Improvements in Rollers for Drawing, Spinning and like Machinery.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
•
Improvements in Rollers for Drawing, Spinning and like Machinery.
I, ARTHUR HARRY BRIGGS, of Briggella Mills, Little Horton, Bradford, in the
County of York, Spinner and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:
The top rollers hitherto employed in spinning mills and on which falls the duty
of drawing out in an even manner the fibrous materials, are at present made of
wood or iron coated with leather. They have a central axis, and
have journals at their ends or if there be two or more rollers on one
axis, a journal is also placed between each roller and the next.
The main condition required of these rollers is a periphery as far as possible of even
elasticity throughout. This is very rarely attained when wood or iron rollers are
coated with leather as the point where the leather covering is joined is harder than
other parts and this affects the working. As the epidermis is the only part of the
leather applicable as a surface for this purpose, it is evident that the material pass-
ing under a considerable pressure between the rollers will and does in a very short
time form a groove or channel in the leather which is thus rendered useless, so
that a roller of this kind constructed at considerable labour and expense only lasts
a short time when in use. It must then be removed from the machine to receive
an entirely new leather covering. The result is that a very large stock of reserve
rollers and of the raw material for making the same especially leather has to be
kept in the mill. It is in order to avoid these drawbacks and to save the heavy
expense of this continual repairing that this invention is designed. The invention
consists essentially in forming the surface of the roller of compressed cork with a
little binding material and made impervious to oil, and is the result of an enormous
number of experiments. I first tried using a mixture of ground cork and oxidised
linseed oil forming a roller of this and afterwards turning it and fitting it on the
boss. These rollers did not last long and were continually getting loose,
further the oil in the wood permeating the surface of the roller unequally raised
lumps which seriously interfered with their good working. I also tried virgin cork
itself, both compressed and uncompressed, but this material is an uneven density
throughout and was not a practical success. When however the cork in granulated
form is compressed by strong pressure in moulds with the requisite binding
material and its surface is made impermeable to oil, it assumes the required hard-
ness and is practically homogeneous. I accordingly mould the cork with just
sufficient binding material to enable the pieces to adhere together in moulds formed
of almost the exact sizes which the roller is intended to take when complete, and
mould the internal hole at the same time to a very slightly smaller diameter than
the wooden boss on which it is to be placed, the mould, especially the core of the
hole being of polished metal so that the surface of the roller and the hole itself
shall come out smooth. When the material is thoroughly set, I press it with
hydraulic or screw pressure on to its wooden boss, first of all anointing both the

page_text: hole and the boss with glue or other cementaceous material. By this means the
roller is formed absolutely true and will not come loose from the boss. If desirable
it can be further turned or ground on the boss. We now size the whole of the
roller with glue size and when dry sand paper it, preferably while running on its
journals till smooth, we then give it another coat of glue size and sand paper again.
This process prevents the cork from getting rough on the surface, thus saving
the extra weight required otherwise and the fibre does not stick to the roller. The
wooden boss is also prevented from turning round on the spindle by forming the
metal spindle hexagonal or otherwise angular where it passes through the boss.
In carrying out the invention I have used a large number of different binding
materials and the following are all more or less satisfactory, glue, molasses, linseed
oil varnish, india rubber solution, dissolved celluloid, asphalt, dissolved shellac or
resin and mixtures of these. If molasses be used the roller will be hard and will
not be strictly waterproof. If linseed oil varnish be employed a soft roller is the
result. India rubber produces also softness, celluloid a medium consistency,
asphalt and resins considerable hardness, glue can likewise be used. In practice
india rubber solution or oxidised linseed oil acts very well. In using linseed oil
I use it boiled to the consistency of thick treacle, and thoroughly mix it with the
broken cork until the entire surface of the cork is smeared or moistened with it.
On the average every 100 lbs. of cork requires about 5 to 15 per cent. of oxidised
linseed oil. The pressure employed in pressing the material and the ingredients
used vary according as the roller is desired to be soft or hard and the amount of
pressure varies also considerably with the size of the roller and the ingredients
used. All however that the operator requires is with the first roller of any given
size to put on the pressure gradually and occasionally withdraw the roller and test
it with the thumb nail. A very little practice will suffice, it being always under-
stood that the material is considerably softer immediately after being withdrawn
from the mould than it becomes after standing for a day or two.
