CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN A MACHINE FOR SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, TOW, AND WOOL
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
CLARK, of Cerne Abbas, in the County of Dorset, Clockmaker, and JOSEPH
BUGBY, of Yeovil, in the County of Somerset, Schoolmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS we, the said William Clark and Joseph Bugby, did, by our
petition, humbly represent to His present most Excellent Majesty King George
the Third, that we had, by much study, application, and expence, contrived,
invented, and brought to perfection "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN A MACHINE FOR
SPINNING HEMP, FLAX, TOW, AND WOOL," which would be of great publick utility;
that in regard we were the first and sole inventors thereof, and that the same:
had never been practised or used by any other person or persons whomsoever
to the best of our knowledge and beleif, we humbly prayed His said Majesty'
to grant to us, our executors, administrators, and assigns, His Royal Letters
Patent under His Great Seal of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and
Ireland, for the sole use, benefit, and advantage of our said Invention, within
that part of His Majesty's United Kingdom called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for the term of fourteen years,
according to the Statute in that case made and provided, His said Majesty,
being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions that might be
for the publick good, was graciously pleased to condescend to our request; and
therefore, by His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the
19th day of June, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, of His especial grace,
certain knowledge, and mere motion, did give and grant unto us, the said
William Clark and Joseph Bugby, our executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: His especial licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that we, the said
William Clark and Joseph Bugby, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
and every of us, by ourselves and themselves, and our deputy or deputies,
servants or agents, or such others as we, the said William Clark and Joseph
Bugby, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend our said Invention, within that said part of His Majesty's said United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to us, the
said William Clark and Joseph Bugby;-our-executors, administrators, and
assigns, or any of us, should in our discretion seem meet, and that we, the said
William Clark and Joseph Bugby, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity,
and advantage, from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by
reason of the said Invention, for and during the term of years therein men-
tioned, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and
advantage therein-before granted or mentioned to be granted unto us, the said
William Clark and Joseph Bugby, our executors, administrators, and assigns.
for and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the date
of the said Presents next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be completo,
and ended, according to the Statute in such case made and provided; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if we, the said William
Clark and Joseph Bugby, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within one calendar
month next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that,
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything
therein contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in
and by the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Clark and Joseph Bugby, in
compliance with the said proviso in the said Letters Patent contained, and
the purport and true intent and meaning thereof out of His said Majesty's
said most gratious intentions, do by this Instrument of writing under our
hands and scals duly executed, describe and ascertain the nature of our said new
invented spinning machine, and the manner in which the spinning is to be

page_text: performed, according to the Plan or Drawing thereof in the margin of these
Présents, in manner and form following, that is to say :-
Fig. 1 represents an oblique view of the front of a frame containing ten
spindles (but frames may contain an indefinite number of spindles). A, A, a
spindle or a bar passing thro' the whole frame, having ten bosses of brass or
cast iron thereon, each about 4 inches diameter, each boss supplying one
spindle B, a pinion of 12, upon the end of the spindle A, A, con-
nected with the wheel C, of 80 teeth fixed upon the end of a small iron spindle
F, F, covered with wood and extending thro' the whole frame; D, a slack
or intermediate pinion of any size at discretion, connected with another
similar pinion; the latter connected with the wheel E, of 120 teeth which
is fixed upon an iron spindle G, G, of about an inch and half diameter,
and extending thro' the whole frame; but the wheels B, C, D, and E,
may be varied in their numbers to increase or diminish the draught of
the substance operated upon, as may best suit its quality or the ideas of the
workman. The pinion B is so contrived as to slip off the end of the spindlo
A, A, to make room for a smaller or larger one, by means whereof a larger or
shorter thread may be spun from the same sized rovings. a, a, a, a, ɑ, ɑ,
a, a, a, a, represent ten roved slivers of hemp, flax, tow, or wool, passing
between the iron spindle G, G, and rollers in pairs pressed against them by
springs or weights. These springs or weights must be of sufficient force to
hold back the slivers or rovings so securely that they may only pass on with
the movement of the spindle. These pairs of pressing rollers are placed
behind the said spindle. The use of the small iron spindle F, F, covered with
wood and left rather larger than the spindle G, G, is with pressure of the
small wood ruller made up in pairs b, b, b, b, b, and so contrived that each
pair may roll upon two slivers to bring them down straight and preserve the
twist which they receive in the roving machine till the slivers leave them.
