A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TYING OR WINDING STRINGS OR THREADS UPON A CERTAIN PART OR PARTS OF HANKS OF COTTON, SILK, LINEN, THREAD, WORSTED, MERINO, OR OTHER YARN PREVIOUS TO DYEING THE SAME
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Caldwell, of Loughborough, in the County
of Leicester, of the Firm of Messieurs E. and F. Caldwell, Hosiery
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE OR
APPARATUS FOR TYING OR WINDING STRINGS OR THREADS UPON A CERTAIN PART
OR PARTS OF HANKS OF COTTON, SILK, LINEN, THREAD, WORSTED, MERINO, OR
OTHER YARN PREVIOUS TO DYEING THE SAME."
Sealed the 31st October 1865, and dated the 4th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Caldwell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
4th May 1865.
I, FREDERICK CALDWELL, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, of
the Firm of Messieurs E. and F. Caldwell, Hosiery Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE
OR APPARATUS FOR TYING OR WINDING STRINGS OR THREADS UPON A CERTAIN PART
OR PARTS OF HANKS OF COTTON, SILK, LINEN, THREAD, WORSTED, MERINO, OR OTHER
YARN PREVIOUS TO DYEING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of machinery or apparatus in which a framing
consisting of standards, connected by tie-bars, supports or forms bearings for
the several parts of the apparatus; one or more of these tie-bars forms a bed,
upon which slides a piece in which are bearings for a main driving shaft, and
also a shaft screwed at one end thereof; the other ends of these shafts are
supported by and work in fixed bearings at or near one end of the framing.

page_text: The screwed shaft is provided with a handle, by which it is turned to move
the sliding bearings nearer to or farther from the fixed bearings, for the
purpose of stretching the hanks of thread or yarn to be tied and wound
previously to being dyed. Each hank is placed at each end upon a hook or
similar contrivance at the end of two or more spindles working in the moving
bearings and in the fixed bearings. The main driving shaft bas toothed
wheels at or near either 'end outside the fixed and sliding bearings; these
wheels gear into other wheels on the outer end of the hooked spindles, one of
which spindles has a screw cut upon it which takes into a wheel on a spindle
provided with one or more speed pulleys, over which pulleys is passed a strap,
which also passes round a pulley on an axle, upon which is a toothed wheel,
which moves a rack attached to a perforated bar, through the perforations of
which, or through guides used in lieu thereof, the strings, cords, or threads
are passed from a number of spools, from which they are supplied, such strings,
cords, or threads are each tied tightly round the portion of the hank of yarn
where required, and the machine being put in motion, and the required
number of revolutions made, the strings are cut and tied; the banks are then
unbanked or loosed, when they are ready for dyeing. The machinery or
apparatus may be horizontal or vertical, and the strings, cord, thread, or yarn
spools may be unwound, as required, by a series of wheels, one of which may
gear into a wheel on the main driving shaft; or the spools may have a regular
tension put upon them by a spring or weight, or like contrivance. I also
effect the same object by placing each hank in a cylinder or frame constructed
in such manner that the required number of spools of thread, cord, string, or
yarn may revolve the requisite number of times.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Caldwell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CALDWELL, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, of the Firm of
Messieurs E. and F. Caldwell, Hosiery Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Caldwell, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick

page_text: Caldwell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Frederick Caldwell, 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 "A NEW
OR IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TYING OR WINDING STRINGS OR THREADS
UPON A CERTAIN PART OR PARTS OF HANKS OF COTTON, SILK, LINEN, THREAD,
WORSTED, MERINO, OR OTHER YARN PREVIOUS TO DYEING THE SAME," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Caldwell, 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 Frederick Caldwell, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of machinery or apparatus in which framing con-
sisting of standards connected by tie-bars, supports or forms bearings for the
several parts of the apparatus; one or more of these tie-bars forms a bed,
upon which slides a piece in which are bearings for a main driving shaft, and
also a shaft screwed at one end thereof; the other ends of these shafts are
supported by and work in fixed bearings at or near one end of the framing.
The screwed shaft is provided with a handle, by which it may be turned to
move the sliding bearings nearer to or further from the fixed bearings for
the purpose of stretching the banks of thread or other yarn to be tied and
wound previously to being dyed. Each hank is placed at each end upon a
hook or similar contrivance at the end of two or more spindles working in the
moving and in the fixed bearings. The main driving shaft has toothed wheels
at or near either end outside the fixed and sliding bearings; these wheels gear
into other wheels on the outer end of the hooked spindles, one of which
spindles has a screw cut upon it, which takes into a wheel on a spindle
provided with one or more speed pulleys, over which is passed a strap, which,
also passes round a pulley on an axle, upon which is a toothed wheel, which
moves a rack attached to a perforated bar, through the perforations of which,
or through guides used in lieu thereof, the strings, cords, or threads are passed

