IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND SPINNING FLAX, COTTON, SILK, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Whitehead, of Holbeck, in the Parish
of Leeds, in the County of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor,
Wordsworth, and Company, of the same Place, Machine and Tool
Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND
SPINNING FLAX, COTTON, SILK, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 31st October 1871, and dated the 2nd August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Whitehead at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd August 1871.
I, THOMAS WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the
County of York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and
Company, of the same Place, Machine and Tool Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
AND SPINNING FLAX, COTTON, SILK, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to
be as follows :-
My improvements consist in actuating the fallers in intersecting screw
gill machines by means of three screws instead of four as hitherto

page_text: used, also I raise and lower the fallers by means of independent cams
not being attached to the screws as heretofore. I also drive an
inverted flyer by any suitable means, by which the said flyer always
revolves at one uniform speed, and the spindle running and traversing
within the tube of the flyer is also supported by a step rail, which rail
and spindle traverse up and down so that the flyer can guide the thread
either on a bobbin supported by the spindle or on the spindle itself.
The friction of the tube of the flyer would cause the spindle to revolve
at the same speed as the flyer, but I propose to regulate the speed of
the spindle by positive or frictional motion so as to cause no more strain
on the thread than is necessary to wind it on the bobbin or spindle.
The flyer may be made with two or more legs and have a loose or fixed
garter or ring outside the legs of the flyer so as to prevent the legs
expanding, and also have the facility of turning the ring round on the
legs of the flyer when worn or cut in any particular part by the action
of the thread. By this means a more tender thread can be spun on a
continuous spinning frame than heretofore,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WHITEHEAD, of Holbeck, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County of
York, a Partner in the Firm of Taylor, Wordsworth, and Company,
of the same place, Machine and Tool Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Whitehead, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Whitehead, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Whitehead, 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

page_text: therein expressed, should and lawfully 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
PREPARING AND SPINNING FLAX, COTTON, SILK, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS
5 SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Whitehead, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Whitehead, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say)
This Invention relates, firstly, to the actuating of the fallers or gills
of intersecting screw gill machines by means of three in place of four
pairs of screws as hitherto used, the object being to simplify the con-
struction of such machines.
Secondly. To a novel arrangement of inverted flyer and rotating
spindle for spinning frames whereby a more tender thread than has
heretofore been spun in a continuous spinning frame may be produced.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings I have shewn so much
of a screw gill machine as will serve to explain the first head of my
Invention.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a stand or carriage plate with the
improvement applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken in
the line A, B, of Fig. 1.
a, a', are the front rollers; and b, b', are the back rollers of the stand
or carriage plate B¹; C, C¹, C2, are the screws for traversing the gills
or fallers; and D, D, D, the fallers. Motion is given to the screws by
the train of gearing E driven from the back shaft F. The middle
screws C' serve to actuate the upper and lower set of gills, every alternate

page_text: faller being inverted as usual to produce the intersection of the gills.
It will be observed that all the screws on one side of the stand or
carriage plate are left handed, and all those on the opposite side of the
stand or carriage plate B¹ are right handed. A pinion G is keyed to
the spindle of each bottom driving screw C2 and serves to give motion
through a wheel H to a horizontal cam shaft I, thereby causing it to
On each cam
make half a revolution for every revolution of the screw.
shaft I are fixed two cams J and K, which are intended to raise and
lower the fallers, transferring them from the top and bottom screws to
the middle screws, and returning them from the middle screws to the top
and bottom screws respectively. This shifting of the fallers is effected
through the agency of the vertical slides L, M, which are formed
with recesses to receive the fallers at the end of their course. These
slides L, M, have fitted to them straps O and P in which the cams J
and K work. These straps being carried and supported by the shafts Q
and R working in brackets fixed under the beam, will rise and fall with
the rotation of the cams and thus bring the recesses of the slides on a
level with the fallers that are ready to be transferred from one pair of
screws to the other.
The second head of the Invention will be readily understood by
reference to Sheet II. of the Drawings, in which Fig. 3 represents a
front elevation of a portion of a drawing, spinning, doubling, or twisting
frame embracing two spindles and flyers; Fig. 4 is a vertical section of
the same taken through the line A, B; and Fig. 5 is a partial plan
view of Fig. 3; Figs. 6 and 7 represent similar spindles and flyers,
the mode of driving the same being somewhat modified. In each of
these Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, the same letters are employed to indicate
corresponding parts wherever they occur.
D is the inverted flyer fitted with a loose guide ring E for conducting
the yarn or twist on to the bobbin which is placed on the spindle, or the
yarn or twist may be conducted by the guide ring E on to the spindle F
itself. The inverted flyer rests on the collar G fixed in the rail H, or
it is carried by collars G' and G2, Figs. 6 and 7, fixed in the rails H'
and H2. The rails H' and H³ are the ordinary spindle rails, and I is a
rod or slide bar attached thereto, upon which is a socket K fixed to the
lifting bar L which slides up and down, causing the whole line of
spindles while revolving with the bobbins to be raised or lowered or

page_text: traverse in the inverted flyer D; M is a wharve or pulley which may
be cast or fixed on each of the inverted flyers for the purpose of rotating
the same. To the rail H, Figs. 3 and 4, and to the rail H³, Figs. 6
and 7, is hung a series of brake levers N, which levers are so shaped at
their upper end and arranged with respect to the flyers that each brake
lever will fit tightly against the bottom of one or other of a pair
of inverted flyers D when operated upon by pressing the knee of the
attendant against the tail of the lever. The use of this contrivance is
to stop the rotation of the flyers when it is required to piece the end of
the thread. At such time either flyer may be arrested as desired by
pressing the lever to the right or left hand. It will be observed that
the spindles revolve by means of friction of contact with the tubes of
the inverted flyers, and the bobbin is also carried round by the spindle
to accommodate the tension of the yarn or twist as it is wound thereon
by the rotation of the inverted flyer. The drag on the spindle may be
regulated by varying the lap of the weighted band O over the friction
wharl P fixed on the bottom of the spindle itself, or the drag of all the
spindles may be adjusted simultaneously by moving the rack S (over
which the weighted cords hang) through the pinion R which is actuated
by the hand wheel R¹.
By these improvements I am enabled to obtain a regular twist, more
facility in doffing, an increase in speed with no more strain on the thread
than is necessary to wind it on the bobbin or spindle, and thereby to
ensure the production of a more tender thread than can be spun on a
continuous spinning frame.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Preparing and Spinning Flax, Cotton, Silk, Wool, and other Fibrous
Substances," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,-
First. Operating the gills or fallers of intersecting screw gill machinery
by means of three pairs of screws in the manner and for the purpose
above described.
Second. The arrangement of rotating spindle and inverted flyer with
5 loose guide ring operating in the manner and for the purpose above
described.

page_text: Third. The arrangement of stop or brake levers, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Whitehead, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
THOMAS WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the said Thomas Whitehead,
in the presence of
EDWARD WHITELEY,
Clerk to Mr. Thos. Turner,
Sol.,
Leeds.