Improved Method of and Means or Apparatus for Warping or Beaming, and Sizing or Dressing Warp Threads.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 6th July, 1893-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Means or Apparatus for Warping or
Beaming, and Sizing or Dressing Warp Threads.
A communication by JOHN WILMARTH FOSTER, of Westfield, Hampden
County, State of Massachusetts, in the Uuited States of America,
Manufacturer.
I, ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES of 55 & 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
London, Chartered Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object to provide mechanism for and method of
handling warp threads, whereby said threads may be more cheaply and expe-
ditiously supplied to beams either before or after the sizing operation.
The invention to be herein claimed can be best pointed out by first describing
the method now practised of performing such work in most cotton mills, the
invention being described under two heads, and being of great value in connection
with what is known as warping, and what is known as sizing or dressing warp
threads for loom beams.
The threads to be used for warp in the production of cloth are produced by
spinning, and as spun are immediately wound on to bobbins or tubes carried by
spindles, and these bobbins, tubes, or equivalents are then taken to spooling
machines where they are suitably supported on horizontal rods, and the threads are
wound from the bobbins or tubes on to wooden spools having heads at each end,
each spool receiving upon it the threads of from twelve to fifteen bobbins or tubes,
according to the size of the thread and spool, the thread from the bobbins being
wound on the spools after the manner of winding commercial spools of thread
wherein each layer of thread is composed of a series of coils laid side by side
directly around and substantially at right angles to the axis of rotation of the
spool.
These spools are made to contain from one and one quarter pounds to one and
one-half pounds of thread, but in fact only about one pound of such thread is
available to go on to the section-beam, for a portion of thread is commonly left
on the spool to enable the bobbin thread to be tied thereto preparatory to filling
each spool.
From three-hundred and fifty to six-hundred of these spools, according to the
number of ends, are put into a warper creel so as to rotate about the horizontal
spindles or supports, and the ends of the threads are led from the spools through
the usual reed of the warping machine and secured to the section-beam in suitable
manner, and then the section-beam lying on a rotating cylinder or drum is rotated,
and the thread is drawn from the spools by the pull of the rotating section-beam,
the threads thus rotating the spools in order that they may give off their contents
to the section-beam.
In this old method it is estimated that from one-half to three-fourths of the
effective strength of the thread is consumed in rotating the spools, and this strain,
it will be remembered, as well as the speed of rotation of the spools, is constantly
varying while the section-beam is being filled, the latter increasing in diameter
as the spool becomes exhausted, but owing to the limited strength of the thread
and the fact that so much of said strength is required to rotate the spools, it
becomes practically impossible to employ a spool containing more than about one
pound of usable thread, and further, the fact that the thread has to furnish the
power to rotate the spools limits the speed at which the warper may be run
..practically.

page_text: This old method of warping, now universally practised, necessitates the employ-
ment of spools, and it is not infrequent for a single corporation to have invested in
spools alone from ten to thirty-thousand pounds.
These spools have heads which are easily broken and have constantly to be made
good by renewals, or by new spools, and further the weight of thousands of spools
and the space required for their storage is a very considerable item especially in
mills wherein floor space is expensive.
In this old method one set of spools such as referred to, furnish thread for but
one section-beam, from four to eight section-beams being required to fill a loom-
beam with a loom warp.
After a section-beam has been filled as customarily, an operator, usually a man,
cuts transversely through the mass of threads, which I will call warp-threads, at a
point between the reed of the warper and the section-beam, and with the aid of
another man the full section-beam is taken away and an empty section-beam is put
into its plàce in the warping machine.
The new beam having been put into place the ends of the warp-threads left
hanging at the reed are clamped or attached to the empty section-beam in usual
manner, and then usually two girls, one at each side of the warp-creel, break the
warp-threads separately at or near the spool, remove the more or less exhausted
spools, and tie the ends of the threads on the full spools to the ends of the warp-
threads left after breaking them, as stated, from the spools, and puts the full spools
in place in the warper-creel.
This operation of supplying new spools for each section-beam requires from one
and one-half to two hours of time of the two girls, and also during such time the
product of the warping machine ceases.
To get the warp from the section-beams onto a loom-beam it is customary to
take from four to eight section-beams, put them in bearings at the end of a slasher
or sizing machine, lead the said warps into the size and over a drying apparatus,
usually a heated cylinder, and thence through a suitable reed to the loom-beam,
the beam being rotated by a drum on which it rests by gravity.
