CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING HEMP, AND SUCH OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AS THE SAME IS APPLICABLE TO
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TAPPAN, of Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of May, in the sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Tappan, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said John Tappan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said John Tappan, my exors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention of "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND SPINNING HEMP, AND SUCH OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS AS THE SAME IS APPLICABLE TO," being a communication from
a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a pro-
viso, obliging me, the said John Tappan, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Tappan, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):-
This Invention of Certain Improvements in Machinery for Preparing and
Spinning Hemp, and-such-other Fibrous Materials as the same is applicable to,
and which forms the subject of the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,
has been communicated to me by my Correspondent abroad in nearly the
following words :-
Heretofore it has been customary to prepare hemp, previous to its being spun,
by heckling it, or otherwise straightening and separating the fibres. These
operations require much manual labour, and consequent expenditure of capital
invested in the manufacture of ropes. Like the generality of inventions, the
object of the herein-after described improvements is the reduction of manual
labour, and employing the power of machinery in place thereof, particularly
in the process of preparing the hemp or other fibrous materials for the after-
operation of spinning. The improved construction of machinery for effecting
these objects is represented in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1
exhibits an orthographical projection or top view of the machine, and Fig. 2
an elevation of one side of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal and central
section, and Fig. 4 is a detached view, shewing some of the parts in detail for
the purpose of better elucidating the arrangement of the whole in combina-
tion. A, A, A, A, throughout the different views, represent the framework,
which may be constructed of wood, iron, or other suitable material, and formed
in any other manner to support the operating parts thereto attached.. B. is a
fast and C a loose, pulley on a cross shaft D, D, Figs. 1 and 2. The belt F
(Figs. 2 and 3) from the driving power passes over one or the other of these
pullies, according to circumstances. Two pullies G, H, are attached to the
shaft D, D, near its other end. Around either of these at pleasure a belt I
passes to and around a pulley K or L, on a shaft M, M, Figs. 1 and 2. The
shaft M, M, revolves in suitable bearings E, E, and has a cogged pinion N
(see Fig. 1) affixed near its outer extremity. The teeth of this cogged pinion
engage with those of a cogged wheel O on the extremity of a horizontal shaft
P, P, Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The shaft P has a cogged, pinion Q (Fig. 1). placed
thereon at the opposite end, and the teeth of this pinion gear into with
and act upon those of a cogged wheel R (Figs. 1, 2, and 3) situated on the
end of another shaft S. There are three shafts S, T, and U, upon which the
.

page_text: drums V, W, X are situated, and revolved by the motion of these shafts.
As these drums or hollow cylinders and machinery to operate the points, will
be particularly described hereafter, I now proceed in the description of the
connection of the pullies, belts, toothed wheels, and other gearing which put
the drums in motion. The shaft S has on its other extremity (see Fig. 1, a
set of pullies Y, Y, Y, of different diameters, as represented in the Drawing.
From either of these said pullies a belt Z passes to'and around its correspond-
ing pulley of another series a, a, a, affixed on the end of another shaft b, b,
the said shaft being represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, as mounted in suitable
boxes or bearings c. A pinion'd on the shaft b; b (see Fig. 2); engages with
and turns a cogged wheel e on the extremity of the shaft T, and of course
causing the said shaft T to revolve also: A set of pullies f f f (Figs.
1 and 2), is placed on the opposite extremity of the shaft T. From either
of these pullies at pleasure a belt g is made to pass to and around a pulley
of another set h, h, h, on a shaft i, i(Figs: 1, 2, and 3), thus communicating.
motion to the said shaft. The motion is thence continued to the shaft U, by'
means of a cogged pinion 'k on the shaft i, i, engaging with a cogged wheel
on one extremity of the shaft U. A large pulley m (Fig. 1) is placed on the
other extremity of the shaft U, and from this pulley a belt n passes to and
around a smaller pulley o affixed on the end of another shaft p (Fig. 2), thus
communicating motion to the said shaft p. The feeding roller or cylinder 9 is
placed on the shaft p, having directly over it another and similar roller r,
whose shaft s, s, has its journals resting and turning in bearings t, t, formed in
the levers u, u, Figs. 1 and 2. The fulcrum of each of these levers is in the
top of a standard v, v. Weights are to be hung on or near their other ends,
in order to produce sufficient pressure to enable the rollers to draw the hemp
or other fibrous material from the quantity to be spun, and feed the machinery
with the same.
