IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph Holt, and James
Holt, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Makers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING."
Scaled the 2nd March 1875, and dated the 7th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Stocks Holt,
Joseph Holt, and James Holt at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 7th September 1874.
. WC, HENRY STOCKS HOLT, JOSEPH HOLT, and JAMES HOLT, of
Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Makers, do hereby
" IMPROVEMENTS IN
declare the nature of the said Invention for
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to those machines for preparing cotton and
other fibrous materials, which are commonly called self-acting willows,
and consists in a method of regulating the feed and discharge of the
material.

page_text: It is well known that the time required for the material to be under
operation in the machine varies in reference to its quality, and according
to the usual arrangement the period occupied by the discharge and feed
remains the same.
Our Invention consists in giving motion to those parts which effect
the said discharge and feed by apparatus which is not dependent upon
the driving of the operating parts of the machine.
For this purpose we employ a spaced wheel, which is held while the
material is under operation by a catch, but which catch is withdrawn at
the required periods by a revolving cam, and then the spaced wheel falls
into gear with another which is constantly driven, and being thus caused
to revolve acts by means of the ordinary segment or equivalent apparatus
upon the usual parts which effect the discharge and feed.
The aforesaid cam we drive through the medium of conical pullies or
change wheels, whereby the time at which the catch shall be withdrawn
may be regulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph Holt, and James
Holt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, HENRY 1
STOCKS HOLT, JOSEPH HOLT, and JAMES HOLT, of Oldham, in the
County of Lancaster, Machine Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty- 1
eighth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph Holt,
and James Holt, Her special license that we, the said Henry Stocks
Holt, Joseph Holt, and James Holt, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph
Holt, and James Holt, 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

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 MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR SPINNING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Henry Stocks Holt, Joseph Holt, and James
Holt, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Holt, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to those machines for preparing cotton and
other fibrous materials, which are commonly called self-acting willows,
and consists in a method of regulating the feed and discharge of the
material.
It is well known that the time required for the material to be under
operation in the machine varies in reference to its quality, and according
to the usual arrangement the period occupied by the discharge and feed
remains the same, that is to say, it remains the same in proportion to
the time that the material is under operation.
For instance, suppose it to be required to keep the material in the
machine for a period represented by the number five, and then suppose
that the said period is to be extended so as to correspond to the number
twenty, then in the latter case the time required for the discharge and
feed will be four times slower than it was in the former case; and it is
to obviate this loss of time which our Invention has for its object, for it
will be obvious that the operations of discharging and feed may,
mechanically speaking, be performed as quickly in one case as in the
other; and we effect this improvement by giving motion to those parts
which effect the said discharge and feed by apparatus which is not at
all times dependent upon the driving of the operating parts of the
machine.

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represent a side view of a self-
acting willow with our improvements adapted as we have found them to
answer, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.
These Figures shew many parts which are old, and are simply drawn
to explain the connexion of our improvements, and we shall hereafter
point out that which we claim as our Invention.
At 1 is the driving shaft of the machine upon which is mounted the
usual beater, and upon this shaft is a pulley 2 provided with a strap 3,
which drives a pulley 4 fast on a shaft 5, which crosses the machine,
and at its other end has a pinion 6 taking into a carrier 7, which drives
a wheel 8 running on a stud, and this wheel 8 is therefore constantly
revolving. Above the wheel 8 is a wheel 9 of the same pitch, but having
some of its teeth removed, so as to form a space 10, and when therefore
this space 10 is over the wheel 8 no motion is imparted to the wheel 9.
Fast with the wheel 9 is a toothed segment 11, which may be considered
as that usually employed for effecting the discharge and feed, and for
these purposes we still use it, modified however in its action, as hereafter
to be described; and for this reason it carries the usual cam 12. At 13
14, 15, are the pinions which convey motion when required to the feed
lattice 16, and which train of gearing may be of any usual arrangement.
Upon the shaft 5 is a pulley 17, which by means of a strap 18 drives a
pulley 19 on a shaft 20, which on the other side of the machine carries
fast a series of step pullies 21, from one or other of which a strap 22
passes to another set of step pullies 23 mounted fast on a short shaft 24,
which is also provided with another set of pullics 25 fast on the said
shaft 24, and from one or another of these a strap 25* passes on to one
of a set of pullies 26 mounted loosely on the shaft; and the whole of
this arrangement therefore constitutes an apparatus similar to that of
the speed motion of a lathe; and the Drawing shews it enclosed within
a box 27, which may be kept locked if desired. Within the box 27 is
mounted a sliding bolt 28 drawn in the direction of the arrow by means
of a spring 29, and upon this bolt is a roller 30, which is therefore drawn by
the said spring against a cam 31 carried by the loose set of pullies 26,
and the said bolt, as shewn in the Drawings, is situate beneath a pin 32
projecting from the spaced wheel 9. At 33 is the door through which
the material is discharged hinged as usual, and provided with the
rod 34, which has to be thrust forward when the said door is to be
opened.

page_text: The operation is as follows:-According to the positions of the parts,
as shewn in the Drawing, the material within the cylinder is being
operated upon by the usual beaters, the door 33 being closed, and the
feed lattice 16 being stationary, but the wheel 8 is kept constantly.
revolving by means of the pullies 24 and pinions 6, 7. At this time the
bolt 28 is under the pin 32, which projects from the spaced wheel 9,
which wheel, together with the segment 11, is borne in the direction of
the arrow by the weight of the said segment, and by another weight
adapted to it for the purpose, but this tendency to revolve is resisted by
the pin 32 bearing against the bolt 28. At this time rotatory motion is
being imparted by the pullies 17, 19, to the set of pullies 21, and from
thence by the means before described to the loose pullies 26, and thus
the cam 31 is caused to revolve, and when its hollow part 40 arrives
opposite to the roller 30 the bolt 28 is drawn back by the force of the
spring 29 from under the pin 32; this being the case the spaced wheel 9
is at liberty to turn, and it immediately passes into gear with the con-
tinuously revolving wheel 8, and then the usual cam 12 thereon acts
against the rod 34, and opens the door 33 in the ordinary manner; and
this having been done, and the door again closed, the segment 11 acts
upon the gearing for effecting the feed, as is well understood. These
movements having taken place, the spaced wheel 9 is again detained
by the bolt 28, which has been forced by the cam 31 into the position
shewn after the liberation of the said spaced wheel had been effected.
It will now be seen that for whatever period it may be desired to keep
the material under operation the opening of the door for the discharge
and the feeding of a fresh lot of material always occupy the same space
of time, they being effected by the constantly revolving wheel 8, but
only at such periods as are allowed by the revolution of the cam 31, the
speed of which is regulated by shifting the straps 22, 25*, upon the
pullies 21, 23, 25, 26, and it is those pullies therefore that determine
how long the material shall be under operation.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it
to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise arrange-
ment of mechanical parts shewn and described as many mechanical
equivalents, as will be obvious to all competent persons may be
employed, as, for instance, the substitution of change wheels for
the step pullies 21, 23, 25, 26, or the substitution of a clutch for

page_text: the spaced wheel 9; but we claim as secured to us under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth, the
use of the spaced wheel 9, or other such part kept out of gear for the
required time by the pullies 21, 23, 25, 26, or their equivalents, which
govern the time that the material shall be under operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Holt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.