IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, WORSTED, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Cotton, of Belfast, Ireland, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, HEMP,
WORSTED, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.".
Sealed the 20th May 1870, and dated the 24th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Cotton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1869.
I, STEPHEN COTTON, of Belfast, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX,.
HEMP, WORSTED, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements are in what are termed the screw gill drawing-
and roving machines, and consist, firstly, in reducing the number of
screws that are employed to work or travel the gill bars or fallers
betwixt the retaining and drawing rollers in the said machines; and,
secondly, in dispensing with the cams or tappets attached to the said

page_text: screws, and used for the purpose of transferring the gill bars from the
top to the bottom screw, and again from the bottom to the top.
Referring to my first improvement in machines of more than one
head or carriage at all the inside stands or plates there are two pairs of
screws. I propose to have only one pair, the ends of two gill bars
working on opposite sides of the same screw, so that with a machine of
six heads there would be altogether seven pairs of screws, and on the
old system there would be twelve pairs.
In my second improvement, instead of the cams or tappets attached
to the screws for transferring the gill bars from the top to the bottom
screw, and vice versa, I employ a rocking shaft running at right angles
to and underneath the screws nearly the whole length of the machine,
on which are fastened arms right and left, and the ends of which form a
joint with an upright piece or slide that receives the gill bar and carries
it up and down from one screw to the other without the assistance of
the aforesaid cams or tappets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Cotton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
COTTON, of Belfast, Ireland, send greeting...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Cotton, Her special licence
that I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Cotton, 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 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 FLAX, HEMP, WORSTED, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Stephen Cotton,
my exccutors 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 Stephen Cotton, 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:-
The improvements which constitute this Invention relate to what are
termed screw gill drawing and roving machines, and consist, firstly, in
reducing the number of screws that are employed to work or travel the
gill bars or fallers betwixt the retaining and drawing rollers in the said
machines; and, secondly, in dispensing with the cams or tappets
attached to the said screws, and used for the purpose of transferring
the gill bars from the top to the bottom screw, and again from the
bottom to the top.
In machines of more than one head or carriage in which at all the
inside stands or plates there are two pairs of screws, I propose to have
only one pair by causing the ends of two gill bars to work on opposite
sides of the same screw, so that with a machine of six heads con-
structed according to my improved plan there would be altogether
seven pairs of screws, while on the old system there would be twelve
pairs.
Thirdly, instead of the cams or tappets attached to the screws for
transferring the gill bars from the top to the bottom screw, and vice
versa, I employ a rocking shaft running at right angles to and under-
neath the screws nearly the whole length of the machine, on which are
fastened arms right and left, and the ends of which form a joint with an
upright piece or slide that receives the gill bar, and carries it up and
down from one screw to the other without the assistance of the aforesaid
cams or tappets.
The accompanying Drawing to which the following explanation refers
is intended to illustrate the said improvements as carried out in

page_text: EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a flax drawing frame with the
'improvements shewn therein; Fig. 2 shows the motion for raising
and lowering the fallers or gill bars separate from the other parts of
the machine; and Fig. 3 is a front view of the screws and faller or gill
bar ends with my improvement on a larger scale. The same parts of
the machine where they are in view in the respective illustrations are
lettered with similar letters, so that the following reference applies to
each Figure where the index letter appears.
A, in Fig. 1, is the driving shaft of the machine, from which motion
is communicated to the drawing roller B and the back shaft C by the
two spur wheels D, D', and thence to all the other parts of the machine.
On the back shaft C are placed bevil wheels E, which work into corre-
sponding bevils on the end of the bottom screws F, which again give
motion to the top screws G by the spur pinions H³, H". I make the
bottom screw F and top screw G of different pitches, and drive the
bottom screw at a different speed from the top screw. The ends of the
fallers or gill bars I, I, are made so as to fit into the spaces of the
screws and G, and from the rotary motion of the top screw are carried
forward from the retaining roller J to the drawing roller B, and again on
the bottom screw from the drawing roller back to the retaining roller. The
gill bars or fallers are transferred from the top to the bottom screw, and
again from the bottom to the top, in the following manner :-K, Fig. 2,
is a cam or tappet fixed on one end of the back shaft C, which cam
guides or works one end of the lever L, the other end of which lever
works the lever M, which latter is fastened on the end of the rocking
shaft O, the said rocking shaft having arms S', S", right and left, at
the end of which are upright pieces or slides P1, P", working freely on
joints at Q', Q", and through steadiers or guides at R', R", so that at
every revolution of the cam K the upright slides make an upward and
downward movement with a short rest at each end of the stroke. When
the upright slide P¹ is at the top of its stroke the other slide P" will be
at the bottom; these upright slides are made with notches at their top
ends to receive the faller or gill bar ends, so that as soon as the latter
arrive at the end of their respective strokes the short rest enables the
gill bar ends to move into the notches, and then be immediately moved

page_text: at one end into the bottom screw, and at the other end into the top
screw, and so on at every revolution of the cam K.
In Fig. 3 the gill bar or faller ends are shewn working on each side of
the same screw, and in Fig. 4 they are shewn working on the old plan,
with the gill bars simply on one side of the screws, so that at all the
inside carriages in drawing and roving machines of two heads and
upwards with my improvement only two screws or one pair are required,
whereas on the old plan four screws or two pairs are necessary.
I claim, firstly, in screw gill drawing and roving machines, the
employment of one pair of screws, instead of two pairs, at the inside
heads or carriage plates, for the purpose of travelling the gill bars or
fallers backwards and forwards betwixt the retaining and drawing
rollers.
Secondly. The dispensing with cams or tappets attached to the screws
on the old system, for the purpose of transferring the gill bars or fallers
from the top to the bottom screws, and again from the bottom to the
top by the improved mechanism shewn and herein described.
Thirdly. In employing the method already explained of transferring
the gill bars or fallers from the top to the bottom screw, and vice versa.
Fourthly. In driving the bottom screw at a different speed from the.
top screw.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Cotton, have hereunto set.
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
SHIRDI EN COTTON