The bosses on the spindle A, A, have likewise wood rollers in pairs pressed
against them by springs or weights between which the drawn, lengthened, or
extended slivers pass to the spindles. The rollers, having each a tin conductor
marked c, c, c, c, c, c, c, c, c, c, bring the material under operation as
centrically as possible between the wood rollers and the bosses; but all the
above-mentioned part of the machine is so similar to the common upright
frames for spinning flax that a person conversant with them will not be at a
loss to make it all. H is a wheel of wood 4 feet diameter, having its rim
about 2 inches thick with a grove in its periphery for a small cord or band;
in its centre is a nile or stock of wood through which the spindle I passes
and extends into its frame about one fourth of its length, to enable the person

page_text: who turns the winck K to reach all the spindles at work with the stand that
is not engaged in turning to remove any obstacles that may arise to the
spindles. The arbor or spindle of the wheel I has its bearings on the sides of
the frame that contains it, marked L, L, L, L. This frame with the wheel H,
the arbor I, and winck K, are similar to that part of a machine called a mule
jenny used for spinning cotton. This frame is supported in a horizontal
p sition at the outer end by two logs marked M, M, and a screw pin which
passes through the front upright at A in Fig. 2, and made tight with the
thumb screw a; this screw passes through n grove or mortice at the end of the
wheel frame to enable the workman to adjust the wheels N & O, as it will be
found necessary to change the wheel N to mako such alteration in the twist as
the size of the yarn may require, or as the workman may think proper. P &
Qare bevel wheels of equal size; the former fixed upon the nile or stock of
'the wheel II and connected with Q upon the spindle R, taking round with it the
wheel N, which is connected with the wheel O upon the bossed spindle or arbor
A, A. d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, are spindles standing in a carriage of 4 wheels,
similar to the carriages used in mule jennys for spinning cotton, having in each
of them at d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, a convex scat of wood of any convenient
size, not less than the bottoms of the bobbins ór quills c, e, e, e, e, e, e, e, e, e;
these bobbins or quills are about six inches long and an inch and a quarter
diameter at the bottom, and three quarters of an inch diameter at the top; but
five the sizes must be varied according to the size of the yarn, perhaps four or
five variations will be sufficient to spin yarn for tarpolius and sail cloth up to fine
yarn fit for good dowlas and fine tickings.
Figure 2 exhibits a side view. A, the wheel mentioned above, Figure 1,
and there marked II; B, the winck by which is turned by hand;
.C, C, C, C, the frame wherein it works; D and E, blocks of wood, are
in each side of said frame to raise the wheel, so that winck may be clear of
the carriage F, F, and apparatus; G, G, the two end wheels upon the carriage
containing the spindles, having two more corresponding on the opposite side
thereof; II, a grove wheel upon the end of a cylinder which drives the spindles
and stretches thro' the carriage frame, for the diameters of which no certain rule
can be laid down, as it depends on the length or size of the yarn, taken into
account with the other parts of the machinery; N, N, N, N, N, N, N, &
small band passing over the wheels A, K, H, I, L, & M, by which the grove
wheel and its cylinder are moved and the spindles driven. O, a trendle
shaft represented by S, S, in Fig. 1, passing through the frame or part thereo',
at the option of the workman, connected with a tumbler on the end of the
bossed spindle or arbor A, A, in Fig. 1, by a small band wound five or six

page_text: times round each of them, and passing over the wood grove wheel Q, and
made fast to the back of the carriage F, F. This tumbler by the motion of
A, A, winds up the cord last mentioned, and draws out the carriage; the tumbler
at P moving easily on the end of A, A, is at the return of the carriage locked
to the wheel R, R, and unlocked when the carriage is not to its destined
place. The carriage is drawn in by the weight S fastened to a cord which
passes over the groove wheel I, and is connected with the front of the carriage;
U, the wheel on the arbor containing the holders shewn in Fig. 1; V, the
cylindrical roller on a stirt fixed therein, and rolling at every return of the
carriage upon the plane W and ✗, which raises and falls the fallers and
holders so as to distribute the yarn upon the bobbins from top to bottom. The
wheels Y, Z, A 2 and B 2, aro the same wheels shewn by B, C, D, and E
in Fig. 1. 12, &c., spools containing the rovings. This machinery is calculated
to save the heavy expence of currents of water, erecting spacious buildings,
water works, steam engines, and to spin hemp, flax, tow, and wool at such
an easy expence as to bring it within the reach of small manufacturers, and
constructed upon such safe and easy principles that no length of experience
will be necessary to enable children to work the same, and the use of water,
steam, &c., thereby rendred unnecessary, and to occupy so little space that the
machines may be placed in such rooms, outbuildings, or other cheap places.
To effect the above purposes it was necessary to get rid of the carrier or flyer
upon the spindles used in the old machinery for spinning hemp and flax,
which requires a power in proportion of five to one, and to surmount the
difficulty that arises from the want of elasticy in these substances. This want
of elasticity in the substance to be operated upon is compensated and provided
for in this machinery; and upon this compensation and provision, effected by
the various means herein-after mentioned, the return of the carriage without
any assistance from the work person, and the traverse for distributing the
yarn upon the bobbins or quills, lay the stress of our Patent.
may
The most simple mode of compensating the want of elasticity, and which we
.recommend in preference to the others, is that of having a holder of large wire
for every spindle fixed in an arbor or shaft that extends from one end of the
.carriage to the other. This arbor or shaft with the holders be considered
as 'an enlarged and improved substitute for what is called a faller in the mule
jennies for spinning cotton, see Fig. 8. Let A, A, represent the arbor or
shaft; b, b, b, b, b, b, b, b, b, b, the holders fixed therein with their eliptical eyes,
through each of which a thread passes from the bosses on the arbor A, A,
in Fig. 1, to its spindle; B, a spindle which may be from 10 to 18 inches
long; C, the whorle wherein a small worsted band from the cylinder H,

page_text: Fig. 2, works; D, a convex seat upon the spindle whercon the concave bottom
of the bobbin or quill E rests; F, a piece of buffalo skin or metal screwed or
nailed to the rail I, I, having a hole in it through which the spindle passes,
and by which it is kept steady; y, a wire bent at-right angles at a; and the
bent-part driven into the rail A, A, so that it may be removed to or from the
whorle C, and by the other crook 6 prevent tho-spindlo from arising out of
its step II, which is a screw of brass or other metal passing through the rail
K, K. The wire of which the holder is made, after forming the eliptical eye,
is left or extended beyond the uppermost part-at c,. that the yarn may be
conveniently slipt in when occasion may require it; these holders for each
thread-are for the purposes of keeping the yarn in a state nearly vertical over
tho-tops-of-the spindles while the carriage which contains them is coming
out, and being released from that situation at the beginning of the carriage's
return and thrown into nearly a horizontal position, so as to bring-the-yarn
below the tops of the bobbins or quills upon the spindles; and then, being
lowered or raised again by the wheel U and its cylindrical roller, moving upon
the plane W and X, Fig. 2, distributes the yarn upon the bobbins or quills
and preventing it from cockling, kinkling, or improperly doubling or twisting
together. The seats upon the spindles described by Dare turned convex and
the bottoms of the bobbins or quills concave, to keep the bobbins or quills in
a more contral state upon the seats; the concavity of the bobbins or quills
exceeding the convexity of the seats throw the weight of the bobbins or quills
upon the peripheries or extremities of their seats, and insures the rotary
motion of the bobbins or quills with that of the spindles. We prefer the convex
and concave surfaces before described, but other surfaces will have nearly
the same effect if so contrived (as they easily may be) to bear upon the
peripheries or extremities of the seats as well as of the bottoms of the bobbins
or quills. The hole thro' the bobbin or quill, Fig. 4, is rather larger than
the spindle, that it may not be obstructed in its motion round the spindle,
which motion takes place at every return of the carriage, and as often as any
thing obstructs the coming forward of the sliver of which the yarn is formed.
