Improvements in Electric Spinning and Twisting Machines.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1887
Specification Accepted, 11th Nov., 1887
Improvements in Electric Spinning and Twisting Machines.
We, ALONZO SMITH KIMBALL, of Worcester, in the county of Worcester and
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Teacher, and GEORGE LOOMIS
BROWNELL, of the same place, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of our
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINES, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to that class of machines for spinning or twisting, in which
a series of revolving spindles are employed, and it has for its objects; to provide
means for rotating the spindles without the use of the driving bands, which are
usually employed for that purpose; to synchronize the rotation of the spindles in
each spinning or twisting frame, or in a number of frames; also to regulate their
speed with reference to the speed of the drawing rolls, or other mechanism for
delivering the strands to the spindles and further to reduce the friction of the
revolving spindles; and we accomplish these objects by means of the mechanism
hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
:-
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a spinning frame embodying our
invention, the operating parts not concerned in our present invention being for the
most part omitted.
Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the spinning frame, on line X, X, Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the spindle motors with its inclosing case removed.
Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of one of the spindle motors with the inclosing
case removed.
Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the spinning frame.
Fig. 6 shows the commutator and two spindle motors in section.
Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the general plan of distributing an electric current
to several spinning frames and to the different motors in each frame, whereby the
rotation of all the motors is synchronized and a uniform twist of all the strands is
secured. Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the different figures.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, A denotes the framework and B the
spindles held therein and journalled in bolsters in the rails C, D, in the usual manner.
E is a rail carrying the spinning rings E' and having a vertical traversing motion

page_text: for the purpose of laying the yarn upon the spools or cops E³, actuated by connected
mechanism, which is not shown in the drawings.
E are the drawing rolls by which the strands of roving are delivered to the
spindles from the spools E. These parts of the spinning frame are not shown or
described in detail as they form no part of our present invention and their con-
struction and operation are well understood.
It is usual in machines of this class to rotate the spindles by means of a central
drum, or cylinder, placed lengthwise the machine, through cords, or bands; a
separate band passing around the drum and a scored pulley or whirl upon each
spindle. This method of driving the spindles requires the frame to be of consider-
able width in order to afford sufficient length of band and cause it to inclose sufficient
surface of the drum and whirl. Continued use of the bands, as well as any change
in the humidity of the atmosphere affects their tension and tractive power.
If the
bands are too tight they produce an undue strain upon the spindles, increasing their
friction and causing unequal strain and wear upon their bearings; while bands that
are too loose are liable to slip and reduce the speed of the spindles, thereby varying
the amount of twist in the strands.
.
In our improved machine we use no central drum, or cylinder, for driving the
spindles and we are therefore enabled to contract the frame within much narrower
límits, placing the rails only such distance apart as convenience and facility in
operating the machine require. To each of the spindles we connect an electro-
motor F of any known and suitable form. In the machine as shown in the accom-
panying drawings the motors consist of a soft iron ring B' wound with insulated wire
in eight equidistant helices a, separated by internal radial projections a', the whole
placed concentrically with the spindle and supported upon short brass or non-magnetic
posts a³, resting upon the lower rail D and inclosed in a shell, or case a³. To the
spindle we attach an armature a', which we place in a horizontal plane slightly lower
than that occupied by the ring B¹, so the magnetic attraction exerted upon the
armature a¹ will tend to raise it and relieve the end of the spindle resting in the
lower bolster from friction. Beneath the lower rails D and partially inclosed by its
ribs b, b, we conduct a series of wires H from a commutator, or distributor, G, each
wire being connected with the corresponding helices of each of the motors, each pair
wires being connected with opposite helices in the usual and well known
manner common with motors of this form. As the corresponding helices of each of
the motors are successively brought into the circuit of the electric current the
armatures a, attached to each of the spindles will occupy corresponding positions
during their entire rotation; thus synchronizing the rotation of the spindles and
producing a uniform twist of all the strands. The wires from the commutator G are
preferably taken along one side of the spinning frame beneath one of the rails D and
each of the motors upon that side of the frame, connected by wires c passing through
holes in the rail D beneath each of the motors; the wires are then carried across the
frame to the line of motors upon the opposite side, which are similarly connected
with the wires.
of and
-
The wires may be conducted along the machine on one side, or through the center
and the several motors on both sides connected therewith by branch wires. The
distributor consists of a revolving shaft d, supported by the frame of the machine
and driven by a motor d², substantially like those already described as connected with
the spindles. Through the brushes d³, d, and distributing cylinder d³, an electric
current is distributed from a dynamo or other producer of an electric current to the
motor d¹ in the usual manner. A current is also taken from the dynamo through
the brushes d and insulated rings d³ to the insulated strips d in the cylinder d, by
which it is distributed through the brushes and wires H leading along the machine
to the motors connected with the spindles B.
We have shown and described only one form of distributor; but other known
methods of distributing an electric current may be employed. The speed of all the
motors connected with the spindles B will be uniforin and synchronous with the
rotation of the distributor shaft d, which may be driven in any convenient manner

