CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE PREPARING AND SPINNING OF COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
SMITH, of Deanston Works, in the Parish of Kilmadock, and County of
Perth, Cotton Spiuner, and JAMES BUCHANAN, of the City of Glasgow,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Charter
of Donation, or Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of April, in the fifth year of
Her reign (Eighteen hundred and forty-two), did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said James Smith and James
Buchanan, our cxors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said James Smith and James
Buchanan, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, and every of us, by ourselves, or
by our deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as we, the said
James Smith and James Buchanan, or exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE
TO THE PREPARING AND SPINNING OF COTTON, WOOL, FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, in such manner as to us, the said James Smith and
James Buchanan, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, or any of us, should, iu
our or their discretion, seem meet, and that we, the said James Smith and

page_text: James Buchanan, our exors and admiors, should and lawfully might have
and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time
to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said
Invention, for and during the term of years therein mentioned; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said James Smith and
James Buchanan, should within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of tho said Letters Patent, particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and scal of one of us, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery, in and to which Letters Patent,
reference being hereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, tho said
James Buchanan, for myself, and for and on behalf of the said James Smith,
hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the manuer in
which the same is to be performed, aro fully described and ascertained
in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to tho
Drawing hereunto attached, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
Our Invention of improvements in heckling or combing flax, wool, and
other fibrous substances, consists in certain adaptations of mechanism, whereby
we accomplish the work in a more perfect manner, and with a greater resem-
blance to the better parts of hand heckling or combing than has hitherto been
accomplished. The chief feature of this part of our Invention consists in
tho attachment to the periphory of a revolving cylinder of certain suitable
portions of the material to be so heckled or combed, so that when the cylinder
shall be put in motion, the centrifugal forco shall cause the loose end of the
attached fibre to project as a tangent beyond the periphery of the cylinder,
and thereby in its path fall upon the heckle or comb teeth, which are placed
to receive it; and in order that the heckling or combing may be commenced
at the points of the parcel of fibres, a concentric outer casing, revolvable upon
the axis of the cylinder, is placed to cover the parcels of fibrous material, and
to prevent their ends flying out by the centrifugal force beyond a distance
regulated by the position of this covering, which has a motion for shifting
gradually its relative position to any given point in the periphery of the
cylinder, thereby gradually and uniformly permitting a moro extended portion
of the fibrous material to project as a tangent beyond the path of the
periphery of the cylinder, and thereby gradually permitting the heckles to act
upon additional portions of the fibre being heckled or combed until the whole

page_text: length of the fibres shall have undergone the operation. And farther we so
arrange that the heckle shall yield on any extraordinary pull of the fibres,
permitting the hold to slip and instantly resume its working position, thereby
substituting the skill of the hand heckler in relieving the hold, all which
will be understood on reference to the annexed Drawings, with the description
thereof to follow.
Sheet First.-Figures A, B, C, and D, represent the various views of the
mechanism and arrangements necessary to illustrate the Invention, the same
figures of reference denoting the different views of the same parts in all the
Figures. 1, the general framework of the machine; 2, the cylinder; 3, the
concentric casing; 4, the bars whereby the portions of fibre are attached to
the cylinder; 5, portions of the fibrous substance; 6, the heckle teeth placed
to receive the fibre; 7, the axle of the cylinder; 8, the driving pulley, with its
accompanying loose pulley, to receive a strap for communicating motion to
the cylinder, which must be made to revolve with a velocity of tho circum-
ference corresponding to the velocities found most suitable for the pull
of the fibre in hand heckling; 9, the arms of the cylinder; 10, recesses in
the ring of the cylinder, fitted to receive the fibre bars, which are kept to
their place by an iron hesp, 11, Figures A, B, and D, extended across the
recess in the line of the periphery, and at each end of the bar there being
two pieces of sheet iron affixed, standing about half an inch above the flush
of the upper side of the bar, and which, when the bar is pushed up to its place,
embrace the iron hesps at both sides; and in order that the bars may be kept
up to their places, springs of any convenient form are placed under to
bear the bars up to the periphery, as more particularly seen in the views
under Figuro D, where also is exhibited the mode of attaching the fibrous
parcels to the bars by means of the double hooked bolts 12; 13, straps
connecting the concentric casing to the body or disc 14, which is again
attached to the socket 15, moveable upon the main shaft; 16, a toothed arc
attached to the disc, and in which a pinion 17, upon the end of a shaft 18,
works, this shaft passing through a socket in one of the arms of the cylinder
which forms its bearing; 19, a bevil wheel on the opposite end of the cross
shaft working into a corresponding wheel 20 on the end of the radial shaft 21,
which radial shaft has a bearing in the socket of the cylinder and communi-
cates with the revolving socket 22 by a pair of bevil wheels 28, and this
socket has a wheel 24, which communicates with a wheel 25 fast upon one
end of the stud shaft 26, on the opposite end of which there is a wheel 27,
working into a wheel 28, fast upon the main axle 7. It will therefore be
seen that the revolving of the main axle gives motion by the train of wheels
> and shafts to the cross shaft 18, which works into gear of the arc, attached

page_text: to the concentric casing, and the proportionate diameters of the four spur
wheels are so adjusted, that the proper deferential movement of the casing,
relative to that of the cylinder, is duly regulated. When the casing has
travelled to its utmost limit, the parcels of fibre will have then been thoroughly
exposed and combed, and the machine being stopped,. these bars can be
removed, and bars with fresh parcels of uncombed fibre can be put to 'replaco
them. At the same time the train of wheels betwext the casing and the
cylinder being thrown out of gear, the casing can be moved by the hand of
the attendant to its opposite limit, when it will cover in the greater extent
of the parcels of fibre, leaving merely the points to project for the beginning
of the heckling or combing process; and the train of wheels will then again
be put in gear. 29, tho heckle block of wood in which the teeth are set in the
usual manner, but having the heckles in the rows nearest the cylinder
considerably stronger in the stem, as they have to encounter the first action
on the unopened fibre. The block of the heckles instead of being made au
absolute fixture, is attached to the framework by radial bars 80 and 81, shewn
in red ink, and rests upon a spring 82, springing from the back part of the
frame, and pressing against the bottom of the block. The radial link $1,
which moves in a stud in the framework at 88, and is attached to the one
edge of the block by another stud at 34, serves to keep the block correctly to
its place, and to resist the pressure of the spring, at that point, whilst the
radial bar 30, attached to the frame on a stud at 35, and to the block by a
stud at 86, serves to keep the opposite side of the block to its position, whilst
the ordinary action of the heckling or combing is going on; but if an extra-
ordinary entanglement shall exist in any of the parcels of fibre, so that either.
the breaking of the heckle teeth or of the fibre would result before it could
pass on, then the pull of the fibre upon the heckle teeth causes the spring
under the block to yield, and the teeth are thereby placed at such angles to
the path of the revolving cylinder as to permit the whole to slip, whilst the
action of the radii prevent the heckle teeth from falling within the range
of the cylinder, and the instant the hold by the fibro has been freed, the
spring forces back the heckles to their proper working position. 37 is a square
mouthed hopper, narrower at the bottom than the top, and open to the side
next the cylinder, which serves as a guide to direct the fibre in a straight line
and gather it properly on to the points of the heckles, preventing the
spreading of the fibre too wide or its going too deep into the heckle teeth.
The next part of our Invention consists in the adaptation of mechanism to
carding engines, drawing frames, slobbing frames, or roving frames, whereby
the slivers, slobbing, or rovo proceeding therefrom are deposited in the
receiving cans, or other suitable "chambers, in regular and successive layers,

page_text: whilst at the same time the material being sc disposed is compacted by the
force of the rollers so delivering it, the arrangement for which purpose we
shall describe, making reference to the Drawings on the accompanying Sheets,
Numbers 2, 3, and 4. And farther, in the adaptation of an apparatus to
drawing, slobbing, and roving frames, whereby the breakage or termination
any of the slivers going in at the back of the frame shall cause the frame
to be stopped; the apparatus for accomplishing which we shall hereafter
particularly describe, making reference to the Drawings or Sheet No. 3.
The same numbers of reference denote the different views of the same parts
in all the Figures of each Sheet.
of
Sheet 2d.-Figures A and B represent views of the filling apparatus, to be
described as attached to the carding engine, Figure A representing a side
view in elevation, and some parts in section; Figure B, a front elevation and
some parts in section. 1, part of the framework of a compound carding
engine; 2, doffing cylinders; 3, sheets of cotton proceeding towards the
delivering rollers; 4, delivering rollers; 5, slivers passing from the delivering
rollers to the filling rollers; 6, a carrying roller for supporting the sliver
in its transit to the filling rollers 7, which deliver it and press it into the can
8 or other receiver, and which are driven by a pair of wheels from the shaft 9
of the delivering rollers of the carding engine, and on the end of each roller
are wheels gearing into each other, so that both rollers shall move together
with certainty; 10, the mouth piece guiding the sliver into the rollers, and
which is made of such dimensions at the delivering point as shall cause the
sliver to fit tightly into the mouth of the receiving can, which can may be
made of tin plate, or other suitable material. Its form in transverse section we
prefer to make an oblong square, of sufficient width to receive the sliver
tightly, and in length of any suitable dimensions, from eight to eighteen inches,
more or less, as circumstances may require. The can may be of any con-
venient length, say three feet, and must rest on a rocking base 11, resting
upon pivots 12. whereby the can may be permitted to oscillate freely. A heart
wheel 13, or uniformly reciprocating excentric, is fixed upon the axis of one
of the doffers, into a groove of which excentric there works a stud 14, fast
upon a radial rod 15, moving upon a stud attached to the framework of the
engine at 16, so that when the doffer moves round, the radial rod is caused to
oscillate once for each revolution of the doffer. At a lower part of this rod there
is fixed an adjustable stud 17, to which there is attached one end of
a connecting rod 18, the other being hooked in an eye attached to the
front or side of the receiving can at 19, thereby causing it to oscillate
at a regular velocity, which should be so adjusted as to cause the mouth
of the can to pass through about the same space as the sliver going

page_text: Thus it will be seen that the
sliver passing between the filling rollers will be deposited in regular and
successive layers, as at 20, completely filling the transverse sectional area of the
can. An are 21, of cast iron or other suitable material, concentric to the path
of the oscillating movement of the can, embraces closely the mouth of the can,
so as to provent the sliver from being protruded whilst being compacted into
the can.
In order that the compacting may commence with the very first
layers deposited in the can, it is necessary to have a receding bottom 22,
which being brought near the mouth of the can, is there retained by two
springs 23, attached to its opposite ends, and pressing against the opposite
sides of the can, which offers a suflicient resistance to the forcing in of the
sliver, whereby the successive layers become compacted, and as tho successivo
layers are forced down, the sliding bottom gradually yields to the pressure,
and recedes till it reaches the bottom of the can, when the whole area has
been filled with the compacted mass of sliver. The fore part of the concentric
cover 24, over the can mouth, is made moveable upon a hinge 25, so that it
can be lifted up to facilitate the removal of the can which has been filled, and
the replacement of the succeeding can to be filled. When the filled can is
about to be removed, the person attending the engines unhooks the connect-
ing rod from the can, draws the month of the can towards him to its utmost
limit, and lifting the hinge part of the concentric cover as a lid, puts his hand
upon the sliver at the mouth of the can, and forces it down a few inches
farther, so as to prevent its protrusion when the can is removed from under
the cover.
In placing the cans behind the drawing frames, they may either
be set upon their ends perpendicularly or obliquely, or, when used for a com-
pound drawing frame, they may be placed on their sides horizontally, the one
over the other, in tiers of any convenient number. The sliver, on being with-
drawn from the can, comes out in the most regular mauner, each successive
layer from the mass easily separating. It is evident that when carding
engines are of a small size, it is most convenient to bring the slivers of
several cards together at one point, where the filling apparatus can be placed;
and the several slivers can be arranged side by side, so that a broad sliver,
equal to the width of the whole united, is formed for being filled into the
cans. If, however, it shall be necessary to fill in single narrow slivers, a
transverse traverse can be given to the can or receiver similar to that
hereafter described for the drawing frame.
from the delivering rollers of the card.
Sheet 8d.-Figures A, B, and C, exhibit views illustrative of the application
of our principle of can filling to the drawing frame, together with the appli-
cation of the self-stopping apparatus, which is applicable also to slobbing
frames and roving frames. 1, the framework of the drawing frame; 2, the

