AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING ROPE YARNS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Dixon, of Gateshead-upon-Tyne, in the
County of Durham, Rope Maker, for the Invention of "AN Im-
T
دو
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Dixon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th March 1874.
I, GEORGE DIXON, of Gateshead-upon-Tyne, in the County of Durham,
Rope Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING ROPE YARNS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a larger yield of yarn
intended for cordage from a given number of spindles and of a smoother
quality than is now commonly obtained. To this end instead of
producing on the roving frame a hard twisted yarn, as heretofore, I so
speed the working parts as to produce a lightly twisted rove of sliver,
the quantity of which delivered by the machine will be proportionally

page_text: increased as the amount of twist is diminished, the limit of production,
as is well known, being determined by the amount of twist put into the
rove. The lightly twisted rove thus produced I convert into a yarn
suitable for cordage in an improved twisting frame, the flyers of which
at their head carry a smoother or nipple which stands immediately
above the spindle. The object of this smoother or nipple is to lay the
fibres of hemp closely together during the process of twisting, and by
this means to produce a more solid and smooth yarn than can be
obtained from the ordinary roving or spinning frame. The bobbins
of roving as they leave the roving frame are placed on the flyers of the
twisting machine, the jointed head being thrown back for that purpose,
and the rove as it leaves the bobbin is led round three arms of the flyer
to a guide on the fourth arm through which it passes to a guide pulley
which leads it up to the smoother or nipple. Here the rove, while
receiving its final twist, has its fibres smoothed and condensed by
contact with the rapidly rotating nipple while it is being drawn off by
the drawing rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Dixon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DIXON, of Gateshead-upon-Tyne, in the County of Durham, Rope
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Dixon, Her special
licence that I, the said George Dixon, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Dixon, 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

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING ROPE YARNS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Dixon, 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 George Dixon, do hereby declarc.
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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a larger yield of yarn
intended for cordage from a given number of spindles, and of a smoother
quality than is now. commonly obtained. To this end instead of
producing on the roving frame a hard twisted yarn, as heretofore, I so
speed the working parts as to produce a lightly twisted rove of sliver,
the quantity of which delivered by the machine will be proportionately
increased as the amount of twist is diminished, the limit of production,
as is well known, being determined by the amount of twist put into the
The lightly twisted rove thus produced I convert into a yarn
suitable for cordage in an improved twisting frame, the flyers of which
at their head carry a smoother which stands immediately above the
spindle, and is intended to lay the fibres of hemp closely together during
the process of twisting, and by this means to produce a more solid and
smooth yarn than can be obtained in the ordinary roving or spinning
frame.
rove.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation, and
Fig. 2 in end elevation so much of my improved twisting frame as will
serve to explain the peculiarities of its construction; and Figures 3 and 4
show the improved flyer detached and on an enlarged scale in vertical
section and in plan view.

page_text: A, A, are the flyers mounted on their respective spindles B which
receive motion through bevil and spur gearing from the driving shaft C.
The spindles are supported as usual in step bearings, and are steadied in
their rotation by passing through bearings in the rails D, D. The flyers
are provided with four arms which are braced together at their upper
ends by a ring. To one of these arms the head A' of the flyer is hinged.
This head consists of a cross bar which provides a central bearing for
the top of the spindle and drops over and is secured by means of a
sliding bolt a, Fig. 3, to an extension of the arm of the flyer that stands
opposite to the hinge. Upon this head A' is erected a tubular piece E
which constitutes the smoother already mentioned. This smoother is
supported by legs E¹ which are made fast by screw bolts to the head A¹.
The upper end of the smoother E is somewhat contracted in diameter
and it enters and passes through a bearing rail F which serves to steady
the action of the flyer. This rail rests on brackets on the end standards
and it is supported in position by guide rods G which allow of its being
lifted clear of the flyers. The arm of the flyer which carries the hinged
joint is fitted with a guide H at about the middle of its length, and
mounted upon the head A' of the flyer is a guide pulley I. In the
twisting frame I have shown two rows of spindles and flyers, both of
which are driven by the same intermediate gears. Above the flyers aro
the drawing off rollers K, K, the shafts K', K%, of which receive their
motion from the driving shaft C through an inclined shaft L which
carries at its lower end a worm wheel in gear with a worm c on the
shaft C, and is fitted at its upper end with a bevil pinion gearing into
a bevil pinion m mounted on a stud axle M of the adjacent end standard
and carrying on its boss a spur wheel m¹. This stud axle M forms the
fulcrum for a radius arm N which carries a spur wheel n in gear with
the wheel m', and is capable of being fixed in any desired position. The
wheel n of the radius arm gears into a change wheel on the shaft K³,
and thus serves to give motion to that shaft. On the opposite end of
the shaft K is a pinion k', which through a pinion ² in gear with a
pinion k³ on tlie shaft K', gives rotary motion to that shaft, and con-
sequently to the grooved drawing off rollers fitted thereon. 0; 0, are
the bobbins which rest upon the foot plates a¹ of the flyers. The rove
submitted to this machine will in general contain about one-third or one-
fourth of the twist which is required to produce the yarn. The bobbins
of roving as they come from the roving frame are placed on the spindles
of the twisting machine, the jointed head A' of the flyers being thrown

page_text: .
back for that purpose. The rove as it leaves the bobbin is led around
three arms of the flyer (see Fig. 4) to the guide H on the fourth
arm, through which it passes to the guide pulley I which leads it
up to the smoother E, and thence it is laid over and around the grooved
drawing-off rollers. While the rove is receiving its final twist it has its
fibres smoothed and condensed by contact with the rapidly rotating
tubular piece E while it is being taken up as twisted yarn by the
drawing-off rollers K.
It will be understood from the foregoing that in carrying out this
Invention two, three, or more twisting flyers will be used for each
roving flyer employed in preparing the yarn.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Mode of and Apparatus for Preparing Rope Yarns," 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 means
described for increasing the yield from a given number of spindles of
rope yarns and improving the quality of such yarns.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Dixon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.