CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1845

page_text: CHÉROT, of Nantes, in the Kingdom of France, Spinner, 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 Seventeenth day of June, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Auguste Chérot, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and autho-
rity that I, the said Auguste Chérot, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Auguste Chérot, my executors,
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, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, 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 IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," being a communication
from a foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said Auguste Chérot, 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

page_text: part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Auguste Chérot, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particu-
larly 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):-
Hemp and flax, either with a long staple or in a state of tow, are at the pre-
sent time spun mechanically by two different processes. These two processes
have one operation in common, viz., the preparing process. This is effected by
drawing upon the drawing frame slivers of the material produced by the
spreading machine, upon which are spread the combings or material previously
combed to the proper degree, according to the thread which it is desired to
obtain. Upon leaving the last drawing frame, the slivers of hemp or flax are
brought behind the roving frame, and by means of this machine are converted
into a large preparatory thread or roving. This preparatory thread' or roving
is wound upon large bobbins, and placed upon the spinning frame, where, by
means of a suitable process of drawing and twisting produced by this machine,
it is converted into a 'fine or thin thread. "The process of spinning is carried on
in two ways. First, by the hot water system. In machines of this description,
the thick preparatory thread or roving passes into troughs filled with hot water
maintained at a high temperature. The filaments or fibres of flax or hemp are
composed of very fine and short fibres, connected together by a gummy resinous
matter, which is sufficiently softened, by remaining in the hot water, to allow
the filaments to be 'torn or separated from each other at very short spaces
apart. Upon leaving the trough of hot water, the roving passes between two
pairs of grooved drawing rollers, the distance between which depends upon the
regularity which it is desired to give to the thread, and the drawing rollers are
weighted sufficiently' to effect the separation or tearing of the fibres apart from
one another. The material thus separated and drawn, is then twisted and
wound upon a bobbin, which is put in motion by a spindle. By this process
regular and fine threads are obtained, and in fact all the higher numbers of
threads which cannot be produced by the dry spinning process. The second
process is that known by the name of dry spinning, and is employed
generally for producing thick or coarse threads, it being a matter of some
difficulty to produce threads numbering even as high as from 18 or 20,
and anything beyond these numbers is not obtainable in an economical manner.

page_text: The thick roving, when taken to the spinning frame, is drawn between two
pairs of spinning rollers; the space between these pairs of rollers is the place
where the operation of drawing out the thread takes place, and the distance is
regulated to correspond as much as possible to the length of the staple of the
material upon its leaving the drawing and roving frames. The pair of drawing
rollers which are placed in front of the frame, and by which the roving is drawn
in connection with the second pair of rollers or feeding rollers, which revolve
with a greater speed than these last, and thereby draw out the fibres of the
roving a certain amount, varying from one-sixth to one-tenth or one fifteenth,
according as the machine is regulated. These fibres are then twisted and
wound upon a bobbin by a revolving spindle, as in the hot-water frame. It
will be understood that in order to obtain a regular thread by this process, it
is necessary, first, that the fibres should be very fine, in order that they may
be equally drawn one with the other. Second, there should be great regularity
in the arrangement of the several fibres, in order to arrive at this regularity of
the.drawing operation. Third, the length of the fibres should be as nearly
as possible the same, in order that the space between the sets of drawing rollers
being regulated, some fibres should not be held at both ends at the same
time; this condition, which is so difficult to obtain, is one of the principal
causes of the irregularity in the thickness of the threads when spun.dry.
Fourth, great regularity in the twist is required, and great care and
attention to see that the amount of twist is neither too great nor too
weak. In fact, the process has no other end than that of retaining
the fibres near one another, or in close contiguity, and to permit them
to be drawn with as great regularity; as the thread is fine. The accom-
plishment of this last condition is the most difficult part of the present
mode of spinning, and it is to this point that all the inventive efforts of
engineers and manufacturers have been directed. It constitutes the principal
difficulty of dry spinning. This difficulty, in conjunction with the preceding
ones, are such that dry spinning has never hitherto with economy or advantage
been able to produce numbers beyond 18 or 20, and even these numbers are
susceptible of considerable improvement as regards the regularity of the thread;
moreover, the amount of combing which it is necessary to bestow upon the
material, in order to make it sufficiently fine to undergo the operation of
pinning, very much exceeds that which ought to be required for the fineness
or value of the thread.
:
"
The Invention which forms the subject of the present Patent has for its
fundamental principle the suppression of the roving frame which gives rise

