IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPE DRESSING OR SIZING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Scowcroft Lowe, of Torr Vale Mills,
Disley, Cheshire, Cotton Spinner and Manufacturer, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPE DRESSING OR SIZING MACHINES."
Sealed the 14th October 1870, and dated 7th May 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Scowcroft Lowe
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 7th May 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SOOWCROFT LOWE, of Torr Vale Mills, Disley, Cheshire, Cotton Spinner
and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN
TAPE DRESSING OR SIZING MACHINES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I
am the true and first Inventor thereof, and that the same has not been
in use to the best of my knowledge and belief.

page_text: scal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the following
statement:-
-
My first improvement is for regulating the velocity of the weaver's
beam by the tension or strain upon the yarn. This I accomplish by
substituting for the usual fixed beam or rail over which the yarn passes
immediately before being laid upon the weaver's beam, an oscillating
tension beam, whose pressure upon the yarn is regulated by a weight or
weights being adjustable so as to be varied at will to suit the conditions
as to hardness of the beam to be produced, or the fineness or strength of
the yarn to be sized. This tension beam thus weighted rises and fulls
according to the varying strain put on the yarn passing over it, or as
the rotation of the beam increases or diminishes the uptake, which is
regulated by the amount of friction put upon the well-known frictional
apparatus for driving it, or, where cones are employed by the position of
the strap upon them. When the weaver's beam moves too slowly the
uptake is lessened, the yarn runs slack, and the tension beam risers, and
in rising puts more pressure upon the frictional apparatus, and restores
the equilibrium between the velocity of the beam and the tension of the
yarn, on the contrary,-when the uptake of the yarn increases and the
tension is too great the tension beam falls and relieves the pressure upon
the frictional apparatus, in this case again restoring the equilibrium.
Thus when any severe strain upon the warp is threatened the frictional
apparatus slips and prevents injury to the threads. Where cones are
employed to drive the weaver's beam, in place of putting more or less
pressure upon a frictional apparatus, the reciprocating motion of the
tension beam above described is employed to shift the strap upon the
cones, so as to regulate the velocity required by the tension needed
and indicated by the weight put on the levers employed to actuate the
tension beam. The frictional apparatus may be weighted either by the
same weight as the tension beam named above, or by a different weight.
The weight upon the frictional apparatus may either be a sufficient
weight for the heaviest pressure and be adjusted for lesser pressures by
being partially released, or it may be an adjusted weight being shifted
nearer to or further from the fulcrum as required by the tension
on the yarn. Besides the frictional apparatus, above referred to, and

page_text: the cones and strap for driving the weaver's beam, I employ as a sub-
stitute the well-known differential motion or epicyclic train, which I use
either as a shipping motion by placing friction upon the central portion,
or as a positive motion connecting the central portion with a cone or a
3 pair of cones, in the first case altering the pressure of the friction, in the
second the position of the strap upon the cones by the movement of
the weaver's beams varying diameter or the tension beam, herein-before
described, or by both. It will be observed that although I prefer to
apply the tension beam in close proximity to the weaver's yarn beam
it might be placed in similar relation to any other roller on the
machine.
The second part of my Invention is for the purpose of passing
the size into and out of a closed empty vessel as required by the
necessities of the size trough, and removing the adjustable apparatus
3 altogether from the closed vessel itself by passing steam continuously
through it into the size trough and using the said steam for boiling the
starch in the size trough, or in aid of the steam usually admitted for
that purpose, the quantity of size in the closed vessel being regulated
by the height or position of the aperture for the pipe through which the
steam passes from the closed vessel into the size trough, and through
which pipe the size is carried by the steam when wanted, and which is
admitted into the closed vessel by a ball tap acted on by the size in the
size trough when too high, closing when too low, opening a valve for
that purpose.
And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood and
more readily carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe the same,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1
is an end elevation of a dressing machine shewing my first improvement;
Figure 2 is a sido sectional elevation of the same; Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and 8 shewing modifications of the same; Figure 9 shews my second
improvement.
a is the weaver's beam which is carried in the usual manner by the
stationary adjustable stud b, held capable of adjustment by means of a
socket 6¹ fastened on the end of the framing A; 6ª is a revolving stud
which carries the other end of the weaver's beam, and rotates in the
socket 6³ within the frame and fastened to the end thereof, and in the
socket 6* which is beyond the frame, and may be either separate from it
and bolted to a stool 6 or bolted to the frame. The revolving stud 6ª

