Im- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING COVERED OR PLATED TWIST AND CORD
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Zahn, of the City, County, and State
of New York, but now residing in London, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING COVERED OR PLATED TWIST AND
CORD."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Zahn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd September 1855.
I, WILLIAM HENRY ZAHN, of the City, County, and State of New York, but
now residing in London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING COVERED OR PLATED TWIST AND
CORD" to be as follows; and consists in certain means whereby cotton or
hemp may be covered, or, as it is technically termed, "plated," with silk or
worsted, or any fibrous material may be covered or plated with the same or a
different material, and if desired, afterwards laid to make cord, at a single
operation.
A stationary framing is provided, in the centre of the bottom of which is a
journal box or bearing, for a central hollow journal or pivot of a horizontal
circular table, which may rotate upon its axis or be brought to a stationery
condition by inserting a pin through one side of the framing, and into a hole

page_text: in its periphery. The hollow journal or pivot receives within it the lower part
of a vertical central spindle of a reel-shaped flyer frame, which fits easily
within it, so that the flyer frame may rotate while the table is stationery, or
the table may rotate while the flyer frame is stationery, or the table and flyer
frame rotate in opposite directions, as may be desired. The lower head of the
flyer frame is composed of two parts, in order to form upper and lower bearings
for the spindles of the flyers. Each of these spindles carries a spur wheel,
gearing with a circular rack on the table, the said rack being composed of a
series of upright studs secured in the table. Each flyer carries two bobbins;
a larger one carrying the cotton or hempen warp to form the interior of the
twist or cord, having its axle supported in the sides of the flyer; and a smaller
bobbin, parallel with the larger one, carrying the silk or worsted for the plating
or covering, having its axle secured at one end in an arm attached to one side
of the flyer.
G
The larger bobbin has a drag produced upon one of its heads by a small
roller, carried by a spring attached to the lower part of the flyer, and the
smaller bobbin has a drag produced in a similar manner.
Above each bobbin and flyer there is a tube fitted to turn freely in the
upper head of the flyer frame, and standing in line with the axis of the flyer.
To the lower end of this tube, below the head, there is attached a rod enter-
ing a loop as the top of one side of the flyer, and also a light frame carrying
two rollers, which I will call the upper and lower rollers, and which may be
considered in the same light as the nippers of ordinary cordage machines, but
has the rollers so arranged that a line intersecting both their axes is oblique
to the axis of the flyer instead of in line, like when rollers are employed as
nippers in those machines.
Above the upper head of the flyer frame for each bobbin there is a roller,
whose axle turns in bearings in two standards; this roller carries a wheel,
having teeth on one side gearing with an endless screw at the top of the said
tube (which turns freely in the upper head), and near this tube there is a
standard fixed on the upper head carrying a roller. In the centre of the top
of the frame there is another tube.
The warps may consist each of a sufficient number of threads of rovings or
of a single thread or roving of proper size. Each passes upwards from its
bobbin over its upper roller (as before mentioned), thence downwards between
the upper and lower rollers and under the lower roller, where it receives the
covering, and from whence it ascends in line with the axes of the flyer through
a tube, and if a laid cord is to be made it passes over the roller which is sup-
ported by a standard fixed in the upper head, and then downwards under

page_text: the rollers above the head of the flyer frame and upwards towards the tube
(in the centre of the top of the frame), below which the several covered strands
are laid together. The covering consists in a number of filaments arranged
together so as to lay parallel and form a flat sliver of ribbon; it passes from
the bobbin to meet the warp just on the under side of the lower roller, and
passes between the warp and the bobbin.
In making laid cord composed of covered strands, the table is usually made
stationery, and rotary motion is communicated to the spindle of the flyer frame
through a crank pulley, or their equivalent, secured to the said spindle below
the framing.
The flyer frame being fast on its spindle rotates with it, and the wheels of
the flyers, by revolving in gear with the stationery rack (which is composed of
a series of upright studs), receive rotary motion on their own axes, and cause
the flyers to rotate.
The said tubes and the upper and lower roller frames are made to rotate
with the flyers by their connexion with rods, which are connected to the
standards of the bobbins, and the endless screw (at the top of the tubes) gives
motion to the rollers which draw off the warps from their bobbins.
The rotary motion of the flyers gives a slight twist to the warps as they are
unwound from their bobbins by the last-mentioned rollers, and at the same
time causes the covering or plating sliver or ribbon to be wound round them.
Both the warp and the covering are kept at a proper degree of tightness
during the operation by the drag of the rollers on their bobbins.
The covering is laid smooth by its passing between the warp and the lower
roller as the winding is performed.
The rotary motion of the flyer frame lays and twists the several covered
strands together, and forms the cord in substantially the same manner as
common cordage is formed in machines heretofore employed for that purpose.
The cord as it is made is supposed to be wound on a reel whose operation is so
controlled as to keep it always drawn tight. The sizes of the rollers, which are:
worked by the endless screw, will have to be varied to suit different sizes.of
twist, as the velocity of their peripheries should always be just sufficient to take
the twist, as it is termed, as fast as it is covered. A larger warp will
require a larger roller, and vice versa.
up
If it be only required to make plated twist, such as is used for tassels, fringes,
etc., the several warps, instead of being laid together after they are covered,
should be conducted to seperate reels or spools, as each in itself constitutes
what is known as plated twist. In that case, however, the flyer frame should
be made stationery, by removing the pin which keeps the table stationery, and

