" The nature of my said invention consists of an improvement or improve ments in the mechanism employed to render self-acting the machines com monly known by the names of mule, billy, jenny, jack-frame, stretching frame, and all other machines of that class, whether used to rove, slub, or spin cotton, or other fibrous substances, the particular object of which improvement or improvements is to effect in a more complete manner than has hitherto been done by self-acting machines of the kinds above mentioned, the regular winding on of the yarn, or roving, upon the spindles, by regulating their rotatory motions according to the gradually varying form and increasing diameter of the cop. In Figs. 1 and 2, a a is a mule carriage in two parts, one on each side of the headstock, the parts being firmly united by b b, a connecting bar of iron, and c c, an iron frame ; to this is bolted in front a frame of iron d, which, at its upper part, is supported by e, a spur piece, bolted to the bar b and to the frame d. On studs in the spur piece are ff two ratchet tension barrels; to one of these is fastened g a cord, which, after passing over a notch in the spur piece e, is wound round and fastened to h a drum or barrel ; this has also attached to and coiled round it i another cord, which after passing over j a guide pulley, and a notch in the spur piece, is attached to the other ratchet barrel. A shaft k, on which is keyed the drum h, has a pinion I working into m the toothed quadrant, which receives an alternating motion on its centre, through an arc of about 900, whilst the car riage runs out and in, that is to say, at every stretch. In a groove in the inner arm of the quadrant is n a sliding nut moved by o a double threaded leading screw, on the lower end of which is keyed p a mitre wheel, gearing with q another mitre wheel, the central stud of which is opposite to the centre of the quadrant. Attached to the back of mitre wheel q is r, a pulley, which is turned at intervals by s an endless strap passing round it, and t a sliding pulley. A weighted lever u, called the governor lever, is movable on a stud in the back part of the carriage frame, and forms the upper jaw of a pair of pincers, the lower jaw being v a stud in the carriage end. The lever a, when not intended to press upon the stud v, is carried by an adjustable nut on the lower end of w, a rod connected with the arm of the counter faller, and having free play through a hole in a side projection from the arm of the lever. When, in winding on, the tension of the yarn brings the faller wires to nearly the same level, the dropping of the arm of the counter faller allows the lever u to descend till it pinches the endless strap s against the stud, and drags it along as the carriage runs in, until the rise of the counter faller arm again raises the lever and liberates the strap. The spindles are banded in the ordinary way, and the drums are driven bra band, which, after taking both the grooves in x, the driving pulley, is spliced, instead of passing from the carriage to the twist pulley, as in common mules. The pulley x is keyed on y, an inclined shaft, the upper end of which turns in a swivel collar, and the lower end or foot in an arm of a bell crank. During the process of twisting and backing off, the shaft y receives motion through 1, a mitre wheel, which is keyed near its lower extremity, and is driven by 2, another mitre wheel fixed on 3, a shaft, on which is also keyed 4, a double grooved driving pulley, receiving motion by an endless band from 5, the twist pulley above. This pulley band passes under a carrier pulley, and over a double grooved carrier pulley, under the driving pulley 4, again over pulley 7, and under pulley 4, round 8, a sliding carrier pulley, under 9, a carrier pulley, and thence to the twist pulley. The mitre wheel 1, comes occasionally into gear with 10, another mitre wheel, keyed on 11, a shaft, upon which is also keyed 12, a spur wheel, which gears into 13, another spur wheel, firmly connected to 14, a drum or barrel, which is called the winding-on barrel. The diameters of wheels 12 and 13 should be made to give, as nearly as possible, the proper amount of rotation to the spindles, according to their diameters and those of the waives, the final adjustment being made in the diameter of the barrel 19, the whole being adapted to give so much motion to the spindles as will cause them to wind on the whole stretch at the first run in. There is a cord 15, one end of which is tied to the sliding nut a in the arm of the quadrant m, and the other made fast to the barrel 14, after having made several coils round it ; and 16 is an opposing cord, also coiled round and fastened to the barrel 14, and after passing under 17, a carrier pulley, and over 18, another carrier pulley, it sustains 19, a coun terpoise, which causes the barrel 14 to take up the cord 15 as the carriage recedes from the rollers. A lever 20, inclined downwards at both ends, is mounted at its middle upon 21, a tumbler shaft, carrying 22, a fixed vertical arm, which is connected by 23, a link with the side arm of the bell crank ; 24 is a stopping bar, movable on a stud in the vertical arm of the tumbler shaft, its lower end passing through and abutting by a shoulder against the upper side of a mortise hole in 25, a stopping piece, which is bolted to the frame c; the stopping bar