IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Lord, of Todmorden, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."'
Sealed the 28th July 1865, and dated the 10th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Lord at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
February 1865.
I, EDWARD LORD, of Todmorden, in the County of York, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention of improvements in machinery for preparing cotton and
other fibrous substances consists of an improved shortening motion applicable
to roving frames and other machines of the like nature for producing the
taper ends of the spools. This apparatus consists of a three-armed lever; the
upper and lower arms are held by catches which are acted upon alternately
by inclines connected to the copping rail, and the horizontal arm is acted upon
by a weighted chain. The catches above referred to are connected to a
shaft with right and left-handed screws; this shaft is turned round when
liberated by the catches acting on a ratchet wheel fixed to it by a weighted
chain passing over a barrel fixed to a vertical shaft of the ordinary con-
struction, and this vertical shaft is connected by gearing to the shaft with the
right and left handed screws.

page_text: My Invention also consists in a mode of backing off or unwinding from
the full bobbin or spool so much of the roving as is requisite for lapping round
the empty bobbin or spool before commencing a fresh set; the mechanism
for effecting this consists of a worm wheel fixed to the lower cone shaft; this
wheel, when the cone has been raised, comes into gear with a worm fixed to
a horizontal shaft; on this shaft is a hand wheel which is turned round by the
operative until the requisite length of roving has been unwound.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Lord in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, EDWARD
LORD, of Todmorden, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send
grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Lord, Her special license that I, the said Edward
Lord, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Lord, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that, I, the said Edward Lord, my executors. or
administrators, by, an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 Edward Lord, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in 'and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
My Invention consists, first, of an improved combination of machinery

page_text: forming what is technically called a "shortening motion" applicable to roving
frames and other machines of the like nature for producing the taper ends of
the spools; and, secondly, in an improved combination of machinery also
applicable to slubbing and roving frames for backing off or unwinding a
portion of the slubbing or roving from the full bobbins for winding on the
empty bobbins or spools at the commencement of a fresh set.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Draw-
ings, reference being had to the figures and letters thereon.
Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of a roving frame, to which my
improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is a front view, and Fig. 3 a plan of part
of the same.
a are the ordinary rollers; 6, the roller beam; c, the driving shaft; d, the
upper cone shaft; e, the lower cone shaft; f,f, the spindles, supported as usual,
in the lower rail g, and in the copping rail h; i is one of the intermediate frames
commonly called a "spring piece." The above parts are made in the ordinary
manner. To the spring piece i is fixed a bracket k, in which is a stud k' for
supporting the three-armed lever m; the bracket k also supports the right
and left handed screw n, to the lower end of which is fixed the ratchet wheel n¹;
on this screw are the two catches n³ and n, the bosses of which are tapped to
form nuts, or they are cut or cast with a recess to admit segmental nuts taking
into the screws. These nuts are made of brass or other suitable metal cast
in a metal mould, the object being to facilitate the constructing and taking to
pieces of the shortening motion. To the lower end of the bracket k are fixed
studs for the catches o and o', taking as usual into the ratchet wheel ', these
catches are thrown alternately out of gear with the ratchet wheel n by the
curved fork p¹, which is fixed to the lower end of the upright shaft p, to the
upper end of which is keyed the lever på; this lever has a curved slot fitting
on the upright shaft q, and is moved by the attendant when required to slacken
the roving, as described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me
on the Twenty-second day of March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
two, No. 797. To the shaft q are fixed as usual the hand wheel q', the chain
barrel g, and the pinion g³, which gears into a horizontal rack of the ordinary
construction connected to the cone strap fork. To the barrel q³ is fixed one
end of the weighted chain q', passing over a pulley on the stopping lever q", the
pinion gears into a carrier pinion 9%, which gears into the change pinion n³,
fixed to the upper end of the screw n; by this arrangement when the ratchet
wheel n' is liberated by the catches o, o', the screw n is turned round or partly
round by the tension of the chain 9. To the copping rail is fixed the

