Patent GB-109355-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Automatic Weft Replenishing Looms.
IPC: D03D45/20
Filed: 1916-12-13
Abstract: 109,355. British Northrop Loom Co., (Northrop Loom Co.). Dec. 13, 1916. Shuttles, changing bobbins in, automatically; shuttles.- A rotatable bobbin magazine is constructed to hold the butts of the bobbins at its outer side and the tips at its inner side and extending towards the warp so that the bobbins are transferred to the working shuttle with their tips nearest the warp. the' weft ends being held by holders on a support rotatable with the magazine and located between the bobbin tips and the warp, and means being provided for ensuring the automatic threading of the shuttle. As shown, the magazine comprises a cirÚular head A, Fig. 2, having sockets a to receive the butts of the bobbins B, and a circular disk C with grooves b and spring-pressed. retainers c to receive and hold the bobbin tips, the head and disk being secured to a hollow shaft D on a spindle E suitably mounted on the loom frame. The weft-end holder support J also is secured to the shaft D at its inner end and is provided with a holder for each pair of bobbins, each holder comprising a cup-like member K with its edge received in a recess d in the support and pressed by a spring e against the rounded end M of an overhanging arm on the support so that a projection on the member K enters a central hole in the part M, see also Fig. 4. The weft ends N are guided to the holders by pins g on the disk C and grooves f and lugs h on the support J, the ends being held between the parts K, M. The magazine and holder support are rotated step by step as the bobbins are transferred by a ratchet-wheel v on the head A and a pawl pivoted to the transferrer, a detent pawl being provided to prevent back motion. The transferrer is secured to a hollow shaft P on a fixed spindle 0 and is actuated by the usual pivoted transferrer dog and a bunter on the lay. During the transfer of a bobbin, its butt is guided and supported by a yielding swinging finger n pivoted to a fixed bracket u, and the tip end is supported by a yielding support p. The lowest bobbin in the magazine is held in the transferring position by a fixed stop, and a curved guard prevents the bobbins from accidentally falling out of the magazine. When the shuttle T is in the shuttle box at the replenishing side of the loom, its eye y is at its inner end, and the shuttle cannot be threaded automatically by its passage through the shed and back again as in the usual Northrop loom. The threader in the shuttle is therefore modified as described in Specification 108,798, by the provision of a supplementary hook X extending diagonally across the threading-passage and a shortening or the overhanging guard Y, and a thread-placer U is provided, on an arm V secured to the transferrer shaft P, to engage the weft end N, where it extends from the disk C towards the support J, and carry it down into the shuttle at the space z when a bobbin is fed into the shuttle. At the same time, a finger W on the arm V engages the weft end and carries it down close to the top of the shuttle between the eye and the adjacent tip, ihe top of the shuttle box being cut away at 10 to permit the descent of the finger W. The weft is thus caused to engage the hook X, and, during the first flight of the shuttle after replenishment, the thread reeves around the hook. During the return flight, the thread engages the usual beak in the threader, and the threading is completed during the third flight. The eye y is located at the tapering part of the shuttle and the thread cannot therefore be nipped between the shuttle and the box front; also, there is only a short end of weft between the holder K, M and the adjacent selvedge of the cloth.