page_text: roller stands; 3, the delivering rollers; 4, the sliver passing through the
rollers; 5, the can receiving the sliver, which is deposited in three parallel
layers 6, 6, 6, necessary from the narrowness of the sliver. In order to get
a sufficient width of can, a direct reciprocating motion is communicated to
the can, by apparatus similar to that described for the card, by a motion com-
municated from any convenient part of the frame to the shaft 7, on which
there is mounted the heart wheel 8, oscillating the radius bar 9, which is
attached to the can by the connecting rod 10; 11, a cross shaft driven from
the shaft 7 by a pinion 12, working into a wheel, four times its diameter, 13,
and on this shaft there is a disc or edge wheel 14, which is so constructed at
the rim as to move the fork 15, which embraces it, by successive movements,
with intervening rests, to three points of division, and retaining over the same
at each rotation of the disc 16 an upright, shaft, to which the forked lever is
fixed; 17, a corresponding obverse lever, the point of which, having hold of
a stud 18, attached to the concentric cover 19, in which the mouth of the can
moves, causes the cover to move corresponding to the divisional steps deter-
mined by the disc, and thereby throwing the mouth of the can opposite to the
point of delivery of the sliver at three separate points by the successive move-
ments, and thereby causing the sliver to be deposited in three distinct layers
as seen at 6, 6, 6, Figure A; and in order that the seat 20, in which the can
is placed, may accommodate itself to these various movements, it is fitted to
rest upon a single central pivot foot 21. The concentric cover is supported
at three points: 1st, by the cross arms 22 moving in slots in the roller stands
23; and 2nd, by a backslay 24, resting upon the top of the roller beam. In
order to effect the stopping of the frame when the sliver has broken or
approaches its termination, the slivers 4 are carried over a bearing roller 25
at some distance from their entrance to the drawing rollers 26, so that when
the sliver comes to a terminus, and has passed the bearing roller 25, it shall
fall upon a tooth palm 27, springing from a shaft 28, which has a counter
tail 29, which acts as a catch or detent to retain the belt lever.30 in the
position it is brought to when the frame is put in motion by the hand of the
attendant; but so soon as the end of the sliver falls upon the point of the
palm, as at 31, it is pulled towards the drawing roller by the movement of
the sliver moving the shaft 28, and relieving the detent, so that the belt lever,
by means of the spiral spring 32, draws the belt on to the loose pulley 88,
thereby stopping the frame. So soon as the belt is again pulled on, the
counter weight 34 pulls the palm back to its original position, and places
the detent again in a position to keep the belt lever in its place. Any num-
ber of palms corresponding to the number of slivers may be attached to
the same shaft at each head of drawing, and when applied to the slob-

