GB2062699A

GB2062699A - Improvements In Flyers for Spinning Wheels

Info

Publication number: GB2062699A
Application number: GB8032974A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-10-11
Filing date: 1980-10-13
Publication date: 1981-05-28
Also published as: GB2062699B

Abstract

A flyer assembly for a treadle spinning wheel has a two-armed flyer (24), having five yarn hooks (50) on each arm, mounted on a shaft journalled in two bearing posts (36,38), with a drive pulley (22) between the posts for a drive band from the spinning drive wheel; the yarn feed is not through the shaft as is conventional but is via a coiled wire guide means (52) mounted adjustably on a support near the open end of the flyer arms. The yarn can easily be fed from a fleece through the guide means (52), around a hook (50) and onto a bobbin (28) which is secured on the shaft between the arms. The hooks (50) are preferably spaced intermediate with each other on the two arms. A knob (30) screwed on the end of a rod (41) retains the bobbin on the shaft and can be pulled axially by a lever (44) and cord (46) so as to retard rotation of the bobbin. The assembly is mounted from its support (42) onto the bed of the spinning wheel. A bobbin holding frame may be mounted adjacent the flyer assembly. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in Flyers for Spinning Wheels This invention relates to flyers for spinning wheels, for the spinning of yarn such as wool, flax, cotton or mohair.

With the traditional hand spinning wheel, the yarn is spun into thread from carded fleece by drawing it from the fleece onto a bobbin.

The yarn is drawn from the fleece and passes through a hole in the hollow rotating spindle of a flyer (driven by a treadle wheel) and out through a lateral hole in the spindle and thence, via a selected one of the hooks on the arm of the flyer and onto the bobbin which is rotatable on the flyer shaft. This conventional construction (known as a "mother of all") has had various disadvantages, including difficulty of threading the yarn through the spindle, especially by those users not having good manual dexterity and eye sight, the fact that when a fully loaded bobbin is removed from the spindle of the flyer, the flyer construction tends to collapse and to be tedious to reinstate for reuse in further spinning.

I have devised an improved construction of flyer which is easier to assemble and dissasemble for removal and replacement of a bobbin, and can readily be threaded by blind people.

According to the present invention I provide, for a spinning wheel, a two-armed flyer fixed to a rotatable shaft mounted for rotation in at least one bearing post fixed to a support (normally two post), the shaft being provided with a pulley for rotation of the flyer, means being provided at the free end of the shaft for securing the bobbin, freely rotatably, on the shaft, hooks being fixed on the arms, and means fixed to said support for guiding yarn to a selected hook on the flyer.

The yarn guide can suitably be provided as a piece of coiled wire or the like suspended from another post attached to the support of the flyer assembly (upon which the bearing posts are mounted).

Means need to be provided for retarding the rotation of the bobbin upon the spindle during the spinning; this has hitherto been provided by braking bands which pass around one of the flanges of the bobbin. I have devised convenient braking means for my flyer assembly, as follows.

The flyer shaft is constructed with an axial hollow bore, through which is passed a rod, on one end of which is mounted the bobbin retaining means, such as a knob, and the other end of which passes to a lever which is movable by cord means at the option of the user, so as to progressively pull the bobbin retaining means and thus pull the bobbin against spring means such as a leaf spring at the inner end of the flyer.

According to another advantageous feature of my invention, I space the hooks on one arm of the flyer intermediate between the positions on the other arm, whereby a regular bobbin winding can be achieved without reducing the spacing between the hooks so closely as to make it difficult to get the fingers of the user between the hooks in order to place the yarn around a hook being currently used.

The flyer assembly of the invention can be coveniently made from wood and can readily be assembled with a minimum of fixings. The assembly is mounted on a conventional treadle spinning wheel in customary manner. The entire wheel may be constructed so as to be collapsable.

According to a further preferred embodiment, a spinning wheel which incorporates a flyer assembly according to my invention also has fixed thereto a frame for holding filled or empty bobbins (known conventionally as a "lazy kate"), the frame being constructed so that the bobbins can readily be removable but when the frame is fixed in operative position the spindles of the bobbins are securely held so as to withstand a pull such as is exerted when thread is taken therefrom in order to spin 2-piy or 3-ply yarn. Hitherto such a frame or "lazy kate" has been a separate freestanding piece of equipment used by the spinner.

For use of the spinning wheel incorporating my invention, the yarn to be spun is simply fed through the yarn guide and around a hook selected on the arm of the flyer and thence onto the bobbin. The treadle is operated to spin the flyer, and braking is applied by turning a knob at the end of the braking cord, so as to retard the bobbin as desired. To remove or insert a bobbin, the bobbin retaining knob is unscrewed and the bobbin pulled off the shaft.

