IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARINGS AND LUBRICATING APPARATUS FOR THE UPRIGHT SPINDLES OF SPINNING AND WINDING MACHINERY
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Nicoll, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North
Britain, Manager of Jute Spinning Mills, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BEARINGS AND LUBRICATING APPARATUS FOR THE UPRIGHT SPINDLES OF
SPINNING AND WINDING MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Nicoll at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th March 1877.
JAMES NICOLL, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, Manager of
Jute Spinning Mills. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARINGS AND LUBRICATING APPARATUS
"
. FOR THE UPRIGHT SPINDLES OF SPINNING AND WINDING MACHINERY."
This Invention has for its objects to render more durable and less liable to
derangement the bearings of the upright spindles of spinning and winding
machinery, and to secure a more effective lubrication of such spindles.
In carrying out the Invention the footstep or bearing for the bottom end of the
spindle is according to one modification made in the form of a cup, and has pro-
jecting up from its bottom a stud, which is by preference of hard-tempered steel,
and is formed with a square or flat top surface. The spindle end is also made
square or flat, and rests on the stud, and is steadied by a ring or annular bearing,
which rests on a slight shoulder formed round the inside of the cup. The steadying
ring is grooved vertically, and round its outside, for the free passage of the lubri-
cant, and the bottom stud is also grooved across or partly across to let the lubricant
get freely to the bottom of the spindle. An annular cover is fitted to the top of
the cup, its central hole being made as close a fit to the spindle as possible without
being at all tight. This footstep may be modified by forming or fixing the bottom
flat bearing surface in the bottom of a thimble-shaped piece, serving also the
purpose of the steadying ring herein-before described, such thimble being grooved
and perforated for the free circulation of the lubricant.

page_text: The improved bearing and lubricating details for the neck or collar of the spindle
comprise a bearing bush of brass, or other suitable metal or alloy screwed into a
ring, which is bolted to the top of the neck rail with the bush projecting down into
a hole bored in the neck rail. The driving wharve or pulley beneath the neck rail
is formed with a hollow cylindrical part extending up into the hole in the rail, so
as to surround the bearing bush, and this hollow cylindrical part serves as a vessel
for containing the lubricant, which with the described arrangement is entirely
enclosed and covered.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Nicoll in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th September
1877.
JAMES NICOLL, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, Manager of
Jute Spinning Mills. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARINGS AND LUBRICATING APPARATUS
FOR THE UPRIGHT SPINDLES OF SPINNING AND WINDING MACHINERY."
My said Invention has for its objects to render more durable and less liable to
derangement the bearings of the upright spindles of spinning and winding
machinery, and to secure a more effective lubrication of such spindles.
In carrying out my Invention I make the bottom of the spindle with a square or
flat end, and I provide a stud, by preference of hard-tempered steel, and having a
square or flat top for the spindle end to rest upon. I make and fit the neck bearing
bush of the spindle so as to project down into a cup which is fixed on the spindle,
and which contains the lubricant.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the saine
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings to
be herein-after referred to, und representing various modifications of my improved
spindle, bearings, and lubricating apparatus.
In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or
like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a plan, and Figure 2 is a
transverse vertical section of ono modification of my improved spindle footstep
bearing. The bearing details are contained in a metal cup 1, which is made cylin-
drical externally to fit a cylindrical hole in the longitudinal footstep rail 2 of the
machine, the cup or bearing 1 being fixed at a suitable height in the hole of the
rail 2 by a pinching screw 3. A steel stud 4 is fixed in the bottom of the cup 1,
so as to project up, and is made with a square or flat top, the spindle 5 being made
with a square or flat bottom end to rest upon the stud 4. The spindle 5 is steadied
near its lower end by a ring or annular bearing 6, which rests on a slight shoulder
formed round the inside of the cup 1, and this ring 6 is grooved vertically and
circularly on its outside for the free passage of the lubricant, and the bottom stud 4.
is also grooved across or partly across to let the lubricant get freely to the bottom
of the spindle 5. An annular cover 7 is fitted to the top of the cup 1, its central
hole being made as close a fit to the spindle 5 as possible without being at all
tight.
Figures 3 and 4 are a plan and a longitudinal vertical section, showing a modifica-
tion of my footstep bearing in which the stud or pin 4, the top of which forms the
square or flat bearing surface, for the bottom end of the spindle 5 is fixed in the
bottom of a thimble-shaped piece 8, serving also the purpose of the steadying ring
(6), herein-before referred to, such thimble-shaped piece 8 being grooved externally,
and perforated for the free circulation of the lubricant. The thimble-shaped piece 8

