CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON OR ADDITIONS TO MACHINERY FOR THROWING OR WINDING SILK OR OTHER THREADS
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARCEL
ROMAN, of Saint Michael's Alley, Cornhill, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of November, in the fourth year
of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Marcel Roman, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Marcel Roman, my executors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Marcel Roman, my exors, admors, 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, the Invention (communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad) of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON OR ADDITIONS TO
MACHINERY FOR THROWING OR WINDING SILK OR OTHER THREADS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Marcel Roman,

page_text: shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within four 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
Marcel Roman, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, are set forth and described as
follows; that is to say:-
The said improvements on or additions to machinery for throwing or winding
silk or other threads are applicable to winding machines for winding silk or
other threads off from bobbins on to reels to form skains or hanks on those
reels, or to throwsting machines for throwing or twisting and at the same
time winding silk from bobbins on to reels to form skains thereon; and the
said improvements on or additions to the said machines consist in applying
thereto certain parts which I will herein-after describe with reference to the
Drawing annexed, videlicet:-A train of regulating wheelwork connected with
the reel and turned round thereby, which train of regulating wheelwork ope-
rates at stated and regular intervals (videlicet), whenever the reel has made a
certain number of turns, by means of catches, levers, and other intermediate
parts, which I will herein-after more particularly describe, upon an excentric
pin wheel or crank wheel, which gives the usual traversing motion to the layer
or guide rail; and in so operating the train of regulating wheelwork causes
the centre of the excentric pin wheel to move a little, and thereby to move the
layer and its row of guides a little distance endwise in the direction of the
length of the reel, so that whenever this operation of the regulating wheelwork
and other parts takes place the guides are shifted away from the places where
they stood and come opposite different parts on the length of the reel, whereby
threads or skains will cease to be laid on those parts of the reel opposite to
which the row of guides stood before, and a fresh set of skains will begin to
be laid by the side of the first set of skains, but a little apart from it. The
number of coils of thread in and consequently the total length of each skain
must necessarily correspond to the number of turns made by the reel between
the intervals at which the wheelwork is adapted to operate upon the excentric
pin wheel and row of guides, because the said wheelwork derives its motion as
aforesaid from the reel itself. When the number of skains of equal length
that it is intended should be wound off from each bobbin has been so wound
on to the reel, the train of regulating wheelwork operates by means of levers
acting upon clutch bars to disengage the axis of the reel from the pinion that

page_text: gives it motion when the machine is at work, and thus stops the machine.
The object of the said improvements on or additions to winding or throwsting
machines is therefore to cause them to regulate accurately the number of turns
or laps of silk or other thread that shall be coiled round the reel to form each
skain or hank, so that when the skains are taken off the reel they shall all
contain a given and equal length of thread. And further, to cause the layer
(or rail on which are the guides through which the threads pass from the
bobbins to the reels) to move a little endwise at stated and regular intervals,
while the machine is going on, so as to lay more than one skain or hank on
the reel from the same bobbin, leaving spaces between the skains so wound off
from the same bobbin, and every successive skain containing the same number
of laps round the reel, and consequently the same length of thread as the
preceding skain. And lastly, to cause such machines to stop by a self-acting
movement, as soon as the last row of skains has been wound upon the reel.
For the more complete explanation of the said Invention I have hereunto
annexed a Sheet of Drawings, whereon Figures 1 and 2 represent a plan and
elevation of a winding or throwsting machine with the said improvements ap-
plied to it. a, b, is the driving axis, which is turned round by a handle to give
motion to the whole machine by means of a pinion c of ten teeth working into
another pinion d on a vertical axis, on which is a drum e, e, placed at one end
of the machine; and at the lower part thereof, at the opposite end of the machine,
videlicet, at the end exhibited in Figure 2, is another similar drum e; an
endless band i, i, encompasses these two drums, and gives motion to the
spindles of the bobbins f, f, as is usual in throwsting machines, the spin-
dles of the bobbins being supported in an oval frame, see the Plan, Figure 1.
