CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE POWER LOOM
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MILLIGAN, of Bradford, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fourth day of February, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Milligan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Milligan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said William Milligan, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed; should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and
also within all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE POWER LOOM;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Milligan, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Milligan, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
of Improvements in the Power Loom consists,-
Firstly, in so regulating the velocity of rotation of the cloth beam that it
shall always decrease in the same ratio as its diameter is encreased by the
cloth wound thereon, whereby the cloth beam must always draw off from the
warp beam a determinate length of warp for any given number of picks;
And, secondly, in so regulating the velocity of rotation of the yarn beam-
that it shall always encrease in the same ratio as its diameter is decreased by
the yarn given out or delivered.
And the manner in which the said Invention is performed is by causing,
in the one case, the continuous encrease of the diameter of the cloth beam
and cloth to be itself the means of producing the corresponding decrease in
velocity; and, in the other case, the continuous decrease of the diameter
of the yarn beam and yarn to be in like manner the means of producing the
corresponding encrease in velocity.
'
The details of the arrangements by which the said Invention is carried into
effect are represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed, reference being
thereunto had, and in the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of so much of a power loom, embody-
ing the first part of my said Invention as is necessary to shew the particulars
thereof. Figure 2, a side elevation of the same, and Figure 3 an inside or
back view of the parts to which that part of my Invention has more ime-
diate reference. X is the cloth beam, and N the wheel by which it is moved.
M is a pinion which gives motion to N, and is fixed on the shaft of a wheel L,
which gears into a pinion K on the shaft of a ratchet wheel I. O is a rod
which rests freely within the slots a, a, (one of which only is seen in the
Drawings,) on the top of the cloth on the beam, and is raised with every
additional fold higher and higher in the slots. P is a lever which is attached
at one end to a fixed centre I, and inclined athwart the vertical line of direc-
tion of the rod O, and at the other to a link Q, which connects it with a
sliding rod E, which is connected in manner to be presently explained with the
picking tappet of the loom. As the rod O rises it presses against the lever P,
and raises it gradually towards a perpendicular position; and with every
advance of the lever P towards a perpendicular position the sliding rod is
pushed back by the connecting link Q, and the length of its stroke thereby
shortened. The rod E slides in links V, V, suspended from the top of the

page_text: framework of the loom, and is connected at one end with the wheelwork N,
M, L,, K, and I, and at the other with the picking tappet, in manner following:
A is a regulator which is keyed on to the same shaft as the ratchet wheel I
(outside of it). a¹ is a sliding piece which moves up and down in an open
slot in the regulator A. B a screw bolt, which is carried by a collar projected
from the top of the regulator A, and works through a screwed orifice in the
sliding piece a', whereby that piece is raised or lowered at pleasure; and 6 a nut
by which the sliding piece is made fast in any position that may be assigned to
it. R, R', is a lever and counterpoise at the bottom of the loom, which are
attached to the tail of the regulator A by a chain S. G, G, G, are three
catches secured to the top of the regulator by the pin H, which take into the
teeth of the ratchet wheel I, and are respectively of the relative dimensions
shewn in Figure I. C is an excentric wheel which is attached to the picking
tappet C at any degree of excentricity desired, by means of a sliding knob c,
which passes through a diamatrical groove D in the excentric into a corre-
sponding groove in the tappet. E is a bar which projects downwards from one
end of the sliding rod E, in a direction at right angles with it, and which being
caught by the periphery of the excentric C, as it revolves moves forwards the.
sliding rod E. The mode of operation is as follows:-The height of the sliding
piece a of the regulator A, by means of which it is connected with the
sliding rod E, is first adjusted according to the number of picks per inch
intended to be laid in, and the regulator A and lever P drawn back by the
help of the lever and equipoise R, R¹, as far as the rod O will allow. The
loom being then put in motion, the excentric C during one half of its
first revolution presses against the downward projecting end E2 of the sliding
rod E, and pushes it out to an extent equal to the difference between its shorter
and longer radii, whereby the regulator A is drawn forward to a correspond-
ing extent, while the catches G, G, G, attached to the top of the regulator A,
bring round the ratchet wheel I. During the remaining half of the revolution
of the excentric, the sliding rod E, becoming freed from the excentric, is drawn
back by the equipoise and lever R, R', as far as the then degree of elevation
of the cloth beam rod O will permit, and the catches G, G, G, are raised out
of their places, and lifted as many teeth back as may be equal to the distance
re-traversed, the three catches W, W, W, projected from the wheel N serving
to hold the ratchet wheel I fast while the change in the position of the
catches G is taking place. From what has been stated it will be understood
that while the catches G are always drawn the same distance forward during
one half revolution of the eccentric, the distance to which they are pulled back
in the other half of the revolution must be so much less every time as the