page_text: to all the difficulties in dry spinning. It consists of a frame by means
of which the slivers of flax or hemp produced by the drawing operation
are spun at once, that is to say, without any intermediate twisting, as is the
caso when they are converted into thick threads or rovings by the roving frame.
The suppression of this roving is effected by means of a system of gills, combs,
or heckles, which support the sliver in the space included between the feeding
rollers and drawing rollers, and allow the drawing operation to take place
between the teeth of the gills.
As the following description will give a detailed account of the construction
of the machine, this general statement may be concluded by noticing the conse-
quences that will result from the use of the said Invention. First, from the
sole fact of doing away with the thick roving or intermediate thread in dry
spinning, the frame or machine, which is the object of the present Patent, pro-
duces with every description of flax the highest number of thread which it is
possible to obtain from it, even by hand spinning. Second, it admits of
obtaining from every description of flax or hemp the greatest possible quantity
of long staple material. Third, it produces an infinitely more regular thread,
the greater part of the irregularities incidental to dry spinning arising from
the difficulty of drawing uniformly in the roving. Fourth, it avoids the princi-
pal cause of waste in spinning, which takes place principally in roving. Fifth,
it simplifies the labour of machine spinning, and diminishes the quantity of
hand labour. Sixth, it admits of spinning by the dry method as high a number
as No. 40, which is of very great importance, as the principal consumption
of threads comprised between the numbers 20 and 40 is supplied by threads
spun by the wet method, the inferiority of which it is scarcely necessary to
recapitulate. And, lastly, by arrangements cleverly carried out, this description
of machine will soon be able to produce dry threads of higher numbers than
No. 40.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal elevation of the machine; and Fig. 2,
a view of that side of the machine on which the gearing is placed. Upon
inspecting the Drawings, it will be seen that the machine is essentially
composed of a combination of some of the parts of a spinning frame, with
the addition of a system of gills between the feeding and drawing rollers.
The sliver produced by the drawing frame is supplied by the feeding
rollers, and is guided by the gills between which they draw under the action
of the drawing rollers, for the purpose of producing a finished thread by means

page_text: of the twisting and winding upon a bobbin moved by a revolving spindle.
The application of this idea has involved the necessity of making numerous
modifications in the ordinary spinning frame, and new parts and processes in
the construction of a practical spinning frame, and the details of which we
shall now proceed to describe. The feeding rollers, as we have already
said, take hold of a sliver of flax or hemp direct from the drawing frame, thus
all the apparatus or system of bobbins filled with rovings is suppressed and
replaced by cans made of zinc or sheet iron, containing material enough for a
week's work. These slivers from the drawing frame are supported in the
space between the back and front drawing rollers by the system of combs or
gills represented in elevation and plan at Figs. 3 and 4. These combs are
fixed upon bars, which receive a rectilinear motion from an arrangement of
endless screws, similar to those employed in the ordinary preparing machines.
These bars must be of such a length as to obviate the necessity of increasing the
number of endless screws whereby they are worked, they are therefore larger and
heavier than they otherwise would be, and they are consequently more liable
to the following inconveniences, viz., at every time that a bar leaves the upper
screw of an ordinary machine, it produces a shock, which occasions a strong
vibration upon the frame, which will in time prove injurious to some of the
essential parts of the machine. To remedy this inconvenience the following
plan has been invented and applied to the new machine:-It consists in
employing, at the head of the screws at the front of the machine, and near the
drawing rollers, two helical springs. Each of these springs is enclosed in a
fixed tube or box, and is furnished with a small vertical rod, which is situate
immediately beneath the bar, and receives it the moment it is going to fall.
This part of the apparatus is seen best in Sheet 2. By this means the bar finds
itself as it were arrested in its fall, and as the cams or excentrics which turn
with the screws force the bar to descend, the springs naturally yield, so that
while the bar is being brought down upon the lower screw, it is constantly
supported, and consequently arrives in its proper place below without pro-
ducing any noise or any shock, as it is brought into its proper situation just as
if it were placed there by the hand of man. Immediately that the end of the
bar takes into the first thread of the lower screw, it is drawn forward thereby, and
the small vertical rods being acted upon it by the helical springs immediately
rise up to receive the following bar, which they receive and sustain in the same
manner until that is also brought into contact with the lower screws.
An important improvement in the construction of gills has also been made in
the machine which forms the object of the present Patent; in place of move-

page_text: able guides with counterbalances, and composed of so great a number of pieces
as is at present practised, fixed guides only are employed, which consist of only
simple square rods of iron, one branch of which is exactly vertical. By this means
not only greater facility and economy of construction is obtained, but another
advantage is, that when the bars are brought up to the end of their course
they are always held in a perfectly vertical position, both in descending and
ascending.
A fundamental condition of the practical success of the machine is that all
the bars should be of precisely the same length, and that all the notches and
grooves at their extremities should be so equal and exact that the first bar
could be applied indifferently in all the parts of a frame, or of any machine of
the same breadth between the spindles. This result has been obtained by the
invention of the following machine, upon which from. one hundred to one
hundred and fifty bars may be operated upon at once. This apparatus is com-
posed of two dises or plates of cast iron, the diameter of which corresponds to
the number of pieces which it is wished to operate upon at one time; they are
mounted upon the same shaft, and worked by screws, whereby they may be set
at any required distance apart. These discs are turned with care upon their
inner edge, and are of exactly the same diameter; the picces to be operated upon
are fixed in the apparatus by means of holes made at equal distances upon the
whole circumference, in order to receive as many bolts, the heads of which are
inside, and the screws outside; under cach of these screws are collars intended
to press upon the bars, so that when it is required to press these latter, it will be
sufficient to turn the screw a very small quantity. In order to level or adjust
the edges, and cut the straight grooves in the bars, they are arranged in such
a manner that they may all be even with the outside of the plates, and by
communicating a rotary motion thereto, as to the plate of a lathe, and by at
the same time presenting a cutting tool upon the slide rest, the cutting tool is
made to advance towards the centre of the discs as these latter revolve, and
after a very few revolutions the adjustment is perfect; then, by placing the
cutting tools in front of the grooves that are to be made, without changing any-
thing in the arrangement of the bars, this second operation is also rapidly effected
upon the bars at once, and with the greatest regularity. To make the oblique
notches for the thread of the screws, which must be made at the two ends of
the bar, this latter must be slightly inclined to the outside surface of the discs;
this is done by slightly loosening the screws of the bolts, in order to give some play
to the bars; then by placing between each of them a little wedge corresponding
to the inclination at which the notches are to be made, then on fastening or

page_text: tightening up the screws, the oblique notches may be made on all the bars at
once, with the same speed and precision. The invention of these plans and of
the following ones was necessary, in order practically to be able to carry out
the invention of the improved machine itself, for by employing the parts and
arrangement hitherto employed in spinning, without their nature or the pro-
cess of manufacture, it would be difficult to construct' the improved machine,
except at a price which would have rendered its use in manufactories abso-
lutely impossible. Other means may, however, be devised to effect the same
object; I therefore do not intend to confine myself to the plan above
mentioned. With the same object, and to obviate the great expence of copper
gills fastened by screws upon the bars, I fix the gills upon the bars by means
of a process of cold soldering, composed of zinc and spirit of salt, mixed with
hot water. One of the fundamental principles of the Invention of the gill
machine is to replace all the parts connected with the operation of the roving
frame by new or modified parts, which would make a continuous spinning
frame;
without this the capabilities of the machine would have been restricted
to the production of scarcely a fourth or a third of the work of a continuous
machine.
The trumpet guides placed near the drawing rollers to guide or direct
the thread or sliver when it leaves the combs or gills are of a peculiar
construction. The trumpet guides hitherto employed at the end of the gills
are entirely closed all round, leaving nothing but a small narrow orifice through
which the fibres pass, and which sometimes become choked or clogged up,
and it then becomes necessary to raise the pressing rollers, and for that pur-
pose the weight, its lever, and cross piece or hook which hangs upon the axle of
these rollers, must be removed, an operation of some trouble and time. By
the system of trumpet guides hereafter described, the contruction and arrange-
ment of these parts are much simplified. The fibres of flax and hemp
never choke up upon leaving the combs, whatever may be the number of the
thread, and every facility exists of taking up the thread and carrying it
forward to the rollers; the same may be said of the trumpet guides which
are placed at the back of the machine for the purpose of directing the
threads towards the feeding rollers, and from thence to the combs. They
are all constructed in such a manner as to consist only of simple channels,
with three sides open at top, and fixed to the table itself, upon which
the fibres are brought forward, and which forms one piece, instead of con-
sisting of separate parts, whilst in the ordinary machines these trumpets
are formed of parts that are made moveable upon an axle extending the

