IMPROVEMENTS IN SEMI- AUTOMATIC SPOOLING OR THREAD WINDING MACHINES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William McGee, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEMI-
AUTOMATIC SPOOLING OR THREAD WINDING MACHINES."
Sealed the 21st December 1876, and dated the 27th June 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William McGee at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th June 1876.
WILLIAM MOGEE, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEMI-AUTOMATIC SPOOLING OR THREAD WINDING MACHINES."
This Invention relates to spooling or thread winding machines contrived to effect
a number of the necessary operations automatically, whilst the remainder of the
operations are performed by the attendant worker.
The object of the present improvements is to obtain a simple and satisfactorily
working machine, which can deal simultaneously with two or more spools or
bobbins.
The improved machine may be constructed for from two to eight spools in
ordinary cases, and if wished for even a greater number.
The spindles to receive and turn the spools are placed horizontally, and in a
horizontal row, and are driven by preference by spur gearing. The guides for leading
the threads upon the spools are adjustably fixed all on one rod attached to a frame,
to which either a sliding or oscillating motion is imparted for the traverse by means
of a revolving spindle formed with right-hand and left-hand screw threads. This
screw spindle acts on half nuts on a tumbling piece, which is reversed by the action
of springs and a shaper, such as is used in certain kinds of completely automatic
machines. This shaper has its edges bevilled to correspond to the bevil of the end
flanges of the spool, and the parts are in some cases modified so as to be easily
adjustable to suit spools having different bevils.
The machine is stopped on the set of spools becoming full by the action of a
powerful spring, which is held in a catch until a pin on a slowly moving wheel
comes round and releases it, the spring then causing the disengagement of a clutch
through which the machine is driven.
A sliding bar or cross head worked by means of a hand lever is provided for
forcing the fresh spools upon the spindles, and for driving them off when filled, such

page_text: bar being formed with projections to bear on the ends of the spools as required, but
being arranged to be lowered out of the way whilst the spooling proceeds. The
attendant worker places the spools loosely on the spindles, forces them firmly on by
means of the hand lever, catches the thread ends upon them, adjusts the thread
guides, and then starts the machine by means of a second hand lever, which whilst
putting the clutch into its driving position engages the stopping spring in its catch.
On the spools being filled and the machine stopped the attendant worker cuts the
threads, and fixes the ends into nicks in the spool ends, removes the filled spools,
and then replaces them by fresh ones. The traverse guides may be pressed against
the spools by a weight or spring acting on their carrying rod; it is however
preferred to employ a slowly moving cam or inclined piece, which gradually shifts
the guides from the spools as they fill, pressure being applied by separate springs or
weights adapted to each guide, and kept uniform throughout the filling of the
spools.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said William McGee in the Great Seal Patent Offico on the 23rd December
1876.
WILLIAM M°GEE, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEMI-AUTOMATIC SPOOLING OR THREAD WINDING MACHINES."
My said Invention relates to spooling or thread winding machines contrived to
effect a number of the necessary operations automatically, whilst the remainder of
the operations are performed by the attendant worker.
The object of my present improvements is to obtain a simple and satisfactorily
working machine, which can deal simultaneously with two or more spools or
bobbins; and my improved machine may be constructed for from two to eight spools
in ordinary cases, and if wished for even a greater number.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of explanatory Draw-
ings to be herein-after referred to, and representing a machine arranged for four
spools, together with modifications of details. In these Drawings the same
reference numerals are used for marking the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 1, of the Drawings are a plan and a front elevation of
the machine; and Figures 3 to 7, on Sheet 2, are partial and sectional elevations.
The details are carried upon a table or frame 1, and the spindles 2 to receive and
turn the spools 3 are placed horizontally and in a horizontal row. The spindles 2
have on them pinions 4, by means of which they are driven, and they are arranged
in two pairs, the individuals of each pair being geared together by intermediate
spur wheels 5 carried on fixed studs. A spur wheel 6, on what may be termed the
main shaft 7 placed centrally and higher than the spindles 2, serves for driving the
two inner spindles; but this spur wheel 6 drives only one pair of spindles at once,
the pinions 4 of the other pair being placed in a different position, and the spur
wheel 6 being movable along its shaft by means of a hand lever 8, so as to gear
with one or other of the inner pinions 4, as required. The spindles 2 are carried
in bearings in front and second frames 9, 10, and the main shaft 7 is carried in a
bearing on the second frame 10, and in two bearings in a back frame piece 11.
