Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Facilitating Formation of Shed and Picking in Looms for Weaving.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Facilitating Formation of
Shed and Picking in Looms for Weaving.
I, HORACE WYMAN of Worcester, in the County of Worcester, in the State of
Massachusetts, one of the United States of America, Manufacturer of Looms, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
In looms as now commonly made wherein eveners are employed to act upon two
sets of jacks to place the harness frames at a common level before forming the shed,
the cording connecting the jacks with the harness frames is subjected to very con-
siderable strain which besides unduly stretching the leather portions of tho said
cording also results in straining the working parts of the loom unnecessarily.
To obviate unnecessary straining of the cording as the frames are evened and just
before making the shed, I have added to the shedding mechanism of the loom a
compensating device herein shown as a cam which, while the bars of the evener are
in engagement with both sets of jacks, and only at that time, (the jacks at such time
being moved away from the lifter preparatory to the action of the pattern surface
upon the jacks to select them for the formation of a new shed), temporarily lessens
or relieves the tension on the harness frame cording so that while the pattern surface
acts to select the jacks the harness cording will be subject to less strain than it would
otherwise have.
To accomplish this part of my invention I have mounted one set of the sheaves
over which runs the cording going to the harness frames so that the said set of
sheaves may move or yield at the time stated to relieve the strain on the cording,
and as herein shown the time at which the said sheaves may move together to lessen
the strain is determined by the compensating device, the latter at all other times, and
especially when the shed is being made, acting to keep the set of sheaves rigidly
in place.
I do not desire to limit my invention for obviating undue strain on the cording to
permitting the particular set of sheaves shown to yield just before the formation
of each shed, for my invention may be practiced with any usual set of sheaves.
My invention consists in a loom containing the following instrumentalities,
viz. :—
A harness frame, two jacks, cording to connect one end of one of the said jacks to
the upper side of the harness frame, a shaft or sheave to support the said cording,
cording intermediate one end of the other of the said jacks and the under side of the
harness frame, and a sheave, as 100, over which the said cording is extended, and a
movable sheave-carrying frame, and a compensating device to hold the said frame
against a strain on said cording during the time the shed is being formed, and to
move the said frame to reduce the strain on the cording when both of the said jacks
are engaged by the evener; also in a loom, the following instrumentalities:-A cross
shaft provided with hubs having lugs, and the roll-carrying arms pivoted thereon,
sleeve hubs engaging the said roll-carrying arms loosely, arms to engage the said
sleeves, connections between the said arms, and a lever to move the said arms to
throw the said roll out of position and stop the picking substantially as will be
described.
Also a lever to control the stopping and starting of the picking mechanism, a
latch, a projection to be engaged by and arrest the said latch, a spring to normally
draw the latch past the said projection, means to release the latch from the said
projection, means between the said latch and lever whereby when the latch is released
from the said projection the said spring is made to move the said lever and stop the
picking, substantially as will be described.
1.

page_text: Also in a loom, a lever and clutching hub connections between the said lever and
lub to move the latter, and a latch; a projection to be engaged by and arrest the
latch, a spring to normally draw the latch past the said "projection, means to release
the latch from the said projection, means between the said latch and lever whereby
when the latch is released from the said projection the said spring is made to move
the said lever and place the said hub in position to stop the forward rotation of the
pattern mechanism.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a partial left hand side elevation of a loom embodying my improvements.
Fig. 2 is a partial front elevation of the right hand end of the loom shown in
fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a sectional detail showing some of the parts employed at the left hand
end of the loom to actuate the shaft instrumental in moving the lifter and the evener
Jars, most of the said parts being omitted from Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a partial front elevation of the loom chiefly, however, to shew the manner
of connecting the harness frames and jacks, the said Figure also shewing the com-
pensating device referred to, part of the means for moving the lifter and the evener
bars, and the pattern surface.
Fig. 4, a sectional detail to show the shape of the jacks, the evener and lifter being
in section.
Fig. 5 is a sectional detail looking down upon the picking shaft or cam in the lower
part of the loom, the said Figure showing the devices employed for shifting the
positions of the picking balls or rolls..
Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 and 9b, are details to be referred to forming part of the said
picking mechanism.