page_text: is tapered externally, and the cup 1 internally, in such a way that the former is
securely held in the latter. The cup 1 is shown as fitted into a socket formed for
it in the rail 2, and it may be fixed therein by a lateral pinching screw (3), as
shown in Figure 2, or it may be adjusted by a set screw tapped through the bottom
of the socket.
Figures 5 and 6 are a plan and a longitudinal vertical section, showing a further
slightly varied modification of my spindle footstep bearing, and also a modification
of my spindle neck bearing. In the footstep bearing details, shown in these.
Figures, the thimble-shaped piece 8 is made with a collar 9.at its upper, end to
facilitate its adjustment as to height. The piece 8, 9,, is shown separately in
Figures 7, 8, 9, which are a plan, a side elevation, and an inverted plan. The
collar 9 is formed with a helical or screw surface on its under side, and at the side
of the top of the socket 10 in the rail 2 a projection 11 is formed, on which the
under side of the collar 9 rests the piece 8, being raised or lowered by turning it so
that different parts rest on the projection 11. The upper side of the collar 9 is
made with radial ribs and a locking piece 12 which serves for two bearings, and is
secured to the rail 2 by a screw by engaging with the upper ribbed surface of the
collars 9 prevents the pieces 8 from turning after they have been adjusted. The
rail 2 is formed with channels 13 between the upper parts of the bearing sockets,
and all the bearings in a rail can consequently be supplied with lubricant by
pouring it in at one part only. A single covering plate 14 serves for the bearings
of several spindles, being fitted so as to close the channel-like space formed along
the upper side of the rail, and being formed with holes which fit the spindles 5 as
closely as possible without being tight. The lubricant is thus completely enclosed
and protected from dust.
My improved flat bearing for the bottom of the spindle affords a better and
more durable support than the ordinary conical bearing, and being raised above the
bottom of the cup or cell containing the lubricant, any sedimentary or gritty par-
ticles which may accidentally be in the lubricant go to the bottom of the cell, and
do not lodge and remain between the bearing and rubbing surfaces, as they neces-
sarily do in ordinary footstep bearings.
In my improved spindle neck bearing, which is shown in Figure 6, a bearing
bush 15 of brass or other suitable metal or alloy is fixed by screwing or otherwise
in an iron ring 16, which is bolted to the top of the neck rail 17 with the bush 15
projecting down through the hole in the neck rail 17. The driving wharve or
pulley 18 beneath the neck rail is formed with a hollow cylindrical part 19 extending
up just into the hole in the neck rail, and which surrounds the bearing bush 15,
and this hollow cylindrical part 19 serves as a vessel for containing the lubricant,
which with the described arrangement is entirely enclosed and covered. The lubri-
cant is prevented from being thrown up out of the cup 19 by centrifugal action due
to the rapid rotation by inclined flanges 20 formed or fixed round the inside of the
cup. A convenient way of forming the internal flanges 20 is by making rings of
thin brass with the flanges by the operation of metal spinning or burnishing, and
fixing such rings in the cup 19 by brazing or otherwise.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, in bearings for upright spindles of spinning and winding ·
machinery,-
1. The making of square or flat bearing surfaces on the bottom end of the
spindle and on its support, substantially as herein-before described.
2. The placing of the supporting surface for the bottom end of the spindle above
the bottom of the cell or cup holding the lubricant, substantially as herein-before
described.
3. The forming of the lubricant holder of the neck bearing in a piece fixed to the

page_text: spindle, which piece surrounds the' downwardly projecting bearing:bush and enters
the hole in the rail, substantially as herein-before described.
1
In witness. whereof, I,. the said James Nicoll, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witness
EDMUNND HUNT,'
Patent Agent,.
Glasgow..
JAMES NICOLL. (L.S.)