IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING TWINE AND OTHER CORD
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Foster, junior, of Beela Mills, Milnthorpe,
in the County of Westmoreland, Flax Spinner, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING TWINE AND OTHER
CORD."
Sealed the 27th December 1872, and dated the 6th July 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Foster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th July 1872.
I, JOHN FOSTER, of Beela Mills, Milnthorpe, in the County of
Westmoreland, Flax Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING TWINE AND
OTHER CORD," to be as follows:-
For twisting the yarns or strands in the manufacture of twine or cord,
I use a twisting frame constructed in the usual manner, but provided
with more than the ordinary number of spindles, preferably twenty-four,
in two rows of twelve each, one above the other, the said spindles being
driven by toothed wheels or bands. I stretch the warp to its full length
.

page_text: and lay it on the ground underneath the bearers. I take from these
warps the yarns or strands to be twisted and tic them to the spindles of
the twisting frame. I then put on a raddle and move it on the yarns
or strands to the other end of the same, placing the said yarns on the
bearers. I then tie the ends of the yarns to a metal pin or rod, preferably
tubular, and formed with circular grooves at equal distances from each
other; I tie one strand in each of these grooves.
The said metal pin is attached to a slide, which travels upon ways of
either wood or metal; to this slide I secure a cord, which is passed over
pulleys and weighted according to the size of the twine or cord to be
twisted. When the machine is in operation, the said slide travels in the
ways towards the twisting frame, as the twine or cord shortens with
twisting, until it comes in contact with a movable stop fixed to a slide
bar; this slide bar is connected by levers and wires to the stop motion
of the twisting machine. Instead of taking the yarns from warps laid
under the frame I may take them from bobbins on an ordinary creel.
When the twisting is accomplished I take the ends of the twines or
cords from the spindles and tie them to a grooved metal pin, similar to
the pin or rod above described. These pins or rods, with the twines or
cords attached to them, are then placed in the finishing machine, which
is constructed as follows:-
The said machine has a suitable frame of wood or metal; it has at its
ends looks for the reception of the aforesaid pins or rods. The hooks at
one end of the machine are stationary, while those at the other end are
made adjustable by a cord or chain attached to a windlass provided withi
a ratchet and pawl. Or I may use any other suitable contrivances for
adjusting the said hooks. Below these hooks and extending from end to
end of the machine, I place rails or bars of wood or iron, which form
ways for rubber holders or carriages to work to and fro upon. These
rubber holders have two rows of steel pins projecting upward, between
which pins the twines or cords are held. These pins are so arranged
with regard to the grooved pins or bars to which the cords are secured
that each of the grooves in the said grooved pins lies in line with a space
between the said steel pins. Between the two rows of steel pins I place
a sheet or piece of wire card. The cords or twines pass over this card
and are held between the same and another card placed above the cords.
The upper card is placed under a plate supported by springs and pressed
down by a screw, the said springs and screw being carried by a cross

page_text: head, which is made adjustable, so that it may be turned back to permit
the cords or twines and cards to be inserted, and is secured by a spring
catch or other like contrivance. This rubber holder or carriage is moved
to and fro upon the ways by an endless wire rope passed over pulleys or
drums at the ends of the machine, the said pulleys being driven by
toothed wheels and pinions. The pinions are fixed on shafts carried in
suitable bearings above the said ways. Each shaft is connected by a
straight and crossed belt to the driving shaft, and has fast and loose pulleys
for cach belt. I prefer to provide the said machine with two sets of
ways, rubber holders, and contrivances for driving the said lolders, one
being placed at each side of the machine.
In combination with the aforesaid wire ropes and carriages, I employ
an automatic reversing and stopping apparatus, constructed and arranged
as follows:-Below the ways I place a sliding bar or rod, with an
adjustable buffer or stop at cacli end. This sliding bar is connected to a
wire rope or chain passed over two pulleys. Each of the pulley shafts
has a lever at its end. The slide bar is connected by levers to a belt
shifter, which changes the aforesaid belts from the fast to the loose
pulleys, and vice versa. When the rubber holder strikes the buffer at
one end, it throws the straight belt upon its fast pulley and the crossed
belt on its loose pulley. The holder then moves in one direction till it
strikes the buffer at the other end of the slide bar, which then throws
the crossed belt upon its fast pulley and the straight belt upon its loose
pulley, the motion of the carriage being thereby reversed, and so on.
The machine will continue working till the slide bar is adjusted to its
intermediate position by means of the aforesaid handles.
After carding and rubbing the twines or cords by means of the afore-
said rubbers I size them. For this purpose I place on the aforesaid ways
a box containing size, and so constructed that as it is moved to and fro
upon the said ways the size is applied to the cords. The wire cards are
removed, and in their place I insert rubbers made of cocoa fibre, coir, or
other suitable materials. The size box is placed in front of the rubber
holder, which pushes it along from one end of the cords to the other. Then
the size box is removed, but the rubbers are allowed to continue their to
and fro movement as long as may be thought desirable.
After being sized the twine or cord is placed in the drying trough
which occunies the central nortion or one side of the machine At the

