IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Muir Hetherington, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES
FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
ed the 13th November 1877, and dated the 18th May 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Muir Hetherington at
the Oflice of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th May 1877.
JOHN MUIR HETHERINGTON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, "IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
My Invention has for its objects the construction of a mule carriage of great
rigidity combined with lightness, and freedom from liability to fire, such disasters
most frequently taking place in spinning mills in the mule rooms. With these
objects in view I construct the said carriages of fluted or corrugated metal, and in
combination with angle, tubular, or other such bars of metal, if required, and these
fluted or corrugated parts, I propose to form either of single or double sheets, in the
latter case placed transversely to each other; or I obtain the same result by using
two or more metallic sheets, kept apart by rods, studs, or other such parts, so as to
constitute a cellular structure, and in either case I adapt wheels in the ordinary
manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Muir Hetherington in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
November 1877.
JOHN MUIR HETHERINGTON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
of
My Invention has for its objects the construction of a mule carriage
great rigidity combined with lightness, and of freedom from liability to fire,
with which objects I construct the said carriages with fluted or corrugated
metal, and I also propose to attain the same results by using two or more sheets
of metal, kept apart by rods, studs, or other such parts, so as to constitute a
cellular structure.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a cross section of a mule carriage con-
structed according to my Invention, and Fig. 2 is a portion of the same, looking at
the front thereof, the two broken-off parts A, B, being separated at some inter-
vening position between the two ends, and I shall, in the first place, refer to the
arrangement shewn for supporting the parts which constitute my Invention, and
which is similar to that in ordinary use, but any other suitable arrangement may
be employed.
At 1 are the main castings, situate at intervals across the carriage, and at 2 are
brackets bolted to the said parts 1, the upper ends of such brackets being provided
with T shaped parts 3, upon which is fixed an iron angle bar 4 which carries the
lower spindle rail 5. Upon the bar 4 are the arms 6 capable of being tightened
thereon by bolts or screws, the upper ends of such arms being provided with an
angle bar 7 for carrying the upper spindle rail 8 (shewn broken off at Fig. 2), and
at 9, 10, are the usual rods, by incans of which the angle of the spindles may be
adjusted. At 11 is the tin drum, mounted in bearings, as at 12, carried by the
parts 1, and I now proceed to describe the method of adapting that which constitutes
my Invention at 13. 13ª, 13b, is the corrugated metal, formed by one or more
sheets, and bent upward to form the front and back 13a, 13b., At 14 are brackets
bolted to or cast with the parts 1, the lower ends of which brackets are provided
with projecting parts 15, their under surfaces being corrugated, to correspond with
the form of the corrugated metal 13; and at 16 are other similarly formed parts,
and the two being drawn together by bolts, 17, the arrangements constitute clamps
for confining the bottom 13. At 18 are similar brackets, carried by the parts 1, and
provided in like manner with clamping parts 15ª, 10a, and thus the front of the
carriage is secured, while the saine effect is accomplished at the back thereof by the
clamping apparatus. At 19 is a portion of one of the wheels mounted in a bar 20
which is carried by brackets 21 clamped to the corrugated inetal, as above described,
the arrangement being repeated at any required interval. At 22 is a sheet metal
covering for the top of the carriage, and at 23 the same for the back.
The corrugated metal is shewn cut out at 25, for the purpose of leaving
freedom for the parts by which the angle of the spindles is adjusted. Sections of
any suitable length having been formed as above described, any number may be
joined together to form the entire width of the carriage by rivetting, or otherwise
joining together the sheets of corrugated metal. By the above description it will
be seen that the use of timber in the mule carriage is avoided, and that danger from
fire is therefore lessened.
The above description refers to the essential character of my Invention, but, as
above stated, the construction of the framework may be varied, and instead of the
single thickness of corrugated metal another may be employed in conjunction there-
with, in which case the corrugations may be adapted at right angles to those shewn
in the Drawing, and the said corrugations may be formed at any angle upon the
plate instead of at right angles, as above supposed; or instead of the second corru-

page_text: gated, a plain surfaced plate may be adapted in lieu thereof, or, instead of that,
strips or bars of metal at any desired intervals may be adapted to the corrugated
metal.
I have above described that configuration which is most commonly called
corrugated, but the strengthening required by my Invention may be obtained, as
is well known, by other wrinklings or buckleings by indenting the metal by
means of stamping or otherwise, and these corrugations, wrinklings, or buckleings,
may extend across or along the entire width or length of the metal, or may be made
up of detached portions, and of any desired form or device. With the same object
in view, I employ two or more plain sheets of metal, separated from each other by
studs, bars, or other intervening parts, so that the structure becomes cellular; that
will partly be the case in the modification I have above referred to, in which a plain
sheet of metal is placed upon the corrugated surface, the higher parts of the said
corrugations forming separating parts for two plates; in the last-mentioned case I
am supposing two plain plates to be employed, in which case, however, clamps or
similar apparatus with plain surfaces for uniting the cellular structure to the frame-
work will be employed instead of the indented brackets; or the construction may
be modified by combining the corrugated or wrinkled surface with that of the
cellular, as, for instance, by causing the latter to form the bottom of the carriage,
the other parts thereof being of the corrugated or wrinkled form.
Having thus described 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, the employment in the
construction of mule carriages of corrugated, wrinkled, or other indented metal
or metallic sheets, arranged so as to form a cellular structure, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Muir Hetherington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
JOHN M. HETHERINGTON. (L.S.)