CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Cocker, of Tonge, near Middleton, in the
66
County of Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Cocker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th March 1873.
I, JAMES COCKER, of Tonge, near Middleton, in the County of Lan-
caster, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the winding-on motion, and consists in certain
improved arrangements of parts for governing the winding of the yarn
on the spindles in proportion to the increasing diameter of the cops; to
the screw of the radial arm is fixed a bevel pinion gearing into another
pinion, on the shaft of which is fixed a worm which gears into a worm
wheel; to this wheel is fixed a cam acting on a lever jointed to the
carriage square; to this lever is connected one end of a chain, the other
end being attached to a small pulley; this small pulley is fixed to a
larger pulley with a ratchet wheel and retaining catch. To the larger

page_text: pulley is connected a chain which after passing over a guide pulley fixed
to the faller shaft, is attached to a lever in the carriage, and this lever
takes into the ordinary star wheel by which the winding-on band which
gives rotary motion to the screw in the radial arm is held. By this
arrangement, as the cam above referred to rotates, it gives a gradually
increasing motion to the lever on which it acts, and thereby holding the
lever acting on the star wheel longer out of gear in proportion to the
increasing diameter of the cop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Cocker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
COCKER, of Tonge, near Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Cocker, Her special
licence that I, the said James Cocker, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Cocker, 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 IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SELF-ACTING MULES FOR SPINNING AND DOUBLING," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said James Cocker, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Cocker, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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):
The nature of my Invention consists in certain improved arrangements
of parts for governing the winding of the yarn on the spindles of self-
acting mules, so as to form the bottom of the cop.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Drawing, which represents an elevation partly in section of the principal
parts of a self-acting mule to which my improvements are applied.
a is the radial arm; a¹, the screw; and a³, the nut to which the
winding-on chain 6 is connected; c is the carriage; c¹, the spindles;
d, the faller shaft; e, the counterfaller shaft, which shafts are provided
with the usual sickles and the levers and e'; f, the winding-on band
passing around the pulley a³ on the fulcrum stud of the radial arm a,
and round the tightening pulley f¹; the winding-on band passes around
the pulley g, to which is cast the star wheel or disc with notches g¹, and
g² is the catch lever for arresting the rotary motion of the star wheel g¹;
all the parts above enumerated, and the others not shewn, but necessary
to complete the self-acting mule, are made in the ordinary manner.
To the boss of the pulley a³ or to the boss of the bevel wheel gearing
into the pinion on the end of the screw a¹ of the radial arm a is fixed or
cut the worm a¹, gearing into the wheel h, to which is cast or fixed the
cam ; this wheel and cam are mounted on a stud fixed to a bracket
bolted to the frame of the headstock. To the carriage square is jointed
the lever, in which is a slot for an adjustable stud, to which is
connected one end of the chain 2, the other end being attached to a
small pulley j, which is fixed to the larger pulley j¹, and to the ratchet
wheel, which is provided with a retaining catch k; to the larger
pulley j, is fixed one end of the chain 7, which after passing over the
guide pulley d², in the lever d', and under the pulley g³, in the catch
lever g², is secured to the lever e¹; to the pulley j¹ is fixed the adjustable
stop finger, the object of which will be explained hereafter.
The mode of operation is as follows, and the Drawing represents the
parts in the positions they occupy when the carriage is running in, and
when the bottom of the cop is partly made:-When the carriage arrives

page_text: out the lever i comes in contact with and is depressed by the cam h¹;
this depression of the lever i draws a portion of the chain off the small
pulley j, and winds a portion of the chain on to the larger pulley j¹,
thereby lifting the catch lever g² out of gear with the star wheel g¹, and
allowing the pulley g to rotate without giving motion to the tightening
band f; but when the catch lever g² is down, as shewn in dotted lines,
the star wheel g¹ is held, and the carriage in running in causes the
tightening band f to turn the pulley a³ round, thereby moving the nut a²
partly up the screw a¹. As the cam h¹ is gradually turned round by the
rotation of the pulley a³, it gradually depresses the lever i, and the
increasing depression of this lever causes the catch lever g2 to be held
for a longer time out of gear with the star wheel g¹ in proportion to the
increasing diameter of the bottom of the cop.
When a set of cops is completed and before starting another the
attendant must lift the retaining catch k out of gear with the ratchet
wheel to allow the pulley ¹ to rotate until the stop finger j³ comes
against the edge of the plate of the carriage square, by which means the
parts are brought again into their proper positions for beginning another
set.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and described the
manner of performing the same, I wish to remark that I do not intend
to limit myself to the details given, as they may require to be modified,
according to the peculiar construction of the self-acting mule to which
the Invention is applied, but what I claim is the improved combination
of machinery for governing the winding-on during the formation of the
bottom of the cop, as shewn and described, and particularly the parts
marked hand i, and the self-acting mechanism for shortening the
chain, by which the position of the catch lever g³ is regulated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cocker, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this First day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three.