IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgins, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS."
Sealed the 20th November 1868, and dated the 23rd May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd May 1868.
I, JAMES HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to those machines for spinning and doubling
which are upon the ring and traveller system, and in which the material
is wound upon bobbins and consists, firstly, in an arrangement whereby
I am enabled to simplify the piecing up after a bobbin has been doffed.

page_text: To effect this I use ordinary apparatus for the copping motion, but
when the bobbin is filled I allow the downward motion of the said.
copping apparatus to carry the thread below the bobbin, and a few
turns are thus wound upon the part of the spindle on which the bobbin
rests. The filled bobbin being now removed leaves an unbroken thread
between the ring and the rollers, and the said ring therefore upon
rising winds it upon the empty bobbin. In order to facilitate the
breaking of the thread when a filled bobbin is removed I form nicks
in the part on which it rests, and these nicks also facilitate the removal
of the ends wound thereon.
Another part of my Invention relates to machines of the above class
in which the spindles are driven by friction of contact with the interior
periphery of a drum. In such cases I propose to mount the spindles in
footsteps which are capable of sliding radially and to allow the said
spindles to run in contact with a central roller.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Higgins in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 23rd November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HIGGINS, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
..greeting.
WHEREAS 'Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third May, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Higgins, Her special license that I, the said James Higgins,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Higgins, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING

page_text: "
COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Higgins, by an instrument in writing,
under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said James Higgins, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say) :-
:-
My Invention relates to those machines for spinning and doubling
which are upon the ring and traveller system, and in which the material
is wound upon bobbins, and consists, firstly, in an arrangement whereby
I am enabled to facilitate the doffing.
Secondly. My Invention relates to such machines of the above-
mentioned class in which the spindles are driven by friction of contact
with the interior periphery of a drum.
The first part of my Invention is shewn at Figure 1, in which a is a
spindle mounted in the usual rails and provided with a bobbin b. This
bobbin rests upon a flange formed on a boss c, which is attached to the
spindle, the said flange and boss being grooved vertically as shewn in the
Drawing. The ring which carries the traveller is at d, mounted in
the ordinary rail e, to which is connected the lifting rod f for the copping
motion. This rod is provided with an arm to which is attached the
chain 9, passing over and made fast at its end to a pully h. To this
pully is also attached another chain i, its other end being attached to
a quadrant, mounted on a centre 1, and continually born upwards by
the weight of the lifting rails. Upon a stud m projecting from the
quadrant is mounted loosely a cam n, to which is attached a lever
situate on the outside of the frame, the said cam being in contact with a
roller p carried by a bell crank lever q mounted on the centre ; the
said bell crank lever has therefore a tendency to turn with the quadrant
upon the centre 2, but it is prevented from so doing by the roller & in
contact with the usual heart wheel s. The copping is effected as usual
by the said heart wheel, but acts in this instance through the medium

page_text: of the bell crank lever 9, and cam n. When a bobbin is full and it is
desired to doff while the copping motion is at the bottom the attendant
turns the lever o in the direction of the arrow, by which means the
part of the cam will be brought beneath the roller p, thereby allowing
the centre of the said roller to be approached by the centre m through a
space equal to the difference between the greater and smaller radii of the
said cam, the quadrant will therefore be at liberty to move further in
the direction of the arrow than it could when the higher part of the
cam was in contact with the roller p, and a greater amount of chain i
will be allowed to pass from the roller h, thereby permitting the rail e to
fall below the bottom of the bobbin and the flange as seen at the right
hand of the Drawing. This movement will have carried the thread
from the bobbin to a level with the boss c, and a few turns of the spindle
will wind the thread on to the said boss and the machine is then stopped.
If now the bobbin be doffed the thread proceeding therefrom being
held by the boss c will be broken off, leaving an unbroken thread
between the said boss and the delivering roller. A fresh bobbin having
been applied the machine is started, and a few turns of the spindle
allowed to take place, after which the lever o is turned back into the
position shown, whereby the rail e is restored to its proper spinning
position, and the thread which passes through the traveller to the boss c
will be conveyed to the bobbin, after which the spinning will go on as
usual without a piecing-up being required. The flange of the boss dis
grooved as shown at Fig. 14, to facilitate the breaking of the thread as
it becomes entangled therewith on passing downward, and the grooves
in the boss c are for the purpose of facilitating the removal of the ends
which accumulate thereon as they allow the said ends to be severed by
passing a cutting instrument through them.
My next improvement is shewn in vertical section at Figure 2, and in
horizontal section at Figure 3. At t are spindles driven by the internal
periphery of a friction drum u as described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to Henry Heggins and Thomas Schofield Whitworth,
dated December 27th, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven,
No. 3679. These spindles rest at bottom in footsteps which are carried
by segmental pieces 10, supported by arms x, extending downward from
the rail y.
These footsteps are provided with shoulders on cach side of
the segmental pieces 20, and are capable of sliding radially. Upon the
central shaft y is a loose roller c, in contact with which the surfaces of

page_text: the spindles run, and they are thus relieved from lateral pressure in their
footsteps.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to
be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly. As applied to the above-described machines, and in which the
material is wound upon bobbins, the use of apparatus for attaching
the thread to the spindle or part thereon while the bobbin is removed,
also grooving the part which supports the bobbin.
Secondly. As applied to such machines as aforesaid, mounting the
spindles in footsteps which can slide radially, and causing them to run
against a central roller.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Higgins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.