CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
EPHRAIM HALLUM, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Cotton
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Her United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-second day of October, in the Fifteenth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ephraim Hallum, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority that I, the said Ephraim
Hallum, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Ephraim Hallum, my exors, adñiors, and 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN PREPARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I,

page_text: the said Ephraim IIallum, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
enrolled in Her said 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Ephraim Hallum, do hereby declare that the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention relates, firstly, to the preparation of raw or waste
cottons, wool, silk, or other fibrous substances, in those kind of carding
engines commonly called condensing, the distinctive features of which
engines, for the more clear understanding of this and other subsequent
parts of my Invention, I shall here describe.
In the ordinary carding engines, as is well known, a fleece of
material is taken off the doffing cylinder, equal to the whole breadth of
the carding cylinder, by means of the dofling knife or rollers, and this
fleece is afterwards compressed together into a single sliver. In the con-
densing carding engine, on the contrary, the fleece is stripped off the
carding cylinder in a great number of separate strips or slivers, which
are separately condensed or consolidated, and wound on to bobbins.
This is illustrated in Drawing No. 1. Referring to Fig. 1, therein,
A, is the carding cylinder, the material spread over which is taken off by
the revolving doffer rollers B, and B. Fig. 2, is a side view of these
rollers, by which it will be seen that they are furnished with a number
of narrow card fillets b, b, &c., those of the one being arranged alter-
nately to those of the other, so that what the upper doffer B, leaves on
the cylinder A, the lower one B', takes up. The fleece will thus be
divided into a great number of narrow slivers, which are again doffed
or stripped from the fillets b, b, &c. by the small rollers C, and C¹,
and are thence carried forward through the rollers h, h, and guide

page_text: Wires 3, to the bobbins D, and D', on which they are wound by
contact with the revolving cylinders E, and E'. The guide wires j,
are attached to a rod k, which traverses backward and forward across
the frame so as to distribute the coils, the amount of traverse being
regulated according to the pitch of the spindles in the spinning-frame.
Previously to their being wound on the bobbins, however, they are
passed between two bands of leather or other suitable material a, a,
which are continually in motion horizontally, and in close approximation
to one another, as shewn in Fig. 3, by which means each sliver is rolled
round and consolidated or condensed into a compact thread. It is from
this latter action that the name of condensing obtains to this kind of
carding engine. Now the ordinary method of feeding such carding
engines has been by means of a broad continuous roll of fibrous ma-
terial called a lap, placed in the same position as F, shewn in Fig. 1,
and fed by contact with a revolving roller G, through the feeding rollers
H, H, to the licker-in L, or also by means of a number of ends or
slivers, conducted through guides to the feeding rollers, either by the
well understood hand process, or by different kinds of apparatus known
as self-acting feeders.
My improvement consists in employing a similar arrangement of
feeding as that used with the ordinary broad coiled lap, but substituting
for the said lap a lap composed of a succession of coils of slivers placed
side by side, and close together on a rod or roller, so many separate
coils being used as fill up the required breadth. In employing such
laps, I do not confine myself to feeding with one lap into each
machine, but I sometimes feed two or more together, according to the
nature of the raw material and of the yarn to be manufactured. In
Figs. 1, and 4, I have shewn this mode of feeding with two laps F,
and F', and it will be here seen that each lap consists of a number of
separate and distinct coils (ranged parallelly to one another in its
length) c, c, c, &c. In addition also to using two or more laps at the
same time, I sometimes also cause each coil to consist of two or
more separate slivers wound together, so that I am able to double the
material entering the machine to be carded to any extent required by
two different means; namely, first, by using two or more laps; second,

page_text: by having two or more slivers to each coil. The result of this will be
à more even condensed sliver or thread when delivered from the card
than can be obtained by the ordinary means. This power of doubling
at the carding engine, however, is not the only advantage gained by
this mode of feeding, inasmuch as it is also evident that, the slivers can
be doubled and drawn by the ordinary well-known processes, to any
extent previously to their being coiled into a lap. With reference to
the formation of the laps, the machine which I prefer for this purpose
as fulfilling the condition of laying a number of coils on at one time,
with a number of slivers in each coil, is that known as the Derby
doubler, although in many cases other processes may be employed,
which may conveniently answer the required end. The above-described
mode of feeding having previously been in use in carding engines of an
ordinary construction, I do not claim as new the said mode of feeding
"per se," but only in respect of its combination with the peculiar kind
of carding engine called condensing, to which, although particularly
adapted to the nature of the material usually treated in such machines,
and resulting in consequence in considerable advantage therein, it has
never hitherto been applied.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the method of doubling the
produce of the condensing carding engine at the subsequent process of
spinning in any of those kinds of mules, throstles, or other spinning
frames which are adapted to spin such produce. The ordinary mode
of feeding such frames is by placing the bobbin (containing a number
of ends or condensed slivers coiled side by side) horizontally in the
.creel, and in contact with a revolving cylinder which turns the ends off,
and delivers them at a proper speed to the drawing rollers, and thence
to the spindles. This is shewn in Fig. 1, Drawing No. 2, where A, is
the bobbin; B, the contact cylinder; C, C, the drawing rollers, and
D, in Fig. 3, the spindle. In this arrangement, the method which has
hitherto been in practice has been to allow the contact roller B, to
distribute only one end to each spindle, whereas, however, great im-
provement in the quality of the yarn at all times arises from the process
.of doubling and drawing. This part of my Invention consists in dis-
tributing to each spindle two or more ends, giving draft by the drawing

