IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CHENILLE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Monks, of James Street, Bethnal Green, in
the County of Middlesex, Weaver, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CHENILLE"
Sealed the 27th September 1860, and dated the 29th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Monks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1860.
I, JOHN MONKS, of James Street, Bethnal Green, in the County of
Middlesex, Weaver, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CHENILLE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of mechanism whereby
chenille may be expeditiously and economically made. The machine may be
described as consisting mainly of a vertical grooved spindle, round which the
silk or other fibre to form the pile is wound, it being delivered from a
stationary bobbin by a travelling guide, and lapped or wound on the spindle
by its own rotation; surrounding this spindle is the cutter frame, which is
fitted with radial spring pressers, and between these fixed knives are set. The
frame may have any given number of these pressers and knives, according to
the diameter of spindle used. The spindle is formed with parallel grooves
corresponding in number to the pressers and knives, which are severally
arranged opposite to one of the grooves. Down the grooves which stand
opposite the spring pressers, binding thread or wire is conducted previously
to winding on the pile thread, and on the cutter frame are fitted bobbins to

page_text: supply a second binding thread. Rotary motion is communicated to the
spindle by a suitable arrangement of gearing acting upon a pulley attached to
the spindle. Above this pulley is mounted an arrangement of flyers, which,
besides revolving around a common centre, severally receive an independent
axial motion, for the purpose of twisting the several sets of binding threads.
A reciprocating vertical motion is given to the cutter frame (which also
revolves with the grooved spindle) by means of a rotating cam, which operates
a forked arm that embraces the frame. The binding metallic or other
threads which pass in front and back of the coiled pile thread are conducted
down to their respective flyers, and an upward motion being given to the
cutter frame, its knives will sever the close coils of pile thread. The rotation
of the flyers will now cause the binding threads to secure the loose filaments,
and convert them into chenille, which will pass down and be wound upon the
bobbins of the respective flyers. When the cutter frame has moved a given
distance up the spindle, carrying the points of the cutters up the grooves of the
central spindle opposite which they are placed, the frame will recede and allow
a fresh supply of pile thread to accumulate on the spindle, and the like
operation will be repeated, the bobbins at the same time giving off a con-
tinuous supply of binding threads. By indenting the periphery of the central
spindle by turning rings thereon, or helical lines, the form of the chenille
may be varied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Monks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MONKS, of James Street, Bethnal Green, in the County of Middlesex, Weaver,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Monks, Her special license that I, the said John
Monks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Monks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CHENILLE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Monks, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 John Monks, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of mechanism whereby
chenille may be expeditiously and economically made. One of the principal
parts of the mechanism is a vertical grooved spindle, round which the silk or
other fibre to form the pile is wound, the silk being delivered from a Stationary
bobbin by a travelling guide, and lapped or wound on the spindle by its own
rotation. Surrounding this spindle is a cutter frame, which is fitted with
radial spring pressers, and between these fixed knives are set. The frame
may have any given number of these pressers and knives, according to the
diameter of spindle used. The spindle is formed with parallel grooves
corresponding in number to the pressers and knives, which are severally
arranged opposite to one of the grooves. Down the grooves which stand
opposite the spring pressers a binding thread or wire is conducted previously
to winding on the pile thread, and on the cutter frame are fitted bobbins to
supply a second binding thread. Rotary motion is communicated to the
spindle by a suitable arrangement of gearing acting upon a pulley connected
with the frame which carries the spindle. Above this pulley is mounted an
arrangement of flyers, which, besides revolving around a common centre,
severally receive an independent axial motion, for the purpose of twisting the
several sets of binding threads. The cutter frame revolves with the grooved
spindle, and as the spindle with the silk wound thereon descends, the cutters
will divide the coils of the pile thread vertically. The binding metallic or
other threads which pass in front and back of the coiled pile thread are con-
ducted down to their respective flyers, and the rotation of the flyers will cause
the binding threads to secure the loose filaments of silk and convert them into
chenille, which will pass down and be wound upon the bobbins of the respective

page_text: flyers. When the spindle with the coiled silk thereon has moved a given
distance down, so as to produce a given length of chenille, the spindle frame
will ascend again and allow a fresh supply of pile thread to accumulate or be
wound on the spindle, and the like operation will be repeated, the bobbins at
the same time giving off a continuous supply of binding threads. By
indenting the periphery of the central spindle by turning rings thereon, or
helical lines, the form of chenille may be varied.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn various views of my improved
machinery for manufacturing chenille.
view;
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan
and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of some of the principal working parts.
a is the grooved spindle, round which silk from the stationary bobbin 6 is
wound, for which purpose the silk is passed through eyes c, c, fixed on some
convenient part of the framing, as shewn at Fig. 1. The lower end of the
spindle a passes through the centre of a socket a', in which are fixed the
knives or cutters 1, 1, 1, 1, (Fig. 2,) whereby the coils of silk are cut or
divided into sections as the spindle a descends in the socket a'. A number of
binding threads or wires, corresponding to the number of pieces of chenille
intended to be made, are conducted from the bobbins 1, 61, and are laid in the
grooves of the spindle a, and are held there by means of the collar a² until
they are secured by the coils of the silk. Upon rotary motion being com-
municated to the spindle frame and its appendages, the silk will be drawn
from the bobbin 6 and wound helically round the spindle a, when four more
binding threads from the bobbins d, d, (Figures 1 and 2,) are conducted by
means of the pressers or guides 5, 5, to the grooves of the spindle a, and lie
above the coils of the silk. The inner and outer binding threads are, therefore,
laid longitudinally in the grooves of the spindle, the coils of silk being between
them. In order to ensure an uniform supply of the binding threads the
threads from the bobbins 61, 61, and d, d, are pressed between pairs of nipping
rollers 6', which are pressed together by springs 65. On the axle of one of
each pair of rollers is a worm wheel 6, which is actuated by a worm or
screw, on the axle of which is a tappet wheel or cross 7, one of the arms of
which every time the frame rotates will strike against fixed studs 8, and will
thereby be made to turn one-quarter of a revolution, and will thus feed
forward the binding thread to the requisite extent. The upper end of the
spindle a is inserted in the socket of a rotating spindle or tubular socket a',
which is acted upon by the end of a lever e (Fig. 1). This latter is actuated
through the intervention of the connecting rod e' by the four-stepped cam f,
which, as it rotates in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, acts against a pin