Having thus described the machinery by means of which motion is com-
municated to the different cylinders, rollers, &c. of that portion of the Inven-
tion whose office is to prepare the fibrous material, or reduce it to a suitable
state to be
spun into
yarn, I now proceed to explain the construction of the
drums or cylinders V, W, X, and their mode of operation on the hemp or
flax. Each of the said drums, it will be perceived by inspection of Figs. 1, 2,
and 3, consists of a hollow cylinder w, attached to circular discs or plates a, a,
these said plates being placed on and fixed to a central shaft S, T, or U. Thus
when the said shaft is put in motion, the hollow cylindrical drum W is caused to
revolve on its axis. Each of the shafts S, T, U, passes through and turns in a
hollow shaft similar to that shewn at y, z, in Fig. 4. These hollow shafts are
stationary, or fixed at one or both of their ends, by being secured or otherwise

page_text: properly connected to the boxes a¹, a¹. At each of the other extremities of the
hollow shafts y, z, and directly in front of the discs x, x, grooved cams b', 6',
are affixed, of the shape represented by red lines in Fig. 3, and partly by black
in elevation and section-in-Fig. 2 and Fig. 4. The cylindrical ends c', c', of
the metallic bars d', d', are also inserted in the excentric grooves e',-e,-of the
cams. The bars d, d, are also placed and move in slots or rectangular
spaces f, f, formed in or cut through the discs or plates x, x. Each of the
bars d' has a series of metallic points g', g', g', &c., affixed thereto, which
radiate through slots or long spaces h³, h³, formed in the periphery of the
drums, as seen in the different Drawings. These metallic points or teeth vary
in their length, those near the centre of the drums being longer than those
near the sides of the same, the object of which arrangement will be more par-
ticularly specified hereafter. Now, from what has been described, it will be
readily seen that when the drums V, W, X, are put in revolution the metallic
points g¹, g', g', &c., must advance and recede alternately; or more particularly,
while they travel through the circular portion i¹, j', of the groove into the
excentric portion j', k³, they recede from the circumference of the cylinder until
they enter within the periphery of the drum, and remain so while they travel in
the portion k, l, thence through the excentric portion l', ; they are advanced
until they reach again the circular part of the groove i, j. Now suppose the
hemp or other fibrous material to be entered between the feed rollers q, 1, and
received upon and by the metallic points of the drum X, as represented by the
blue arrows in Fig. 3, the circumference of the drum X, moving with a some-
what greater velocity than the surfaces of the feed rollers, draws down (a very
little) the hemp during its passage over its upper surface towards the drum
W, whose lower points then advance to receive the hemp or other fibrous
material, as the points of the drum X recede and leave it. The motion of
the periphery of the second drum W, being increased above that given to the
circumference of the drum X, causes the fibrous material to be drawn out
a second time during its passage over the under surface of the cylinder or
drum W, thence from W it passes to and over the drum V, to the regu-
lator m', and from the said regulator to the spinning or twisting part of
the machinery. The velocity of the periphery of the drum V is also
increased above that of W, so as to draw the material down a third
time; and as it departs from the cylinder or drum V, and in its passage from
thence to the regulator m³, the points of this cylinder are caused by the excen-
tric grooves of the cams to recede almost immediately from the hemp, and
leave it free to pass through the regulator. It will likewise be observed that
the teeth near the extremities of the drum disengage from the hemp before
those near the centre of the same, thereby facilitating the formation of the

page_text: roving, which the pecunar snape and construction of the regulator m (nerein-
after described) is calculated to produce.