The invention will now be further described with reference to a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a spinning wheel incorporating a flyer assembly according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the flyer assembly; Fig. 3 is a side view of the flyer assembly; and Fig. 4 is a front view of the bobbin holding frame.

The drive wheel 2 is mounted by a spindle and two pillars 4 upon a slotted bed 6, which is supported by three legs 8; a footman 10 is linked by a bar 12 to the wheel 2. The flyer assembly 14 is mounted by two pins 1 6 onto the top of the end of the bed 6, and adjacent thereto is fitted in the side of the bed a screw and lever 1 8 for tensioning the drive band 20 which passes around drive wheel 2 and a drive pulley 22 (see Figs. 2 and 3) of the flyer.

The flyer 24 has two arms spaced around a shaft 26 for receiving a bobbin 28, a removable bobbin retaining knob 30 is fitted e.g. by screw thread at the end of the shaft 26; the other end of the bobbin bears against a leaf spring 32 and washer 34. The shaft 26 is rotatable about bearings within posts 36, 38, in the tops of which are oiling apertures 40, fixed to a support 42 which has the pins or pegs 1 6 (for fitting into the bed 6). For braking the bobbin, a rod 41 slidably passes inside a bore in shaft 26 and connects the knob 30 to a lever 44 mounted on a support 46 from post 38. A cord 47 passes from the end of lever 44 to a brake control knob 48 mounted from the support 42.

Hooks 50 (Fig. 2) are provided on one face of each flyer arm; preferably these are staggered, as shown, so that each hook directs yarn to a different area of the bobbin. A coiled yarn guide 52 is provided to direct yarn 54 from the fleece 56 (Fig. 1) to a selected hook 50 and thence to be coiled at 58 around the core of the bobbin.

A bobbin holding frame 60 ("lazy kate") comprises (see Figs. 1 and 4) a base 62 provided with a horizontal peg 64 for fitting into the end of the bed 6, and two upright posts 66, 68, having recesses for three spindles 70 for holding three bobbins 72, post 68 is made in two parts, one of which is movable so as to free the end of the spindle and allow insertion or removal of a bobbin. The other post 66 is preferably pivotable on its base 62 to facilitate movement of the bobbins.

The spinning wheel assembly may conveniently be constructed mainly of wood, and can be easily assembled.

In use, the yarn from a fleece 56 or from two or three bobbins 72 on the frame 60 is fed over guide 56, i.e. through the spiral of the wire guide and around a selected hook 50 (the endmost hook, for an empty bobbin) and for about six turns around the core of the bobbin 28. The footman 10 is operated to drive the wheels 20, 38 and thus to turn the flyer 24. The position of the guide 52 is adjusted upwards or downwards to give a smooth passage of the yarn. The knob 48 is turned if necessary, to retard the speed of rotation of the bobbin in accordance with the speed of travel of the yarn, by pressing the bobbin against the spring 32.

Claims

1. A flyer assembly for a spinning wheel, wherein the flyer is fixed to a rotatable shaft mounted for rotation in at least one bearing post fixed to a support, the shaft having fixed thereon a pulley adapted to be driven by a spinning wheel for rotation of the flyer, a means is provided at a free end of the shaft for retaining the bobbin, freely rotatably, on the shaft, yarn hooks are fixed on the arms of the flyer, and a means is provided fixed to said support, for guiding yarn to a selected hook on the flyer.

2. A flyer assembly as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the yarn guide is a piece of coiled wire suspended from another post which is mounted on said support.

3. A flyer assembly as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said bobbin retaining means is a knob threaded onto the end of the shaft.

4. A flyer assembly as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the shaft has an axial hollow bore, through which is passed a rod, on one end of which is threadedly mounted the bobbin retaining knob, and the other end of which is attached to a lever which is movable by the user by cord means, so as to progressively pull the bobbin retaining knob and thus urge the bobbin against spring means at the inner end of the flyer so as to retard the rotation of the bobbin.

5. A flyer assembly as claimed in Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the hooks on one arm of the flyer are spaced at positions between those on the other arm.

6. A flyer assembly as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to or as shown in Fig. 1, 2 or 3 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A spinning wheel which incoporates a flyer assembly as claimed in any preceding claim.

8. A spinning wheel as claimed in Claim 7, which includes a frame for holding bobbins fixed in a position for yarn on the bobbins to the frame to be drawn to the flyer.

9. A method of spinning yarn wherein a spinning wheel or flyer assembly as claimed in any preceding claim is used.