IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING, SPINNING, AND WEAVING COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MECHANISM IN WHICH AN UNIFORM OR VARIABLE ROTATORY MOTION IS REQUIRED
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Tatham, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING, SPINNING, AND WEAVING COTTON,
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER MECHANISM IN WHICH AN UNIFORM OR VARIABLE ROTATORY
MOTION IS REQUIRED."
Sealed the 3rd February 1863, and dated the 8th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Tatham at the Office,
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th August
1862.
I, JOHN TATHAM, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING, SPINNING, AND WEAVING COTTON AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO OTHER MECHANISH IN WHICH AN UNIFORM OR VARIABLE ROTATORY MOTION IS
REQUIRED," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers, firstly, to the carding engine, and consists in an
arrangement of rollers working in conjunction with the main cylinder. Below
the "taker-in" supply a "working roller," and above the same a "fancy
roller."

page_text: Another part of my Invention refers to drawing rollers, and consists in
causing the material to be lapped around a portion of the circumference of
one or more rollers by a surface or surfaces, which may be drawing or other
rollers, or simply rods.
Another part of my Invention relates to the mule and to that portion thereof
which is used for effecting the "jacking-in." This I accomplish by the use of
a cam, which can be slidden bodily upon the axis thereof, for regulating the
amount of "jacking" desired.
Another part of my Invention refers to arrangements of friction surfaces,
whereby I am enabled to transmit rotatory motion from one part to another
either at an uniform or variable speed. To this end I employ a disc driven by
the motive power, which disc is in contact with one or more surfaces on each
side thereof, so that it is acted upon by a continuous clip. Or the arrangement
may be reversed, and the said clips will then become the driving medium.
To obtain the variable speed I cause one of theso parts to be moved towards
or from the centre of the other, so that a different radius may be acted upon.
Or I use moveable carriers between the driving and driven 'parts. When
more power is required than one disc and clips will afford I arrange two or
more sets upon the respective shafts.
In another arrangement I uso discs against which projecting parts or other
discs are caused to press in conjunction with a repetition of the arrangement
upon the same shafts, but pressed forward in the contrary'direction. These
arrangements of friction surfaces may, for example, be applied to the roving
frame of cotton machinery in place of the prdinary cones, and to the loom as a
motion for taking up the work or letting off the yarn; but they are also
applicable to other cases in which an uniform or variable rotatory motion is
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Tatham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TATHAM, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,: by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, One thousand eight

page_text: hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Tatham, Her special licenso that I, the said John Tatham, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Tatham, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING, SPINNING, AND WEAVING
COTTON. AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER MECHANISM IN WHICH AN UNIFORM OR VARIABLE ROTATORY
MOTION IS REQUIRED," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said John
Tatham, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti
cularly 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 1, the said John Tatham, do hereby declare tho
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
and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention, according to my Provisional Specification,
related to the carding engine, and consisted in an arrangement of rollers
working in conjunction with the main cylinder. Below the.." taker-in" I
proposed to apply a "working roller," and above the same a fancy roller; but
since the filing of the said Provisional Specification I have been led to believe
that the said arrangement would not be of sufficient practical utility, and lay
no claim thereto.
My present Invention refers, firstly, to drawing rollers of preparing and
spinning machinery, the object thereof being the production of a more level
yarn, and to enable me to produce the same from fibres of irregular lengths.
With this view I avoid (to a great extent) a drawing action, generated at two
fixed points, and allow the fibres to be drawn from variable points arising from
their own friction or mutual adhesion, to obtain which I cause the slivers or
other strands to lap partly around the circumference of one or more of the
rollers, such rollers being so arranged as to deliver the material in a regular.
strand to the front or drawing rollers. This lapping over the surface acts

