IMPROVEMENTS IN COP WINDING MACHINERY.
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Walton Urquhart, Joseph Lindsay, and Robert
Allan, all of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, Engineers, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COP WINDING MACHINERY.'
Sealed the 18th July 1879, and dated the 22nd January 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Walton Urquhart,
Joseph Lindsay, and Robert Allan at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents on the 22nd January 1879.
WILLIAM WALTON URQUHART, JOSEPH LINDSAY, and ROBERT ALLAN, all of
Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COP WINDING MACHINERY."
This Invention has for its object to improve and simplify the construction of cop
winding machinery, to reduce the cost of upholding or keeping the same in order
to facilitate the removal of the cops and other manipulations, and to diminish the
breakage of yarn.
The improvements, or most of them, are applicable with the winding spindles in
vertical, or horizontal, or inclined positions, but will be most conveniently described
in connection with vertical spindles. In one modification of the improved machinery
there are two rows of vertical winding spindles, one row being arranged along each
side of the machine or frame. The cops are wound with their conical ends down-
wards, and the winding spindles are short and have no movement in the direction
of their length, either whilst winding or when the cops are being removed. The
ordinary conical forming cups are employed to give the required compactness or
firmness to the cop as it is being formed, the degree of firinness or hardness being
regulated by downward pressure applied to the cops, which rise upwards from the
cups as they are gradually formed by the winding operation. Each conical cup is
carried by means of trunnions or otherwise, as in a universal joint, so as to adjust
itself in a manner to bo pressed equally on by the cop on all sides, and the part
carrying the cup is movable by means of a handle for lifting the cup a short
distance when required. Each row of spindles is over a horizontal driving shaft
having on it bevil wheels which gear with bevil pinions loose on the lower ends of
the winding spindles, but which drive the spindles, when winding, through a clutch
which is by preference of an improved kind hereinafter described. The bevil wheels

page_text: .
do not require to be of the skewed kind, as the spindles having no vertical move-
ment can be placed in the plane of the driving shaft. One part of the clutch is
fixed in each case to the bevil pinion, and the other and upper part is on a tubular
piece capable of moving on the spindle, but engaging with it by means of a pin and
groovo, and is formed with collars between which a pin on a lever acts for raising
or lowering the clutch. In one modification of the improved clutch the engaging
details consist of renewable pins of steel or other suitable metal, one being vertical
and the other horizontal. In another modification the engaging details are steel
plates fixed to the two parts of the coupling so as to project past each other when
the parts are together. These plates may be turned to present fresh acting parts
when partly worn, and can be renewed at a small cost.
The shortness of the winding spindles is a special and advantageous feature of
the improved machinery. Each spindle projects to only a short distance up inside
of the conical cup, or it might be a little above the upper wider end of the cup.
The end of the spindle is by preference tapered or partly tapered where the yarn is
wound upon it, and as the cop grows upwards in consequence of the winding action
continually adding successive conical layers of yarn to the lower end within the
conical cup the upper part of the cop gradually leaves the spindle; and when the
desired length of cop has been formed the spindle end projects only into the conical
end of it, and the cop can be removed with extreme facility. The upper end of
the cop
is pressed upon and steadied by a small centre or ball arranged to move in
a vertical line coincidont with the axis of the winding spindle. This upper centre
or ball may be guided and loaded in various ways; but in one simple and
economical modification it is fixed to a top lever which passes through and is
guided in a slot in a vertical frame plate, its back end being entered into a short
slot in the corresponding frame plate at the other side of the machine, the last
mentioned slot acting as the fulcrum of the top lever. At the part of the top lever
where it passes through the front frame plate it has on it a lateral projection curved
concentrically with the ball or top centre, and which is guided on the front of the
frame plato; and a second lateral projection on the top lever is guided on a slightly
curved rib on the back of the frame plate, the arrangement causing the ball or top
centre to move in the required vertical line. The top lever is formed with a
projecting handle, and at the side of it there is a handled catch which can be
moved by the hand holding the lever, and which engages with ratchet teeth on the
front of the frame plate so 0s to prevent the lever from falling when otherwise
unsupported. When the cop attains its predetermined length the top lever acts on
an adjustable stop on a vertical rod, and, raising the rod, causes its lower end to
move a catch lever so as to release the clutch lever, and this lever being weighted
shifts the clutch so as to disengage it and stop the winding action. The catch lever
is also acted on so as to cause the winding to stop when the yarn breaks or fails
before the cop is completed. The yarn on its way from the bobbin to the traverse
guide (which is fixed to a longitudinal rocking shaft, according to a common
arrangement) passes round a small pulley on the outer end of a light detector and
compensating lever, and the centre of this lever has on it two projections, one of
which acts on the stop-motion catch-lever when the detector lever falls down
through breakage or failure of the yarn. The second projection on the centre of
the detector lever acts on the catch lever in the event of the detector lever being
turned up too far in consequence of the yarn being caught or too tightly held back.