The machine represented in Figures 1 and 2 is double, that is, there are
two reels g, g, with a set of bobbins f, and a layer and row of guides belonging
to each, and both reels may be driven from the axis a, b, by means of wheel-
work not shewn in the Drawing, the several wheels being of suitable sizes to
give the reels the requisite speed to take up the silk or thread from the
bobbins. The usual traversing motion is given to the layer by an eccentric
pin wheel set in-motion by the reel, see Figures 1 and 4, videlicet, on one end
of the axis of one of the reels; withinside of the frame of the machine is
fitted a wheel of twenty-two teeth, which works into an intermediate wheel
also of twenty-two teeth, and that turns a wheel U of thirty-five teeth,
on the face of which is an eccentric pin, which is linked by a long
vertical rod to a horizontal rail 2, Figures 1 and 4. The end of the
rail 2 is joined to a crop rail 3, from which two oblique rails 4, 4, rise
up, the upper ends of which are jointed to the horizontal layers or guide

page_text: rails 5, 5. Hence, when the eccentric pin wheel U is turned round it gives
a very small up and down motion to the end of the end of the horizontal
rail 2, to which it is connected, and thereby transmits a traversing or backward
and forward jogging motion to the layers or guide rails 5, 5, in order to cross
the coils of silk or thread, and lay them regularly upon the reels. All the
parts herein-before described form no part of the improvements, and are like
the parts of machines in use in their operation.
In Figure 2, the train of regulating wheelwork, and the parts connected
therewith that constitute the improvements, are principally exhibited. N is a
pinion of five feet, fitted on the end of the axis of one of the reels which projects
through a frame or plank 7, 7, made fast to the cross rails 8, 9, at the end of
machine. The pinion N turns a wheel A of fifty teeth, on the axis of which
is a pinion of six teeth, then a wheel B of fifty-four teeth, with a pinion of
six teeth; then a wheel C of sixty-four teeth, with a pinion of six teeth;
lastly a wheel D of seventy-five teeth; by this train the speed is reduced, so
that the last wheel D makes one turn for every twelve thousand turns of the
pinion N and reel g, g. I, H, L, is a lifting lever, mounted on a fixed centre
pin at I, which passes through a long slot in the end of the lever, so that the
lever can be slided up and down again on its centre of motion, and it is
guided at the upper end by a collar at i. is a spring fastened to the
lever I, H, L, the end of which bears against a stud n, and presses the
lever I, H, L, towards the lever A and D to keep it up to its work, as shewn
in Figure 2. To the wheel A, a wiper R is fixed, which is intended to
operate upon the projecting catch or tooth L at the upper end of the
lever I, H, L, and on the rim of the wheel D are four chocks or small wipers,
one of which is intended to operate upon the projecting tooth or catch K, at
the lower end of the lever I, H, L, at every quarter of a revolution of the
wheel D. But the said chocks or wipers are not shewn in the Drawing, as
they are between the wheel and the plank 7, 7. M is a sliding plate which is
guided in collars or guide plates screwed to the frame 7, 7. It has three notches
in it Q, Q, Q, at the upper end, and a fourth notch towards the lower end also;
it carries the centre pin 9 of the eccentric pin wheel U. E is a click mounted
on a centre pin at o, and urged constantly towards the plate M. by a spring p.
Now the operation of these parts in producing the effects which I have
stated as being the object of the said Invention is as follows: Suppose
the reel to be empty, and the machine just ready to start to wind on a set of
skeins, the handle being turned round the reel g will begin to turn in the
direction of the arrow, Figure 2. The wiper R will, at starting, be in the
position there shewn, that is, just above and clear of the tooth L of the
2

page_text: lever I, H, L, which is kept in that position by the spring 1, just clear of the
wiper R, so that it can revolve with the wheel A without catching the tooth L.
