Improvements in Jacquard Design Reading and Card Punching Machines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 30th Jan., 1892--Accepted. 30th Apr., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Jacquard Design Reading and Card Punching
Machines.
1 ROBERT WIGHTON MONCRIEFF, General Manager and Engineer for the
Sparre Patents Company, Limited, of 53 Sackville Street Manchester, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that class of machine for punching cards for Jacquard
looms in which the punches of a Jacquard card punching machine are actuated
through intermediate mechanism by the reliefs of a plate, which is engraved or
otherwise prepared in accordance with the design to be reproduced. The machine
thus not only reads the design but also punches the cards in accordance with the
design.
In these machines as hitherto constructed the engraved or otherwise prepared
plate has been fixed on a reciprocating table connected by rods to vertical slides.
The table has been caused to advance with the plate as each card is in turn
presented to be cut and has thus pressed the relief portions of the design on the
prepared plate against reading "needles." The movement of the needles thus
acted upon has been transmitted by intermediate parts to the selecting needles in a
punching press. The cards have been fed into this latter by an attendant one by
one and the beles have therefore been punched in the successive cards. The table
on which the design plate is fixed, in addition to its horizontal reciprocating
movement, has had a vertical sliding movement, falling or rising a given distance
at each movement of the table according to the fineness of the pattern on the
design plate, each forward movement of the table and plate bringing the next
horizontal line of the design into contact with the reading "needles.'
These machines have various defects which it is one object of this invention to
overcome. Another object is to simplify the working parts of the machines,
rendering them less costly to construct and maintain, positive in their action and
capable of being worked at a greatly accelerated speed, while occupying much less
space and requiring much less power.
Hitherto the reading needles have been pivoted and have consequently been
liable to friction owing to the slight vertical motion which in addition to the
required horizontal motion they have undergone when pushed by the design plate,
and where the design has been detailed on the engraved plate the needles were apt
to miss the points that ought to catch them. Now according to my invention I
dispense with the pivots and place the needles in horizontal guides so that they
receive a direct horizontal movement; the difficulty just explained is thereby over-
come. The needles are in contact with vertical levers upon the upper inclined ends
of which rest horizontal coupling bars from which coupling wires or cords go
direct to the selecting needles of an ordinary repeater machine or punching press.
The said horizontal coupling bars normally engage with a gryffe which has a
reciprocating movement in which it acts upon those coupling bars which for the
time being engage with it, and therefore upon the corresponding selecting needles.
When some of the reading needles are pushed back by the design plate in
accordance with one horizontal line of the design, the corresponding levers are
acted upon and lift the corresponding coupling bars off the gryffe so that this in its
next forward movement does not act upon the bars thus lifted or through them
upon the corresponding selecting needles. The lifted bars remain up until a
"doctor
or rod carried by vibrating arms returns them to position while another
"doctor" or rod returns the vertical levers and through them the reading needles
to position ready for the next advance of the design plate. The doctors can be
worked by tappets on the main horizontal bars hereinafter, mentioned. The gryffe
"

page_text: motion is effected through levers and slide bars from cams on the cam shaft of the
machine.
I impart the required horizontal reciprocating motion to the table carrying the
design plate by horizontal bars worked by cams on the cam shaft. These cams
may conveniently be internal cams on the plates of the cams that work the gryffe
as above explained, and a perfectly smooth action is thus obtained.
For certain classes of grounds on the woven fabric I add to the machine a
Jacquard card barrel carrying a few cards punched according to the character of
the ground. This barrel in addition to an intermittent revolving motion, has a
reciprocating motion which brings its cards successively against the selecting
needles of the repeater or punching press at the ends opposite to where the
coupling wires are attached. Thus while the coupling wires pull certain of the
needles from the one end according to the pattern on the design plate the cards on
the barrel push others of the needles at the opposite end according to the ground.
The use of a barrel and a few cards in this manner dispenses with the necessity
of detailing the ground upon the design plate and materially reduces the cost of
same.
The design plate is ruled into squares like ordinary design paper, and after the
reliefs of the pattern are produced on it by etching or other means, I take an
impression on paper in ink from it for the use of the weaver and which serves the
purpose of the usual painted design.
Dated this 1st day of April 1891
J. C. MEWBURN,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Jacquard Design Reading and Card Punching
Machines.
1, ROBERT WIGHTON MONCRIEFF General Manager and Engineer for the
Sparre Patents Company Limited of 53 Sackville Street, Manchester, 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 :-
This invention relates to that class of machine for punching cards for Jacquard
looms in which the punches of a Jacquard card punching machine are controlled or
actuated through intermediate mechanism by the reliefs of a plate which is
engraved or otherwise prepared in accordance with the design to be reproduced.
The machine thus not only reads the design but also punches the cards in
accordance with the design.
65
In these machines as hitherto constructed the engraved or otherwise prepared
plate has been fixed on a reciprocating table connected by rods to vertical slides.
