IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO SELFACTING MULES
Year: 1885

page_text: :
I WILLIAM THOMAS WATTS of the firm of Taylor Lang & Co Limited of Castle
Iron Works, Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, Machine Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO
SELFACTING MULES," to be as follows:-
The carriage of selfacting mules is taken out when spinning by being geared up
with the front roller, this is done by a train of spur wheels, one wheel and pinion
being placed upon a weight lever having its fulcrum on the framing by the move-
ment of which lever the pinion can be brought in and out of gear with the wheel
driven by it.
The weight lever is actuated through connections from and by a cam, on the cam
shaft, and the weight on the weight lever is enough to keep the driving pinion
carried by it in gear with the driven wheel, while the carriage is moving out when
spinning, but it should lift and allow the driving pinion to go out of gear in case of
any obstruction to the carriage and thus prevent breakage or injury.
I find that this weight lever cannot be arranged to act as above described under
all circumstances, but that it is either too light to keep the wheels in gear, or if
made heavy enough, it keeps them in gear when there is an obstruction that
should cause the weight lever to give way and put the wheels out of gear.
I also find that the wheels only need to be held firmly in gear just at the time
the carriage begins to move out when there is the greatest strain upon the gearing
and that after the carriage has started outwards, but little driving power is
required.
My invention consists in holding or locking the wheels in gear when the carriage
begins to move out, and in the combinations and arrangements of mechanism for
effecting this object.
I attach one end of a helical spring to the weight lever, and the other end to
a curved lever on a stud in the framing and use an adjusting screw to act upon
the curved lever to put tension upon the spring, and act as a stop to the lift of the
curved lever-On the carriage I fix a bracket which carries a bowl that will come
upon and depress the end of the curved lever when the carriage runs in and thus
cause the spring to bring pressure. upon the weight lever, both before and after it
is lowered by the cam shaft to bring the wheels into gear, and this pressure is kept

page_text: on to hold the lever down and the wheels in gear while the carriage runs out
that is until the bowl on the carriage has left the curved lever at liberty.
The weight on the weight lever may be wholly or partly dispensed with by
causing the spring to act instead, which spring by the adjusting screw acting on
the curved lever may be made to give pressure enough to hold the wheels in gear
while the carriage is going out, and after the curved lever has been left at liberty
to lift to the adjusting screw stop, the spring also permitting the cam shaft to lift
the weight lever to bring the wheels out of gear at the end of the "stretch" or
outward movement of the carriage.
Other arrangements of mechanism for effecting the object described may be
used for instance a weight or spring catch may be jointed on the carriage so as
to give way laterally and pass under or on one side of the curved lever or its
equivalent when the carriage runs in, but when it has run in the cam shaft will
lower the weight lever, and the curved lever (a rigid connection between the two
being used instead of the spring) and the weight or spring catch, by the action of
its weighted arm or its spring, will cause the catch to move laterally, or upwards,
to come above the edge of the curved lever or its equivalent, and hold it down
and thus the wheels in gear at the beginning of the "stretch" or out going of the
carriage.

page_text: I WILLIAM THOMAS WATTS, of the firm of Taylor Lang & Co Limited of Castle
Iron Works Stalybridge, in the County of Chester, Machine Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The carriage of selfacting mules is taken out when spinning by being geared
up with the front roller, this is done by a train of spur wheels, one wheel and
pinion being placed upon a weight lever having its fulcrum on the framing, by
the movement of which lever the pinion can be brought in and out of gear with the
wheel driven by it.
The weight lever is actuated through connections from and by a cam on the cam
shaft and the weight on the weight lever is enough to keep the driving pinion
carried by it in gear with the driven wheel, while the carriage is moving out when
spinning, but it should lift and allow the driving pinion to go out of gear in case
of any obstruction to the carriage and thus prevent breakage or injury.
I find that this weight lever cannot be arranged to act as above described under
all circumstances, but that it is either too light to keep the wheels in gear, or if
made heavy enough it keeps them in gear when there is an obstruction that should
cause the weight lever to give way and put the wheels out of gear.
I also find that the wheels only need to be held firmly in gear just at the
time the carriage begins to move out, when there is the greatest strain upon the
gearing and that after the carriage has started outwards, but little driving power
is required.
My invention consists in holding or locking the wheels in gear when the carriage
begins to move out, and in the combinations and arrangements of mechanism for
effecting this object.
I attach one end of a helical spring to the weight lever, and the other end to
a curved lever on a stud in a bracket on the framing and use an adjusting screw
to act upon the curved lever to put tension upon the spring and act as a stop to
the lift of the curved lever-On the carriage I fix a bracket which carries a bowl
that will come upon and depress the end of the curved lever when the carriage
runs in and thus cause the spring to bring pressure upon the weight lever, both
before and after it is lowered by the cam shaft to bring the wheels into gear, and
this pressure is kept on to hold the lever down and the wheels in gear while the
carriage runs out, that is, until the bowl on the carriage has left the curved lever
at liberty.
The weight on the weight lever may be wholly or partly dispensed with by
causing the spring to act instead, which spring by the adjusting screw acting on
the curved lever may be made to give pressure enough to hold the wheels in gear
while the carriage is going out, and after the curved lever has been left at liberty
to lift to the adjusting screw stop, the spring also permitting the cam shaft to lift
the weight lever to bring the wheels out of gear at the end of the "stretch" or
outward movement of the carriage.
Fig. 1 is an elevation showing so much of the mechanism of a selfacting mule as
will be required to explain my invention,