The laying of the first set of skains now begins, and proceeds by the rotation
of the reel; and the eccentric pin wheel U, the centre of which is mounted in
the sliding plate at 9 as aforesaid, is regularly turned round by the reel, by
means of the three wheels herein-before mentioned, to give the traversing or
jogging motion to the layer, and lay the threads evenly on the reel in the
skains, Nos. 1, Figure 1. The motion of the reel also sets the train of regu-
lating wheelwork in. motion, and by the time the reel has made three thousand
turns, and the wheel D one quarter of a turn, or, strictly speaking, a little
before that, the tooth K is caught by one of the chocks of the wheel D,
which presses against that tooth, and so draws the lever I, H, L, in towards
the centre of the wheel A, so as to bring the tooth L within the range of the
wiper R, which comes round and catches the said tooth, and lifts up the
lever I, H, L, at the moment that the reel has completed three thousand
turns, in order to carry the threads away from the skains Nos. 1, which contain
the proper length of thread, and shift them a space along the reel to begin
laying the skains Nos. 2. This change of position of the threads is effected as
follows: When the lifting lever I, H, L, is lifted as aforesaid, the pin m
which is fixed into it at the upper part, see Figure 2, and which rests in the
lowest notch of the sliding plate M, catches against the upper part of that
notch, and raises the plate M until the click E drops into the first notch Q.
(Note.-A grove is cut in the frame 7, 7, to allow the pin m to move up and
down in). Now, as the centre pin of the excentric pin wheel U is mounted in
the sliding plate M, the latter in rising carries up the excentric pin wheel with
it, and hence it moves (by means of the vertical rod and rails 2, 3, and 4
above described) the layers 5, 5, endwise, so as to shift the guides and threads
the required space along the reel, and bring them opposite to the places for the
skains, No. 2. The laying of the skains No. 2 now begins, and goes on exactly
as the laying of the skains No. 1 did, the excentric pin wheel V, mounted on
the pivot q, being turned by the reel as before, and giving the proper traversing
or jogging motion to the layers or guide rails; during all which time, the
tooth K having been quitted by the first chock of the wheel D, the lever I, H, L,
remains in such a position that the tooth L is clear of the wiper R,
and allows the latter to revolve without lifting the lever. When the wheel D
has nearly performed a second quarter of a turn, a second chock on it catches
the tooth K, and again throws the lever I, H, L, forward enough for the
tooth L to be caught and lifted up by the wiper R; the lever will then be lifted
up a second time, and lift the sliding plate M by means of the pin m, till the

page_text: click E drops into the second notch Q. The second rise of the plate M, by
raising the axis of the excentric pin wheel U, shifts the guide rails again, so as
to bring the threads opposite the places for the skains No. 3, which are then
laid as the former ones were. This operation of the regulating wheelwork,
and the parts on which it acts, is repeated a third time, in order to shift the
threads again, and lay the skains No. 4, which will be completed by the time
the reel has made its twelve thousand turns and the wheel D one revolution,
the sliding plate being raised one notch Q every time one of the chocks of the
wheel D has operated on the tooth K, and the reel having taking up three
thousand turns of thread to form each of the skains Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4,
between every two operations of the wiper R on the tooth L. The last
chock of the wheel D operates so as to throw the tooth L over the wiper R,
just when the last set of skains No. 4 has been completed. The lever I, H, L,
is then caught and raised a fourth time by the wiper R in order to stop the
machine. This is effected by means of the lever O, F, which is poised on a
centre at s, the end O being linked to the lever I, H, L, and the end F being
connected by a link F, G, and a chain or cord to the end of a bent spring
bar a, see Figures 2 and 3 (which last represents a section of one of the uprights
of the frame of the machine). A mortice is cut through each of the said uprights,
and a long bar A, A, b, b, lies across the machine in those mortices, each end of
the bar resting upon a bent spring bar a, (see Figure 2), and projecting out through
the mortices beyond the frame, where it is loaded with a weight b. In the
middle of the bar A, A, is an open collar (see also Figure 5) which encloses
two clutch bars or levers C, D. These clutch bars are moveable about centre
Their
pins at t, t, fixed in the broad end of the axis B of one of the drums e.
lower ends are formed into forks and rest upon a curved bar u, Figure 2 and
Figure 5, keyed the axis B, and their upper ends D, D, are pressed inwards
towards the centre of the axis B by means of the springs R, R, so as to catch
into corresponding cavities or boxes formed in the boss of the pinion d, so long
as the bar A, A, is in the position Figure 5, videlicet, at the upper part or
near the pivots of the clutch bars C, D, that is, so long as the bar A, A, is
supported by the bent spring bars a, a.