Fig. 10 is a detail in plan view showing part of the breast beam and means whereby
the failure of the weft may be made to automatically operate the lever controlling the
picking mechanism.
Fig. 10 is a detail of the latch 145 and projection 24.
Fig. 11 is a detail showing part of the lay with the dagger to act upon the slide
bar shown in Figs. 1 and 10 and the sliding bar p.
Fig. 12 is a detail showing one of the links 112 intermediate the lower levers and
the connecting wires.
Fig. 13 is a detail showing one of the links 115.
Fig. 14 shews the rocking sheave or carrying frame.
:
The loom frame A is and may be of usual shape to sustain the working parts.
The frame has suitable bearings for the picker shaft A' upon one end of which is a
gear A2 which in practice may have at its outer face beveled teeth to be engaged by a
bevelled pinion A fast on a driving or main shaft A³ having at one end any usual
driving pulley A..
The tooth gear A³ engages a toothed gear A fast on the usual crank shaft A', the
respective sizes of the said gears A² and A' being such as to cause the picking and
crank shafts to rotate in unison each making turn for turn alike.
The usual cranks of the crank-shaft receive usual connecting rods A' which are
joined in usual manner to the lay A', said lay in practice carrying any usual drop
boxes.
Each picker stick B has its fulcrum on a. like suitable stand B' herein shown as
extended from the studs forming the journals for the lay swords.
The picker sticks are connected by usual. straps and links B' with arms B³ of a
picker shaft B having attached to it a wing B of usual shape, which in practice
will be struck at each rotation of the shafts A', A, by a suitable roll or bowl B..
The lower end of each picker stick has attached to it any usual strap.as B² and a
spring as B, the spring being connected to some rigid part as to the floor, or it may
to a projection on the frame-work, the spring normally acting to keep the picker.
stick in its outward position.

page_text: The upper part of the frame has suitable bearings for a rock shaft k, having at its
opposite ends arms and each being suitably slotted for the reception of like
adjustable crank-pins or studs.
The studs carried by the said arms at opposite sides of the loom have connected
- to them suitable connecting rods as d³ which are fitted to the ends of the evener bar
composed essentially of two parallel bars m², 12 located at a little distance apart but
connected and always moving together.
Other studs carried by the said arms and 7 at opposite sides of the loom, have
joined to them like connecting rods which in turn are joined to the ends of the
lifter which by the said connecting rods is reciprocated, in suitable slots of the
bracket A extended from the loom side.
This bracket contains two sets of guides as e² and d in vertical slots of which are
guided the jacks a² and 12. Each jack a² has a hook at its inner end to which is
attached the cording going to the upper side of a harness frame ¹ of usual con-
struction, a part of the said cording being composed of leather and being
extended over a set of usual sheaves mounted upon a rod at the top of the loom frame.
Each like jack 2 has connected to its hooked end the cording which, as will be
hereinafter described, is made to depress a harness frame.
My invention is not limited to the specific form of jack described, and I desire to
include as within the scope of my invention any usual jacks.
In this invention the cording extended from the jack and adapted to be
connected with the under side of a harness frame is extended over one of a series
of sheaves 100 mounted upon a rod 101 carried in a movable or rocking frame 102,
the said frame being shown as mounted loosely upon a rod 103 extended across the
top of the loom.
The said frame has as shown an arm 104 provided at it's outer end with a roller or
other stud 105 which bears upon the compensating device shown as a cam 106 herein
represented as secured by a bolt 107 to one of the rocking arms as at the end of the
rock shaft k, but in practice each arm land may have a like cam to operate against.
an arm like 104 having a roll 105 but at the opposite ends of the frame, 102, and cause
the said sheaves 100 to move in a direction to lessen the strain on the cording, the
frame herein shown moving about the centre 103. This cam is shown separately in
Fig. 14:
The connections extended from the jacks downwardly have upper portion's
composed of leather, and each of their lower portions as 108 composed of wire having
hooks at its opposite ends.
The lower end of each rod 108 instead of being connected directly to the outer
end of one of a series of levers 109- pivoted at 110, is connected to a thin metallic
link 112 slotted as at its upper 'end as at 113, see Fig. 12, to be engaged by the
wire 10S..
