IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Lakin, of the Firm of Messieurs Parr,
Curtis, and Madeley, of the City of Manchester, Machine Makers,
and William Henry Rhodes, of Hollinwood, near the City of
Manchester, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING."
Sealed the 30th April 1869, and dated the 25th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Lakin and
William Henry Rhodes at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 25th November 1868.
We, ROBERT LAKIN, of the Firm of Messieurs Parr, Curtis, and
Madeley, of the City of Manchester, Machine Makers, and WILLIAM
HENRY RHODES, of Hollinwood, near the City of Manchester, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING," to be as follows:-
This Invention is applicable to the machines for spinning and doubling
known as self-acting mules, and it consists,―
First, in connecting the under faller lever and brake lever used for
regulating the winding on by means of a spring instead of a chain.

page_text: Secondly, in attaching the tension pulley on the head stock used for
tightening the rim band to one end of a lever, and at the other end of
the lever applying a spring to exert a force on the band in order to
produce the degree of tension necessary to ensure more regular turning
of the spindles. The amount of tension on the band can be varied by
changing the point of action of the spring to suit the number of spindles
in the mule.
Thirdly, in the machinery for locking the faller. It is now usual to
suspend from the faller shaft a piece called the "faller leg" which has a
rounded corner. The object of rounding the corner is to prevent the
sudden jerk produced by a square one.
As the backing off progresses
the faller leg is raised until the rounded corner of the faller leg passes
over the bowl on the usual trail lever, thereby locking the faller. Our
improvement consists in hinging to this faller leg an elbow lever, the
lower end of which is concentric with the faller leg. This lever is so
mounted that as the faller leg is raised it yields and offers no resistance
to the bowl, but when the faller leg is moved to unlock the faller the
lower end of the lever, which is square, is so arranged as to prevent the
descent of the faller leg until it has passed under the elbow lever.
The object of our fourth improvement is to obviate breakages which
sometimes arise when the mule fails to make the change required to put
the clutch box in connection with the back or drawing out shaft out of
geer. To accomplish this we attach one or more of the wheels used for
drawing out the carriage to a lever instead of to the frame side. This
lever is so placed that if the required change is not made that the wheel
on it geering with the wheel which drives the drawing out shaft will lift
itself out of geer. If the change is made the lever remains stationary
and the wheels remain in gear.
Our fifth improvement is in the machinery for driving the cam shaft
and parts connected therewith. The backing off wheel or other suitable
wheel of the mule gears into a carrier pinion, and this pinion gears into
a wheel fixed on the cam shaft; this wheel is made with two moveable
toothed segments which are moved out of gear with the carrier pinion
by a forked lever actuated by a sliding rod connected to the carriage in
the usual manner; the said segments have each a stud which act
alternately on projections on each side of the forked lever, and the
segments are thrown in gear with the pinion by springs. By this
arrangement the motion of the cam shaft is made positive.

page_text: Our sixth improvement is applicable to the self-acting mules patented
by Richard Roberts, on the 29th March 1825, No. 5138, and consists
in the application of the before-mentioned sliding segmental wheel to
the cam shaft, and in connecting the backing off lever to the strap lever
by a sliding bar. And also in applying a vertical shaft for taking the
backing off friction cone out of contact and simultaneously putting the
catch box for working the taking in motion into gear, by which the
same can be worked with only two changes in the cam shaft instead of
three or four changes as at present. The sliding bar is acted upon by
the twist motion when required, and the vertical shaft is actuated by a
spring when the faller locks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Lakin and William Henry Rhodes in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
LAKIN, of the Firm of Messieurs Parr, Curtis, and Madeley, of the City
of Manchester, Machine Makers, and WILLIAM HENRY RHODES, of
Hollinwood, near the City of Manchester, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Robert Lakin and William Henry
Rhodes, Her special license that we, the said Robert Lakin and William
Henry Rhodes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Robert Lakin and William Henry Rhodes,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING,"
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert Lakin and
William Henry Rhodes, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands
upon

page_text: 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 we, the said Robert Lakin and William Henry
Rhodes, do hereby declare the nature of our 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):-
:-
This Invention is applicable to the machines for spinning and
doubling known as self-acting mules, and it consists, first, in connecting
the under faller lever and brake lever used for regulating the winding
on by means of a spring instead of a chain.
This improvement will be clearly understood by referring to the letters
of reference on Figure 1 of Sheet 1 on the accompanying two Sheets of
Drawings.
a is the carriage end; b, a portion of the headstock side; c, a bracket
for supporting the faller and counterfaller shafts; d, a finger fastened
on the counter faller shaft d'; e, a spring which connects the finger d,
and brake lever f, on which is a moveable weight g; h represents a
break pulley keyed on the tin roller shaft i. The brake in this
arrangement is not for the purpose of stopping the spindles, but
only to check their speed when winding too quickly. It is usual to
connect the finger d to the brake leverf by means of a chain, but the
action of the chain in this case is objectionable, because of its rigidity,
inasmuch as the brake lever fis required to act on the pulley h, with
different degrees of pressure. It is obvious that if we connect the
finger d and brake lever f by a chain, when the yarn is so slack in
winding as to allow the finger d to rise until the chain is tight the
effect will be if the finger d rises any higher to lift the brake lever f
at once off the pulley h, and thus to set it free, and the winding would
then be at liberty to run unchecked; but when we connect them by
means of the spring e the rising of the finger d extends the spring and
only partially removes the check or friction from the pulley h, therefore
the check is gradually removed or diminished instead of being entirely
set free. The weight g is moveable to vary the friction required on the
pulley h.

