IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Standeven, of Saddleworth, in the County of
York, Cotton Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING
Da
Sealed the 13th October 1864, and dated the 21st April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Standeven at the
. Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on, the
21st April 1864.
.
I, JOSEPH STANDEVEN, of Saddleworth, in the County of York, Cotton
Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the apparatus employed in self-acting mules to
regulate the winding of the yarn on to the spindles at a proper tension. In
this apparatus it is usual to employ a lever which at intervals is acted upon,
and which, in turn, acts upon other apparatus to turn the screw in the quad-
rant, which turning of the screw slides the nut on it towards the circumference
of the quadrant, and thereby varies the situation of the point of attachment of
the winding-on chain. The above lever is usually supported by a chain or
cord, which chain at one end is attached to or connected with a finger on the
counterfaller shaft, and at the other to a finger on the faller shaft, the chain
passing under a pulley or bowl connected with the lever, in which case the
position of the lever is governed by the joint motion of the faller and the
counterfaller. In other arrangements the chain, after being connected with
the counterfaller, is at the other end connected with the lever without

page_text: passing to the faller, in which case the position of the lever is governed solely
by the motion of the counterfaller. As the screw in the quadrant requires to
be turned more at the commencement of the formation of the cop bottom than
it does as it increases, it is found advantageous at intervals, as the formation of
the cop bottom proceeds, to take up a portion of the chain so as to keep the
lever longer out of action. To accomplish this several modes have been devised,
one of such being the use of a ratchet wheel with a spiral or boss attached to it,
to which one end of the chain is fastened, the ratchet wheel at intervals being
moved by the operative, the chain thereby being wound on the spiral or boss..
Another mode is to cause the ratchet wheel, each stretch, to be moved. one
or more teeth until the chain has been sufficiently taken up, when its motion
ceases by means of a stop. Both of these modes are objectionable, the objec-
tion to the first being that it requires the operative to move it, and that to the
latter being that it is moved each stretch while it is being acted upon, whereas
it is not always required, and being so moved is disadvantageous. Now the
object of this improvement is to remedy both these defects, which I accomplish
by mounting the ratchet wheel and spiral on a lever or finger which I cause
to be attached to or actuated by the counterfaller in such manner that the
ratchet wheel, when the chain requires to be taken up, will, as the carriage
goes in, be in such a position that one of its teeth will come in contact with
a catch, which will, as the carriage proceeds in, move it more or less, as is
required, and that when the chain does not require taking up the ratchet
wheel will be in such a position that as the carriage goes in none of its teeth
will come in contact with the catch, by which means I cause the ratchet wheel
to be moved at intervals when and to the extent required, which is most at
the commencement of forming a cop bottom, and which, as it proceeds,
requires to be diminished. The chain which is taken up by the ratchet wheel
during the formation of one set of cops must be let off or unwound previous.to
commencing the formation of another set by turning the ratchet wheel. back,
as in mules of the present construction.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Standeven, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Standeven,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Standeven, 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
tèrm 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 SELF-ACTING
MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING," upou the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Joseph Standeven, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Joseph Standeven, do hereby declare the.
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to the apparatus employed in self-acting mules to
regulate the winding of the yarn on to the spindles at a proper tension. In
this apparatus it has heretofore been usual to employ a lever which at intervals
is acted upon, and which in turn acts upon other apparatus to turn the screw
in the quadrant, which turning of the screw slides the nut on it towards the
circumference of the quadrant, and thereby varies the situation of the point of
attachment of the winding-on chain. The above lever is usually supported by.
a chain or cord, one end of which is attached to or connected with a finger on
the counterfaller shaft, and the other end is attached to a finger on the faller
shaft, the chain passing under a pulley or bowl connected with the lever, in
which case the position of the lever is governed by the joint motion of the
faller and the counterfaller. In other arrangements the chain, after being
connected with the counterfaller, is at the other end connected with the lever
without passing to the faller, in which case the position of the lever is governed
solely by the motion of the counterfaller. As the screw in the quadrant
requires to be turned more at the commencement of the formation of the cop
bottom than it does as the cop bottom increases, it is found advantageous at

