IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOBBINS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Atkinson Fell, of Troutbeck Bridge,
Windermere, in the County of Westmoreland, Machine Maker, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOBBINS,
AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 27th June 1862, and dated the 2nd January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Atkinson Fell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd January 1862.
I, WILLIAM ATKINSON FELL, of Troutbeck Bridge, Windermere, in the
County of Westmoreland, Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOBBINS
AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The object of the improvements is the manufacture of bobbins in parts,
held together by screwing. The formation of the fitting parts, and the
connection thereof are obtained by mechanical means.
For the manufacture of what I call the "barrels " of the bobbins, I employ
apparatus having headstock with revolving spindle and arbor, also headstock
with sliding spindle, operated by a lever or other suitable means, and carrying
a centre to press up the "barrels " to the revolving arbor, and steady them
whilst the screw thread is being cut thereon. There is a fork or projection
for drawing off the screwed "barrels "when the threads have been cut thereon.
The cutting tools are carried by a bed or frame capable of sliding on fixed

page_text: spindles or supports, and have motion given to them by a thread or worm
revolving, and to which the bed is connected at the times desired, and till
released by a finger at the completion of the cutting of the respective screws.
To the bed carrying the cutting tools is also fixed a weighted cord passing
over a pulley, to give the bed a tendency to recede when released from the
screw, so as to be ready for the cutters to begin again. The ends or parts to be
fixed to the "barrels" have threads cut in them by cutting tools. I then screw the
"barrel" and ends together in the following manner :-The ends are placed in
revolving holders or boxes formed with three or other number of holding dies
capable of adjustment. Between these holders, the "barrel" is supported on
a V-rest, with its screwed ends towards the end pieces. The revolving holders
or boxes carrying the ends, are then moved towards the "barrel" by levers or
cords acted upon by treddles or otherwise. The ends being thus screwed on
the "barrel," the boxes which carried the ends are allowed to recede by the
action of weighted cords, or otherwise. Glue or other adhesive matter may be
employed when required to hold the parts together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Atkinson Fell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ATKINSON FELL, of Troutbeck Bridge, Windermere, in the County of West-
morland, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Atkinson Fell, Her special licence that I, the said William
Atkinson Fell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Atkinson Fell, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOBBINS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Atkinson Fell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in

page_text: 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 William Atkinson Fell, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-
The object of the improvements is the manufacture of bobbins in parts held
together by screwing. The formation of the fitting parts and the connection
thereof are obtained by mechanical means.
For the manufacture of what I call the "barrels" of the bobbins I employ
apparatus having headstock with revolving spindle and arbor, also headstock
with sliding spindle operated by a lever or other suitable means, and carrying a
centre to press up the "barrels" to the revolving arbor, and steady them whilst
the screw threads are being cut thereon. There is a fork or projection for
drawing off the screwed "barrels" when the threads have been cut thereon.
The cutting tools are carried by a bed or frame capable of sliding on fixed
spindles or supports, and have motion given to them by a thread or worm
revolving, and to which the bed is connected at the times desired, and till
released by a finger at the completion of the cutting of the respective screws."
To the bed carrying the cutting tools is also fixed a weighted cord passing
over a pulley to give the bed a tendency to recede when released from the
screw, so as to be ready for the cutters to begin again. The ends or parts to
be fixed to the "barrels" have threads cut in them by cutting tools, I then
screw the "barrel" and ends together in the following manner:-The ends
are placed in revolving holders or boxes formed with three or other number of
holding dies capable of adjustment. Between these holders the "barrel" is
supported on a V rest with its screwed ends towards the end pieces. The
revolving holders or boxes carrying the ends are then moved towards the
"barrel" by levers or cords acted upon by treddles or otherwise. The ends
being thus screwed on the "barrel," the boxes which carried the ends are
allowed to recede by the action of weighted cords or otherwise. Glue or
other adhesive matter may be employed when required to hold the parts
together.
But that the Invention may be more fully understood, I will proceed, by the'
aid of the accompanying Drawings, to describe means which I have found to
answer in carrying the same into effect.