page_text: "
therefore, as a modified detention, and does not operate upon the fibres by a
nipping action, as in the ordinary arrangements, and thus various lengths of
'fibres are enabled to accommodate themselves to each other and to enter into
combination without a breakage of the longer or a looseness of the shorter.
This principle may be carried out by a variety of arrangements, but I will
give several examples which will be found to answer the purpose.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents in section one disposition
of rollers. At a, a', are the usual front drawing rollers, behind which is
The course
another pair of rollers b, b', and beyond them a single roller c.
of the fibrous material is shewn by the red line, and it will be seen that
it is caused to lap around the circumference of the rollers c, b. The
roller a is weighted after the usual manner, but the roller 6 merely rests
on the roller 6 by its own weight. The rollers a', b', and c, are geared
together by any ordinary arrangement, and in such manner as to make
the rollers a, a¹, drawing rollers, and the effect is as follows:-The rollers
a, a' will draw the material as is well understood, but instead of neces-
sarily elongating the strand between their tangents and the tangents of the
rollers 6, 6, they will elongate them between those points, and also between
various points of tension on those surfaces upon which the material is lapped,
such points varying in their position according to the lengths of fibres under
operation at different periods, in order to admit of which the roller b is made
sufficiently light, and is not weighted, the office of that roller being merely to
keep down the fibres, and to conduct them to the drawing rollers a, a'. It
will now be seen that there is a self-regulating process going on during the
passage of the material, and if the fibres be of that nature which requires
comparatively more drawing, then they will be strained over the surfaces of
the rollers around which they are lapped, and a greater resistance will take
place, and vice versa. Having thus pointed out ono arrangement of rollers,
it will readily be seen that the same principle may be applied in many ways,
some of which I will now refer to. In Fig. 2 the arrangement is similar to
Fig. 1, excepting that the roller d is placed a little higher, and is not geared,
but receives motion by acting against the roller 6¹, and the material is not
therefore lapped over so extended a surface.
In Fig. 3 is another arrangement, in this instance the usual front or drawing
rollers are at a, a, behind which are other rollers 6, 61, the former of which
(6) as in the other case Fig. 1 is not weighted, but merely rests upon 6'. At
the back is a roller d, between which and b' the material is borne downward
by a ruller e so as to cause it to lap over the surface of 6' as before described.

page_text: The above-mentioned arrangement, together with any modification thereof,
may be applied to any of those preparing and spinning machines in which
drawing rollers are used. The rollers are made as usual, but I will remark
that I find it desirable to cover the front top roller with leather, or other such
material as usual, and to flute the bottom front roller, and also the roller b¹. The
other rollers may or may not be fluted. I would also observe, that although
I have mentioned the lapping of the material as being caused by a roller or
rollers, the same effect may be obtained by using rods which do not revolve.
The next part of my Invention according to my Provisional Specification,
referred to the mule, and to that portion thereof which is used for effecting the
"jacking in." For this I proposed the use of a cam to be slidden bodily
upon the axis for regulating the amount of "jacking" desired, but since
the filing thereof, I have been led to believe that the same is not new, and
lay no claim thereto.
The next part of my Invention refers to arrangements of friction surfaces,
whereby I am enabled to transmit rotatory motion from one part to another
either at an uniform or variable speed. This improvement is illustrated at
Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying Drawings. At a, b, are two shafts, from
the one to the other of which it is proposed to transmit rotatory motion. Upon
the shaft a is mounted a disc c, one face of which is hollowed out so as to
form a projecting ring d. This disc is either fixed upon the shaft a, or is
caused to revolve therewith by means of a feather, but it is prevented from
sliding beyond a certain point by a collar e. Upon the shaft a is also placed
another disc formed in a similar manner to that shewn at c, but so adapted
to the shaft as to be able to slide thereon, although caused to revolve there-
with by means of a feather g. The boss of the discf is elongated, and around
it is a coiled spring h, which exerts its elastic force against the said disc at
one end, and abuts against the collar i at the other. Upon the shaft 6 is
mounted a disck, so as to be capable of sliding thereon, but of revolving
therewith by means of a feather Z. This disc & is situate between the two
other discs c, f, so that the spring h causes it to be clipped by the projecting
rings d. Supposing motive power to be applied to either of the shafts a or b,
such motion will be transmitted to the other by the friction of the surfaces
in contact, the quantity of power which may be transmitted depending upon
the elastic force of the spring h. According to the above description motion
will be transmitted from the one shaft to the other at an uniform speed, but
if a variable speed be required, I cause one of the shafts a, b, to retire from
or approach the other, so as to bring the points of contact nearer to or farther

