CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wrigley, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer to the Loom Improvement Company,
Limited, and John Richardson, of the same Place, Secretary to said
Company, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING."
Scaled the 16th April 1869, and dated the 19th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wrigley and
Jolin Richardson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 19th October 1868.
We, THOMAS WRIGLEY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer to the Loom Improvement Company, Limited, and JOHN
RICHARDSON, of the same Place, Secretary to said Company, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is designed for the purpose of regulating the self-acting

page_text: mechanism the springs or weights giving tension to the warps in looms
for weaving, the novel construction of such improved mechanism being
more particularly applicable to the "letting-off" motion, for which
Letters Patent were granted to Joseph, John, and Edward Harrison,
dated June 14, A.D. 1866, No. 1613, the novelty of which consisted in
giving tension to the warps by the peculiar arrangement and com-
bination of springs and levers, the said spring being adjusted by
adjusted by hand so as to regulate the tension to the warps.
The first part of the present improvements consist in securing to the
top of the screw spindle encircled by the helical spring a worm wheel,
between the under side of which and the lever in connection with the
mechanism giving tension to the warps the spring is enclosed; this
screw spindle is supported in a vertical position by brackets secured to
the loom frame, the upper screwed portion of which is retained by the
boss of the worm previously described, which constitutes or forms the
female thread or nut actuating the worm, the said worm wheel receiving
its motion from and being actuated by a worm secured to the end of
the warp beam. Thus when the beam is full the warps are regulated to
the required tension by hand, the screw of the worm wheel at this time
being at its highest elevation, but as the beam slowly revolves in pro-
portion as the yarn is delivered therefrom the worm on such beam
actuates the worm wheel is such a manner that it gradually releases the
spring, exerting a pressure through the medium of the intermediate
mechanism on the warps thereby regulating the tension; it will therefore
be evident that on commencing a new beam the spring will be at its
greatest compression exerting a pressure equivalent to the greatest
diameter of warp, so that as the warp is delivered, which causes the
beam to revolve, the worm on such beam transmits motion to the worm
wheel and nut actuating the screw spindle so as to release the spring,
therefore as the speed of such release or expansion is governed by the
revolution of the beam it will be evident that its expansion is gradually
accelerated in proportion as the beam is reduced in diameter, thereby
effecting a compensating pressure to the spring as the beam delivers its
yarn that equalizes the tension upon such yarn by self-acting means as
the yarn is delivered, and the beam is reduced from its greatest to its
smallest diameter.
-- ..
Secondly: The same arrangement of worm and worm wheel may be

page_text: arranged to actuate the traverse. of the ordinary weighting motion
through the medium of a vertical screw connected by rods or chains
with the weights that cause such weight gradually to move or glide
upon such levers so as to be adjusted according to the decrease in the
diameter of the warp beams.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Wrigley and John Richardson in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 19th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
WRIGLEY and JOHN RICHARDSON, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Thomas Wrigley and John Richardson,
Her special license that we, the said Thomas Wrigley and John
Richardson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Thomas Wrigley and John Richardson, 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
LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Thomas Wrigley and John Richardson, our exccutors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Thomas Wrigley and John
Richardson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:-
Our Invention is designed for the purpose of regulating and main-
taining at one uniform tention the warp threads of looms as they are
delivered from the warp beam by self-acting means. The usual method
adopted for adjusting the tention of the warps as the warp beam becomes
reduced in diameter is by the operative moving the weights (giving
tention to the warps) upon the levers towards the fulcra of the same as
the yarn is run off the beam.
Our improvements are designed for the purpose of effecting this
regulating motion through self-acting means, and as this may be accom-
plished by several equivalents, according to the class or style of loom
for which it may be required, we will proceed to describe the various
arrangements and adaptations of mechanism for which the self-regulating
motions are designed, and as the principal and method of carrying
the same into practical effect may be, more readily understood we
have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawing, on reference to which in
combination with this description will enable any practical workman to
understand the simplicity and adaptability of our various arrangements.
Figs. 1 and 2 represent respectively a side and back elevation of one
arrangement of self-regulating mechanism adapted to a loom supplied
with a spring and lever motion that is employed for giving tention to
the warps. In these views a, a', is a double lever supported by and
having their fulcra in the loom framing a little below the bearing of the
warp beam ; the long lever or arm a of this double lever is provided
with a flat presser or roller d that is bedded against and kept in contact
with the warp threads upon the beam through the medium of the
spring e, which is connected with the short lever or arm a' of the double
lever, the lower end of the spring being in forcible contact with the
lever f, through the medium of which and the bar g and ropes or
chains the pressure of the spring e is communicated. so as to exert a
pressure upon the warp beam, by which means tention is given to the
warp threads. It will be seen on reference to the Figs. 1 and 2 that
when the warp beam b is full and at its greatest diameter the spring e
is at its greatest compression, thereby exerting its maximum pressure
upon the apparatus, giving tention to the warps at the time the warp

