AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PACKING PICKERS EMPLOYED IN LOOMS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Heald, of Sabden, in the Parish of Whalley,
in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PACKING PICKERS EMPLOYED IN LOOMS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Heald at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
April 1857.
I, HENRY HEALD, of Sabden, in the Parish of Whalley, in the County of
Lancaster, Cotton Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN INPROVED METHOD OF PACKING PICKERS EMPLOYED IN LOOMS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in packing pickers with india-rubber, in such manner.
that when in the picker tho rubber shall be in a stretched or clongated state,
in order that the effort of the rubber to resume its natural form may cause it
not only to fit the picker very tightly, but also to remain therein in as it were a
compressed state. I allow the rubber to project beyond the pickers about the
sixteenth of an inch (more or less) on each side; this increases its durability,
for as the rubber woars in the centre by reason of its being on the stretch,
it is drawn from the sides towards the centre, and tends to fill the cavity.
The means by which I thus pack pickers is as follows:-First, I take

page_text: rubber cords of a diameter larger (I use of an inch larger, but it may be
more or less) than the diameter of the chamber for the packing, and I stretch
it till its diameter is rendered smaller than that of the hole (4th of an inch I
usc, but it may be more or less), by which the two chambers communicate.
I then fix one end of the rubber to the extent of three, four, or more inches;
in this stretched state either by lapping it round with thin strong string, or by
casing it in two half circles of thin metal, hinged together and fastened by a
catch; the cord is then relaxed, and the small piece of the rubber by which it
was held beyond the string or metal clamps is then cut off, and as many
pickers as the part covered with the string or clamp will hold are strung on
the cord; the cord is then again stretched sufficiently to allow the pickers to be
slipped on to that part of it not covered with the string or clamps; the cord is
then allowed to resumo as far as it can its natural form, and it will be
found tightly compressed within the picker; any length of cord may thus be
strung with pickers. Before stretching the cord it should be divided with ink
or paint into compartments of the size intended to be used for packing, and
when the cord is on the stretch and the pickers strung on it each picker
should be placed in the centre of one of these compartments; then the.cord
may be relaxed and divided between each picker.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Heald in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HEALD, of Sabden, in the Parish of Whalley, in the County of Lancaster,
Cotton Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Heald, Her special licenco that I, the said Honry Heald, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Heald, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF

page_text: PACKING PICKERS EMPLOYED IN LOOMS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Heald, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Heald, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in a method or methods of packing with india-rubber
metal pickers for looms, particularly such pickers as or similar to those
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to myself and Arthur
Heald jointly for "improvements in pickers and picker checks employed in
weaving," dated 18th February 1857, being pickers formed with a chamber
for the packing running through the picker with a collar, or narrowing in the
chamber so contrived as to retain the packing. The packing is effected in
such manner that when in the picker the rubber shall be in a stretched or
elongated state, in order that the effort of the rubber to resume its natural
form may cause it not only to fit the picker very tightly, but also to remain
therein, in as it were a compressed state. I allow the rubber to project
beyond the picker about the sixteenth of an inch (more or less) on each side;
this increases its durability, for as the rubber wears in the centre by reason of
its being on the stretch, it is drawn from the sides towards the centre, and
tends to fill the cavity.
The means by which I thus pack pickers are as follows:-First, I take
rubber cord of a diameter larger (I use th of an inch larger, but it may be
more or less) than the diameter of the chamber for the packing, and stretch it
till its diameter is rendered smaller than that of the hole (gths of an inch I
use, but it may be more or less), by which the two sides of the chamber com-
municate. I then fix one end of the rubber to the extent of three, four, or
more inches in this stretched state, either by lapping it round with small wire
or thin strong string, or by casing it in two half circles of thin metal, hinged
together and fastened by a catch; the cord is then relaxed, and the small
piece of the rubber by which it was held beyond the string or metal clamps is
then cut off, and as many pickers as the part covered with the string or clamps
will hold are strung on the cord; the cord is then again stretched sufficiently,
and the pickers slipped on to that part of it not covered with the string or

page_text: clamps; the cord is then allowed to resume as far as it can.its natural form,,
and it will be found tightly compressed within the picker; any length of cord
may thus be strung with pickers. Before stretching the cord it should be
marked off with ink or paint into compartments of the size intended to.be
used for packing, and when the cord is on the stretch and tho pickers strung
on it, cach picker should be placed in the centre of one of these compart-
ments, then the cord may be relaxed and divided between the pickers. To fill
the ordinary metal picker, that is, a picker intended to work on one side only,
and not having a collar in the stuffing chamber, but being solid at one end of
the chamber, first bore a small hole in this solid end for the escape of the
air, then stretch the rubber till its diameter be smaller than that of the hole it
is intended to fill, fix it by metal or other clamps in that stretched state, cut off
the piece so stretched while in the clamps, place it over the chamber in the
picker it is to fill, then by a plunger properly fitted to the clamps force, the
rubber through the clamps into the stuffing chamber, where it will remain
fixed by its own pressure against the sides of the chamber; the clamps should
be so proportioned in length as to hold just such a sized pieco of rubber as.
will fill the stuffing chamber.
And, having now described the nature of the said. Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein-before given, but I claim,-
The packing of metal and other pickers with rubber elongated before, and
while being inserted in the chamber thereof, and then allowed to expand so as
to be retained therein, as herein-before.described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Heald, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Third day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
HENRY HEALD. (L.S.)