IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CLASS OF MACHINERY ORDINARILY TERMED RING AND TRAVELLER THROSTLES, AND EMPLOYED IN THE SPINNING AND DOUBLING OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest Grether, of Blackfriars Street, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CLASS OF MACHINERY ORDINARILY TERMED RING AND TRAVELLER
THROSTLES, AND EMPLOYED IN THE SPINNING AND DOUBLING OF COTTON AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
.
Sealed the 24th March 1876, and dated the 27th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest Grether at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th September 1875.
I, ERNEST GRETHER, of Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CLASS OF MACHINERY ORDINARILY TERMED RING AND
TRAVELLER THROSTLES, AND EMPLOYED IN THE SPINNING AND DOUBLING OF COTTON
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows :—
My Invention relates in the first place to the rings employed in ring
and traveller throstles, and consists in making such rings of glass

page_text: capable of being annealed, toughened, or hardened, or of porcelain, or
other earthenware.
A second part of my Invention relates to the spindles and bearings
used in the said machinery, and particularly to cases wherein a hollow
spindle revolves around a fixed spindle, and consists in forming a fixed
projecting ring upon the outside of the lower extremity of the hollow
spindle in combination with an oil chamber cover, adapted to prevent
the spindle from being raised when the bobbin is removed for piecing or
doffing.
A further part of my Invention relates to the lubrication of the
spindle bearings, and consists in forming a reservoir for lubricant
within and around the fixed spindle, within which reservoir the lower
end of the hollow spindle or shell revolves, and in employing in combi-
nation therewith a spiral groove formed around the spindle to convey
the lubricant to the upper part of the spindle and a return channel or
duct to return the lubricant to the reservoir so as to maintain a
circulation of lubricant during the action of the machine.
According to a fourth part of my Invention the rings are held by
plates of metal elliptical or elongated in form, and having longitudinal
slits in the ends which form lips, and are raised and bent so as to receive:
between them the web or vertical portion of the ring. These ring
holders are formed with holes larger than the screws, by means of which
they are fastened to the rails so as to permit the rings to be set con-
centrically with the spindles.
A remaining part of my Invention is designed to facilitate the doffing,
and consists of the method of and in means for holding the ends of the
threads whilst the bobbins are being changed, and for lowering the rails
into position to permit the threads to be caught. To catch the threads
I employ spring clips, or collars, or parts formed with necks or holders
placed below the bobbin on the spindle or bolster.
The said clips,
collars, or parts may be varied in shape so long as they are provided or
formed with wedge-shaped necks or openings, into which the threads
are drawn and by which they are held when the rail is lowered. The
said necks may be in the form of horizontal or inclined grooves, either
turned in one piece or formed by the junction of two discs, or of a spring
and a disc, or of contiguous coils of spiral spring, or they may be
formed by tongues or slits arranged or formed around a collar, disc, or

page_text: part. To lower the rails I employ an excentric and link between the
lifting motion and the lifting shafts and rods. When the excentric is
turned into one position the rails are in working position, and when
turned into another position the connection is lengthened sufficiently to
lower the rails until the threads are in position to be engaged with the
thread catchers. The threads are drawn tightly into the holding necks
by the turning of the spindles, so that when the bobbins are doffed the
threads break between the catchers and the bobbins.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ernest Grether in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERNEST
GRETHER, of Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the fortieth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Ernest Grether, Her special
licence, that I, the said Ernest Grether, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ernest Grether,
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CLASS OF MACHINERY ORDINARILY TERMED RING AND
TRAVELLER THROSTLES, AND EMPLOYED IN THE SPINNING AND DOUBLING OF COTTON
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Ernest Grether, 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

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ernest Grether, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 :-
My Invention is designed to facilitate the doffing of the filled bobbins
and the starting of empty bobbins in machinery for spinning and
doubling, and consists in the method of and in means for holding the
ends of the threads whilst the bobbins aro being changed. For this
purpose I employ apparatus which I term "thread catchers," consisting
of spring clips, or collars, or parts formed with nicks or holders placed
immediately below the bobbin and fixed or mounted on the spindle or
the "bolster." The said clips, collars, or parts may be varied in shapo
so long as they are provided or formed with wedge-shaped nicks or
openings into which the threads are drawn when the rail is raised or
lowered. The said nicks may be in the form of horizontal or inclined
grooves, either turned in one piece, or formed by the junction of two
discs, or of a spring and a disc, or of contiguous coils of spiral spring,
or they may be formed by tongues or slits arranged or formed around
the circumference of a collar disc or part.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood I will now
refer to the Sheet of Drawings which have been appended hereunto,
and which are drawn about the full size and are marked with letters of
reference.
Figs. 1 and 2 represent so much of a spinning or doubling machine
as is necessary to the illustration of my Invention. In this example
the "bolster" or upper bearing a of the spindle is extended upwards
within the shell of the bobbin 6; the said thread catcher is represented
by c, and in this example is formed of thin sheet steel. The sheet steel
is supposed to be cut with four tongues projecting from one edge, and
also with shorter projections on the other edge, and to be bent into a
cylindrical form with meeting edges. The tongues & are bent over the
sides of the cylinder so as to form a wedge-shaped nick between cach
tongue and the said side. In the example the ends of these tongues
are bent upwards, but this is not important. The lower projections are

page_text: bent inwards so as to form lips. The thread catchers so formed are or
may be hardened or tempered. If preferred for any reason the said
thread catchers may be made of brass or other suitable metal. A groove
is turned in the bolster at e so that when a thread catcher is placed on
the bolster and pushed down into position the said lips hook into the
said groove and keep the thread catcher from rising or falling out
of position at the same time that it is at liberty to rotate upon the
bolster. When the filling of the bobbin is completed the ring rail fis
lowered into about the position represented in Fig. 1, and the stopping
of the spindles is so regulated as that a portion of yarn, say, for example,
half a turn or a turn of yarn, is wound upon the thread catcher undor
the tongues, as indicated in Fig. 1. The rail ƒ may now be raised into
its working position and the bobbin be doffed, that is to say, be removed
from the spindles. This act of doffing the full bobbin has the effect of
drawing the yarn into the nick behind a tongue which holds the yarn
firmly so that the yarn breaks between the said tongue and the bobbin,
as indicated in Fig. 2. The thread catcher retains the end of yarn
proceeding from the roller, so that when an empty bobbin is placed
upon the spindle the frame can usually be started without the attendant
having to attach the end of yarn to the bobbin. To render the proper
commencement of the winding on more certain I form a nick in the
edge of the bobbin, as seen at g, the said nick catching the yarn as the
bobbin rotates.

page_text: My Provisional Specification described certain improvements not
included herein for various reasons and to which I therefore lay no
claim, but what I do claim is,—
-
First. The thread catchers, formed and acting substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before set forth, and as illustrated by the accom-
panying Drawings.
And, lastly. The thread catchers formed or fitted with nicks, hooks,
tongues, slits, grooves, springs, or parts which hold the yarn when the
bobbins are doffed, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
set forth and indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ernest Grether, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Signed and sealed by the
said Ernest Grether, in
the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentee,
ERNEST GRETHER. (L.S.)
3, Princess Street,
Manchester.