CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING, SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND THROWING RAW SILK
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, COME, I, CHARLES:
BURY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of October, in the fourteenth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty, did, for
Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Bury, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I,
the said Charles Bury, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others. as
I, the said Charles Bury, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
CLEANING, SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND THROWING RAW SILK;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Charles Bury, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Bury, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: זין.
manner in which the same
to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following ex-
planation thereof, that is to say
The first part of my improvements relates to the "cleaners," through which
the raw silk is passed (previous to the process of doubling), in order to cleanse it
from dirt or other impurities or inequalities, and has for its object greater ease
and accuracy of adjustment, at the same time affording greater facility for
clearing the dirt, &c. from the "cleaning kuives" without removing them, or
altering their adjustment.
The second part of my Invention relates to the machine for doubling silk,
and has for its object the more effectual prevention of slack threads in the
thrown silk, and consequent liability of one thread to "over-ride" the others,
owing to the inequality of tension, size, or fineness.
The third part of my improvements relates to the machine for spinning silk,
commonly called or known by the name of the "spinning mill," and is intended
to prevent the bobbin from taking up any more silk, whenever from the
breakage or slackening of any of the bands which turn the spindles, no twist or
insufficient twist has been imparted to the silk.
The fourth part of my improvements relates to an entirely new construction
and arrangement of machine, whereby I am enabled to perform the two pro-
cesses of "doubling" and "throwing" silk at one operation and in one machine;
thereby effecting a great economy in labour and time, and also improving the
regularity or evenness of the twist. In this machine the breaking of any one
of the threads under operation in connection with one spindle stops the revolu-
tion of the corresponding rollers, slackens the spindle band, and applies a break
to the spindle, or the slackening or breaking of any of the spindle bands will
stop the revolution of the rollers, thus preventing any imperfections arising
from any of the threads breaking, or from the absence or deficiency of "twist."
Hence it will be evident that the principal object in these my present improve-
ments is to prevent the occurrence of "waste" or imperfect yarn, in consequence
of the unequal tension or breakage of the threads or of the spindle bands;
which latter is of frequent occurrence in throwing and spinning silk, owing to
the high velocities at which the spindles run, which saving of waste is a great
desideratum in spinning, doubling, and throwing silk, owing to the costliness of
the material.
Such being the nature and object of my said improvements, I will proceed to
detail the method of carrying the same into practical effect, and in order more
clearly to illustrate the same, I have annexed to these presents two Sheets of
Drawings, representing the application of my improvements to the several

page_text: machines to which they relate, and have marked the same with figures and
letters of reference, corresponding with those in the following description thereof.
In Sheet 1 of the Drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a side
elevation, of my improved form or construction of the "cleaner," drawn about
full size. It will be seen that the "cleaner" consists of two vertical blades ȧ, a,
connected together by a "rule joint" at b. Immediately above the joint the
blades a, a,, are provided with a shoulder, which, when once properly set pre-
vents the possibility of their. closer approximation. The "cleaner" is placed in
the slide of a small frame c, c, fixed on the rail d, being held by means of a screw e,
and adjusted laterally by means of the screw f; g is a spring of india-rubber
or other suitable elastic substance, which keeps the blades a, a, in juxtaposi-
tion, but allows of their being readily separated when required for the purpose
of cleaning them from dirt, &c. The raw silk as it is wound from the hanks
or bobbins on to other bobbins, passes through or between the blades a, a, which
prevent any dirt or other impurities or inequalities from passing on to the
bobbin. It will of course be evident that for different sizes of silk blades of
differently adjusted degrees of fineness will have to be employed, and that these
may easily be substituted by slackening the screw e.
