and
represented by its section a, b, c. This comb turns on a hollow axis B, C, and
receives from A a constant supply of filament thrown on those teeth of the
comb which successively assume the position a, b, but as in tho tube B, C,
there is a thread placed which the machinery draws at C, but without twist, it
is the motion of the filament at a which twists the thread in the tube, and
combines constantly with it those hairs which are snatched by the comb from
the card, and thus an endless thread is produced, which can be wound directly s
on any body D, without further twisting, whence arises a considerable degree
of simplicity in the rest of the machinery. That form of the system which has
been just described requires a perforated axis to the comb B, but it is possible
to use the system without it. Thus in Figure 46, A is the comb, and B part
of the delivering card; A turns on a solid axis (', while at D there is a ring or
eye fixed, thro' which the nascent thread passes to go to the bobbin or reel (for
either may be used). The inspection of the Figure will complete the explana-
tion, when it is added that the teeth of the comb A may assume any proper
position in the surface of A, and that the comb may be simple or composed,

page_text: See Figure 42. It would be also possible to twist the end D of the thread
which would accelerate the work per spindle, but it would occasion more com-
plication in the machinery.
Figure 47 represents another method of using these combs. A is the card, as
before, and B, C, the section of the comb; the latter turns with a certain
degree of swiftness, but only just enough to carry the filament from C to B,
while the fly and bobbin D, E, draw it off and twist it in the manner heretofore
described.
It must be here remarked that this new system of twisting the thread by
throwing. its component parts round its axis, permits the introduction
of double, treble, or multiple spinning. In other words, it permits the
spinning of cords with any given number of strands and with any material.
Thus the form represented in the 48 Figure produces a twine with two strands,
or, as it is called in some manufactories, a thread doubled and twisted, and
nothing prevents combining a greater number of strands at the moment of spin-
ning them, which is at once a proof of the newness and excellency of the system.
Another method of spinning, which admits also of combining several
threads, and is principally adapted to the spinning of long stapled materials,
shall now be described. To shew it in its most simple form, let A, B,
Figure 41, be a comb (of any of the afore-mentioned descriptions)
carried round the axis c, d, by means of the wheel E, F, and revolving
at the same time slowly round its own axis by means of the pinion a,
moved by the wheel b, the latter urged by the fixed pinion C, round which it
circulates; let, further, G, HI, be a feeding system of any of the kinds here-
tofore mentioned, then the comb A, B, every time it passes the feeder, will
seize a few of the filaments there offered, and carry them successively to L,
where they will be twisted and drawn thro' the eye in a state of thread as before
stated. If, then, several of these doubly revolving combs be placed round
a common axis A, Figure 49, and moved by the wheel B acting on the pinions
C, D, while an equal number of feeders E, F, supply the material, in this
case they will each produce a thread G, H, and these being once brought
together will produce a cabled thread at O, which will take its twist from the
combined action of each strand G, H, as in the common methods. But that
nothing may remain vague or variable in this operation, Figure 50 is the plan
of a method that has been adopted to fix the ratio between the twist of each
strand and that of the cord resulting from its union with the rest. A, B is a
fixed wheel or ring with teeth on its inside; C, D, O, are the wheels which
give motion to the combs a, b, c, d, e, f, as in the last Figure; E, F, H, are
R

