IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martyn John Roberts, of Pendarren House, near
Crickhowell, in the County of Brecon, Esquire, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING
WOOL, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 12th June 1863, and dated the 15th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martyn John Roberts
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1862.
I, MARTYN JOHN ROBERTS, of Pendarren House, near Crickhowell, in the
County of Brecon, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING WOOL,
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of my improvements is, first, to obtain a better drag to the
thread or yarn whilst being wound on to the bobbins in preparing and
spinning fibrous substances by the arrangements hereafter described.
The flyer is in the form of a parallelogram, connected with a whorl or pulley
which is driven by a band proceeding from a driving cylinder, in the manner
well known for driving such whorls, while the spindle which supports the
bobbin internally is placed in the centre of motion or near it of the said flyer.
The spindle may be loose or fast, but I prefer it to be loose; it passes through
the top of the flyer. The bobbin rests its base upon a support below it, which

page_text: is held by a stud or pin fastened to a rail, and in order that the yarn should
be wound upon the bobbin, the bobbin is retarded in its revolution by friction
between the bobbin and this support, or by other convenient means; and in
order to lay the yarn equally along the length of the bobbin I cause a lifting
rail to have an up-and-down motion the length of the bobbin ; and this lifting
rail moves with it the eyes (technically called twizzles) through which the
yarn passes to the bobbin. The eyes are attached by a light ring, which
traverses up and down the sides of the flyer.
My Invention consists, secondly, in an improved mode of driving spindles
used in preparing and spinning fibrous substances, which mode is productive
of less slip and irregular motion in spindles than is produced in the method at
present in use. This improved method consists in lapping the driving band
more than a full turn round the pulley or whorl driving or driven; and in
order to prevent the riding of one part of the band upon another when the
axes of motion of driver and driven are parallel or nearly so, I use a wheel to
separate the taking on from the giving off portions of the driving band, and
as spinning spindles are often required to be stopped singly for the
purpose of piercing up or mending the yarn or thread under operation, I use
a loose whorl or pulley adjacent to the one fixed upon the spindle, and when
the spindle is stopped the band upon the loose pulley or a clutch may be used
to obtain a like freedom of motion in the band or in the fixed pulley or whorl.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Martyn John Roberts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARTYN
JOHN ROBERTS, of Pendarren House, near Crickhowell, in the County.of
Brecon, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Martyn John Roberts, Her special licence that. I, the said
Martyn John Roberts, my executors, .administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Martyn John Roberts, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully

page_text: might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING WOOL,
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Martyn John Roberts, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Martyn John Roberts do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
The object of my improvements is to obtain a better "drag" to the thread,
yarn, or roving whilst being wound on to the bobbin in preparing and spinning
fibrous substances than is usually obtained.
For this purpose I make the flyer of a preparing or spinning frame some-
what in the form of a parallelogram, the lower side of which may conveniently
be a circular or other shaped metallic plate, which is firmly secured to a neck
or socket, and upon this socket a whorl or pulley is fixed. This socket runs
upon a suitable stud or pin, which is screwed or otherwise fastened to a strong
rail. The flyer is driven by a band from a driving cylinder passed round the
said whorl in the usual manner, or it may be driven by any other convenient
means.. Through the centre of the head of this flyer I place a spindle which
passes through the bobbin and prevents it from falling sideways. I always
fit this spindle in such manner that it may be readily so moved that the
bobbin may be taken off therefrom. I fit this spindle loose in its bearings,
that is to say, the spindle is free to turn in a hole or bearing in the head of
the flyer; the lower end of the spindle is also free to turn in a cup or
bearing in the stud or pin which supports the flyer and socket, or in a cup in
a plate screwed or otherwise fastened to this stud or pin, which plate I call
the "dead plate." I sometimes fit the upper end of the spindle with one or
two projecting hooked arms, which coming in contact with the outside of the
flyer head causes the spindle to revolve with and at the same speed as the
flyer, but I prefer to make the spindle without the said hooked arms. The
dead plate serves as a base or support for the bottom of the bobbin, and it is
by the friction of the bobbin upon this dead plate, or upon appropriate

