IMPROVEMENTS IN COUNTERS FOR MULES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Orme, of George Orme and Company, of Oldham,
in the County of Lancaster, and Francis Heans Orme, of the same Place, for
'an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COUNTERS FOR MULES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Orme and Francis
Heans Orme at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th
December 1881.
DANIEL ORME of George Orme and Company of Oldham in the County of
Lancaster and FRANCIS HEANS ORME of the same Place. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COUNTERS FOR MULES."
Our Invention relates to the counters which are employed to register the number
of "draws" or stretches performed by the mules used in the spinning of fibrous
materials as is well understood. Previously to our Invention such counters have
been mounted upon or connected with the revolving shafts. By means of our
Invention we are able to construct a counter which can be applied to a rocking
shaft or part of the mule such an application being advantageous in many cases.
We employ a vibrating lever to impart an intermittent revolving motion to a
wheel which is connected with the registering train of wheels. In one arrangement
the said vibrating lever is formed to act upon opposite sides of the wheel which
is formed with five projections or with a suitable number of projections. When
the lever moves in one direction a projection on one side of the axle of the wheel
is acted upon and when the lever moves in the other direction a projection on the
other side of the axle is acted upon the effect being that the wheel is caused to
move in ono direction. The said lever is acted upon by means of a worm which
is fixed upon a rocking shaft and gears with teeth formed on the said lever but
this may be varied. The forms of the vibrating lever and of the wheel may be

page_text: varied. In one modification the vibrating lever is formed with pallets which act
upon a wheel which is formed with vee shaped or with suitably shaped teeth the
said wheel being moved to the extent of one tooth for each to and fro movement of
the lever. The worm may act directly upon the said vibrating lever or may act
upon a lever or part which gives motion to the said vibrating lever. In some
cases the said worm might be dispensed with. The train of gearing may consist
of wheels and worms or pinions gearing with pairs of fixed and moving differential
wheels and carried around may be used or other suitable arrangements of gearing
may receive motion from a vibrating lever. Instead of the vibrating lever we may
use a sliding and reciprocating part formed to have the required action upon the
wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Daniel Orme and Francis Heans Orme in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th June 1882.
DANIEL ORME of George Orme and Company of Oldham in the County of
Lancaster and FRANCIS HANES ORME of the same Place. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COUNTERS FOR MULES."
Our Invention relates to the counters which are employed to register the number
of "draws" or the work performed by the mules used in the spinning of fibrous
materials as is well understood. Previously to our Invention such counters have
been mounted upon or connected with revolving shafts. By means of our Inven-
tion we are able to construct a counter which can be applied to a rocking shaft or
part of the mule such an application being advantageous in many cases.
We
employ a vibrating lever to impart an intermittent revolving motion to a wheel or
pinion which is connected with the registering train of wheels. When the lever
moves in one direction a projection on one side of the axle of the wheel is acted
upon and when the lever moves in the other direction a projection on the other
side of the axle is acted upon the effect being that the wheel is caused to move in
one direction. The train of gearing may consist of wheels and worms or pinions
gearing with pairs of fixed and moving differential wheels and " carried-around
may be used or other suitable arrangements of gearing may receive motion from a
vibrating lever. Instead of the vibrating lever we may use a sliding and recipro-
cating part formed to have the required action upon the wheel or pinion.
"
In order that our Invention may be fully understood we have attached hereunto
a Sheet of Drawings made about the full size and marked with letters of reference
to which Drawings we will refer hereinafter when describing our Invention. In
the said Drawings Fig. 1 is a front or top view of one of our improved counters
represented as having a portion of the cover broken off to show the interior Fig. 2
which is partly in section being a view taken on a plane at right angles to Fig. 1.
In the said Figs. a is a casing in which is mounted a train of gearing which

page_text: actuates circular dials b, b on which are marked numerals which are presented in
rotation at openings as seen in Fig. 1. In a boss a' upon the said casing is mounted
a shaft upon which is fixed or formed a vibrating lever cand upon the outer end of
the same shaft is secured a worm wheel or segmental wheel 7. The casing a is
formed with two lugs which are bored to suit the rocking shaft upon which the
counter is to be mounted.
A worm e works between the two lugs and is secured
to the said rocking shaft. When the mule is at work tho said rocking shaft say
for example the scroll shaft revolves a few times in one direction and then makes
a corresponding movement in the reverse direction during each "draw" of the.
mule as is well understood. The worm e acting on the worm wheel causes tho
lever c to vibrate and to act upon a three leaved wheel or pinion which is seen
also in Fig. 5. In Fig. 1 the said lever is supposed to be moving in the indicated
direction the end or pallet cl of the lever acting upon one of the three leaves of the
pinion and revolving the pinion until the said end of the lever clears and passes
beyond the end of the pinion leaf as seen in Fig. 5. The said lever is formed with
an inner face or second pallet c² which when the lever is moving in the direction
indicated in Fig. 5 comes in contact with one of the leaves of the pinion and turns
the pinion still further. It will be seen that each of the pallets c¹ and c turns the
pinion into such a position as that the other pallet can act upon it and that
the vibration of the lever c to and fro results in an intermittent revolution of
the pinion in one direction. The parts are so suitably proportioned as
that each double movement of the lever c to and fro made during a single
"draw" of the mule causes the pinion f to make one third of a revolution. The
said pinion carries a disc g on which are fixed three pins and in which are
formed three notches. The said disc acts upon a spur wheel h which is formed
with twenty teeth ten of the teeth being shorter than the other ten. During
each third of a revolution made by the pinion f one of the said pins acts upon one
of the long teeth in the wheel and one of the said notches acts upon one of the
shorter teeth and the said wheel is moved to the extent of one tenth of a revolution.
The wheel h carries a disc which is provided with a single pin and notch which
once in each revolution of the said wheel moves the second wheel in the train to
the extent of one tenth of a revolution and so on for the other wheels in the train.
The action of this part of the apparatus will be understood without further'
description as such a train of gearing has been in use for other purposes prior to
our Invention. By means of our apparatus each draw of the mule becomes recorded
and the number of draws made during any interval of time can be ascertained by
reference to the dial. Figs. 3 and 4 which are drawn partly in section illustrate
another form of mule counter adapted more particularly to indicate the number of
hanks spun during any interval of time. In this example wo also employ the
lever c and we also actunte it by means of a worm and vibrating worm wheel.
The three leaved pinion f is attached to an arm which carries a pinion 1 which
gears with two wheels m and m' which differ slightly in the number of teeth. The
wheel m' is attached to a second arm n which carries a pinion o which gears with
two wheels p, p₁ which also differ slightly in the number of teeth. The wheel pl
is connected with an index r which registers upon a dial the number of hanks
which have been spun when the gearing has been correctly proportioned to
suit the mule upon which the counter is intended to be used. In this example
during each draw of the mule the pinion is carried one third of a revolution
around the wheels m, m² and if the difference in these wheels is only one tooth the
wheel m will be moved one tooth for three "draws." The wheel p' will move say
one tooth during a complete revolution of the wheel m'. The action of this part
of the counter will be well understood as wheels and pinions acting in the same
manner have been used previously to our Invention but have not received motion
from the vibrating lever c. The employment of the parts c and f admits of great
variations in the movements of the inule rocking shafts in each direction because
although a vibration of the lever c to the extent of about ono sixth of a revolution
is sufficient to give the required motion to the pinion fa vibration to the extent of

page_text: more than half a revolution will not increase the movement of the said pinion.
The form of the lever c may be varied so long as it is adapted to have the described
action upon the pinion and we may form the pallets c¹ and c upon a part which
is caused to reciprocate in a straight line and to have the required action upon the
pinion f. A pinion having more than three leaves say for example five leaves may
be used in lieu of the pinion f the lever c being made to suit the pinion. The
arrangements for communicating motion from the mule rocking shaft to the lever c
may be varied and if preferred worn teeth might be formed upon the said lever
and engage with a worm upon the said shaft. We do not confine ourselves to the
formation and arrangement of the trains of indicating gearing as these may
be varied nor do we claim the lever c and the wheel or pinion ƒ excepting when
arranged to be actuated by the rocking shaft of a mule.
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of our said Invention we
would have it to be understood that we claim :-
:-
First the combination of parts arranged and acting substantially as and for
the purpose set forth and indicated hereinbefore and by the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly the lever or part c receiving motion from a rocking or vibrating shaft
of a spinning mule and acting upon a wheel or pinion which actuates a train of
-gearing adapted to indicate the amount of work done by the said mule substantially
as set forth and indicated.
And lastly a mule counter provided with a vibrating worm wheel or worm segment
which engages with a worm secured to a mule rocking shaft and which actuates
a vibrating or reciprocating lever or part which acts upon a wheel or pinion to
give motion to the indicating mechanism or parts substantially as and for the
purpose set forth and indicated.
In witness whereof I the said Daniel Orme for myself and on behalf of
the said Francis Hanes Orme have hereunto set my hand and seal this
Twelfth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and eighty two
Signed, sealed and delivered
in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
41 John Dalton St.
Manchester,
(Agent for the Patentees).
DANIEL ORME. (L.S.)