IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, MEASURING, AND SIZING SILE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Coenen, of 19, Old Broad Street, in the
City of London, Silk Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WINDING, MEASURING, AND SIZING SILE."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Emile Duseigneur, of Lyons, in the French
Empire.
Sealed the 12th January 1864, and dated the 17th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Coenen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
July 1868.
I, RICHARD COENEN, of 19, Old Broad Street, in the City of London,
Silk Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WINDING, MEASURING, AND SIZING SILK," (a
communication from abroad by Emile Duseigneur, of Lyons, in the French
Empire,) to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to certain machinery and apparatus by means
of which the raw silk of commerce as imported in skeins, after having passed
through the process of cleaning, is transferred in certain fixed lengths upon
cylindrical metal tubes or bobbins, which bobbins are all of precisely the same
weight. When the fixed lengths, which the Inventor proposes should be about

page_text: 500 metres, have been wound on the bobbins are removed from the machine,
and weighed according to deniers, and assorted according to the weight of the
silk upon them into compartments, from which such numbers of deniers are
afterwards selected and used together as may be considered desirable for pro-
ducing tram or organzin of a given count.
The machine for winding certain lengths of silk thread upon the metal tubes
or bobbins is extremely simple of construction. It consists of a frame com-
posed of two vertical end standards connected by longitudinal beams. On each
side of the frame there are four shafts ranged horizontally one above the other
and supported in bearings secured to the end standards. Upon each of these
shafts are fixed six cylindrical rollers or bobbins of wood, to which the Inven-
tor proposes to give a diameter of 11 centimetres, and a length of 18 centi-
metres at one end of the frame; each of these roller shafts has a bevil pinion
placed outside the bearing keyed upon it, and the pinions of the four roller
shafts on each side of the frame gear into four corresponding wheels fixed on
two vertical shafts from which they receive motion. The small metal tubes
upon which the silk is to be wound (and which are 10 centimetres in length,
3 centimetres in diameter, millimetre in thickness of metal, weighing exactly
50 grammes) are placed upon wooden mandrils with iron spindles and two
rings of chamois leather placed round each mandril cause the metal tubes to
fit and yet to slide on and off easily. One of these mandrils with tube is placed
over each of the wooden rollers in such a manner as to rest upon it, the ends
of the iron spindles or trunions.being guided by forked brackets. The silk to
be measured is first wound as uniformly and evenly as possible, and in lengths
of about 10,000 metres upon the wooden bobbins; the end of each thread is
then attached to the small.metal bobbin by winding a short length of it round
the same.
This being done the machine is started. The small metal bobbins resting
with their weight upon the large bobbins will be caused to revolve by the
friction in the opposite direction from that of the large bobbins, and the silk
thread will wind itself off from the latter, and at the same time and in the
same measure on to the former. When the wooden bobbins have made 1,500
revolutions, which are equal to 500 metres of silk wound upon the small
bobbins, a counter connected with the roller shaft will, acting upon a strap,
fork, or other apparatus arrest the motion of the machine. The small bobbins
are now removed from their mandrils and taken to the weighing machine, as
already described; fresh bobbins are placed upon the mandrils, and the same
operation is repeated as before. The large bobbins are made to revolve at a
speed of 300 revolutions per minute. In winding the silk from the largo

page_text: bobbins on to the small ones, as described, the thread is exposed to neither
friction nor tension which could in the slightest degree injure the quality of
the silk.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Coenen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CORNEN, of 19, Old Broad Street, in the City of London, Silk Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Coenen, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Coenen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Coenen, 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
WINDING, MEASURING, AND SIZING SILK," (a communication from abroad by Emile
Duseigneur, of Lyons, in the French Empire,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Coenen, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seats,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the samo 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 Richard Coenen, 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:-
This Invention relates to certain machinery and apparatus for and to a
certain method of transferring the raw silk of commerce, after it has passed
through the operations of cleaning and winding, in certain fixed lengths of
thread upon cylindrical metal tubes or bobbins, which tubes are all of pre-.

