AN IMPROVED MODE OF LUBRICATING THE SPINDLES OF MACHINERY USED IN PRE- PARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS REVOLVING IN A LIFTING RAIL
Year: 1856

page_text: Sealed the 8th August 1856, and dated the 9th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Elce and Samuel
Fletcher Cottam at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 9th February 1856.
We, JOHN ELCE and SAMUEL FLETCHER COTTAM, both of the City of Man-
chester, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
AN IMPROVED MODE OF LUBRICATING THE SPINDLES OF MACHINERY USED IN PRE-
PARING AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS REVOLVING IN A
LIFTING RAIL, to be as follows:-
This Invention is applicable to all the machines employed in preparing and
spinning cotton and other fibrous materials in which spindles revolve in a
lifting rail. In performing our Invention we attach to the lifting rail an
angular rib, to which a strip of flannel or other suitable material is attached;
this angular rib, with the flannel or other material, extends the whole length
of the machine, and the flannel or other material is brought into contact with

page_text: the spindles to be lubricated and is kept saturated with oil or other lubricating
material. When the machine is at work the flannel or other material moves
up and down with the lifting rail, and imparts the lubricating material to the
spindles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Elce and Samuel Fletcher Cottam in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 9th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ELCE and SAMUEL FLETCHER COTTAM, both of the City of Manchester,
Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said John Elce and Samuel Fletcher Cottam, Her especial
license that we, the said John Elce and Samuel Fletcher Cottam, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John
Elce and Samuel Fletcher Cottam, 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 AN
IMPROVED MODE OF LUBRICATING THE SPINDLES OF MACHINERY USED IN PREPARING
AND SPINNING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS REVOLVING IN A LIFTING
RAIL, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Elce
and Samuel Fletcher Cottam, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their, or one of our or 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 we, the said John Elce and Samuel Fletcher Cottam,
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):-

page_text: The nature of our Invention consists in attaching to the lifting rail of a
roving frame or throstle, or other machine for preparing and spinning, in
which a lifting rail is employed, a rib covered with flannel or other suitable
material, which being kept saturated with oil or other lubricating material,
imparts the same to the spindles as the lifting rail moves up and down.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a throstle spinning frame to which
our improved mode of lubricating spindles is applied. Fig. 2 is a detached
view of the lubricating apparatus; a, a, are the drawing rollers; b, the spindles,
supported as usual in the bottom rail c, and lifting rail d. To the lifting rail
is attached, in any convenient manner, the angle ribe, which is covered on the
inside with a strip of flannel or other suitable absorbing material marked f;
this flannel or other material may be of sufficient length to lubricate all the
spindles between two spring pieces, as shewn in Fig. 2, or each spindle may
have a separate strip of flannel or other material, as shewn in Fig. 3, or two
or more spindles may be lubricated by the same strip of flannel or other
material. The flannel or other material bears against the spindles b, con-
sequently, when the machine is at work, and the lifting rail is slowly moving
up and down, a portion of the oil, or other lubricating material, absorbed by the
strip of flannel, is imparted to the spindles, thereby lubricating them. The
ribs e are made of any convenient length, and they are jointed end to end
throughout the whole length of the lifting rail. The ribs e fit loosely in
inclined grooves in the brackets 59, the object of the inclination being to convey
the lubricating material towards the spindles. The gravity of the ribs e keeps
the flannel or other material f in contact with the spindles. The upper edge
of the rib e is bevelled off towards the lifting rail to form a channel for guiding
the spout of the oil can, which the attendant moves along when required in
front of the machine, as shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The lubricating
material being absorbed by the flannel f, and imparted to the spindles in
minute particles is not thrown off by the centifugal action of the spindles as
in the ordinary mode of lubricating, whereby a considerable saving is effected
in the lubricating material.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, we declare that we claim the improved mode of lubricating
spindles, herein-before shown and described, or any equivalent mode, by which

page_text: the conductor of flannel or other absorbing material for applying the lubri-
eating material to the spindles is conveyed up and down with the lifting
rail.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Elce and Samuel Fletcher
.Cottam, have hereto set our hands and seals, this Seventh day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-six.
.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
JOHN ELCE. (...)
S. F. COTTAM. (L.S.)