page_text: rollers, or stretch by the carriage, or both, according to the fineness of
the yarn required. Now the modes in which I carry this particularly
into effect are the following; that is to say, in those cases where I
distribute two ends to each spindle I employ one row of bobbins, and
turn off the ends two and two together, so as to double themselves into
one while passing through the drawing rollers, as shewn in Fig. 2, which!
is part of a plan of a spinning-frame, where the same letters refer to the
same parts as in Fig. 1, the red lines pointing the direction of the ends.
It will be evident that in doubling under this arrangement, those ends
can be most conveniently taken together which lie contiguous to one
another on the bobbin; but in order more particularly to adapt the
bobbins to this object I previously prepare them by causing each coil
laid thereon to consist of two ends instead of one. This effect by
removing one of the bobbins in the condensing carding engine, Fig. 1,
Drawing No. 1, and conducting two ends to cach coil on the remaining
bobbin. In order to understand this more clearly I have illustrated
this mode of adapting the bobbins to the above-mentioned
purpose in
Fig. 5, Drawing No. 1, where it will be seen that two ends, one from
the doffer roller B, and another from that B', are brought forward to
onc bobbin D, on which they are by this means wound togethier, so
that each coil consists of two ends, which are afterwards doubled and
twisted into one in the spinning-frame. And whereas it is evident that
the bobbins thus having two ends to each coil will not contain the
same length of material as those which have only one end to each coil;
I cause them to contain the same amount by pressing the condensed
slivers as they are wound thereon in the following manner :-In Fig. 5,
d, is a rod lying in a direction parallel to the bobbin D, and having
fixed on it a number of guides f, equal to the number of coils. The
condensed slivers pass through eyes at the extremities of the guides,
and to distribute them on the bobbins the rod has a slight traverse
endways, as explained with regard to the ordinary guide rod and wires;
at the same time the extremities of the guides are pressed hard against
the revolving bobbin by means of the weighted lever g, causing thus
the condensed slivers to be wound thereon with great compactness. In
like manner it may be shewn that three or more ends may be taken

page_text: together to one bobbin; but in those cases where 1 spin three ends
together the method which I prefer is to use two rows of bobbins in
the creel, as shewn in Fig. 3, Drawing No. 2, in which arrangement I
conduct to each spindle two ends from one set of bobbins, and one end
from the other set. When, also, I require to spin four ends together, I
likewise use two rows of bobbins, bringing together to one spindle two
ends from each row. In like manner it may be shewn, that more rows
of bobbin may be added containing one or more ends to each coil, ac-
cording to the amount of doubling required. In some cases, instead of
bobbins, cans containing rovings from the condensing carding engine
may be substituted consistently with the above-described method of
<doubling.
My Invention relates, thirdly, to a peculiar arrangement of the before-
described bobbins on the creels of spinning frames in those cases where
I employ two or more rows of such bobbins, and consists simply in
placing the bobbins in one row in an alternate position in relation to
those in the other row, as will be understood from Fig. 4, Drawing
No. 2, which shews the back of a mule containing two rows.
It will
be seen that the first bobbin in one row, and the last in the other row,
will thus be only half the length of the other bobbins, and I form such
half bobbins in the following manner :-I make one head or flange of
cach bobbin moveable, and shape the end of one (with the head
removed) so as to fit into the corresponding end of another, thus
forming a temporary bobbin of full length, in which state I wind the
coils on in the carding engine; and when I transfer the bobbins to the
creels I separate the two lengths, and again fit the heads or flanges on
each. The advantage of the arrangement above described is the
following-The condensed slivers or ends produced in the condensing
carding engine are liable to be unequal in bulk; those which are
wound on to the middle of the bobbin being usually fuller than those
at the ends. It will be seen by this arrangement that when, the ends
from each row are brought together in the spinning-frame, one bobbin
will deliver its end or ends to the spindle from its middle part, while
the other will deliver from its extremity. The yarn produced by all
the spindles in the frame will thus be, in a great measure, assimulated

page_text: in weight and thickness. In like manner it will be readily understood
that three or more rows of bobbins may be arranged in relation to one
another, so as to produce the same effect.
My Invention consists lastly, in turning off or uncoiling two rows of
bobbins by means of one row of drums or contact cylinders. This will
be readily understood from Fig. 5, Drawing No. 2, where it will be
seen that two bobbins A, A, are placed in contact with one revolving
drum B, and thereby caused to deliver their ends to the spindles by one
and the same action.
Having now fully ascertained and described the nature of my Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would have it
understood that I do not claim as new the whole of the particulars
contained in the foregoing description; but what I claim as new and of
my Invention is,―
Firstly, the method of feeding condensing carding engines by the
same arrangement as usually employed with the ordinary lap, but with
a lap or laps composed of an indefinite number of coils of slivers,
wound either singly, or with two or more slivers together, as above
described.
Secondly, I claim the described methods of doubling in spinning-
frames adapted to spin the produce of condensing carding engines by
supplying two or more ends to one spindle, whether by means of
one row of bobbins, or by means of two or more rows of bobbins, one
of which delivers two or more ends to each spindle, and the other or
others, one or more ends each, or by means of bobbins having two or
more ends laid on to one coil from the condensing carding-engine, all
such bobbins being either unpressed or pressed, as above described, so
as to contain a greater length of material in each coil. I claim also
the before-stated methods of doubling when carried out
cans containing rovings from the condensing carding engines instead of
by means of bobbins.
means of
Thirdly, I claim the method described of arranging the rows of
bobbins in the creels in an alternate position in relation to one another.
Fourthly, I claim the method described of causing two bobbins to
revolve by contact with one drum.

page_text: Now the whole of this being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, new, and never before practised in that part of IIer said
Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I deliver
this as my true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ephraim Hallum, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one.