CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING WOOL, SILK, MOHAIR, OR OTHER ANIMAL FIBRE OF ANY QUALITY OR LENGTH OF STAPLE
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LISTER, of Baildon, in the Parish of Otley, in the County of York, Cotton
Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of January, 1823, in the fourth
year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Lister, my
exors, adñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Lister, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING WOOL, SILK, MOHAIR, OR OTHER ANIMAL
FIBRE OF ANY QUALITY OR LENGTH OF STAPLE;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso that if I, the said William Lister, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Lister, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion by the following description thereof, and the manner in which I perform
the same, by the Figures and Drawings annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention doth consist in an apparatus for straightening the fibre
of and spinning wool into worsted yarn or the like, and other animal substances,
such as silk and mohair, into yarns, by wetting, pressing, or partly drying and
calendering the sliver or slivers in its or their progress from the bobbin or
bobbins to the fly of the roving spindle, and without employing the process
commonly called ombine

page_text: into a new roving in the ordinary way. The first motion is given to the
machinery in the usual way by means of the pulley Y, over which a band
is to be passed, and communicating with any competent power, such as a
steam engine, water wheel, or the like. On the same axis with the pulley Y
is a long drum M, over which bands pass to communicate motion to the roving
spindles, and also a pulley X which communicates motion by means of a band
to the pulley Z, which is on the end of the second calendering roller K. This
calendering roller communicates motion, by means of the wheel on its opposite
end, to all the remaining rollers except the wetting roller R, which is turned
merely by the friction of the slivers passing under it, as will more fully appear
by reference to the Drawing marked B.
W is the
The Drawing marked B is a plan of a part of a drawing or roving frame, in
which those parts coloured blue represent my said improvements. I call this the
plan of a part of a drawing or roving frame, because, in order the better to
shew the direction of the slivers, the upper rollers are omitted.
shallow cistern of water before mentioned. B, B, are bobbins, on which the
slivers are represented as wound. R, R, are what I call the wetting rollers,
from their being partly immersed in the water, and thus wetting the slivers as
they pass under them. P, P, are the pressing or drying rollers.
the drawing and carrying rollers now in use as before described. K, K, are the
calendering rollers. O, O, are the fliers of the ordinary roving spindles; the
red lines represent the slivers. N, N, are guides. The ends of the calendering
rollers are represented with screws for the purpose of attaching the necessary
apparatus for causing steam to pass through them; the supply of steam being
regulated by a cock or valve, it may be either finally condensed or conducted
out of the building as may be most convenient.
D, c, c, D, are
Having traced the motion, when describing the Drawing marked A, as far
as to the pulley Z on the end of the calendering roller, I will now continue to
trace it to the other parts of my apparatus. The end of the second lower
calendering roller, opposite to where the pulley Z is fixed, is provided with a
cog wheel, which, by means of the connecting wheels on dead centres g, g,
communicates motion to the first calendering roller, and thence to the lower
second drawing roller D; these connecting wheels g, g, are arranged to allow
just so much increased velocity to the calendering rollers as will keep the
slivers tightly stretched; from the lower second drawing roller motion is com-
municated to the first drawing rollers, and from thence to the carrying rollers
in the usual manner. Then, to give motion to the pressing rollers P, P, I place
an additional wheel a on the axis of the first lower drawing roller, which, by
means of the connecting wheel on the (dead centre e, communicates motion to the

page_text: large wheelf on the axis of the lower pressing roller P. Of the upper rollers
generally, I need only say that they move by friction only on the lower rollers,
except indeed the upper calendering rollers, which are provided with cogged
wheels to work in the wheels J, J, seen on the under calendering rollers, and
which are used for the purpose of making their motions steady and uniform.
Now the exact dimensions and proportions of my said improvements are not
material to the Invention, and they may be made of whatever materials may
be deemed most expedient by the manufacturers; nor is the particular mode
of applying water to wet the wool, &c., or heat the calendering and other
rollers, whether by steam or heaters, or otherwise, at all material, provided
always that they are moistened and heated to the requisite degree and tempera-
ture for hot-pressing. But an apparatus which will straighten the fibre of and
spin wool into worsted yarn, or the like and other animal substances, such as.
silk and mohair, into yarns, without employing the process commonly called
combing, and in manner aforesaid, being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new, and never before used in this kingdom, I hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that. I do verily believe this said.
Specification in all respects fully, and without reserve or disguise, to comply
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained, whereby it is my intention to maintain an exclusive right and privilege
to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lister, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.