CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF- ACTING MULES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kershaw, of Stockport, in the County of
Chester, Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-
ACTING MULES."
Sealed the 18th March 1855, and dated the 4th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kershaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th October 1854.
J, JOHN KERSHAW, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Manager, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
SELF-ACTING MULES" to be as follows:-
My Invention is applicable to the machines for spinning called self-acting
mules, and consists in an improved mode of giving motion to the screw in the
radial arm. In mules of the ordinary construction, this motion is given by a
strap acting on a pulley, to which is fixed a pinion gearing in a pinion fixed to
the screw.
Now, my Invention consists in fixing pins in the said pulley, and
piercing holes into the strap by which the pulley is driven; by this means
no slipping of the strap can take place, and a positive motion is given to the
screw and screw nut in the radial armı.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kershaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KERSHAW, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Kershaw, Her special license that I, the said John Kershaw, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Kershaw, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-
ACTING MULES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Kershaw, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 John Kershaw, 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
Specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing (that
is to say) -
My said Invention consists in an improved mode of giving motion to the
screw in the radial arm of self-acting mules.
Figure 1 of the said Drawing is a side clevation of the principal parts of
an ordinary self-acting mule to which my improvements are applied; and
Figure 2 is a plan of part of my improvements. a is the framing of the head
stock; b, the roller beam; c, the drawing rollers; d, the radial arm; c, the
screw for giving motion to the nut f, to which is attached the winding-on
chain 9. in the usual manner; h is the carriage; i is the winding-on barrel;

page_text: j, the faller shaft; k, the counter faller shaft; and 1, the weighted lever, used
when the yarn is too tight to cause motion to be communicated to the screw
nut f, as will hereafter be explained. All the parts above enumerated, and
the other parts required to complete a self-acting mule, are made in the
ordinary manner. m is the strap which passes over the pulley n, mounted on
the stud of the radial arm, and over the pulley o, on a stud in the framing.
This strap may be made of leather, or of any other suitable flexible material,
and the holes in it may be lined with metal, if preferred. The straps hitherto
used for this purpose have been plain, and consequently liable to slip when
giving motion to the pulley n; but I now propose to pierce holes through
them, as shewn in Figure 2, and to drive pins in, or make projections on, the
circumference of the pulley n, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 1. The
holes in the strap and the pins in the pulley must be placed at corresponding
distances apart, that as the strap is moved, the pins in the pulley will pass
into the holes in the strap; by this means the motion given to the strap m
is at all times transmitted to the pulley n, as no slipping can take place
between the two surfaces. To the counter faller shaft k is keyed a lever k¹,
to which is attached the upper end of the chain p, the lower end of which is
attached to the weighted lever l. This lever when down presses the strap m
on to the block h¹, which is fixed to the carriage in the ordinary manner; but
in order to prevent the slipping of the strap between these two surfaces, I
make one or both of them rough, like a file, or otherwise. The mode of
operation is as follows:-The Drawing represents the various parts in the
positions they occupy when, on the going in of the carriage, owing to
the tightness in the yarn, the counter faller has been depressed, and the
weighted lever brought in contact with the strap m; and when, during
the going in of the carriage, so long as they remain in contact, the strap
will be moved in the direction of the arrow, and the pulley n will be
turned round, thereby giving motion to the screw e, and moving the screw
nut towards the circumference of the quadrant; consequently less of the
winding-on chain is drawn from the barrel i, which revolves fewer times
during the going in of the carriage, thereby reducing the speed of the
spindles and slackening the yarn. These effects are produced in the usual
manner; but whereas the result was formerly uncertain, owing to the slipping
of the various parts, they are rendered positive by the improvements above
described.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner

page_text: of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I claim the improve-
ments shewn and described, whereby the slipping of the strap m is avoided or
diminished.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kershaw, have. hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
JOHN KERSHAW. (L.S.)