:
The lower end of each link 112 may have an offset so that the body of the link
may lie in substantially the same vertical plane as the lever 109, and as herein shown
the link has a hollow hub 112.c, see Fig. 12. which enters a hole.in the outer end of
the lever 109 where it is held by a rivet 109 a which in practice will have its end
upset in a counter-sink at one side of the said link, such construction enabling the
levers to be placed much closer together than would be possible if the wire-like rods
were connected directly to the ends of the said levers as heretofore done; and further
by the eniployment of the links a much stronger connection is made and much wear
upon the wire like rods is obviated.
The inner ends of the levers 109 are connected by narrow thin links 115 having eyes.
at their upper and lower ends, the said eyes in turn being connected in suitable manner
to the wires 116 extended up to the lower sides of the harness frames.
The pattern surface employed in connection with the shedding mechanism is and
may be of usual construction.
Herein the pattern surface is shown as a chain 118 extended over a cylinder 119
having at or near one end a gear D which is engaged by a beveled gear Di; sce
Fig. 1, at the upper end of a vertical sliaft D having suitable beings.

page_text: This shaft has splined to it a hub D10 having clutch teeth at its opposite ends and
an annular central groove which is embraced by a forked arm D attached to a slide
rod D13 having its bearings at 225, see Fig. 1.
The slide rod D¹³, at a point between its bearings, has attached to it a collar.having
a stud 226, see Fig. 1 which stud is embraced by one end of a hand lever a¹², see-
Fig. 4, pivoted at a
The shaft D has loose upon it at opposite sides of the said hub, two beveled
gears D and D each having the inner end of its hub toothed to be engaged by one
or the other end of said hub D, according to the direction in which it is desired
to rotato the shaft D14.
By moving the hand lever a², the hub D¹ may be placed in central position between
the gears B or B, or be engaged with one or the other of the said gears D or D³,
they being rotated continuously by a beveled gear D' fast upon one end of a star
wheel D, which is engaged and moved intermittently by a suitable pin wheel D
rotated or carried by a cranked portion of the crank shaft A, see Fig. 3, outside the
framework.
The devices described for actuating the pattern surface are substantially the same
as in British patent No. 3655 July 25, 1883.
The crank referred to as being carried by the crank shaft A6 outside the framework,
has connected to it a link 130, one end of which is attached to a stud of a rocking
lever 131, see Figs. 1 and 3, an arm of the said lever having joined to it a con-
necting rod 132 which is extended upwardly and attached to an arm 133 extended
from the rock shaft k referred to, see Fig. 3.
Just before the protuberances of the pattern surfaces are to act to lift the jacks
preparatory to forming a shed, the evener bars m³, 12 are moved outwardly and made
to engage the outermost projections of the jacks and move them all outwardly so as
to close, or even, as it is called, the shed.
In their outward. movement the evener bars m³, 12 remove the shoulders e of the
jacks from contact with the lifter bar just before the protuberances of the pattern
.surface act to distribute the jacks for a new shed, and it is at this time that the com-
pensating device 106 referred to arrives in the position shown in Fig. 4, where i
will be seen that the roller stud enters the depression 135, see Fig. 14, of the said
compensating device, thus permitting the frame carrying the set of sheaves 100 to
rock or
move and permit the sheaves to move bodily towards the jacks, thus
temporarily relieving the harness connections h extending to the levers 109 from what
would otherwise be excessive strain, or strain in excess of that to which they are
subjected while the roller stud travels upon the portions of the compensating device
of greater radius as when the shed is being made.
Referring to the picking mechanism the shaft A' has fastened to it near each side of
the frame a hub as r, the said hubs being rights and lefts according to the side of the
loom at which they are to be placed.
Each hub has a pivot as
as to fit the said pivot r¹.
for the reception of the roll carrier, it having a hole
The roll carrier has its outer end slotted as shown at 7, Fig. 7, to receive the
stud upon which is mounted loosely the picking roll B.
The roll carrier has a lug as which, when the loom is in regular operation and the
roll is in position to strike the shoc B' to effect the picking of the shuttle engages a
lug near the end of the hub r, the engagement of the two lugs as described
preventing twisting strain on the pivot .
