IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEDDING WARPS IN THE PROCESS Of Weaving
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Lord, of Great Horton, in the Parish of
Bradford, in the County of York, Mechanic, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEDDING WARPS IN THE PROCESS Of Weaving.”
Sealed the 31st December 1870, and dated the 7th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Lord at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th July 1870.
I, DAVID LORD, of Great Horton, in the Parish of Bradford, in the
County of York, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEDDING WARPS IN THE PROCESS OF
WEAVING," to be as follows
The nature of this Invention consists in working heald shafts without
the use of tappets, weighted levers, or springs, which have previously
been used.
In constructing machinery according to this Invention I shed the
warps by means of levers having each a separate and distinct motion
given to it from an endless belt or apron of metal or other substance.

page_text: This apron is composed of a number of parallel bars coupled together,
which form the endless belt aforesaid. Upon these bars are placed a
number of projections or bowls for the purpose of communicating motion
to the shedding bars to produce the pattern. This motion is produced
by the action of the bowls upon levers working in connection with
compound or double-ended catches attached to the shedding bars, the
utility of which is described below.
Motion is given to the cylinder by means of an eccentric or crank on
the top loom shaft, working by means of a rod in connection with a
double-armed rocking shaft, one end of the rocking shaft arm having
attached to it a catch acting upon a ratchet wheel fastened to the
cylinder shaft. Upon the same shaft is also a plate wheel having
notches or hollow places into which presses at every motion of the
ratchet a small lever having a spring and bowl attached to keep the
cylinder in its place. This double-armed rocking shaft gives motion to
two knives working in slides and in close contact with the catches
before mentioned, one knife being worked from one end of the rocking
shaft arm and the other from the other end, thus producing upon the
knives an alternate advancing and receding motion, causing these
catches and shedding bars to be dragged to and fro according to the
action of the bowls upon the belt or apron upon the levers. The bowls on
the cylinder "acting upon the levers," release the catches from the
knives according to the pattern required to be produced. At each
end of the shedding bars are hooks, to which are attached strings
or chains working the heald shafts causing the warp to be shed
accordingly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Lord in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID 30
LORD, of Great Horton, in the Parish of Bradford, in the County of.
York, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty- 35

page_text: fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said David Lord, Her special licence, that
I, the said David Lord, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said David Lord, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEDDING WARPS
IN THE PROCESS OF WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said David Lord, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument 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 David Lord, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Shect of Drawings, that is to say :——
This Invention consists in working healds or harness without the
employment or use of tappets to raise them, or weights or weighted
levers or springs, and without coupling one to another to draw them
down, methods which have previously been used.
In machinery constructed according to this Invention I shed (or cross.
the healds with) the warps by means of levers or beams, having each.
a separate and independent motion one from another. This motion is
given or imparted from or by means of an endless belt or apron of
metal or other suitable material. This apron or belt is composed of a
number of rounded bars coupled in a parallel direction one to another..
Upon these bars (which form the belt working on an open cylinder);
are placed a suitable number of projections or bowls for the purpose of
communicating motion to the shedding bars through the agency of
the beams and to produce the pattern required. According to the
design required cach bowl on arriving at the top of the open cylinder,