page_text: washers interposed between the bobbin and plate that the "drag" or retardá-
tion of the rotation of the bobbin is produced. When the bobbin is to be
"doffed," that is removed from its place within the flyer, the spindle is raised
and the bobbin can then be removed. The spindle not being of much greater
length than the bobbin, the bobbin cannot be moved up and down the spindle
for the purpose of laying the thread, yarn, or roving upon its whole length,
as is done in ordinary spinning frames; therefore to provide for the
necessary operation of thus laying on the thread, I use a ring or other well-
known device, which while it revolves with the flyer is traversed or moved up
and down the flyer by a "lifter rail," upon which the ring rests, or by other
convenient means. On this ring are fixed eyes or twizzles, or loops, through
which the thread or yarn coming from the delivering or front rollers of the
frame passes on to the bobbin, and consequently the up-and-down motion of
the ring with its eyes guides the thread or yarn in a proper direction upon the
bobbin; or instead of a ring running upon the lifter rail I sometimes use
loops or eyes running upon a ring fixed to a lifter rail, somewhat in the form.
of the old ring and. traveller, but the use I make of_this_is_not_to_produce
by it a drag, as in the ring and traveller, but simply to guide the thread
in a proper direction on to the bobbin.
I
may here remark, that I make no claim to the means above described of
guiding the thread on to the bobbin, except when used in combination with
iny dead plate and spindle, or either dead plate or spindle. By the compact-.
ness of the flyer and spindle I am enabled to obtain a high velocity in spinning
or preparing without much shake or "wabble" in this part of the machinery;
the "drag" is thus rendered more equable, while by the peculiar action of
the spindle I am also enabled to obtain a more regular and even drag than
is usual.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an elevation, and Figure 2 a
longitudinal section of a spindle and flyer, and parts connected therewith con-
structed according to my Invention.
a is a rail, to which a pin or stud b is screwed by a nut c; d is a socket or
neck fixed to the flyer, and resting upon a collar or bearing d¹ fixed to the
stud b; e, e, is the flyer; f is the spindle, the upper end of which revolves in
a bearing or circular aperture g in the flyer head, while the bottom or lower
end revolves in a cup a formed in the top of the stud b; h, h, is the dead plate,
which is screwed on to the stud b, upon which plate the bobbin'i may rest
directly or, as is represented in the Drawings, a washer of cloth ¹ or other
suitable material may be interposed between the bobbin i and dead plate h;
jj, is the lifter rail, upon which a ring k rests. This ring k is shewn detached

page_text: in plan in Figure 3, it carries eyes or twizzles l, through which the yarn
passes to the bobbin; it has also nicks m cut in it to fit over the flyer e, in
order that the flyer in revolving may carry the ring round with it; n is a
whorl or pulley fixed to the socket or neck d, and by which motion is com-
municated to the flyer through a driving band in the ordinary manner.
Figure 4 represents in longitudinal section a modification of the arrange-
ment shewn in Figures 1 and 2. In this modified arrangement I form the
stud 6 conical at top, and make the socket d cupped to fit over and run upon
it, or this conical bearing may be reversed; the bearing surface, and conse-
quently the friction, are much less than when the socket runs upon its base, as
in the arrangement previously described. The dead plate h is secured to the
top of the pin 6 by a small pin or screw which passes through the top of the
socket d, but in such manner as not to interfere with its rotation. The
bearing for the lower end of the spindle is formed in the dead plate h.
Figure 5 is an elevation shewing the spindle fitted with two hooked arms o, o.
These arms catch against the head of the flyer, and the spindle is thus caused
to revolve with the flyer.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Means and Apparatus for Preparing and Spinning Wool, Cotton, and
other Fibrous Substances,-
First, constructing such apparatus with what I have herein-before termed a
dead plate, acting in manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Second, constructing such apparatus with spindles fitted as herein-before
described, and capable of running within the flyers, as described with reference
to Figures 1, 2, 4, and 5, whether connected with the flyers by hooked arms,
as shewn at Figure 5, or free, as shewn at Figures 1, 2, and 4.
And, third, the general arrangement and combination of the parts of such
apparatus herein-before described and represented at Figures 1, 2, 4, and 5 of
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martyn John Roberts, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, One thousand eight-
hundred and sixty-three.
MARTYN J. ROBERTS. (L.S.)