At one end of the arbor whereon the holders are fixed is a counterpoise
L, Fig. 8, having a socket and made fast to the arbor by a thumb screwm,
the round ball at the top being lead to counterbalance the holders. This
counterpoise when the holders are in a vertical state declines about ten or
fifteen degrees towards the horizon. but when the holders are thrown down and
under the government of the cylindrical roller V, upon the wheel U, is in a
different situation: but the roller V arriving at B.3, Fig. 2, on the return of the
carriage, the holders are precipitated to a height where the counterpoise over-

page_text: balances them and locks the wheel M, Fig. 8, or U in Fig. 2, in the ratchet
n, where it remains till the carriage has reached its destined place, where the
tail of the catch O strikes against a pin in the frame C, C, C, C, Fig. 2, and
releases it; the said roller V then resting upon the plane W, X.
Our second method of compensating and providing for the want of elas-
ticity in hemp and flax, which is part of our discovery, is to fix a round bar of
wood, about an inch and a half diameter, the whole length of the carriage about
3 or 4 inches above the tops of the spindles, so that the outer surface, or that
next the work person, may be perpendicularly or nearly so over the tops of
the spindles, the inner side having pieces of wood or metal nailed or otherwise
fixed thereto, leaving only small spaces between each for the yarn to pass
through. The use of these picces is to prevent the threads from getting together
and entangling, see Fig. 5. A, A, A, A, represents a common faller used in
the mule jennies for spinning cotton with counterpoise B, wheel C, with its
cylindrical roller D, with the plane Wand X before described by Figures 2 and 3;
E, E, spindles with their whorles, convex seats, bobbins, or quills with their
concave bottoms; F, F, F, F, F, F, F, F, F, F, the pieces of wood or metal
nailed or otherwise fastened to the round bar of wood, to prevent the threads
getting together; in this case everything applied to or used with the arbor
containing the holders above mentioned may be applied or used.
Our third method of compensating the want of elasticity in hemp and flax,
which we specify also as part of our contrivance, invention, and discovery, is
by means of fixing each spindle in a small frame A, A, Fig. 6; b, a step of
brass; C, a common mule spindle with its whorle D; E and F, two stirts of
iron fixed one on each side of the frame A, A, exactly in a line with the
groove in the whorle D, and moving in holes in two checks g, g, fastned into
the rail H, H. On the small frame A, A, on the back side thereof next
to the cylinder, is a small roller moving upon two pivots, so planted that
when the spindle is in an upright position the band from the cylinder
which drives it may run just free of it; and as the spindle frame A, A,
is kept to the rail I, I, by a tender spring, made of wire wound round a
pin about half an inch diameter, that the spindle may yield to the yarn in
all cases when necessary, the said roller is to prevent the band which drives
the spindle coming out of the whorle when the spindle leaves its vertical
position. Fig. 7, a side view of the little frame in Fig. 6; A, the frame; B, the
spindle; C, the whorle therein; D, the end of the roller and one of its supporters.
This apparatus requires the faller last mentioned and described by Fig. 5,
with its appendages for laying the yarn upon the spindles. No seat on the
spindle or bobbin in this case being wanted, nor anything more than a piece

page_text: of paper or something thin round the spindle to enable the spinner to take
the yarn off with safety and ease.
Our fourth and last mentioned mode of compensating and providing for the
want of elasticity in hemp and flax, and prevent breakages and other accidents
from any tightness in the yarn occasioned by any obstruction or other circum-
stance, and which is part of our Invention and discovery, is by driving the
common mule spindles with a very slack hand, having the yarn to pass over the
holders described in Fig. 3, or over the round bar described in Fig. 5, with
all the other apparatus for laying the yarn upon the spindles, &c. This last
method cannot be used to advantage in any case, but may be substituted for
either of the three methods described above for spinning yarn, for sail cloth,
sackings, tarpolins, or other course or heavy goods. By spinning wool, we wish
to be understood that the machinery above specified may be used to great
advantage in spinning long wool for worsted; and although this machinery is
peculiarly adapted to manual power in most cases, yet it may be wrought by
water, steam, or any other power, and for course or heavy goods, perhaps with
some advantage. And all the above contrivances, inventions, and discoveries,
have been put in practice by us.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and scals, this
WILLIAM CLARK (L.s.) JOSEPH BUGBY. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of July, in
the forty-sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said William Clark and Joseph Bugby came before our said Lord the King
in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and
every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also
the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made in the forty-fourth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and six.