Patent GB-126402-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Automatic Weft-replenishing Looms.
Inventor: CROSS WILLIAM
IPC: D03D45/20
Filed: 1917-10-22
Abstract: 126,402. Cross, W., (Baker, W. H.). Oct. 22, 1917. Shuttles, changing bobbins &c. in, automatically; shuttle boxes; pickers and picking- straps; weft, cutting.-A vertical magazine for bobbins or cops is provided with an offset holder 41, Fig. 4, into which a bobbin &c. is placed by a flange 59 on a swinging gate 57, and from which the bobbin &c. is pressed down by the foot 73 of a presser arm or transferrer 68 into the exhausted shuttle in a shuttle box fixed to the lay and provided with a picker spindle 24 mounted behind instead of above it, the picking being on the over-pick system. The back 22 of the shuttle box has a slot 26 for the picker 31, Fig. 6, which slides on the spindle 24 and is slotted for a looped strap 33 connected by a pin and slot to another looped strap encircling the end of the picking- stick. The ends of the spindle 24 are received in a recess 29 and a hole in lugs 28, 23 and a spring 25 holds the spindle in position. The magazine comprises an upright 37 grooved to receive the butts of the bobbins or cop spindles and an upright 43 with grooves 46, 47 to receive the tips of bobbins and cop spindles respectively. The groove 47 may have a metal lining 48. Grooves 49 are formed on the sides of one of the grooves 46, 47, as shown, to receive small spacing-plates to main. tain the tips of partly-used bobbins or cops in parallel position. The front flange 39 of the upright 37 curves towards the fixed butt end 41 of the holder, and its rear flange 40 stops short of the holder. The tip end 51 of the holder is pivoted to the magazine so that it can move outwardly longitudinally of the bobbins against the action of a spring when transfer into the shuttle takes place, the bottoms of both ends of the holder being inclined downwards and inwards to enable the pressure of the bobbin or cop spindle to effect this movement. The gate 57 is secured to a. plate 60 on a shaft 61 having an arm 64 connected by a pin 67 and slotted link 66 to the transferrer 68, so that, when the transferrer is depressed, the gate is moved forwards and its curved part 58 allows the bobbins &c. in the magazine to fall to the bottom thereof. The arm 64 has a pin 76, which snaps into the lower of two holes 75 in a flat spring 74 when the arm is depressed, and, when the transferrer is raised, the slot 65 in the link 66 slides over the pin 67, the arm 64 remaining lowered and the gate open to allow time for the bobbins &c. to settle. When the lay moves rearwards, an arm thereon strikes the flange 59 of the gate and moves it rearwards into a position to enable the pin 76 to snap into the upper hole 75 and complete the closing of the gate, the flange 59 being now clear of the arm. In its rearward movement, the flange 59 transfers the lowest cop or bobbin over the ends of a curved spring 56 into the holder. The gate-closing arm is jointed to yield if the closing of the gate is obstructed. When the weft fails, the weft hammer becomes operative to rock a shaft 96, Fig. 3, against the action of a spring 98 secured to a bell-crank lever 97 on the shaft, and the movement of the lever 97 is transmitted through an adjustable spring 100 to a shuttle-feeler arm 99. The shuttle feeler 106 is pivoted at its lower end to the arm 99, and is pressed inwards by a spring 108 against a pin 109. As the arm 99 moves rearwards, the feeler is moved by a fixed cam-surface away from the selvedge, and, if the feeler is not obstructed by an incorrectly positioned shuttle, a pin 104 connected with it allows a striking block connected to the transferrer-operating arm 71 to be struck by a dagger 82 on the lay to depress the transferrers. The striking block has a notch to weaken it and cause it to break if the operation of the transferrer is obstructed. If the feeler is moved forwards by an incorrectly positioned shuttle, the pin 104 moves the striking block out of operative position. An ingoing-weft cutter 111 is mounted on the shuttle feeler, is opened by the engagement of a finger 113 thereon with a hook 114 on the transferrer stud 70, or a hook pivoted to a bracket on the stud, and is operated by the engagement of a lug 112 with the lay to cut and clamp the weft, which is subsequently cut away bv the temple cutter. As the shuttle feeler returns, the fixed cam-surface allows the spring 108 to move the feeler and cutter-clamp towards the selvedge to prevent the weft end from being drawn out of the clamp. The trailing end of weft from the fresh shuttle is caught by a tooth 81 on a hood 79 carried by the lay and extending over the swell end, and on the next forward movement of the lay is transferred to one of a series of notches 120 on a fixed arm 119 and held out of the path of the shuttle. The remainder of the weft extending to the weft-end holder 123 is supported by a table 121 with front and rear flanges 124 and teeth 125, which hold the weft as far forwards as possible. The weft ends from the bobbins &c. in the magazine pass through a slot 134 at the outer edge of a guard-plate 133 secured to the rear of the upright 37, are guided by a rib on the tip end of the magazine, and pass under a hook 126 to the holder 123. The ejected bobbin or cop passes through an opening 30 in the lay, and is guided by a shoot 129 into a receptacle provided with a guarded door. The shoot 129 may be covered with leather 130.