page_text: bottom of this trough are pipes heated by steam or hot water. The
twines still attached to the grooved pins are placed over these pipes
resting on wires. The cords are connected at one end to a self-acting.
ratchet, which keeps them properly stretched as they elongate in
drying.
After being properly dried, the cords or twine are subjected to the
action of dry rubbers, made of cocoa fibre, or other suitable material
placed in the aforesaid rubber holders. They are thereby polished or
finished, and are then ready for reeling or balling..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Foster in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FOSTER, junior, of Beela Mills, Milnthorpe, in the County of West-
moreland, Flax Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Foster, Her special licence that I, the
John Foster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Foster, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING TWINE
AND OTHER CORD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Foster,, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Foster, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing
forming a part of this Specification:-
My said Invention relates to machinery for twisting the warps or
strands, and for carding, rubbing, sizing, drying, and polishing the
twine or cords.
For twisting the yarns or strands in the manufacture of twine or cord,
I use a twisting frame, constructed in the usual manner, or nearly so,
but provided with more than the ordinary number of spindles. I prefer
to use twenty-four spindles, in two rows of twelve each, one above the
other, the said spindles being driven by toothed wheels or bands.
According to one part of my said Invention, when bands are used,
they are kept tight by levers and weights. I stretch the warp to its full
length and lay it on the ground underneath the bearers. I take from
the warps the yarns or strands to be twisted and tie them to the spindles
at one end of the twisting frame. I then put on a raddle and move it
on the yarns' or strands to the other end of the frame, placing the said
yarns on the bearers. I then tie the ends of the yarn to a metal pin
or rod.
My Invention consists partly in the peculiar construction and use of
this pin or rod, which is preferably hollow or tubular, and is formed with
circular grooves at equal distances from each other. I tic one strand in
each of these grooves. The said metal pin is attached to a slide which
travels upon ways of either wood or metal; to this slide I secure a cord
which is passed over pulleys and weighted.
My said Invention also consists partly in the novel construction and
arrangement of the parts of the finishing machine, that is to say, the
said finishing machine has a suitable frame of wood or metal; it has at
its ends hooks for the reception of the aforesaid pins or rods. The hooks
at one end of the machine are stationary, while those at the other end
are made adjustable. Below these hooks and extending from end to end
of the machine I place rails or bars of wood or iron, which form ways
for rubber holders or carriages to work to and fro upon. These rubber
holders have two rows of steel pins projecting upward, between which
pins the twines or cords pass. Between the two rows of steel pins I

page_text: place a sheet or piece of wire card. I prefer to use my improved card,
herein-after described. The cords or twines pass over this card and are
held between the same and another card placed above the cords. The
upper card is placed under a plate supported by springs and pressed
down by a screw, the said springs and screw being carried by an ad-
justable cross head.
Another part of my Invention consists in the combination of this
peculiarly constructed rubber holder with the other parts of the machine.
The said rubber holder or carriage is moved to and fro upon the ways by an
endless wire rope passed over pullies or drums at the ends of the machine,
the said pulleys being driven by toothed wheels and pinions. The
pinions are fixed on shafts carried in suitable bearings above the said
ways. Each shaft is connected by a straight and crossed belt to the
driving shaft, and has fast and loose pulleys for each belt. I prefer to
provide the said machine with two sets of ways, cach set having rubber
holders and contrivances for driving the said holders.
Another part of this Invention consists in an automatic reversing and
stopping apparatus, which I use in combination with the aforesaid wire
ropes and carriages. The said reversing and stopping apparatus is con-
structed and arranged as herein-after described.
After carding and rubbing the twines or cords by means of the
aforesaid rubbers I size them. For this purpose I place on the aforesaid
ways a box containing size, and so constructed that as it is moved to and
fro upon the said ways the size is applied to the cords.
Another part of my Invention consists in the peculiar construction of
this box, as herein-after described.
0
After being sized the twine or cord is placed in the drying trough,
which, according to another part of my Invention, occupies the central
portion or one side of the machine. At the bottom of this trough are
pipes heated by steam or hot water. The twines still attached to the
grooved pins are placed over these pipes resting on wires. The cords are
connected at one end to a self-acting ratchet, which keeps them properly
stretched as they elongate in drying.
After being properly dried the cords or twines are subjected to the
action of dry rubbers made of cocoa fibre or other suitable material
placed in the aforesaid rubber holders. They are thereby polished or
finished, and are then ready for reeling or balling.

