IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND THROWING SILK, AND DOUBLING OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Dickens, of Middleton, in the County of
Lancaster, Silk Dyer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND THROWING SILK, AND DOUBLING
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 4th April 1856, and dated the 5th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Dickens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
October 1855.
I, THOMAS DICKENS, of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Silk Dyer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OB APPARATUS FOR SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND THROWING SILK, AND
DOUBLING OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate, firstly, to a method of communicating motion to
the spindles and bobbins, or to the spindles or bobbins. For this purpose
I apply a series of supplementary shafts or spindles as intermediate apparatus
for transmitting motion from the prime mover to the spindles or bobbins, and
these supplementary shafts or spindles are driven by suitable communication
with the motive power.

page_text: The Invention relates, secondly, to a method of arresting the motion of
spindles and bobbins, or one of them, should one or more of the strands become
broken while the spinning, doubling, or throwing operation is proceeding. The
threads by their tension support hooks or other analogous instruments in a
definite position; but upon one or more becoming broken, the instrument
belonging thereto will assume another position, and cause a stopping apparatus
to come into action, and disengage the driving power from the spindle of the
broken thread.
In one of the arrangements which I adopt, a bar is caused to move con-
tinually to and fro, and upon this bar are jointed a series of hooks, which are
supported by the threads, while the latter are unbroken. When thus supported
the hooks run clear of a forked lever communicating with the band, by which
the supplementary shafts before described are driven; but when a thread
breaks, the respective hook arrives in contact with the said lever, and disengages
the spindle. The hooks are formed with inclined planes, so as to be lifted
and catch the lever on their return motion if necessary. This arrangement
supposes a combination with the first part of my Invention, but if desired the
bobbins or spindles may be driven by gearing, capable of being detached
separately therefrom, and the catches above referred to may operate thereon
by means of levers or other mechanism.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Dickens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DICKENS, of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Silk Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Dickens, Her especial license that I, the said Thomas Dickens,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Dickens, my 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND THROWING SILK, AND DOUBLING OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Dickens, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said Thomas Dickens, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
-
My improvements relate, firstly, to a method of communicating motion to
the spindles and bobbins, for which purpose I employ a series of supple-
mentary shafts or spindles as intermediate apparatus for transmitting motion
from the prime mover.
Secondly, to a method of arresting the motion of spindles or bobbins, should
one or more of the strands which are in process of becoming combined be
broken.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I have appended
to this my complete Specification a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the same.
Fig. 1 represents, in section, a machine suitably arranged for performing the
operation of spinning silk direct from the cocoons. This method of obtaining
threads for the manufacturer is not that most commonly in use, but has
been the subject of Letters Patent granted to John Chadwick and Thomas
Dickens, bearing date Fourteenth April, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
At the upper part of the framework a is a trough b, containing soap and
water or other suitable fluid, and capable of being heated by a steam pipe c.
Into this vessel the cocoons are placed, and the required number of threads to
be combined conducted therefrom over a rod d, from thence they pass over a
bar e, having a suitably formed edge for cleaning the material; having passed
this, they are conducted through an eye of one of a series of flyers, as at f,
attached to the upper end of a spindle g, which spindle is mounted in a bush
formed in a rail h, and is carried at bottom by a rail i. Upon the spindle g is
a louse warve k, over which a band passes, and from thence to the tin drum ?,
after the manner of this class of machines. The warve k is provided with a
clutch m, taking into another n, fixed to the spindle, in which position it is
kept during the ordinary operation of the machine by a forked lever o, one end

page_text: of which is formed heavy enough for that purpose. Upon turning this lever,
however, on its centre, the said clutches may be disengaged, and the spindle
released thereby from the motive power. The extent of motion of the lever is
regulated by two stops p. Upon each spindle g is mounted a pinion q, taking
into another r, mounted upon a like series of short supplementary shafts s,
which also carry at their upper ends a pinion t, taking into a pinion u, mounted
loosely upon the spindle g. The boss of the last-mentioned pinion carries a
projecting pin v, which extends upward, and then passes through the bobbin
w, which bobbin rests upon the copping rail x, capable of being raised, and
allowed to fall by an ordinary heart wheel motion, the shaft of which is shewn
at y; the orifice formed in the copping rail for the passing through of the spindle
is enlarged sufficiently to allow the pin to revolve. By this arrangement it
will be perceived that the threads from the cocoons united in passing over their
guides are twisted by the action of the flyer f, and are subsequently wound upon
the bobbin w, as in the ordinary throstle spinning machine, with the exception
that in this case the winding on is not effected by drag, but by positive driving
of the bobbin. As the amount of twist put into the material is regulated by
the relative speeds of the spindle and the bobbin, it is obvious that if they were
independently driven from the tin drum or similar source of rotation, that the
slipping of a band would destroy those relative speeds, and the threads would
become combined in varying numbers of turns for a given length, and it is
in order to prevent the occurrence of this defect, and to enable me to detach
the spindles separately from the driving power, that I employ the series of
supplementary shafts above mentioned. Thus, in Fig. 1, the spindles, being
driven, communicate motion to the bobbins through the medium of the
pinions q, r, t, u, and it therefore follows that the relative speeds must bear a
fixed proportion which may be determined according to the twist required, by
duly proportioning the numbers of teeth. The above describes the operation
usually termed spinning in the silk trade, inasmuch as a certain number of
filaments are united with twist, but the method differs from that in ordinary
use as regards the employment of a flyer. If desired, however, this part of
my Invention may be adapted to ordinary silk spinning, machines, that is to
say, to those in which the twist is effected by causing a bobbin on which the
material has been wound to revolve and deliver it to a second bobbin driven
by surface motion; for that purpose it will merely be necessary to adapt a
series of supplementary shafts for transmitting motion from the spindles of
the bobbins to the surface rollers.i
I have above described my Invention as producing spun threads direct from
the cocoons; but, if desired, the threads of the usual hanks may be wound