Now, all the time that the machine is at work the bar A, A, is kept in that
position because the upright springs of the spring bars a, a, keep the horizontal
part (see Figure 3) under the ends of the bar A, A. But every time that the
lever I, H, L, is lifted up it raises the end O of the lever O, F, Figure 2, and
so depresses the other end F, and by means of the link F, G, and chain
draws the spring bar a, at the right hand of the machine, outwards a little;
but it does not draw it out quite clear of the bar A, A, until the lever I, H, L,

page_text: is lifted for the fourth time, which takes place as aforesaid as soon as the
wheel D has completed one revolution and the reel has taken up four sets of
skains. At that instant the bent spring bar a, at the right-hand end of the
machine, is pulled out by the fourth depression of the end F of the lever O, F,
quite clear of the bar A, A, the right-hand end of which drops by the weight
of its ball b, and the collar sliding down on the curved or spreading ends C, C,
of the clutch bars compresses them and brings them together, and thus causes
the upper ends D, D, to open outwards and quit their boxes in the boss of
the pinion D, whereby the axis B is thrown out of gear with that pinion, and
the machine is stopped. In order to start the machine again, the bar A, A, is
lifted up again into the position Figure 2, by raising the right-hand lifting rod
or sliding bolt C, which is fastened to it. Note, the end of the bar A, A, the
left hand of the machine, rests also upon a bent spring bar a, as shewn in
Figure 2; but it is not necessary that it should be drawn out by the operation
of the machine to stop itself, as the dropping of either end of the bar A, A,
is sufficient to stop the machine. But the attendant can stop the machine
at any time if erquisite by drawing out the bent spring bar a at the left hand
of the machine, and throwing down that end of the bar A, A, without deranging
the positions of the lifting lever and sliding plate, so that the machine when
started again will take up at the point where it left off.
care must be taken in fixing the herein-before described
the proportions of the wiper R, and of the chocks on the wheel D, and their
positions in respect to the teeth or catches on which they are to operate, so
that the said checks will throw the lifting lever forward over the wiper R,
and the wiper R catch it and lift it up just when the reel has made every
three thousand turns, and in the intervals, that is, while the skains are being
laid, the tooth L must remain clear of the wiper R as it revolves. Because if
the chocks are too soon or too late in taking on to the tooth K, they will of
course cause irregularities in the length of the skains, and so the wiper R
must be adjusted to catch the lever I, H, L, just when the chocks of the
wheel D respectively have operated upon it, and lift it the right heights for
the spaces between the skains. But the parts being once adjusted, the
machine once started will go on regularly of itself laying four skains and
three thousand turns of the reel in each, or within a fraction thereof.