page_text: beam is at its greatest diameter; now as the warp beam delivers its
yarn it gradually becomes reduced in diameter, which being followed by
the roller or presser d to its smallest, diameter, shewn in dots, Fig. 1,
gives a compensating reduction (through the medium of the double
lever c) to the pressure exerted by the spring transmitting tention to the
warps; thus it will be seen that the pressure of the spring e is gradually
reduced in proportion as the warp beam grows less during the time it
is delivering its yarn, thereby maintaining throughout from the greatest
to the smallest diameter of the warp beam one uniform and even
tention.
Figs. 3 and 4 represent a detached back elevation and plan view of
another modification of apparatus for effecting through the spring and
lever a uniform tention to the warps. In these views the end of the
shaft supporting the warp beam b is provided with a worm n that gears
into a worm wheel o, the boss of which forms a nut that actuates
through the medium of a thread upon the spindle p a gradual extension
between the surfaces q and v confining the spring e, and through which
tention is transmitted, as previously described, to the warp beam. In
this arrangement when the warp beam is full the spring e is at its
greatest compression, so that the slow revolution of the beam as it
delivers its yarn transmits motion through the worm n to the wheel o,
whilst revolving on the thread of the spindle praises it so as to
extend the surfaces between which the spring e is confined, thereby
gradually reducing the pressure upon the beam as it delivers its yarn.
Figs. 5 and 6 represent a back elevation and plan view of a self-
regulating motion applied to looms for adjusting and moving the
ordinary weight upon the levers giving tention to the warps in
accordance with the delivery of yarn from the beam. In these Figs. q is
a friction wheel which is kept in contact with the shaft of the warp
beam through the medium of the spring ; this wheel q as the shaft of
the beam revolves gives motion to the worm n and worm wheel o, which
being keyed or otherwise secured to the vertical shafts causes such shaft
as it slowly revolves to coil or wind upon it the cord t, which being
connected to the weights u gradually draws or moves them nearer to the
fulcrums of their respective levers in proportion as the yarn is delivered
from the beam, thereby uniformly maintaining the tention of the yarn.
This arrangement is shewn enlarged at Fig. 6. The friction wheel
2

page_text: when in its place and driven by the shaft of the warp beani is locked by
reason of the square head of the swivel stud encircled by the spring ?
being pressed into the socket, in which when raised the bracket
supporting the friction wheel is allowed to swivel or turn, as seen in dots,
Fig. 6, in which position it is removed out of contact with the shaft of a
the beam, and in which position also the worm n is removed out of gear
with the driven worm wheel o, or the square head of the swivel stud
may be formed on the lower portion thereof, which allows it when the
friction wheel is in contact with the beam shaft to be raised by the
spring so as to be locked, by this arrangement the operative depressing
the friction wheel would be enabled to swivel or turn the said wheel
out of gear, and also out of contact with the beam shaft.
In Fig. 7 an intermittent arrangement of driving is shewn for moving
the weight for regulating the tention of the warps. Bevil gearing vis
employed in lieu of worm and wheel; the shaft & transmitting the sliding
motion to the weight, in this instance, is caused to rise by reason of
a screw in the wheel v, the action of which draws the cord t along with
it, thereby giving the required sliding motion to the weights u, u, the
effect of which regulates the tention of the warps, as described.
Figs. 8, 9, and 10 represent repectively side, back, and plan views of a s
self-acting regulating motion which may be applied for casing the
spring e for regulating the tention as described; or it may be employed
for actuating the ordinary weights for the purposes described. In these
Figs. a is the framing of the loom, b the beam in which a stud or pro-
jecting pin c¹ is placed; this stud with every revolution of the beam as
the yarn is delivered comes into gear with one of the teeth in the star
wheel e¹; this wheel as it is thus caused intermittently to revolve gives
motion to the bevil wheels o¹, the revolution of which may be arranged
so as to release the pressure of a spring given tention to the yarns, or
may be employed for raising a vertical shaft connected to cords giving a
motion to the weights, also regulating the tention; the said motions so
transmitted, whether for releasing the pressure of a spring or removing
weights, will regulate the tention of the warps in accordance with the
delivery of yarn from the warp beam.
Fig. 11 represents an arrangement of adjustable friction gearing to be a
employed for driving the vertical shaft 8.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with

page_text: the method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
distinctly understood in conclusion that we claim the novel adaptation,
employment, and use of a self-regulating motion or motions, as herein-
before described, to the warp beams of looms, which will regularly release
the tension of a spring or otherwise reduce the weight upon the beam,
giving tention to the yarns in accordance with the delivery of such yarn
from the beam, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated
in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-nine.
THOMAS WRIGLEY.
JOHN RICHARDSON.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)
Witness to the signature of
Thomas Wrigley,
JACOB WILLIAMS,
Brook Street, Manchester.
Witness to the signature of
John Richardson,
WM. COLLINS,
149, Clopton St., Hulme,
Manchester.