Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Cleaning or Clearing Silk Thread.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by LUCIUS DIMOCK, of Leeds, Hampshire County,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Cleaning or
Clearing Silk Thread.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co. Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My improvements relate, briefly to the cleaning of the silk thread by arresting
the lint at the point where it is set free from the thread in the process of cleaning,
and conducting it therefrom.
The objects of the said improvements, are to ensure the more perfect cleaning of
the silk by preventing the adhesion to it of loose particles of lint after the thread
leaves the cleaner; to prevent the escape of the lint into the room to the detriment
of the machinery and to the inconvenience of the operatives and to deposit all of
the lint from the cleaner frames, in one place convenient for removal at leisure
and the invention consists in the combination and construction as hereinafter
described.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1, is an end elevation of a cleaner frame showing the side of one cleaner,
with the cover thrown open.
Figure 2 is a plan view of one cleaner in position on the frame and with its cover
open.
Figure 3 is a top plan view of one cleaner having its cover closed.
Figure 4 is a cross section on the dotted line y y of Figure 3. of a cleaner with
its cover closed.
Figure 5 is a front elevation of a portion of a cleaner frame, a front elevation in
partial section of the collecting room, and a side view of the connecting pipes
between them with the fan and
fan.
Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the collecting room,. with a top view of the
In the drawings, the part of my improved cleaner marked B, represents the
complete cleaner in common use, and which consists of a base b seating a train of
loosely revolving cone spindles a and adapted to be secured to the table d of a
frame D, intermediate to the drawing roll C and the delivery bobbin E, so that
the thread c passing from the bobbin E, is drawn over the train of spindles to be
cleaned, the cleaning process consisting of the friction of the thread coming in
contact where wrapped to enclose each spindle, as shown more particularly in
Figure 2, the number of spindles in the train ensuring every part of the thread
being submitted to this friction before leaving the train.
The lint set free in this cleaning process has heretofore been a serious annoyance,
as it would gather on the thread after leaving the cleaner, and form bunches upon
it that could only be removed with much care, and loss of time and being very
light it would permeate the whole room and accumulate in the bearings of the
machinery, and otherwise cause much inconvenience. To obviate these inconveniences
I have constructed a cleaner as follows. To the base b is fitted a cover which can
be easily removed and replaced, this cover forms with the top surface of base b, a
clear space around
continuous passage enclosing the spindles a and leaving a
each, the cover has an opening at each end which serve the double purpose of

page_text: admitting the passage of the thread c and of forming ports for the admission of
air. From the passage way formed by the cover and at a point between the end
openings, is formed a port to a pipe in which is induced a current of air drawn from
without the covered cleaner, through its end openings and past and around each
spindle. The current of air thus carried through the cleaner removes every
particle of lint, as it is detached from the thread, to leave none in the cleaner nor
outside of it in the room.
I have constructed the cover G of a metal shell, the cover proper g, of which has
a compartment formed in its walls adapted to enclose the spindles while resting
upon the upper surface of base b, as more particularly shown in Figure 4, while a
hollow shank d communicating through one wall with said compartment, is
provided with a port e which coincides with the mouth of a tube H, to thus form,
when the cover is closed, a continuous air passage from tube H to the interior of
cover g.
The shank d' is provided with a hinge f, which being secured to the table d,
retains the cover G always in place, and so that it can be thrown open without
care when necessary, to expose the spindles. The cover G is shown hinged to a
block i having its upper surface in the same plane with the top of the base b,
and a bearing surface surrounding the mouth of tube H, which forms a good seat
to the surface of shank & surrounding port e which form of construction is a
convenient way of combining my invention with the cleaner in common use.
The tube H connects the cleaner with a tube I extending the length of the frame,
and serving to receive similar tubes H from all the cleaners in the frame and the
tube I may be connected with a main tube K receiving similar tubes K from all the
frames in the room.
Where a tube K forms a main pipe receiving branch tubes to form a system
including all of the cleaners, the air is exhausted at the outer end of the tube K
by any of the well known methods, to induce the required current of air through
the cleaners. As a simple and effective means of producing the exhaust in tube K,
I prefer to arrange in it a fan L, as shown in Figures 5 and 6.
Owing to the quantity of lint set free in a large mill, which from the properties
of the lint itself, makes it difficult to dispose of the lint as produced it is advisable
to collect it in one place from which it can be removed at intervals of time to be
destroyed or utilized, and in order to accomplish this effectually I have constructed
a collecting compartment as follows. In the centre of a closed compartment O, is
erected another compartment P, the walls of which are formed of wire netting.
The walls of compartiment P extend from the floor to the ceiling of compartment O,
and have a clear space between the vertical walls of the two compartments,
as shown in Figure 6, so that an air space virtually completely surrounds
compartment P.
The tube K is carried through the walls of both compartments near the top of
compartment P to have its open mouth within compartment P. Openings-s are
formed in the walls of compartment O, to permit an egress of the air forced through
pipe K.
Both compartments are provided with doors giving convenient access to their
interiors.
The current of air entering compartment P and bringing with it the lint, is
stagnated within said compartment, and the lint falls. by gravity at once to the
floor, or adhering to the wire walls while the fan is in operation falls when the fan
is stopped.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me: by
my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
:-
1. In silk cleaning machinery, a frame-support, a spindle bar secured thereon, a
train of spindles seated in the spindle bar, a removable cover adapted to fit over the
spindles and form an air passage from end to end of the train, and an exhaust

page_text: chamber communicating with the interior of the cover, when closed, and through
which the air is drawn from the cover.
2. The combination, substantially as set forth, of a train of silk cleaning
spindles, a hinged cover for the same forming an air passage around the spindles
provided with ports for the admission of air thereto, and an exhaust chamber
communicating with the interior of said cover and through which the air is drawn
from the cover.
Dated this 27th day of September 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.