Tension is applied to the yarn by a brake lever bearing on the edge of one of the
bobbin ends, this lever being acted on by a spring. The brake lever is also
connected by a second spring to a rod which, at its other end, is by a short strap
connected to the centre of the detector lever in such a way that when through
increase of tension the detector lever is turned up or towards the cop it pulls the
rod so as to act on the brake lever oppositely to the main spring of that lever, and
thereby diminish the brake pressure on the bobbin, and in this way variations in
the tension of the yarn are automatically corrected and their offect diminished,

page_text: Instead of the top centre or ball bearing directly on the upper end of the cop a
loose cap may be fitted to turn on the centre or ball and bear on the cop; or
instead of the cap there may be a spindle entering downwards into the end of the
cop.
The yarn may be drawn off reels instead of bobbins, the detector or compensating
lever being still retained but unconnected to any brake lover.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Williain Walton Urquhart, Joseph Lindsay, and Robert Allan in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th July 1879.
WILLIAM WALTON URQUHART, JOSEPH LINDSAY, and ROBERT ALLAN, all of
Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COP WINDING MACHINERY."
Our said Invention has for its object to improve and simplify the construction of
cop winding machinery to reduce the cost of upholding or keeping the same, in
order to facilitate the removal of the cops and other manipulations, and to diminish
the breakage of yarn.
Our improvements, or most of them, are applicable with the winding spindles in
vertical, or horizontal, or inclined positions, but in one modification of our improvod
machinery, in which the winding spindles aro vertical, the cops are wound with
their conical ends downwards, and the winding spindles are short and have no
movement in the direction of their length, either whilst winding or when the cops
are being removed. The ordinary conical forming cups are employed to give the
required compactness or firmness to the cop as it is being wound, the degree of
firmness or hardness being regulated by downward pressure applied to the cops,
which rise upwards from the cups as they are gradually formed by the winding
operation. Each conical cup is held by a universal joint so as to adjust itself in a
manner to be pressed equally on by the cop on all sides, and the part carrying the
cup is movable by means of a handle. The winding spindles are driven by means
of ordinary (non-skewed) bevil wheels, and each has an improved clutch, one part
of which is a tubular piece movable on the spindle with a pin and groove, the other
part being on the pinion, which is loose on the spindle. In one modification of our
improved clutch the engaging details consist of renewable pins of steel or other
suitablo metal; and in another modification the engaging details are steel plates,
which may be turned to present fresh acting parts when partly worn, and can be
renewed at small cost.
The shortness of the winding spindles is a special and advantageous feature of
our improved machinery. Each spindle projects to only a short distance up inside
of the conical cup, or it might be a little above the upper wider end of the cup.
The end of the spindle is by preference tapered, or partly tapered, where the yarn
is wound upon it, and as the cop grows upwards, in consequence of the winding
action, continually adding successive conical layers of yarn to the lower end within

page_text: the conical cup, the upper part of the cop gradually leaves the spindle, and when
the desired length of cop has been formed, the spindle end projects only into the
conical end of it, and the cop can be removed with extreme facility. The upper
end of the cop is pressed upon and steadied by a small centre or ball, arranged to
move in a line coincident with the axis of the winding spindle, and this upper
centre or ball may be guided and loaded in various ways.
