IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR CLEARING AND SMOOTHING SPUN SILK, YARN, AND OTHER THREADS
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Alfred Cowper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1874.
I, EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND
APPARATUS FOR CLEARING AND SMOOTHING SPUN SILK, YARN, AND OTHER THREADS,"
to be as follows:―
Spun silk yarn and other threads are frequently cleared and smoothed
by being caused to pass round a number of rollers or pullies, so that as
it laps on to the roller or pulley it touches another part of the thread
which is leaving the roller or pulley. If there is any projecting lump or
knot or accumulation of fibres on that side of the thread, leaving the
roller or pulley which is next to the thread coming on to the roller or
pulley, the latter lying on such projection binds it to the roller or pulley,
and thus the projecting fibres are pulled off the leaving thread by the
grip of the oncoming thread. If however such projecting fibres are not
on that side of the thread which is presented to the oncoming thread

page_text: they are not so gripped or pulled off. The thread being usually passed
on to the successive rollers or pullies in one direction the action takes
place mostly on one side or portion of the periphery of the thread.
My Invention relates to means of exposing several sides or portions
of the periphery of the thread to the clearing action so as more
effectually to clear the thread of projections and render its whole surface
smooth and even. For this purpose I arrange the successive rollers
or pullies with their axes at various angles round a thread, as, for
example, one roller or pulley above the thread, one below, and one on
each side of the thread, or others in intermediate attitudes, so that on
the thread being passed round cach roller or pulley in the same
direction projecting fibres will be gripped by the oncoming thread on
one or other of the rollers or pullies and be pulled off.
Instead of fixing the several rollers or pullics in these different
attitudes they may be conveniently mounted in pairs or other numbers
on light frames with hollow axes through which the thread can be
passed, slits being provided in the axes by which the thread can be
introduced. The frames being turned so that the rollers or pullies aro
in the same plane the attendant can easily pass the thread around
each, and then the light frames being turned on their axes the several
sets of rollers or pullics are thereby turned to their different attitudes
about the thread.
Instead of fixing the rollers or pullies in different attitudes or turning
them to different attitudes round the thread they may be all fixed in
one plane, and the thread can be made to turn on itself as it passes them
successively, so as to present in its course many different portions of its
periphery to the clearing action. Such turning of the thread may be
effected by means of an instrument like the "dyer's tube' used in
cotton spinning, or by two straps moving obliquely across each other,
one on each side of the thread, or by two rollers, one revolving obliquely
to the other one on each side of the thread so as to twist it round while
they feed it on. Other known means of turning the thread round might
be used so as to avoid turning the rollers or pullies to different angles, or
the thread might be partly turned, and the rollers or pullies partly.
turned or set to various angles.
When a number of clearing rollers or pullies are used the run of the
thread round them may be assisted by introducing one or more pairs of
او

page_text: drawing rollers driven at the speed with which the thread runs, or by
driving one or more of the rollers or pullies themselves.
In order to prevent the "fluff" or separated fibres or floculæ from
impregnating the atmosphere of the room where their presence is
inconvenient and deleterious, I place an electrical conductor of any
convenient form close to the machine so that on its being charged
with electricity in any convenient manner (frictional electricity being
preferred for this purpose) the light particles are attracted to it and
detained until swept off by the attendant or by a scraper worked by the
machine. The rubber that excites the electricity may be conveniently
applied as such scraper..
The threads may be "gassed" in the ordinary way after passing
through the machine, or the gassing apparatus may be combined with
the machine so that the gassing and clearing of the thread may be
effected in a continuous manner as portions of one operation.
For removing the knots and fibres that naturally cling around the
rollers or pullics, and which would form rings and collars thercon if
allowed to accumulate, I direct small but powerful jets of steam or of
air forced under pressure by pumps, bellows, or other convenient means
against the peripheries of the rollers or pullies, and on the other sides of
the rollers or pullies I provide a funnel-mouthed pipe leading to a box
or chamber having a portion of its surface porous, through which the
steam or air can escape leaving within the box or chamber the knots or
fibres so as to save them for further use.