CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mayor Graystock, Mechanic, in the Employ
of Messieurs Mather and Platt, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Millwrights and Engineers, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 28th August 1866, and dated the 28th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mayor Graystock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th March 1866.
I, ROBERT MAYOR GRAYSTOCK, Mechanic, in the Employ of Messieurs
Mather and Platt, of Salford, in the County of. Lancaster, Millwrights and
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention is applicable to the letting-off and taking-up motions of
looms, and it consists in obtaining the. requisite pressure for letting off the
warp and for taking up the woven fabric by means of a friction pulley and
friction clip. The friction pulley is fixed upon the axle of the yarn beam or
taking-up roller, and the tension of the warp or of the cloth can be regulated
by tightening and slackening the friction clip...
Although I have described a friction pulley and clip for giving the requisite
pressure, it is evident that two friction discs or other friction apparatus may
2:

page_text: be employed to effect the same object. By means of these improvements the
ordinary weights, levers, and chains are dispensed with, and an uniform
pressure is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Mayor Graystock in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MAYOR GRAYSTOCK, Mechanic, in the Employ of Messieurs Mather and Platt,
of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Millwrights and Engineers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, -for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Mayor Graystock; Her special license that I, the said
Robert Mayor Graystock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or-such
others as I, the said Robert Mayor Graystock, 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 con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Mayor Graystock, 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 Robert Mayor Graystock; do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
.
My Invention is applicable to the letting-off and taking-up motions of
looms, and it consists in obtaining the requisite pressure for letting off the
warp and for taking up the woven fabric by means of a friction pulley and
friction clip. The friction pulley is fixed upon the axle of the yarn beam
..

page_text: 5
'or taking-up roller, and the tension of the warp or of the cloth can be regulated
by tightening and slackening the friction clip. By means of these improve-
ments the ordinary weights, levers, and chains are dispensed with, and an
uniform pressure is obtained.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon..
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2. a view taken from the back of a
loom to which my improved letting-off motion is applied.
a is the loom side; b, the crank shaft; c, the warp beam; and d one of
the end flanges of the warp beam, to which is cast the friction pulley 6; around
this pulley-in looms of the ordinary construction the chain passes, to which
weight is applied by a weighted lever.
Now according to my improvements I apply the friction clip f to the cir-
cumference of the pulley e. This friction clip consists of a thin metal band
lined with leather or other suitable material; to one end of the friction clip
is secured the hinge g, which is mounted on a stud h passing through the
back rail i, or fixed to any other convenient part of the framing of the loom ;
the hinge g is slotted, as shewn in Figure 2, to admit the hooked end of the
screw, which passes through the projection k fixed to the other end of the
friction clip. At the end of the screw; is the hand wheel 2, the boss of which
is screwed and forms a nut, and between the projection k and the boss of the
hand wheel is placed the spiral spring m. The strength of the spring must
depend upon the quality of the fabric that is being woven in the loom; and
by turning the hand wheel round in one direction or the other the spring is
tightened or slackened to increase or reduce the tension of the spring. The
warp on leaving the warp beam is taken as usual over the guide rod n, and
when the tension on the warp overcomes the spring m the friction clip is
opened to allow the warp beam to be turned round, and thereby to let off a
portion of the warp. As the friction clip when once set to suit the peculiar
quality of fabric in the loom continues to apply the same tension to the warp
it is evident that the adjustment of the weights on the levers now generally
employed is dispensed with, and an uniform pressure is obtained notwith-
standing the varying diameters of the warp on the warp beam. When my
improved friction clip is applied to the taking-up motion a friction pulley must
be mounted on the taking-up roller or applied to any of the wheels by which.
the taking-up roller is driven.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I wish to observe that friction clips similar to the

page_text: one above described and shewn in the Drawing have been used for various
other purposes. I therefore make no claim to the friction clip except when
it is applied in the manner and for the purposes described; but what I do
claim is, the application of the friction pulley and friction clip shewn and
described to the letting-off and taking-up motions of looms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mayor Graystock, have heretó
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
ROBERT MAYOR GRAYSTOCK. (L.S.)
ROBERT MAYOR GRAYSTOCK. (L.S.)