is held against the upper side of the slot by 26, a spiral spring ; 27 is a latch on a stud in a projection from the frame c, which is pressed by 28, a spring in the direction of a catch on one side of the lever 20; 29 is a radial weight, movable on a stud in the framing, and carrying on a stud near its centre, 30 a friction roller, under which the inner inclined arm of the lever 20 passes, and raises the weight a little just before the carriage completes its run inwards ; 31 a stud in the framing, which, by stopping the latch 27 in its motion inwards, disengages the lever 20 at the instant the carriage has completed its run, which allows the weight 29 to depress the inner arm, and so to throw into gear the mitre wheels 1 and 2, preparatory to the recommencement of twisting ; 32 is another radial weight, similar to the weight 29, having a friction roller, under which the outer arm of lever 20 comes to raise it, as the carriage reaches its outward limit. When the process of backing off is completed, the mechanism for putting up, or running the carriage in, is put into gear, and simultaneously with it ; and by the same, or any other convenient means, the stopping bar 24 is depressed, and the weight 32 depressing the lever 20, shifts the mitre wheel 1 from the wheel 2 into gear with the wheel 10. The diagram, Fig. 3, is intended to show the arrange ment of the connecting wheels, the winding on barrel, and the crooked lever, when the spin dles are driven by bands from a roller, instead of drums, which, as far as the present improvement or improvements in the mule, billy, jenny, jack frame, or stretching frame, are concerned, is almost the only difference in the several ma chines enumerated ; they all being machines of the same class, that is, in which is performed at intervals the winding on of the stretches of yam or ravings, though used for different purposes, and distinguished by different names. A spur wheel a is keyed on the coupling shaft which connects the spindle band rollers on each side of the headstock ; b is a radial arm cen tred on the same coupling shaft, and connected by e, a link, with d, the crooked lever, which is acted upon by the radial weights and catches, as described before; e a double grooved pulley, keyed on the same shaft with f, a spur wheel; g a double grooved carrier pulley, round which and the pulley e the twist pulley band is passed twice, as before explained ; Is the winding on drum, keyed on the same shaft as i, a spur wheel ; j a spur wheel carried by the radial arm b, and gearing into wheel f whilst the twist is being given, and into wheel i during the winding on. In the adaptation of the present improve ments to the mule, billy, jenny, jack frame, or stretching frame, according to the diameter of the cop to be formed, or the length of stretch made in the several machines, it may be requisite to vary the length of the grooved arm of the quadrant. Whilst the carriage is running in, it turns by the band g, Fig 2, the
drum h, its shaft k, and the pinion 1, which works into the quadrant in. When the quadrant begins to move, its grooved arm stands about 120 beyond the ver tical position from the rollers, and during its action it turns on its centre inwards, through an arc of about 90°. At the commencement of a set of cops, the stud iii the nut is, to which the cord 15 is attached, is set opposite, or nearly so, to the centre of the quadrant, in which position it suffers no change of place by the motion of the quadrant. As the carriage recedes from the point of attachment of cord 15, it causes the rotation of the winding on drum 14, round which the cord is coiled, and the drum through the train of wheels 13, 12, 10, and 1, that of the pulley a, which, by the spindle drums, gives motion to the spindles (see lig. 1.) The rotation of the spindles during the first run-in of the carriage, just suffices to wind on the stretch of yarn upon the bare spindles. As the diameter of the cop increases by each succeeding layer, fewer revolutions will be requisite to effect the winding on of the constant length; and, therefore, the whole quantity of motion imparted to the spindles during a run-in must undergo progressive diminution so long as the diameter of the cop is increasing, which goes on until the bottom is formed. This decrease of motion in the spindles is obtained by lessening the quantity of cord to be uncoiled from the winding-on barrel ; an effect which results from the advance of the nut n along the arm of the quadrant, the amount of the effect being exactly commensurate with this advance, as is apparent when the grooved arm of the quadrant, at the end of the run-in, nearly coincides with the line of traction of the cord 15. The motion which slides the nut along the quadrant arm is produced in this way. During the process of backing offi the spiral coils of yarn are unwound from the ends of the spindles, and the faller is depressed when the counter faller by its weight rises, and takes up the uncoiled or slack yarn, and thus the faller wires keep up the tension as the yarn is uncoiling. Whilst the carriage is running in, the spindles, in winding on the stretch of yarn, take up by degrees the coil yarn also ; and as this is effected, the faller wires are brought to nearly the same level. At the first run-in, this approach of the faller wires takes place only as the carriage comes