IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLING, TWISTING, AND THROWING SILK, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Lewis Geiger at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th March 1868.-A communication from abroad by Eugene
Duseigneur Kléber, residing at 29, Cours Morand, Lyons, in
the Empire of France.
I, JOHN LEWIS GEIGER, of 1, Great Winchester Street Buildings,
in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLING, TWISTING, AND THROWING SILK,
AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in doubling, twisting,
and throwing silk, and in apparatus therefor. Bobbins or spools on
which the silk is wound are mounted on spindles, which at their lower
end stand in cups of earthenware or other material. The spindles pass
through slotted holes in a guide rail, and they work in an inclined
position resting against driving pulleys on an axis to which a rapid
rotary motion is given. The side of each driving pulley is bevilled
to correspond with the inclination of the spindle resting against it.
The weight of the spindle and that of the bobbin upon it causes it to
bear against the driving pulley sufficiently to enable the pulley to

page_text: communicate rapid motion to the spindle by frictional contact. The
silk is drawn or unwound from these bobbins or spools whilst they are
in rapid rotation. The spindles work together in pairs, and the fibres
belonging to a pair of spindles are led together on to a single bobbin
or spool on which they are wound. The axis of this winding bobbin
or spool is able to rise and fall in guide grooves, so as to enable the
bobbin or spool to rest upon a roller, which is driven continuously at
the speed at which it is desired that the silk should be drawn from
the spindles. The fibres as they pass from the bobbins or spools on
the spindles to the winding bobbin or spool are led around studs to
adjust their tension, and then they pass together through a glass hook
or guide having a to-and-fro movement to distribute the fibres evenly
on the winding bobbin or spool. Also each fibre before it reaches this
hook or guide passes in contact with one end of a light lever and so
maintains the other and heavier end of the lever in a raised position.
When, however, the fibre breaks this end of the lever falls, and catching
the fibre of the other spindle of the pair it causes it also to break, so
that the winding bobbin or spool may not continue to wind upon itself
the fibre from one only of the spindles, as would otherwise take place.
When the attendant desires to stop the rotation of the spindles to join
broken fibres, it can be done by raising them out of contact with their
driving pulleys and placing them in retaining notches in the sides of
the slotted holes in the guide rail in which they work. The winding
bobbin or spool can be stopped by lifting it out of contact with the
roller from which it receives its motion. Each of the winding bobbins
or spools thus receives upon it the fibres from two spindles, each with
a twist or torsion upon it. These bobbins or spools are then placed
on other spindles in another similar apparatus, and by means thereof
the fibres from the winding bobbins or spools of the first operation
are thrown together.