page_text: The second part of our Invention consists in attaching the tension
pulley on the headstock used for tightening the rim band to one end
of a lever, and applying a spring at the other end of the lever to excrt
a force on the band in order to produce the degree of tension necessary
to ensure more regular turning of the spindles. The amount of tension
on the band can be varied by changing the point of action of the spring
to suit the number of spindles in the mule. This part of our Invention
is illustrated by Figure 2, in which 6 is a portion of the headstock
side, ka band pulley mounted on a stud attached to the elbow lever 1,
turning on the stud m; n is the rim or drum band; and o, a spring
fastened at one end to the headstock side and at the other to the
horizontal arm of the elbow lever l. It is important that the band n
should at all times be sufficiently tight to drive the spindles, but
frequently it is made so tight as to be able to drive more spindles than
the mule contains, then it is injurious, because it is exerting unnecessary
force on the pulleys, studs, and shafts, besides requiring more power to
work the mule than is wanted. On the other hand the same band is
liable to stretch and become too slack to drive the spindles; this is also
objectionable, because the spindles are in that case not driven at the
proper speed, and the yarn is short of twist, therefore this arrangement
effects a considerable improvement, because by varying the point at
which the lower end of the spring o is connected to the lever / it
regulates the tension of the rim band according to the number of
spindles, and so gives greater regularity of twist to the yarn or thread.
The third part of our Invention is applicable to the machinery for
locking the faller, and it is illustrated in reference to Figure 3. It
is now usual to suspend from the faller sector p, fastened to the faller
shaft q, a picce called the "faller leg" r, which has à rounded corner
as shewn in dots. The object of rounding the corner is to prevent the
sudden jerk produced by a square corner. As the backing off progresses
the faller leg is raised until the rounded corner of the faller leg
passes over the bowl o on the usual trail lever, thereby locking the faller.
Our improvement consists in hinging to this faller leg an elbow lever 8,
mounted on the stud t, the lower end of which is concentric with the
faller leg; this lever is free to move on the stud t. The weight of the
arm & causes the arm 8 to bear against the rib or projection & cast on
the faller leg. When the faller leg r is raised sufficiently high to allow
the rounded corner to be drawn towards the bowl, that bowl acting
on the arm & overcomes the weight of the arms. So soon however

page_text: as the faller leg is raised high enough to allow it to pass over the
bowl o, then the weight of the arm 81 causes the elbow levers to resume
its former position and to bear against the rib 83, and forms thereby a
It will be evident when
square corner to the bottom of the faller leg r.
the faller leg r is pushed back to unlock the faller it cannot descend
until the square end of the lever has passed over the bowl v. The
adjustable bracket u fixed to the faller leg r is for unlocking the fallers
in the usual manner.
The object of our fourth improvement, which is illustrated by Figures
4 and 5, is to prevent the breakages which sometimes occur when the
mule fails to make the change required to put the clutch box in
connection with the back or drawing out shaft out of gear. To
accomplish this we attach the studs of one or more of the wheels A,
which are used for drawing out the carriage, to the lever B instead of
to the frame side b, as now customary. This lever B is hinged at B¹ to
the frame side b, and the end of the lever B is weighted sufficiently
to hold the pinion C when spinning in gear with the wheel D, fixed on
the drawing out or back shaft D'. By this arrangement if the required
change is not made for stopping the drawing out motion the pinion C
will be forced out of gear with the wheel D, thereby partially raising the
weighted end of the lever B, but if the change is made the lever B
remains stationary, and the pinion C and wheel D remain in gear,
whereas in some mules a provision is made for raising an analogous
lever at every stretch.
Our fifth improvement, which is illustrated by Figure 6, on Sheet 1,
and Figures 7, 8, and 9, on Sheet 2, is in the machinery for driving
the cam shaft and parts connected therewith. The backing off
wheel E, see Figures 6 and 8, on the rim band pulley shaft E' (or
other suitable wheel of the mule) gears into the carrier pinion F, and
this pinion gears into the carrier G, which gears into the wheel H,
fixed on the cam shaft H', this wheel H is made with two moveable
toothed segments I, see Figure 9, which are moved out of gear with the
carrier pinion G by a forked lever K, see Figure 7, actuated by the
sliding rod L; this rod is continued to the front of the headstock, and is
acted upon by the carriage before the outward run is completed, for the
purpose of moving the forked lever K in the direction of the arrow in
Figure 7 for stopping the drawing out motion. The forked lever K is
moved in the contrary direction when the carriage is nearly in, to stop
the inward run of the carriage by means of the cam shaft in the usual

