CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1847

page_text: JOHN
Woon, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of March, in the tenth year of Her reign,did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Wood,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Wood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Wood, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein mentioned,should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said John Wood, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Wood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and ascertained
[Price 8d.1

page_text: in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):-
These improvements apply to throstle and other spinning machines of a
similar kind, in which cottón, flax, and other fibrous substances are twisted or
spun into yarns or threads; and consists, firstly, in a peculiar mode of arranging
the spindles in such machines, so as to afford the means of employing a great
number in a given length or breadth of machine, and thereby to increase the
quantity of work produced; and secondly, in an apparatus to be connected with
each spindle, which, as a fau, is to act against the atmosphere for the purpose
of partially retarding the speed of the bobbins, in order to enable the bobbins
to take up or wind on the yarns.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure represents a partial end view of
transverse section of a spinning frame, in which my improved arrangement or
the spindles is exhibited. My first object is to enlarge the working capabilities
of a spinning machine, by increasing the number of spindles in a given length
beyond those of the ordinary machines. This I do by placing an additional
row of spindles in front of the usual row. In order to adapt this additional
row of spindles to the machine, so that it may act free of the back row, and
also that the yarns in passing from the front drawing or delivering rollers may
be brought down to the spindles at but a slight angle of inclination, I mount
the front or additional row of spindles in bracket arms or ledges, extending
from and descending below the horizontal longitudinal rails which support the
back row or ordinary series of spindles. The machine represented at Figure1
is intended for spinning flax, and therefore has the usual appendages suited
for that purpose; the general features of the machine are similar to ordinary
throstles or spinning frames, except in the additional row of spindles and its
appendages. The trough a contains water for moistening the yarns or rovings
which pass through it to the rollers b, b, and c, c. From the latter, called the
front or delivering rollers, the yarns or rovings descend through plates or
guides d, d, to the flyers. The ordinary row of spindles situate at e, bear at
bottom in steps upon the lower rail f, and pass through holes in the upper
rail
J. The copping or traverse rail is seen at h, upon which the bobbin i
has its bearings, and is a flyer fixed on the top of the spindle. Theadditional
row of spindles represented at 1, bear in steps upon the bracket or rail m,
extending in front from the lower rail f, and these spindles / pass through
holes in the bracket or rail n, extending in front from the upper rail g and
through the traverse or copping rail p which supports the bobbins o of the
spindle. This bracket rail p extends from the front of the copping rail h.

page_text: It will be seen that the additional row of spindles are placed lower than the
back rowe, which is designed for the purpose of allowing the yarns to descend
from the drawing rollers to the flyer q, at a lesser angle from the perpendicular
than they would if the front row of spindles stood at the same height as
the back row.
From the drum r cords or bands extend to the warves or
pullies of the several spindles e and 1, and hence, by the rotation of the drum,
the spindles are actuated. The bobbins i and o are of the ordinary kind,
having a weighted cord pressing against the side of each, by which so much
friction is produced as will retard the bobbins sufficiently to cause them to
take up or wind on the spun yarns or rovings from the ends of the flyers k
and q, the copping or traverse rails h, p, being raised and depressed by a heart
wheel in the ordinary way, for the purpose of laying the yarns uniformly as
they are wound on from end to end of the bobbins. In constructing a spinning
machine, it is to be observed that the distance between the two rows of
spindles, and also the amount of depression of the front row below the back
row, should be more or less according to the quality or size of yarn intended
to be spun, and the number of spindles employed in each row will also
be regulated by the same circumstance, the coarser the yarn the greater the
distance. The depression of the front row of spindles will also afford a ready
means of access to the back row, for the purpose of piecing or uniting the endg
of yarn in the event of their breaking.
The second feature of my improvements in spinning machinery consists in
attaching to the bobbins or to the spindles wings or vanes, which, as they fly
round by the resistance of the atmosphere, shall cause a partial retardation
in their rotary speed, and thereby enable the bobbins to take up or wind on
the spun yarns, rovings, or threads. Figure 2 represents a straight spindle,
which in this instance is to be fixed firmly in the bottom rail of the machine.
Figure 3 shews a similar spindle a, a, upon which a socket b slides and
revolves freely. To the upper part of this socket the flyer c, c, is affixed, its
ends being confined by a ring d, and to the lower part of the socket a warve
or pulley e is also affixed, for the purpose of enabling the socket with its flyer
to be made to revolve by a band from the driving drum of the machine in the
ordinary way. Upon the top of the spindle the apparatus shewn at Figure 4
is to be mounted, and allowed to turn freely upon the fixed spindle within the
ring of the flyer. This apparatus consists of a hollow tube fclosed at the top,
its interior fitting loosely on the spindle a, so that it may turn with freedom
upon the spindle point. The tube has a flange or collar gat its lower end, and
to this flange or collar two vertical rings or vanes h, h, are affixed. The tube
2 and collar I, when mounted on the spindle, support a bobbin ; and a small