page_text: or bowl e² at the lower end of the connecting rod e', thereby raising one end
of the lever e, and consequently depressing the opposite end, and causing the
spindle a to descend slowly in its socket. As the points of the cutters are
always kept pressed into the grooves of the spindle by the set screws at their
ends, it will be understood that as the spindle with the coil of silk round it is
pressed down by the action of the lever e, the coils of silk will be cut, and the
binding threads, with the cut silk between them, will pass out from the under
side of the socket a', as seen at Figures 1 and 3; from thence the threads,
after receiving a twist in the manner hereafter explained, will pass down to
the eye 3 of the spindle g, and after passing round the pullies or rollers 4
and 5, will be finally wound on the bobbin h in a finished state. The bobbins h
and spindles 9 are mounted in a frame k, to which rotary motion is given by
means of suitable gearing, as will be bereafter described, a separate and
distinct motion round their axes being at the same time communicated to the
bobbins and spindles by the toothed gearing h, so that a twist will be given
to the binding threads of the chenille in order to secure the filaments of silk
between the two threads. A driving band i passes round a grooved pulley j,
attached to the rotating frame k, and also round a similar grooved pulley on
the lower half of a clutch of the vertical shaft m, on the upper end of
which is a bevilled toothed wheel n, driven by a similar wheel, which is
actuated by a toothed pinion on the main driving shaft n*. The other parts
of the machine have motion communicated to them from the main driving shaft
by means of suitable intermediate gearing, as shewn in Figure 1. The chenille
bobbins h rest on a copping rail ', to which a rising and falling motion is
communicated by means of the lever p, which is actuated by a cam p¹ on the
shaft p². As the cam p¹ rotates it lifts the lever p, and consequently raises the
copping rail h, and with it the bobbins h, and by this means causes the finished
chenille to be wound regularly on to the bobbins. From the foregoing
description it will be seen that by the rotation of the cam f in the direction
of the arrow, the grooved spindle (with the silk coiled thereon) will, by the
intervention of the lever e, be caused gradually to descend, but when the bowl
or stud e² on the connecting rod e escapes from the highest point of the cam,
the rod e¹ and the lever e will suddenly descend, and thereby allow the grooved
spindle a and its tubular socket a to rise; and to facilitate this operation the
forked end of a weighted lever q is made to embrace and bear against a
shoulder on the tubular socket a', as seen in Fig. 1. While the grooved
spindle is being raised the working parts of the machine are thrown out of
gear, and a conical collar (Fig. 3), which surrounds the spindle a, is pressed
down on to the conical seat of the socket a', and thereby holds the silk secure

page_text: while the spindle is rising. These operations are effected by the intervention
of a cams and weighted lever t, a connecting rod t¹, and a lever u. The
cam s is mounted on the same shaft as the cam f, and is seen behind it in dots in
Fig. 1, and as the cam shaft f* rotates, the cam s will come against an angular
block on the lever t, and will depress the latter, thereby raising up the opposite
end of this lever, and lifting the clutch out of gear, and consequently will
stop the machinery. When the lever t is depressed it pulls down the rod t¹
and the upper lever u, and brings down the piece 7 on to the top of the conical
collar r, and thereby causes the latter to hold the silk secure, as before
mentioned, until the several working parts are ready to come into operation
again.
It will be obvious that instead of causing the grooved spindle with the silk
wound thereon to descend, as above described, so as to bring the silk in
contact with stationary cutters, and thereby divide the coils of silk, the cutters,
with their points inserted into the grooves of the spindle, may be carried up
against the silk, and the same result will be obtained. I prefer, however, the
arrangement shewn in the Drawings as being more convenient than moveable
cutters. It will also be obvious, that although the machine shewn in the
Drawings is constructed to make only four pieces of chenille at one time, a
larger number of pieces may be produced simultaneously by increasing the
diameter of the grooved spindle, and of course multiplying the other parts of
the machine. I have, however, found by experience that it is more con-
venient to make four pieces at one time rather than a larger number.
Having now described my Invention of improved machinery for manu-
facturing chenille, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,
the arrangement of machinery herein set forth, or any mere modification
thereof, for manufacturing chenille.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Monks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
JOSEPH R. ROGERS,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN MONKS. (L.S.)