page_text: passing it through the framing at a higher point, where it will enter a hole in
the flyer frame.
The said crank pulley, or their equivalent, must then be secured to the pivot
of the table instead of to the spindle, as in the previously described operation.
The flyer frame being stationery, the revolution of the table will cause the rack
to give rotary motion to the flyers severally upon their own axes.
For making very small cord, an increased speed may be given to the bobbins
and flyers by bringing into operation a small toothed pinion between the last-
mentioned rack and another rack above it on the lower part of the flyer
frame, at the same time removing the pin which keep part of the machine
stationery, and securing the crank pulley, or its equivalent, to the spindle of the
flyer frame.
The rotary motion of the flyer frame will then, through the pinion and racks,
give motion to the table at the same speed as, but in the opposite direction to,
the flyer frame, and by that means the velocity of the spur wheels of the flyers
and the flyers themselves will be doubled. In making covered or plated cord,
this machine does at one operation what by the present usual process of
manufacture requires five distinct operations. The operation will be still
further expedited by employing two or more smaller bobbins in each flyer to
carry the covering material, each of the said bobbins being arranged and
operated like the single one represented and described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Zahn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY ZAHN, of the City, County, and State of New York, but now residing
in London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Henry Zahn, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Zahn, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Henry Zahn, 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

page_text: 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 FOR MAKING COVERED OR PLATED TWIST AND
CORD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry
Zahn, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
or their hand and seal, 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
mouths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Zahn, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of a machine, whereby certain materials, as cotton,
hemp, and so forth, may be covered, or, as it is technically termed, "plated,"
with silk or worsted, or any suitable fibrous or textile material may be twisted
and covered or plated with the same or a different material, and if desired,
afterwards laid to make cord, at one and the same operation.
The accompanying Drawings represent a vertical machine; in which, Fig. 1
is an elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is a section of some parts of the
same, shewing the grooved conical guide. Letters of reference indicate the
several parts referred to in this description.
A, A, A, is a table or stand for supporting the upper framework B, B, B,
of the machine; a shaft C with two journals & bevel wheels, which, con-
jointly with a double clutch movement, gives motion to and controls the centre
spindle or cylinder Y. A forked lever D, acting primarily on the upper
clutch, engages or disengages the plates E and H. G is a multiplying wheel
for increasing the velocity of the motion. For the fabrication of the plated
twist, the upper plate H is stationary, and the lower one E only revolves. The
lower head of the flyer frame is composed of two parts, in order to form upper
and lower bearings for the spindles a, a, of the flyers I, I, I, of which there are
supposed to be four, but may be a greater or less number. Each of these
spindles carries a spur or cog wheel b, b, placed between the two plates H
and E, which gears with a circular rack c, c, the said rack being composed of a
series of upright studs secured in the bottom of the lower plate E. Each flyer
carries two bobbins, a large one K, carrying material to form the interior
or core of the twist or cord, having its axle d supported by the bottom of the
flyer; and a smaller one L, carrying the material for the plating or covering,
having its axle e secured at one end in arm f attached to one side of the flyer.

page_text: The bobbin K has on the lower part of its axis a spring of any suitable
material with a metal washer h intervening. This spring is operated upon by
the set screw d for the purpose of regulating the supply of the warp, and the
bobbin L has a double set screw attached to a spring for regulating the supply
of the silk to the warp. Above each bobbin and flyer there is a tube k fitted
to turn freely in the upper head M of the flyer frame, and standing in line
with the axis of the flyer. To the lower end of this tube below the head M
there is attached a rod N, entering a loop at the top of one side of the flyer,
and also a light frame m, carrying two rollers n, n, guiding and spreading the
silk from the bobbin L to the guide roller o.
Attached to the flyer, and nearly central with the bobbin K, is a triform
hook thus.
which, receiving the cotton from the bobbin K, causes it to alternate between
its several parts, and serves as a guide to keep the cotton off the bobbin, and
leads it to the roller p, as well as to prevent the cotton warp from twisting
before it passes the said hook. This roller p is for the purpose of improving
and rounding the cotton twist preparatory to its receiving the silk, and at the
same time keeping the twist in one position. Above this roller p is placed
another hook of similar construction, to serve as a guide and spreader for the
silk receiving it from the roller o, the silk being still further spread by passing
over the pointed lower part of the angular hook s. Above the head M for
each bobbin there is a roller T, whose axle turns on bearings on two standards,
and four guide rollers u, placed over a tube v, serving to guide the twist to the
roller T. In the centre of the frame is placed the tube O, through which the
plated cord passes, and is carried by means of several guides over the regulating
apparatus, hereafter mentioned. On the centre of the plate M is fixed a screw
a 1, on which is placed a conical guide 61, for the better laying of the cord.
This guide can be elevated or depressed according to the angle the twist is to
assume to form the cord. On the side of the guide are grooves along which
the twist travels, and immediately the twist leaves the said guide the strands
join together and the cord is formed. This guide is shewn in Fig. 2. A
movable guide with rollers may be used to accomplish the same purpose as the
conical grooved guide. This guide being for the purpose of confining the
strands to the requisite angle, causes unity of motion, regularity of cord, and
prevents vibration.