The table has been caused to advance with the plate as each card is in turn
presented to be cut and has thus pressed the relief portions of the design on the
prepared plate against reading needles." The movement of the needles thus
acted upon has been transmitted by intermediate parts to the selecting needles in a
punching press. The cards have been fed into this latter by an attendant one by
one and the holes have therefore been punched in the successive cards. The table
on which the design plate is fixed in addition to its horizontal reciprocating
movement has had a vertical sliding movement, falling or rising a given distance
at each movement of the table according to the fineness of the pattern on the
design plate, each forward movement of the table and plate bringing the next
horizontal line of the design into contact with the reading needles."
These machines have various defects which it is one object of this invention to
overcome. Another object is to simplify the working parts of the machines,
rendering them less costly to construct and maintain, positive in their action and

page_text: ∙capable of being worked at a greatly accelerated speed while occupying much less
space and requiring much less power.
Hitherto the reading "needles" have been pivoted and have consequently been
liable to friction owing to the slight vertical motion which in addition to the
required horizontal motion they have undergone when pushed by the design plate
and where the design has been detailed on the engraved plate the needles were apt
to be missed by the points that ought to catch then. Now according to my
invention dispense with the pivots and place the needles in horizontal guides so
that they receive a direct horizontal movement; the difliculty just explained is
thereby overcome. The needles are in contact with vertical levers upon the upper
inclined ends of which rest horizontal coupling bars from which coupling wires or
cords go direct to the selecting needles of an ordinary repeater machine or punching
press. The said horizontal coupling bars normally engage with a gryffe which has
a reciprocating movement in which it acts upon those coupling bars which for the
time being engage with it, and therefore upon the corresponding selecting needles.
When some of the reading needles are pushed back by the design plate in
accordance with one horizontal line of the design, the corresponding levers are
acted upon and lift the corresponding coupling bars off the gryffe so that this in its
next forward movement does not act upon the bars thus lifted or through them
upon the corresponding selecting needles. The lifted bars remain up until a
"doctor or rod carried by vibrating arms returns them to position while another
doctor or rod returns the vertical levers and through them the reading needles
to position ready for the next advance of the design plate. The doctors can be
worked by tappets on the main horizontal bars hereinafter mentioned. The gryffe
motion is effected through levers and slide bars from cams on the cam shaft of the
machine.
"
92
ג:
I impart the required horizontal reciprocating motion to the table carrying the
design plate by horizontal bars worked by cams on the cam shaft.
These cams
may conveniently be internal cams on the plates of the cams that work the gryffe
as above explained and a perfectly smooth action is thus obtained.
For certain classes of grounds on the woven fabric I add to the machine a
Jacquard card barrel carrying a few cards. punched according to the character of
the ground. This barrel in addition to an intermittent revolving motion, has a
reciprocating motion which brings its cards successively against the selecting
needles of the repeater or punching press at the ends opposite to where the coupling
wires are attached. Thus while the coupling wire pull certain of the needles from
the one end according to the pattern on the design plate the cards on the barrel
push others of the needles at the opposite end according to the ground. The use
of a barrel and a few cards in this manner dispenses with the necessity of detailing
the ground upon the design plate and materially reduces the cost of same.
The accompanying drawings represent a machine in which my improvements are
embodied.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 a sectional elevation of the machine.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation on a larger scale of a portion of the machine
showing the needles and other parts in the positions they respectively occupy at
what may properly he called the commencement of the series or cycle of operations.
Figure 4 is a sectional elevation showing the same pants as Figure 3 but with
the reading needles pressed back by the design plate and with some of the coupling
bars (that is to say those that have been lifted by the action of the design plate
upon the needles) thrown out of connection with the gryffe.
a is the main shaft driven by the pulley b, c is the cam shaft driven by spur
gearing from the shaft a. On the shaft c are two cams done at each side of the
machine which give the necessary forward and backward movement as hereinafter
described to the table and the design plate which it carries. On the shaft c are
two other cams e one at each side of the machine for giving the necessary forward
and backward movement as hereinafter described to the gryffe f. is the table
which is vertical as usual and is a frame having vertical dovetail grooves therein

page_text: q
in which the table can be moved. The table carries the design plate i, jare the
reading needles, they are placed in horizontal guidesk and face the design plate i.
The back ends of these needles are in contact with the noses of vertical levers m
pivoted at n the upper ends of these levers are 'inclined and upon their inclines
coupling bars prest; from these bars coupling wires or cords go direct to the
selecting needles r of the ordinary repeater machine or punching press. The
coupling bars p normally engage with the gryffe f as in Figure 3. When the table g
and the design plate i are moved against the reading needles j some of these needles
are pushed back by the design plate in accordance with one horizontal line of the
design and the corresponding levers m are thereby acted upon and lift the corre-
sponding coupling bars off the gryffe (see Figure 4). As the gryffe in its
reciprocating movement only acts upon those bars which are for the time being
engaged with it, therefore in its next forward movement it acts upon those bars p
which have not been lifted and upon the corresponding selecting needles »; the
selecting needles thus acted upon draw the upper ends of the corresponding punch
rods opposite the recesses of the grid (see Figure 4 in which some of the rods ><
are thus drawn) so that at the next action of the press the rods thus drawn rise
into the grid and the Jacquard card is punched by the other rods only. The cards
to be punched are laced together and placed on the floor at u they are drawn through
the press by means of the ordinary intermittently rotating cylinder u' and after having
been punched they descend to the floor again at a². is the cam that works the
punching press; its shaft is driven from the main shaft a so as to make the șame
number of revolutions as the cams d and e.
