CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRAWING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS-
AITKEN, of Chadderton, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, 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 Twenty-eighth day of January, in the third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Aitken, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Aitken, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Aitken, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no other, 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 THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRAWING COTTON AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said Thomas Aitken, 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 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 annear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Aitken, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
"
My Improvements in the Machinery or Apparatus for Drawing Cotton and
other Fibrous Substances consist in the construction and arrangemement of
certain mechanism, and in the application of the same to ordinary drawing
frames used in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous substances, and
are designed for the purpose of forming a more perfect and even "drawing"
(as it is termed), that is, causing the ordinary drawing frame to prepare the
filament or sliver of cotton as it comes from the carding engine and is pro-
ceeding to the slubbing or roving process, and, consequently, to draw it in
an even and level state, and prevent the possibility of forming an uneven
sliver or drawing, ensuring it entirely free from any knots, lumps, or other
inequalities of thickness throughout, and also preventing the occurrence
of thin, or, as it is termed, "single" places in the drawing, owing to any
one of the slivers which are being converted into a drawing breaking off,
or otherwise failing, from the can becoming empty, or any other accidental
cause. This improvement is effected by means of a self-acting apparatus,
which is caused to throw the strap off the driving pulley of the drawing
machine, and consequently stop its revolutions simply by the breaking or
failure of any one of the slivers or filaments of cotton from the carding engine
which are under the process of drawing.
Having above stated the object of my improvements, I will proceed to
describe the particular construction of the apparatus, and also the operation
of the same. In order to illustrate its practical application to ordinary
drawing frames, and in order that my Invention may be fully explained and
more perfectly understood, I have attached to these Presents a Sheet of
Drawings, containing several representations of my improvements, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference, having placed similar
letters upon corresponding parts of the mechanism in all the Figures; and I
would here remark, that for the sake of illustration I have represented in the
Drawings attached all the general parts of an ordinary drawing frame in
outline, and those parts which constitute my improvements as shaded with
color.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of that side of a drawing frame at which the
slivers of cotton enter as they are brought from the carding engine, and

page_text: representing my improvements attached. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of
the same; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken through about the middle
of the machine. The ordinary parts of the drawing frame are shewn at A, A,
which represent the side standards; B, B, the drawing rollers; and C, C,
the delivery rollers, which conduct the slivers as they are drawn into the cans
below. The slivers of cotton from the carding engine (and shewn as being
formed into a "drawing," are seen at E, E, E, E. The small apparatus
which forms the main feature of my Invention is represented at half size
in Fig. 4, and as applied to the drawing frame at a, a, a, a, in Figs. 1, 2,
and 3, and consists of a small cone or trumpet, which is supported or swivels
upon the centres 6, each cone being independent of the other. Now as the
slivers E, E, are introduced into the drawing machine they are severally
passed through the larger cones C (which are formed in a plate and fixed
in front of the machine, but are removed in Figs. 1 and 2 to shew the other
parts more clearly, and proceed separately through the smaller cone a, a, a, a,
passing between the feeding rollers d, d, to the ordinary drawing rollers C, C.
The cones or trumpets a, a, are kept in their upright position simply by the
tension of the sliver as it passes through them, and thus it will be seen that
should any knot, lump, or inequality be arrested, and the sliver held by the
larger cone c, or any weak thin place occur after it has passed this cone,
the feeding rollers, still revolving, will pull the sliver and break it off, which
will immediately cause the small cone a to fall back on its centre, as drawn
in red lines in Fig. 3, and its weighted end e, e, will strike against the
wire ff, and cause the bell crank lever g, g, upon the shaft h, h, to run up
a notch in the enclined slot i, cut in the strap lever k, k (see Plan), and
thus the weight and chain 7, 1, passing round the pulley m and excentric n,
will instantly traverse the strap rod, throw the driving strap o on to the
loose pulley, and thus stop the machine and prevent the drawing making
single" or thin and uneven places. There is a strap lever p for setting
it on again by hand when the "piecing" is made, and also a stud or pin q
for throwing the strap off by hand if desired. The top feeding roller may
be easily raised by depressing the compound hand lever r in the direction of
the arrow, as drawn in red. Fig. 5 shews one of the cones a, with the
larger cone c fixed upon it, and falling with it, instead of being formed in
a plate and fixed upon the machine; this, in some cases, may be preferable,
owing to the increased friction obtained. It will be seen that these cones
are also provided with a moveable lip and retaining spring, which is designed
for the purpose of allowing any slight inequality to pass through without
66

