IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN SILK, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greenwood, of Leeds, in the County
of York, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN SILK, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER
SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."-A communication from abroad by
Mr. Auguste Veillon, of Basle, in Switzerland.
Sealed the 6th March 1868, and dated the 8th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greenwood
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th January 1868.
I, THOMAS GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING TO BE SPUN SILK, CHINA GRASS, AND
OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in mounting in place of the ordinary retaining
rollers a "rotary gill " "porcupine roller" immediately behind the
fallers of screw gill spreading, drawing, and roving frames adapted for
working silk, China grass, and other similar fibrous substances. The
object of this novel arrangement is to separate the fibres and to allow

page_text: them better to enter into the pins of the screw gills, thus facilitating
and improving the drawing operation and enabling the machines to
do more work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Greenwood in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year
of our Lord 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 Thomas Greenwood, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Greenwood, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Greenwood, 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 PREPARING TO BE SPUN SILK, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," being a communication from Mr. Auguste Veillon, of Basle,
in Switzerland, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Greenwood, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, 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 I, the said Thomas Greenwood, my do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to sav):-

page_text: This Invention relates to improvements in screw gill spreading,
drawing, and roving frames adapted for working silk, China grass, and
other similar fibrous substances, the object of the improvements being
to separate or open out the fibres preparatory to their undergoing the
drawing operation. This end is attained by the action of a rotary gill
or porcupine roller which is used in the place of and in substitution
for the ordinary retaining rollers.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn in side section so much
of the "head" of an ordinary drawing frame with the improvements
applied thereto as will serve to explain the nature and operation of the
Invention.
A, A, is the endless sheet or feed apron on which the fibre to be
operated upon is spread. This apron passes over a roller A¹ which is
mounted in suitable bearings in the frame and by which the apron is
or may be driven; B is the rotary gill or porcupine roller which takes
up the fibre as it is brought forward by the apron and delivers it to the
screw gills or fallers. Above the gill roller is mounted in vertical slides
(which admit of careful adjustment, in their guides) a set of three
pricking-in rollers C, C, C, which insure the proper insertion of the
passing fibres between the gill pins. These pricking-in rollers are driven
by spur gearing from the roller B, and they are adjusted relatively to
that roller by means of screws connected with their slides, as shewn.
D, D, are the top and bottom screws carrying the gills and fallers;
they are to be provided with lifting and depressing cams or wipers as
usual, and will be driven in the usual way. E is the driven front or
drawing roller, and F the weighted pressing roller for the same; G is
a delivering roller, and H a weighted pressing roller. As these rollers
are driven in the usual way I have not thought it necessary to indicate
the gearing upon the Drawing. From the above explanation it will
be understood that the screw gills in their traverse to the front or
drawing roller will draw the fibres from between the pins of the
porcupine or gill roller and thereby subject it to an opening or
combing action. The fibres will thus be straightened and laid parallel
or nearly so in the traversing gills, and they will thereby be in a
much better state than heretofore to undergo the drawing action.
The result of this will be a finer drawing and a much more fine and
even yarn than was heretofore obtained by the use of the like fibrous
material.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Machinery for Preparing to be Spun Silk, China Grass, and other
similar Fibrous Substances," as communicated to me from abroad, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim, the application to screw gill heads of a rotary gill or porcupine
roller operating in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Greenwood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
THOMAS GREENWOOD. (L.S.)