IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF MACHINERY USED IN THE PREPARATION FOR SPINNING, AND IN THE SPINNING AND DOUBLING OF COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
FOTHERGILL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, on or about the Seventeenth day
of June now last past, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Benjamin Fothergill, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, that I, the said Benjamin Fothergill, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Fothergill, my exors,
aditors, or 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, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CERTAIN PARTS OF MACHINERY USED IN THE PREPARATION FOR SPINNING, AND IN
THE SPINNING AND DOUBLING OF COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Benjamin Fothergill, by an instrument in writing under my hand and séal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: and by the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Fothergill, do hereby, declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist,―
་
First, in the application of a ring to the lower ends of the two arms of a
flyer, for the purpose of keeping the arms steady whilst they are revolving and
a slubbing or roving is being wound round a cylinder or bobbin, and of two
springs acted upon by two adjusting 'screws, which springs press upon two
tappets which are attached to the ends of two short levers. At the other end
of one of the short levers is a slot through which the slubbing or roving passes,
and is guided on to the cylinder or bobbin, and is then, by the end of the
slotted lever, pressed against the bobbin. At the other end of the other short
lever is a small friction pulley, (or, it may be, a smooth piece of metal), which
presses against the bobbin on the opposite side to that which is pressed upon
by the end of the slotted lever, and causes the slubbing or roving to be wound
with the required tightness around the bobbin. The two tappets may be so
formed, or so attached, to, the short levers, as to give a uniform pressure
against the bobbin as its diameter increases, or a pressure gradually increasing
or decreasing; and the pressure, may be increased or decreased at will, either
throughout or at any stage of the filling of the cylinder or bobbin, so as to be
suitable for any size of sliver or roving, by means of the two screws which act
against the springs by being turned forward or backward so as to press more
or less against them. The short levers are so constructed.as to be capable of
being turned back to afford an opportunity to piece the slubbing or roving
when broken, or to enable the cylinder or bobbin to be doffed or removed when
filled.
Secondly, in a new combination of machinery to be applied to the mule,
billy, jenny, stretching frame, or doubling frame, when such machines are
what is called self-acting, for the purpose of regulating or governing the speed
of the spindle as it is winding on the yarn to form the cop, in such a manner.
as to keep the yarn in this part of the process of spinning or doubling at a
more uniform tension than it is kept at by those parts of similar machines
which are now in use to effect the same purpose. And in further compliance
with the said proviso, I, the said Benjamin Fothergill, do hereby declare the
manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the following
statement thereof, reference .being had to the Drawings annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 represents a front view, and Fig. 2 a side view, of the
flyer of a preparation machine with my first-mentioned improvements attached
thereto. Fig. 3 represents, in plan, the same improvements with the flyer
removed, in order that they may be the better seen; and Fig. 4 represents such
a ring as is shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, but applicable to a flyer of a different
form.
In Sheet 2, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a self-acting mule headstock, with
'one modification of my secondly mentioned improvements attached thereto,
applicable either to spinning or doubling machinery.
In Sheet 3, Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine shewn in Sheet 2,
Fig. 1, with the same improvements attached thereto.
In Sheet 4, Fig. 4 is a plan of another.modification of my secondly men-
tioned improvements in spinning or doubling machinery attached, to a portion
of a self-acting mule headstock; and Fig. 5'is' a side view of the machinery
shewn in Fig. 4.
In Sheet 1 the Drawings are made to the full size of the machinery they
represent. In Sheets 2, 3, and 4, the machinery is drawn to the scale shewn
in Sheet 2. The same figures and letters are.used to denote the same parts
throughout the Drawings.
In Sheet 1, a is a cylinder or bobbin; 'b:is a sliver or roving wound round
it; c are the arms. of the flyer; d is the ring; e are the springs; f, the
adjusting screws by which the springs, can be: forced with a greater or less
pressure against the tappets g, which are fixed on the ends of the short levers
h and i. By the pressure thus given to the tappets the slotted end of the
lever h, which guides .the sliver or.roving on to the bobbin, is pressed against
it on one side, whilst the small friction roller on the end of the short lever i
is pressed against on the opposite side, as the flyer and bobbin are turned in
the ordinary manner. Instead of the small friction roller, the
lever i may be formed so as to terminate in a smooth piece.
sliver or roving has to be pieced after breaking, the short lever h may .be
turned from the surface of the bobbin, and held back by the spring and tappet,
as shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 3; and when the bobbin is full, and has to be
removed, the lever i may be moved and held from the bobbin in a similar
manner. The spindle and flyer are the only parts of the preparation inachiné
which I have shewn in connection with my first-mentioned improvements, as
the other parts of such machines are well known to persons conversant with
that class of machinery.
end of the
When the
In Fig. 1, Sheet 2, one modification of my improvements in spinning ör