page_text: breaking the sliver, providing it is so small as not to injure the evenness
and regularity of the drawing.
Having now explained the objects of my improvement, and the manner
of carrying the same into practical operation, I desire it to be understood
that I claim as my Invention the particular construction of mechanism or
apparatus, and the application of the same to drawing frames or machines
for drawing cotton and other fibrous substances, as shewn in the Drawings
attached to these Presents, and above particularly described, and also the appli-
cation of the funnel or cone a, working on a swivel or centre, for the purpose
either of giving an alarm or stopping the machinery in all situations where
it may be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Aitken, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty

page_text: in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for his invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRAW-
ING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and forty, to which a Specification has been duly inrolled.
DISCLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATION, proposed
to be entered by. Thomas Aitken with the Clerk of the Patents of
England, pursuant to an Act passed in the fifth and sixth years of the
reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, entitled "An Act
to amend the Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions."
I, the said Thomas Aitken, in describing my Invention, imagined that it
was new generally to apply a funnel or cone working on a swivel or centre
for the purpose either of giving an alarm or stopping the, machinery in all
situations where it is applied; but since the inrolment of my said Specification,
I have discovered that a Patent was granted to John Houldsworth, on the
Ninth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, for
"Certain Improvements applicable to Drawing and Slubbing Frames used in
the Manufacture of Cotton and other Fibrous Substances," and in the Specifi-
cation of such Letters Patent an apparatus was described so far as the use
of the cone or funnel and the parts directly connected therewith, although
slightly different to the arrangement described in my said Specification, is
pratically the same as that intended to be claimed by me in the latter part
of the claiming clause of my said Specification, for which reason I do wish to
disclaim, and I do hereby disclaim, so much of the Specification which is in
the following words," and also the application of the funnel or cone a,
working on a swivel or centre, for the purpose either of giving an alarm or
stopping the machinery in all situations where it may be applied." And I do

page_text: for the same reasons disclaim the parts a and the parts b, c, and the parts
connected therewith for stopping the machine, when such parts are not
combined with the use of feeding rollers d. And in order to make the
descriptive part of the said Specification consistent with the Invention which
will then remain in the Specification, I do alter the Specification by striking
out the words, "The small apparatus, which forms the main feature of my
Invention, is represented at half size in Figure 4, and as applied to the
drawing frame a, a, a, a, in Figures 1, 2, and 3, and consists of a small cone
or trumpet which is supported on swivels upon the centres b, each cone being
independent of the other." And I further strike out the words, "and also
the application of the funnel or cone a, working on a swivel or centre, for the
purpose either of giving an alarm or stopping the machinery in all situations
where it may be applied." And I find that in the following part of the
Specification, "to the ordinary drawing rollers C, C," the letters C, C, have
erroneously been inserted for the letters B, B; I therefore substitute the letters
B, B, for the letters C, C, in that part of the Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Aitken, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our
Land One thousand oight hundred and forty-coron
Taken and acknowledged by Thomas
Aitken (party hereto), at Manches-
ter, in the County of Lancaster, this
Sixteenth day of January, One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-seven,
THOMAS AITKEN. (L.S.)

page_text: on the 1st day of January, 1847, in the Times Newspaper on the 4th day of
January, 1847, and in the Manchester Times on the 1st day of January, 1847,
and in the Manchester Guardian on the 2nd day of January, 1847, and no
objection having been made to the said application, I have accordingly granted
leave to the said Thomas Aitken to file his said Disclaimer and Alteration,
pursuant to the Statute passed in the 5th & 6th years of the reign of His
late Majesty, entitled An Act to amend the Law touching Letters Patent
for Inventions.