up to the rollers. The power of winding on increasing as the diameter of the cop enlarges in the subsequent stretches, the coil yarn gets taken up before the carriage has run home; and when this occurs, the descent of the counter faller allows the governor lever u to fall, and to pinch the endless strap a against the stud v. With the motion of the carriage the strap is dragged along, and turns the leading screw o, which slides the nut a towards the circumference of the quadrant. The strap continues to be dragged until the retardation of the taking up, from the diminished velocity of the spin dles thus produced, permits the counter faller again to rise and relieve the strap from the pinch of the lever. In this way the nut a is made to advance upon the quadrant arm, in proportion as the expanding diameter of the cop accele rates the action of winding on, and a correspondent abatement in the whole number of revolutions of the spindles is the result. As soon as the cop has attained its full diameter, that is, when the bottom is formed, the winding on power then remaining uniform, the governor lever is no longer made to act upon the strap, and, consequently, the nut n travels no farther from the centre of the quadrant during the completion of the cop. Besides the adjustment of the whole amount of winding on motion, each stretch is adjusted to the growing diameter of the cop, which is effected by causing the point of attachment of the drag cord 15 to advance progressively upon the rim of the barrel 14. The grooved arm of the quadrant, by carrying the point of attachment of the cord 15, after the first stretch through an arc of about 900 at each run-in, causes the cord to be uncoiled from the barrel 14, by a ratio increasing as the carriage recedes from the quadrant ; and this variable rotation of the barrel is increased by the successive shifts of the nut n from the centre of the quadrant, thus adapting the rotation of the spindles to the winding-on powers of the cop, through its various diameters from the base to the summit of the cone. Having now described my improved mechanism for adapting the rotation of the spindles to the regular taking up of the yarn or roving, as the form and diameter of the cop changes throughout the operation of winding on, I do hereby declare, that my invention consists in the method or means, to be employed for that purpose hereinbefore described. The mechanism thus employed by me affects the rotation of the spindle in two ways ; first, rotatory motion is given to a drum or barrel, which turns the spindles whilst the carriage is running in by uncoiling from it a portion of a cord, strap, or chain, attached to the drum, and having its other extremity fastened at some point in a radial arm which describes as arc, whilst the vnnding•on drum is receding from the point of attachment of the cord in a right line. This compound motion adjusts the rotation of the spindles to the varying power of taking up by the conical cop as the yarn or roving is being coiled on its different diameters, during the winding on of each stretch. Secondly, during the progress of the formation of a cop, the situation of the point of attachment of the uncoiled end of the cord, strap, or chain, on the radial arm, is changed progressively, as the increasing bulk of the cop demands fewer revolutions to take up the stretch, and, conse quently, there is a shorter length of the cord to be uncoiled from the barrel." We refer the reader to the articles SPINNING and WEAVING for further infor-• mation on this important branch of art, as cotton is not the only fibrous matter to which such mechanism is applicable. It is a remarkable circumstance in the cotton manufacture, and highly honourable to British skill, that all its numerous and varied operations are performed by machinery. Mr. Baines, in his valuable ITutory of the Cotton Mantrfactsse, justly observes, " It is by iron fingers, teeth, and wheels, moving with exhaustless energy and devouring speed, that the cotton is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, drawn, roved, spun, wound, warped, dressed, and woven. The various machines are proportioned to each other in regard to their capability of work, and they are so placed in the mill as to allow the material to be carried from stage to stage with the least possible loss of time. All are moving at once, the operations chasing each other ; and all derive their motion from the mighty engine, which, firmly seated in the lower part of the building, and constant134 fed with water and fuel, toils through the day with the strength of perhaps a hundred horses. Men, in the meanwhile, have merely to attend on this wonderful series of mechanism, to supply it with work, to oil its joints, and to check its slight and infrequent irregularities; each workman performing, or rather superintending, as much work as could have been done by two or three hundred men sixty years ago. At the approach of darkness, the building is illuminated by jets of flame, whose brilliance mimics the light of day, the produce of an invisible vapour generated on the spot. When it •is remembered that these inventions have been made within the last seventy years, it must be acknowledged that the cotton mill presents the most striking example of the dominion obtained by human science over the powers of nature, of which modern times can boast.'