IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR TWISTING WORSTED, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Greenwood Sunderland and Robert John'
Midgley, of Salterlee Mills, near Halifax, in the County of York,.
Worsted Spinners, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR TWISTING WORSTED, SILK, OR
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Scaled the 11th February 1870, and dated the 16th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Greenwood Sunderland
and Robert John Midgley at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th August 1869.
We, GREENWOOD SUNDERLAND and ROBERT JOHN MIDGLEY, of
Salterlee Mills, near Halifax, in the County of York, Worsted Spinners,,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS:
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR TWISTING WORSTED,.
SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of machinery for spinning and
doubling in which the bobbins are driven or caused to rotate on.
stationary spindles or studs, and whether upon the principle of the cap,

page_text: flyer, or other means of guiding or winding the yarn upon the bobbins
and of applying drag or tension thereto. Heretofore as a means o
driving or giving rotary motion to bobbins a pin or pins have been fixed
in the top flange of the wharle or pulley, and a notch formed in the
bottom flange of the bobbin, into which the pin or pins enter, so that
when rotary motion is given to the wharle the same amount of motion is
communicated direct to the bobbin. Now in the spinning and doubling
of some kinds of yarn the sudden starting or commencement of the
rotation thus given to the bobbins causes the yarn to break, and thereby
a waste of material and time and an inferior quality of yarn is the
result; to remedy which we have found that by dispensing with the
pins and notches and by dishing or recessing the upper flange of the
wharle (which we make larger im diameter than heretofore), so that
the flange of the bobbins may rest upon the outer edge of the flange
of the wharle, the bobbin is capable of being driven by the frictional
contact thereof, and in the starting of the rotation of the wharle the
bobbin is not instantly started but its rotation is effected gradually,
which thereby tends to prevent breakage of the yarn; but when the
yarns or threads do break and have to be pieced up it is not necessary
to stop the rotation of the wharle, but the attendant simply holds or
prevents the bobbin from rotating; also in cases of accidental "doubles,"
or when a thread having broken and attached itself to the wrong bobbin,
the unwinding thereof for rectification is more readily effected than
heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Greenwood Sunderland and Robert John Midgley
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GREENWOOD
SUNDERLAND and ROBERT JOHN MIDGLEY, of Salterlee Mills, near
Halifax, in the County of York, Worsted Spinners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Greenwood Sunderland and Robert John
Midgley, Her special licence that we, the said Greenwood Sunderland:

page_text: and Robert John Midgley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Greenwood Sunderland and Robert John
Midgley, our 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 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING OR
TWISTING WORSTED, SILK, OR OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Greenwood Sunderland and Robert
Jolin Midgley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 we, the said Greenwood Sunderland and Robert
John Midgley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to that class of machinery for spinning and
doubling in which the bobbins are driven or caused to rotate on
stationary spindles or studs, and whether upon the principle of the
cap, flyer, or other means of guiding or winding the yarn upon the
bobbins and of applying drag or tension thereto. Heretofore as a
means of driving or giving rotary motion to bobbins a pin or pins
have been fixed in the top flange of the wharle or pulley, and a notch
formed in the bottom flange of the bobbin, into which the pin or pins
enter, so that when rotary motion is given to the wharle the same
amount of motion is communicated direct to the bobbin. Now in the
spinning and doubling of some kinds of yarn the sudden starting or
commençment of the rotation thus given to the bobbins causes the
yarn to break, and thereby a waste of material and time and an inferior
quality of yarn is the result; to remedy which we have found that
by dispensing with the pins and notches and by dishing or recessing
the upper flange of the wharle which we make larger in diameter than
heretofore, so that the flange of the bobbin may rest upon the outer
edge of the flange of the wharle or the bobbin may rest upon its outer

page_text: edge upon the wharle, whereby the bobbin is capable of being driven by
the frictional contact thereof with the wharle, and in the starting of
the rotation of the wharle the bobbin is not instantly started but its
rotation is effected gradually, which thereby tends to prevent breakage
of the yarn; also when the yarns or threads do break and have to be
pieced up it is not necessary to stop the rotation of the wharle, but the
attendant simply holds or prevents the bobbin from rotating; also
in cases of accidental "doubles" or when a thread having broken and
attaches itself to the wrong bobbin, the unwinding thereof for rectifi-
cation is more readily effected than heretofore.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed or carried into
practical operation, we would have it understood that what we claim
as of our Invention is, the method of dishing the upper surface of the
wharles (or the under surface of the bobbin bottoms) so as to get a
large extent of bearing, and thereby dispense with pins and notches
for driving the bobbins in that class of machinery for spinning and
doubling or twisting whereon fixed spindles or studs are employed, thus
effecting the driving thereof by frictional contact of the two surfaces,
whereby we obtain the advantages herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert John Midgley, for and on
behalf of myself and the said Greenwood Sunderland, have.
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within-named Robert
John Midgley, in the pre-
sence of
J. W. TASKER,
ROBERT JOHN MIDGLEY. (L.S.)
Clerk to W. Tasker,
Patent Agent,
Halifax & Bradford.