The second part of my Invention is also exhibited in Sheet 1 of the Draw-
ings. Fig. 3, being a plan view; Fig. 4, an end view; Fig. 5, a section; and
Fig. 6, a front elevation of a silk doubling frame, being drawn to a scale of
about 2 inches to a foot, and shewing, the application of this part of my. Inven
tion thereto. a, a, is the framing of the machine; and b, b, are the bobbins,
from which the single threads of silk intended. to be doubled pass over small
guide rollers c, c, and through guides d, d, between two rollers e, e, and through
guides f, f, to the bobbins g, g. These bobbins g, g, are provided with small
friction rollers h, h, of brass or other suitable material, and are caused to revolve
by friction of contact with pulleys or wheels i, i, mounted upon shafts k, k,
which are .driven in any convenient manner. The bobbins g, g, are also
furnished with catches 1, 1, with which the end of a lever m is brought into
contact by the falling of a wire n, whenever a thread breaks, and thus stops
the revolution of the bobbin. Before describing the operation of this part of
my Invention I would remark, that I find by experience that there is usually
a greater amount of tension on the fine threads than upon the coarse ones, so
that the latter are liable to become slack, and when thrown or twisted, to "over-
ride" or be twisted round the fine ones. In order to obviate this defect, I pass
the threads side by side, and nearly in contact with each other, between the
two rollers e, e, which may be made of metal, earthenware, wood, or other
suitable material, and are caused to revolve. by the drag of the threads, in

page_text: which case it will be evident that the thicker or coarser threads will be com-
pelled to turn the rollers e, e, whilst the finer ones will pass through them with
little, if any, pressure, so that an extra amount of tension is imparted to the
coarse threads, which will thus prevent them from becoming slack and over-
riding the finer ones in the process of twisting."
My improvements in the silk "spinning mill" are represented in Sheet 2 of the
-Drawings; Fig. 1 being a transverse section of a "mill"; and Fig. 2, a front
elevation of part of the same, drawn to a scale of about three inches to a foot,
and shewing the application of this part of my Invention thereto. a, a, is the
framing of the machine; 'and b, b, are the spindles, supported in the rails c, c.
The spindles b, b, are driven by means of bands d, d, passing around their
"wharves" and around the tin roller or drum e, e, which is actuated in any
ordinary convenient manner. The bobbins f, f, containing the silk to be spun,
are placed upon the spindles, from whence the threads pass through the
traversing guides g, g, to the bobbins h, h. These bobbins h; h, are caused to.
revolve by friction of contact with a series of rollers i, i, covered with india-
rubber or other suitable substance, aud mounted upon a shaft which is actuated
by any convenient means.. It will be observed that the spindle bands d; d,
each pass over a carrier pulley ; these pullies k. are mounted in swinging
frames 1, 1, which are supported upon shafts m, m, and are weighted in such a
manner as to have a constant tendency to keep the bands at a proper tension.
The frames 1, 1, are connected to wires n, n, which vibrate upon centres at 0, 0,
and are hooked or sharpened if necessary at their upper extremity. As soon
as one of the spindle bands breaks or becomes slack, its corresponding carrier
pulley falls over into the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and brings
the wire n into such a position that its upper hooked extremity shall catch the
thread and break or cut it, thus preventing the bobbin h from taking up any
silk without "twist," or with a deficient amount of "twist." A modification of
this arrangement is shewn in Figs. 7 and 8, Sheet 1, wherein a bent wire a, a,
is substituted for the carrier pulley; the action of this apparatus" is shewn in
dotted lines, and is so self-evident as to require no further explanation.
The fourth part of my Invention is also exhibited in Sheet 2 of the Draw-
ings, Fig. 3 being a transverse section. of my improved construction of machine
for doubling and throwing silk at one operation, drawn to a scale of about three
inches to a foot. The elementary parts of the machine are similar to those of an
ordinary cotton.doubling frame. a, a, is the framing of the machine; and b, b, is
the tin roller which is actuated in any ordinary convenient manner, and drives
the spindles c, c by means of the bands d, d, passing around their wharves.
