US Patent No. 1,909, granted December 17, 1840 to George Heritage of Chestertown, Maryland, for machinery that spins sewing silk and twist directly from cocoons. Revolving basins of warm water holding the cocoons give the individual strands their first twist. Graduated square (or triangular) shafts then unwind the silk at different speeds, so threads of different fineness can be spun at once before the spindles and fliers finish and wind the thread. The scan includes a perspective drawing of the machine, the specification, and two claims.

US Patent No. 1,871, granted November 26, 1840 to George Heritage of Chestertown, Maryland, for a machine that winds silk and other thread into skeins. It uses a reciprocating bar and a fixed bar, each with a row of pins, together with a reel to form the skeins. The patent drawing shows the machine combined with spinning and reeling apparatus, and the specification describes how silk is drawn from cocoons, twisted, double twisted and skeined, with a single claim covering the pin-bar skeining arrangement.

US patent specification and drawing for George Heritage of Chestertown, Maryland, describing an improved silk reeling machine. The basins holding the cocoons and warm water are rotated on spindles so the silk fibers twist together as they unwind, producing a round thread instead of a flat raw silk thread. The text covers the basin design with partitions, the reel and band-wheel drive, and the single claim; the drawing shows the machine in perspective and one basin enlarged.