page_text: upon bobbins, to be subsequently adapted to skewers on the machine in place
of the cocoons, there shewn.
Figs. 2, 3, 4, represent a machine constructed suitably for doubling and
throwing silk at one operation, and shewing another adaptation of that part
of my Invention already described, and also the second portion thereof. The
bobbins upon which the silk is wound are shewn at a placed upon skewers b,
so as to be capable of revolving freely; from these the threads pass over a
rail c, thence under eyes d (hereafter to be mentioned), over a second rail e,
and to the flyers f. These flyers are mounted upon spindles g, which are carried
by rails h, and are provided at their lower ends with pinions i, taking into
others k, mounted upon supplementary shafts 1, which shafts are driven through
the medium of clutches m and warves n, the latter receiving motion from the
tin drum o. The upper ends of the shafts I carry wheels p, taking into
pinions g, which run loosely upon the spindles g, and they are furnished with
projecting pins r for driving the bobbins s, as described in reference to Fig. 1.
By this arrangement the desired relative speeds of the spindles and bobbins
are secured, as in the previously described machine, the only difference being
that in this instance the supplementary shafts are those to which the motive
power is in the first place transmitted; the principle, however, is exactly the
same, for it is obvious that however the band of the tin drum may slip, the
rotations of the bobbins must be to those of the flyer constantly the same,
although the combined action may be accelerated or retarded. Upon the shaft
of the tin drum o is a worm t, through which motion is communicated to a
shaft u, the lower end of which has a worm for causing the heart wheel shaft v
to revolve. The cam thereon operates against the bell crank w, connected to
the chain and rod y, by which the copping rail a is raised. Each thread from
the bobbins a passes under a hook d, formed upon a wire z, which is mounted
so as to be capable of turning upon a centre pin 1; these wires are independant
of each other, and are therefore capable of separate motion. Extending across
each pair of wires is a looped wire 2, the two side arms of which are
mounted, so as to be capable of turning upon a centre 1, and thus admitting
of a depression of the front looped part, but they are maintained upward, in
the position shewn during the proper working of the machine, by reason of the
inward ends being slightly increased in weight. To the looped portion of the
said wires are attached strings 3, extending downward, and connected at their
lower ends to a series of catches 4, mounted upon centre pins 5, attached to a
bar 6. To this bar is jointed one end of a bell crank 7, the other end thereof
being connected to a lever 8, mounted upon a centre 9, on which it is caused
to vibrate by a cam 10, receiving motion from the shaft 2. During the

page_text: operation of the machine, and while the threads from the bobbins are passing
onward, the hooks d are upheld, as shewn, but upon a thread from one of the
said bobbins becoming broken, the hook thereof will no longer be supported,
and it will fall by its own gravity upon the looped part of the wire 2, the
heavier end of which being thus overcome, will allow it to turn upon the centre,
and permit the string 3 and hook 4 to fall. This change in the disposition of
the parts will bring the said hook within range of one of the pins 11, pro-
jecting from bell cranks 12, the lower arms of which are connected to the
clutches m, by which the supplementary shafts are driven; the bar 6 then
vibrating, will cause the pin 11 to be struck, and by turning the bell crank 12
upon its centre, will move the clutch m out of gear, and thus arrest the
motion of the spindle and bobbin. When the attendant has pieced the broken
thread, the bell crank 12 is restored to its former position, which again places
the clutch in gear. This operation is performed by aid of the pin 11, which
extends sufficiently forward; or, if desired, a hand lever, similar to that shewn
at Figure 1, may be adapted.
I have above described the first part of my Invention as applied to the
spinning, and also doubling and throwing of silk, but it is also applicable to
the twisting of silk under any other term, and to the doubling of cotton and
other fibrous materials, provided that it shall be desired to drive positively both
the bobbin and the flyer; and I will here remark, that in such cases there will
obviously be a variation in the amount of twist between the first portion laid
on to the bobbin and the last, arising from the increased diameter; but for
silk and other fine materials a comparatively thin depth of material may be
wound, so as to render such variation of small amount; or if this be objected
to, a differential motion, as understood by spinners, may be adapted to the
copping rail, by which means the said rail may be caused to move quicker as
the diameter of the bobbin increases, and thereby lay on a less quantity of
material for a revolution.
In reference to the second part of my improvements, I would observe, that
it is applicable to the combined operations of doubling and throwing of silk,
or of spinning and doubling, as above described, and also to the doubling of
cotton and other fibrous materials.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,
Firstly, the use of a supplementary shaft or shafts for the purposes above
set forth, whereby the spindle and bobbin are mutually dependant for their

page_text: rates of revolution, and may be disconnected from the driving power without
stopping the whole machine.
Secondly, the use, for the purposes above set forth, of hooks or other instru-
ments, which fall upon the breaking of a thread, and thereby cause the spindle
and bobbin to be released from the driving power.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Dickens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
THOMAS DICKENS. (L.S.)