page_text: has a crank 6s upon the end thereof, by which motion is communicated
to the weaver's beam by means of a strap or similar simple contrivance.
In the space between the bearings or sockets 63 and 6', above described,
I place a common frictional apparatus consisting of four parts, one c
fast upon the revolving stud 6, between which and the driving pulley's
web c¹ I place a piece of flannel c³, next to this I place the web of the
pulley c¹, and against this I place another piece of flannel as necessity
arises between it and the friction disc c³, which has a ring groove cut in
its boss, into which the fork o' takes. The fork c oscillates freely upon
the stud which is fixed in the bracket cª bolted to the framing or to
the stool be above described. In the lower end of the fork lever of I
place the stud c, on which I place freely one end of the L lever d,
whose fulcrum is in the bracket & bolted either to the framing or to the
stool 6. The L lever d extends within the framing to a short distance
beyond the middle thereof, and in or nearly in the middle between the
two frame sides I place the stud d³ in an adjustable slot therein. This
stud d³ passes through two levers d³, d', suspended on the studs d³ and de
in the cross bar B of the framing, and having studs do, d, fastened in
them near to the frame sides, on which I place the bosses on the ends,
the upright sliding rods d³, d³, to the top of which rods I bolt or fasten
the tension beam d". The rods d³, d, are kept steady at the top by the
brackets du, d, bolted to the framing. I also fix in the lever d³ the
upright stud d, on which I place weights d, by which any desired
tension is placed upon the yarn passing over the tension beam d¹. The
effect of the arrangement is that when the uptake of the weaver's
beam is greater than the weight d can resist the tension beam
sustained by them yields to the tension and descends, and by means
of the levers above described the pressure upon the frictional discs
c, c³, c³, c³, above described is released by the fork lever c', and
equilibrium between the tension of the weight and the power of the
discs is established. On the other hand when the uptake of the weaver's
beam decreases the tension beam rises, and the discs receive pressure by
which the equilibrium is again restored. By this means I am able to
regulate the hardness of the yarn on the weaver's beam by the weight
applied, and to give the yarn any tension desired; for the weaver's
yarn beam can only take up the yarn under the strain which is given to
it from the weight on the tension beam, and the necessity for the
operative to attend to it is taken away and the work is better done,
being uniformly regulated in the most delicate manner throughout the

page_text: entire filling of the weaver's beam. By this,means any desired strain
can bo put upon the yarn that may be thought desirable, and when onco
fixed cannot afterwards be disturbed without changing the weights upon
the tension beam. It will be seen therefore that this apparatus is self-
acting, and regulates the strain upon the yarn in a uniform and positive
manner throughout its entire length. It can be varied at will according
to the various requirements and counts of yarn to be sized; it can be
adapted to suit the most delicate fibre or the stoutest yarn by altering
the weight which determines the strain upon the yarn.
There are several modifications of the method proposed which will
readily suggest themselves. For example, I use one weight in more or
fewer pieces to produce the tension upon the beam, and to regulate the
pressure upon the friction discs. This work may be done by using a
separate weight for each. The weight above described and shown in
Figures 1 and 2, is mado sufficiently heavy to equal the greatest load
required by the tension of the yarn and the pressure upon the discs. It
is obvious however that for the pressure upon the discs a moveable
weight, see Figure 8, separate from the tension weight may be employed;
by which the pressure between the discs and the tension upon the
tension beam may be equilibrated. In this modification the L lever ƒ
is placed upon the stud f' in the rail B fastened upon the framing.
The short side of this lever is connected with the rod d³, which
carries the tension beam and receives motion therefrom. The long side
of the lever is connected to the moveable weight f³ upon the lever d,
which is connected with the fork c* which regulates the friction discs, as
herein-before described.
h
h
Figures 4 and 5 represent another modification in which the pendant
arm of the L lever fis made to traverse the strap upon the concs h¹, h³,
which communicate motion to the wheel h³ fastened upon the revolving
stud 6 by means of the pinion * fastened upon the cone shaft. The
effect of the modification is that by traversing the strap / upon the cones
by the motion of the tension beam the uptake of the weaver's beam
which regulates the oscillation of the tension beam will regulate the
position of the strap upon the cones, and so equilibrate the tension of
the yarn and the motion of the weaver's beam. Figures 6 and 7
represent two modes of applying the differential motion or epicyclic
train to the same purpose. Motion is communicated to the pulley / on

