IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPE DRESSING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Scowcroft Lowe, of Torr Vale Mills,
Disley, Cheshire, Cotton Spinner and Manufacturer, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPE DRESSING MACHINES."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Scowcroft Lowe
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 2nd March 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SCOWCROFT Lowe, of Torr Vale Mills, Disley, Cheshire, Cotton Spinner
and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TAPE DRESSING MACHINES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
I am the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said William Scowèroft Lowe, do hereby
déclare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:
My Invention refers to the machine known as the tape sizing
machine, and specially to the motion given to the whole machine and
to each of its parts. On the first motion shaft I place as heretofore
practised a fast and loose pulley by which the machine may be started or
stopped. This shaft I elect to place in bearings supported on the framing
of the machine, but it may be placed-in-bearings-otherwise supported.
On this first motion shaft I fasten a cone which communicates motion
to another cone placed at some distance from it upon another shaft
revolving in bearings carried by the framing of the machine. This
second motion shaft gives motion to all the parts of the machine. The
strap which conveys motion to the second motion shaft I regulate in
position by a strap fork controlled by a hand screw. By this arrange-
ment I am enabled to impart to the whole machine and to each of its
parts motion, varying as required by the condition or counts of yarn
passing through it. That this regulated velocity may not be disturbed
or relatively altered I connect certain parts of the machine hercin-after
described by gearing, with the exception of the weaver's beam which
varies as it fills, and this I move or permit to be moved by frictional
apparatus adjusted to the strain required.
And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood and
more readily carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the same,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1
represents an elevation of a machine embodying my improvements, and
Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
A is the framing of the machine; a is the first motion shaft revolving
in bearings in the framing; a', a, are fast and loose pulleys thereon, by
which the machine is started and stopped... Upon the shaft a I also
fasten the cone a³, communicating motion to the cone a by means of
the strap which passes over both. The cone a is fastened upon the
second motion shaft which revolves in bearings upon the framing. To
the end of this shaft which projects beyond the framing I fasten the
pulley which communicates motion to the pulley & fastened upon
the end of the roller shaft c. On the opposite end of the 9-inch roller

page_text: shaft c I fasten the bevil c', which gears with the bevil c³ fastened
upon the longitudinal shaft d supported in the usual way: On the
other end of the shaft d I fasten the bevil d¹, which is geared with the
bevil d fastened on the projecting end of the roller shaft e. As the two
rollers cand e govern the rate of transmission of the yarn through the
machine, and as by the connection above described their rate of motion is
governed by the position of the strap a³ upon the cones a³ and a*, the
motion of the whole machine and of its principal parts is thus governed
by the cones a³ and a', and may be regulated at will by means of the
hand screw, by which the fork f¹ is moved, by which the strap is placed
in whatever position is desirable to suit the requirements of the yarn
passing through the machine.
It is obvious that the arrangement may be modified without departing
from the principle involved. Thus an expanding pulley may be put
upon the first motion shaft and the strap connect directly to the pulley
on the end of the roller shaft c. But this involves either a tightening
pulley or a second expanding pulley upon the end of the roller shaft c,
or altering the length of the strap, a form less convenient than that
shewn in the Drawings and described above, but if adopted I consider
would be another form of my Invention.
Step cones may also be substituted for plain cones within certain
limits serving the purpose contemplated, but these I. should regard as
modifications of my Invention.
It may be necessary to explain that the method of driving the various
parts of the machine by positive gearing has been before the subject
of a Patent by Messieurs Atherton and Kinlock.on Third November Onc
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, No. 2335, but their method of
driving from the first motion shaft has the tendency to increase the
difficulty I propose to obviate by the introduction of a second motion
shaft or its equivalent as hercin-before described, namely, there was not
in that arrangement nor is there in any of the well-known methods of
tape dressing any readily applicable means of varying the velocity of the
whole machine to the varying requirements of the yarn to be dressed,
nor to the state of the atmosphere, which has the advantage secured by
my plan of allowing the yarn to go on at an unvarying and uniform
speed after such alteration has been made.
The frictional apparatus which drives the weaver's beam may be driven
from my second motion shaft from the nine-inch roller, the copper

page_text: roller, or from any shaft whose speed is governed by the position of
the strap on the cones, so that when that strap is moved to vary the
speed of the yarn passing through the machine the speed of the friction
plates may be varied at the same time, so that the relativo speeds of
these parts may not be altered.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I declares that I claim as
secured to me thereby,―
Firstly. The plan of driving the nine-inch roller and through it the
copper roller in a positive manner at a uniform speed in connection with
ready and convenient means, as herein-before-described,_of_varying that
speed to meet the contingencies of sizing.
Secondly. The introduction of a second motion shaft for the purpose
of driving the nine-inch roller and the connection from one to the other
of positive gearing.
Thirdly. I claim the use of a fast pulley as distinguished from a
friction pulley or wheel on the end of the roller c.
Fourthly. The mode of driving the weaver's beam friction plate
from any of the shafts affected by the position of the strap on the
regulating cones, so that the relative speeds of the delivery and taking 2
up parts may not be altered when the position of the strap on the cones
is changed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Scowcroft Lowe, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy:
WILLIAM SCOWCROFT LOWE. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM ROBERTSON,
Engineer,
17, Queen's Chambers,
Market Street,
Manchester.