page_text: cloth beam rod O is raised higher by the winding of the cloth on the beam.
The fixed centre T should accordingly be so placed that the distance from it
to the point where the lever P comes in contact with the rod O shall always
be exactly half the diameter of the cloth and the beam. A modification of
the preceding arrangements is shewn in Figure 4. O is the rod, as before, but
instead of being placed at top of the cloth beam, as in the preceding case, it is
placed towards one side of it. b is a pusher bar attached to one end of the rod O,
having a forked termination, by which it embraces a hanging lever a, suspended
from a pin e, and presses that lever forwards, when it is itself moved forward
by the encrease of the diameter of the cloth beam and cloth, and f is a chain
or cord which is attached by one end of the rod O passed thence round a
pulley d, mounted on the pin e, and afterwards looped round the extreme end
of the pusher bar b, so that as the rod O and pusher bar b are pressed forward,
and the length between the rod O and pulley thereby diminished, the weight
of the pushier bar 6 draws down to a corresponding extent the chain or cord f.
The hanging lever a, on being pressed forward by the pusher bar b, is stopped.
by a stud c, attached to the end of the sliding rod E, and the backward range
or stroke of the rod E, after it escapes from the action of the excentric C, is
consequently shortened to the same extent that the pusher bar is inoved
forwards by the encreasing diameter of the cloth beam and cloth.
A third arrangement for effecting the first part of my Invention is shewn in
Figure 5. Here the regulator A, the eccentric C, and sliding rod E, and
their respective accessories, are all dispensed with, and the diminution in the
velocity of rotation of the cloth beam accomplished in manner following:-
F is a three-armed lever called "the taking-in lever," which turns on a stud
Q. In one arm f¹ of this lever there is an open slot (G) for a pin E to move
to and fro in. M is a curved rod by which the pin E is connected with the
cloth beam rod O, which in this arrangement, as in that last before
described, is placed at one side of the cloth beam. D is a vertical rod by
which the pin E is also connected with one end of a horizontal lever
C at the bottom of the loom, which carries a counterpoise H.
W is a
regulator, which is fixed at right angles to the lever C, and has a long
slot in it through which the smaller end of that lever is passed. B is a screw
pin, which is passed vertically up through the regulator A into the slot
last mentioned, so as to press against the lever C. Y is the ley or ley arm
from which projects a pusher rod Y2, which as the ley is pulled back presses
against the arm f2 of the "taking in" lever. V is a groove along which the cloth
beam rod O moves as it is pressed forwards by the winding of the cloth upon it.
N, M, L, K are a series of wheels, as before, which communicate the motion of