When the cop attains its predetermined length, the part holding the upper centre
acts on an adjustable stop on a rod, and moving the rod causes it to move a catch
lever so as to release the clutch lever, and this lever being weighted shifts the clutch
so as to disengage it and stop the winding action. The catch lever is also acted on
so as to cause the winding to stop when the yarn breaks or fails before the cop is
completed. Tension is applied to the yarn by a brake lever bearing on the edge of
one of the bobbin ends, or on the yarn on the bobbin, this lever being acted on by
a spring or weight. The brake lever is also connected by a second spring to a rod,
which at its other end is by a short strap connected to the centre of a detector and
compensating lever, having a guide pulley or eye at its outer end round or through
which the yarn passes. The parts are arranged so that when through increase of
tension the detector lever is turned up or towards the cop, it pulls the rod so as to
act on the brake oppositely to the main spring of that lever, and thereby diminish
the brake pressure on the bobbin, and in this way variations in the tension of the
yarn are automatically corrected and their effect diminished.
Instead of the top centre or ball bearing directly on the upper end of the cop, a
loose cap may be fitted to turn on the centre or ball and bear on the cop; or,
instead of the cap there may be a spindle entering downwards into the end of
the cop.
The yarn may be drawn off reels instead of bobbins, the detector or compensating
lever being still retained but unconnected with any brake lever.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, we hereunto append four Sheets of explanatory Draw-
ings, to be hereinafter referred to, and representing various modifications of our
improved machinery. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to
mark the same or like parts wherever they are repented.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an end elevation of a
modification of our improved cop winding machinery, in which the cops are wound
in vertical positions with their points downwards; Figure 2 is a vertical section as
taken parallel to Figure 1, and Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section of some of
the parts.
There are two rows of vertical winding spindles 1, one row being arranged along
each side of the machine or frame; and these spindles are short and have no move-
ment in the direction of their length either whilst winding or when the cops are
being removed. The ordinary conical forming cups 2 are employed to give the
required compactness or firmness to the cop as it is being formed, the degree of
firmness or hardness being regulated by downward pressure applied to the cops 3,
which rise upwards from the cups 2 as they are gradually formed by the winding
operation. Each conical cup 2 is loose, being formed with trunnions which rest in
notches in a forked lover 4, so that it can adjust itself to the pressure of the cop
and equalise the pressure on all sides, and the lever 4 is formed with a handle 5 by
means of which the cup can be lifted a short distance when required. The lever 4
is passed through a slot in a vertical frame plate 6 at one side of the machine, and
extends across to a slot in a similar plate 6 at the other side of the machine, the
latter slot serving as a fulcrum, whilst the former is elongated to allow of the
vertical movement for lifting the cop off the spindle end.
Each row of winding spindles 1 is over a horizontal driving shaft 7, having on it
bevil wheels 8, which gear with bevil pinions 9 loose on the lower ends of the
spindles 1, but which drive the spindles when winding through a clutch 10, 11,
which is by preference of an improved kind hereinafter described. The bevil
wheels 8 and pinions 9 do not require to be of the skewed kind, as the spindle 1

page_text: having no vertical movement can be placed in the plane of the driving shaft.
There is a vertical frame plate 6 for each spindle, and the several plates 6 are fixed
to upper and lower horizontal rails 12, 13, of the machine, whilst each plate 6 is
formed with projecting bracket bearings 14, 15, for a winding spindle 1, and also
with other parts appertaining to such spindle.
One part 10 of the clutch is in each case fixed to the bevil pinion 9, and the
other and upper part 11 is on a tubular piece capable of moving on the spindle 1,
but engaging with it by means of a pin and groove, and is formed with collars
between which a pin or a fork on a lever 16 acts for raising or lowering the
clutch 11. In one modification of the clutch shown in Figure 3, the engaging
details consist of renewable pins 17 of steel or other suitable metal, one being
vertical, and the other horizontal. The horizontal pin of the clutch may be curved
as shown in horizontal section in Figure 4, so as to spring a little when first
engaging and thus diminish the concussion. In another modification shown in
elevation in Figure 5 and in horizontal section in Figure 6, the engaging details
are steel plates 18 fixed to the two parts 10, 11, of the clutch so as to project past
each other when the parts are together. These plates 18 may be turned to present
fresh acting parts when partly worn, and can be renewed at a small cost.