page_text: ends are suitably formed for striking the buffers. The said rubber
holders are provided on each side of their upper surface with a row of
steel pins 1, 2, for separating the twines or cords; the spaces between these ¨¨
pins correspond with the circular grooves in the pins D, D'. The cards
or rubbers, as herein-before specified, are placed between these two rows;
of pins, and are pressed down by a metal plate K'; this plate is hung
upon a cross head K³ by two spiral springs at K*. The said cross head
has a screw K³ passed through it and provided with a hand wheel K* for.
forcing down the metal plate K' upon the card or rubber. The said
cross head is secured to the rubber holder K by a stud or hinge at one
end and a spring catch at the other end, so arranged that when the said
catch is removed the plate K' and cross head K³ may either be raised or
turned out of the way when the twine or cord is being put into or taken
out of the machine; L, is a wire rope, both ends of which are fixed
to the under side of the rubber holder K by clamps and screws or other
suitable fastenings; M, M, arc grooved pulleys for carrying the said
wire rope.; N, N, are spur wheels fixed on the shaft M' of the said
grooved pulleys, as clearly shewn in Figure 5; O, O, are pinions on the
driving shafts P, which are arranged above the shafts M'; Q, Q, are fast
and loose pulleys on the said driving shafts driven by straight and cross
belts R, R, are sliding bars which carry the india-rubber buffers S, S'.
The buffers S at the driving end of the machine are stationary, but the
buffers S¹ at the other end are adjustable, and are provided with a screw
and hand wheel T, or other suitable means for securing them.
The sliding bars Rare connected to each other by a wire rod R*.
Below the said sliding bars at each end I fix pulleys R', to which I
fasten a chain R², one of whose ends I attach to each of the sliding.
bars R. On each of the pulley shafts R' I place a lever handle R for
starting and stopping the machine. U, U, are connecting rods, which
are attached at one end to the sliding bars and at the other end to
levers V for working the belt shifter.
W is the aforesaid drying trough, at the bottom of which are placed
the pipes X heated by Steam or hot water. The twines or cords still
attached to the grooved pins are placed over these pipes, resting on
wires at a suitable distance from the pipes, and connected at one end to
a windlass Y with a self-acting ratchet, which keeps them properly
stretched and elongated in drying.

page_text: '
In Figures 6 and 6ª, S¹, S', are the buffers which slide on the ways B;
R is a sliding bar with a ratchet on its under side; S is a pawl fixed to
the under side of the buffer; S3 is a rope attached at one end to the said
pawl, the said rope being guided by the pulleys S* and weighted; F" is
à bar, which has a catch at one end, and is fixed at the other end to thic
twine or cord holders F. The pawl S² is kept out of the ratchet R², and
at the same time against the catch on the bar until the rubber holder
strikes the buffer and presses the pawl into the ratchet; the said rubber
holder then returns, the weight brings the pawl out of the ratchet
against the catch F¹ on the cord holder F; the buffers are therefore
always the same distance from the twine holder as the twine or cord
elongates in the course of finishing.
Figures 9, 10, and 11, illustrate the twine box and the manner in which
the twine passes through the size. The said box has a lid p hinged at
one end, and secured by a bolt at the other end. When the twine is put
in or taken out the lid p is raised. On one side of the lid there is a
narrow piece q of india-rubber, which is pressed upon the twine, as shown
in Figure 11, by the springs and screws r, s, and the quantity of size
left upon the twines or cords can be thereby regulated.
The improved card, Figure 13, consists of a metal plate t filled with
short tempered steel pins, and furnished with a backing v of wood.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Foster, junior, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.