page_text: manner. The said segments I have each a stud I, which act alternately
when the forked lever K has been moved on projections on each side
of the forked lever K to press the segments I out of gear with the
pinion G, and the segments I are thrown in gear with the pinion G
when the projections on the lever K are removed from the side of
the studs by the springs I2, the ends of which fit in recesses in the
segments I as shewn in Figure 9. By this arrangement the motion
of the cam shaft H' is made positive.
Our sixth improvement is applicable to the self-acting mules patented
by Richard Roberts on the Twenty-ninth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-five, Number 5138, and it consists in the
application of the before-mentioned wheel H with sliding segments I
to the cam shaft of such mules, and in connecting the backing off
lever M, see Figure 6, to the strap lever N by the sliding bar R. The
usual backing off lever M is prolonged, and is provided with a bowl
acting on a projection from the sliding bar R; this prolongation of the
lever M acts as a substitute for a cam on the cam shaft; one end of the
sliding bar is supported in the bracket S, and the other end of the
sliding bar is connected to the strap lever N. When spinning twist the
movable stud T, bearing against the bracket S, is attached to the
under side of the bar R, and this stud is raised above the bracket S,
when the twist at the head is completed by the plate U fixed to the
ordinary twist shaft. When spinning weft the stud T is removed, and
the plate U is moved out of action. Our improvements also consist in
applying the vertical shaft O for taking the backing off friction cone P
out of contact, and simultaneously putting the usual catch box W for
working the taking in motion into gear, see Figs. 6,
the vertical shaft O is cast or fixed the arm O', in
10, and 11. To
which is a bowl
which is held in contact with the cam H on the cam shaft H' by the
spring Q, one end of which is secured to the headstock side b, and the
other end to the arm O' cast or fixed to the vertical shaft O. To the
shaft O is also cast or fixed the arm O³, to which is connected the rod M',
the other end of which is connected to the backing off lever M. To the
arm O' is also connected a stud taking into an inclined slot in the elbow
lever V for actuating the clutch box W of the taking in motion, which
slides as usual on the scroll shaft W₁. The mode of operation is as
follows: When the carriage is nearly out it acts on the sliding rod L
and moves the forked lever K, thus allowing one of the segments I to
be put into gear by the springs I² with the carrier pinion G. The backing

page_text: off wheel E now turns the cam shaft half a revolution, this change
stops the carriage and the drawing rollers, and simultaneously the strap
in the guide lever N is moved from the pulley N' to N, the backing off
wheel E is brought in contact with the friction cone P, and the fallers
are depressed and locked in the usual manner; the locking of the fallers
acts on a rod (not shown in the Drawing) connected to the arm O of
the vertical shaft O, and at the same time the spring Q, acting on the
shaft O, arm 0, rod M', and backing off lever M, liberates the wheel E
from the friction cone P, and stops the backing off. The same action
of the spring puts the clutch box W in gear to take the carriage in.
When the carriage is nearly in the rod L connected to the forked
lever K is moved in the contrary direction, to bring the other segment I
in gear with the pinion G, the wheel E then turns the cam shaft for
the second half revolution, thereby stopping the inward run of the
carriage, and bringing the various parts of the mule into action for
spinning. By this arrangement we are enabled to produce all the required
changes in the mules known as Roberts' self-actors, with only two
changes in the cam shaft, instead of three or four as now customary.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, we declare that we claim :-
First. Connecting the under faller lever and the brake lever by means
of a spring, as shewn and described in reference to Figure 1.
Secondly. Connecting the tension pulley of the rim band to a lever
jointed to the head stock side, and governing the tension of the band
by a spring, the point of connection being adjustable as shewn and
described in reference to Figure 2.
Thirdly. In bringing to the faller leg an elbow lever to govern the
descent thereof, in the manner and for the purpose described and shewn
in Figure 3.
Fourthly. Connecting one or more of the wheels for drawing out the
carriage to a lever, as shewn and described in reference to Figures 4
and 5.
Fifthly. The improved combination of machinery for driving the cam
shaft as shewn and described in reference to Figure 6, and particularly
the wheel H with two moveable toothed segments as shewn in Figures 7,
8, and 9.
And sixthly. The application of the mechanism above referred to and
shewn in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 to Richard Roberts' self-acting mules.

page_text: Also the vertical shaft O and sliding bar R, and parts acting in
combination therewith, by which the cam shaft may be worked with
only two changes as shewn and described in reference to Figures 6, 10,
and 11.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Lakin and William
Henry Rhodes, have hereto set our hands and seals, the
Twenty-first day of May, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
ROBERT LAKIN. (L.S.)
W. H. RHODES.
(L.S.)