page_text: a represents part of the framing of the headstock of a selfacting mule-b part
of the carriage, being one of the wheels which support the carriage on one
side of it.
The long and short dotted line circles represent the pitch lines of the spur wheels
which connect the gearing driving the drawing rollers and the wheels for
taking out the carriage-c is a lever centred at c which has a stud in it for the
wheels c² and c³ to rotate upon-This lever c is weighted or as a weight c* formed
on its outer end, and it is this weighted lever that keeps the pinion c³ in gear with
the wheel e¹ on the shaft c when the carriage is going out from the drawing
rollers, and which lever e should lift and allow the pinion c³ to come out of gear
with the wheel e¹ in case of an obstruction to the going out of the carriage.
с
All the parts of a selfacting mule above referred to, by letters of reference, are
ordinary and well known.
According to one mode of carrying out my invention a bracket d is secured,
to the framing a which has a slot in which a stud f¹ is secured so as to be
adjustable in the slot. This stud is the fulcrum of a lever f the free end of which
is curved as shown-Between this lever f and the weight lever c a helical spring g
is stretched, one end hooking on a pin in the weight lever c, the other end passing
through a hole in a side projection f³, from the lever f this end having a screw by.
which the tension of the spring y can be regulated.
There is an adjusting screw h screwing through an arm from the bracket d, the
end of which screw comes against the upper side of the lever f and this screw h is
used to prevent the lever f from lifting too high when otherwise at liberty and also
for giving more or less tension to the spring g.
There is a bracket 62 secured to the carriage as shown, which has a vertical
slot in it for a stud, (which can thus be adjusted up and down) and this stud has a
bowl b free upon it which comes against the curved end of the lever when the
carriage has nearly run in, and depresses and holds it down while the carriage
is in the positions in which the bowl 63 remains on the lever f, but when the
bowl 63 is clear, as when the carriage is running out, the lever f is released and
rises until it comes against the screw stop h.
It will thus be seen that when the carriage (b) runs in and is near the drawing
rollers pressure is added by the spring y to the weight lever c and when the
carriage b runs out and is away from the drawing rollers the extra pressure on
the weight lever c is thus removed.
In fig. 2 which is a view similar to fig. 1 a modification is shown dispensing with
a spring and showing weights or weight levers instead.
d is a bracket corresponding to the bracket & fig. 1, it carries the fulcrum f¹ of a
lever the free end of which is curved to be acted upon by the bowl b³ on the
bracket be secured to the carriage b.
The lever f has the lower end of a rod g* jointed to it, the upper end of which
rod being slotted to slide freely on a stud ct secured in the weight lever c.
This stud may be secured in a vertical slot in the weight lever c for adjusting
purposes if desired.
By a weight g shown in dotted line adjustable on a projecting arm from the
lever f the rod gx is pushed upwards and will thus tend to lift the weight lever c
which is weighted to keep, when at liberty to do so, the wheels in gear under the
greatest strain, but the weight g is not sufficient to lift the weight lever c but only
to counterbalance so much of its weight as will allow the lever c to lift and the
wheels es and e¹ to go out of gear, in case of any obstruction to the going out of
the carria e.
Instead of the weight g being upon the lever fit may be upon an independent
lever g¹ on a fulcrum g² on the framing, as shown, in dotted line, g³ being the
weight.
Or a lever having an adjustable weight g is or may be mounted on a
fulcrum g on a stud secured in the bracket d and its end is or may be turned up
and have a projection g' on one side to come under the lever f.

