IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA- RATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgins, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, aud Thomas Schofield Whitworth, of the same Place,
Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 20th December 1861, and dated the 26th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgins and Thomas
Schofield Whitworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 26th June 1861.
We, JAMES HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
and THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Iuvention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,'
to be as follows:-
Our Invention refers, firstly, to those machines in which a revolving ring is
employed, bearing by its periphery against supporting rollers, and through
which ring the bobbin or cop of material passes, and consists in supporting
such rings by extending them downward and there adapting a bearing, and
for this bearing we use a tube attached to the copping rail, which tube
Price 8d1

page_text: supports the spindle by which the bobbin is carried, or upou which the cop
is wound. Or, instead of the tube referred to, we form the bearing for the
ring by means of a stationary rail, through which the said tube passes, or
we place the bearing above the ring in the position usually occupied by the
guide wire.
Another part of our Invention consists in the employment of instruments
similar to the pressers used in preparing machines for the purpose of conveying
the spun material to the spindle or bobbin, and winding it thereon. These
pressers may be constructed upon the centrifugal principle, or they may
be provided with springs for the purpose of keeping them in contact with
the material. We also employ these pressers for giving motion to the spindle
by their pressure thereon, and with this view as well as to balance the appa-
ratus we employ two or more.
Another part of our Invention consists in placing such rings as aforesaid,
so that they shall fall upon the supporting rollers by their own gravity,
and which rings may then be used with or without any additional bearing.
Another part of our Invention consists in the employment of a screw or
clip, which the attendant can force against the above-mentioned rings, or
the ordinary spindles individually, in order to arrest their motion when
necessary.
Another part of our Invention relates to the adaptation of a variable drag
to machines on the above-mentioned ring principle, or to others upon the
ordinary throstle, when cops are made either on the bare spindle or on spools,
and consists in causing such variation to be regulated by the variable action
of the shaper. To illustrate this, we will suppose that there is a disc attached
to the spindle, upon which a finger is caused to press; this finger at the
commencement of the cop or bobbin will act near to the centre of the said
disc, but as the cop or bobbin increases in size it is drawn outward by the
shaper so as to bear upon a gradually increasing radius.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and THOMAS
SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, Her special license
that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND
DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth,
or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
forined, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Paten Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield
Whitworth, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 :-
Our Invention refers, firstly, to those machines in which a revolving ring
flyer is employed, bearing by its periphery against supporting rollers, and
through which ring flyer the cop or bobbin of material passes, and consists in
supporting such ring flyer by extending it downward and there adapting a
bearing, and for this bearing we use a tube attached to the copping rail, which
tube also supports the spindle by which the bobbin is carried or upon which
the cop is formed, or, instead of the tube above referred to, we form a bearing
for the ring flyer by means of a stationery rail, through which the said tube
passes, or we place a similar bearing above the ring instead of beneath it, as
above mentioned.
In the accompanying Drawing this part of our Invention is shewn at Fig. 1,
which represents a vertical section of part of a throstle constructed according

page_text: to our improvements; Fig. 2 is a detached view of a spindle and its immediate
appendages drawn upon an enlarged scale, shewing also other parts of our
Invention, to be referred to hereafter, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal view
thereof.
The spindle is at a, mounted at bottom in a footstep b, attached to a rail c;
to another rail d is fixed a tube e, through which the spindle passes, and in
which it has a bearing at e*; at is the ring flyer, the periphery of which
bears against two rollers g, mounted upon axes carried by the framework
of the machine. Upon the ring flyer are mounted guides h, through one of
which the material to be spun or doubled passes and from thence to the
spindle, ifa cop thereon is to be formed, or on to a bobbin if desired, as shewn
by the blue line, the red line indicating the passage of the material according
to another part of our Invention hereafter to be described; extending downward
from the ring flyer are arms i, which terminate in a boss k, which has its
bearing upon the tube e, so as to revolve thereon, which revolution is caused
by a hand proceeding from the usual drum to a wharvem, formed upon the
ring flyer. At n is a flange formed upon the ring flyer, and which extends
over the rollers g, and thus the apparatus is kept from sliding down the
tube e. The two rails c, d, are in one piece, and are carried by sliding
brackets (one of which is shewn at o) furnished with racks p, acted upon by
pinions q; these pinions being caused to revolve by any usual copping
arrangement will cause the spindle a and tube e to move upward and
downward so as to present different portions of the spindle or bobbin to the
point of delivery of the material, during which operation the tube e slides
within the boss k, and forms a continual bearing for the ring flyer.
At the right-hand side of Fig. 1 a modification of this part of our Invention
is shewn; in this case the boss k of the ring flyer f passes into a bracket,
which extends from the framework of the machine, in which bracket the
said boss turns as in a bearing, and is bored sufficiently large to allow it to
be free of the tube e, upon which it does not therefore depend for support.
Fig. 4 is a partial view shewing another method of supporting the ring flyer;
similar letters of reference point out corresponding parts of the previously
described arrangements, but in this instance the arms of the ring flyer
extend upward, and are provided at top with a centre pin t, which runs
in a bearing formed by a bracket u, extending from the framework of the
machine.
Another part of our Invention consists in the use of instruments similar to
the pressers used in preparing machinery, and are adapted for conveying the