page_text: which is fastened the wheel k¹, to this is connected the wheels ³, ³,
suspended in the friction pulley . The wheels k³, k³, are also geared
with the wheel ³ fastened upon the revolving stud b², which gives
motion as above described to the weaver's beam. A. band is fastened
at one end to the bracket k' on the framing A, and at the other to the
lover equivalent to d, herein-before described, and moved by the tension
beam, as herein-before described and shewn with reference to the letter d.
Pressure regulated in accordance with the uptake of the weaver's beam
will therefore be communicated through the differential motion so
applied. As shewn in Figure 7 the same motion may be made to give
positive motion to the beam by means of the cones, shewn in Figure 4,
connecting the pinion / to the central portion of the differential motion,
in this case made a wheel instead of a pulley for that purpose.
Taking advantage of the fact that the empty beam is easier driven
than the full one, that is to say, with less friction than the full beam
requires, it equals the tension upon the tension beam, the pressure upon
the friction plates or other motive instruments, herein-before described
and referred to, and the position of the strap upon the cones may be.
varied somewhat continuously, as the weaver's beam fills by its con-
stantly varying diameter, but not with an absolute certainty, but
approximately it may be employed for this purpose. I use both systems
of variation jointly, see Figure 8. Thus by means of the roller s resting
upon the filling beam carried by the arms s¹ and 8³, which arms are
fastened upon the shaft &³, to which shaft also the crank arm &* is
fastened which acts upon the lever d herein-before described, whose :
fulcrum I place in this modification in the plate 85 fixed to the sliding
rodd herein-before described.
By the arrangement the L lever d is moved both by the tension roller
raising or lowering the fulcrum plate s' and also by the crank arm s*,
which is moved by means of the filling beam as above described. The
crank arms is also made to move the strap upon the cones, but the
determination of its postion is also left dependent upon the tension beam
whether used without or with the differential motion.
It is obvious that both the tension beam and the friction apparatus
may be disconnected from the weaver's beam and applied to the 9-inch
roller or to the copper rollers, or to any motion which determines the rate
of travel of the yarn through the machine, and the weaver's beam be

page_text: driven from them or either of them, the speed being obtained by the
tension beam as above described, but this I should regard as 0
modification of my Invention.
'
My second improvement, which is for supplying hot size along with
the steam passed into the size box whilst the amount of size so supplied
shall be capable of regulation by the well-known apparatus for which a
Patent was granted to me dated Ninth of March One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-seven, Number 673, and which apparatus I apply now
in an improved manner.
In Figure 9 I represent this improvement:-Into a closed empty.
vessel p I pass a pipe p¹ for the supply of steam, and from the vessel
another pipe p at a certain height from the bottom of the vessel p by
which the steam admitted to it may as freely pass to the size trough p³;
I also make another inlet pipe p* into the vessel p through which I
admit size on the condition that it is needed by the size trough. The
position of the vessel p I regulate according to convenience, the pressure
of steam admitted being in every position equal to carry off the sizo
to the size trough, and the power of the injecting pump being always
competent to force the size into the vessel p. The need of size in the
size trough is indicated, and the supply regulated in the well-known
manner by the ball float p³ and valve pº in accordance with the Patent
granted to me of the above-mentioned date and number, but here so
adapted that whatever the position of the admission tap relatively to
the size trough I am enabled by the ball float to admit the required
quantity of size. I am also enabled to remove from the vessel p all
appliances of mechanism whatever, and to keep it perfectly closed as
it is entirely beyond the need of inspection. For the purpose of
occasionally excluding all size from the vessel p I close entirely the
inlet valve pº, and open the hand valve p' which communicates with the
O bottom of the vessel p. The steam will then empty completely the
vessel P and convey
all the size therein to the size trough which is
always accessible. This without waste of material may be done as
frequently as the operative in charge of the machine may consider
desirable.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as

page_text: Firstly. The means and modifications described and shewn or any
similar modifications whereby a tension beam oscillating either vertically
or horizontally or any similar instrument, regulates the rate of motion
of the weaver's beam and the uptake of the yarn, so as to remove
that matter from the care of the operative, secure uniformity of tension
by the use of a constant weight tension adjustable at will according
to the fineness of the yarn to be sized or the hardness of the beam
required, whether applied at the weaver's beam or at the nine-inch roller,
the copper rollers, or any part of the machine which regulates or aids to
regulate the passage of the yarn through the machine.
Secondly. The means described and shewn, whereby a closed and
empty vessel p may be filled with size and the size supplied to the size
trough, the size being injected by a pump or similar instrument into
the vessel p through the tap opened and closed by a ball float in the
size trough and removed therefrom into the size trough by steam which 1
is constantly passing through the vessel, and boils or aids to boil the
size, both in the vessel p and in the size trough, besides carrying all the
size thereto above a certain aperture in the vessel p which by the
arrangement needs no inspection, can be set in any convenient position
and may be emptied at will by opening a connection to the size trough 2
at or below the bottom of the vessel p.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Scowcroft Lowe, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of May One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM SCOWCROFT LOWE. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM ROBERTSON,
Engineer,
17, Queen's Chambers,
Market St.,
Manchester.