page_text: ་
intervals, as the formation of the cop bottom proceeds, to take up a portion of
the chain so as to keep the lever longer out of action. To accomplish this
several modes have been devised, one of such being the use of a ratchet wheel
with a spiral or boss attached to it, to which one end of the chain is fastened,
the ratchet wheel at intervals being moved by the operative, the chain thereby
being wound on the spiral or boss. Another mode is to cause the ratchet
wheel, at each stretch, to be moved one or more teeth until the chain has been
sufficiently taken up, when its motion ceases by means of a stop. Both of
these modes are objectionable, the objection to the first being that it requires
the operative to move it, and the objection to the latter being that it is moved
each stretch while it is being acted upon, whereas it is not always required,
and being so moved is disadvantageous. Now the object of this improvement
is to remedy both these defects, which I accomplish by mounting the ratchet
wheel and spiral or boss on a lever or finger which is attached to or actuated
by the counterfaller in such manner that the ratchet wheel, when the chain
requires to be taken up, will, as the carriage goes in, be in such a position
that one of its teeth will come in contact with a catch, which will, as the
carriage proceeds in move it more or less, as is required, and that when the
chain does not require taking up the ratchet wheel will be in such a position
that, as the carriage goes in, none of its teeth will come in contact with the
catch, by which means I cause the ratchet wheel to be moved at intervals
when and to the extent required, which is most at the commencement of
forming the cop bottom, and which, as the cop bottom proceeds, requires to
be diminished.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a self-acting mule to which' my
improvement is applied.
Figure 2 is a plan of part of my improved apparatus for regulating the
winding-on motion.
The winding-on motion to which my. improvement is applied is constructed
in the manner described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to
Robert Lakin and John Wain on the Twenty-fourth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, Number 3442, 'in which motion is
imparted to the screw in the radial arm to slide the nut on it towards the
circumference of the quadrant by means of the catch k on the lever j, this
catch acting, when desired, on one of the threads of the spiral drum g. I
wish, however, to observe that my improvement is applicable to mules gene-

page_text: rally in which the winding-on is governed by a weighted lever acting, on a
strap or band; as in the mules known as Roberts' self-actors, as also to various
others, the action of all of which being well known need, not be described,
especially as my improvement does not relate to the apparatus to turn the:
screw,
but to the mode of shortening the chain which supports the lever, so as
to keep the lever longer out of action.
a, a, are the drawing rollers; b, the roller beam; c, the carriage square;
d, the carriage end; e the faller shaft; f, the counterfaller shaft; and p.is:
the lever, called the depressing lever, and employed to, depress the counter-
faller, with which it is connected by the link u when the carriage arrives at
the roller beam; all these parts are common to mules of the ordinary con-
struction. The chain or cord m is at one end attached to the finger y fixed;
to the faller shaft e; it passes under the bowl at one end of the lever j
which it thereby supports, and the other end is attached to the spiral or boss
of the ratchet wheel o. If a chain is employed it must be made small at the
end which is attached to the boss, which is of small diameter to enable it to
wind on easily, or a cord may be attached to the spiral, as shewn in the:
Drawing, and then joined to the chain. The boss may either be made plain,
as shewn in the Drawing, or it may have a spiral cut in it to guide the chain
or cord as it is wound on... The axle of the ratchet wheel o is supported by
the lever p, to which is also fixed a stud for the retaining, catch.q, taking into
the teeth of the ratchet wheel o. To the roller beam 6 is fixed the bracket r,
in which is a slot for the bolt of the adjustable brackets; to a stud projecting
from this bracket is jointed the pendent catch t,, which is held in position, when
down, by a stop fixed to the bracket s..
The mode of operation is as follows:- -The various parts being shewn in
the, positions they occupy when the carriage is going in, at which time the
position of the counterfaller is, as is well known, governed by the tension
of the yarns as they are wound.on, the counterfaller being depressed. if
the winding on is too tight, and elevated if it is too slack, and the lever p,.
being connected with the counterfaller by means of the link u and finger n,
it is also raised or lowered to a corresponding extent.
Now supposing the winding on is being performed at a rate producing the
proper tension on the yarns, the pendent catch t must be so set that the teeth
of the ratchet wheel o will, as the carriage goes in to the roller beam, pass
under the catch t so as to receive no motion, and the lever j will also remain
in such a position that it will not act on the apparatus employed to turn the
screw. If the winding on is too tight, the teeth of the ratchet wheel o also
pass under the pendent catch and receive no motion, as the lever p is at

page_text: j
such time further depressed by the action of the winding on, such depression,
however, allows the lever to act on the apparatus employed to turn the
screw. But when the winding on is too slack the counterfaller, as before
stated, is elevated, and with it the lever p. and ratchet wheel o, one of the
teeth of which, if sufficiently elevated, will then, as the carriage goes in, come
in contact with the catch t and will be moved by it, the extent of which
movement depending on the height to which the wheel is raised, the higher
it is raised the longer the catch will remain in contact and the greater the
motion it will receive, and the cord or chain m will at such time be wound
an the spiral or. boss of the ratchet wheel o.. This winding of the cord or
chain 'm' on to the spiral' or boss elevates the end of the lever j to which the
bowl.vis attached, and keeps the lever longer out of action: By means of this
improved combination of machinery the ratchet wheel o is moved at intervals
when and to the extent required. The chain m, which is wound on the boss or
spiral of the ratchet wheel o during the formation of one. set of cops, must
be let off or unwound previous to commencing another set by turning the
ratchet wheel back."
::
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described a convenient
mode of carrying the same into operation, I wish it to be understood that
I make no claim to any of the parts of the mechanism described. when
taken separately, but what I do claim is the combination of mechanism
described for winding on the chain or cord m according to the tension of
the yarn..
2.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Standeven, have hereto set my
hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
1:
JOSEPH STANDEVEN