The above constitutes the description of the construction and operation of
that part of the improvements whose object is the final preparation of the
fibrous material for the process of spinning. I shall now proceed to describe
the improvements in that part of the machinery which twists and spins the
fibres into yarn. A bevilled wheel n¹ (Fig. 1), placed on the shaft D, commu-
nicates motion to a similar wheel p¹ on the shaft o¹, from thence motion is
given to the flyer q', by means of a belt r¹, passing from a large pulley s¹,
on the shaft o', to and around a pulley t¹, attached to the neck of the
flyer, as seen in the different Drawings. The construction of the flyer q',
and bobbin u', will be readily understood by inspecting the Drawings;
and the principal improvements in this part of the machinery consist in
the mode of vibrating the spindle and retarding the bobbin, to cause it
to take up the yarn as fast as the same is spun or twisted. The spindle
v, Figs. 1 and 3, has a pulley w¹ affixed thereon, from which a belt .r¹
passes to and around a cylinder or drum y¹ (Figs. 1, 2, and 3); another
belt passes from the other end of the drum to one or the other of the
pullies a, b. A groove c² is cut in the circumference of the pulley 62, and a
fork d² inserted therein, while at its other end it is screwed or otherwise fixed
to the framework A, A. The object of the fork is to hold the pullies a², b²,
in the same situation during their revolutions. The pulley a² is a little less
in diameter than the pulley 6. A small dog, or forked piece of metal e², is
arranged in proper supports f³, which are properly attached to the side of the
pulley a², its forked end being inserted between the threads of a common
screw g², formed on the spindle v. The pulley a is a little smaller in diameter
than the pulley w¹, while the diameter of the pulley 62 is a little larger than
that of w. From this it follows that when the belt is thrown over the
pulley a², the rate of its revolutions is somewhat increased above that of w¹;
and therefore the effect would be, as this pulley is kept in place or in position
during its revolutions, to cause the small fork e² to travel in the groove or
between the threads of the screw, and by so doing to press the spindle forward
until the fork arrives at the termination of the screw. Then if the belt z¹ is
shifted or thrown upon the pulley 62, a reverse effect will be produced, and the
spindle forced back until the fork e reaches the opposite termination of the
thread of the screw g². The changing of the belt from one pulley a² to the
other be, is thus produced-A forked lever ³ (see Figs. 1, 2, and 3) turns
on a fulcrum or support i, attached to the lower side of, the upper cross tie
of the framework. One end receives or straddles the belt, while the opposite

page_text: end is connected by a clasp or staple with a slide 2, Figs. 1 and 2. This
slides moves longitudinally a short distance, and is supported in staples or
grooves, or in any other proper manner. An arm m³ projects downwards
from the spindle with its end resting on the upper surface of the slide 2. Now
when the spindle reaches either extremity nor o3 of the long staple n², o, the
arm m will press against the said staple n³, o, causing the slide 1, in which
it is arranged; to move longitudinally a sufficient distance to throw the belt z'
from one pulley to the other; as the case may be; and reverse the action of the
small fork on the thread. of the screw 92. A weight p is placed on the top
of a rod q, which rod q? rests at its foot in a step formed in the top of the
cross beam, as denoted by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The rod q is also con-
nected by a proper joint (so as to be easily inclined to a certain distance one.
side or the other of a perpendicular. line) to the edge of the slide 1. The
object of this weight and rod is to cause the action of the slide 12 and its forked
lever on the belt, when the arm m² is travelling back, after it reverses the
action of the fork e² on the screw g²: This it effects by the pressure it exerts
against the said slide when shifted to one side or the other of a perpendicular.
A groove pulley s is fixed on the spindle. "A strap of metal 2 passes around this
pulley, and traverses at a² on a rod. 2. A small screw w³, with a nut a³, serves
to clamp or draw together the ends of. the strap t, so as to cause it to bind
upon the periphery of the pulley s";. and produce a sufficient friction thereon to
cause the retardation of the bobbin to enable it to take or wind up the yarn as the
same is spun or twisted by the flyer. It will be seen that the spindle is dragged
round or revolved by the thread, whose strength is sufficient to effect the same.