Each spindle 1 extends upwards only to the top of the conical cup 2 (or it might
be a little more or a little less), and its end is by preference tapered or partly
tapered where the yarn is wound upon it, the tapered part being made with flat
sides to assist the driving action. When the cop 3 is completed the spindle 1
projects into only the point of it, and the cop can be easily removed, the lever 4
holding the cup 2 being raised by means of the handle 5, and the cop thereby lifted
completely off the spindle.
The upper end of the cop 3 is pressed upon and steadied by a small centre or
ball 19, arranged to move in a vertical line coincident with the axis of the winding
spindle 1. In the present modification the centre 19 is fixed to a top lever 20,
which passes through and is guided in a slot in the vertical frame plate 6, its back
end being entered into a short slot in the corresponding frame plate 6 at the other
side of the machine, the last mentioned slot acting as the fulcrum to the top lever.
At the part of the top lever 20 where it passes through the front frame plate 6, it
has on it a lateral projection curved concentrically with the ball or top centre 19,
and which is guided on the front of the frame plate 6, and a second lateral
projection on the side of the top lever 20 is guided on a slightly curved rib on the
back of the frame plate 6, the arrangement causing the ball or centre 19 to move in
the required vertical line. The top lever 20 is formed with a projecting handle,
and at the side of it there is jointed a handled catch 21 which can be moved by the
hand holding the lever 20, and which engages with ratchet teeth on the front of
the vertical frame plate 6, so as to prevent the lever 20 from falling when other-
wise unsupported.
When the cop 3 attains its predetermined length, the top lever 20 acts on an
adjustable stop on a vertical rod 22, and raising this rod causes its lower end to
move a bellcrank catch lever 23 so as to release the clutch lever 16, and this lover
being weighted shifts the clutch part 11 so as to disengage it and stop the winding
action. The clutch lever 16 is connected by a rod 24, which serves as a weight to
a treadle 25 below, enabling the worker with the foot to cause the engagement of
the clutch and restarting of the winding action.
The catch lever 23 is also acted on to cause the winding to stop when the yarn
breaks or fails before the cop is completed. The yarn 26 on its way from the
bobbin 27 to the traverse guide 28 (which is fixed to a longitudinal rocking shaft 29
according to a common arrangement) passes round a small pulley on the end of a
light detector and compensating lever 30, and the centre of this lever is formed
with a part extending under a forwardly projecting arm of the bellcrank catch
lever 23. If the yarn breaks or fails the detector lever 30 falls, and the back
projecting part of its centre lifts the arm of the catch lever 23 and disengages that
lever; and when the detector lever 30 is raised too high in consequence of the

page_text: tension becoming excessive from any cause the front projecting part of its centre
acts on the catch lever 23 in a similar way.
Tension is applied to the yarn 26 by a brake lever 35 bearing on one of the
bobbin ends 27, this lever 35 being acted on by a spring 36. The brake-lever 35
is also connected by a second spring to a rod 37 which at its bottom end is by a
short strap 38 connected to the centre of the detector lever 30, in such a way that
when, through increase of tension, the detector lover 30 is turned up or towards the
the cop 3, it pulls the rod 37 so as to act on the brako lever 35 oppositely to the
main spring 36 of that lever and thereby diminish the brake pressure on the
bobbin 27.
An improved modification of our brake mechanism for regulating the tension of
the yarn is shown in sectional elevation in Figuro 10 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings.
In this Figure the brake lever 35 is shown as applied above the bobbin 27, but
the direction in which it is applied is immaterial. It carries at its end a loose
pulley a which bears against the yarn on the bobbin 27, and the bobbin is
kept up against it by being carried on a spindle forming part of a lever b to
which a weight or spring is applied, the bobbin thus rising higher as the yarn on it
diminishes. Above the pulley a of the brake lover 35 there is a small block c of
wood or other suitable material fixed to a bracket, and it is the frictional resistance
of this small block c which makes the pulley a act frictionally on the bobbin 27.
In the event of the tension becoming too great the brako lever 35 is pulled down a
little by the rod 37, and this moves the pulley a slightly away from the fixed block c,
and the pulley being thereby made free to rotate applies less frictional resistance to
the rotation of the bobbin and the tension becomes reduced in consequence. With
this arrangement the action of the brake lever remains uniform on the yarn not-
withstanding the varying diameter of the yarn on the bobbin.
Figure 7, on Sheet 1, is a vertical section showing the top centre or ball 19
attached to the top lever 20 as fitted with a cap 38 which can turn on it, this
cap being intended to bear on the upper end of the cop (as wound) and to turn
with it instead of the ball or centre 19 bearing on the cop. Figure 8 shows the
cap 38 as fitted to the lower end of a vertical spindlo 39; and Figure 9 shows such
a spindle 39 as formed with a plain ball 19 to bear on the cop without any
cap.
Figure 11, on Sheet 2 of the accompanying Drawings, is a transverse vertical
section of a modification of our improved cop winding machinery in which the
winding spindles 1 are vertical as in the modification herein before described, but
the various parts are inverted, the driving shafts 7 being above instead of below.
The
The cup lever 4 is connected by a rod 40 to a spring 41 which holds it up.
top lever 20 becomes a bottom lever and is drawn upwards by a cord 42 passing
over a pulley to a weight 43. The other inversions will be easily understood on
comparing Figure 10 with Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Figure 12, on Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings, is a transverse vertical
section of a modification of our improved cop winding machinery in which the
winding spindles 1 are placed horizontally. In this case a single horizontal shaft 7
extending along the middle of the machine at the top serves for driving the rows
of spindles at the two sides of the machine, each bevil wheel 8 gearing with two
bevil pinions 9. The frame plates 6 become horizontal and the outer centres or
balls 19 are formed or fixed on blocks 44, and are drawn towards the conical cups 2
by cords 42 passing over pulleys to weights 43. The clutch lever 16 is connected
to a horizontal rod 45 passing to the outside of the machine, where a handle is
formed on it, a spring 46 being applied to it to make it move the clutch part 11 out
of gear when it is released by the catch lever 23. The tension brake is connected
by a spring to a weight 47, which is connected by a strap 38 to the centre of the
detector and compensating lover 30, the parts acting as in the modification first
herein before described.
Figure 13, on Sheet 4 of tho accompanying Drawings is a transverse vertical
section of a modification of our improved cop winding machinery, which differs

page_text: from that shown in Figure 12 merely in having the spindles and other parts
inclined instead of horizontal, an arrangement admitting of a less width of frame at
the expence of an increase in the height of the central parts.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what we believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to us by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of cop winding machinery
in the improved manner, substantially as herein before described, and as shown in
the accompanying Drawings.
2. The arrangement of the winding spindles so as to be without movement in the
direction of their length combined with their being made and arranged to project
only a short distance into the cops, and so that the cops gradually move or increase
from them, substantially as herein before described.
3. The carrying of the conical cups by means of trunnions or as in universal
joints, substantially as and for the purposes hercin before described.
4. The improved modes of making the driving clutches on the spindles, as heroin-
before described.
5. The employment of the upper or outer centre or ball acting either directly
or through a cap, for applying pressure to the cop, such centro or ball being
arranged to rise or recede as the cop increases, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
6. The node of holding the top or outer centre or ball when the spindle is vertical
by a lever passing through a slot in one vertical frame plate to a fulcrum slot in
the frame plate at the other side of the machine, the said lever being guided and
supported in the manner herein before described.
7. The hereinbefore described mode of arranging the detector and compensating
lever in combination with the catch lever of the stopping mechanism.
8. The herein before described mode of applying tension to the yarn when being
wound off bobbins by means of a brake lever acting on the bobbin end and con-
nected to the detector and compensating lever.
9. The brake apparatus for regulating the tension hereinbefore described with
reference to Figure 10 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Walton Urquhart, Joseph Lindsay,
and Robert Allan, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth
day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-nine.
W. W. URQUHART. (L.S.)
JOSEPH LINDSAY.
ROBERT ALLAN.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)