Among the
advantages of these rollers are the following. That a faultless surface can be
obtained on the rollers having considerably greater friction or resistance to the
material and yarn threads against the latter slipping through them than can be
obtained in the case of leather, this roller being much more elastic than the leather,
consequently a greater surface is exposed to the strands with the same amount of
pressure to the fibre and with the same diameter of roller. It thus takes much
longer time for the roller to become grooved or channelled by the yarn or thread
passing through the rollers. Further, when these improved drawing out rollers
are used in gill boxes or on combs they avoid the necessity of using the leather
belt which at present runs between the fluted rollers. The duration of life of these
improved drawing out and spinning rollers before wearing out as compared with
those hitherto in use is very considerable as they can be worn down almost close
to the boss and still do their work well, merely requiring grinding up occasionally.
They further need very little pressure upon the screw beneath in order to effect a
perfect draughting or drawing out of the material passing underneath them, thus
effecting a considerable saving of motive power to drive over that of the rollers at
present in use. Further, unlike leather, the material forming my rollers can be
used over again by being simply broken up with some fresh solvent or some fresh
linseed oil. Lastly, my rollers are not altered or damaged by damp or hygrometric
differences in the atmosphere or even by being thoroughly drenched, as they with-
stand water.

page_text: Improvements in Rollers for Drawing, Spinning and like Machinery.
I, ARTHUR HARRY BRIGGS, of Briggella Mills, Little Horton, Bradford, in the
County of York, Spinner and Manufacturer, 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 top rollers hitherto employed in spiuning mills and on which falls the duty
of drawing out in an even manner the fibrous materials, are at present made of
wood or iron, coated with leather. They have a central axis, and have journals at
their ends or if there be two or more rollers on one axis a journal is also placed
between each roller and the next. The main condition required of these rollers is
a periphery as far as possible of even elasticity throughout. This is very rarely
attained when wood or iron rollers are coated with leather as the point where the
leather covering is joined is harder than other parts and this affects the working.
As the epidermis is the only part of the leather applicable as a surface for this
purpose it is evident that the material passing under a considerable pressure
between the rollers will and does in a very short time form a groove or channel in
the leather which is thus rendered useless so that a roller of this kind constructed
at considerable labour and expense only lasts a short time when in use. It must
then be removed from the machine to receive an entirely new leather covering.
The result is that a very large stock of reserve rollers and of the raw material for
making the same especially leather has to be kept in the mill. It is in order to
avoid these drawbacks and to save the heavy expense of this continual repairing
that this invention is designed. The invention consists essentially in forming the
surface of the roller of compressed cork with a little binding material and made
impervious to oil and is the result of an enormous number of experiments. I first
tried using a mixture of ground cork and oxidised linseed oil forming a roller of
this and afterwards turning it and fitting it on the boss. These rollers did not
last long and were continually getting loose. Further the oil in the wool per-
meating the surface of the roller unequally raised lumps which seriously inter-
fered with their good working. I also tried virgin or outer bark cork itself both
compressed and uncompressed but this material is an uneven density throughout
and was not a practical success. When however the cork in granulated form is
compressed by strong pressure in moulds with the requisite binding material and
its surface is made impermeable to oil, it assumes the required hardness and is
practically homogeneous. I accordingly mould the cork with just sufficient bind-
ing material to enable the pieces to adhere together in moulds formed of almost
the exact sizes which the roller is intended to take when complete and mould the
internal hole at the same time to a very slightly smaller diameter than the wooden
boss on which it is to be placed, the mould, especially the core of the hole prefer-
ably turned in one piece with the mould being of polished metal so that the surface
of the roller and the hole itself shall come out smooth and absolutely true. When
the material is thoroughly set I press it with hydraulic or screw pressure on to its
wooden boss, first of all anointing both the hole and the boss with glue or other
cementaceous material. By this means the roller is formed absolutely true and
will not come loose from the boss. If desirable it can be further turned or ground
on the boss. I now size the whole of the roller with glue size and when dry sand
paper it preferably while running on its journals till smooth. I then give it
another coat of glue size and sand paper again. This process prevents the cork
from getting rough on the surface, thus saving the extra weight required otherwise

page_text: and the fibre does not stick to the roller. The wooden boss is also prevented from
turning round on the spindle by forming the metal spindle hexagonal or otherwise
angular where it passes through the boss.