The cylinder u is driven in the usual way from the shaft of the camiz. by a
tappet on the shaft working into a four-star wheel alongside which is fixed a
spur wheel from this the motion is transmitted by spur gearing to the shaft of
cylinder .
The coupling bars that were lifted as hereinbefore explained remain up until a
"doctor" or rod carried by vibrating arms a returns them to position while
another "doctor" w carried by other vibrating arms returns the levers m and
through them the reading needles to position ready for the next advance of the
design plate. The vibrating arms and doctors receive their motion from
tappets yy on the horizontal reciprocating rods that move the table g as herein-
after described; the tappets y y engage with levers 'one at each side of the
machine each of which is connected to a corresponding arm y² on the shaft y³ to
which the vibrating arms are keyed.
The forward and backward movement of the table g is received from the cams d
as follows-These cams are internal cams and in their revolution act upon
rollers A carried by slide bars B one at each side of the machine, these slide bars
are connected at A¹ to the horizontal rods the opposite ends of which are fixed
to lugs or brackets C on the frame of the table so that as the cam shaft e revolves
a reciprocating motion is given to the table. As the design plate i requires to be
raised (or lowered) a distance equal to one horizontal line of the design after or
during every backward movement of the table this is effected by turning the screw
shaft D which works in a nut E at the back of the table ; in order to give the
screw shaft D the requisite intermittent rotation any suitable mechanism actuated
by means of the reciprocating movement of the table may be employed. According
to the arrangement shown in the drawings the screw shaft D is fitted at the lower
end with a ratchet wheel El driven by a pawl F this pawl gets a reciprocating
motion from the alternating rotary motion of a pinion G driven by a rack H which
itself derives a to and fro motion transversely of the machine by any suitable
arrangement of levers and rods from the reciprocating table.
The forward and backward motion of the gryffe is received from the cams e as
follows: These cams in their revolution act upon rollers I carried by arched
brackets or bows K; the reciprocating motion thereby given to the brackets K is
transmitted by connecting rods L, levers M, links N and levers P (all these parts
being at both sides of the machine) to the gryffe carrier.

page_text: Q is the Jacquard card barrel which as hereinbefore described add to the.
machine for certain classes of grounds; this barrel carries a few cards (as shown in
the drawings it is adapted for four) punched according to the character of the
ground. It receives in addition to an intermittent revolving motion, given by its.
tappets R coming against a suitable obstruction, a reciprocating motion which
brings its cards successively against the selecting needles at the ends opposite to
where the coupling wires or cords are attached. Thus while the wires pull or
draw certain of the needles as hereinbefore described from the one end according
to the pattern on the design plate the cards on the barrel Q push others of the
needles at the opposite end according to the ground. The barrel Q and its cards.
employed in this way dispense with the necessity of detailing the ground upon the
design plate. The barrel Q derives the required reciprocating movement from the
slide bars B through the intermediation of levers T and connecting rods S at each.
side of the machine.
The design plate is ruled into squares like ordinary design paper, and after the
reliefs of the pattern have been produced on it by etching or other means, an
impression on paper or other suitable material can be taken. from it in ink for the
use of the weaver to serve the purpose of the usual painted design.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tior and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim in respect of Jacquard design reading and card punching machines of the class.
herein referred to is:-
1. The placing of the reading needles in horizontal guides as set forth so that
they receive a direct horizontal movement when pressed by the design plate.
2. The combination with the reading needles of vertical levers with which the
said needles are in contact and upon the upper ends of which rest coupling bars.
connected by wires or cords to the selecting needles so that when some of the
reading needles are pressed back by the design plate the levers that are thereby
acted upon lift the corresponding coupling bars off the gryffe with which they are
normally engaged substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
22
3. The combination with vertical levers and coupling bars such as are referred
to in Claim 2 of " "doctors or rods for returning the said levers and coupling bars
together with the reading needles to their normal positions ready for the next
advance of the design plate, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination with reading needles and intermediate mechanism for con-
trolling or actuating the selecting needles according to the pattern o na design
plate, of a Jacquard card barrel and cards for controlling or actuating the selecting
needles according to the ground required in the fabric to be woven, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
5. The general arrangement of Jacquard design reading and card punching
machine, substantially as herein before described and represented in the annexed
drawings, with or without the Jacquard card barrel referred to in Claim 4.
Dated this 28th day of January 1892.
J. C. MEWBURN,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent.