IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Wilson Gordon, of Belfast, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 12th December 1863, and dated the 15th June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Wilson Gordon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1863.
I, ROBERT WILSON GORDON, of Belfast, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FLAX AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of self-adjusting saddle for
wet spinning frames. In the ordinary self-adjusting saddle the cross bar
which keeps it and the pressing rollers in their proper position is placed in
front and between the pressing rollers, and has therefore the effect (if kept
close enough to the line of the material being drawn to do its work properly)
of limiting the size of the wood or other front pressing roller, and thereby
causing a waste of material. In this position the cross bar also interferes

page_text: with the attendant seeing how the rollers are working and with getting the
fingers in to clean them or piece an end. The object of this Invention is to
remedy these defects, and for this purpose the cross arm is placed above the
back pressing roller, and the slots in the stands in which it works are formed
so as to keep the two pressing rollers in their proper position, however the size
of the front pressing roller may vary, as the wood or other material is refluted,
or as the bushes of the back and front pressing rollers wear, and this also
leaves the space between and in front of the pressing rollers quite free. For
some kinds of work it is desirable to dispense with what are known as the
single stands in such spinning frames; and when this is desirable a bar is
made to extend along between the double stands in about the position which
is occupied by the cross bar of the saddle in the new arrangement, and a slot
is formed in the saddle to allow for the change in the position of the saddle
consequent on the variation in the size of the front pressing roller and the
wearing of the bushes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Wilson Gordon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WILSON GORDON, of Belfast, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Wilson Gordon, Her special license that I, the said Robert Wilson
Gordon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Wilson Gordon, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Wilson Gordon, 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

page_text: 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 Robert Wilson Gordon, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to " Improvements in the Construction of Self-
adjusting Saddles for Wet Spinning Frames." The nature of the improve-
ments will be understood from the following description and the accompanying
Drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a partial cross section of the drawing rollers of
a wet spinning frame, and Fig. 2 a partial front view of the same shewing the
improved saddle and the stands for carrying the same applied thereto.
In the ordinary self-adjusting saddle the cross bar which keeps it and the
pressing rollers in their proper position is placed in front or between the
pressing rollers, and has therefore the effect of limiting the size of the wood
or other front pressing roller, and thereby causes a waste of material. In this
position the cross bar also interferes with the attendant seeing how the rollers
are working and with getting the fingers in to clean them or piece an end.
Now the object of this Invention is to remedy these defects, and for this
purpose the cross arm a¹ of the saddle a is placed above the back pressing
roller 6. The slots c¹ in the stands c in which the cross arm a¹ works are so
formed as to keep both the back pressing roller 6' and the front pressing
roller 6 in their proper position, however the size of the front pressing roller b
may vary by reason of the wood or other material of which it may be
composed being refluted. This arrangement also leaves the space between
and in front of the pressing rollers 6 and 6 quite free. For some kinds of
work it is desirable to dispense with what are known as the single stands c in
such spinning frames, and when this is done a bar occupying about the
same position as the cross arm a' of the saddle a forms the connection or
coupling for the double stands. In this case the slot c¹ is formed in the
saddle a' to allow for the change in the position of the saddle a consequent on
the variation in the size of the front pressing roller b. The dotted circle 6* in
Fig. 1 indicates the amount or reduction of diameter that the front pressing
rollers will readily admit of by the application of my improvements.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in
machinery for spinning flax and other fibrous substances, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the peculiar arrangements

page_text: herein:described for the purpose of keeping the pressing rollers of wet spinning
frames in their proper position.
In witness whereof; I, the said Robert. Wilson Gordon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three...
ROBERT WILSON GORDON. (L.S.)
JOHN HAMILTON; Witness.