The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-18
A new LOOM ATTACHMENT
Cost of Making Woven Fabrics
Reduced by a California
Invention.
An Invention at Last Perfected
Upon Which Men Have Worked
for Century.

To revolutionize the methods of weaving
wooden fabrics is the purpose of a COM
pany that has just been organized in this
City. The title of the company, according
to the articles of incorporation, is the
Hunt Loom and Fabric Company, and it's
officers are: Samuel j. Hendy, president;
D. Nj. Seaton, vice president; R. A. Auze-
rails, secretary. These gentlemen, together
with J. A. Ledden and L. T. Lewis, consti-
tute the board of directors. The treasurer
is the Joshua Hendy Machine Works,
which is controlled by the president of the
new corporation.
The company will exploit the invention
of Robert III. III. Hunt, shuttle attach
ment to the weaver's loom, device in
tended to do away with the shuttle, bobbin
and picker-stick that have been in use SO
many years without any marked improve
ment having been made in them, and at
the same time make the capacity of an
ordinary loom three times as great for a
gwen time as with the old-style appliance
now in general use. 1t also reduces the
motive power for running loom to one
quarter that which is required to operate
it now.
Mr.. Hunt has been working on his in
has only recently perfected it and secured
his patent. The company has loom set
up and in successful operation with the
new attachment. There are some parts OF
it which have very recently been improved
upon, and as a consequence patents on
them have not yet been applied for. AS
soon as every particular of the invention
has been protected, the public will be per-
mitted TO view what the inventor and the
ha no UiI orb
one of the degrees of mechanical progress
of the nineteenth century, as it is expected
to reduce the expenses of producing wooden
stuffS In America to price to the con-
sumner lower than could be effected by the
removal of the entire duty on imported
cloths, and that not at the expense OF the
mill operative.
The picker and picker-stick were great
improvement over passing the shuttle
across the loom by hand, and the latest
improved machines have an attachment by
which the empty bobbin in the shuttle is
rapidly replaced with full one, but the
principle of weaving remains practically
the same as it has been for 100 years, not
withstanding that many men have spent a
life and oftentimes fortune in the effort
to perfect q shuttle that would increase
the rapidity as well as lessen the cost of
producing wooden goods. Looking at the
simple device that California inventor
has created, running without a hitch, and
weaving fine fabric, the observer who
has ever visited the great woolen-mills of
the East. is struck with wonder that the
idea was not developed years ago.
In placing the attachment on an old
loom, the shuttle now used, the picker,
picker-stick and the machinery for pro-
polling them are all dispensed with, only
the harness and lay remaining with the
skeleton of the machine. A supply attach
ment is placed at either end of the loom in
front of the lay, and continuance, called
a carrier which takes the place of the old
shuttle, passes back and forth. placing the
filling-thread between the warp-thread,
which are arranged the same as ever. The
filling-thread comes from an endless
supply, and thus there is no waste, as is
necessary in the present method, when, as
is almost always the case when the bobbin
is unwound to the end, the last thread is
too short to reach across the fabric, and
must be thrown away. This saving in
waste alone will be an important item in
lessening the expense of manufacturing
tilllng-threads as desired at one time,
while with the present method only one
thread can be placed ut single passage of
the shuttle. A device which works like
the pendulum of clock furnishes the
motive-power for passing the carrier across
the loom.
The fabric woven by the loom now in
operation with the new invention at
tached is of an excellent nature. 1t has a
fine selvage, and the uniformity of the
cloth is established to a very small frac-
ton and maintained throughout.
The field for Introduction of the inven-
ton is very large, there being, it is esti-
mated. about 800, 900 looms in operation in
the United States and something like
6,OOO,0 600 in the world. Should it prove the
success it's projectors believe it will its
Importance cannot be estimated in the
benefit it will be to mankind.
The attachment can be placed on all old
looms, and it will lessen the expense of
manufacturing new ones in the future; so
much of the old machinery is done away
with in its adoption.
The company expects in the near future
to establish plant for the manufacture OF
the attachment. Whether it will be in
California or at the East is not yet de-
cided. The company will also endeavor to
have the invention introduced in all the
Eastern factories which manufacture
looms.