page_text: Figure 1 shews a side view, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 a sectional end
view of apparatus, arranged according to my Invention, for facilitating the
cutting of the "barrels " of bobbins; in each of these Figures the same letters
indicate corresponding parts wherever they occur.
a, a, and b, b, are two headstocks. The headstock a, a, by means of the
bearings a', a', carries the spindle c carrying the arbor c', between which and
the arbor d' is supported the wood to form the barrel of the bobbin, as indi-
cated by red lines. Upon the spindle c is affixed the pulley c² to receive a
band or strap from a steam engine or other suitable power; c' is a loose
pulley to shift such strap on to, when the spindle c is not required to be in
action, as is well understood. The headstock b, b, by means of the bearings
61, 61, carries the spindle d, in such manner that in addition to its being per-
mitted to rotate with the spindle c, when the wood to be cut is being held by
them, it is also capable of an endway motion in such bearing. And this
endway motion is obtained by means of the lever e, which turns upon a fixed
axis of motion e¹ and by pin joint e² is connected to the link e³, and thence
to the spindle d, so that by acting on the handle e' of the lever e, the spindle d
may be moved to and fro at pleasure, in order to the piece of wood to form the
barrel being received on to the arbor d¹, and forced on to the arbor c', thereby
to receive rotary motion whilst the ends thereof are being cut by cutters f,f
into screw threads, and to its being held steadily during such cutting. The
cutters f,f, are held by means of set screws f¹, f¹, on the bed or frame g,
which is capable of turning on the spindle g¹ with capability of endway motion
thereon. The frame g is also capable of being in part supported in front by
resting on the front bar or rail h, and when the frame g is thus resting on the
rail h, the projection from the frame g will be resting on and in part
embracing the screw i, and by being formed with teeth to fit into those of the
teeth in the screw i, it will have motion given to it in the motion of the screw i.
The screw i is carried by the standards i¹, and it has motion given to it by the
teeth of the pinion i2 thereon, being taken into and driven by the teeth of the
pinion on the spindle c. It will be seen that to the back end of the frame g
is applied a weight g', with a tendency to keep the fore end of that frame
with the cutters raised, when the frame 9 will rest against the stop j, and the
tendency of the weight go to the cord g' will be to draw the frame g with the
cutters to the left hand. In operating with this apparatus the piece of wood
to be cut is first placed in position on the arbor d¹, and then by a movement
given to the lever handle e it is driven on to the arbor c¹. The fore part of
g

page_text: the frame g is then pressed down, so that the cutters f, f, act to cut the desired
screws at each end of the barrel by the action of the piece g² on the screw i,
until the frame g comes on to the inclined and adjustable stop k, when the
frame g will be lifted, so as to release the projection 9 from the screw i, and
the weight g will draw the frame g back to the left; k' is an adjustable stop
to regulate the distance of motion of the frame g to the left hand; l is a fork,
attached to the sliding spindle d in position, when the required screw cutting
has been effected to a barrel, and the spindle d is drawn to the right hand by
means of the lever handle e, to draw such barrel off the arbor c¹ ready for
another to take its place. The ends to be fixed to the barrels having been
formed are tapped by means of a suitable instrument, such as shewn by
Figure 4, or otherwise, as is well understood, and they are then placed in
pairs with a barrel for the purpose of being connected together in apparatus,
which I will now proceed to describe.
Figure 5 shews a front view, Figure 6, an end view, and Figure 7, a
section of apparatus, arranged according to my Invention, for applying the
ends of bobbins to the barrels. m is the main framing; m², m³, are standards
supporting spindles n, n, to which are affixed the holders n', n¹, for carrying
the ends of the bobbins, whilst these spindles also carry arbors o, o, which are
acted upon by spiral springs o¹, o¹, so as to act upon them by an elastic
pressure. Separate views of one of the holders n' are shewn at Figures 8
and 9, by which it will be seen they are formed with three or it may be other
number of clips r adapted to hold on to the peripheries of the ends of the
bobbins placed within them, such clips being acted upon by inclines 7 affixed
to the drums or pullies r2, which are carried by the holders n'. The clips r
are guided by sliding in grooves in the part n¹, and are drawn in a direction
from the centre by springs ; p is a stationary but adjustable V-formed rest
for the barrel of the bobbin to which ends are to be applied. The spindles n, n,
are by means of the arms n³ connected to the slides n³, projections ne, from
which are by cords n connected to the weights n³, with a tendency to keep
the holders n' separated. The projections n from the slides n³ pass into the
inclined grooves q', q', in the barrel q, so that when by a band acted upon by
a treddle, or by other means, rotary motion is given to that, barrel q, the
spindle n with the holders n' will be drawn towards each other. In using this
apparatus a barrel with the ends tapped, as explained, is placed on the
V-rest p, and a bobbin.end is placed in each of the holders n', so as to be
clipped by the clips r, when the barrel q is caused to make a partial rotation,
so as to draw the spindles n, n, towards each other, when the arbors 0, 0, will be
caused to enter one into one end of the barrel, and the other into the other end

page_text: of the barrel to hold it in position, and the ends of the bobbin are brought on
to the ends of the barrel, and at the same time rotary motion is given to the
holders n', with the bobbin ends they contain by means of straps or bands
acting on the peripheries of the parts 3, by which the clips r will be first
caused to press tightly on the bobbin ends to hold them, and thence to give
motion to the spindles n, n, the speeds of which will be retarded by the
weighted wheels n', n', affixed thereon; n³ are stops to the endway motions of
the spindles n. By the reverse motions given to the spindles n and parts
carried thereby, the ends of the bobbin will be released from the clips r and
left on the barrel, and the bobbin thus completed will be forced out of the
holders n by the springs o¹, and removed for the repetition of the operation.
Glue or other adhesive matter may be employed to aid in the combination of
the parts.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the means
which I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not claim the various mechanical parts separately considered, nor
do I confine myself to the precise details, as shewn, and described; but what
I do claim is the manufacture of bobbins, and the adaptation or combination
of means employed therein, substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Atkinson Fell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM ATKINSON FELL. (L.S.)