IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Mercer Girdwood, of Belfast, in the
County of Antrim, in Ireland, Spinner, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 16th April 1875, and dated the 17th February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Mercer Gird-
wood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th February 1875.
I, HENRY MERCER GIRDWOOD, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
in Ireland, Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY," to be as follows :—
Instead of the cords and weights known as drags or other contrivances
now employed for regulating the velocity of the bobbins, perns, or spools
while being filled with yarns or threads I make use of springs to act
upon the bobbins, perns, or spools.
The springs are attached to or fixed upon a sliding rod or plate
extending along the front of the machine upon the builder, or on a level

page_text: therewith, and moved in order to increase the pressure of the springs by
means of a rack and worm, and a hand wheel or a ratchet, or index
wheel and latchets, which may be acted upon at every traverse of the
builder by snugs or pins on the frame, and so made self-acting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Mercer Girdwood in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
MERCER GIRDWOOD, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland,
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Mercer Gird-
wood, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, 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 six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, 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, reference being had to the accom-

page_text: panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :—
The said Invention relates to the use of springs and self-acting con-
trivances constructed and employed as herein-after described in machinery
for spinning, twisting, and winding for the purpose of regulating the
velocity of the bobbins, perns, or spools while being filled with yarns and
threads, or other filamentous materials, and maintaining an uniform
tension of such yarns and threads or other filamentous materials as the
circumferences of the bobbins, perns, or spools increase.
For the purposes of my Invention I use in the manner herein-after
described a spring which has a prolonged arm or end, which acts upon
the flange of the bobbin, pern, or spool, and each bobbin, pern, or spool
is provided with a separate spring having a prolonged arm or end.
These springs are attached to or otherwise fixed upon a horizontal
sliding bar, rod, or flanged plate extending along the front of the
spinning, twisting, or winding machine or frame, and supported by loop
brackets attached to or fixed upon the lifter, builder, or bobbin rail of
such machine or frame, or by bolts, pins, or snugs driven into or fixed
upon the lifter, builder, or bobbin rail, and passing through corresponding
slots in the sliding bar, rod, or flanged plate.
The loop brackets, bolts, pins, or snugs may be attached to, fixed upon,
or driven into the framework of the spinning, twisting, or winding
machine or frame in case it is not necessary or desired that the sliding
bar, rod, or flanged plate should rise and fall.
The loop brackets or slots are made sufficiently wide or easy to permit
of a horizontal movement of the sliding bar, rod, or flanged plate along
the front of the machine or frame.
The sliding bar, rod, or flanged plate is perforated or slotted so as to
receive the arms or prolonged ends of the springs, but not to interfere
with the action of the springs.
At one end of the sliding bar, rod, or flanged plate I form, fix, or attach
a rack, worm, or spirally-grooved snug, upon which acts another worm
or spirally-grooved shaft supported by a snug or bracket formed or fixed
upon or attached to the lifter, builder, or bobbin rail, or to the framework
of the spinning, twisting, or winding machine or frame, and furnished
at the end opposite to the worm or spiral groove with a ratchet wheel
•