page_text: The lever g is arranged sufficiently to one side of the lever ƒ to work clear of it.
The bowl 63 on the stud in the bracket 62 on the carriage b comes upon the curved
end of the lever f and depresses it when the full weight on the lever c is allowed
to act to keep the wheels and e¹ in gear, but when the bowl 63 is clear of the
lever the weights g g³ or g³ (as the case may be) act to counterbalance part of
the full weight upon the lever c.
The inclined end of the lever f is made so that the bowl 63 when leaving the
lever will only permit it to rise very slowly just before the upper end of
the rod g* is about to come against the stud c* so as to avoid any shock when this
takes place.
It is obvious that the weights or weighted levers shown in fig. 2 may be
dispensed with, the weight in this latter case being arranged adjustable on the
free end of the curved ended lever f so as to draw the free end of the lever down,
and lift the rod g*, the fulcrum of the lever being arranged between the weight
and the rod g*. But in this case the curve or incline on the end of the lever f is
reversed and the bowl 63 carried on the stud on the bracket 6' is then arranged to
lift and hold up the lever f when the carriage runs in.
Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to fig. 1 illustrating another modification, where
the weight lever c and its connections are arranged to be only heavy enough to
keep the wheels c³ and e¹ in gear when the carriage is going out and there is no
obstruction, the weight in this modification being added to the lever c when the
carriage runs in and until a little after it has begun to run out. * is a rod jointed
to a pin c in the weight lever c.
The lower end of the rod g* is in guides in a bracket & secured to the framing (a)
or it is elotted and a screw passes through the slot into the bracket d but the
rod gx is quite free to slide vertically.
In the rod g* a stud f¹ is fixed to form the fulcrum of a weight lever f, the
weight g resting, when the lever f is not acted upon by the carriage upon a
ledge d* from the bracket d.
The lever has a stud at one end for a bowl f' the upper edge of which when
the carriage runs in will come against the under surface b* of a projection 6³ (which
is of angle iron shape in cross section) from a bracket 63 secured to the carriage b
which projection acting above the bowl f2 will depress the bowl end of the lever f
when the weight g upon its other end will be lifted from the ledge d*, and its
weight will then come upon the rod g* and thus add more weight to hold down
the lever c.
The bowl fis arranged to project sufficiently from the side of the lever to allow
the surface to act upon the bowl and keep clear of the fulcrum fl and weight g.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation and fig. 5 a plan view of parts detached, which may be
substituted for the parts shown in fig. 3. is a stud secured in the framing a or
in some bracket attached to the framing-This stud is the fulcrum of a link or
lever d¹ to the free end of which the lower end of a rod gx is jointed, the joint
pin falso forming the fulcrum of a lever f which has a bowlf at one end and a
weight g at the other end-When the bowl f' is not acted upon by the projection 6³
the arm near the weighted end of the lever f rests upon the boss of the lever d¹ in
which position the weight will wholly or partly counterbalance the weight of the
levers fand. d on the opposite side of the stud d, and the rod g*, but when the
bowl is depressed by the projection b³ the weight will be brought upon the
rod g to hold down the lever c.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination and arrangement of mechanism for holding the wheels in
gear which give motion to the carriage when going out, when the carriage is in,
and at the commencement of the stretch or going out of the carriage leaving

page_text: the wheels at liberty to go out of gear in case of obstructions to the carriage
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
2. The combination of a spring (g) lever (f) adjusting screw (h) and bowl (63)
on the carriage (b) with the weight lever (e) substantially as and for the purpose
herein before described and illustrated by fig. 1 of the drawings.
3. The combination of a bowl (6³) or its equivalent on the carriage a lever (f)
having a weight (g) or the alternative modes of weighting by levers (g¹ or 9*) and
a rod (g) with the lever e substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described and illustrated by fig. 2 of the drawings.
4. The combination of a projection (63) or its equivalent on the carriage (b) and a
lever (f) with its weight arranged as in fig. 3, or figs. 4 and 5 and a connection (g*)
with the lever c substantially as and for the purpose herein before described and
illustrated by fig. 3 or figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings.