CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING TERRY AND CUT PILE FABRICS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE LETTING-OFF AND TAKING-UP ACTION IN LOOMS AND OTHER MACHINERY, AND FOR DRIVING MACHINERY AT A UNIFORM OR VARIABLE SPEED
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Burch, of Crag Works, near Macclesfield, in
the County of Chester, Engineer and Carpet Manufacturer, and Samuel
Fearnley, of the same Place, Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING TERRY AND CUT
PILE FABRICS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE LETTING-OFF AND
TAKING-UP ACTION IN LOOMS AND OTHER MACHINERY, AND FOR DRIVING
MACHINERY AT A UNIFORM OR VARIABLE SPEED."
ealed the 19th July 1864, and dated the 21st January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Burch and Samuel
Fearnley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 21st January 1864.
We, JOSEPH BURCH, of Crag Works, near Macclesfield, in the County of
Chester, Engineer and Carpet Manufacturer, and SAMUEL FEARNLEY, of the
same Place, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OF Looms FOR WEAVING TERRY AND
CUT PILE FABRICS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE LETTING-OFF AND
TAKING-UP ACTION IN LOOMS AND OTHER MACHINERY, AND FOR DRIVING MACHINERY
AT A UNIFORM OR VARIABLE SPEED," to be as follows:-
The first part of our Invention relates to improvements in those parts of the
mechanism of power looms in use for weaving terry and cut pile fabrics which
comprise and are known as the wire motion. These parts in combination,
which constitute the novelty of our Invention, include a guide rail, a slide with
slanting stop and friction spring, a lever for giving transverse action to the
wire head, and a supporting lever with wire rest. One end of the guide rail is
fixed to the side of the loom in a line with the table, its other end is sup ported'
in an upright bracket attached to the outer framework of the loom. The

page_text: slide is mounted upon the guide rail, and by means of a connecting rod and
levers it is, by the action of a cam upon the cam shaft, made to traverse to and
fro upon the guide rail each time before starting on its outward motion,
catching hold of a wire head, and withdrawing a wire from the face of the
fabric, and by its returning action re-inserting the wire in the shed then open
to receive it, as in the ordinary mode of weaving terry and cut pile fabrics.
After the wire is withdrawn, and before the slide commences its inward
motion, a transverse action is given to the wire head upon the slide by means
of a lever, which forces it across the slide against the slanting stop, which is
fixed upon the face of the slide at such an angle that when the wire head is
pressed against it the other end or point of the wire shall be moved upon the
rest of the supporting lever in the direction of the open shed, into which it is
then driven by the returning action of the. slide. Upon the surface of that
part of the slide where the wire head performs its transverse motion there is a
thin friction spring for steadying and holding the wire head while the wire is
The end of the
moving to the open shed when the wire is withdrawn.
supporting lever, with the wire rest, is made to rise in time to receive the end
of the wire, upon which it then moves laterally into position directly pointing
to the open shed; the supporting lever is depressed by the slide in its returning
action by passing over it, and it rises again in time to support the end of the
next wire so soon as the slide in its outward action has withdrawn it.
The second part of our Invention relates to those parts of looms and other
machines known as the "letting-off" and "taking-up" motions; it is also
useful in giving differential speed to machines or to those parts of machines
where increased or diminished speed is sometimes required.
The novelty of this part of our Invention consists in the use of two discs,
fixed face to face a certain distance apart upon a shaft, which we cause to
rotate by means of two friction bowls, one of such bowls, which we call the
driving bowl, being in contact with the face of one disc, and the other, which
we call the intermediate bowl, being in contact with the other disc, both bowls
being in periphery contact with each other. The driving bowl is fixed on the
end of the driving shaft, which is mounted upon a transverse slide placed
between the radii of the discs at right angles with the disc shaft, the centre of
the driving bowl shaft being in the radial line of the discs. The intermediate
bowl is fixed on the end of a short shaft, also on the radial line of the discs,
but not on the same plane or level with the driving bowl shaft; the space
between the faces of the discs must be something less than the diameter of
the two bowls, in order that the intermediate bowl may act as a revolving
wedge between the driving friction bowl and the face of the disc with which it

page_text: The intermediate bowl shaft works in a link or swing frame,
which centres on the driving bowl shaft, by which means it has liberty to move
concentrically therewith. Attached to the transverse slide by a connecting
rod and lever, or by other convenient and suitable means, according to the
situation of the relative parts in the machine, and in a manner to move the
friction bowls to or from the centre of the discs, we have a weight, roller, or
block, which we place upon or against the surface of the material, which is
either being "let off" or "taken up" upon the ordinary beam, the speed of
which is governed and regulated by the increasing or diminishing speed of the
disc shaft with which it is, either by a shaft and bevel wheels or other
convenient contrivance, in constant connection, while the speed of the disc
shaft is regulated by the position of the transverse slide, which governs the dis-
tance the friction bowls are working from the centres on the radii of the discs,
the correct position of the transverse slide being at all times regulated and
determined by the advancing or retreating of the weight, roller, or block upon
the material to or from the centre of the beam, whereby the rate of speed at
which the beam "lets off" or "takes up" its load is regulated and controlled
by its own diameter.
When the discs and friction bowls are used for giving differential speed to
machines or certain functional parts of machines, the position of the transverse
slide can be regulated by a cam, or a crank, or a tappet, or a lever arm, or
otherwise, but when the two friction bowls and discs are used simply as a
driving apparatus to give off an uniform speed, then the bowls must be fixed
at the proper radial distance from the centres of the discs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Burch and Samuel Fearnley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
BURCH, of Crag Works, near Macclesfield, in the County of Chester, Engineer
and Carpet Manufacturer, and SAMUEL FEARNLEY, of the same Place, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Joseph Burch and Samuel Fearnley, Her special licence that we, the said
Joseph Burch and Samuel Fearnley, our executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: or such others as we, the said Joseph Burch and Samuel Fearnley, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISH OF
LOOMS FOR WEAVING TERRY AND CUT PILE FABRICS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR
CONTROLLING THE LETTING-OFF AND TAKING-UP ACTION IN LOOMS AND OTHER
MACHINERY, AND FOR DRIVING MACHINERY AT A UNIFORM OR VARIABLE SPEED,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Burch
and Samuel Fearnley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or 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 Joseph Burch and Samuel Fearnley,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the
accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked
thereon, that is to say :-
The following is a description of the first part of our Invention, which
relates to improvements in those parts and actions of the mechanism of power
looms in use for weaving terry and velvet faced fabrics which comprise and
are known as the wire motion, being those parts of such looms which work
the wires into and withdraw them from the cloth during the process of
weaving, whereby the terry or velvet face of such fabrics is produced, as
herein-after described and shewn on No. 1 Sheet of the Drawings, with the
figures and letters of reference thereon. These parts in combination, which
constitute the novelty of this part of our Invention, include a guide rail a, a
slide b, on which is mounted the drawing nib k, the surface friction springs,
and the slanting stop 9, a bell-crank lever r, with a bevel top for giving
transverse action to the wire head l, and a supporting lever o, with the wire
rest n.
We will now describe the parts of our wire motion :-One end of the guide
rail (a) is fixed on a small bracket a¹ to the side of the loom, the other end
is supported on an upright bracket a², attached to the outer framework as of
the loom; the slide 6 is mounted upon the guide rail a, and by means of a

page_text: connecting rod c, the lever arms d and e upon the arm shaft f, the swivel
jointed connecting rod g, and the cam lever h, it is by the action of the wire
motion cam i upon the cam shaft made to traverse to and fro along the
guide rail a each time before starting on its outward motion, taking hold of a
wire head by means of the drawing nib k, against which, while the slide a
remained at the extreme end of its inward action, the wire heads are by the
motion of the lathe alternately driven up, the slide a then starts on its
outward course, and the nib ke having caught hold of the next wire head, the
wire m attached thereto is withdrawn from the face of the fabric in the line
of the slide guide, that being at a right angle with the selvedge of the cloth;
when the wire is completely withdrawn its extreme end then lays across the
wire rest n, at the end where it is attached near to the end of the supporting
lever o.
Jointed to the centre of the end of the wire rest is a curved metal
faller p, shewn about full size in Figs. 8 and 9, Sheet 1, which works through
an opening in the centre, and above that part where the wire rest is bent over
in the shape of an acute angle, for the purpose of forming a stop for the wire
when its head at the other end is pressed against the slanting stop q, which is
fixed upon the slide. The under part of the lower end of the faller p is cut
away nearly in the form of a right angle on the side towards the loom, but
completely to a flat level on the other side toward the head of the wire which
is about to be inserted; when the slide has arrived at the end of its outward
action the wire head is moved transversely away from the drawing nib and
pressed against the slanting stop 9 by the top of the bell-crank lever r, which
receives motion as the small bowl passes over the risers, which are fixed
on the periphery of the wire motion can, the weight of the horizontal arm of
the lever r when it falls moves its vertical arm, the top of which is shaped to
a bevel corresponding with the angle of the slanting stop g, the wire head
being thus moved across the slide by the vertical arm of the lever against the
slanting stop, it is by pressure between the two thrown into a line therewith,
and the other end of the wire is thus made to move over or under the faller P
against the outer end of the wire rest, so as to point in the direction of the
shed then open to receive it, in which position it is held by the faller; but so
soon as the inward motion of the slide and wire head commences, the angle of
the wire, with regard to its position on wire rest, begins to open, and the wire
gradually gets under the bevel side of the faller, where, as before described, it
is cut away for the purpose of holding the wire; by these means the faller is
gradually raised while the wire passes into the open shed.
of the slide between the drawing nib and the slanting stop where the wire
bead performs its transverse action is a thin spring s, placed there for the
Upon the surface