In accordance with the invention I am enabled to save the time heretofore
required of the operatives in frequently changing and tying in new spools, to
obviate the dead capital heretofore invested in spools, to run the machine faster
when winding the warp onto the beam, whether a section-beam or loom-beam, and
by reason of the fact that spools are not used which have frequently to be changed,
the winding operation may be so continuous without interruption as to enable a
much greater portion of the time of the machine to be utilized in winding.
Fig. 1 shows a bobbin containing thread.
Fig. 2 shows the bobbin thread as being wound in long spirals upon a cone or
carrier, it being possible by such windings to get large yarn masses.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of a warp-creel, only a few thread masses being, however,
shown in place.
Fig. 4, an enlarged detail of the thread guides used therewith.
Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a creel frame containing thread masses,
beam upon which the threads are wound.
and also a
Fig. 6 shows enlarged one of the thread-holders or shells and its support.
Fig. 7, on like scale shows the holder wound with thread this figure showing the
cross winding, and it will be understood that all the thread masses in the creel frame
are cross wound.
Fig. 8 shows a modification wherein the cross wound thread mass is cylindrical
rather than conical.
Fig. 9 shows part of the creel frame and large thread masses together with part
of a slasher or sizing machine, said figure showing the threads as going directly
into the size or dressing and onto the loom-beam without the use of section-
beams.
I will now briefly describe the machines shown in Figs. 3, 5 and 9, and then
define the novel methods.

page_text: The base A has erected upon it suitable uprights A', preferably three rows of
uprights in the direction of the width of the creel frame, said uprights being shown
by full lines in Figs. 3 and 5.
The upper ends of the uprights at the outer sides of the frame are joined together
at top by girts A, the side girts being connected across the creel frame by the cross
girts A, A, said cross girts also supporting the upper ends of the central row of
uprights A.
The uprights support across the frame at suitable distances apart, the bars a, to
which and to bar A³ are attached at suitable intervals the supports a'.
The device B is supposed to be an ordinary reed; and the device B', a section-
beam, it in practice lying on and being rotated by a drum B2, but partially shown,
said reed, section-beam, and drum, and their operative parts, not shown, being all as
common in usual warping machines.
In the drawings the reed and beam are closer to the creel frame than in practice,
but are herein shown brought together to economize space on the drawing without
making the creel frame and its parts too small for proper illustration.
The creel frame contains a series of guide rails d, see Fig. 3, one for each row of
thread masses, said rails having mounted on them tension carriages d', see Fig. 4,
where the parts are enlarged.
The tension devices shown being, in this present embodiment of my invention, a
hook or eye 2 and eyes 3 and 4 through which the thread t will preferably be led,
as in Fig. 4, the carriages being preferably longitudinally adjustable on the bars
and being held in adjusted position by a suitable device as a screw 25.
These bars are carried in holders e, metal blocks, shown as bifurcated or notched
at one side to enable the holders to reach partially about the central row of
uprights A when the variable tension device is farthest from the delivery end of
the thread masses, as when the latter are fullest.
The holders are connected each by a suitable screw 7 with an upright rod e¹,
said upright rods being firmly attached to the slide rods 14, 15, by coupling
blocks 12, 13, held in place by suitable screws, the slide rods being connected at
one end to a strong arm 16.
The arm 16 has, as shown, a pin or projection 17 which enters a slot 18 in an
actuating device 19, shewn as a lever pivoted on a suitable ear or lug 20 connected
to the creel frame, the movement of said actuating device enabling the variable
tension device to be moved towards and from the delivery ends of the thread masses
as required, being brought closer as the thread mass decreases in diameter.
The movement of the tension device toward the delivery ends of the thread
masses as the same become exhausted is of very great moment, such construction
enabling the proper angle of delivery of the thread from the thread mass to be
maintained so that the thread coming from the mass will neither by its friction on
the end of the thread mass tend to unduly retard delivery, or to let too much of
the thread be pulled off.
At the delivery end of the creel, see Figs. 3 and 5, is located the cross-bar A
provided with thread guides h seen in Fig. 5, said bar in practice carrying a guide
for each thread in the set of thread masses for which it forms a common guide, or
in other words, each thread t after leaving its own guide 4 is led to the front of the
creel frame where it is led through one of the guides h, the guides h collecting all
the threads together preparatory to entering the reed spaces.
In Fig. 9 the creel frame and its yarn masses are supposed to be the same as in
Fig. 5, said frame being set at one end of a slasher or sizing machine of usual
construction, the frame-work of which is marked G.
