IMPROVEMENTS IN WEFT STOP MOTIONS FOR Looms
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Pilling, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, and John Harper, of the same Place, Weaver,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEFT STOP MOTIONS FOR Looms."
Sealed the 12th September 1865, and dated the 18th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Pilling and John
Harper at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 18th March 1865.
We, EDWIN PILLING, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer,
and JOHN HARPER, of the same Place, Weaver, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEFT STOP MOTIONS FOR LOOMS,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention has special reference to a weft stop motion for woollen looms,.
but it may also be applied when other materials are woven.
The apparatus consists of an instrument, behind, which the weft passes when
the shuttle is thrown. When the beating up takes place the weft presses.
against this instrument and thus causes it to turn upon a centre and liberate a
catch which had previously held up a sliding tube. This tube is now at liberty
to be drawn or to fall downward by its weight, and by so doing, and by lever
connections, moves a stop out of the path of a stud which vibrates with the

page_text: slay, but if the weft had not been present then the instrument above mentioned
would not have been turned upon its centre as above described, and the stud
upon the slay would have arrived in contact with the stop, whereby the usual stop
rod would have been shifted and the motion of the loom arrested. The stop
above mentioned we mount upon a sliding bolt, which is drawn backward by
a spring. When the stud strikes the said stop it distends this spring before
moving the stop rod, and upon the said bolt being liberated the above-men-
tioned spring draws the slay backward. The falling tube is raised again by
a pin or pins on the tapped shaft, and which act upon levers and rods for the
purpose of moving the stop on the sliding bolt into the path of the vibrating
stud. The part which the above-mentioned pins act upon turns upon a
centre in one direction only, so that the loom is at liberty to be turned back-
ward.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Pilling and John Harper in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWIN
PILLING, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, and JOHN
HARPER, of the same Place, Weaver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of Marcb, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Edwin Pilling and John Harper, Her special licence that we,
the said Edwin Pilling and John Harper, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Edwin Pilling and John Harper, our
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 WEPT STOP MOTIONS
FOR LOOMS," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said Edwin
Pilling and John Harper, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals (or under the hand and seal of one of us) 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

page_text: 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 Edwin Pilling, do hereby declare the
nature of our 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our Invention has special reference to a weft stop motion for woollen looms,
and we have therefore shewn it so applied, but it may be used in other looms
if desired.
Fig. 1 represents a portion of the loom in vertical section, and Fig. 2 is a
plan or horizontal view of certain of the parts. The tappet shaft receiving
motion in the usual manner from the crank shaft is shewn at a, carrying a
disc b, which is provided with two tappets c. These tappets as they revolve
act alternately against an arm d, which for the present may be supposed to be
fast upon a rod e, capable of moving upward and downward by means of a
slot f, embracing a guide pin g. The lower end of the rod e is connected to a
lever h mounted fast upon a shaft i carried by stationary bearings k. Upon
this shaft is also another lever connected to a rod 1*, formed at its upper
end as a tube m, which slides upon a stationary rod n, and at the back of the
tube m is a projecting part o. By the means above described, therefore, that
is, by the tappets c, the said tube is caused to move upon the rod n and to fall
again by the weight of the parts connected therewith. Upon the rod n is
jointed the weft detecting fork p, passing through the reed in front and on the
other side of its centre of motion, turning up as at p* behind the tube m.
Upon the shaft i is a lever q connected by means of a rod r to an arm s, capable of
turning upon a centre pin at t, which centre pin is carried by a rod u mounted
so as to be capable of sliding in bearings guides v. The arm 's is supported
by a fixed stud w, but is capable of sliding with the rod u by means of a
slot x.
At one end of the sliding rod u is jointed a lever y turning upon a fixed
centre at z, aud carrying on the other side of the centre of motion. two springs
1, 2. The former of these is connected to the lower end of a lever 3 turning
upon a centre at 4, and in contact at its other end with the ordinary spring
lever 5. The other spring 2 is attached to the centre of motion 4 of the
lover 3.
The operation is as follows, according to the position of the parts shewn :-
The shuttle has been passed through the shed at A, and the tappet shaft
revolving will cause one of the tappets c to act upon the arm d, thereby de-
pressing the rode and causing the shaft i to turn upon its centre, the effect of

page_text: which will be the lifting of the rod * and tube m until the projection o
is above the end p* of the weft fork, as seen in the detached view Fig. 1.
The lathe now beating up will carry the weft (if it be present) against the
fork P and will cause it to turn upon its centre 8, so that the end p* will be
moved outward from the projection o, and the tube m will be allowed to
descend. This descent will permit the lever q, and consequently rod r, also to
descend, carrying with them the arm s, so that a projection 9 thereon
will be withdrawn from the range of a rod 10 which vibrates constantly with
the lathe, and thus the loom will continue to work so long as the weft thread
is present. But supposing the weft thread to be absent at the situation A,
then when the beating up takes place the weft fork p will not be turned upon
its centre 8, but will remain in the position shewn at Fig. 3, so that the pro-
jection o being in contact therewith will prevent the tube m and rod * from
falling, the lever q will therefore be held up and with it the arms and pro-
jecting part 9, and the rod 10 attached to the lathe will arrive in contact with
the said projecting part 9 and carry forward the sliding rod u.
This move-
ment of the said sliding rod will cause the lever y to turn upon its centre,
and through the medium of the spring 1 draw forward the lower end of the
lever 3, and force the upper end against the spring lever 5 so as to thrust it
from its notch, and thus the motion of the loom will be arrested, as is well
understood. The movement of the stop rod, it will be perceived, is effected by
an elastic medium, viz., the spring 1, and a certain distension of the said
spring therefore takes place before the stop rod begins to act. The sliding
rod u, it will be seen, is constantly drawn forward by the spring 2, the extent of
its motion being determined by a stop 12, and when the loom is again at work
the said spring draws back the parts to their former positions. Upon the rod u
is another stop 18, for determining the extent of its motion in the other
-direction. It has been observed that the arm d might for the time be con-
sidered as fast with the rod e, it is however mounted upon a centre pin, so as to
turn upward and allow the tappets c to pass without acting when the loom is
moved backward, but it is prevented from turning downward by a stop carried
by the rod e. In the Drawings one weft fork is shewn situate about the
middle of the loom, but there may be two or 'more situate at each side or at
any intermediate distances.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood
.that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,―
Firstly, the use of a weft detecting instrument situate in front of the weft.

page_text: Secondly, the sliding tube m held up or allowed to fall by the said instru-
ment.
Thirdly, the general arrangement of parts described for the purpose above
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Pilling, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDWIN PILLING. (L.B.)