page_text: above mentioned lifts one of the ends of a beam of which the other
extremity slides in a groove formed in another beam with double catch,
and it causes the catch which is at the same end of the beam as the
groove to descend, and when the portion of the apron that has no bowl
is at the top part of the open cylinder, then it is the catch at the
opposite end of the beam that goes down, and is caught by a knife of
metal, of which there is one at each extremity of the course of the beams
with double catches. These beams form the communication with the
beams of the top and the flat bars herein-after mentioned of the bottom,
when the beams with double catches are caught by the sliding knifes,
which knives have a backward and forward sliding motion and so drag
the beams with catches along with them (i.e.) the catches at one end in
one direction, and those of the other extremity in the opposite one. These
beams are connected by a pivot (placed nearly in the centre of their
length) to flat bars furnished with hooks at each end, and which bars
are arranged parallel together underneath the beams. Motion is given to
the open cylinder by means of an eccentric or crank on the top or crank
shaft of loom, working by means of a rod in connection with a double-
armed rocking shaft, one end of the rocking shaft arm having attached
to it a catch acting upon a ratchet wheel fastened to the cylinder shaft.
Upon this latter shaft is also a plate wheel having notches or hollow
places, into which presses at every motion of the ratchet a small lever
having a spring and bowl attached to keep the cylinder in its place and
steady the motion thereof. This double-armed rocking shaft gives motion
to two knives working in slides, and in close contact with the catches
before mentioned, one knife being worked from one end of the rocking
shaft arm, and the other from the other end, thus producing upon the
knives an alternate advancing and receding motion, causing the catches
and shedding bars to be dragged to and fro according to the action of
the bowls (on the belt or apron) upon the beams. The bowls on the
cylinder acting upon the beams release the catches (and vice versa)
from the knives according to the pattern required to be produced. At
each end of the shedding bars which slide upon the cross rails of the
frame or healding machine are hooks, and each heald shaft is suitably
attached to one of these bars at the top to one end, and at the bottom
to the other, by which arrangement the healds are drawn up and down
at will according to the design of cloth intended to be made, without
either employing tappets, springs, weights, or weighted levers, or
coupling the heald shafts.

page_text: On reference to the accompanying Drawings and following explana-
tion my Invention will be more completely and readily understood, as
the same illustrate how the different parts of the apparatus work.
A represents the couplings of the endless apron which works on the
open cylinder M; Ax, the bowls on the rounded bars Axx, kept in
their places by hoops of iron or other substance, which fit easily on the
bars, and which can be replaced by bowls or vice versâ according to
the pattern of cloth; A××, the round bars placed parallel one to
another and forming the endless apron by means of couplings A; B,
end of beam which rests on endless apron; Bx, thin end of beam which
slides in the groove C××; C, catches of the beam C××; Cx, point of
connection of the beams with double catches with the flat bars E, E;
Cxx, point of the groove where the beam with double catches receives
its motion from the beam B; D, D, one of the knives that slides in the
grooves G, G, and which moves the longest arms of beams C, C, and
so draws down the healds or harness by means of the flat bars E, E,
with double hooks; F, F, the other knife (sliding in the grooves G, G,
and the one) which takes of the short arms of beam C, C, and
slides the flat bars E, E, and raises the healds or harness by means
of their attachments to the hooks of flat bars; H, H, the arms with
grooves or slots which oscillate with the shaft N, and which work the
knives on each side of the machine; I, Ix, the ratchet that turns the
cylinder M by means of the ratchet wheel J upon the cylinder shaft;
K, the plate wheel having as many rounded indentures as there are
faces to the cylinder of the endless apron or pointed indentures to
ratchet wheel J; L, the flat arm or lever working upon a stud at one
end and carrying a stud with bowl Lx at the other. This bowl is
pressed into the indentures of the wheel K by means of the spiral
spring Lxx, which is attached underneath the arm L; by this means
the steadiness of the motion of the cylinder is assured; O, the arm
or stud plate having a groove or slot to which is attached a crank arm,
which communicates the motion from the crank shaft of the loom to
that of the healding machine; P, the groove or slot in which the
opening or shedding of the warp can be regulated; Q, Q, the frame of
the healding machine; and R, R, the supports of the beams B, B.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention
for "Improvements in Shedding Warps in the Process of Weaving,"
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-

page_text: formed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion
that I claim as my Invention, the combination of apparatus by which
I cross or shed healds or harnesses with warp in looms for weaving
without employing tappets to raise the healds, or springs, weights, or
weighted levers, or coupling of the heald shafts to draw them down, also
the use of the endless apron, bowls, beams, slides, catches, and hooks
herein described, by means of which I produce any design according to
the number of beams employed or repetitions of the same with their
appendages, substantially as herein-before described and as illustrated on
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings or any modification thereof acting
in substantially the same or a similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Lord, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witnessed by,
W*. AMBLER,
Patent Agent,
Bradford.
DAVID LORD. (L.S.)