In order better to illustrate the invention, I have appended a drawing, in which,
Figure 1 is a section view of a spinning roller;
Figure 2, end view; and
Figure 3, a perspective view of two rollers and their bosses placed in position
on their shafts.
In these, A is the spindle having hexagonal portion B, C is the wooden boss,
and D the granulated cork material.
In carrying out the invention, I have used a large number of different binding
materials and the following are all more or less satisfactory, glue, molasses, linseed
oil varnish, india rubber solution, dissolved celluloid, asphalt, dissolved shellac or
resin and mixtures of these. If molasses be used the roller will be hard and will
not be strictly waterproof. If linseed oil varnish be employed a soft roller is the
result. India rubber produces also softness, celluloid a medium consistency,
asphalt, and resins considerable hardness, glue can likewise be used. In practice
india rubber solution or oxidized linseed oil acts very well. In using linseed oil
I use it boiled to the consistency of thick treacle, and thoroughly mix it with the
broken cork until the entire surface of the cork is smeared or moistened with it.
On the average every 100 lbs. of cork requires about 5 to 15 pounds of oxidised
linseed oil. The pressure employed in pressing the material varies according as
the roller is desired to be soft or hard and the amount of pressure varies also con-
siderably with the size of the roller and the ingredients used. All however that
the operator requires is with the first roller of any given size to put on the pressure
gradually and occasionally withdraw the roller and test it with the thumb nail.
A very little practice will suffice, it being always understood that the material is
considerably softer immediately after being withdrawn from the mould than it
becomes after standing for a day or two. As an example; For a spinning roller
of 7" diameter, and 11 thick, when pressed, I put under a pressure of 1000 lbs. per
square inch, about 1 lb. of ground cork and the adhesive substance. Among the
advantages of these rollers are the following. That a faultless surface can be
obtained on the rollers having considerably greater friction or resistance to the
material against the latter slipping through them than can be obtained in the case
of leather, this roller being much more elastic than the leather, consequently a
greater surface is exposed to the strands with the same amount of pressure to the
fibre and with the same diameter of roller. It thus takes much longer time for
the roller to become grooved or channelled by the yarn or thread passing through the
rollers. Further, when these improved drawing out rollers are used in gill boxes
or on combs they avoid the necessity of using the leather belt which at present runs
between the fluted rollers. The duration of life of these improved drawing out
and spinning rollers before wearing out as compared with those hitherto in use
is very considerable as they can be worn down almost close to the boss and still do
their work well, merely requiring sand papering up occasionally. They further
need very little pressure upon the screw beneath in order to effect a perfect draught-
ing or drawing out of the material passing underneath them, thus effecting a con-
siderable saving of motive power to drive over that of the rollers at present in use.
Further, unlike leather, the material forming my rollers can be used over again by
being simply broken up with some fresh solvent or some fresh linseed oil. Lastly,
my rollers are not altered or damaged by damp or hygrometric differences in the
atmosphere or even by being thoroughly drenched, as they withstand water.
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 process for manufacturing drawing rollers which consists in mixing
granulated cork and a binding material such as described pressing it with heavy

page_text: pressure in polished metal moulds so as to form the entire roller including the
internal hole substantially as described.
2. Moulding the rollers with a true and smooth hole of slightly smaller diameter
than the boss and pressing the roller on to the boss with hydraulic pressure with
cementaceous material.
3. Finishing and making the rollers impervious to oil substantially as described.
4. The manufacture of drawing or spinning rollers formed of compressed cork
and binding material, substantially as described.
Dated this 4th day of January 1898
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London, Patent Agents.