page_text: the cloth beam to a ratchet wheel I, or vice versa. P, P, P, are three catches
which turn in the stud Q, and take into the teeth of the ratchet wheel I.
P, P, P, are three longer catches attached to the outer end of the arm f³ of
the "taking in" lever F, which take into the ratchet wheel in advance of the
others. At every backward pull of the ley Y the pusher Y²
presses forward
the arm of the "taking in" lever to one given point, and thereby carries
round the catches P2, P2, P2, the same given number of teeth each time; but
when, in the return stroke, the taking in lever is freed from the pressure of the
pusher rod Y, the catches P², P2, P2, are drawn back by the action of the
weighted lever C, through the connecting rod D, or the taking in lever F, as
far as the screw B of the regulator A will allow the lever C to descend. It is
obvious, therefore, that the distance to which the catches P2, P2, P2, are drawn
back each time may be encreased or diminished, according as the screw B has
been previously raised or lowered, and that this affords a certain means of deter-
mining beforehand the number of picks per inch to be laid in. As it is necessary
at the same time that the length of motion given to the catches P2, P2, P2,
should decrease in proportion as the diameter of the cloth beam and cloth
encreases, this is effected by the forward movement of the cloth beam rod O
causing the pin E, through the medium of the curved connecting rod M, to
move in the slot G further and further from the centre of the stud Q. If the
pin E is placed at the outset with its centre at a distance from the centre of
the stud Q equal to half the diameter of the cloth beam and cloth, it will
always preserve its proper relative distance, because it can only be pressed
outwards from the centre of Q in exactly the same degree as the diameter of
the cloth beam and cloth is encreased. Care must of course be taken, in
adjusting the parts in the first instance, that when the rod Y2 pushes forward
the arm f of the "taking in" lever F to the utmost extent to which it can
push it, the pin E shall be free to move in the slot G of the arm f', without
of itself affecting in any way the movement of the taking in lever F. The
catches P, P, P, on the stud Q, serve to hold the ratchet wheel I during the
time that the catches P2, P2, P2, are being drawn back by the weighted lever C.
The manner of working out the second part of my Invention, namely, that
which consists in so regulating the velocity of rotation of the yarn beam that it
shall always encrease in the same ratio as its diameter is decreased by the yarn
given out, is shewn in Figures 6 and 7 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 6 is a side elevation of so much of a loom as is necessary to exhibit
this part of my improvements. The parts C, E, I, are all such as have been
before described. B is the yarn beam. K, an upright bar fixed to the end of
a sliding bar E (similar to those employed in the two arrangements first

page_text: before described, and connected by a link e with a lever f. Y is a worm
wheel on the gudgeon of the yarn beam, driven by a worm n, upon the lower
end of the shaft of which is a mitre wheel p, taken into and driven by another,
q, upon the axle of the ratchet wheel I. Z is an open slot in the cheek of the
frame of the loom immediately above the yarn beam, through which projects
one end of a cranked bar J, shewn more clearly in Figure 7, which
represents the yarn beam as filled with yarn, with the regulating bar J resting
upon it. The crank J is made square at the part where it plays in the slot Z.
The action is as follows:-The reciprocating motion of the bar E with the
upright K alternately raises the lever f to a vertical position, and causes it to
fall against the crank j, which, descending as the yarn unwinds, gradually
allows the lever f to increase in its travel, and thereby causes the ratchets
G, G, to take at each stroke a greater number of teeth on the ratchet wheel I,
which in its turn causes the mitre wheels p and q, the worm n and the worm
wheel Y, to revolve, and thus the delivery of the warp to be equalized.
And having now stated the nature of my said Invention in the two branches
of which the same consists, and in what manner the same is or may be
performed, I think it right to observe that each of the methods before described
may be varied in a great many ways without at all affecting the objects aimed
at by my Invention, that is to say, that the mechanical arrangements
by which in the one case the encreasing diameter of the cloth beam and
cloth, and in the other the decreasing diameter of the yarn beam, are made to
cause of themselves the compensating movements required, may be greatly
varied without producing any greater exactness in the results. For example,
any of the methods which I have herein directed to be followed for causing
the velocity of rotation of the cloth beam to decrease in proportion to the
quantity of cloth wound upon it may be employed conversely to cause the
velocity of the yarn to encrease with the quantity of yarn given out by it; and
so also the method which I have directed to be followed for regulating the
velocity of the yarn beam may be similarly employed to regulate the velocity
of the cloth beam. I do not therefore restrict myself precisely to any one of
the arrangements which I have described, though they are such as I believe
will fully answer the purposes intended by them, and are in my judgment as
good as any that can be adopted. But what I claim as the improvements
constituting my said Invention are,
First, the method or system of causing every encrease in the diameter of the
cloth beam and cloth to produce of itself a proportional decrease in the
velocity of the cloth beam, as before exemplified and described; and,
Second, the method or system of causing every decrease in the diameter of

page_text: he yarn beam and yarn to produce of itself a proportional encrease in the
velocity of the yarn beam, as also before exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Milligan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
WILLIAM (L.S.) MILLIGAN.