page_text: by a power which is independent of the mechanical resistance of the spindle motors,
or by an electric current from the dynamo.
As several spinning frames are usually employed it becomes necessary to syn-
chronize the rotation of all the spindles in the several frames; we, therefore, prefer to
drive the several distributor motors by a current distributed to them by a common
distributor, or commutator. In Fig. 7 we have illustrated in diagram the plan of
distribution of the electric currents to four spinning frames 1, 2, 3 and 4, each
having a commutator by which an electric current is distributed to the several
spindle motors, as already described.
Referring to Fig. 7, 7 indicates a commutator by which the rotation of the
commutators 6 are synchronized. Wires 8 are taken from the dynamo 9 to the
motor driving the commutator 7, and branch wires 10 conduct an electric current
to the commutator 7, which is by it distributed to the motors of the commutators 6
through the wires 11. From the main wires 8 wires 12 conduct an electric current
to the commutators 6, which is by them distributed to the spindle motors. The wires
from the dynamo 9 and commutator 7 may be taken overhead or beneath the floor
to any portion of the building occupied by the spinning frame and any of the known
forms of switches may be used in the lines to the motors of the commutators 6, by
which the electric current may be broken and one of the commutators stopped,
thereby stopping all its connected spindle motors. As the commutator G is switched
out of the electric circuit and ceases to revolve, the electric current, which is
distributed by it, will hold all the armatures upon the spindles B in the same
position, causing all the spindles to stop at the same time and thereby preserving a
uniformity of twist in all the strands; the magnetic attraction upon the armatures
of the spindles B acting as a brake to check their rotation.
We drive the drawing rolls E3 by the same motor which drives the commutator
employed to distribute the electric current to the spindle motors, through any, known
suitable means; in the present instance through the belt connection d', pulley do on
the shaft d and pulley " running loosely on a stud attached to the frame of the
machine and carrying a pinion d¹³, which engages the gears d¹³ upon the roll
spindles. We do not confine ourselves to any special form of the intermediate
mechanism for conveying rotary motion from the commutator shaft to the drawing
rolls. Neither do we confine ourselves to the specific construction or arrangement
of the operating parts; the scope of our invention embracing any organized
mechanism for spinning, or twisting, consisting; 1st, of a series of revolving
spindles, each with an electro-motor to which a common electric current is distributed
by a commutator driven independently of the mechanical resistance of the spinning
or twisting mechanism; and 2nd, with mechanism for delivering the strands to the
spinning or twisting mechanism, whose operation is controlled simultaneously with
that of the revolving spindles.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is :-
1. An organized machine for spinning, or twisting, consisting of a series of
revolving spindles, a series of electro-motors connected with and actuating said
spindles, and a commutator rotated independently of the mechanical resistance of the
revolving spindles, for distributing an electric current to said spindle electro-motors,
said commutator and electro-motors having suitable electrical connections, as shown
and described.
2. An organized machine for spinning, or twisting, consisting of a series of
revolving spindles, a series of electro-motors connected with and actuating said
spindles, a commutator for distributing an electric current to said electro-motors in
common, an electro-motor actuating said commutator, electrical connections between
the commutator and the spindle actuating electro-motors, and electrical connections
between said commutator and its actuating motor and a producer of an electric
current whereby one current is employed to actuate the motor and another current is
distributed to the spindle electro-motors, as shown and described.

page_text: 3. In a machine for spinning, or twisting, the combination with a series of
revolving spindles and mechanism for delivering the strands to the spindles, of an
electro-motor actuating a cominutator and said strand delivering mechanism, a
commutator, actuated by said electro-motor, for distributing an electric current in
common to the spindle electro-motors, and a series of spindle electro-motors connected
with and actuating the revolving spindles, as shown and described.
4. In a machine for spinning, or twisting, the combination with a vertical
revolving spindle having an attached armature, of an electric motor with the magnet
of said motor placed above the plane of the revolving armature attached to said
spindle, so as to raise the armature and attached spindle by the attraction of said
magnet and thereby reduce the friction upon the spindle bearings, as shown and
described.
5. The combination in a spinning, or twisting machine, having mechanism for
delivering the strands to the spinning, or twisting, mechanism, of the spindles B,
held in rails C, D, actuating motors connected with said spindles, commutator G,
àctuating motor d¹, an electrical connection between said commutator G and said
spindle motors and between said motor d' and a producer of an electric current, as
shown and described.