CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS OF THE METHOD OR METHODS OF MANUFACTURING SILK
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HEATHCOAT, of Tiverton, in the County of Devon, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-five, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Heathcoat, His especial
license that I, the said John Heathcoat, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Heathcoat, my exors, adñiors, or assigns;
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all His Majesty's Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS OF THE METHOD OR METHODS OF
MANUFACTURING SILK;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said John Heathcoat, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
bad, will more fully and at large appear

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Heathcoat, do hereby declare that my Improvements on the Method
or. Methods of Manufacturing Silk consist of new modes of preparing silk
thread for various purposes to which it is applicable.
I shall first describe my method of drawing off the filaments of silk from
the cocoons and of uniting them into one thread of considerable thickness.
It is effected by dividing the whole number of cocoons required for the
intended threads into separate sets of several cocoons each, and bringing the
silk obtained from the separate sets of cocoons together before it reaches the
crossing (or croisée as the French term it), so that the threads drawn from
these distinct sets of cocoons are all incorporated into one thread by the friction
of the crossing or croisée before it reaches the reel. This improvement will
be more fully described by reference to the annexed Drawings, and by the
following explanation.
so as to be
My improve-
Figure 1 represents a plan of the machine for winding silk; Figure 2, a
side elevation; Figure 3, an end clevation. A, A, is the basin containing
water which may be heated by fire, steam, or any other convenient manner.
B, B, the cocoons floating on the water, which are kept in separate sets or
heaps by drawing the ends or filaments of silk through the guide wires c, c,
and also by means of little cells which are formed in the block of wood D so
as to divide the sets of cocoons and prevent their intermixture. This block of
wood extends across and rests upon the edges of the basin,
removable at pleasure, and it carries the guide wires C, C.
ments consist in the division of the cocoons into separate sets B, B, and the
application of the guide wires C, C, and the cells in the block D, by which
the sets are kept separate. The rest of the Drawings represents the
machinery for winding silk which is in common use, and for which I claim no
Invention. E, E, is a rail in which the guide wires F, F, are fixed. G, G, a
frame supporting the vancanson wheel H for crossing the threads of silk.
The wheel H is turned by means of the wheel I and band K, put in motion
by the handle L. M is a rail carrying the guide wires N. N. O, an arm
carrying the guide wires P, P, which arm receives a traversing movement
from a pin or stud Q. fixed in the toothed wheel Z, and connected with the
lover S by the short arm R. The motion given to the lever S by the rotation
of the wheel is communicated to the arm O by the vertical rod or spindle C,
in which the orms O and Sere fixed. V is the reel which is turned by the
handle W. At the other end of the axis of the reel is fixed the toothed
wheel X of twenty-two teeth, which works into the stud wheel Y of twenty-
five teeth, on the axis of which is another toothed wheel T of twenty-two

page_text: teeth, which works into the toothed wheel Z of thirty-five teeth fixed on a
stud. The Drawings exhibit the operation of drawing off the silk from
fifteen cocoons, forming it into one thread and winding it upon the reel.
The ends or filaments of silk from each set of cocoons being collected at the
guide wires C, C, are brought together at the guide wires F, F, and two
distinct threads are thus formed from six sets of cocoons. These two threads
are then passed in the usual manner through the eyes a, a, in the wheel H,
and after receiving the required number of crossings b, b, by turning the
wheel H, proceed to the reel V, V. The reel is set in motion in the usual
manner. By the continued revolution of the reel, the silk is drawn off the
cocoons and formed into skeins. The six threads from the six sets of cocoons
thus become two threads upon the reel, a firm and complete incorporation of
three threads from three sets of cocoons into one thread having been accom-
plished in the passage from the basin to the reel by the rubbing action or
friction of the crossings or croisées; the final thread is therefore composed
of the ends or filaments from fifteen cocoons. For the sake of perspicuity in
the Drawings and description, I have referred only to the production of a
thread from fifteen cocoons, divided into three equal sets.
This example is fully sufficient to illustrate my methods of preparing
untwisted silk, and their application to the manufacture of thread, consisting
of other numbers of cocoons; for instance, if a thread of twenty-four cocoons
were desired, I should divide that number into four sets of six cocoons each,
or into three sets of eight cocoons each, or into six sets of four cocoons each,
as may be most suitable. It is the combination of two, three, or more threads
into one thread by means of the primary division of the cocoons into distinct
sets, and the subsequent incorporation of the several threads drawn from such
sets into one thread before passing upon the reel or other receiver, which
constitute this improvement. I then take a compound thread, produced by
the above described method, and having wound it upon a bobbin, I give a
throw or twist to it to adapt it for those purposes to which silk, composed of
several fine threads doubled and twisted together, is usually applied. By my
manner of preparing this compound thread, I omit the process of doubling
necessarily employed in manufacturing tram silk on the method in common
use, as I prepare the intended thread of the requisite thickness by employing
the requisite number of cocoons. To make those kinds of silk which consist
of two or more twisted threads, afterwards doubled and twisted together, I
take two or more threads, formed according to last described processes, and
twist them together into one thread. By these improvements I not only

page_text: manufacture silk of superior eveness and firmness, but I diminish the cost
and waste attending the methods commonly practised in making those kinds
of silk.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Heathcoat, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.