IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY VL AFFABATUO UDOD & DYEING YARNS OF TERRADE Op Sire
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and
Harvey Heywood, all of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster,
Dyers and Printers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
VL AFFABATUO UDOD &
DYEING YARNS OF TERRADE Op Sire”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Dickins,
Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 30th July
1874.
"
We, THOMAS DICKINS, ALBERT LANGLEY DICKINS, and Harvøy
HEYWOOD, all of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Dyers and
Printers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention-. for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN DYEING YARNS OR
THREADS OF SILK" to be as follows :-

page_text: applicable chiefly to dyeing blacks. For these purposes we use a series
of rollers carried by bearings by preference on one side only of the vat,
and provided with perforations leading to hollow axes.
The mordaunt, the soap or alkali, or the dyo, having been placed in
the trough or vat, and tho skeins of silk having been strung upon the
rollers, the liquid is forced from the said trough or vat by a pump, or
by similar means, into the hollow axos, and from thence through the
said perforations and silk lying thereon, which is continuously caused to
travel by the revolution of the rollers, and the liquor is thus caused to
circulato from the vat or trough to the hollow axes through the per- 1
forations in the rollers, and back again.
The rollers wo propose to use are formed with longitudinal corru-
gations affording clear spaces for preventing the skein of silk from
adhering.
--
The arrangement may be as above described, but we also propose to 1
employ two vats or troughs, the liquor being pumped from one into
the other, in which case the supply vat or trough may be at a sufficient
elevation to afford suitable pressure for forcing the liquor through the
said axes and perforations; or an air vessel may be employed for gaining
the said pressure. Wo also propose to apply "change" wheels to the
driving parts, which by bringing a cam or other such ordinary part
into operation will, at a given timo, arrest the motion of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and
Harvey Heywood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th 2
January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
DICKINS, ALBERT LUNGLEY DICKINS, and HARVEY HEYWOOD, all of
Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Dyers and Printers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing dato the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and in the thirty-

page_text: eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Thomas Dickins, Albert Langley Dickins,
and Harvey Heywood, Her special license that we, the said Thomas
Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas
Dickins, Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN DYEING YARNS OR THREADS OF SILK," upon
the condition, amongst others, that we, the said Thomas Dickins,
Albert Lungley Dickins, and Harvey Heywood, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals (or under the hand and seal of one
of us) 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 Harvey Heywood, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (and accompanying Drawings) that
is to say :-
Our Invention relates to those operations in the process of dyeing
yarns or threads of silk which are called mordaunting, soaping, and
treatment with the final dyeing liquor, and is designed to, obviate the
tedious process of dipping and gradually moving forward the skeins
which are usually strung upon laths. For this purpose we place the
skeins to be operated upon upon rollers, to which a rotary motion is
imparted, which rollers are formed hollow and with perferations.
The liquor in use is forced through theso perforations, and conse-
quently through yarns or threads lying thereon, after-which it-falls-into
a trough, from whence it is transferred to the receptacle from which it
came, and it is then caused to be kept in constant circulation for the
timo required to effect the desired object,

page_text: Figs. 3 and 4 aro details to be hereafter referred to.
At 1 is a tank supported in any convenient manner, as, for instance,
by beams 2, and divided by a transverse partition 3 into two compart-
ments A, B. From these compartments proceed two pipes 4, 5,
furnished with stop-cocks 6, 7, and communicating at their lower ends
with a longitudinal pipe 8, supported by a framework 9. To this pipo
ard fixed a series of stop-cocks 10 (sec the detached view, Fig. 3)
provided with stuffing boxes 11, within which are hollow axes 12, carried
by pedestals 18 mounted on the frame 9. Upon these axes, and between
india-rubber washers 14, are placed hollow rollers 15, made fast to their
axes and rendered water-tight by means of plates and screws 16. The
rollers 15 are provided with perforations 17, and the sectional form of
the said rollers which we prefer is seen at Fig. 4, there being longi-
tudinal corrugations. The rollers 15 are enclosed by a casing 18
provided with a door 19, which may be kept closed by a catch 20.
Upon the axes 12 are worm wheels 21 in gear with worms 22 mounted
on a line shaft 23, which is supported by the frame 9 and driven by
motive power in any convenient manner. At the bottom of the casing
18, and which constitutes a tank, is a pipe 24, leading at 25 to a pump
26, the rod 27 of which is worked by the motive power, and at 28 is the
outlet of the said pump communicating with a pipo 29 which leads at
30, 31, to the two compartments A, B, there being stop-cocks 32, 32;
and at 34, 35, are steam pipes, by means of which any liquor placed in
the said compartments may be heated when desired.
In order to illustrato our Invention we will suppose that the soaping
process is to be effected and that the liquor for that purpose is in the
compartment A. The skeins of silk are placed upon the rollers 15 (the
door 10 having been opened for that purpose) and the stop tap 6 is
opened, thus allowing the liquor to flow through the pipe 4 into the
longitudinal pipe 8, from whence it passes through the hollow axes 12
and perforations 36 therein into the cavities of the rollers 15, and then
through the perforations 17 therein, so as to infringe upon and pass
through the skeins, which at the same time are carried round by the

page_text: rotation of the rollers effected through the agency of the driving shaft
233 and thus fresh portions of the skeins are continually submitted to
the action of the liquor. During this operation the pump 26 removes
the liquor from the tank 18 and raises it through the pipe 29 and opened
stop tap 32 into the compartment A, by which means a constant
circulation of the liquor is kept up, it being restored to the source of
supply as fast as it issues through the perforations 17...
.
When the soaping operation is completed the tap 6 is closed, and the
liquor remaining is pumped from the tank 18, after which a tap 37 may
be opened and water admitted into the pipe 8 through a continuation 38
thereof leading to any convenient source of supply, but this does not
constitute any part of our Invention, and the pump 26 is of course
stopped, the water passing off from the tank 18 through a suitable wasto
pipe. It will be evident that this simply washing process may be
effected in the machine above described before the soaping operation.
The yarns or threads having now been washed (if such washing be
required) the stop tap 87 is closed, and they may be submitted to
another operation by treating them with a liquor placed in the com-
partment B, which liquor we will suppose to be a black dye. For this
purpose the stop tap 7 is opened and the dye stuff will then flow through
the pipe 5, from thence through the hollow axes 12, and will be pro-
jected through the perforations 17 and skeins of silk as above described,
the pump 26 returning the liquor to the compartment B and keeping up
the circulation in the manner already explained.
In the above description two compartments for liquors are described,
but it will be evident that one only may be employed, the several
operations being conducted in separate machines or that three or more
compartments may be adapted for containing as many distinct liquors,
one for instance for mordaunting. It will also be understood that when
fluids are used which would have an injurious effect upon or would be
injured by the ordinary metals used in machinery that the materials with
which they come in contact must be modified accordingly; in some cases
it may be desirable to make them of earthenware or other vitrified
substance, the pump 26 being constructed as is now the case for
transferring strong acids.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-

page_text: it to be understood that we claim as secured to us under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth,
causing the various liquors used for the said purposes to circulate
through perforated revolving rollers upon which tho yarns or threads
are placed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harvey Heywood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.