At the recent exhibition at Boston of the New England Institute, several
interesting novelties were shown which have a promise of considerable
economic and industrial value.
Fig. 1 represents the general plan and pulley connections of the Harris
Revolving-Ring Spinning Frame. The purpose of the improvements which
it embodies is to avoid the uneven draught of the yarn in spinning and
winding incident to the use of a fixed ring. With the non-revolving ring
the strain upon the yarn varies greatly, owing to the difference
in diameter of the full and empty bobbin. At the base of the cone,
especially in spinning weft, or filling, the diameter of the cop is five
or six times that of the quill at the tip. As the yarn is wound upon the
cone, the line of draught upon the traveler varies continually, the pull
being almost direct where the bobbin is full, and nearly at right angles
where it is empty. With the increasing angle the drag upon the traveler
increases, not only causing frequent breakages of the yarn, but also an
unequal stretching of the yarn, so that the yarn perceptibly varies in
fineness. The unequal strain further causes the yarn to be more tightly
wound upon the outside than upon the inside of the bobbin, giving rise
to snarls and wastage.
[Illustration: RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN TEXTILE MACHINERY.--1,
2.--SPINNING WITHOUT A MULE--THE HARRIS REVOLVING RING SPINNING FRAME.
3, 4, 5.--NEW ELECTRIC STOP MOTION FOR DRAWING FRAMES. 6.--NEW POSITIVE
MOTION LOOM.]
These difficulties have hitherto prevented the application of ring
spinning to the finer grades of yarn. They are overcome in the new
spinning frame by an ingenious device by which a revolving motion is
given to the ring in the same direction as the motion of the traveler,
thereby reducing its friction upon the ring, the speed of the ring being
variable, and so controlled as to secure a uniform tension upon the yarn
at all stages of the winding.
The construction of the revolving ring is shown in Fig. 2. C is the
revolving ring; D, the hollow axis support; H, a section of the ring
frame; E, the traveler.
To give the required variable speed to the revolving ring there is
placed directly over the drum, Fig. 1, A, for driving the spindle a
smaller drum, B, from which bands drive each ring separately. The shaft,
which is attached by cross girts to the ring rail, and moves up and down
with it, is driven by a pair of conical drums from the main cylinder
shaft; and is so arranged with a loose pulley on the large end of the
receiving cone as to remain stationary while the wind is on or near the
base of the bobbin. When the cone of the bobbin diminishes so as to
materially increase the pull on the traveler, the conical drums are
started by a belt shipper attached to the lilt motion. By the movement
of the belt on these drums a continually accelerated motion is given to
the rings, their maximum speed being about one-twentieth the number
of revolutions per minute as the spindle has at the same moment. This
action is reversed when the lift falls. The tension of the wind upon
the bobbin is thus kept uniform, the desired hardness of the wind being
secured by the use of a heavier or lighter traveler according to the
compactness of cop required.
The model frame shown at the fair did its work admirably well, spinning
yarns as high as No. 400, a fineness hitherto unattainable on ring
frames. It is claimed that this invention can do whatever can be done
with the mule, and without the skilled labor which mule spinning
demands.
This invention is exhibited by E. & A. W. Harris, Providence, R.I.