page_text: whole length of the machine, upon which they are secured by screws, which
must be loosened and tightened every time that it is necessary to make any
alteration.
The ordinary mode of weighting employed in roving frames presents many
inconveniences in use, which would have stopped the operation of the machine.
The difficulty of unhooking the levers which carry the weight, the necessity of
entirely stopping the machine to effect this operation, would render it impossible
to construct a continuous gill frame upon the old plan. This object has been
accomplished by the herein-after described invention of a system of weighting,
which may be managed and varied without stopping the machine. Fig. 1 of
Sheet II. is a transverse section of the machine taken parallel to the screws,
and consequently in a line perpendicular or at right angles to the direction of
the comb bars and drawing rollers; Fig. 2 is a section of a portion of the
machine, taken at right angles to the preceding one, and in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 1; it represents one of the comb bars as arrived near the end of its course;
it is about to leave the upper screw A, which has brought it to this point, and it is
shewn as being supported by the small vertical rod E of the spring box before
mentioned. Fig. 3 represents a similar section taken at the moment when the
bar has descended to be conducted upon the lower screw A', it is still supported
by the rod of the spring box, which it is upon the point of leaving. Fig. 4 is
another vertical section made in the line 3, 4, of the same Figure (Fig. 1,)
shewing the bar as having arrived at the upper screw. The use and applica-
tion of the two springs B will be easily understood; they are placed in the
front of the machine, near the screws, and are enclosed in vertical boxes C, C,
which are bolted down to the cast-iron table D of the machine. These
springs are made of steel wire, and possess the proper degree of elasticity;
they are surmounted by dises furnished with small vertical rods E, of such a
length as will admit of their touching the bar F at the moment it is about to
descend. Thus, when the bar F arrives at the last thread of the screws A, it
leaves these screws, and not being any longer supported by the guide rails G,
the length of which ends here in order to allow the bars F to pass down, the
bar is received upon the top of the rods E, which are forced out to this distance
by the springs. The cams or excentrics H, which are mounted at the ends of
the screws A, necessarily force the bars down, and with them the two rods
which support it, and which by this pressure cause the springs to collapse.
It is by this means that the bar arrives at the lower position represented at
Fig. 3, where it then is taken hold of by the first thread of the lower screw A',
which carries it back to the back part of the machine, and when the rods E

page_text: leave it they immediately rise up ready for the next bar, which they support
in the same manner. In this descending movement the bars, as they arrive at
the end of their course, are constantly guided by the square picces J, or fixed
vertical guides, which are screwed to the under part of the lower guide rails G¹.
This arrangement of mechanism is so much more important as the bars
which carry the combs, and which may be brought very near the trumpets by
being made to descend easily, instead of being thrown down as formerly, never
draw down with them any fibres, as is often the case in the ordinary machine.
These guides are of an extremely simple construction, as they consist merely of
square bars of iron, whilst in all the preparing machines hitherto constructed
they require a great number of expensive and troublesome parts, the place of
which is advantageously supplied by the arrangement above shewn. The
guides J, placed at the back of the machine to serve as guides for the same
bars, when they require to be raised up again, are also fixed or bolted to the
other end of the rods G'; they are similar to the former ones, and are more-
over surmounted by a sort of projecting nose piece b, which is intended to pre-
vent the bar from rising above the screw into the thread of which it ought to gear.
It will be seen, by inspecting the Drawing Fig.1, that the lower screw A' contains
just half the number of threads of the upper screw.
This novel arrangement,
which simplifies the construction of this part of the machine, possesses also the
great advantage of diminishing the number of bars and combs or gills. Thus,
in place of forty-eight comb bars, for example, which is the number usually
employed for each machine, I need only employ thirty-six, and the amount or
quantity of work may be precisely the same, as there will always be twenty-
four bars above, as formerly. The cost of this important part of the machines
will be thereby reduced by one-fourth. The bars, which are shewn detached
an in detail in Figures 5 and 6, are also considerably longer than those
which have been hitherto made. In all the ordinary machines constructed
before the present, the comb bars are at the end of their course left to them-
selves, and therefore in falling produce considerable shocks or blows, which
become the more injurious the heavier the bars are made.
It has always,
therefore, been found advisable to diminish their length in order that the
weight should not be too great, and consequently that the fall and shocks or
vibrations should not have so great an effect; but by the above-described
arrangement of springs, this inconvenience being avoided, the bars be
made of twice the length they are at present constructed. This increase in
the length of the bars, and consequently of the combs which they carry, effects
a very considerable economy in the cost of construction, inasmuch as the
may

