23,464. Lowe, J. Oct. 12, 1909, [Convention date]. Mules.-In mules of the type described in Specification 4848/07 in which the yarns are cross-wound upon the cop by means of a guide wire placed between the spindles and the winding faller wire, means independent of the guide wire are provided to maintain the tension of the yarn constant during the cross - winding movements of the guide. These means preferably comprise the winding- faller, which is used merely as a tensioning and yarn directing device and to which are imparted movements corresponding in number to and occurring simultaneously with but preferably differentiated inextent from the movements of the guide wire. The necessary movements of the faller are imparted by means of a copping rail. The cross - wind guide-wire 8, Fig. 9, has imparted to it a throw which is gradually increased as the cop bottom is being built up but which afterwards remains constant, and in addition a copping-motion to raise it to the required slight degree each time the mule carriage runs in. These movements are obtained by means similar to those described in Specification 4848/07. The wire 8 is carried by fingers 7 fixed to a rock-shaft 3 provided with pokers sliding in brackets secured to the mule carriage. The shaft 3 is rocked by an adjustable crank 20, Fig. 1, and links 19 form a cross-head loosely mounted on a rod 17, which is rotated by a sleeve 16 splined on it and driven by bevel and spur gear from a rack on the floor. This rotary motion effects the reciprocation of the rod by means of cam-grooves 22, 23, Fig. 5 (the latter being of less pitch than the former), fixed thereon and bearing on bowls 28, 27 supported on sliding plates 26, 25 in such a manner that the requisite varying oscillation is imparted to the wire 8. To effect this the plates 25, 26, which are guided in a casing 24 embracing the cams and the shaft 17, are pivoted at 30, 31, Fig. 2, to plates 32 provided with inclined slots 34 engaged by a cross-pin 35 on a movable bar 37. On commencing a set of cops, the bar 37 is set so that the cross-pin is below the pivot 30 of the plate 25, which is thus locked so that its bowl 27 acting on the cam 23 effects the reciprocation of the rod 17. As the cop bottom is built up, the bar is traversed gradually so as to move the cross-pin along the slots 34, whereby a gradually increasing reciprocation of the rod is obtained due to the combined effect of the two cams, until ultimately, when the cop bottom is completed, the cross-pin is brought below the pivot 31 of the plate 26, the cam 22 then alone being effective and remaining so throughout the building of the cop. The bar 37 is traversed by a lever 38, a pin 42 on which engages a cam way 43 in a bracket 44. The cam way 43 comprises an upper vertical portion and a lower inclined portion, and, as the casing 24 is gradually lifted during the building of the cop, the pin 42 moves up first the inclined and then the vertical portion of the way 43. The copping-motion, by which the wires 8, 9 are raised the required slight degree each time the mule carriage runs in, is derived from a disk 48, Fig. 3, and a pivoted pawl 49 arranged on the shaft 12 of the gearing operating the rod 17. The pawl 49 is inoperative during the outward run of the carriage, but, during the inward run, it operates a ratchet lever 50 to advance a ratchet-wheel 52, and thereby, through the shaft 53, Fig. 9, worm gear 55, 56, shaft 57, and worm gear 58, 59, slowly rotates the shaft 60, which carries pinions engaging with racks on the casing 24 and on the pokers which support the rock-shaft 3. The movements of the faller 9, Fig. 9, are governed by a copping-rail 65, the upper edge of which is horizontal and which rests on inclined shoes 68 of equal slope. These shoes are moved laterally and to an equal extent at each run of the carriage gradually to lower the copping-rail 65 and keep its upper edge horizontal. The faller shaft 46 is provided with the usual locking-lever 75, a projection on which rests, during each winding-run, on a bowl 77, which is carried by a bracket 78 having at its lower end a bowl 79 which runs on the copping - rail. The lever 75 is also provided with a monkey tail 80 to come in contact with a stop 81 at the end of the winding - run to displace the lever from the bowl 77 and render it inoperative during the outward run. The lever 75 is elevated to place it upon the bowl 77 again by a pinion 85, Fig. 7, operated by the shaft 60, which is driven at the end of each winding-run and receives its motion through a ratchet from a pinion running along a rack on the ground as described in the before-mentioned Specification. The pinion 85 gears with a rack 86 which raises a bowl 87, which engages a shoulder 88 on an arm 89 connected to the faller shaft 46, thus rotating it and raising the lever 75 to the required height. The copping-rail is provided with a series of swells 91 to give the necessary oscillating movements to the faller. Preferably the swells are separated by level parts 92 so that the movements of the faller will be different in extent to and terminated slightly prior to those of the cross-wired guide 8, so that a slightly greater tension is imparted to the yarn as it is wound upon the nose of the cop. The copping-rail is provided at the end with an incline 93 merging into a level portion 94 so that the faller will be held momentarily opposite the apex of the cop at the end of the run. In order to impart a more nearly uniform speed to the spindles during the upward and downward winds accomplished in one winding- run, the winding-chain 95, Fig. 11, is attached at one end 101 to the quadrant 98, and passes round guides 99, 100 on the frame and on the quadrant nut, and is then wound upon a drum 102, which is substantially uniform in diameter for the greater part of its length, but which has at its end a tapering scroll, so that the spindles are speeded up at the end of the run and effect the nosing action.