And note also, that
mechanism to adjust
In the foregoing description I have made no mention of the twist of the
threads in passing from the bobbins to the reels. The machines described in
reference to Figures 1 and 2 may be used, with the said improvements applied
to them, either as simple winding machines, whether the bobbins be filled with
silk of a single thread twisted, or with silk doubled and twisted, or with any

page_text: other threads that it may be desired to wind on wheels in skains containing a
regular length of such thread. Or they may be used as silk throwsting
machines, the bobbins being furnished with suitable flyers of the usual kind
fixed to the spindles and turned round by the bands i, i, with a propor propor-
tion between their speed and the rate at which the silk is drawn off the
bobbins to give the requisite twist to the silk. And note also, I have
described the machine, Figures 1 and 2, as having two reels and two sets of
bobbins; but it may be made with only one, as is usual in winding or throws-
ting machines, placed in the middle of the machine. When a thread breaks,
the length of the skain that it was forming will, of course, be different from
the rest, unless the machine be stopped to piece the two ends together, which
may sometimes be found inconvenient. In that case the workman must work
the skains where a thread has broken, and when he removes all the skains
he must put the incomplete ones on rails or bobbin wheels T, Figure 6, of the
size of the skains with more silk. These bobbin wheels T are then taken to
another winding machine, like the machine Figures 1 and 2, and furnished
with a train of regulating machinery, a lifting lever, and a sliding plate, and
other parts requisite for regulating the number of skains wound off each
bobbin wheel T, and the number of turns of the reel contained in each skain,
so that the workman can fill the said fresh reel with skains of the regular
length made up of the imperfect skains that came from the other machines,
and the requisite additions of fresh silk. But I prefer fitting up winding or
throwsting machines made with the said improvements, so that if a thread
breaks the machine shall stop itself and give notice to the attendant to piece
the broken ends together before he sets it to work again. In order to do
this, I place behind the layer or guide rail a horizontal frame F, h, H, Figure 7,
resting in bearings by its two end pivots F, H.
This frame is so constructed
as to balance itself exactly on each side of the centre, so that it remains in the
position shewn by the dotted lines unless thrown out of balance by some force.
A click i projects out from the axis F, H, towards a ratchet wheel E, on the
axis of the reel, but does not touch it, while the frame F, h, H, is horizontal,
as shewn by the dotted lines. The guides or wires are fastened to a long
spindle resting in sockets attached to the layer rail, and the upper ends of the
wires are loaded with very slight weights, which would throw them backward
if they were not supported. Now, while the work is going on regularly and
properly, the tension of the threads will support the guides and prevent their
falling back; but if any thread breaks, the weight at the upper end of its
guide being no longer held up, tilts the wire backwards, and it falls down on
the frame F, h, II, and throws it down from its horizontal position into the

page_text: position drawn in full lines in Figure 7. In so falling the frame F, h, H,
throws up, on the opposite side of its centre of motion, its click i, which
catches against one of the teeth of the ratchet E, and sets it fast. The whole
machine is thus stopped, and cannot be started again until the broken thread
is mended and the ratchet E released by replacing the frame F, h, H, in its
horizontal position. When a winding or throwsting machine, fitted with the
said improvements, is thus constructed to stop itself if a thread breaks, I drive
the reel by friction from a drum B (which receives suitable motion from the
first moving axis), and bears against the circumference of a drum A, on the
axis of the reel, to turn it round by friction. Hence when the reel is stopped
by the click i, the drum B can continue. turning, and will slip on the circum-
ference of the drum A instead of turning it.
Having now described the nature of the said Improvements on or Additions
to Machinery for Throwing or Winding Silk or other Threads, I do hereby declare
that I claim as the said Invention the train of regulating wheelwork, herein-
before described, acting in combination with the lifting lever and sliding plate
upon the excentric pin wheel that gives the usual traversing motion to the
layer, and acting, by means of the lever O, F, and the tackle connected
therewith, upon the bar A, A, and the clutch bars C, D, in order to regulate
the number of coils or laps of thread that shall be wound round the reel to
form each skain, and to shift the layer or guide rail endwise at stated and
regular intervals to lay several skains from one bobbin, and also to throw the
axis of the reel out of gear with the driving pinion, and stop the machine
when the required number of skains has been laid.
But I do not confine myself to that precise construction of the parts which
transmit the operation of the said regulating wheelwork to produce the
effects above stated, provided the essential features of the said improvements
as herein-before described be not departed from. Neither do I confine myself
to those precise proportions of the train of wheelwork which cause each
bobbin to lay four skains of thread, as the said train may be proportioned to
lay a greater or less number of skains from each bobbin, the other parts being
made to correspond.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marcel Roman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.
MCEL
(L.S.) ROMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1834, the aforesaid Marcel Roman (through the inter-
pretation of Charles Stewart Drewry) came before our said Lord the King
in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification 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..
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.