CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING THE SLIVER AND ROVE OF FLAX, HEMP, AND Tow
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machinist, and Samuel Renny Mathers, of Leeds aforesaid,
Flax Spinner, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DRAWING THE SLIVER AND ROVE OF FLAX, HEMP, AND
Tow."
Sealed the 16th March 1853, and dated the 18th January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Fairbairn and
Samuel Renny Mathers at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th January 1853.
We, PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist,
and SAMUEL RENNY MATHERS, of Leeds aforesaid, Flax Spinner, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR DRAWING THE SLIVER AND
ROVE OF FLAX, HEMP, AND TOW," to be as follows:-
Our improvement consists in the introduction of a hinged lever so
arranged that the top pressing roller is thereby held or kept in its place
in machines for drawing the sliver and rove of flax, hemp, and tow; and

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Fairbairn and Samuel Renny Mathers in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th July 1853.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, and
SAMUEL RENNY MATHERS, of Leeds aforesaid, Flax Spinner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant. 'untons, the. said Peter Fairbairn and Samuel Renny
Mathers, Her special licence that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and
Samuel Renny Mathers. our execitors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Samuel Renny Mathers,
our executors, administrators, 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 IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING THE SLIVER AND ROVE
OF FLAX, HEMP, AND Tow," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Peter Fairbairn and Samuel Renny Mathers, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us, 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 we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Samuel
Renny Mathers, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly

page_text: 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):
This Invention relates, firstly, to a novel mode of mounting the
pressing rollers of flax spinning frames; and secondly, to a mode of
adjusting the "reach" of the retaining rollers simultaneously without
removing them from the machine. It has hitherto been the plan to
mount the upper and lower pressing rollers in pairs in a saddle or
detached carrier, which is sustained in its place and made to bear up
the pressing rollers against the back and front rollers by means of a rod
which passes through the saddle or carrier, and is connected to a
weighted crank lever. By this plan it has been found difficult to
determine the amount of pressure which the upper and lower pressing
rollers should respectively receive; and a further inconvenience has been
that when the carrier was drawn back for the purpose of removing one
pair of rollers the other pair no longer retained their position, but fell
out of their bearings. The arrangement which forms the first head of
this Invention is designed to remove these inconveniences, and to this
end the upper and lower pressing rollers are provided with separate
carriers which are severally suspended from a common axle, and are
each provided with an independent weighted lever. In the accom-
panying Drawing Fig. 1, represents in front view the pendant carriers
for keeping the pressing rollers in position; and Fig. 2, is a cross section
of so much of a flax spinning machine as will serve to shew the mode
of applying the present Invention to the ordinary construction of flax
spinning machine. A, is the roller beam, to which is bolted the stand B,
as usual, and to this stand arms similar to that shewn at a, Fig. 3, are
secured. These arms carry a fixed axle b, on to which lever carriers c, c,-
d; d, are strung, the same being capable of moving freely thereon when
required. Through each of these carrier levers a rod e, e, is passed, and
held thereto by means of a nut f, whicli takes into a screw cut on the
end of the rod; the opposite end of the rod e, is hooked on to a pin.
carried by an ordinary weighted crank lever g; the lever carriers c, are
furnished at their lower ends with a bush or bearing which receives
the spindle of a pair of pressing rollers -h, that run in contact with the :

page_text: roller ; and the lever carriers d are provided with an adjustable bush
or. bearing.d, which receives the spindle of a pair of pressing rollers k;
a slot is made in the lever carriers d, to receive a binding screw ?, which
holds the bush. or bearing *, in position, and is capable, being shifted
up or down, of. retaining that bearing at any required elevation to suit
the varying "reach" of the back rollers m,. as indicated by dots. at
Fig. 2. The amount of pressure to be put upon the rollers is determined
by means of the weighted levers g, as heretofore. It will now be under-
stood that the rollers h, and le, aré niounted independently of cach other,
and that the removal of one pair of. rollers h, from the machine for the
purpose of renewal will not cause the displacement of the rollers k, above
them, and that the reduction of the diaineter of the rollers h by 'wear
will not affect the pressure put upon the rollers h, or necessitate a re-.
adjustment of the bearings of these rollers; as is the case when they are
supported by the ordinary detached carrier or saddle. It will be under-
stood that the rollers A, m, are the retaining rollers, or those which first
take hold of the rovings as they are fed into the machine, and that the
rollers 'h, i, are the drawing rollers, or those which elongate the roving
as they receive it from the retaining rollers.
We will now describe the second head of this Invention, which refers,
as before stated, to a mode of raising and lowering the back retaining.
rollers simultaneously. Hitherto it has been requisite, in order to
change the length of "reach" or distance between the back and front
rollers, to remove the rollers from the machine, and adjust the brackets
which carry the back or retaining rollers one at a time by means of an
adjusting screw; by the present plan, however, it is not necessary to
remove the rollers from the machine, nor to turn the adjusting screws
singly. The arrangement for effecting this operation with dispatch is
shewn at Fig. 2, in which n is one of a series of brackets which carry
the back retaining rollers; these brackets are capable of sliding up and
down in guides formed in the stand B; for the purpose of raising or
lowering the retaining rollers m, and thereby altering the "reach."
Through each bracket ”, a screw shaft 9 passes, and turns in bearings
provided for it in the stand B; this shaft carries a worm wheel 2', which
takes into and is driven by a worm s on the horizontal-shaft t, extending

page_text: from end to end of the machine. By rotating this shaft an axial motion
is communicated through the worm s, and worm wheel 2, to the shaft q;
and thus all the brackets n, are raised or lowered, as required, carrying
with them the rollers m, the clevation of which is determined to suit
the various lengths of fibre under operation. The position of the
pressing rollers k is then made to correspond to the rollers m, by shifting
the position of the bearing d of the carrier levers d.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention of "Improve-
ments in Machinery for Drawing the Sliver and Rove of Flax, Hemp,
and Tow," we wish it to be understood that we claim, first, supporting
the retaining and the drawing pressing rollers on independent lever
carriers in the manner above explained; and, secondly, raising and
lowering the back retaining rollers simultaneously by the means above
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Samuel
Renny Mathers, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the
Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
Witness to the signature of the said
Peter Fairbairn,
JOHN BUTTEY.
Witness to the signature of the said
Sam R. Mathers,
PETER FAIRBAIRN. (L.S.)
SAM R. MATHERS. (L.S.)
THO. GREENWOOD.