Patent GB-119729-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Filling Feeler Mechanism for Looms.
Inventor: WADE HAROLD
IPC: D03D51/34
Filed: 1917-10-26
Abstract: 119,729. Wade, H., (Hopedale Manufacturing Co.). Oct. 26, 1917. Weft-replenishing mechanism. - In weft-feeler mechanism of the kind comprising a feeler adapted to be reciprocated yieldingly from and towards the lay and having a weft-engaging member movable longitudinally of the bobbin on predetermined exhaustion of the weft, a feeler controller is provided that operates before the predetermined exhaustion to permit the longitudinal movement of the weft-engaging member, which directly engages the denuded surface of the bobbin as it moves along it and is arrested by engagement with the remaining weft thereon. The weft-engaging member 53, Fig. 1, is yieldingly mounted on a lever 24 pivoted at 33 to a slide 26, which is mounted on a plate 27, secured to the breast beam 11, and is pressed towards the lay 12 by a spring 38. The member 53 has a tooth 56 on its weft-engaging surface, and its shank 54 is capable of a nmited movement along the lever 24, a spring 57 ressing the member 53 towards the lay. A spring 43 tends to turn the lever 24 to the left, but, when the weft on a full bobbin strikes the member 53, the lever 24 is held in the poisition shown with an actuator arm 50 thereon in contact with a stop 51 on the slide 26, which is moved forwards by the lever. When the weft is nearly exhausted, a controller arm 25, adjustably secured to the slide 26, is struck by a part of the shuttle, such as the bobbin-holding spring 45, and relieves the lever 24 from the pressure of the weft so that the lever is free to turn to the left until stopped by the engagement of the tooth 56 with the remaining weft windings, the yielding connexion between the member 53 and the lever ensuring that the member 53 is always in contact with the bobbin surface. When the weft is exhausted to the predetermined extent, the actuator arm 50 is turned to the right sufficiently far to engage a downwardly-projecting lug on a cam-collar 67 as the slide 26 is pressed forwards, the collar 67 and a co-operating collar 65 being loose and fast respectively on a rod 62, which passes through a lug 63 on the plate 27 and is connected to an actuator 22 pivoted to a lever 14 on the usual rock-shaft 15 forinitiating weft-replenishment. The collar 67 is rotated by the actuator arm 50 and the rod 62 is moved to the left against the action of a spring 69, so that the actuator 22 is engaged by a finger 23 on the weft hammer 17 and the shaft 15 is rocked. In a modified form, the member 53, Fig. 8, has a felt surface for engaging the weft and its shank 54 is adapted to move in the lever 24 to such an extent that the controller is always struck by the shuttle spring. When the weft is exhausted to the predetermined extent, the actuator arm 50 strikes a finger 75 on a slide 76 provided with a block 80, which acts upon a lever 81 to initiate weft-replenishment or stop the loom. A stop 82 on the slide 26 engages the front end of the shank 54, when this is pressed forwards by the weft on the bobbin, and prevents the lever 24 from turning until the weft is exhausted to such an extent that the shank 54 does not reach the stop 82. In another form in which the member 53, Fig. 14, moves only a short' distance in the lever 24, the pivot-pin 33 of the lever passes through a slot 85 therein, so that, so long as the member 53 is pressed against the end 88 of the lever, the end of the slot 85 is moved away from the pin 33 and the lever 24 cannot be turned by the spring 48, premature operation of the mechanism being thus prevented.