IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WAXED THREADS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for an Invention of
A commu-
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WAXED THREADS."
nication from abroad by Eugène Guillemaud, of La Madeleine, Lille, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd December 1880.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WAXED THREADS." [A communication from abroad by Eugène Guillemaud, of
La Madeleine, Lille, France.]
Hitherto threads have been waxed by the workman at the time of using them
whether for hand work or machine.
Now this Invention consists in the commercial manufacture of waxed threads
prepared ready for use by the employment after waxing of coatings which have
the effect of rendering the threads less sticky or adhesive. I also employ tars or
oils of tar either alone or mixed with wax or with other substances, and coat
threads therewith so as to resemble waxed threads. The substances used for
coating the waxed threads may, for example, be powders, varnishes, or waxes
obtained from fatty bodies.
The manner in which it is preferred to carry out the Invention is as follows:-
The thread to be waxed and coated is carried as it is unwound from a bobbin or
otherwise through a trough containing the wax, which is kept in the liquid state
by heat applied in any convenient manner. The wax may be either pure or mixed
with other substances, according to requirement. On leaving the trough the
thread is carried vertically between a pair of pads kept pressed together by springs
or otherwise so as to remove the excess wax taken up by the thread; the thread
then passes vertically to a horizontal roller; the vertical direction of the thread is
indispensable, or otherwise the wax would collect more at one side than another.
In order that the thread may not stick to the roller the latter turns in a box

page_text: containing a suitable impalpable powder, such, for example, as talc. The thread
on leaving the roller passes between one or more pairs of elastic pads covered with
a textile fabric and kept pressed against each other by springs or otherwise.
These pads are immersed in a basin of hot water, and they rub and give a
preliminary polishing to the thread, whose wax is rendered soft by the hot water.
On issuing from the basin, the thread, after going over a roller, which like the
roller previously referred to turns in a box containing powder, is then polished by
circular brushes and cylinders. As after this polishing the thread is still not quite
dry it is necessary before winding it on bobbins or forming it into balls or skeins
to cover it with tale or other impalpable powder in order that the layers of thread
may not stick together. For this purpose it is carried through a box containing
the tale or other powder, after which in its waxed and coated state it is fit to be
wound on bobbins or formed into balls or skeins.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st June 1881.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WAXED THREADS." (A communication from abroad by Eugène Guillemaud, of
La Madeleine, Lille, France.)
Hitherto threads have been waxed by the workman at the time of using them
whether for handwork or machine.
Now this Invention consists in the commercial manufacture of waxed threads
prepared ready for use by the employment after waxing of coatings which have the
effect of rendering the threads less sticky or adhesive. I also employ tars or oils
of tar either alone or mixed with wax or with other substances and coat threads
therewith, so that they may be like waxed threads. The substances used for
coating the waxed threads may, for example, be powders, varnishes, or waxes
obtained from fatty bodies.
The manner in which it is preferred to carry out the Invention is as follows:-
The thread to be waxed and coated is carried as it is unwound from a bobbin, such
as that represented at A in the annexed Drawing, or otherwise through a trough
such as
containing the wax, which is kept in the liquid state by heat applied in
any convenient manner. The wax may either be pure or mixed with other sub-
stances according to requirement. On leaving the trough the thread is carried
vertically between a pair of pads, such as those shewn at L, L³, kept pressed together
by springs or otherwise so as to remove the excess wax taken up by the thread;
the thread then passes vertically to a horizontal roller C; the vertical direction of
the thread is indispensable, because the wax would otherwise collect more at one
side than another. In order that the thread may not stick to the roller C the latter
turns in a box D containing a suitable impalpable powder, such, for example, as
talc. The thread on leaving the roller passes between one or more pairs of elastic
pads, such as are shown at F, FL, F₁₁, covered with a textile fabric, and kept
pressed against each other by springs or otherwise. These pads are immersed in
a trough E of hot water, and they rub and give a preliminary polishing to the
thread, whose wax is rendered soft by the hot water. On issuing from the trough E
the thread after going over a roller G, which like the roller turns in a box D¹
containing powder, is then polished by circular brushes H, H', and cylinders M, M'.
As after this polishing the thread is still not quite dry it is necessary before
winding it on bobbins or forming it into balls or skeins to cover it with talc or
other impalpable powder in order that the layers of thread may not stick together.
For this purpose it is carried through a box K containing the tale or other powder,
after which in its waxed and coated state it is fit to be wound on bobbins or
formed into balls or skeins.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention as communicated to me,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,—
The manufacture of waxed threads by the means and in the manner substantially
as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal. this First day of June. One thousand eight hundred and