IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Rawcliffe, junior, of Preston, in the County
of Lancaster, Walter Bibby, and Andrew Fleming, of the same
Place, Cotton Spinners, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES
FOR SPINNING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Rawcliffe, Walter-
Bibby, and Andrew Fleming at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th August 1870.
We, JOHN RAWCLIFFE, junior, of Preston, in the County of Lan-
caster, WALTER BIBBY, and ANDREW FLEMING, of the same Place,
Cotton Spinners, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING," to be as follows:-
The faller or sickle wires now in use in mules for spinning are. so
small that when the mule is coming in, or winding on, the necessary
strain put upon the yarn to make a good firm cop breaks many ends
down from the.accute angle at.which the yarn is made to pass.
Our object in this Invention is to overcome the evil by substituting.
for the small wire. a. metal tube for both building and counter fallers, or
for one of either. This tube or tubes we make of any convenient size

page_text: and fix in place of the ordinary faller wires, or make them open on one
side, so that they will recieve the wires inside them. We fix them
firmly to the sickles.
. We claim for a tube or any section or portion of a tube in place of
the present sickle wires, or encasing the same in such tubes, the
object being to entirely dispense with snicks, and build a firmer, and
puting more yarn on the same sized cop without strain upon the yarn
with very little breakage.
In the present method of winding the yarn over the small wire, at
the necesary accute angle has a knife edge effect upon it, and a great
tendancy to break. By substituting a tube of much larger diamensions
the accuteness is removed, and a larger frictional surface is obtained for
the yarn to pass over (and under where two are preferred), hence
the less liability to breakage, consequently greater weight may be
put on.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Rawcliffe, Walter Bibby, and Andrew Fleming
in the Great Seal. Patent Office on the 2nd November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
RAWCLIFFE, junior, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, WALTER
BIBBY, and ANDREW FLEMING, of the same Place, Cotton Spinners,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said John Rawcliffe, Walter Bibby, and Andrew
Fleming, Her special licence that we, the said John Rawcliffe, Walter
Bibby, and Andrew Fleming, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said John Rawcliffe, Walter Bibby, and Andrew
Fleming, our 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 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 "IM-

page_text: PROVEMENTS IN MULES FOR SPINNING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Rawcliffe, Walter Biddy, and Andrew Fleming,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 we, the said John Rawcliffe, Walter Bibby,
and Andrew Fleming, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
Our Invention consists in encasing with or substituting for the present
sickle or faller wires in mules for spinning a tube or tubes, section or
sections of tubes, on which the yarn has to pass in the process of-
winding.
Our object is to give a broader surface and make the former accuté
into an obtusé angle, over (and where two are used) under which the
yarn has to travel, we are thereby enabled to put more weight on,
remove nearly all snicks, and build a firmer and better cop.
Herewith are annexed two Sheets of Drawings, on which are shewn
three Figures with full sized fallers and tubes.
Fig. 1 shews the fallers A and Al fitted with a tube a to each,
encasing the old wires b, b, the yarn c passing over and under tubes a, a,
to cop d.
Fig. 2 shews section of a tube e with yarn c passing over and under
the ordinary wire at present in use. This Figure shews how we may
and can use one section of a tube, or we may place another section or
whole tube at the other faller end at B, or vice versa.
Figure 3 shews similar fallers, A and Al, and cop d with one tube a. *
Having described the nature of our Invention and the way we purpose
to apply it, we beg to state that we do not confine ourselves to the
precise details we have had occasion to describe and illustrate, as many
variations may be made in detail without deviating from the principal
or main features of this our Invention.
It has been asserted and an attempt been made to prove that we are
infringing on a Patent taken out by Samuel Oddy and Robert Nuttall,

page_text: on the Eighth day of September 1869, numbered 2640, and again on
a Patent taken out by Joseph Smith on the Third day of January
1870, numbered 14. The first of these Patents has not the slightest
simmilarity to ours, it being an additional wire added to the two already
in use, and worked in a triangular position. The second of these Patents
is likewise an additional wire, but fixed to the opposite faller to Oddy
and Nuttall's. There is in this Patent a claim for a section of a tube
with the upper part cut away, leaving the two flat or cut surfaces for
the yarn to pass over in winding. The claim therefore is to use it
reverse to what we use and claim to use it; he requires the cut sides,
we require and use the cylindrical side only.
We wish it to be understood that we do not use nor require to use
any part of the above-mentioned Patents, nor is ours a mechanical
evasion of their or any part of their or any other Patents, but what we
claim as ours, and secured to us herein is,-
First. The substitution of tube or tubes, section or sections of tubes,
in place of wires at present in use in mules for spinning.
Second. Encasing the wires at present in use and securing firmly to
the wires or sickles a tube or tubes, section or sections of tubes, in place
of the ordinary faller wires in use in mules for spinning.
Third. The use of one wire as at present, in combination with one
tube or section of tube, substantially as herein-described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Rawcliffe, Walter Bibby,
and Andrew Fleming, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
First day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JOHN RAWCLIFFE, JUNIOR. (L.S.)
WALTER BIBBY.
ANDREW FLEMING.
JOHN LEWIS,
Engineer & Patent Agent,
Preston.
(L.S.).
(L.S.)