page_text: cisely the same weight and of the same dimensions. When the desired
lengths of silk thread, which the Inventor proposes should be about 500
metres, have been wound on to the bobbins in the manner herein-after
described, the said bcbbins are removed from the machine and replaced
by others.
The bobbins which have been removed are then weighed
according to deniers, and assorted according to the weight of silk upon
them into compartments. The raw silk which is more or less irregular and
uneven, having been unwound and cleaned, and the ends carefully tied
together, is at once received and wound as evenly as possible upon
large wooden bobbins 11 centimetres in diameter, and about 13 centimetres
in length. The quantity of silk wound upon each of these bobbins is such
as to suffice for filling twenty of the above-named metal tubes or bobbins
each with 500 metres of silk thread. A number of the wooden bobbins are
fixed upon a shaft or spindle, and over cach wooden bobbin a metal tube or
bobbin is placed, guided in the usual forked roller bearings, and resting upon
the wooden bobbin. The end of the silk thread from each wooden bobbin is
then wound a few times round the corresponding metal bobbin, whereupon
the shaft with the wooden bobbins is set in motion. The contact of
the wooden bobbin with the metal one will cause the latter to revolve at a
speed proportionate to its circumference, but in the opposite direction to that
of tho wooden bobbin, and the silk thread will be wound on to the metal bobbin
in exactly the same measure as it is unwound from the wooden bobbin,
until a length of thread equal to 500 metres has been wound on to the
metal bobbin, when a counter connected with the wooden bobbin shaft
will act upon a disengaging apparatus and stop the whole machine.
Now in order that the said Invention may be more clearly understood and
readily carried into effect, I will now proceed to described the same, reference
being had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents an end elevation and Fig. 2 a side elevation of part of the
winding machine for winding the silk threads on to the metal tubes or bobbins,
as described.
The machine is fitted on each side of the frame A, with four rows or tiers
of wooden bobbins B placed perpendicularly above each other, each row
consisting of five bobbins, and being placed upon shafts C, which latter rest in
bearings secured to the frame of the machine. The metal tubes or bobbins D
rest upon the wooden bobbins B, and are guided in the forked roller bearings
E, which latter may be secured to beams reaching from one end of the machine
to the other.

page_text: Fig. 3 is an end view, drawn full size, of the wooden bobbin B with the
metal bobbin D resting on it, guided by the roller bearing E. The wooden
bobbins B are 11 centimetres in diameter, and about 18 centimetres in length
and the metal tubes or bobbins D, which are made of brass, are 3 centimetros
in diameter 10 centimetres in length, and the thickness of the metal is
millimetre in thickness; they weigh exactly 30 grammes each.
Fig. 4 represents the bobbin D, detached from its wooden mandril D',
which latter is provided with small trunions, which enter between the slots of
the roller bearings. The wooden mandril D' is furnished with two rings of
soft leather D", which serve as a packing between the mandril and the bobbin
and allows the latter, whilst giving it sufficient hold on the mandril, to slip on
and off easily. When the wooden bobbins B are covered with thread of a
length of about twenty times 500 metres each, and the ends of the threads
have been secured to the metal bobbins D, by winding a short length of it
round each metal bobbin, the machine is ready for starting. The driving
pulley F with its shaft and the wheels G are made to perform 12 revolutions
per minute, which causes the pinions H, the upright shaft I, and wheels K
to make 60 revolutions per minute. From the wheels K the motion is com-
municated to the pinions L, with shafts C and bobbins B, which revolve 300
times per minute. These pinions L are fixed on short shafts, which are con-
nected with the ends of the shafts C by suitable clutch boxes or couplings,
which allow of the shafts with bobbins B being removed and reinserted without
disturbing the pinions L. One of the shafts C is connected with a counter
acting upon a disengaging or stopping apparatus, and as soon as the bobbins B
have performed 1,500 revolutions, whereby 500 metres of silk will have been
transferred upon each of the bobbins D, the counter acting on the disen-
gaging apparatus will stop the machine. The small bobbins D are now
removed from their mandrils, weighed and sorted into compartments, and fresh
tubes D are placed upon the mandrils, and the operation is repeated as before.
These bobbins D on which the thread may have broken are placed apart to be
afterwards unwound again.
The following are some of the advantages resulting from the use of this
machine :-
In winding the silk from the large bobbins on to the small ones as
described, the thread is exposed to neither friction nor tension nor sudden
jerks which could in the slightest degree injure the quality of the silk, and
the breakages in the threads are reduced to a minimum.
It is evident that the number of bobbins can be increased at pleasure by
lengthening the side frames.

page_text: These winding machines are inexpensive, extremely simple and solid, and
not liable to get out of repair.
The diameter of the unwinding bobbins (marked B in the Drawing) can be
increased beyond the usual dimensions, and consequently a larger amount of
work can be done in the same time in the first winding operation, and
at the same time the speed of the metal tubes or bobbins (marked D in
the Drawing) will be increased, and thereby the operation of counting
abridged.
The metal bobbins can be made of small diameter and of light weight,
which is essential, as each bobbin has to be weighed separately.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, which has been
communicated to me, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine or
restrict myself to the precise details herein set forth, but what I claim, as the
Invention to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is, the mode of unwinding the silk from large bobbins upon smaller
bobbins of uniform weight and size, in the manner and for the purposes
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Coenen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
RICHARD COENEN. (LS.)