CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL TO MACHINERY USED IN THE PREPARING, MANUFACTURING, OR FINISHING OF THE SAME.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Ebenezer Saxby and Joseph Winnington,
both of 45, Lorn Street, Chester Road, Hulme, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE
PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL
TO MACHINERY USED IN THE PREPARING, MANUFACTURING, OR FINISHING OF
THE SAME.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Ebenezer
Saxby and Joseph Winnington at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 8th April 1872.
We, FREDERICK EBENEZER SAXBY and JOSEPH WINNINGTON, both of
45, Lorn Street, Chester Road, Hulme, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF COTTON AND OTHER

page_text: FIBROUS MATERIAL TO MACHINERY USED IN THE PREPARING, MANUFACTURING, OR
FINISHING OF THE SAME," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to machinery or apparatus to be used for
regulating the supply of cotton or other fibrous material, and is designed
for the purpose of varying the speed of wheels or rollers or other parts
of machinery where a variable speed is required by an improved arrange-
ment of mechanism which occupies less space and is more simple and
effectual than that hitherto employed.
The improvement consists in the driving of a plain wheel or disc by
placing it between and in contact with two surfaces or plain surfaces.
of toothed wheels which are made to revolve in opposite directions and
at right angles to the axis of the disc. A shaft passes through the
disc and rests in a footstep or bearing, and upon this shaft the disc is
free to move in a longitudinal direction, but is prevented from turning
upon the shaft by a key which is fixed in one working in a suitable
groove made in the other. A worm is fixed upon any convenient part
of this shaft, which is geared into a worm wheel, which wheel is fixed
upon the feed roller or any other part of the machine requiring a variable
speed, or toothed wheels may be used in the place of the worm and
.worm wheel. The variable speed of the shaft and worm is produced by
the disc being caused to move from or to the periphery of the driving
surfaces, thereby giving a lesser or greater speed. The disc is made to
move from or to the periphery of the driving surfaces by means
of a
lever or levers which are actuated by the feed rollers or other parts of
the machinery in such a manner that the varying speed of the disc'shall
be in inverse proportion to the varying quantity of material.

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Frederick Ebenezer Saxby and Joseph
Winnington, Her special license that we, the said Frederick Ebenezer
Saxby and Joseph Winnington, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as wc, the said Frederick Ebenezer Saxby and
Joseph Winnington, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED
FOR THE PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIAL TO MACHINERY USED IN THE PREPARING, MANUFACTURING, OR FINISHING
OF THE SAME, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Frederick Ebenezer Saxby and Joseph Winnington, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Frederick Ebenezer Saxby and
Joseph Winnington, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and accom-
panying Drawings (that is to say) :—
.
Our Invention relates to machinery or apparatus to be used for regu-
lating the supply of cotton or other fibrous material, and is designed
for the purpose of varying the speed of wheels or rollers or other parts
of such machinery where a variable speed is required by an improved
arrangement of mechanism which occupies less space and is more simple
and effectual than that hitherto employed.
The improvement consists principally in the driving of a plain friction
wheel by placing it between and in contact with two plain surfaces or
discs which are made to revolve in opposite directions upon an axis at
right angles to the axis of the friction wheel. A shaft passes. through
the friction wheel and rests in a footstep or bearing, and upon this shaft

