US42153A

US42153A - Improvement in the manufacture of sewing-silk

Info

Publication number: US42153A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1864-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 1881-04-05

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.'

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWlNG-SILK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,153, dated April 5, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J..E. ATWOOD, and G. HOLLAND, of Mansfield, in the county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Sewing-Silk; and we dov hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part .of this specification, in

spondin g parts in the several figures.

In the manufacture of sewingsilk it is essential that the strands or cords, while being twisted to form the thread, be of an equal thickness throughout, and the cords or strands also kept at a uniform tension, in order to form an even or uniform twist of the same. This has not hitherto been perfectly done, and the sewing-silk, after manufacture,y is necessarily sorted and divided into several qualities, according to the evenness or regularity of the twist. The reason for this imperfectness of the manufactured article is due, in the first place, to the stock-the irregularity in the imported thread, the filaments of which as they are unwound from the cocoons are not watched and kept in an even state, filalnents not being added to compensate for breakage and their gradual diminishing. thickness as they are unwound from the cocoons. Another reason is carelessness in the matching operation-that is, the twisting of the cords or strandsto form the thread of silk.

The duty of the attendant of the matchingframe consists in watching the cords or strands as they are unwound from the spools or bobbins and twisted, and if one cord or strand becomes thinner or thicker than another, to break it oi' and put another in its place equal in thickness to those on the frame. It' this be neglectedand it almost invariably is to a greater or less extent-uneven thread is the result. To obviate these difficulties, we subject the silk, after being twisted and moistened, and before being deprived of its natural gum, to as great a state of tension as it will bear without danger of breaking, and thereby draw or stretch the several cords or strands so as to form an even and first quality of merchantabl'e thread. l

In carrying out this invention the means employed are extremely simple. Two reels or drums, A A', (see Figs. l and 2), are employed, theperipheries of which move with unequal speeds, caused either by having the reels or drums connected by gears of different diameters or by having a belt, B, pass over pulleys a a' of different diameters, or by having gears or pulleys of equal diameter and one reel or drum smaller in diameter than the other. The silk, properly moistened, is wound upon 'the reel or drum having the slowest motion, and is then connected to the periphery of that having the quicker motion, f

and wound upon the latter from the former, the difference in the speed of the reels or drums causing the silk to be stretched or drawn so as to present an even or smooth surface.

By referring to Fig. 3 the end accomplished by our invention will be clearly understood. c c represent the cords or strands of a piece of sewing-silk, one, c, being thicker than the other, c'. During the twisting of these cords or threads the thicker thread, c, will, on account of not being quite, so iiexible as the thinner one, c', have less twist than the-latter, c having the appearamce of being wound upon c. This not only gives a rough unsightly appearanceto the thread, but greatly deteriorates it for actual use. It is liable to cut and injure the fabric which is sewed with it, and does not receive the dye or color as well as if it were smooth, and consequently will lack luster and vividness. This unevenness in the twist is also produced in a greater uniform appearance. Thus by this simple means sewing-silk of a poor quality may be made of `the first merehantdble class, the care cned, and before bein g deprived of itsnatural hitherto required in matching; avoided7 and a gum, to n requisite degree of tension, in the grea-t saving lhereby effected. manner substantially as herein seb forth.

Having thus described our invention, what T E ATWOOD We claim as new, and desire to secure by Let- HOLLAND ters Patent, is- A 4 The process of giving sewing-silk a uni- Witnesses I form or evenlytwisted appearance by snbject- J AMES H. HOLLAND, l ing the same, after being twisted and moist- ARTHUR XV. BARR.