page_text: from a number of spools, from which they are supplied, such strings, cords, or
threads are each tied tightly round the portion of the bank of yarn where
required, and the machine being put in motion, and the required number of
revolutions made, the strings are cut and tied; the hanks are then unhooked:
or loosed, when they are ready for dyeing. The machinery or apparatus may
be in a horizontal or vertical position, and the strings, cords, thread, or yarn:
spools may be unwound as required by a series of wheels, one of which may
gear into a wheel on the main driving shaft, or the spools may have a regular
tension put upon them by a spring or weight, or equivalent contrivance.
I also effect the same object by placing each hank in a cylinder or frame,
constructed in such manner that the required number of spools of thread,:
cord, string, or yarn may revolve the requisite number of times.
Having thus set forth the nature of the Invention, I proceed to particularly.
describe the manner of performing the same with reference to the Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 a front view of a machine constructed.
according to my Invention, for tying one hank at once; according to one
modification of my improvements parts of the said machine are also applicable
to be employed in machines constructed according to other modifications of
my Invention; such parts I will also refer to in describing a machine
constructed according to a second modification of my improvements.
The teeth of the toothed wheels herein-after referred to are not shown.
In Figures 1 and 2 A represents a framing, which affords support to or
forms bearings for the several parts of the machine, that is to say, a slotted
bed B, upon which slides a bracket C, made to slide by a screwed rod C', s
which has a toothed wheel C on the opposite end to its screw; the wheel C
is moved by a wheel C³ furnished with a winch handle, by which the bracket C
is moved nearer to or further from the right end of the machine, in the upper
part of which is a spindle D, having on its outer end a wheel D', gearing into
a larger wheel D lying next to a wheel D³, which is next to a fly wheel
provided with a handle for driving the machine. The wheels D, D³, and the
fly wheel are upon one end of a shaft D', and a wheel D is keyed at the
opposite end of the shaft, and gears into a broader toothed wheel Dº, upon-
the outer end of a spindle passed through the bracket C; the inner end of this
spindle, and also the inner end of the spindle D, are each provided with a
hook, upon which is hooked the hank to be tied, such bank is stretched or
loosed by a screw rod C', moved as above described, to allow for the partial
traverse of such movement. The wheel D is made broader than the wheel D³.

page_text: E is a bed upon or in which slides a grooved piece F, provided on its under
side with a rack (not shown in the Drawings), which rack and grooved piece F
are traversed to the right by means of a wheel F turning loosely upon the
axle of a toothed wheel F', driven by a worm upon one end of the axle of a
toothed wheel F³, gearing into the wheel D³ upon the fly wheel shaft D*; the
wheel Fis driven by friction springs lying between it and the wheel F¹, to
which the springs are secured. This arrangement enables the wheel F*, which
moves the rack, to be turned the reverse way by a pinion upon the axle of a
hand wheel F, so as to take back the piece F to the adjustable stop pre-
viously to commencing to tie a hank. The groove in the picce F is for the
purpose of allowing any required number of string guides G to be set any
distance apart according to the length of the ties to be made; the guides
when set are clamped to the piece F by a screw clamp to each. Each guide
is provided with a strong spring G¹ capable of being adjusted by a set screw G²,
and also of being raised by a small lever G³, one end of which lies between the
spring and the bed of the guide G. In front of the set screw G³ is a grooved
pulley G; in front of this pulley the guide is pierced with a small hole.
Each guide is supplied with string from a ball G5, the end of the string is first
passed through a loop or eye in the end of the guide furthest from the bank,
and then under the spring G¹ and round the pulley G', then through the small
hole next the bank in front; the end of the string is then passed through the
bank and turned back over the top of the hank, and placed in a nick or under
a spring at the right hand side of the guide, so as to give the string a lead,
the machine being then started, as the bank turns round the string will be
wrapped round the bank in front of each guide in two or three turns of the
hank; the end of the string which was passed under the spring or in the nick
at the right of the guide or feeder will be drawn out and secured by the string
tying it up with the hank. The required tension is put upon the string by the
guide spring G', which is raised to release the string when it has been wrapped
round the bank sufficiently. Between the string so wrapped round the bank
and the bank itself I place a piece of paper or other material, which material
combined with the string so wrapped round the bank will effectually prevent
the entrance of the dye used to dye the portions of the hank which are so
wrapped, the portion of the wrapped string being cut from the ball of string.
I pass a loop of such cut end of string through or under the last wrap or turn
twisted round the bank; the hank is then loosed from the hooks of the
spindles, and the same operation of tying performed on another bank. The
string used in the above described operation should be without knots, as knots
will not readily pass round the pulley of the guide or feeder G*; but if knotted