page_text: pin i, set in the upper face of the collar, is intended to take into a small hole
in the under part of the bobbin, for the purpose of holding it steadily. Figure
5 represents the end view or transverse section of a machine for spinning flax,
constructed with two rows of spindles, arranged upon the principle described
under the first head of my Invention. Figure 6 is a horizontal view of the
same, shewing the arrangement of the two rows of spindles, but omitting many
parts as unnecessary for the illustration of the second feature of the Invention.
For the sake of rendering the improvement perfectly evident, Iwill describe
the operations of the machine, it being understood that the spindles in this
instance are firmly fixed in the bottom longitudinal rail of the spinning frame.
Rotary motion being applied by a band to the pulley or rigger (see Figure 6),
that rotary motion is communicated through the horizontal shaftm, by means
of bevel gear, to the several driving drums p,p,p. From these drums endless
bands g, g, pass round the wharves or pullies e, e, e, of the flyers, and round
binders or stretcher pullies j,j, which keep them at a proper tension. These
bands hence give rotary motion to the flyers upon the stationary spindles in
the way usually practised. The copping or traverse rail r, r, is raised and
depressed by a heart wheel and levers, or by any other suitable means in the
ordinary manner, for the purpose of moving the flyer up and down upon the
spindles, the loops, caps, or clamps S, S, attached to the front of the copping
rail, confining the tubes of the flyers, yet allowing them to turn freely in their
sockets and upon the spindles. The tubes, with the appendages f, g,h,andi,
represented at Figure 4, having been mounted upon the spindles, as described,
the bobbins t, t, are then placed upon the tubes f bearing upon the flange or
collarg below, and held securely in their positions by the pins i, as before said.
The yarns, rovings, or threads delivered from the front drawing rollersv, v, pass
through the guides u, u, and thence under the ringsd of the flyersc to the barrels
of the bobbinst. Hence, as the flyer revolves, producing the twisting orspinning
of the yarn, the drag of the yarn will pull the bobbin round also, with its tube and
collar hanging on the top of the stationary spindle. But the wings or vanes h,h,
at the under part of the collar on which the bobbin rests, being, as they revolve,
acted upon the resistance of the atmosphere, a slight retardation of the
rotary speed of the bobbin takes place, and as it is thus made to moves lower
than the flyers, the yarn will be caused to lap, that is, to be taken upor wound
on to the barrel of the bobbin. The uniform winding of the yarn from end to
end of the bobbin is produced as usual by the movements of the copping rail,
which gives the sliding ascent and descent to the flyer that guides the lapping
of the yarns upon the bobbin barrel. In Figure 6 the situation of the spindles
constituting the two rows are shewn by the sockets formed in the copping rail";

page_text: and the top drawing rollers being removed in that Figure, the several bosses
of the lower roller will be seen to be exactly opposite to the centres of the
respective spindles, and that by such arrangement each top delivering roller,
acting in conjunction with the two bosses, will be made to conduct two yarns
instead of one. In such arrangements of spinning machines as do not employ
stationary spindles, but spindles that are made to revolve by a warve or pulley
fixed upon each (as in Figure 1), I propose to connect the flyers to the
spindles in the manner shewn at Figures 7, 8, and 9. The spindle a (see
Figure 7) has a small stud w set in its side, which is intended to take into a
long slot x, in the tube of the flyer (see Figure 8). The tube and its
appendages f, g, and h, h, shewn at Figure 4, is then placed on the top of the
spindle, with the bobbin t upon it, as in Figure 9. The operations of all the
parts of this machine will be same as already described; the pin w in this
instance causing the flyer to revolve with it, and, by means of the slot & in the
tube of the flyer, allow the flyer to be raised and depressed by the ascent and
descent of the traverse or copping rail r; and the bobbin t, with its tube,
as it hangs upon the spindle point, will be partially retarded in its rotation by
the action of the atmosphere against the vanes or fansh,h,as before described.
A modification in the adaptation of the same principle of retarding bobbins by
vans or fans is shewn at Figure 10, in which the vanes or fans h, h, are
affixed to a revolving spindle a. In this instance the flyer c,c (shewn detached
at Figure 11) is driven by a band passed round a warve or pulley e,fixed upon
the tube b of the flyer, and the bobbin is set fast on the top of a spindle by a
pin in the flange on which the bobbin bears. Now, as the flyeris driven round,
the spun thread, roving, or yarn which it conducts will be made to drag the
bobbin and the spindle a round with it, but the vanes h, h, being acted upon
by the resistance of the atmosphere, will cause the rotation of the spindle and
bobbin to be partially retarded, and consequently the yarn or thread will be
wound upon the barrel of the bobbin.
Having now described my Invention, and shewn its adaptation in several
ways to spinning machinery, that is, to machines in which fibrous substances
are spun or twisted into yarns, I desire it to be understood that the particular
features of novelty which I claim under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, are,
Firstly,placing in spinning machines an additional row of spindles in front
of the ordinary row of spindles, and at a different elevation, as described, for
the purpose of increasing the productive power of such machines,as compared
with those of the ordinary construction; and,
Secondly, the adaptation of vanes or fans either to the spindles or to the

page_text: parts which support the bobbins, for the purpose of retarding the rotation of
the bobbins by the atmospheric resistance, in order that the bobbins may
thereby be made to take up or wind upon their barrels the yarns or threads
descending from the delivering rollers, in the operation of twistingor spinning
fibrous materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wood, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
JOHN (L.B.) WOOD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-seventh day of
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Wood came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Second day of September, in the year above written.