CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Clayton, of Pudsey, near Bradford, in the
County of York, Engineer, and James Raper and John Goulding, both
of Tong, near Bradford, aforesaid, Machinists, for the Invention of
"T TAAS DAD WRAYING "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Clayton, James.
Raper, and John Goulding at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th July 1865.
We, ROBERT CLAYTON, of Pudsey, near Bradford, in the County of York,
Engineer, and JAMES RAPER and JOHN GOULDING, both of Tong, near-
Bradford, aforesaid, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as-
follows:-.
Our Invention relates to the looms commonly called "swivel looms," in
which several small shuttles are employed to weave figures or patterns on a
plain ground. In such looms it has heretofore been customary to support
the small shuttles in a cross rail, and to move the shuttles horizontally. Now
our Invention consists in the application of any convenient number of revolving
circular shuttle boxes, each containing two or more compartments in their

page_text: peripheries, and each compartment of each shuttle box containing a weft of
different color or quality; these revolving circular shuttle boxes are supported
on a cross rail connected to the lay or batten, and they are turned partially
round simultaneously by rack and pinions or other equivalents. By this
means when the pattern is partly produced with one color the circular shuttle
boxes are all turned partly round to bring a shuttle with another color into
operation. In this arrangement each shuttle forms the segment of a circle,
and is driven to and fro through the shed by pinions working in a segmental
rack fixed to the shuttle, or by other equivalent means.
Another part of our Invention consists in an improved mode of taking up
the slack of the weft used in swivel shuttles. The weft on leaving the bobbin
is taken through the eye of a socket supported on a stud fixed in the swivel
shuttle. The socket is turned round by a spiral spring on the stud. By this
means the slack weft is wound on the socket at an uniform tension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Clayton, James Raper, and John Goulding in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
CLAYTON, of Pudsey, near Bradford, in the County of York, Engineer, and
JAMES RAPER and JOHN GOULDING, both of Tong, near Bradford, aforesaid,
Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Robert Clayton, James Raper, and John Goulding, Her -special
license that we, the said Robert Clayton, James Raper, and John Goulding,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Robert Clayton, James Raper, and John Goulding, our executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 we, the said Robert Clayton, James
Raper, and John Goulding, our executors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: 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 Robert Clayton, James Raper, and
John Goulding, 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, that is to say:-
Our Invention relates to the looms commonly called "swivel looms," in
which several small shuttles are employed to weave figures or patterns on a
plain ground. In- such looms it has heretofore been customary to support
the small shuttles in a cross rail, and to move the shuttles horizontally. Now
our Invention consists in the application of any convenient number of revolving
circular shuttle boxes, each containing two or more compartments on their
peripheries, and each compartment of each shuttle box containing a weft of
different color or quality; these revolving circular shuttle boxes are supported
on a cross rail connected to the lay or batten, and they are turned partially
round simultaneously by a rack and pinions or other equivalents. By this
means when the pattern is partly produced with one color or quality of weft
the circular shuttle boxes are all turned partly round to bring a shuttle
with another color or quality of weft into operation. . In this arrangement
each shuttle forms the segment of a circle, and is driven to and fro thro
the shed by pinions working in a segmental rack fixed to the shuttle, or by
other equivalent means.
1
Another part of our Invention consists in an improved mode of taking up
the slack of the weft used in swivel shuttles. The weft on leaving the bobbin
is taken through a slot in the swivel shuttle, and the bobbin is turned round
by a spiral spring on its stud. By this means the slack weft is rewound on
the bobbin at an uniform tension.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood we will proceed
to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the
figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 represents a front view of the lay or batten of a loom to which
our improvements are applied, Figure 2 is a section, and Figure 3 a plan of
part of the same; Figures 4, 5, and 6 are detached views of parts of our
improvements drawn full size.
a is the lay bottom or batten of the loom, which is worked as usual; bis
the-reed; and c, the cross rail or hand top; the lines d and e represent the

page_text: usual warp threads forming the shed for the shuttle, containing the weft for
weaving the ground of the fabric; and the line'f represents the warp threads
that are raised above the others to form the shed at the parts where the
figure or pattern is to be produced by the swivel shuttles.
The mode of constructing and working these swivel shuttles constitutes our
improvements, and they are performed in the following manner:-To a plate
connected to the cross rail c, or to any other convenient fixings secured to the
lay or batten are fixed studs for the revolving circular shuttle boxes g; wo
have shewn eight of these shuttle boxes in Figure 1, but the number may be
increased or reduced, according to the number of figures to be produced in
the width of the fabric. Each shuttle box contains three shuttles h, as shown
in Figure 4, but this number may also be varied, if desired, and each shuttle
has a bobbin containing weft of a different color or quality. The shuttles are
prevented from falling out of the shuttle box g by the plate i, which is screwed
to the shuttle box g by three screws, and they are moved to and fro in the arc
-of a circle to pass through the shed by means of the rack j, the pinions k, and
centre wheels 7, gearing into the carrier pinions m, which gear into the toothed
segments forming part of the shuttles h; the shuttles are also moved so as to
bring each shuttle when required in operation by the same rack, pinions, and
wheels. The rack j gears into all the pinions k, and it is moved laterally to
and fro by means of the levers n, mounted on studs fitting in slots in the
bracket a' fixed to the lay bottom a. The levers n act alternately on the studs
projecting from the rod j³, which is connected to the rack j by the link j.
The ends of the levers n, when the lay is back, come in contact with and are
made to oscillate on their studs by the inclined pieces o sliding up and down
in the bracket p fixed to the loom side; these inclined pieces are operated
upon when desired by the links or cords q, which are raised by the hooks of
the jacquard or other equivalent apparatus for producing the pattern. In
Figure 3 one of the levers n is in the position it occupies when it is going to
act on the rack j, and the other has been pushed forward by the spring n¹
acting on the stud on which it oscillates, so as to bring the lever out of each
of the stud on the rod . When the rack j has been moved to and fro the
required number of times to produce part of the figure with one 'shuttle, and
it is desired to bring another shuttle into operation, one of the inclined pieces o
must be left up so as to act twice in succession on the same lever n. The
plate to which the studs of the circular shuttle boxes h are 'fixed may be
moved endwise for weaving patterns between those previously woven in, and
when the plate has been moved it is held in position by a locking catch. The
bobbins for the shuttles h are supported on a tube or socket of thin sheet

page_text: metal fitting on a skewer or spindle, as shewn in section in Figure 6. The
space between the socket and spindle is occupied by a thin spiral spring, one
end of which is fixed to the spindle, and the other end to the socket, con-
sequently when the weft is unwound off the bobbin the spring is brought into
a state of tension, and when the weft becomes slack, which it will do sometimes
on changing the position of the shuttles, the reaction of the spring will rewind
the weft on 'to the bobbin, and thus prevent entanglements. The weft on
leaving the bobbin passes thro' a segmental slot in the shuttle; this slot is
nearly as long as the bobbin to prevent the weft forming an acute angle on
leaving the bobbin. This improved mode of taking up the slack is also
applicable to the shuttles of swivel looms of the ordinary construction.
Having thus described our improvements in or applicable to swivel looms,
we wish to remark that the circular, shuttle boxes may either be placed
vertically, as shewn, or horizontally or diagonally, if preferred, and the
shuttles, instead of working in the arc of a circle, as shewn, may be made to
work horizontally by placing the compartments for the shuttles on the
circumference of the shuttle box. The above are only referred to as modi-
fications which might be adopted without departing from the peculiar
character of this part of our Invention. We therefore desire it to be
understood that we claim,-
First, the application of revolving circular shuttle boxes with two or more
shuttles for producing figures or designs by swivel looms.
And, secondly, the peculiar arrangement of the spiral spring and parts
acting in combination therewith for taking up the slack weft in the shuttles
of swivel looms.
. In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Clayton, James Raper, and John
Goulding, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth
day of January One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ROBERT CLAYTON. (LD.)
JAMES RAPER.
(L.S.)
JOHN GOULDING. (L.B.)