page_text: string is used, the spring G¹ of the guide or feeder should be set so that it
will rise to allow a knot to pass under it, but the string must not be passed
round the pulley G. Instead of putting the requisite tension upon the string
by means of the spring G*, I use equivalent means to effect the same purpose,
as, for instance, the string may be supplied from a spool or bobbin placed
upon the square stem of a spindle H, having at its lowest end a friction pulley,
round which is passed a band H', having one of its ends secured to a stud in
the under side of the bed E, and its other end is passed on to a hook at one
end of a spring H, which has its other end hooked on a stud or short lever in
a bar, rod, or roller H³, which holds the springs in a state of tension until such
springs are released by raising a spring or lever H' at one end, such spring or
lever falling upon a stud in a lever secured in the bar, rod, or roller H³, which
method enables me to put the required tension upon the string used for tying
whether such string be knotted or not, the strings from the spools being guided
along the hank to be tied in the manner above explained.
By using a machine constructed as above described, although I can make
as many ties upon one hank simultaneously as I may wish, I can only operate
upon one bank at once; or by placing two such machines back to back, and by
driving them at once by gearing them together. I could only tie the two hanks
at once. To operate upon a greater number of banks, however, I employ a
machine constructed according to a second modification of my improvements;
such a machine is shown in Figures 3 to 9 inclusively. Figure 3 is a front
view of this machine; Figure 4, a plan of the upper part thereof, showing the
respective positions of the wheels; Figure 5 is a plan of the lower part above
the lower spindle bed, shewing the short driving shaft carrying the lower set of
driving pulleys; Figure 6 shows the shape of one of the end standards;
Figure 7 is a sectional view of the machine without the end standards;
Figure 8 plan of a portion of a spool frame at one end; and Figure 9 a
sectional view of the same frame..
A, A, are two end standards, to which are secured two horizontal bars B or
ties, and two other tie-bars C, which form bearings for the upper 24-hank hook
spindles C³, a greater or less number of which may be put together according
Above the bars B are two other bars C¹, some-
to the length of the machine.
what shorter than the length of the machine between the standards; these
bars C¹ form the bearings for the lower 24-hank hook spindles C, and have
each three shafts C³ passed through them, which shafts take the form of a
screw for part of their length, such screwed parts work in nuts within the bar
or rail C¹, so that the said bar by their means is capable of being raised or
lowered to loosen or tighten hanks of yarn placed on the hooks of the spindles C²;