The threads pass from the ordinary creel (which is not shewn in the Drawing)

page_text: The lever p vibrates
t is an horizontal bar,
under and over tension wires e, e, e, through the eyes of wires f, f, between the
rollers g, g, h, h, and after passing over the top roller h, and round the glass
rod i, are again led between the rollers g, h, through the eye of a wire j, and
thence over the glass rod k to the bobbin, l.. The rollers g, g, h, h, are caused
to revolve by the surface of the lower one g, being in contact with the shaft m,
which is continually revolving. The rollers are supported in a slot at the
upper end of a lever n, which is capable of vibrating on a centre at o. This
lever n is connected to a weighted lever p, by a link 'q.
upon a centre at r, and supports a balanced catch' s.
supported by the ends of two levers u, u, the bosses of which are keyed upon a
shaft v, which shaft is caused by any suitable means to vibrate constantly
backwards and forwards about one-eighth part of a revolution. wis an
inclined lever which is raised or depressed by two pins fixed near the lower end of
the lever n, and is connected to the break a, which acts upon a small pulley y,
fixed upon the spindle. The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-As
soon as one of the single threads breaks, its corresponding wire f falls on to the
balanced catchs, destroys its equilibrum, and causes it to fall and come into
contact with the vibrating bar t, which thereby pulls the weighted lever p into
the position indicated by dotted lines, which, by means of the link Q will cause
the lever n to vibrate, and thus raise both rollers g and h, thus stopping their
revolution, whilst the pins at the lower end of the said lever act upon the
inclined lever w, and cause it to apply the break a, and thus stop the revolu-
tion of the spindle also, until the thread is "pieced " the weighted lever p retain-
ing the roller g either in or out of contact with the revolving shaft m, as it is
thrown on one or the other side of its centre, or a spring acting both ways may
be substituted; should the thread break during the throwing process, that is,
between the rollers and the spindles, the falling of the wirej will have the
same effect. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, shews a modification of this arrangement, wherein
the slackening or breaking of a spindle band is also caused to raise the rollers
and apply a break to the spindles. The corresponding parts of the mechanism,
which are marked with the same letters of reference as in the preceding Figure
are the same in effect, and have the same movements. It will be seen that
the spindle band d passes over a carrier pulley 1, which is suspended from a
shaft 2 by means of a lever 3. This lever 3 is weighted above by a lever 4,
in such a manner as to have a constant tendency to keep the band d at a
proper tension, and is connected to the wire j by two other wires 5, 5, in such
a way that the vibration of the lever n shall raise the weighted lever 4 by
means of a pin, and thus slacken the band d; but the vibration of the lever 3,
consequent upon the accidental slackening or breaking of the spindle band,

page_text: will cause the wirej to fall on to the catch s, and thus.stop the revolution of the
rollers, and spindles.
Having this described the nature and. object of my several improvements,
together with the. manner. of carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark, in conclusion, that I. claim as my Invention,―
First, the peculiar formation or construction of the "cleaner," more particu-
larly the application of a spring, whether of india-rubber or other suitable
material, to, retain the blades in proximity, and at the same time allow of their
.instant.separation and self-readjustment when necessary.
. Secondly, in the doubling frame, I claim the application of a roller-or.rollers
for. imparting. an extra. amount of tension to the coarser. threads, in order to
prevent themi from over-riding the finer. ones in the process of throwing.
Thirdly, in the silk "spinning-mill," I claim. the arrangement of. apparatus,
shewn in the Drawings and. above described, or. any modification thereof, for
breaking or cutting the thread whenever the. spindle-driving band becomes too
slack or breaks.
Fourthly, I claim the general.construction and arrangement of the machine
for doubling and throwing silk at one operation, more especially. the method of
causing the breaking or absence of a thread, either at back or in front of the
delivering rollers, or the slackening or breaking of a spindle band, to raise both
the upper and lower corresponding delivering rollers, and simultaneously apply
a break to the corresponding spindle.
.In. witness whereof, I, the said Charles Bury, have hereunto. set my hand
and seal, the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
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