AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF SPINNING THE SILK FROM THE CocoONS OF SILK WORMS, AND FOR THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Thomas Hughes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th October 1866.-A communication from abroad by Jean Meille, of
Villeurbanne, in the Empire of France.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent
Agents, 128, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF SPINNING THE SILK FROM THE
CocoONS OF SILK WORMS, AND FOR THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," a communication to me from abroad by Jean Meille, of Villeurbanne,
in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of improved flyers in connection
with rotating or moveable globes or vessels containing water on which the
cocoons float, and in improved modes of softening and dissolving the gummy
resinous matter which envelops the cocoons.
One of my improved flyers consists of a vertical tube carrying at the bottom
a hollow cone having its base very large in relation to its height, and the
interior surface of the cone instead of being even is shaped into a number of
horizontal curved surfaces or corrugations so formed that a line drawn from
the base to the summit shall be tangential to all the curved surfaces, and
from the base of the cone there is a cocked-up rim, having in it a notch or
recess. The tube of the flyer works in bearings fixed to or forming part of
the framework, and carries a pulley connected by a band to a large revolving
pulley in order that the flyer may revolve at about 12 or 1,500 revolutions per

page_text: minute. In connection with each flyer, at a horizontal distance of 4 or 5
centimetres from the cone and one or two millimetres below it, there is a rotating
vessel or globe containing the cocoons floating in water. The fibres of the
cocoons to be wound upon the reel or winder as raw silk pass together into
the interior of the tube of the flyer, which tube is of such internal diameter
that as it revolves it shall not impress the ends or fibres. The operation of
spinning being commenced each end or fibre immediately after quitting the
cocoon passes at nearly a right angle over the edge or rim of the rotating
globe, and is thereby submitted to a first friction suited to the extreme motion
of the cocoon in the water of the globe. This first friction draws the fibre so
as to stretch it uniformly and at the same time remove to a certain extent its
buckles or curls and hardness, and thus prepare it to submit to the definitive
friction afforded by the flyer. The end or fibre passes immediately from the
globe to the flyer and is subjected to the friction of the corrugations in the
interior of the cone so as to clean it completely before it enters the vertical
tube, and it will be readily perceived that this second friction must be more
efficaceous than the first in consequence of the great speed of the curved
surfaces or corrugations. This last friction completely finishes that which the
first friction commenced, causing all the agglomerations and hardness to dis-
appear, and thereby enabling all the ends or fibres of the cocoons to unite
together with a uniform tension and allow the raw silk to be wound on the
winder like a thread of sliver. When one of the ends breaks or there is an
absence of tissue or fibre in consequence of the exhaustion of the silk on a
cocoon, the operative quickly presents a new end to the rim of the cone, the
notch or recess of which seizes the end and enables it to be united to the other
end without delay or accident. When desired I modify the arrangement of
the flyer by having at the bottom a plain notched disc instead of a corrugated
notched cone, and give the second friction to the ends by causing the disc to
be in contact with a stationary blade, from which blade and disc the ends pass
through the tube of the flyer to the winder. There is great advantage
obtained by giving a rotating movement to the globes or vessels containing
the water on which the cocoons float, as it enables the operative to perceive
whether a cocoon is exhausted or an end broken, for when the cocoons are
turning and unwinding the silk they remain grouped together on the surface
of the water a short distance below the edge of the globe, but the moment a
cocoon is exhausted or no longer spins round it is detached from the group
and follows the rotating movement of the globe. When desired, the same
object may be attained by placing the cocoons in water contained in a
stationary globe or vessel and giving a gyrating or circular movement to the

page_text: water by means of a fan, by jets of steam, air, or other contrivance, and
also instead of causing the globes to rotate they may be made to move to and
fro horizontally for agitating the water sufficiently to separate the exhausted
or non-working cocoons from the group. After the cocoons have been
prepared by macerating them in pure cold water the gummy resinous matter
which envelopes them has to be effectually dissolved, and this operation is
accomplished as follows:-The cocoons are collected under a brass bell placed
in a vessel containing water heated to 100° degrees centigrade. The cocoons
expand as the gummy matters become dissolved, and the heated water
penetrates by degrees between the fibres of the tissue, causing the air con-
tained in the interior of the cocoons to expand and rise in bubbles to the
surface of the water. The moment the bubbles cease to rise the tissue is
completely disintegrated, and not an atom of liquid has had time to lodge itself
in the interior of the cocoons to destroy the lightness which permits them to
turn rapidly on the water in the globes and give off the tissue to be spun.
The bell has at the top a hollow handle and also a hole covered with a grid
for enabling the bubbles to pass from the bell to the water in the vessel, the
grid preventing the cocoons from coming out. During the time which elapses
between the termination of the preceding operation and the commencement of
the ordinary operation of beating the cocoons for finding their ends I place
the cocoons on a perforated plate in a water bath having a uniform tempe-
rature sufficiently elevated to maintain the gummy matter in a state of
dissolution. When desired, instead of the ordinary beating with a small
broom for enabling the ends of the fibres to be found previous to spinning, I
employ a comb or fork having four or five metallic teeth sufficiently apart to
pass between the layers of fibre, and by this comb each cocoon floating on the
water in the globes or vessels is tenderly combed, and in a short time the
natural end is found.