In this machine, 9 designates small guide rolls, g' a roll, n a box containing size,
n', n, the rolls of the size box, m a lease rod, D a drying cylinder and E a loom
beam adapted to rest on and be rotated by a suitable drum F.
With this preliminary description I will now proceed to describe my novel
method commencing with a bobbin or cop a of spun thread, see Fig. 1.
I take from sixty to seven-hundred and twenty or more bobbins or cops and wind

page_text: them one after another onto a thread-holder b, preferably a shell of paper, and
preferably of cone shape, as shown in Fig. 6, said thread being led from the bobbin,-
suitably supported-through a suitable traverse guide which lays the thread in long
spirals on the holder, shown in Figs. 2 and 7, the holder resting on a drum or
surface having a crossing groove in which enters a projection from the traverse
guide, h².
This drum and traverse guide in practice is and may be substantially as in my
British Patents No. 6765 for 1891 and No. 10287 for 1892.
By winding the thread in this way I am enabled to get solid substantial thread
masses of sufficient size to contain the threads of from sixty to seven hundred and
twenty or more bobbins a, instead of from twelve to sixteen as heretofore put onto
a spool, and I am thus enabled to supply a thread mass on which there is a thread
of sufficient length to be used in filling several section-beams, or one loom-beam.
These large cross wound thread masses on their shells or holders are put into the
warping creel and on the supports where they are retained by the locking or
retaining devices shown as yielding hooked fingers b'.
The ends of the threads of these thread masses connected to the beam outo which
they are to be wound whether a section beam B', as in Fig. 4, or a loom-beam E,
as in Fig. 9, are then drawn from the masses without rotating said masses thus
avoiding the strain to which the threads as heretofore were subjected in order to
rotate the spools, and inasmuch as the thread delivers itself freely from the non-
rotating thread mass all inequality of strains heretofore experienced in rotating the
spools with their varying quantity of thread is avoided and as a result the winding
of the thread onto the beam may be at a very much faster rate of speed.
The operator having once connected the ends of the threads from the thread
masses to the beam, the entire beam whether a section-beam or a loom-beam may
be filled without change of thread masses on the creel.
In the event that section-beams are being filled the operator has to stop the
machine only long enough to cut the threads and remove a full beam and tie in
another beam, whereas as heretofore the spools had to be changed several times to
fili one section beam.
If the beam to be filled is a loom-beam it may be filled from the creel direct, the
threads being led through the size box n, over the drying cylinder and to the
beam E.
In this latter way the step of winding the thread onto section-beams is done
away with, and the saving of loss of ends on the section-beams is very considerable.
As before stated, inasmuch as the thread masses are not rotated, the surface
speed of the drum or device used to rotate the beam receiving the thread may be
greatly increased, and I desire to state that while I prefer to make the thread
holders conical, as shown in Fig. 7, yet they may be cylindrical as in Fig. 8, and
yet serve the purposes of the invention.
In the description of this invention I have shewn one simple form of creel frame
for supporting the large thread masses, and have shown parts of a common warping
machine to rotate the beam, and parts of a common slasher, yet it will be under-
stood that the invention would not be departed from by the employment of other
well known forms of warping mechanism adapted to rotate a section-beam, or other
well known or suitable slasher mechanism adapted to size threads and wind, the
same on a loom beam.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1 The use with a creel frame, of a series of cross-wound large non-rotating
thread masses from the ends of which the threads are delivered, and a beam, and a
device to rotate the beam and effect the winding of the thread thereon, whereby
a beam may be filled from the same thread masses.
2: The use with a creel frame, of a series of cross-wound large non-rotating

page_text: thread masses from the ends of which the threads are delivered, and a beam, and a
device to rotate the beam and effect the winding of the thread thereon, whereby
a beam may be filled from the same thread masses, and thread guiding and tension
mechanism adapted to be moved toward the ends of the said stationary thread-
masses as the threads are being unwound therefrom.
3: The herein described method of winding beams with thread, which consists
in cross-winding upon thread holders the threads form a large number of bobbins or
cops, mounting said cross-wound thread-masses in a creel, drawing the threads from
said cross-wound large thread masses without rotating said thread masses and
winding said threads onto a beam.
4: The herein described method of winding beams with thread, which consists
in cross-winding upon thread holders the threads from a large number of bobbins
or cops, mounting said cross-wound thread masses in a creel, drawing the threads
from said cross-wound large thread masses through sizing without rotating said
thread masses, drying said sized threads, and winding the same directly onto a
loom beam.
4th day of Tule 1802
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.