page_text: the friction wheel is free to move in a longitudinal (or vertical) direc-
tion, but is prevented from turning upon the shaft by a key which is fixed
in one working in a suitable groove made in the other. A worm is
fixed upon any convenient part of this shaft, which is geared into a
worm wheel, which wheel is fixed upon the feed roller or any other part
of the machine requiring a variable speed, or toothed. wheels may be
used in the place of the worm and worm wheel. The variable speed
of the shaft and worm is produced by the friction wheel being caused
to move from or to the periphery of the driving surfaces or discs, thereby
giving a lesser or greater speed. The friction wheel is made to move from
ör to the periphery of the driving surfaces or discs by means of a lever or
levers actuated by the feed rollers or other parts of the machinery
in such a manner that the varying speed of the friction wheel shall be in
inverse proportion to the varying quantity of material.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention, we will now :
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order
that the same may be clearly understood we have annexed hereunto a
Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof.
In the annexed Drawings our Invention is represented for the sake
of illustration as applied to the feed rollers of a "lap machine," but it
will be evident that the same is equally applicable for regulating the
supply of cotton or other fibrous material to other machinery used in the
preparing, manufacturing, or finishing of the same wherein it is requisite
or advisable to regulate the speed of feed or other rollers or wheels
according to the varying thickness of the material passing into the
machine.
We may also here remark that instead of using two plain surfaces.
or discs revolving in different directions for driving the friction wheel
one disc only might be employed acting against one side of the friction
wheel only.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation; and Fig. 2 a front
view of so much of a lap machine as is necessary to illustrate the appli-
cation of our Invention thereto.
a, a, is the friction wheel working in contact with the plain surfaces b, b,
of two bevil wheels c, c*. These surfaces are caused to revolve in

page_text: opposite directions, the one c being mounted on a side shaft m, which
is driven from any convenient part of the machine, and being both
geared together by the bevil pinion d, d, and their surfaces revolve upon
an axis at right angles to the axis of the friction wheel a, a, which is
capable of sliding on a key or feather on the vertical shaft e, e, at the
same time that it drives the said shaft, the lower end of which rests in a
footstep or bearing f,f. A worm 9, 9, fixed at the upper end of this shaft
communicates motion by means of a worm wheel h, h, to the feed
rollers i, i. The friction wheel a, a, is caused to move to or from the
centre of the plain driving surfaces b, b, (so as to vary the speed as
required) by means of a series of levers k, k, attached to rods 1, 1, fixed
to the upper bearing of the feed rollers i, i, so that any rise or fall of
the top feed roller due to any excess or diminution of the quantity of
fibrous material passing through shall move the friction wheel to or from
the centre, and thus diminish or increase the speed of the said friction
wheel and consequently of the feed rollers themselves. Hence, it will
be seen that the quantity of material passing through the feed rollers
itself controls the speed of the said rollers in an inverse ratio, and thus
the amount of fibrous material fed into the machine will be at all times
kept equal. The bevil wheels c, c*, may slide upon keys or feathers
on their shafts m, m*, or be fixed to the shafts, and the latter slide with
the wheels, and their surfaces are kept always in contact with the
friction wheel a, a, by a weighted lever n, n, acting on two forked
levers o, o, which embrace the bosses of the said wheels. The feeding
motion can be thrown out of gear when required by means of the rod p,
one end of this rod is connected to the knocking off motion of the lap
machine, and the other end to the bell-crank lever q, one arm of which
carries a pin q' beneath the weighted lever n, n, so as to lift such lever
when by the action of the knocking off motion the rod is moved in
the direction of the arrow. The movement of the rod in the opposite
direction releases the weighted lever, which by means of the forked
levers o, o, re-establishes the contact between the wheels c, cx, and the
friction wheel a. It will be obvious that a spiral or other spring might
be employed in place of the lever to effect the same object.
.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that
we claim as our Invention the improved apparatus for regulating the

page_text: supply of cotton or other fibrous material to such machinery constructed
and arranged substantially as herein-before described and exhibited on
the Drawings annexed, and more especially we claim driving the feed
rollers of such machines by means of a friction wheel and plain surface
or surfaces, and so connecting the said wheel to the bearings of the
fced rollers that the rising or falling of the top feed roller shall cause
the said friction wheel to be moved nearer to or further from the centre
of the driving surfaces, and as the said friction wheel drives the feed
rollers this movement will vary the speed of the said rollers accordingly,
and thus regulate the amount of cotton or other fibrous material passed
into the machine by the said rollers, without confining ourselves to the
exact details of the arrangement shown and described for connecting
the said parts, as the same may be varied considerably without departing
from the essential features of our Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick Ebenezer Saxby and
Joseph Winnington, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this
Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witnessed by,
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
4, St. Ann's Square,
Manchester.
F. E. SAXBY.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH WINNINGTON. (L.S.)