FOR A MACHINE FOR THE MANT- FACTURE OF A PLATED SUBSTANCE, COMPOSED EITHER OF SILK, COTTON, OR OTHER THREAD OR YARN
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HEATHCOAT, of Tiverton, in the County of Devon, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day.
of November, in the fourth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Heathcoat, Ilis
especial licence, that I, the said John Heathcoat, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Heathcoat, my exors, adñiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein specified, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention "FOR A MACHINE FOR THE MANT-
FACTURE OF A PLATED SUBSTANCE, COMPOSED EITHER OF SILK, COTTON, OR OTHER
THREAD OR YARN;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John Heathcoat, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recital. 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

page_text: John Heathcoat, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 represents an end view of the machine.
Figure 2 a bird's-eye view of part of the same; and Figure 3 part of a front
view; the same letters of reference being used to denote the same parts in
all the Figures. A, A, &c. represent an upper plate; B, B, &c. a second
plate; C, C, &c. a third or lower plate. These plates are all curved from the
same centre, which is in the nip of the rollers D, &c. E, E, pillars at one
end to connect the three plates together, which plates are screwed together at
the other end at F. G, a leg screwed to the bent end of the upper plate A.
H, one of the front legs, screwed to the front rail I and bottom plate C. J, J,
two iron bars which carry the different pairs of rollers; they are supported at
each end by similar frames K, K, Figures 2, 3, & 4. L, L, a long axis, which
carries as many bevel wheels M, M, as there are sets of plates and rollers.
N, N, upright shafts turning in collars 0, 0, screwed to the legs G, G. These
have each two bevel wheels: the bottom ones P, P, to receive motion from
the main axis L; and the upper ones Q to give motion to other bevel
wheels R, R, &c. on the inclined axis's S, S, &c. On each of the axis S, S, &c.
are wheels T, one of which only is shown in Figure 1; these each give motion
to a system of wheels to be described. The upper end of the axis's S, S, &c.
carry screw wheels V, V, acting in the teeth of the wheels U, U, on the axis's
of the bottom rollers D, D, which gives a slow motion to them. The upper
plates A, A, and second plates B, B, are all perforated with circular
openings a, a, a, &c. and b, b, b, &c., so close as to break into one opening;
and under each of these perforations, and exactly in their centre on the bottom
plate C, are ten standards on axis's c, c, c, &c. fixed, pointing exactly to the
centre, from which the plates A, B, & C, are curved.
Figure 5 shows one of the standards separate; they have conical hollows or
centres in their tops. On these standards are placed the barrels d, d, d, &c.
One is shown seperate in Figure 6, and in section Figure 7, which also shows
the conical centre e, and by which the barrel hangs on the top of the standard;
and the hollow of the barrel is contracted at bottom at f to fit better to the
standard on which it has to revolve. A toothed wheel is fixed at the bottom
of each barrel, forming a system of ten wheels, each receiving and giving in
succession motion to each other, the first being moved by the wheel T.
Figure 1.
These barrels have two rims g and h, Figure 6, which nearly fills
the circular openings of the plates A and B, and have four semicircular notches