The main shaft 7 is driven by means of a pulley 12 engaged with it or disengaged
from it by means of a clutch 13, and which receives a driving belt from a first-
motion shaft 14. The threads are drawn off large bobbins 15 placed on pins on a
rail 16, which is fixed to arms that are adjustable in height upon vertical standard
rods 17; and these rods also carry the upper guide rods 18, 19, (Figure 7) over
which the threads pass, and an adjustable rail 20 having on it the tension guides 21.

page_text: The pressing thread guides 22, which lead the threads immediately upon the spools,
are all four carried by a transverse horizontal bar 23 fixed on the front ends of two
rods 24, which passing through guide eyes in the front and second frames 9, 10,
have their back ends fixed to a cross head 25; and a rod 26 fixed to the middle of
the cross head has the traverse motion primarily imparted to it by means of the
usual right hand and left hand screw spindle 27, best seen in Figure 4.
This screw
spindle 27 is driven by changeable spur gearing 28 from the main shaft 7, and acts
on one or other of two internally screwed segments on arms 29 formed on a rocking
piece 30 on the rod 26. This rocking piece also carries an adjustable arm or point
31, which bears on the usual shaper 32 formed with inclined sides to suit the shape
of the end flanges of the spools 3, and which point 31 is acted on by levers 33 und
springs 34, so as to rock the piece 30 as the point reaches each edge of the shaper
32, as is well understood. The shaper 32 is fixed to a bar 321, which is movable in
guides in a bearing piece 35, and has attached to it a rod 36, which moves it inwards
as the spools fill, being acted on by a helical cam 37 turned by means of a ratchet
wheel 38. This ratchet wheel 38 is acted on by a pawl 39 jointed to a vertical
lever having its lower end centered on the table 1, and formed with a slot in which
there is entered a pin on a piece 40 fixed to the traverse motion cross head 25.
When the stud of the rod 36 passes the highest part of the cain 37 a spring 41
(Figure 3) acting on the shaper bar 32¹ draws it and the bar 36 back to the starting
position. The cam 37 and ratchet wheel 38, which can be changed to suit different
sizes of spools and thread, are on a shaft 42, which has also on it a fine-toothed
ratchet wheel 43 having engaging with it a pawl centered on a fixed pin to prevent
its moving back. The ratchet wheel 43, which is shown in Figures 5 and 6, has
fixed on it a pin 44 for stopping the motion of the main shaft 7 on the winding of
a pair of spools being completed. The free end of a powerful spring 45 fixed to
the table passes through a slot in the end of a lever 46, and through a guido
slot in a piece 47 carrying the end of the shaft 42, and the point of the spring
engages in a notch in a catch lever 48 centered on the shaft 42. This catch lever
48 has jointed to it a trigger 49, which bearing on the boss of the catch lever, and
being acted on by the pin 44 on the wheel 43, moves the catch lever, so as to
release the spring 45, and the spring then throws up the lever 46. This lever 46
is fast on a rocking shaft 50, on which there is also fast a forked lever 51 for
moving the clutch 13, and when the machine is to be started again this is done
through the same lever 46 by means of a bell-crank hand lever 52 connected to it
by a pin and slot. The movement of the lever 46 for starting the machine replaces
the end of the spring 45 in the notch of the catch lever 48, this catch lever being
weighted so as to assume its proper holding position as soon as the spring is moved
down by the lever 46.
In connection with each pair of winding spindles 2 there is a sliding bar or cross
head 53, movable by means of a hand lever 54, for forcing the fresh spools on the
spindles and for drawing them off when filled. Each bar 53 has fixed to it a pair
of rods 55 for the two spindles, and these rods slide in guide eyes in the frame 9, 10,
and have fixed to their front ends cradles 56 into which the spools are dropped.
In Figures 1 and 2 one pair of spools is shown in the position for winding, and the
other pair is shown as drawn off the winding spindles; Figure 7 also shows the
parts in the latter position. The cradles 56 when constructed as shown in
the Drawings do not require to be lowered out of the way whilst the winding
proceeds.
