IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Morcer Girdwood, of Belfast, in the
County of Antrim, in Ireland, Spinner, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY."
Scaled the 19th February 1875, and dated the 19th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Mercer Girdwood
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th December 1874.
I, HENRY MERCER GIRDWOOD, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
in Ireland, Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of yarns, and consists in
the use of a trough or trouglis attached to or fastened upon the preparing
frame or frames, and extending across the face or faces of the roller or
rollers and between the rubber and the sliver, so as to prevent refuse or
dust and other impurities collected by the rubber from falling upon and
deteriorating the sliver.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Mercer Girdwood in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
MERCER GIRDWOOD, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland,
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, 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
SPINNING MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Henry Mercer Girdwood, my exccutors 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 Henry Mercer Girdwood, 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, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to the manufacture of yarns and other
filamentous materials, and consists in the use of a trough or troughs
constructed and employed in the manner herein-after described for the
purpose of preventing refuse or dust and other impurities collected by
the rubber or rubbers, which are or is applied to the roller or rollers of a
preparing frame from falling upon and deteriorating the sliver.

page_text: The trough which I use for the purpose I have mentioned extends
across the face of the roller, and is placed as close to the face as is
practicable without coming into contact with or impeding the motion of
the roller. It is similar in form to a spout, having the greater portion
of one of its sides cut away, and may be closed or stopped at each end
by a plate or plug cast or fixed upon or fastened to the trough. A cross
ection of the trough therefore resembles the Figure or the segment
of a circle, with one limb longer than the other, and the closed or stopped
ends resemble the same Figure enclosed by a straight horizontal line
from the longer limb and the segment of a circle having the same centre
as the circumference of the roller, but with rather longer radius than the
roller.
The open side of the trough is placed next to the roller, and the
shorter limb thereof when practicable, by preference, but not of necessity,
extends vertically under and within the limit of the horizontal diameter
or pitch of the roller, so that the refuse or dust and other impurities
collected by the rubber on the face of the roller in descending may be
caught or intercepted by the trough, and prevented from falling upon
and polluting or deteriorating the sliver.
The trough applied to the roller at the back of the frame where the
sliver enters may be placed so close to the conductor rod or bar as to
prevent the sliver entering in any lap or lump that would injure the
gills.
I attach the trough at each end to the frame or the cover or screen
thereof by means of a flange or snug cast or fixed upon or fastened to
the trough, or the plate, or plug at the end of the trough, and a thumb-
screw, bolt, or pin passing through such flange or snug into the frame,
or the cover; or screen thereof; but other means of attachment may be
adopted and in some cases found necessary or more convenient.
I make the trough preferably of brass, but I do not confine myself to
the use of brass or metal in the construction thereof, inasmuch as wood
and other materials may be substituted therefor. Nor do I confine
myself to any particular form of trough, inasmuch as the same might be
constructed of two laths or slips joined at an angle or otherwise, but I
prefer the form which I use and have already described.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it to be understood

page_text: that I do not claim the use of troughs and plates or plugs, except when the
same are constructed specially and employed as herein described, nor do
I claim the use of flanges or snugs, thumbscrews, bolts, or pins, nor of
any of the separate mechanical parts which form the apparatus used by
me, but I claim,―
First. The use in preparing frames of a trough or troughs constructed
and employed substantially as herein-before described.
And, Secondly. The construction and application of a trough such as is
herein-before described in the manner and for the purposes herein-before
stated and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Mercer Girdwood, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.