IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS USED IN CONNECTION WITH THEM
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Singleton at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd September 1880.
THOMAS SINGLETON, of Over Darwen, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS USED IN CONNECTION
WITH THEM."
First. The object of this Invention is to ascertain by signals when the level of
the size in the size trough or sowbox is too high or too low, and to attain this
object I employ in one arrangement a revolving float, a steam whistle, and certain
mechanical contrivances for obtaining shrill sounds intermittently when the level of
the size is too high, and a continuous whistle when it is too low; the size being
supplied to the trough or box by one or more pumps, and regulated by a cock, and the
steam for the whistle obtained from the pipe which supplies the steam pipe in the
trough or box, or from any other source. The float has at one end a round shaft working
in a bearing in a swivel joint, and at the other end a shaft with a ball and socket
joint, the shaft extending through a packed bearing in a side of the trough, and
having fixed to it a ratchet or worm wheel for giving the float a slow revolving
motion for the purpose of preventing its buoyancy from being lessened by size
accumulating upon it. When a ratchet wheel is used, it is turned by a catch or
propeller on a rod, worked by a crank or eccentric on a shaft made to revolve at
any desired speed; and on this shaft there is another crank or eccentric for giving
to and fro motion to an arm or lever having at its top a finger or pusher, supported
on a collar attached to a vertical rod fixed to the swivel joint carrying one end of
the float, and to the plug of the cock of the whistle is fixed a wheel or segment
with large ratchet teeth; and an arm or lever having in it a number of smaller
ratchet teeth. When the level of the size in the trough or sowbox is neither too
high nor too low, and the shaft with the cranks or eccentrics is revolving, the
finger or pusher keeps moving forwards and backwards in a space between the
larger and smaller ratchet teeth; but when the size is too high the finger or pusher
catches a tooth, and pushing back the lever, opens the cock for the whistle to give
a shrill sound, the cock being closed by a weighted arm until the finger again
comes forward to open the cock to give another shrill sound, and so on, until the
When the
supply of size is lessened by the operative or by self acting means.
size is too low in the trough or sowbox, the revolving float has descended, and with

page_text: it the collar on which the finger or pusher is supported, so that the finger can come
in contact with the larger ratchet teeth and open the cock, and as the wheel or
segment is held by a catch there is a continuous whistle for the operative to supply
more size to the trough or sowbox, and it will be readily understood that other signals,
such as bells, or alarums, can be used instead of whistles, and that compressed air
may be used instead of steam, and also instead of passing the float shaft through
one side of the size trough or sowbox, I may work the shaft entirely in the inside
by chain wheels and chains, or by bevil gearing.
The second part of my Invention relates to that system of heating the size in
which the cold size is pumped into a series of tubular coils placed in a box heated
by steam, which system has hitherto had the greatest disadvantage of the pipes
frequently becoming clogged, requiring a great expense of time and labour in
cleaning them; and the object of this part of my Invention is to remedy these
defects by blowing steam through the coils at certain intervals so that they can be
effectually cleansed in a very short time.
In one arrangement I employ a two-way cock at each end of the series of coils,
the cock at one end capable of being opened to and closed from the supply of the
cold size, and also be opened to and be shut off from a supply of steam, and the
cock at the other end adapted for being open to and shut off from the size trough
or sowbox, and open to and shut off from a vessel for receiving the blown through
steam with the softened size, unless, as may sometimes be the case, it is blown into
the sowbox.
In another arrangement I connect to the supply pipe a self-acting clack and a
steam cock, the clack closing the moment the cock is opened for the steam to blow
through the coils, and in any case I may use valves instead of cocks, and measure
the intervals of time and cause the cocks or valves to open and close by mechanical
movements, somewhat similar to those before described for working the signals.
My next improvement relates to the yarn beams which are placed with their
pressers at the finishing end of the sizing machine, and it is well known that
great inconvenience is frequently experienced in consequence of the unequal
distances between the flanges of the several beams.
To obviate this defect I form in the presser a central hole and a semi-circular
groove, and place in the groove and hole a round bar and plug, held tight by a
thumb-screw, there being several of these bars, in order that one or other may be
found to suit the distance between the flanges of the yarn beam.
Another improvement relates to the size cock or tap, and consists in the
employment of a moveable seating to be worked by hand or a self-acting movement,
the seating being attached to a rod passing through a stuffing box and mounted
with a cam or a quick-threaded screw, so that when the rod is turned in one
direction the space between the seating and plug is widened to allow the removal
of dirt or accumulation.
I now describe an improved mode of working markers or dabbers used in sizing
machines. Below the sheet of yarn is placed a roller which slowly revolves in
. colour in a colour box or trough, and above the yarn there is a spring mounted
with a presser. Above the yarn I employ one or more revolving cams for holding
and releasing one or more lever hammers, the motion of the cam or cams being so
timed that at certain positions the lever hammer or hammers fall on the presser
spring, which presses the yarn on the colour roller, thus enabling the measured
lengths of cuts or pieces to be marked with greater exactness than at present, and
one or more marks to be made as required.
Another part of my Invention consists in an entirely novel arrangement of
apparatus for enabling the size in the size trough to be maintained at a comparatively
uniform level without the use of a float, and the pipes prevented from being
choked up with standing or thickened size. To the bottom of the trough I connect a
hollow cylinder communicating with the hot size outlet pipe, and having near the top
a number of holes a little below the proper level of the size, and in the cylinder there
is a plunger moved up and down by a lever and rods connected to any convenient

page_text: working part of the sizing machine, and at the bottom of the plunger there is a
valve and air hole.
When the size rises higher than the holes and the size enters the cylinder,
the downward motion of the plunger forces the overflowing size back through the
bottom of the cylinder, the outlet pipe, and through the heated coil; and as
the supply of size is intended to be slightly in excess, each downward movement
agitates the size, and forces back the excess, with the exception of what is absorbed
by the yarns.
Another of my improvements in sizing machines consists in the employment of
a comb between the immersion and squeezing rollers of the size trough or sowbox,
for the purpose of preventing any ends of yarns that may be broken or twisted at
the immersion rollers and accumulated at the bottom of the trough or box from
being carried on to the squeezing rollers and damaging the sheet of yarns.
In the first part of this Provisional Specification I describe an arrangement of a
revolving float, a steam whistle, and certain mechanical contrivances for signalling
when the level of the size in the size trough or sowbox is too high or too low, and
I now desire to state that I modify that arrangement by using two whistles or
signals, one for the high level and the other for the low, and work the cocks of
the whistles by projections or arms on a vertical rod in connection with the float.