The traversing thread guides 22 may be pressed against the thread on the spools
by a weight or spring acting on their carrying rod or bar 23. I however prefer to
employ a slowly moving cam or equivalent device which gradually shifts the guides
from the spools as they fill, pressure being applied by separate springs or weights
adapted to each guide, as shown in Figures 1, 2, and 7 of the Drawings. The
bar 23 has fixed to it a bracket 57 for each spool, and on a horizontal stud pro-
jecting forward from each bracket there is a lever piece 58 having a weight 59
connected to its lower end, whilst the guide 22 is adjustably fixed in its upper end

page_text: in a manner to form a bell-crank lever. The upper end of the lever piece 58 alsó
carries a guide eye 60, through which the thread passes on its way to the nose of
the guide 22. Each pair of lever pieces 58 is connected to a rod 61 having a handle
at its right-hand end, and carrying an antifriction pulley which is acted on by a
cam 62 on a shaft 63 geared by bevil wheels 64 to the shaft 42, which makes one
complete turn whilst the spools are being filled. That one of the two rods 61
which corresponds to the pair of spindles not in gear is drawn towards the right
hand so as to be held by a catch 65, but the other rod is acted on by the cam 62
so as to move the guides 22 from the spools in proportion as the winding proceeds.
The cam 62 is however so constructed that the rod escapes from its most projecting
part at the commencement of the winding of the last layer of thread on the spools,
and in consequence the full pressure of the weights 59 is free to act, and by pressing
the guides 22 upon the thread as it is being wound produces an extra finish upon
the last layer.
The shaft 63 carrying the cams 62 may be turned by a separate ratchet wheel
and pawl 66, as shown in Figure 8, instead of deriving its motion from the shaft 42;
or the arrangement shown in Figure 9 may be used for the same purpose, a lever 67
being acted on by a projection on the shaper bar 32¹ so as by a pin at its front end
to move the rods 61 towards the right hand. An escapement catch is fitted at the
back end of the lever 67, and the parts are adjusted so that the lever escapes past
the projection on the shaper bar 321 at the commencement of the winding of the
last layer of thread in order that full pressure may be applied to such last layer, as
herein-before explained.
The immediate pressing thread guides 22 may be applied at the sides of the
spools by the modification shown in Figures 10 and 11 instead of upon the top, as
shown in Figures 1, 2, and 7, the brackets 57 being in that case movable on the
bar 23 by means of rods 61.
When working the modification of my improved machine, shown in in Figures 1
to 7, herein-before described, the attendant worker places two fresh spools in the
cradles 56, appertaining to one pair of the spindles 2, and by means of the hand
lever 54 forces them upon the spindles, catches the thread ends upon them, adjusts
the thread guides 22, places the spur wheel 6 in gear by means of the hand lever 8,
and then starts the machine by means of the hand lever 52. Whilst the two
spools are filling, the attendant worker places two more in the cradles 56 of the
other pair of spindles, and on the first pair becoming filled and the machine auto-
matically stopped the worker withdraws the filled spools by the proper hand
lever 54, adjusts the spur wheel 6 to drive the second pair of spools, and restarts
the machine. The filled spools are then lifted out and fresh spools are substituted
and forced upon the spindles, and otherwise made ready for winding; and in this
way the worker attends to each pair of spools alternately, and no time is lost.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of a semi-automatic spooling
machine so as to deal with two or more spools, substantially in the improved
manner herein-before described.
2. The arranging of the several pressing and traversing thread guides (22) upon
a single traversing frame and the imparting to them of a positive outward move-
ment as the spools fill by means of a cam or equivalent device shaped or adjusted
to allow the pressure of separate weights or springs to act on them at and near the
termination of the winding, as herein-before described.
3. The combination of parts, herein-before described, for stopping the machine
on a set of spools becoming filled.
4. The cradles (56) and their actuating parts for putting the spools on and off the
spindles, arranged substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: 5. The arranging of the several spindles of one machine in two pairs or sets,
with devices for driving such pairs or sets alternately, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William McGee, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM MCGEE (L.S.)