IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING AND POLISHING THREADS AND YARNS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Christic, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Cotton Doubler, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FINISHING AND POLISHING THREADS AND YARNS."
Scaled the 21st April 1857, and dated the 18th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hector Christie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th February 1857.
I, HECTOR CHRISTIE, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton
Doubler, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FINISHING AND POLISHING THREADS AND YARNS," to be as follows:-
The object of my improvements is to lay the fibre of threads and yarns, and
also to impart to them a polish or lustre. To effect this I stretch the thread's
or yarns in the bank or skein, and previously sized, around two rollers. These
are put in motion, and whilst they are moving I apply a cylinder or cylinders,
around which are affixed, or on which are strung washers of leather or cloth
closely fastened together, or I fasten horse or other hair on such cylinders to
rub against the threads or yarns as they pass by. These cylinders revolve,
and as they revolvo rub against the threads or yarns moving past, and thus lay
their fibro and impart to them a polish or lustre. Or, the above named
washers of leather and cloth or hair can be used as polishing agents by a
reciprocating instead of a circular motion.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hector Christie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HECTOR
CHRISTIE, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Doubler, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Hector Christic, Her especial license that I, the said Hector Christic, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hector
Christie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the torm 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 FINISHING AND POLISHING THREADS AND YARNS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Hector Christic, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 T, the said Hector Christic, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
The object of my improvements is to lay the 'fibre of 'threads, and also to
impart to them polish or lustre. To effect this I stretch the threads or yarns
in the bank or skein, previously sized, around two rollers. These are put-in
motion, and while they are moving 'I apply a cylinder or cylinders, around which
are affixed, or on which are strung washers of leather or cloth closely fastened
together, or I fasten horse or other hair on such cylinders to rub against the
threads as they pass by. These cylinders revolve, and as they revolvo rub
against the threads or yarns moving past, and thus lay their fibre and impart 3
to them polish or lustre. Or, the above named washers of leather and cloth
or hair can be used as polishing agents by a reciprocating instead of a circular
motion. These are, firstly, the cut edges of pieces of cloth or leather closely

page_text: and tightly fastened together, and which may be made of any shape or size,
but are more conveniently cut or stamped out in round pieces technically called
washers. These pieces of cloth or leather may be fitted on to an iron or other
suitable rod or shaft, and fastened very tightly together by screws or other means,
or they may be pressed tightly into wire cages or framings. They may be made
of a size large enough to form a solid roller of any convenient diameter, or
they may be made of smaller size, and a series of rods fitted with them may
be mounted on a cylinder or cylinders, and the rapid revolution of these rollers
or cylinders driving the cut edges of the cloth or leather against the stretched
hanks or skeins of threads, previously sized and in motion, produces the polish
or lustre. It is not essential to the polishing of the threads that they should
be in motion while the cylinders or rollers are revolving, but by a steady
regular motion they are more regularly and evenly polished; therefore I
prefer it.
In order, however, that these improved rubbers or polishing surfacos berein-
before mentioned may be more clearly understood, and their mode of action
better known, I now proceed' to describe them in detail, and to show in the
'accompanying Drawings views of the different parts separately and combined,
and the different modes of working them.
Fig. 1 is an end view of a solid roller acting on the threads on their
carrying rollers. a, a, are the carrying rollers; b, b, are tho threads; c is the
roller of washers, which being made to rotate rapidly produces the polish or
lustre. In this mode of using the washers the polishing roller may be made
of any diameter, but I have found from four to six inches to be the most con-
venient size.
Fig. 2 is an end view of a cylinder fitted with the improved rubbers acting
on the threads.
a, a, are the carrying rollers; b, b, are the threads; c is the cylinder on
which the smaller cylinders with washers d, d, are fixed; the cylinder being
made to rotate rapidly, and driving the rubbers or polishing surfaces against
the threads, produces the lustre or polish. In this mode of using the washers
they may be made of any suitable size or shape, but I have found them most
conveniently made and fitted up, and most effective when from one to two
inches in diameter. I wish to remark that the rubbers d, d, instead of being
fixed to the cylinder c, as shewn in the Drawing, may be made to rotate on
their own axes by means of a fixed wheel concentric with the cylinder c,
gearing into pinions on the axes of the rubbers d, d.
Fig. 3 is a washer of the size I have now in use; Fig. 4 is a front view
of the arrangement of which an end view is shewn in Fig. 2.

page_text: Fig. 5 is the rod or shaft partly fitted with washers also drawn full size,
shewing the screw and the way in which they may be tightened. The
ropes or cords of hair, I prefer horse hair, may be used in the same way
as above described for the washers or cut edges of cloth. They can be
wound tightly and closely round a cylinder made to act as in Fig. 1, or they
may be strained very tightly across the face of the cylinder, and made to act
as in Figs. 2 and 5.
Though I have, described these surfaces as acting on the threads by a
circular motion, they may be made to produce the same results by a rapid
reciprocating or to-and-fro motion, which can be obtained by cranks, eccentrics,
or other like means.. I have not described any modes of giving stretch or
tension to the yarns or threads in motion, as these are well understood, and
various methods have been in use for many years..
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not confine myself to any shape or size of the rubbers or polishing
surfaces, or of the pieces of cloth or leather of which I use. the edges, nor to
these precise details, so long as the peculiar character of my improvements
is retained; but what I do claim is the novel application of the edges of pieces
of cloth and leather, and of ropes or cords of hair, either separately or in
combination, for the purpose of polishing and finishing thread, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hector Christie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
'
HECTOR CHRISTIE. (L.S.)