page_text: purpose of steadying the wire head, and of preventing its shaking off the slide
while the machinery is in action. t is a fixed stud attached to the side of the
slide guide, for the purpose of supporting the deflexion of the centre wire when
it is drawn out of the cloth during the time the slide is at about the extreme
end of its action. vis the fabric in process of being woven, shewing the
wires therein.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the framework and other parts of a carpet loom,
shewing an end view of our improved wire motion; Fig. 2, a front elevation
of the same; Fig. 3, a plan thereof; Fig. 4, a full sized plan of the slide
and mountings thereon; Figs. 5 and 6 are end and front views of the slide and
parts connected with it; Fig. 7, a plan of the top of the bell-crank lever; and
Figs. 8 and 9 are front and end views of the supporting lever and wire rest.
The second part of our Invention is useful, and can be applied to most
purposes where friction driving is adapted; it can be applied to machines
when uniform speed is required, and it can be adapted to machines where
letting off and taking up on different or changing diameters forms part of the
necessary action and operation of such machines:
The parts hereafter described with letters and figures of reference thereto
are to be found on Sheet 2.
The novelty of this part of our Invention consists in the use of two discs
marked u and w, fixed face to face a certain distance apart upon a shaft r, which
we cause to rotate by means of two friction bowls y and z; one of such bowls,
which we call the driving bowl y, being in contact with the face of the disc u,
and the other, which we call the intermediate bowl z, being in contact with the
face of the disc w, while the two bowls y and are in perephery contact with
each other; the driving bowl y is mounted on the grooved driving shaft 2, with
which it is made to rotate by means of a sliding key 3, which is fixed in the
centre hole of the bowl in the manner of a key. The intermediate bowl z works
on a stud 5 attached to a swing frame 4, by which means the bowls are kept
together; the driving shaft is placed at right angles with the disc shaft x on a
radial line with the centre of the discs, and the centre of the stud 5, on which
the intermediate bowl revolves, is also placed in a radial line with the centre
of the discs, but not in the same plane or level as the driving shaft. The
space between the faces of the discs must be something less than the diameter
of the two bowls, in order that the intermediate bowl may act as a revolving
wedge between the driving bowl y and the disc w, with which the opposite
sides of its diameter are in contact. The swing frame 4 centres ou the driving
bowl shaft, which gives the intermediate bowl liberty to move concentrically
therewith, while the two bowls are made to move together at the same speed

page_text: to and from the disc shaft by such means as most conveniently to suit the
various purposes to which this part of our Invention may be applied. We
have in the Drawing shewn a pin 6 fixed in the swing frame, by which the
two bowls and swing frame may be moved to and from the centre of the discs
by means of a connecting rod. There are numerous modes known to
mechanics by which the action of the bowls may be shifted on the radii of the
discs. The driving bowl may be fixed on the driving shaft, and the whole,
including the swing frame and intermediate bowl, be mounted on a slide
working at right angles with the disc shaft, and parallel with the face of the
dise. The two bowls can be actuated by means of a crank, or cam, or tappet ;
we do not claim the mode of moving them as any part of this Invention,
because of necessity, according to the different purposes to which our Invention
may be applied, so must the most convenient out of the various known plans
which could be selected for the purpose be adopted. The disc shaft under
some circumstances may be made the driving shaft, and a high speed be given
to the bowl shaft off the surface of the discs.
By means of this part of our Invention the heavy friction on the bearings of
the driving bowl shaft is entirely avoided, and a double friction obtained, which
of course lessens the liability to slip, which is frequently the case where only
one disc and one friction bowl are employed.
Having now fully described the nature of our Invention, we wish it to be
understood that what we claim as new is,-
First, we claim the mode of making velvet pile and terry faced fabrics by
the apparatus described in the first part of our Invention, which we call our
improved wire motion, and we claim the sole right to the same.
Secondly, we claim the mode of friction driving at regular or varying speeds
by means of two discs and two bowls whenever one of such bowls is used as a
revolving wedge.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Burch, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Samuel Fearnley, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twentieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
Witness,
E. J. HUGHES, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOSEPH BURCH. (L.B.)