page_text: The regulating apparatus comprised within the frame R, R, is susceptible of
many modifications, but as it does not form any part of my Invention for
plating twist I lay no claim to any specific arrangement.
The warps, which are represented in red color, may consist each of a suffi-
cient number of threads or rovings or of a single thread or roving of a proper
size. Each passes upwards from its bobbin over its respective roller, to which
it is guided by means of the triform hook r, thence being conveyed by the side
of the pointed hooks through the slot in the flyer frame to the tube k, from
which it is led by the guide rollers u, u, T, T, and conical guide to the tube O,
below which the several covered threads or strands are laid together, passing
then upwards through the tubular extension and over the speed regulator X
to the guide pulley y, from which it is received by a winding-off spool.
The covering (which is represented in blue color) consists of a number of
filaments arranged together so as to lay parallel and form a flat sliver or ribbon;
it passes from the bobbin L to meet the warp a little above the roller p, at
the junction of the two spreading hooks s and z. In making laid cord com-
posed of covered strands, the lower plate E is made stationary by inserting
the pawl No. 2, and rotary motion is communicated to the spindle Y of the
flyer frame. The flyer frame being fast on its spindle rotates with it, and the
wheels of the flyers, by revolving in gear with the stationary rack c, c,
receive rotary motion on their own axis, and cause the flyers I, I, I, to rotate.
The tubes k and the roller frames m are caused to rotate with the flyers by
their connection with the rods N.
The rotary motion of the flyers gives a slight twist to the warps as they
are unwound from their bobbins by the speed regulator X, and at the same
time causes the covering or plating sliver or ribbon to be wound round
them. The winding on of the covering or plating takes place where it first
meets the warp, and as it takes place always at the same point, must be
uniform. The covering is laid smooth by passing over the guide rollers,
and spread to its utmost by means of the spreading hooks s, z, as the
winding is performed. The rotary motion of the flyer frame lays and twists
the several covered strands together, and forms the cord in substantially the
same manner as common cord is formed in machines heretofore employed
for that purpose.
5 If it be only required to make plated twist, such as is used for tassels,
fringes, &c., the several warps, instead of being laid together after they are
covered, are conducted to separate reels or spools, as each in itself constitutes
what is known as plated twist. In that case, however, the flyer frame is made
stationary by removing the pawl No. 2, and inserting the pawl No. 1 in the

page_text: upper plate H. In making covered or plated cord, this machine does at one
operation what by the usual process of manufacture requires five distinct
operations, and it is estimated that by it the manufacture can be carried on in
less than one-thirtieth (30) of the space required for the same amount of work
by the means now in use. The operation will be still further expedited by
employing two or more bobbins L in each flyer to carry the covering material,
each of said bobbins being arranged & operating like the single one repre-
sented and described.
The above description refers to a vertical machine, but the same result may
be arrived at and accomplished by making it horizontal.
Having now fully described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I do not confine myself to the precise details of arrange-
ment herein set forth, as they may be varied to produce the same results
without departing from the principle of my Invention; for example, the
bobbins K may be placed horizontally instead of vertically on the flyers I;
but what I claim is,―
First, the combination in one machine of the several parts for, 1st, rounding
and forming the core from the single yarn to prepare it for the reception of
the covering or plating material; 2nd, the laying on of the covering material
or plating of the core; 3rd, the twisting of the core and plating material so
as to form a compact strand; and, finally, the laying of the several strands
together to form a complete covered or "plated" cord, and thus producing by
one machine and by one continuous operation, as herein described, what has
hitherto been produced by several distinct and seperate operations successively.
Secondly, the combination in one machine of the three several first-mentioned
parts of the above machine for the purpose of forming a compound plated
strand, as above described.
In witness whereof I, the said William Henry Zahn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of March, A.D. One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.