page_text: material to the spindle or bobbin and winding it thereon, and these pressers
we also employ for giving motion to the spindle by their pressure thereon,
and with this view, as well as to balance the apparatus, we employ two or
more. This part of our Invention is shewn at Figs. 1, 2, 3, before referred
to. Upon the upper surface of the ring flyer fare mounted the pressers w,
they being adapted to centre pins x, so as to be capable of turning thereon.
The material to be spun or doubled passes from the usual rollers and guides
to a projecting wire h, formed with a curl upon its end, and from thence it is
conducted around one of the pressers and through the eye thereof to the cop
or bobbin. The whole course of the material is shewn by the red line, and
it will thus be perceived that it is delivered by a system of guides im-
mediately on to the surface upon which it is to be wound, the centrifugal force
generated by the ring flyer keeping the presser always in contact with the
cop or bobbin in process of formation. If desired, however, springs may be
adopted as is well understood in reference to roving frames. It will be per-
ceived that according to our Invention the spindle is not driven by the motive
power, but that it is drawn round by the tension of the yarn or thread, that
is to say, we at present assume it to be so, such arrangement being within
the meaning of our Invention; nevertheless an object we propose to accomplish
is to cause or to assist the bobbin or spindle to revolve by the pressure of the
flyers thereon, and it is chiefly for this purpose, as before stated, that we employ
more thau one of such pressers; two only are shewn in the Drawing, but more
may be employed if desired.
Fig. 5 shews a method that may be adopted for mounting the rollers g. At
y is a short spindle upon which the roller g is fixed; this spindle is mounted
in a bush z, carried by the framework of the machine, and which is capable
of being raised or lowered therein, and of being fixed in any desired
position by a set screw, so that a correct position of the ring flyer may be
secured.
Another part of our Invention consists in placing ring flyers so that they
shall fall upon supporting rollers by their own gravity, and which ring flyers
may then be used with or without any additional bearing. This part of our
Invention is shewn at Fig. 1, combined with the improvements previously
described; it will there be perceived that the axes of the ring flyers are placed
at an angle to the horizontal line, and that they fall against the supporting
rollers g by their own gravity. In Fig. 5 this part of our Invention is shewn
without that portion thereof which relates to the support gained by extending
the flyers upward or downward, and there adapting distinct bearings. In this

page_text: instance the ring simply bears against two rollers g, g*, towards which it
inclines by its own gravity.
It will of course be understood that a drag as in ordinary throstles must be
employed in conjunction with our improvements, and so far as our Invention
has already been described, the said drag may be of any ordinary arrangement,
but according to another part thereof we employ a peculiar mechanism for that
purpose, which we will now describe. At the lower end of the spindle a,
Figs. 1 and 2, is fixed a disc 3, in contact with which is a lever 4, mounted
upon a boss 5, carried by a bar 6; upon this boss is another lever 7, provided
with a weight 8, which is fixed thereon; the boss 5 is mounted so as to be
capable of turning upon a stud 10, and the weight 8 therefore causes the
lever 4 to press upon the disc 3 as it revolves with the spindle. The bar 6
is connected with the "shaper "or other apparatus so as to be caused to slide
backward and forward, thereby conveying a lever 4 across the surface of the
disc 3. At the commencement of a cop or bobbin the said lever will occupy
a position near the spindle, but as the said cop or bobbin increases in size
the bar 6 by sliding forward will cause the lever 4 to act upon an increased
radius of the disc, and thus an increased drag will be afforded.
Another partof our Invention consists in the employment of a screw or clip,
which the attendant can force against ring flyers, in order to arrest their
motion when necessary; this is shewn in Fig. 1, in which 20 is a screw passing
thro' the bearing r, and which upon being turned acts against the boss k,
so as to clip it and prevent its revolution; in Fig. 4 this part of our Invention
is also shewn, the said screw being as before at 20, and acting against the
centre pint; with reference to this part of our Invention we observe that it may
be applied to other spinning and doubling machines.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, we desired it to be understood that
we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly, the methods shewn and described of supporting ring flyers of the
above-mentioned description.
Secondly, the application of pressers for conveying the material to the spindle
or bobbin and winding it thereon, such spindle or bobbin being caused torotate
by the tension of the yarn or thread.
Thirdly, the use of two or more pressers acting so as to cause the spindle or
bobbin to rotate or to assist that motion.
Fourthly, in reference to such ring flyers as aforesaid, so mounting them
that they shall fall towards supporting rollers by their own gravity.

page_text: Fifthly, the arrangement whereby a drag is effected through the agency of
ressure applied to variable radii of a revolving surface.
Sixthly, the employment of a screw or clip, which the attendant can force
pon the ring flyers or other flyers as aforesaid, individually, in order to arrest
eir motion.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Higgins and Thomas Schofield
Whitworth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-third
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one.
THOMAS SCHOFIELD WHITWORTH. (L.S.)