page_text: and latchet or pawl actuated automatically at each traverse of the lifter,
builder, or bobbin rail by the operation of a snug, plate, or stop fixed
upon or attached to the framework of the machine or frame, and catching
the arm of the latchet or pawl at each descent or ascent of the lifter,
builder, or bobbin rail, so as to drive round the ratchet wheel and the
worm or spirally-grooved shaft, which, acting upon the first-mentioned
rack, worm, or spirally-grooved snug, moves the sliding bar, rod, or
flanged plate horizontally forward or backward as required along the
front of the machine or frame, and thereby increases the pressure of the
springs, arms, or prolonged ends upon the flanges of the bobbins, perns,
or spools..
builder, or bobbin rail by the operation of a snug, plate, or stop fixed
upon or attached to the framework of the machine or frame, and catching
the arm of the latchet or pawl at each descent or ascent of the lifter,
builder, or bobbin rail, so as to drive round the ratchet wheel and the
worm or spirally-grooved shaft, which, acting upon the first-mentioned
rack, worm, or spirally-grooved snug, moves the sliding bar, rod, or
flanged plate horizontally forward or backward as required along the
front of the machine or frame, and thereby increases the pressure of the
springs, arms, or prolonged ends upon the flanges of the bobbins, perns,
or spools.
Other equivalent mechanical means may be used for causing the
motion of the lifter, builder, or bobbin rail to move the sliding bar, rod,
or flanged plate.
When it is desired that the horizontal movement of the sliding bar,
rod, or flanged plate may be accomplished by hand I effect the object
by means of a hand wheel instead of the ratchet wheel and latchet or
pawl.
Tho teeth of the ratchet wheel are adapted to the fineness or coarse-
ness of the yarn, thread, or other filamentous material to be wound and a
the size of the bobbins, perns, or spools to be filled.
And in order that the said Invention may be more fully understood I
shall now proceed to refer to the Drawings on the Sheet hereunto
annexed, the same letters of reference being used throughout all the
Figures to indicate the same or corresponding parts of said machines..
2
Fig. I. is the plan of the lifter, builder, or bobbin rail of a spinning,
twisting, or winding machine or frame, shewing the spindles and flyers,
bobbins, perns, or spools, and loop brackets thereon, with the sliding bar,
rod, or flanged plate and springs supported thereby, and the rack, worms,
snugs, ratchet wheel, and latchet or pawl; Fig. II. is a longitudinal a
elevation or front view of the same.
Fig. III. is a transverse section of the parts as shewn in Fig. II.
Fig. IV. is an end view of the worm or spirally-grooved shaft with the
ratchet wheel, the latchet or pawl and its arm, and the snug, plate, or
stop fixed upon or attached to the framework.
8

page_text: a; a, a, are the springs bolted to a sliding flanged plate 6 through the
perforations c, c, c, in which d, d, d, the arms or prolonged ends extend
to the flanges e, c, e, of the bobbins, perns, or spools; f. f. f, are the
spindles and 9, 9, 9, are the flyers; h is the lifter, builder, or bobbin rail,
and i, i, are the loop brackets bolted to the lifter, builder, or bobbin
rail, and supporting the flanged plate b; k is the rack, worm, or
spirally-grooved snug fixed upon or attached to the sliding flanged
plate 6, and upon which acts the worm or spirally-grooved shaft 1, sup-
ported by the snug or bracket m; n is the ratchet wheel and o is the
latchet or pawl having the arm p, which on the descent of the lifter,
builder, or bobbin rail comes into contact with the slotted snug; plate, or
stop attached by a bolt-headed screw 8 to w, the framework of the
spinning, twisting, or winding machine or frame, and actuates the latchet
or pawl so as to force round the ratchet wheel, thereby drawing the
sliding flanged plate towards it and increasing by degrees the pressure of
the springs upon the flanges of the bobbins, perns, or spools; x is a
small handle or pin to be used for reversing the ratchet wheel and worm
or spirally-grooved shaft and relieving the springs when the bobbins,
perns, or spools have been filled.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it to be understood
that I do not claim the use of springs, nor of sliding bars, rods, or
flanged plates, nor of ratchets and latchets, or pawls except when the
same are constructed specially and employed as herein described, nor of
any of the parts thereof, nor the movements thereof; nor do I claim the
use of racks, worms, or spirally-grooved snugs or shafts, loop brackets,
bolts, or pins, nor of any of the separate mechanical parts which form
the compound automatic regulating machinery used by me; but I
claim,
First. The use in spinning, twisting, and winding machines or frames
of springs constructed and employed substantially as described and
shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Secondly. The construction and application of automatic regulating
apparatus, such as is shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed, in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Thirdly. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the
automatic regulating machinery, constructed and applied substantially

page_text: in the manner and for the purposes herein-before described and illus-
trated in the several Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.