Each roll carrier has a finger or projection as 3, (see Fig. 9b), which enters a
notch 4 of a collars (see Fig. 9), loosely mounted upon shaft A', so that the
longitudinal movement of the said collars upon the said shaft will turn the carrier >
upon its pivot as represented by dotted lines in Fig. 6, the said carrier when in
the full line position actuating the picking stick, the picking being suspended when
the carrier is in the dotted line position..
To move these collars s automatically to start or stop the picking, I have provided
the loom frame at its opposite sides with like brackets as s¹ having suitable adjustable

page_text: studs s², one of the said studs having mounted upon it a lever and the other a levers,
the inner ends of each of the said levers having a roller or other stud, or being forked
as best shown in Fig. 7, where the lever st is shown.as partially broken off.
The two levers st, st are joined together by a connecting rods, and the outer end 8:
of the lever is made to enter the forked end of an upright lever 138 pivoted at 139.
on the loom side.
The breast beam D, see Figs. 1 and 10, has at its inner side a bracket
having at
one edge a projection 24, the horizontal shelf of the said bracket receiving upon it a
slide bar p provided with a projection 26 cam shaped at its rear side as best shown
in Fig. 11.
The band lever 138 pivoted at 139 and connected to the lever 1, has arranged just
behind it a pin or projection 141 of an arm 142 of a rock shaft 143 extended across.
the loom and provided with an arm 144 to which is jointed one end of a latch as 145,
the said latch normally engaging the said projection 24.
The latch as shown has a pin or projection 146 which is extended across the slide pr.
so that when the latter is engaged by any usual dagger commonly carried by the
lay, see Fig. 11, the said slide bar, as it is moved toward the breast beam, causes the
incline or cam 26 thereon to act on the pin 146 and remove the latch from the pro-
jection 24-referred to, thus letting the spring 147 act to turn the rock shaft 143 in
the direction to cause the pin 141 to act on the lever 138 and turn it in a direction to
stop the picking action, the lever 138 not however being so moved until after the weft
fails.
Prior to my invention I am not aware that a latch has been locked in position when
the loom was operated regularly, the said latch being under the control of a spring
which as soon as the latch is released through a dagger controlled by the feeder,
causes the said spring to move the latch and connected parts to effect the automatic
throwing out of action of the picker mechanism.
I have shown the rear end of the arm 142 as connected by a rod w with the
lever a² so that as the arm 142 is moved to actuate the lever 138 it also moves the
lever a automatically for a distance sufficient to place the hub D10 in central position
with relation to the two gears D8, D2, thus stopping the forward rotation of and leaving
the pattern surface at rest.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is in a loom for weaving:-
1. A harness frame, two jacks, cording to connect one end of one of the said jacks.
to the upper side of the harness frame, a sheave to support the said cording, cording
intermediate one end of the other of the said jacks, and the under side of the harness
frame, and a sheave as 100, over which the said cording is extended, combined with
a movable sheave carrying frame and with a compensating device to hold the frame
against and strain the cording during the time that the shed is being formed and to
move the said frame to reduce the strain on the cording when both of the said jacks
are engaged by the evener, substantially as described.
2. The cross shaft A¹ provided with the hubs having lugs, and the roll carrying
arms pivoted thereon, and the sleeve hubs engaging the said roll carrying arms loosely,
combined with arms to engage the said sleeves, connections between the said arms,
and a lever 138 to move the said arms to throw the said rolls out of position and stop
the picking, substantially as described.
3. A lever 138 to control the stopping and starting of the picking mechanism,
and a latch, a projection to be engaged by and arrest the latch, a spring to normally
draw the latch past the projection, means to release the latch from the said projection,
combined with means substantially as described between the said latch and lever
whereby when the latch is released from the projection the spring is made to move
the lever 138 and stop the picking, substantially as described.
4. The lever a², the clutching hub, connections between the said lever and hub to
move the latter, and a latch, a projection to be engaged by and arrest the latch,

page_text: a spring to normally draw the latch past the projection, means to release the latch
from the said projection, combined with means substantially as described between the
said latch and lever whereby when the latch is released from the projection the
spring is made to move the lever a² and place the said hub in position to stop the
forward rotation of the pattern mechanism, substantially as described.
Dated the 7th.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.