page_text: the bar C is raised or lowered by the shafts C³, being provided at their
lowest ends with toothed bevel wheels, which gear into other toothed bevil
wheels on a horizontal shaft C, which has a toothed wheel C on its left end
gearing into a toothed wheel C, moved by a hand winch. The back screwed
shafts are driven simultaneously with the front ones by intermediate toothed
wheels C gearing into wheels Cs, upon each pair of shafts C³, such wheels C³
lying above the bevil wheels on their lower ends. The upper and lower yarn
hook spindles are driven simultaneously by toothed wheels, which gear into
each other; the end wheels in the front and back rows gear into intermediate
wheels D upon two vertical shafts D', which have toothed bevel wheels at
their lower end, which gear into other bevil wheels D³, keyed on a horizontal
shaft Ds, provided with a toothed wheel gearing into a similar wheel D³ on a
short shaft provided with driving pulleys D', round which a strap is passed,
which also passes round two other pulleys furnished with a fly wheel and
handle for driving the same, or the machine may be driven by steam or other
power. The wheel Ds has a grooved boss; in this groove lie the forked ends
of a sliding bar D6, having a spring at the left end, and a stud at the right
end. This stud is held by a lever D', shaped so as to hold the stud either by
the upper or lower side thereof; the fork of the sliding bar when so held
keeps the wheel D³ in gear with the wheel on the shaft D³, so that both
revolve together, but when a pin which is seen in Figure 1 below the pointed
end of the lever rises up, the lever will be forced away from the stud in the
sliding bar D, and the bar will immediately be pulled to the left, moving at
the same time the wheel D³ out of gear with the wheel on the shaft D³, by
which means the machine is stopped; the machine will also be stopped when
the pin above named is falling, such pin is capable of adjustment in the lower
end of the catch frame hereafter referred to. E is a guide bar, there being
one guide bar to each side of a spool frame, which spool frame is formed in
two lengths upon the lower side by brackets E', which connect the two bars
together, see Figures 7, 8, and 9, and also form bearings for a spool board E²,
and two rollers or rods E³, in which are studs E* (Figure 8), which pass
through slits in the spool board. Upon the studs are placed one end of the
springs connected with the belt or strap, which passes round each friction
pulley on the square spindles for the spools E³ in the same manner as is
described in my first modification. Besides the studs E' is a stud at each
end of the rods E, which stud takes into the catch of a spring E, for the
purpose of releasing the tension upon the string spools. The guide bars E
near each end, and also at their centre, slide upon the shafts C³, and are
furnished still nearer the ends with a catch bolt E, each pair of which is held

page_text: by a spring E; the catch bolts take into either of the recesses E' on each of
the catch frames, which are secured to the cross heads F, through the centre
of each of which is passed a screwed shaft F', the bottom ends of which shafts
work in bearings formed by brackets on the end standards, the upper ends
being passed through cross bars attached to the tie-bars C, above which the
screwed shafts are each provided with a toothed wheel F, which gears into a
wheel F on the upper ends of the shafts D'. The wheels F are capable of
being placed alternately in and out of gear by the forked ends of a rocking
lever Fo, moved as required by a hand rod at the left end of the machine. By
this arrangement it follows that if the wheel F be out of gear at the right end
and the one at the opposite end is in gear, and the machine is started, the
.catch frames will descend, and if these wheels are thrown in and out the
reverse way, the catch frames will rise, as both the screwed shafts F¹ are
moved simultaneously by means of toothed bevel wheels F³, which gear into
similar wheels F upon a horizontal shaft at the top of the machine. To the
four ends of the string guide bars E are attached one end of four wire cords
or chains passed over pulleys G near each end and at each side of the machine;
the other ends of the cords or chains are secured to larger pulleys G¹ on a
shaft having a winch handle, by which the spool frames can be raised as
required by hand.
I will now describe the operation of tying the 24 hanks simultaneously.
Suppose the number of ties I require upon each hank to be five, which number
is represented by the number of adjustable catches shewn set in the catch
frame, the spring catches at each end of the bars E are placed in the lowest
catches by raising the spool frame by the cords, the twenty-four ends of string
are attached as in the machine first described to the hanks, which are placed
upon the pairs of hooks, that is, an upper and a lower hook to each hank, and
the machine being started it is run until one length of tie is made, at which
time the stud lying below the lever D7 will cause the wheel D³ to be thrown
out of gear, consequently the machine will then stop working; the string of
each tie is then drawn through the last lap in a loop, a piece of string is
slipped in such loop to form a cotter, and the string is drawn tight; the spring
bolts are thrown out of the catches, the spool frame is raised by the cords
until they drop into the next upper catches, which are level or even with the
top of the next tie, the rocking lever F is made to reverse, the machine is
again started, and the second tie is made by the spool and catch frames
.descending. The above movements being repeated according to the number of
ties required on each bank. From the above description it is apparent that
I can also effect the same object by placing each bank in a cylindrical or other

page_text: shaped frame constructed in such manner that the required number of spools
of thread, cord, string, or yarn may revolve round the bank the requisite
number of times.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the improved
machinery or apparatus in so far as regards the general arrangement and
combination of parts of which the same consists, substantially as hercin
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Caldwell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Office,
Nottingham.
FREDERICK CALDWELL. (L.S.)