page_text: three feeding systems so placed as that the progress of C, D, E, in A, D, shall
always bring the teeth of the combs to act on the filament they furnish. Thus
when C comes to D, the comb a, b, which now takes from E, will then feed
upon F, and so of the rest. Every comb will take successively from every feeder,
and thus the whole card must necessarily be cylindrical if the whole feed be equal,
for, should any one comb take too much filament, the next must take as much
too little, &c. But observe also, that the centres of C, D, E, move in different
directions from their circumferences, or, in other words, the common axis P
moves contrary to the partial ones n, o, p, and thus when the velocities aro
properly co-ordonnated, they give naturally and constantly to the cord
that quantity of twist in one direction which the opposite twist of the strands
requires. In this case the former is to the latter as one to three; but if any
other ratio were required, the wheels C, D, E, must bear other proportions to
the ring A, B, and the number of the feeders E, F, H, must be increased or
diminished in the same ratio. The Figure 49 will represent the elevation of
this plan, if we suppose the axis A lengthened to O, the fixed ring applied
at x, y, the pieco K carried round with the axis A, O, and the wheel B
suppressed.
In a preceeding part of this Specification is contained the principles of a Dew
method of opening, arranging, and even spinning filamentous substances, and
that by the displacement of the joints or teeth of which the comb, hackle, or
card is composed, with respect to each other. The Figures 51, 52, and 53,
here annexed, give one of the forms of reducing that system to practice.
A, B, is a frame of wood, carrying, among other things, a potence X, which
supports certain pillars or rollers Y, Z, the use of which, combined with the
toothed wheel W, is to keep the rings u, v, (say eight in number, more or less),
in the position which will be more fully explained. The diameters of these
rings are such as that when they all lie flat against each other, having the end
of a given diameter of each in the same plane at t, the other ends of these
diameters, the points included, are found in the circumference of the circle
described about the centre P, according to the principle already given. Those
rings are all furnished with teeth or points u, v, and their inside is cut into teeth,
which receive motion from the wheel W; but as this wheel works alike into all
the rings, the motions they receive ditler in proportion to their diameters. The
enter P of the axis R carries on a proper support of metal; the horizontal
axis (). O, each end of which is furnished with a spherical or conical comb m and
9. the teeth of which point inward, and both which combs in turning round P
pass the feeding rollers a, seize a portion of filament, throw it on the teeth of
9, 1, 3,

page_text: the rings u, v, and comb it by successive passages, until it is carried away by
them towards t. It must also be observed that the comb m, q, (by means of
the screw and wheels 1, 2, 8), have a slow motion round their own axis, and
thus the filament they take at n cannot remain long upon them, but wholly
passes to the points of u, v, after having been combed by frequent passages
near them. It need not be added that the feeding cloth 4, 5, receives its
motion from the axis of W by a chain and wheel 6, and that the feeding
cylinder n, as well as the wheel W, and the receiving cylinder t, take
theirs from their central axis R by the wheelwork and screw 7, 8, 9,
while the central axis is turned from above by a separate arbor, con-
nected with it by a fork at its upper end near O.
or filament distributed on the cloth 4, 5, is given by the rollers n to the
combs m, q, by them to the rings u, v, whose unequal motions necessarily lay
the hairs in length, and in as many fasces as there are intervals, while the
receiving rollers t. moving a little faster than the said rings u, v, draw out
the filament and unite it into a ribbon fit to be spun at once (by the oblique
card spinning machine already described), to almost any degree of fineness.
Thus, then, the wool
In order to be able to receive thread or yarn very little twisted,
and of course very weak, without danger of breaking it under the spinner
described in one of the Figures in the preceding part of this Specificat,
(viz, that mechanism which, receiving the wool from the comb, begins'
thread and delivers it to the bobbin), the cone or hollow body A, Figure 4,
open at the top a, and having round or under it one or more spiral spaces c
so placed with respect to the twisting motion of the body as by it to create a
partial vacuum in the abrupt recess b, and thus to suck in the thread at a
with more or less force as the velocity and the opening 6 is greater or smaller,
and in some cases the said spinner is suppressed by fixing to the top of this
cone, at a, one of its drawing systems receiving motion from a fixed pinion
which serves at the same time as a collar for this end of the cone to move in;
or, in fine, if a fixed pinion should give too much drawing tendency (as was
before observed), then with a proper wheel a motion of its own is given to
that pinion, differing from that of the cone and drawing system, that the effect
may be as desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Williams, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seven.
S. WILLIAMS. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of August, in the
forty-seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said Samuel Williams came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form abovo written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the forty-
fourth voor of His said Majesty's reign.