To enable the cross head y of the spindle to traverse backwards and forwards
freely; I place small rollers 22, 2, on each extremity where the ends of the
cross head clasp the flyer bar. Should these bars be expanded by centrifugal
force during the rapid revolutions of the flyer, they will meet and rest against
the rollers, 2, and thus these rollers answer the double purpose of diminish-
ing friction and preventing too great an expansion of the flyer bars...The
next and probably most essential part of the improvements is, that portion of
them whose office is to regulate the size of the yarn, and to prevent also any
knots or bunches of the hemp or other materials from passing to the drawing
rollers a³, 3, and being twisted up into the yarn by the operation of the spin-
ning machinery. A toothed wheel c³ (represented by dotted lines in Fig. 2) is
fixed on the end of the shaft M, M; outside of the cogged pinion N. The
teeth of the said wheel communicate motion to another toothed wheel d³ on
the end of the shaft e³, by means of the intervening cogged shaft fs. Another
horizontal shaft g³ is situated directly over and parallel to the shaft e³, these

page_text: two shafts being geared together by a small pinion on each, as seen by a top
view. The axles of the upper shaft, are mounted, and revolve in suitable
bearings in the levers 23, 23, as seen at 3, 3. The fulcrum of each of the
levers is at one end at ³, as seen in the Drawings.: Weights are to be hung
on these levers, in order to produce a suitable degree of pressure on the yarn
as it passes between the draw rollers a³, 63, the former of which is on the upper
shaft 93, and the latter on the lower shaft. The regulator 'm¹ is trumpet-
shaped, with branching or curved sides 1, 3 (see Figs. 1; 2, and 3), so as 'to'
receive the fibres as they leave the points, and concentrate them as they pass
through the gauge to the draw rollers. This gauge "consists of two wedge-
shaped pieces of metal m³, m³, placed one above the other, as represented in
section at Fig. 3. They are pressed together by means of a bent spring o³
(shaped very much like the letter U), clasping the end of the regulator. One
half of a conical chamber p³ is formed in each of the pieces of metal n³, n³,
as represented in Fig., 3. The regulator mis attached to the top of a long
rod 3 (Figs. 1; 2; and 3); whose lower extremity is properly attached to a
horizontal shaft, resting in boxes or bearings s³: A bent lever is placed-
on the end of the shaft ; its upper end is forked, and clasps or receives the
bent end of another lever ³. The lower u³ vibrates laterally on a pin
or-bearing at ³, its opposite extremity w³ being forked as represented in
the elevation; Fig. 2, and inserted in a groove a³, Fig. 1, of a clutch y³, fitted
loosely, but secured so as only to be moved laterally on the shaft P, P. A
small pin
or dog, projecting from the side of the pinion Q, and entering
into one of a series of holes drilled in the side of the clutch y³, serves to
connect the clutch to the cogged pinion Q, and thus, while the regulator m²
remains in the position shewn in the Drawings, the pinion Q is in connection
with the shaft P. But when the said regulator is drawn forwards, the bent
lever t³, moving with the shaft, presses on the bent end of the forked lever u³,
causing the said forked lever to press outwards the clutch y³, and thus disen-
gage the pinion Q and shaft P, thereby, stopping the action on the cogged
wheel R, and consequently the action of all that portion of the machinery
whose office is to prepare the fibrous material. A weight a, Figs. 1 and 2;.
is placed on the other arm of the bent lever t³, so as to serve as a
sufficient
counterpoise to carry back the regulator m¹ to its previous position. From
the above it will be perceived that, should any portion of the fibrous material
be uneven or twisted into knots or bunches, when such portions pass into the
regulator between the pieces of metal m³, n³, they will adhere therein; so that
the drawing-rollers, acting on the material, will draw the regulator forwards,
and thus stop the action of the whole of the preparative part of the machinery

page_text: until the said knots or bunches are reduced and pass through the regulator,
which being accomplished, the said regulator will return to its former position.
Again, it will be observed that this mode of regulating or preventing the
accumulation of bunches differs from all others heretofore-invented, -inasmuch
as the knot or bunch in all or most of them is suffered to pass between the
drawing rollers, which serve only to pinch or retain it until the twisting power
of the flyer overcomes the force of retention, and draws the knot (in general
but partially reduced) from between the draw rollers, twisting it into yarn.
Again, this detention of the knot by the draw rollers causes a much greater
number of revolutions of the flyer on the yarn intervening between it and the
draw rollers, than on other portions thereof; the tendency, therefore is to reduce
the diameter of the yarn, rendering it uneven and irregular in size.
