IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND TWIST- ING FLAX, WOOL, SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
LAWSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, and JOHN LAWSON, of the same place,
Engineers and Co-partners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of January, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Samuel
Lawson and John Lawson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that we, the said Samuel Lawson and John Lawson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as we, the said Samuel Lawson
and John Lawson, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times 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, an
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND TWIST-
ING FLAX, WOOL, SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," being a com-
munication from a Foreiguer residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, obliging us, the said Samuel Lawson and John Lawson,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Samuel Lawson and John Lawson, do hereby declare that the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
These Improvements in Machinery for Spinning, Doubling, and Twisting
Flax, Wool, Silk, Cotton, and other Fibrous Substances, apply to that class or
description of machinery commonly called or know as the throstle machinery,
that is, in which spindles with bobbins and flyers are used to effect these
operations; and the objects of these improvements are to effect economy of
space in the machinery and in the room the machines occupy, also to make
one set of parts serve for two sets or rows of spindles and bobbins; and which
improvements we obtain by causing two sets of rovings, yarns, or threads to
be spun, twisted, or doubled from one set of drawing and top "rollers," each
length of the rovings in spinning, or each pair or more of yarns or threads
in doubling, being conducted to separate spindles and flyers from the nip or
points of contact of the lower row of the drawing rollers. The spindles and
flyers being placed in two rows, at equal distances from a perpendicular line
drawn from the nip or point of contact of the lower rollers, and in such
manner that the yarns or threads shall be conducted to the flyers at equal
angles, and subjected to equal tention and drag or draft, all of which will
be better understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings, and the
following description thereof, that is to say:-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one of these improved spinning frames, having
only twenty-four spindles, and as adapted for spinning flax, part of the guide
plates with the apron being shown in section, the better to shew the spindles
and flyers in each row; Fig. 2 is an end representation or partial transverse
section of the same; and Fig. 3 is an outline section to shew more clearly the
line or direction in which the rovings or yarns are passed from the bobbins or
spools between the sets of drawing rollers to the flyers and spindles, and
the situation of the same on each side of the perpendicular line a, b, shewn
dotted in this Figure. And we would here remark, that the particular con-
struction of the various ordinary parts of the machinery forms no part of this
Invention, neither the manner of actuating any of them, such as driving the
spindles and flyers, the method of gaining the copping motion, nor, in fact,
the mode of applying the driving power, or of actuating the various working

page_text: parts, as these will be varied to suit different kinds of machines, and therefore
we shall proceed first to point out the several parts of the machinery, and
shew how they are set in motion as represented in the Drawings, and then
state in what we consider our improvements to consist. A, A, is the frame-
work and standard of the machine; B, B, is the first or main driving shaft,
receiving its motion by a band passed from the steam engine or other first
mover to the fast and loose pulleys or riggers on its end; C, C, are the
rows of spindles passing through the fixed plate or cross bar D, their lower
ends resting in cup bearings on the other bar or plate E, in the usual manner;
F is the copping rail or lifter, supporting the bobbins G, G; and I, II, are
the flyers attached to the spindles as in common. The copping or "lifting"
motion of the bar F is effected in this machine by the heart wheel or
excentric cam I, acting upon one end of a lever, the other being attached:
to the legs or vertical bars K, K, which support the copping rail; or the
lifting motion may be effected in any other convenient manner. L, L, are
the bobbins or spols containing the roving, threads, or yarns, and are placed in
any convenient situation, turning loosely upon pins or wires; and M* and M.
are the two ordinary sets of rollers. These pairs or sets of rollers are con-
structed after the usual manner, and are actuated by the train of toothed
wheels and pinions leading from the main shaft B to the axle N of the lower
set of drawing rollers M, as shewn in the Drawings. O, O, is the trough
containing the water for weting the rovings or yarns when spinning or
doubling flax, hemp, or such like fibrous materials; this trough is placed at
or near to the centre or middle part of the machine; P, P, are the guide
plates for conducting and keeping the threads or yarns in their proper
situations. These guide plates have an apron or shield Q, for the purpose
of preventing the water being thrown, by centrifugal force, from the flyers
of one row of spindles on to the bobbins of the other row. It will be seen
by the Drawings, that the rovings, threads, or yarns, are led or conducted
first over the stationary longitudinal rods R, R, then down under other like
rods S, S, and afterwards pass under another similar rod T, situate within the
bottom part of the trough, and thereby the yarns or rovings are caused to pass
through the liquid contained therein. The yarns, threads, or rovings, then pass
over the edges of the trough, and again meet at another longitudinal bar U,
where they are crossed, and pass over the opposite edges of this bar, and again
meet at the nip or point of contact of the top or retaining rollers M", they
then pass between the lower pair of drawing rollers M, and as these latter rollers
have a more rapid motion given them than the top pair, the rovings become
elongated or drawn out. From the lower drawings rollers, the yarns or threads

page_text: are passed through holes in the guides P, P, to the eyes on the ends of the
flyers H, which by their rotation cause the yarns or threads to become twisted
or doubled, as the case may be, the same being wound upon the bobbins in
the usual manner. We would here remark, that when spinning, doubling,
or twisting cotton, silk, or such like materials, the water trough may be
dispenced with or not at pleasure; and it will be understood by all practical
spinners, that when our improvements are applied to machinery for this
purpose, the same will require proper arrangements of the parts to adapt
them to effect these objects.
Having now described and pointed out all the various working parts of
this improved machinery, and the arrangement of the same, we would in
conclusion remark, that what we claim as this Invention is:-The general
arrangement and construction of throstle or spinning, twisting, and doubling
frames or machinery of this class or description, whereby two sets or rows of
spindles, bobbins, and flyers, placed at equal distances from the perpendicular
line drawn from the nip or point of contact of the lower drawing rollers, are
made to act in conjunction with one set of drawing rollers, and in such
manner that the two threads or yarns, in spinning, or the two pairs or more
of yarns or threads in doubling and twisting, shall have equal tention, strain
or drag, as herein above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Lawson and John Lawson, of
Leeds, in the County of York, Engineers and Co-partners, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and forty.
JUHN (L.S.)
LAWSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of June, in
the fourth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Samuel
Lawson and John Lawson came before our said Lady the Queen in Her
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in
the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Second day of July, One thousand eight hundred and forty.