Improvements in Looms for Weaving Tubular Fabrics.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application. 14th July, 1892-Accepted, 3rd Sept., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Looms for Weaving Tubular Fabrics.
I ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK of the firm of A. M. & Wm. Clark of
53 Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Chartered Institute
of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Joseph Thomas Perkins of 165 Hancock Street
Brooklyn, in the County of Kings, State of New York, United States of America,
Manufacturer,) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its object to adapt an ordinary loom to the weaving of.
tubular or cylindrical fabrics; and the invention consists in the application to the
loom of a yielding temple, over and under which the shuttle is thrown alternately,
and around which the fabric is woven in such manner that the shuttle threads can
be drawn tightly, all as hereinafter more fully described.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
Specification, in which
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a loom having an improved temple
applied thereto.
Figures 2 and 3 are enlarged side views of the temple.
Figure 4 is a detail face view on a still larger scale, of the front or face plate of
the temple, the loop being shown in section.
Figure 4 is a detail sectional view, on the same scale as Figure 4, of portion
of the temple.
:
Figures and 6 are sectional side views of part of the loom having the temple
applied thereto, and showing the parts in different positions.
Figure 7 is a horizontal section of the temple.
Figure 8 is a top view of the same; and Figure 9 a cross-section of the same
on the line k-k, Figure 8.
B is a
Figure 10 is a detail cross section of the tubular fabric made on the loom.
In the drawings the letter A indicates the frame of an ordinary loom.
bean from which the warp threads are taken. C, D, E. and F are the heddles of
the harness. G is a lay or batten of the ordinary or suitable kind; H, the
shuttle. I. Jare two rollers, between which the finished fabric passes to the main
receiving beam L.
As far as described the loom is of ordinary construction. For the purposes of
my invention it is only essential that there should be at least four heddles, although
Two of these heddles are to form the
there may be more than four, if desired.
shed for the upper part of the tube to be woven, and the other two for the lower
part of the same.
M represents the temple. The same is composed of a loop a, and a block b.
The block b, which may be of wood or other suitable material, is in cross-section
of the form of the tube to be woven-that is oval, substantially as indicated in
Figure 9. The ends of the loop a are beaded within the hollow block b, as shown
at d. Figures 4 and 7, and are pressed forward, so as to elongate the instrument,
by springs e, which are contained within the block. The springs crowd these
heads against the face-plate f of the block b. This plate has oval holes (see
Figure 4) through which the ends of the loop a project. The oval form of the
holes permits the loop a to be inclined upwardly, as in Figure 2, and downwardly
as in Figure 3.
The temple.M; which has just been described, is to be of a length which will

page_text: permit it to be inserted between the rollers I J and the lay or batten G whenever
the latter is at its greatest distance from the former. (See Figure 6.) In this
position the extreme end of the loop portion a is just in front of the lay, while the
end of the block portion & bears against the rollers I J. Of the warp-threads some
pass over the temple M, some. under it, and for weaving a tube there will be as
many warp-threads ordinarily placed above the temple as there are beneath it,
these warp threads finally passing between the rollers 1 J around the beam L.
When the weaving is to commence, the heddles C, D, E are lowered and the
heddle raised, as in Figure 1. The heddle E, which guides some of the warp-
threads that run above the temple M, causes the loop portion a to be depressed,
when it carries its warp threads down, and thus the shed is opened by the
heddles EF above the temple M for the shuttle H to pass through. After the
shuttle has thus passed through the open shed above the temple M (and it will be
seen from Figure 1 that the shuttle is intended to pass directly above the loop a)
the heddle D is raised and the heddle C lowered, as in Figure 5. The heddle D,
which guides some of the warp-threads that are always beneath the temple M,
causes the loop portion a to be inclined upwardly when it (the heddle D) is raised
and thus a shed is opened beneath the loop a for the shuttle to pass through on its
return motion. Hence it will be seen that the shed can be alternately opened
above and below the loop a and that the shuttle will draw its thread around said
loop and that said thread can be drawn sufficiently tight and evenly and that thus
a continuous tubular fabric can be produced without necessitating a resort to any
selvage and without regard to the speed of the loom.
Whenever the shuttle has passed through a shed, the lay or batten G is moved
toward the rollers I J to beat the new shuttle thread home, and in this forward
motion it carries the loop a along with it, compressing the springs e within the
block b. When the lay or batten recedes afterward the said springs cause the loop
portion a to follow. Figure 6 shows the position of the lay and of the temple M
when the lay is ready to move toward the rollers I J and beat the new shuttle
thread home. I find it desirable to have the loop a closed in front by its cross bar y
(see Figure 8) and to have the lay or batten strike it and thus shorten the temple
by compressing the springs e rather than pass the side rods of said loop through
the lay or batten, for I find that in the latter case, although it would no longer be
necessary to make the temple M compressible, the lay would be quickly destroyed
by the rods that would necessarily pass through it and as necessarily be made up
and down adjustable.
It will be perceived that the tube is woven around the temple and at the place
where it is woven about the loop a, the said loop has a cross section equal to the
inner circumference of the tube to be woven; that next the block said loop is
necessarily of smaller lateral extent in order to allow its rods to enter into the
block b, which block is again of the same circumference as the internal circumference
of the tube to be woven.
The beam L receives its motion for drawing the fabric along in any suitable
nanner and the rollers I J serve in this case more for the purpose of abutments
for the end of the temple M than for any other purpose; hence it is clear that
instead of these rollers, rods may be substituted so long as they effect the same
purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. The combination of the block b with the loop a pivoted thereto and with
the springs therein contained, all arranged to constitute a compressible temple for
looms to weave tubular fabrics around the same, as specified.
2nd. The combination of the compressible temple M with the abutting rollers I J.

page_text: of the loom, against which said temple is placed, substantially as herein shown and
described.
Dated this 14th day of July 1892
A. MELVILLE CLARK,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.