page_text: number of the travelling screws A, A1, the supports, guides, guide rails, and all
things connected with them, is diminished.
It will be seen in Fig. 1 of Sheet II. that the pressure of the large wooden
rollers K upon the iron cylinders L, is obtained in the new machine in an
extremely simple and convenient manner for work; it consists, first, of an
inclined rod M, furnished with a hollow bearing N, which is made to rest upon
the axle of the rollers, and which is regulated at will by means of a hand screw;
second, of a balance lever O, suspended at the lower end of this rod, and
situated under the table, against the edge of which it abuts by one end, whilst
the other extends outwards, as if to receive a counterbalance or weight, which
may, however, be dispensed with, as by this system there is no need of giving
so great a pressure upon the threads when they are brought forward by the
drawing rollers. It will be easily understood that this mode of construction
admits of removing the rollers when required without the least difficulty, as
the lever may be unhooked without trouble, and without being obliged to
stop the machine.
Fig. 7 represents a vertical section, and Fig. 8 a plan, seen from above,
of one of the trumpets or guides P, intended to be applied at the back of
the machine, in order to bring forward the slivers of flax or hemp to the
combs or gills. These trumpet guides differ from those generally employed
in preparing machines and roving frames, inasmuch as they are entirely open
at the upper part, so that they will not obstruct the passage of the threads, as
when they are closed, and inasmuch as, instead of being connected by moveable
screws to a shaft, they are fixed and immoveably secured by the part C against
the edge of the table itself, which carries the slivers. The trumpet guides P',
which are applied to the front of the machine near the drawing rollers, are also
completely open at the upper part, and of the same form as the preceding
ones. The vertical section is precisely the same, and is represented in Fig. 7.
In order to fix all the trumpet guides upon the iron rail Q, which is intended
to them all,
carry
an ear D is made on each side, as shewn in the plan, Fig. 9,
and they are secured to the rail by screws. Trumpet guides such as these
are much more economical in construction than any of those hitherto made,
and answer all the purposes remarkably well.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me as
aforesaid, and which forms the subject of the present Patent, I would observe
that in order to render the nature and object of the Invention more intelligible,
have found it necessary to describe and represent in the Drawings various parts
connected with machinery for spinning flax and hemp as at present in general

page_text: I do not, however, wish or intend to claim any of these parts separately,
as forming the object of the present Invention; but that which I claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, and therefore wish to secure, is,-
Firstly, the arrangement and construction of parts herein shewn and
described, or any modification thereof, constituting a spinning frame, with a
system of gills or combs adapted thereto, whereby I am enabled to dispense
with the ordinary separate roving frame and its adjuncts, as the necessary
operations for producing a perfect thread from the sliver are carried on in the
improved machine without the assistance of any additional or second machine.
Secondly, the mode above described of supporting the comb bars in their
descent from the upper to the lower screws by means of springs, which pre-
vent the bars from falling down with a blow; I claim this plan of supporting
the comb bars, both when applied to a continuous machine, such as the one
above described, or when adapted to the ordinary machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Chérot, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
AUGUSTE (L.S.) CHEROT.
0. Taken and acknowledged by Auguste Chérot
(party hereto), at Paris, in the Kingdom of
France, this Eleventh day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five,
ovesaid,
the aforesaid Specification was inrolled word for word as above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King
George the Third.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-five.