page_text: from a centre of motion, examples of which will be hereafter given. If more
power be required than can conveniently be obtained from one arrangement,
I place two or more discs & upon the shaft, each one being situate between
clips capable of being forced forward by a spring as above described.
Another arrangement in which discs are caused to clip each other is shewn at
Fig. 7. Upon the shaft n are two discs p, free to slide thereon, and forced
forward by springs 9; upon a second shaft r is a disc s mounted fast thereon
so as to revolve therewith; at t, t, are rollers, constituting carriers, which are
supported by brackets or other suitable apparatus, these carriers must however
be capable of sliding in the direction of the shafts n, r. Supposing motive
power to be applied to either of the shafts n, r, motion will be transmitted
to the other through the carriers t, t, acting as friction surfaces, and if it bo
desired that this motion shall be variable in speed, the carriers may be slidden
so as to advance or retreat from a centre motion.
. I will now proceed to give examples of the application of this part of my In-
vention. Figs. 8 and 9 represent partial views of a roving frame, shewing my
Invention applied thereto, in order to get the variable speed which is usually
obtained by means of a strap and conical pulleys. At u is the ordinary upright
shaft which usually acts upon a rack so as to shift the strap above referred to.
In this instance the upright shaft is furnished with a screw working in a nut
w which nut carries a stud x mounted so as to be capable of sliding in guides y
carried by the framework. The stud x carries a pinion z which is in gear
with another, 1, which communicates motion to tho wheel 2 upon the usual
shaft 3, by means of which motion is communicated to one part of the "jack-
in-box" 4; the usual twist wheel is at 5, in communication with the shaft 6
by means of pinions 7 and 8, and it is the method of connecting the above-
mentioned shafts 8, 6, to which my Invention is applied; upon the said
shaft 6 are placed discs d, after the manuer described in reference to Fig. 5,
excepting that in this instance they are three in number; and as another
modification they are pressed in both directions by the elastic force of springs h.
Between these discs are placed others corresponding to that shewn at k in
Fig. 5, and mounted upon the stud x so as to revolve therewith, but being
capable of sliding thereon towards each other. The springs h therefore bind
the whole of the friction surfaces together, and thus the rotatory motion of
the one shaft 6 is communicated to the other 3. During the operation of
the machine the shaft u being turned by the ordinary means will cause the
stud. to slide downward in its guide y, thus withdrawing the discs k to a greater
radius of the discs d, whereby the required variations of speeds of the shafts 3, 6,

page_text: will be accomplished, and thus my Invention stands in the place of the usual
conical, pullies and strap. Fig. 9 shews the method I adopt for keeping the
toothed wheels, 1, 2, properly in gear, for it is obvious that as the discs k, k,
descend some provision must be made for the alteration in position of the
stud, and consequently wheel; I therefore mount the carrier pinion 1
upon a stud which is carried by links 9, 10, the former of which turns upon
the stud, and the latter upon the shaft 3. As therefore the stud x rises or
falls the links 9, 10, are caused to turn upon their centres of motion, and thus
move the pinion 1. outward. Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate my improved method
of driving as applied to the taking-up motion of a loom; at 12 is the
Foscillating sword of the loom, to an arm extending from which is jointed a
driver 18 taking into the teeth of the ratchet wheel 14; upon the face of
this ratchet wheel is one friction disc d, and upon the same shaft is the other
sliding disc d pressed forward by a spring has in Fig, 5; at 15 is a shaft
upon which is the disc k corresponding to that denoted by a similar letter of
reference at Fig. 5. The shaft 15 carries a pinion which cominunicates motion
to the cloth beam 16 by the ordinary train of wheels shewn. The ratchet
wheel 14 and consequently discs d, d*, are carried by a lever 17 capable of
turning at its lower end upon a fixed centre at 18, and carrying at its upper
end a rod 19 which rests against the work beam; as therefore the said beam
increases in diameter the lever 17 is caused to turn outward, carrying with it
the ratchet wheel 14 and discs d, de, thereby partially withdrawing them from
the other disc k, and thus imparting a decreased rate of revolution to the
cloth beam. And this arrangement is also applicable to letting off the yarn
from the beam. I have thus given certain examples of the application of
this part of my Invention from which other uses thereof may be readily
suggested.
I will, however, as another example, mention that it will be found'
peculiarly applicable to that apparatus for regulating the feed of fibrous
materials known as Lord's feeder; my Invention being in this instance well
adapted for use in place of the conical pullies and strap employed in the said
apparatus. The instances I have above alluded to refer to cases in which a
variation of speed is required but as before stated.my Invention is also
applicable to uniform speeds when friction surfaces are preferable to gearing.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood that
I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent.
Firstly, the arrangement of rollers or rods substantially as described whereby

page_text: the material is caused to be lapped around one or more of their surfaces and
is at liberty to be drawn over the same by and, delivered to a pair or pairs of
drawing rollers.
Secondly, as applied to friction surfaces, I. claim the use of two or more
discs acting as clips upon intermediate discs.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Tatham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN TATHAM. (L.B.)