CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING REELING MACHINERY FOR REELING FLAX AND OTHER YARNS INTO HANKS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machinist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
SELF-ACTING REELING MACHINERY FOR REELING FLAX AND OTHER
YARNS INTO HANKS."
Sealed the 5th January 1858, and dated the 5th November 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Fairbairn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th November 1852.
I, PETER FAIRBAIRN, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING REELING MACHINERY
FOR REELING FLAX AND OTHER YARNS INTO HANKS" to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in a mode of enabling one end of the reel
to collapse, that is, to change its cylindrical form into that of a conc
for the purpose of enabling the operator to strip or take off the hank
from the reel with great facility. This I effect by supporting the rails
of the reel at one end by arms which slide in a socket upon the shaft
like the stretchers of an umbrella.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Fairbairn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto nie, the said Peter Fairbairn, Her especial licence
that I, the said Peter Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, aud
assigns, or such others as I, the Peter Fairbairn, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SELF-ACTING REELING MACHINERY FOR REELING FLAX AND OTHER
YARNS INTO HANKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Peter Fairbairn, by an instrument in writing under my 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 months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Fairbairn, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the removal of the hanks
of yarn from the reels of reeling machines. To attain this end it is
necessary to reduce the diameter of one end of the reel, and thereby to

page_text: slacken the yarn which has been wound on in hanks from bobbins
mounted loosely in the reeling machine. Ilitherto the practise has been
to joint one or more of the stretchers or radial arms of the reel to allow
of one end of the longitudinal bars which they respectively carry, and
which form the periphery of the wheel, to be depressed or brought
nearer to the axle of the reel, and thus the diameter of the reel has been
reduced. This mode of constructing the reel has not, however, been
found to afford sufficient facility for removing the hanks from the
irregular figure produced by the depression of one or two bars having
still the property of holding the hanks more or less in tension. To avoid
this inconvenience, I propose to depress all the bars simultaneously by
jointing the stretchers at one end of the reel to a central sliding tube
or runner, which, when driven inwards, will be capable of drawing in
with it all the stretchers simultaneously, and thereby contract the reel
to a conical form.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, is an end elevation of a con-
tracting and expanding reel, shewing one mode of carrying out my In-
vention. Fig. 2, is a longitudinal section of the reel in its expanded
state, and Fig. 3, is a front view of the same in its contracted state,
shewing the slackened hanks ready for removal. a, a, is a spindle, to
which an end plate b, is keyed. This plate b. is cast with radial sockets
for the purpose of receiving a series of radial arms or stretchers c, c, c,
to which the bars d, d, d, forming the periphery of the reel arc jointed.
The other ends of these bars are jointed to similar radial arms or
stretchers e, e, e, which are connected at their inner ends to a sliding
tube or runner f. The shaft a, is provided with a feather edge, upon
which the runner f, works. The length of traverse of this runner is
determined by two collars g, g, which are affixed by pins to the
shaft a. Mounted on the runner f, is a spring catch h, which by taking
on to a flange on the collar g, will secure the runner in the position
shown at Fig. 2, and thereby keep the reel expanded ready to receive the
yarn from the bobbins. The yarn is drawn down from the bobbins, and
attached to the reel in the ordinary way; and when sufficient yarn has
been wound on to form hanks of the required weight (the reel having
been rotated for that purpose) the rotation of the reel is stopped, the

page_text: spring catch h, is raised by the hand of the attendant, and the runner
is pushed into the dotted position of Fig. 2. By this means the
stretchers e, e, are inclined inwards, and the bars d are drawn into the
position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, whereby the reel is made to
take a conical form, and thus all tension is removed from the banks of
yarn, which will now hang loosely on the reel ready to be disengaged
therefrom when the reel is lifted out of its bearings.
Reels of this construction I propose to apply to all self-acting reeling
machinery requiring such reels, and thereby I am enabled to increase
the working capabilities of such machinery, the operation of removing
the hanks of yarn being by their use greatly facilitated.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into operation, I wish it to be understood
that I claim the application to self-acting reeling machinery of reels
for receiving hanks of yarn constructed in the manner and for the
purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Fairbairn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
Jons WILLIAM NAYLOR.
PETER FAIRBAIRN. (L.S.)