IMPROVEMENTS IN WARPING, DRESSING, AND FINISHING THREADS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th March 1861.
-A communication from abroad by Mr. Eugène Lebée, of 29, Boulevart
St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire of France, Merchant.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer & Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WARPING, DRESSING, AND FINISHING THREADS, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:—
This Invention relates to causing threads of flax, hemp, wool, silk, or other
material, but principally of cotton previously impregnated with size or other
dressing, to pass between & in contact with tubes or cylinders of india-rubber
or other suitable materials which by compressing the thread expresses the
superfluous dressing it contains, and allows only the necessary amount to
remain. In sizing or dressing warps composed of a considerable number of
threads the utmost facility should be afforded to those charged with the dressing
operation for introducing the threads while in motion, or for reuniting those
which may have broken. This result has not hitherto been obtained in appa-
ratus used in dressing threads or warps.
According to this Invention all difficulty in the working and attachment of
the threads is obviated, which operation may be effected instantaneously
without interrupting the motion of the apparatus.
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of the

page_text: apparatus showing the arrangement of the threads, which are either wound on
bobbins or spools to be afterwards transferred to the warp beam or machine.
A, A', troughs or recipients containing dressing into which the threads are
passed; E, warp beam on which the threads are wound when dressed; F, comb
with bent teeth; G, plate pierced with holes through which the threads pass;
H, brushes which may be fixed or movable in any suitable manner.
The dressing of the threads may also be effected during the winding of the
threads on the bobbins, in which case the vessels containing the size or dressing
are placed between the spools or hanks which supply the threads and the
bobbins on which they are received. In ordinary winding machines I effect
this by placing the bobbins as far as possible from the dressing vessels, in
order that the threads may be completely dried before winding.
A is a vessel, seen in side view at Fig. 2, the two ends of which are of
wood or metal; the base B of this vessel is inclined and undulated, as seen in
the Drawing. Each undulation is covered with cloth or other fabric on which
the threads bear when passing through the dressing with which the vessel is
filled. The two sides of the vessel A are formed by tubes or cylinders of
india-rubber placed in contact side by side, which may be removed when
necessary, and are held in vertical position by small iron rods C placed vertically
at intervals in the bottom of the vessel; these tubes or cylinders may, however,
be supported in other way.
The india-rubber tubes D, D¹, are independent
any
one of the other, but at the same time touch and press against each other by
reason of their tendency to circumferential developement produced by their
elasticity. It will be understood that the threads, whether new or joined, are
introduced between the tubes D in a similar way to passing them through a
comb. On the one hand the close, connection and pressure of the cylinders is
sufficient to retain the dressing in the vessel, while on the other hand their
elasticity ensures their perfectly embracing the threads, and also allows all
knots or unevenness on the threads to pass through. In all cases, whether
the threads are perfectly smooth or not, the side formed by the tubes D permits
of their introduction to the vessel of dressing, and the opposite parallel side
formed by tubes D' for their exit therefrom after the surplus amount of dressing
has been expressed. The india-rubber tubes or cylinders may be placed per-
pendicularly or otherwise to the vessel containing the dressing, as also in an
inclined position. Instead of the tubes D, D', a sheet of india-rubber may, be
used, which is split down one part of its length to form, 1st, the longitudinal
sides of the vessel, and 2ndly, the séparation. & passages for. the compression
of the threads to express the dressing, as seen at Fig. 3. The india-rubber
should be divided so as to introduce the threads as through a comb. Instead

page_text: of using india-rubber the longitudinal sides of the vessel may be formed of
bladders, parchment, gutta percha, or other impervious supple material, by
means of which I make small bags of cylindrical or other form. These latter
are expanded until in contact with one another by means of air or water
through a feed aperture, or they may be filled with down, wadding, wool, or
other matter possessing sufficient elasticity.
It will be understood from the foregoing, which forms the most important
feature of the Invention, that the longitudinal sides of the size vessel are so
arranged that the introduction of the threads may be instantaneously effected
without interfering with the winding, and allow of their passage notwithstand-
ing the surface they oppose to the exit of the dressing, by reason of the natural
expansion of the india-rubber, or other artificial expansion produced in the
manner above described. In this manner great economy is effected by facili-
tating and saving the labour of the operatives, as the threads may be introduced
into the vessel of dressing without employing needles or hooks, or displacing
any part of the machine.
According to this Invention the dressing is effected by previously placing a
greater or less amount of thread on rollers, or the thread may be directly
placed on the bobbins, while, in some cases, the warping & dressing may be
effected simultaneously. In order to obtain this result it is necessary, in
consequence of the great number of threads of which a warp is ordinarily
composed, that the bobbins should be arranged to occupy as little space as
possible, so that the operative may easily remove the empty bobbins and
connect the broken threads. For this purpose the bobbins are placed as seen
in Fig. 1 of the Drawing annexed. The threads when quitting the bobbins
enter separately into the recipients A, A¹, or are previously separated by
passing between the teeth of a comb placed above the bobbins for keeping the
threads at a suitable distance apart. The frames are placed so that two rows
of bobbins may be opposite each other, and so that the threads from both
rows converge towards the same recipient or comb, as represented in Fig. 1.
The frames may also be placed one behind the other.
These improved
arrangements of the frames allow of a large number of bobbins being placed
in a small space.