From the above it would appear evident that such machines are an injury
rather than a benefit to the process of ropemaking, as the grand desideratum
is to so twist the fibres together, that when laid into a rope each shall have an
equal strain or tension. In my mode of regulating by the above described
machinery, these objections are all obviated; the bunch or knot is properly
reduced in the regulator by the draw rollers continually operating and drawing
forth the material in proportion to the quantity required by the spinning appa-
ratus. The particular object of the bent spring o³ is to allow any hard
substance, in passing through the gauge or conical chamber p³, and which is
not susceptible of reduction, to separate the pieces m³, n³, and thus be drawn
out of the regulator. The advantages resulting from the above-described
arrangement of machinery, both in the saving of labour and the quality of the.
manufacture, will be readily apparent after learning the principles and mode
of operation, as above set forth. In the first place it will be observed, that
should the hemp or fibrous material to be spun in this machine be passed
through the usual preparative course of heckling, &c., the quantity of the
formed of the yarns will be much superior to that of the major part now
manufactured, while a very fine quality of manufacture would be produced if
a part of the said heckling process were dispensed with, leaving the remaining
part to the effectual operation to the several drums and the machinery con-
nected with the same. Again, the roving produced by the combined operation
of the drums and regulators forms a much better yarn or strand that has
heretofore been made, inasmuch as the quantity of hemp composing the same
is controlled by the hand of the operative alone, which, it will be admitted, is
but an imperfect regulator. The improvement in the mode of vibrating, the
spindle and bobbin is too palpable to require further comment, and the great
saving of manual labour will be apparent when it is stated that one operative
rope

page_text: can superintend ten or twelve machines, it being only necessary to supply the
draw rollers with the "wide sliver" of hemp, leaving the machinery to com-
plete the operation. The proportionate motions or revolutions of the several
drums X, W, V, for heckling, or separating and straightening the fibres
of the hemp as it passes along to the spinning machinery, have been
particularly alluded to in the foregoing description; and it will be perceived
that the combination of the said drums, having the proportionate motions
specified with the flyer and bobbin, gives or imparts to the apparatus
the capacity or power of spinning directly from the "wide sliver
of hemp," it being necessary only, as before suggested, to place the
said sliver between the feed rollers, which one operative can do
with facility for several machines. Another and very material advantage
secured by the above specified combination is, that it allows the fibres to be
drawn down easily, uniformly, and without breaking them; and if a bunch of
tow or unprepared hemp should pass the feed rollers, as it frequently does, and
is freely permitted to do, in this apparatus the heckling cylinders clean,
straighten, and loosen the fibres of the same, and distribute them evenly
throughout the sliver, which cannot be performed by any other machine at
present in use, as every other kind of apparatus which has heretofore been
devised will either break the fibres or permit the knot or lump to pass along
and be twisted into the strand or yarn. The last advantage which I shall
mention as possessed by this improved machinery over all others by reason of
the aforesaid combination is, that if the hemp should not be sufficiently or
properly prepared or heckled after being passed through the usual preparative
process, this combination of the drums with the flyer will complete the work
before the sliver passes to be spun.
Having completed the description of the principles and mode of operation of
the machinery, I shall now proceed to spcifically point out those parts which
I consider to be original and new, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent.
First, I claim the combination of the several revolving heckling drums
X, W, V (which may have different and proper proportionate motions, so that
the periphery of the drum X shall move faster than the feed rollers
7, r, and
each of the succeeding drums W, V, move faster then that which precedes it
in order to draw the hemp down to the spun), with the flyer and bobbin so as
to spin directly from the "wide sliver" of hemp with this machinery.
Second, I claim the combination of the revolving drums, and several rows
of teeth with the machinery within the said drums, for operating the
several series of teeth or metallic points, the whole of the above-specified

page_text: machinery being constructed and operating substantially in the manner
shewn.
Third, I claim the regulator m', constructed substantially as exhibited, and
also the combination of the same with the different series of teeth formed as
described (those near the sides of the drums being shorter than those near the
centre of the same), which arrangement, in conjunction with the peculiar shape
of the regulator, forms the roving from which the yarn or strand is to be
made.
Fourth, I claim stopping the motion of the preparative part of the
machinery by means of the regulator m², in combination with the rod q³,
shaft the bent lever t³, on the said shaft, bent lever u³, and clutch y³, on the
shaft P, P, as herein described.
Fifth, I claim the employment of a. single-threaded screw g² on the spindle,
and its combination with the fork e (attached to. the side of the series of
pullies a, b), belt z', pulley w¹, and drum y', the whole constructed and
operating substantially as above described, for the purpose of imparting" a
reciprocating rectilinear motion to the spindle and bobbin.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Tappan, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, 'this Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Land One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.