page_text: doubling machinery is shewn in the combination of the parts marked from
1 to 25 respectively, and their mode of action for either purpose is as follows:
1 is a lever which works upon a pivot at one end, and near the other end
is attached to a stud fixed to a nut. At the commencement of the operation
this lever is in a horizontal position, as shewn by dotted lines, and the nut, as
shewn also in dotted lines, is then near the bottom of the screw 2. When
the carriage first runs in, the pulley on the end of the lever 5 runs upon the
top of the lever 1, without giving any circular motion to the wheel 6, to which
wheel the lever 5 is fixed, so that the spur wheels 6, 7, 8, and 9, and the
mitre wheel 10, on the boss of the wheel 9, are held from turning, and thereby
the mitre wheel 11, as it is carried round by the drum 12, as herein-after
described, is put in motion round the shaft on which it is placed by the mitre
wheel 10, and that wheel puts in motion the mitre wheel 13 and the spur
wheel 14 keyed on the same boss, and the wheel 14 puts in motion the wheel
15, which is attached to one half of a catch box 16, and the catch box being
in gear puts in motion the mitre wheel 17 on the same shaft, which works
into and turns the mitre wheel 18 on the vertical shaft to which the drum
band pulley is attached and thus gives motion to the spindles to wind on the
first stretch of yarn at a uniform tension. When the carriage goes out, the
sliding rack bar 4 strikes the ratchet wheel 3, and turns it and the screw to
which it is attached partially round, and thereby slightly raises the nut, the
stud attached to it, and that end of the lever 1 which is attached to the stud,
so that when the carriage again runs in the pulley fixed on the lever 5
descends on the top of the lever 1, which is now slightly inclined, and thereby
communicates a slight degree of circular motion to the spur wheels 6, 7, 8,
and 9, which work into each other, as shewn in Sheet 2, Fig. 1, and the mitre
wheel 10, being keyed on to the boss of the spur wheel 9, is thereby also
slightly turned. This mitre wheel works into another mitre wheel 11, which
latter wheel is fixed on a shaft attached to a boss. This boss also carries a
drum 12, by means of a web shewn in section in Fig. 2, Sheet 3. Through
the centre of this boss a shaft passes, by which it and the mitre wheel 11, and
the drum attached to the web and boss, are supported, and allowed to turn
freely, and on which shaft the wheels 9, 10, 13, and 14 are also supported,
and allowed to turn freely. A chain 19, shown in dotted lines in Sheet 2,
Fig. 1, is folded several times round the drum 12, and fixed to it so as to
prevent the chain from slipping on the surface of the drum. Each end of the
chain is secured to a stationary part of the framing of the headstock, so that
when the carriage moves in the drum is turned round. uniformly by the chain,
so that by the combination of wheels and the drum the speed of the spindles

page_text: is thereby diminished in the ratio of the increased diameter of the partly
formed cop, and this gradually decreasing speed of the spindles is continued as
the lever 1 is elevated at each succeeding stretch, until the partly formed cop
arrives at its full diameter, at which stage the lever 1 remains stationary until
the cop is completed. In place of the chain 19 a stationary rack bar may be
substituted, toothing into a wheel substituted for the drum. The lever 1 may
be curved on its upper surface, to regulate the winding on for any form of cop,
and, instead of being raised by a vertical screw, may in its curved form be
made to traverse horizontally, to produce the same effect that it does when it
works as described. I have not thought it necessary to describe how the two
last-mentioned alterations may be effected, as that must be well known to
persons conversant with this class of machinery. The stud 24, on the sliding
rack bar 4, cn the first going out of the carriage is kept by the weight 23
against the carrier 25, through which carrier it works in a slot, and in this
position it does not strike the ratchet wheel 3; but as the carriage goes in,
the tension of the yarn upon the counter-faller, by means of the arm 20
attached to it, moves the sliding rack bar outwards to a sufficient distance to
act upon the ratchet wheel 3, and thereby elevate the lever 1 so as to govern
the speed of the spindles. The arm of the counter-faller is made so that it
can be adjusted to force out the sliding rack bar, by a projecting piece on the
top of it, to a greater or less distance, for the purpose of elevating the lever 1
faster or slower, so as thereby to regulate the speed of the spindles in forming
cops of different counts of yarn. When the tension of the yarn has brought
the counter-faller down to its lowest point, the catch 21 falls behind one of the
teeth of the sliding rack bar 4, and secures it in that position until it has struck
the ratchet wheel 3, and during the backing off of the yarn from the points of
the spindle to the partly formed cop, the faller is also brought down, and by the
arm 22, with the pulley attached to it, the catch 21 is liberated, by the pulley
acting against the bent end of the catch 21, and thereby allows the rack bar
to be drawn back by the weight 23.
In Sheet 4, k is a rack bar supported at each end of the headstock of a
self-acting mule between four grooved pullies, two of which are below it and
two above it. In this Drawing I have shewn only certain parts of the head-
stock, as the other parts are well known. These pullies are fixed to the
framing of the headstock. A row of teeth extends along the under side of
the bar, in which teeth the teeth of a spur wheel / take. The spur wheel / is
attached to the horizontal shaft at present used in the square of the self-acting
headstock, for the purpose of communicating motion to the spindles in the
manner that the same wheel acts at present in the self-acting mule.

page_text: In Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 4, the rack bar k is substituted for the chain
and winding-on drum now in use. In such mules as are shewn in Fig. 1,
Sheet 2, or in any other mule where the quadrant is used, such rack bar works
with more regularity and certainty than the chain and drum. The rack bar
is supported by and traverses between the four grooved rollers m. It is con-
nected to the quadrant by means of a jointed bar n. It will not be needful
to give any further account of the other parts of the self-acting mule in
describing this modification of my improvements in spinning and doubling, as
they are so well understood by spinners.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I hereby claim in preparation machines the com-
bination of the ring. attached to the arms of a flyer, with the springs, the
adjusting screws, and the tappets which are attached to the two short. levers,
with their mode of action, as herein-before described; and in spinning and
doubling machinery I claim as of my Invention the application of the new
combinations of parts which I have shewn and described. And this my Inven-
tion being, to..the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never
before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion. of Wales, or Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the
same, and that I do verily believe this my Specification doth comply in all
respects, fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said.
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained. Wherefore I do hereby
claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Fothergill, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped) by the within-
named Benjamin Fothergill, in the
BENJN (L.S.) FOTHERGILL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Benjamin Fothergill came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.