page_text: in their circumference, shown best in Figures 2 & 8; and the wheels are so
put in gear that a notch in one always meets a notch in the next whilst
revolving, but the two end barrels are one fifth larger than the rest, and have
five notches in them, making in all forty-two notches to carry 21 spindles and
bobbins; and while revolving an empty notch always meets a full one, and
receives from it a spindle. And it will be seen, by the direction of the little
darts in Figures 2 and 8, that in one quarter of a revolution each barrel
gives a spindle to the right-hand barrel, and receives one from the left barrel;
then, in the next quarter of revolution, it receives a spindle from the right
hand, and gives one to the left, and so on, continually alternating, by which
means one half of the bobbins are travelling down the course, while the other
half are travelling up the course, and passing alternately before and behind
each other, which produces a platt similar to the Leghorn platt, which is
gathered up as fast as produced by the rollers D, D. Now, to oblige the
barrels first to give a spindle and then to receive one, there is a system of
tumblers shown in action in Figure 9, where the spindle i is just passing one
corner of the tumbler j, and has thereby brought the middle point k on that
side of the spindle l, and obliges the spindle to leave the notch of the
barrel m, and travel round the upper half of the barrel n. It will then arrive
in the situation of the spindle o, where the lower tumbler p has been prepared
to guide it under the next barrel by the passage of the spindle g; but whilę
the spindle passed the corner r of the tumbler j, it brought the tumbler j
back again, so as to guide a spindle coming from 9 into and over the barrel mi,
by which means the travelling up and down the course is effected.
1
An
Figure 10 is a side view of one of the tumblers. Now, in order to produce
a regular and even plat, the threads require equal and constant attention.
The spindles are so constructed as to effect this purpose; they are
hollow, being composed of thin iron tubes. Figures 11, 12, and 18 show
them seperate. The top of the bobbin is notched with 6 teeth.
arm s stands up something like a flier, to which a smaller arm is jointed..
This little arm t falls into the open'd side of the tube, and lodges in a notch of
the bobbin, and prevents its turning round to deliver the thread. The thread
from the bobbin passes thro' the arm 8, and then up to its top, where it returns.
through a hole, and then passing through the eye or hole of the little arm t,
it goes through the eye of a large needle which is contained in the tube (one
is shown seperate in Figure 14). It then rises up, and again through the
eye of the little arm t, and passes off to the plat through the eye in top of the
spindle. Now, as the platting is going on, and the bobbin cannot turn round,
the thread gradually draws up the needle which hangs on it in the tube, and

page_text: raises it above the bobbin. The needle then raises the little arm out of the
bobbin notch, as in Figure 13. The bobbin then turns round, and gives
thread enough to let the little arm t fall into a notch and stop it again, so that
the needle is continually rising to let the bobbin escape round, and as it
thereby hangs constantly on the thread its weight determines the tention.
pin v in the side of the necelle projects thro' a slit in the side of the tube, and
prevents it from rising too high or falling too low.
A
Figure 11 shows a thread broken, the needle thereby falls and projects thro
the bottom of the spindle. This needle, while passing round a barrel, presses
against a swinging frame u, u, Figures 3 and 4, and pushes it out enough to
slide off one or both of the rings w, w, and thereby drops the wheel P out of
gear. It will be seen that by the curved arrangement of the barrels and
spindles the threads from the bobbins are always of the same length, and do
not slacken or tighten as they change places, and the angle at which the platt
crosses is determined by the angle of the thread from the bobbins on the end
barrels; and should a wider platt be wanted, a greater number of barrels and
spindles must be used in the same portion of a larger circle. In Figure 9
the rims of the barrels alternately lap over and under each other, as shown in
Figure 15, by which means the spindles are so well guided that tuniblers are
only wanted to meet them, and guide them to the right barrel; but in
Figure 8, as the barrel rims only come in contact, half of the diameter of the
spindle projects from the rim, and, when nearly meeting the next barrel, they
would fall-out of their places if it was not for an additional set of tumblers to
guide them, which act precisely the same as those already described in
Figure 9; so that by the arrangement of Figure 9 and 15 there are only
receiving tumblers, while in Figure 8 there are both receiving and giving
tumblers. In Figures 1 and 16, x is the dropping bar, jointed at one end to
the leg G, and held up at the other by the string and rings w, w, which lodge
on pins fixed for that purpose. This bar carries a staple-shaped piece of iron
which can revolve on it at y, exactly under the centre of the wheel P, which
is loose on its axis, and is only caused to carry it round by the staple piece 3
passing through it and intersecting the little arms z, z; therefore, when the
bar z drops down, the staple piece y is withdrawn, and the work stops.
Now, the advantages and improvements which I claim as arising from this
machine, and the arrangements of its parts, as herein-before described, arc,-
First, the distribution of the system of barrels in one line, whereby any
number of systems may be placed side by side, forming a compact series, o
any required number all actuated at once, or any portion of them may continu
in action while the others stop.

page_text: Secondly, making all the axis's of each set point to one centre, whereby the
threads from the bobbins are of the same length, and do not alter their tention
by changing their places; and the required angle at which the plate folds over
the margin is determined by the segment of the circle in which the bobbins
travel from one end to the other.
Thirdly, in simplifying and reducing the number of tumblers by the under
and over lapping of the barrel rims which carry round the spindles and bobbins;
and,
Fourthly, by the flat arrangement of each series, the breaking of any thread
immediately stops that set, by its action on the bar that throws the wheel out
of gear.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Heathcoat, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.