page_text: bing frame or roving frame, the palm shaft may extend the whole length of
the frame.
Sheet 4th. Figures A, B, and C, represent views of our method of filling
cans, as applied to the tube frame in making slobbing or rove. There is but
one tubo represented; but it will at once appear that any number of tubes
may be conjoined. 1, the general framework; 2, the drawing rollers; 3, the
twisting tube; 4, the delivering rollers; 5, a top roller covered with leather,
weighted, so as to give a firm hold of the rove as it passes from the tube;
6, the can, the transverse section of which comprehends an oblong square,
three inches wide and four long, or it may be of any suitable dimensions: 7, a
small sliding platform on which the can rests, and to which is communicated
a reciprocating motion equal in extent to the width of the can. This motion
is produced by a heart wheel 8, upon the stud shaft 9, which is driven
through a screw wheel 10, by the worm screw 11, upon the shaft 12, which
is driven by a pair of bevils 18, from the vertical shaft 14, which is driven
from the drawing rollers by a small pinion working into the crown wheel 15.
On the vertical shaft 14 there is a heart wheel 16, which, by an arm 17, com-
municates a reciprocating motion to the sliding frame 18, on which the twister
holder 19 is mounted, and causes the twister to perform a reciprocating traverso
of three inches at right angles to the reciprocating motion of the can, whereby
the rove, being delivered from the tube, is compacted into the can by the
delivering rollers in regular and successive layers, as is seen at 20, Figures A
and B; but it will be better seen and understood on reference to Figure C,
which exhibits a horizontal section of the can upon a larger scale; and it will
be seen at once that rove so deposited will, from its correct arrangement, be
casily withdrawn. This inode of filling may easily be adapted to existing
tube frames, so that a series of cans can be all worked in traverse together by
a single movement, whilst the corresponding tubes can be worked in a trans-
verse direction by another single movement, or the mechanism may be so
arranged that the can itself shall perform both the direct and transverso move-
ment, so that the tubes may remain stationary.
In the various arrangements of mechanism now described, we do not confine
our claims to the precise arrangements, as described, for accomplishing the
purposes of our Invention, as we are aware that various modifications of
mechanism may be adopted to produce the same results; nor do we claim any
of the well-known parts of the machines described, and which form no part of
our Invention. But we do claim,-
First, the affixing to a revolving cylinder portions of flax, hemp, wool, and
other fibrous substances, so that the centrifugal force arising from the revolving
of the cylinder shall throw the end of the parcels of fibre beyond the line of

page_text: the periphery of the cylinder, that they may thereby be thrown upon the
heckles placed to receive them; and we also claim the gradual exposure of
additional lengths of the fibre being heckled or combed to the action of the
heckle; and we farther claim the attachment of the heckles in their working
position, in such manner as to yield to any extra pull, yet having the power
to resume their position as soon as the extra strain is removed.
Secondly, we claim the depositing of sliver, slobbing, or rove, in cans or
similar receivers in regular and successive parallel layers as it flows from the
carding engine, drawing frame, slobbing frame, or tube frame, the sliver,
slobbing, or rove, being at the same time compacted by the force of the fill-
ing rollers into the mass; and we especially claim the accomplishment of this
object by the oscillating and reciprocating movement of the receiver, and in
conjunction with a transverse movement when more than a single row of sliver
is to be deposited.
Thirdly, we claim the self-stopping of drawing frames, slobbing frames, or
roving frames, when any of the ingoing slivers shall have broken or termi-
nated by the dropping of the end or termination of the sliver upon a toothed
palm or other similar contrivance, whereby the palm, being drawn towards the
drawing rollers by the onward movement of the sliver, relieves the catch or
detent which keeps the power lever to the working position.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Buchanan, for myself and for the
said James Smith, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third
day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-two years; and
I, the said James Smith, have also hereunto set my hand and seal,
the said Third day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
two years.
Taken and acknowledged, by James
Buchanan and James Smith (parties
hereto), at Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, the Third day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and
forty-two years, before me, one of
Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace
for the County of Lanark
JAMES (L.s.) SMITH.
JAMES (L.s.) BUCHANAN.

page_text: I, William Honry Ritchie, of Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
maketh oath, that the signature of John Lang, Justice of the Peace in the
County of Lanark, to the acknowledgment of the Specification of James
Smith and James Buchanan, is to the best of his belief the handwriting of
the said John Lang; and he further saith, that he believes, at the time of
taking such acknowledgment, he was a Justice of the Peace for the County
of Lanark.
By An
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that, on the oath of William Henry Ritchie,
the Specification was inrolled word for word as above written. And also tho
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statuto
do for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-two.