531,641. Cap spinning machines. KIMPTON, W. H. July 19, 1939, No. 20956. [Class 120 (ii)] In a cap spinning machine, the attachment of the thread to a bobbin commencing winding-on is facilitated by a notched disc which rests on, and is rotated by, the spindle below the bobbin, the notches running angularly from the periphery of the disc to receive a thread presented thereto and having means for gripping the thread received in any notch ; soft rubber pads may be confined in recesses in which the notches terminate and may be secured to the disc by plates at each side thereof and partly overlapping the recesses. As shown, the disc 22 is used in the mechanical transfer of the thread from a completely wound bobbin 9 on one cap spindle 7 to an empty bobbin on another spindle on the same line of a machine comprising two lines of spindles, two threads 1 being simultaneously delivered by the roller 3 to a pair of spindles, one behind the other ; an auxiliary balloon guide 18 is brought into position just below the main balloon guide 16 of each of the spindles at which winding is taking place to take control of the thread while the main balloon guides are traversed to positions coaxial with the adjacent empty spindles, taking the thread with it. A vertically moving flexible finger 31 is disposed on a vertical guide 14 between each of the pairs of spindles and when winding is completed, is allowed to fall on to the thread extending between the full and empty spindles and carry the thread loop so formed down until the finger engages a curved surface 29 which deflects it under the notched disc of the empty bobbin 24 where it is seized by a notch of the disc, the thread being broken and the tail thereof being taken up by the completed bobbin 24, and winding then taking place on the empty bobbins. The spindles are carried by rails 8 and the bobbins by traversing rails 10, the four bobbins associated with the feed roller 3 being driven by a single tape 12. The guides 14 are carried by the spindle rails 8 and the guide 14 for each pair of inner bobbins carries a guide 15 by which the thread is directed to the corresponding pair of outer bobbins. The main balloon guides 16 serving a pair of bobbins are carried by rods 17 slidable lengthwise of the machine by connections from a groove 60 in a drum cam 61 driven through a clutch 75 geared to a slow-running shaft 76, when a rod 77 is depressed from a timing gear 78 at intervals corresponding to the time taken to fill a bobbin, and then rotating half a revolution ; the rod 77 may be depressed manually by a knob 80. The auxiliary balloon guides 18, one for each spindle, are carried by rods 19 connected by a link 20 actuated by connections from a groove 67 in the cam 61 so that each guide may be brought into line with its spindle or retracted, the guides being retracted from inner and outer bobbins when the main balloon guides 16 are in line with the spindles of these bobbins. A deflector plate 29 is disposed between each pair of bobbins in the inner and outer rows with its peak disposed midway between the bobbins, and the flexible finger 31 comprises three hinged links, the lowest link carrying a guide 39 and the uppermost link being attached to an arm 33 carried by a stud 34 slidable in a slot in the guide 14 and secured to a weight 36 connected by a cord 68 to a pulley 69 carrying a pulley 70 connected by a cord to a lever 72 controlled by a groove 73 in the cam 61. A prong 40 extending from the lowest link of the finger 31 engages, as the finger descends, a funnel 41 carrying a guide bar 42 and is deflected to the side of the bar adjacent the empty bobbin by a flap 44 pivoted on the top of the bar 42 and having a loop at its lower end passing through slots in the bar and sides of the funnel so that as the finger descends the prong 40 rocks the flap so that it lies across the path followed by the descending prong which is consequently carried to the other side of the bar on the next descent of the finger to carry the thread to the bobbin 24 which is then an empty one.