CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lawrence Hall, of Black Lane Mill, near Bury,
in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 11th January 1859, and dated the 5th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lawrence Hall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
August 1858.
I, LAWRENCE HALL, of Black Lane Mill, near Bury, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
These improvements are applicable to those looms in which a shuttle box
with two or more shuttles is employed, and the object is to prevent the injury
to the warp threads which is occasioned when a shuttle is, thrown across the
shed and against a shuttle in the opposite shuttle box. In performing my
Invention, I make use of one or more additional feelers and stoppers on the
stop rod, which feelers are acted upon by the swells, and when the shuttle or
shuttles are not in their proper places in the shuttle box, these additional
feelers allow the stoppers to drop, consequently, when the lay approaches the
breast beam, the stopper comes against the frog, and stops the loom in the
usual manner.
Another part of my Invention consists in an improved mode of constructing

page_text: the drop box; by this improvement the end of the drop box is brought to the
inside of the lay sword, or close up to the end of the reed, thereby reducing
the length of the lay bottom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lawrence Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAWRENCE
HALL, of Black Lane Mill, near Bury, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Lawrence Hall, Her special licence that I, the said Lawrence Hall,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Lawrence Hall, my 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 LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Lawrence Hall, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
,under my, 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 I, the said Lawrence Hall, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described-and-ascertained-in-and-by-the-following-state-
ment:-
My Invention is applicable to those looms in which shuttle boxes containing
compartments for two or more shuttles are employed, the object being to
prevent, by self-acting agents, the injury to the warp threads which in looms
of the ordinary construction is occasioned when a shuttle is thrown across the
shed, and against a shuttle in the opposite shuttle box. My Invention consists

page_text: also in an improved mode of constructing the drop box, whereby the shuttle is
made to act sooner on the swell, and the length of the lay bottom is reduced.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and easily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and the figures and
letters marked thereon.
.
Fig. 1 is an end view of a loom, with a shuttle box with compartments
for two shuttles, shewn in section; Fig. 2 is a front view, and Fig. 3 a plan
of part of the same. In these views I have only shown sufficient of the loom
to illustrate the application of my improvements.
a is the lay bottom, 6 the stop rod, and c the drop box, which is raised and
lowered by any suitable mechanism; d is the frame in which the drop box
works; this frame is bolted to the lay sword e, and to the lay bottom a in the
usual manner. The drop box c is furnished with swells c' and c³, which are
hinged at c³, and as the drop box is brought closer than usual to the reed, as
will be explained hereafter, they are earlier influenced by the action of
the shuttle when entering the drop box than in looms of the usual con-
struction, and at the same time the shuttle is enabled to enter completely into
the shuttle box before it begins to act upon the swell, or raise the stopper,
thereby preventing the accidents caused by the shuttle box rising or falling
before the shuttle has entered the shuttle box: To the stop rod bare fixed
the usual feelers 1 and 2 and stoppers &³, and on it fits loosely the additional-
feeler and stopper f¹; this feeler is furnished with two projections, the lower
one corresponding with the swell c² when the drop box is down, and the upper
one corresponding with the swell c¹ when the drop box is up. The frog g is
wide enough to be acted upon by both the stoppers 3 and f'. The drop box c
is so constructed that the inner end of it is brought within the lay sword e, or
close up to the gird of the weft stop motion or to the end of the reed; the
outer end can thus be brought considerably nearer the loom side, thereby
reducing the length of the lay bottom, and economising space in the loom
shed; the drop box c works up and down in the frame d in the usual manner.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The Drawing, Figs. 1 and 2, represents
the drop box down, with one shuttle marked in the lower compartment of
the shuttle box, and the other shuttle marked in the shuttle box at the
opposite side of the loom; when the shuttles are in these positions, the feeler b*
is pushed back by the swell of the shuttle box at the left-hand side of the
loom, and the feeler f is held back by the swell c² of the shuttle in the lower
compartment of the drop box c; consequently, when the loom is set to work,
both the stoppers 63 and f¹ are held clear of the frog g, and the shuttle j is at

page_text: liberty to be thrown across the shed into the upper compartment of the drop
box; if the pattern to be woven requires this shuttle for several shoots of
weft, the drop box remains inactive, and the shuttle is thrown from one side of
the loom to the other in the usual manner; or, if the shuttle in the lower
compartment of the drop box is required to be thrown across the shed, the
drop box is raised, thereby bringing this shuttle in a line with the shuttle race,
or into the position shewn in Fig. 4, the swell c¹ being then influenced by the
shuttle, presses the feeler f back, and holds the stopper f¹ in the requisite
position for clearing the frog g, while the feeler b' being pressed back by the
shuttle in the lower compartment, holds the stopper 3 clear of the frog, and
the loom is at liberty to work without interruption. If, however, owing to
the breaking of the picking stick or of the picking strap, or from any other
cause, a shuttle from the drop box should be thrown against or towards the
shuttle in the opposite shuttle box, then the feeler f being no longer held back
by the swell in the drop box, allows the spring fe to press down the stopper f¹,
and this stopper coming against the frog stops the loom in the usual manner
before the reed comes against the cloth, and consequently the injury which
In like manner, if
would otherwise result from such an accident is avoided.
the loom is started when the shuttle in the drop box is in a line with the
shuttle race, and the shuttle from the opposite side of the loom is thrown
against or towards it, then the additional feeler f not being held back by
either of the swells in the drop box, the stopper f¹ is not raised above the
frog g, and consequently comes against it and stops the loom before the reed
touches the cloth; again, if the loom is started when an empty compartment
of the drop box is in a line with the shuttle race, and the position of the drop
box is changed, so as to bring the other compartment with a shuttle in it
in a line with the shuttle race before the shuttle from the opposite side of the
loom is thrown across the shed, then the feeler f is also not held back, and the
loom is stopped as before. By means of these improvements a considerable
saving is effected, as the loss occasioned by the "trapping" of the shuttle is
very great, as is well known to practical weavers.
My Invention is also applicable to looms in which three or more shuttles
are employed. Fig. 5 represents a section of a drop box for three shuttles;
in this case there are two additional feelers marked f³ and f, each of which
has two projections, which-are-influenced by the swells in the drop box in the
manner above described, and two additional stoppers f" and fo.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not
limit myself to the peculiar apparatus shewn, as the same may be considerably

page_text: modified; but what I do claim is, the application of one or more additional
feelers and stoppers to looms in which two or more shuttles are employed, by
means whereof the loom is instantly stopped when a shuttle is thrown across
the shed, and against or towards a shuttle in the opposite shuttle box; or any
similar combination of parts for effecting the same object.
I also claim the improved construction of the drop box, by which the
shuttle is made to act sooner on the swell, and the length of the lay bottom is
reduced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lawrence Hall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
LAWRENCE HALL. (L.S.)