page_text: bracket with inclines h', and as the copping rail moves up and down to dis-
tribute the roving on the spools, these inclines act alternately I on the set screws
passing through the catches n³ and n', as shown in Fig 3. To the horizontal
arm of the three-armed lever m is fixed a stud for the weighted chain m¹,
which, after passing under the pulley * is taken over the guide pulley, the
stud of which is fixed to the spring piece i; the pulley h³ is mounted on a
stud fixed to the bracket with inclines h¹ at the lower end of the three-armed
lever; m is the swivel bearing m³ which supports the end of the connecting
rod r, which forms the communication between the shortening motion and the
usual reversing gear; the end of the rod r acts against a stud projecting from
the catch o' and the side of the swivel bearing m³ acts against a projection
from the catch o.
The Drawing represents the various parts in the positions they occupy at
the commencement of a set, and when the copping rail h is in its lowest
position, the lower incline of the bracket h¹ has now liberated the catch n*
from the lower arm of the three-armed lever m and the weighted chain m¹
has pulled down the horizontal arm thereof, thus bringing the upper arm in
position for being held by the upper catch ³. The catches n³ and n* are
each provided with a spring, shown in Fig. 3, to draw them towards the
lever m. The releasing of the lower end of the three-armed lever moves the
rod r in the direction of the arrow, thus reversing the direction of motion of
the copping rail which then begins to rise, and when it is near the end of
its upward course the upper incline of the bracket h¹ comes in contact with
the regulating screw of the catch 7³, and releases the said catch when the
copping rail is up; the weighted chain m¹ then acting direct on the horizontal
arm of the three-armed lever m, causes it to swivel on its fulcrum stud, until
the lower catch n' comes into action, when the motion is again reversed. These
operations succeed each other during the formation of the set, each alternate
up and down motion of the copping rail being reduced in length to taper the
ends of the spools by the action of the weighted chain q' on the screw n,
which is turned partly round at every change, and thereby brings the catches
na and n gradually nearer to each other until the spools are filled.
My improved mode of backing off or unwinding from the full bobbins or
spools so much of the roving as is required for lapping round the empty
bobbins or spools before commencing a fresh set is performed in the following
manner: To the shaft e of the lower cone is fixed the pinion e', and above it
is a worm s¹ fixed to a cross shaft s, supported in suitable bearings fixed to the
spring piece i and to the bottom rail g, see Fig. 1; to the other end of the
shaft s is fixed the hand wheels. Upon the shaft s is mounted the tube t,

page_text: to one end of which is fixed the handle t', and to the other is fixed the
crank, which is connected by the link to the bearing of the lower cone
shaft e.
When a set of spools is completed the attendant by turning the
handle about half round in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, brings
the crank upwards, and the pinion e¹ into gear with the worm s¹, the
attendant then turns round the hand wheels, and in so doing the lower cone
is turned to give a backward motion to the spools and thereby to unwind from
them the requisite quantity of roving.
Fig. 4 represents a modification of my improved shortening motion; in this
arrangement the inclines or projections on the copping rail h act on the
hooks u, which are jointed to the three-armed lever m, the horizontal arm of
which is acted upon by a spring h* connected to the copping rail; the screw n
has a right and left-handed thread, and the two nuts n³ and n' are provided
with studs which take into the catches v, which are jointed to the bracket k;
When the hook u is liberated
these catches are connected with the spring v.
from the end of one of the catches v, the spring h* reverses the position of the
three-armed lever m, and thus produces the requisite changes, as before
described. Other modifications of this part of my Invention might be given,
but the foregoing will be sufficient to illustrate it.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I declare that I claim,-
First, the improved shortening motions described, and particularly the three-
armed lever marked m, and parts acting in combination therewith.
Secondly, the improved mode of constructing the nuts of the right and left-
handed screws of the shortening motion as described.
And, thirdly, the improved combination of machinery for backing off, as
shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Lord, bave hereto set my hand
and seal, the Eighth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and