IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR WEAVING.
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Wickens, of No. 4, Tokenhouse Yard, Bank,
in the City of London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHUTTLES FOR WEAVING.
Sealed the 19th September 1861, and dated the 23rd March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Wickens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd March 1861.
I, HENRY WICKENS, of No. 4, Tokenhouse Yard, Bank, in the City of
London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in having a piece of brass or other suitable metal or
material of a spherical or spheroidal form with a polished or smooth surface, and
which piece of metal or material is for convenience herein-after denominated the
ball, put on the spindle of the ordinary shuttle, and fixed thereon at a suitable
distance from the point of the spindle, so that the thread as delivered from the
cop on the spindle shall pass over and in contact with some part of the surface
of the ball to equalize the tension of the thread, and facilitate its delivery
through the eye-hole of the shuttle. After the cop has been put on the spindle
in the usual way, I insert the point end of the spindle through an opening or
bore made for the purpose through the centre of the ball, and slide the ball over

page_text: the spindle until the spindle has protruded about two inches through the ball,
and I then fix the ball there by means of a screw cut in the bore of the ball
and on the spindle, or by other convenient known means; the shuttle with the
cop and ball on the spindle is then put in the loom, and the thread worked
off in the usual way through the eye-hole. The ball may be made of brass,
iron, steel, ivory, glass, china, or other hard substance or material, which can
be sufficiently polished or smoothed for the purposes mentioned. The diameter
of the ball, which is at right angles with the plane of the spindle, must to
some extent depend on the size of the shuttle to which it is applied; but for
the ordinary shuttle in cotton looms I prefer such diameter to be about three-
quarters of an inch, though I do not confine myself thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Wickens in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
23rd September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, HENRY
WICKENS, of No. 4, Tokenhouse Yard, Bank, in the City of London, Gen-
tleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Wickens, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Wickens,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Wickens, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHUTTLES FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Wickens, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Wickens, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings filed herewith, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
a
My first improvement consists in putting a piece of brass or other suitable
metal or material of a spherical or spheroidal form having polished or
smooth surface (and which piece of metal or other material, for convenience
of reference, I hereafter denominate the ball) on the spindle of the ordinary
shuttle, and fixing it thereon at a suitable distance from the point of the
spindle, so that the thread as delivered from the cop on the spindle shall pass
over and in contact with some part of the surface of the ball to regulate the
tension of the thread and facilitate its delivery through the eye-hole of the
shuttle.
My second improvement consists in having the spindle of the shuttle made
with the ball permanently forming part thereof at a suitable distance from the
point, and in such case having the spindle removeable at its joint J, J,
Figure 8, from the other part of the shuttle by means of a spring or screw, or
other convenient known means, so that the cop may be wound thereon, and
after the cop is wound on such spindle to be replaced in the other part of the
shuttle and the cop worked off in the usual way.
My third improvement consists in having the spindle with a ball thereon
made in two parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the ordinary cotton weaving shuttle; Figure 2
is a side view thereof, partly in section; Figure 3 is a plan view of my said
second improvement, shewing the ball forming part of the removeable spindle,
from which a portion of the cop has been unwound; Figure 4 is a plan of the
spindle, with a female screw f, s, thereon, and the position of the ball shewn
in dotted lines; Figure 5 is a plan of the ball, shewing the bore through its
centre; Figures 6 and 7 are plans of the two parts of the spindle above
mentioned as my third improvement, Figure 6 having a male screw, and
Figure 7 a female screw thereon. The above Figures are about half size.
If the coils of the thread of the cop when it is put on the spindle, Figure 4,
extends as far as the screw.f, s, the thread should be worked off the spindle
in the usual way in the loom until the coils are clear of such screw, and then
the ball, Figure 5, should be slided on the spindle, and fixed thereon by means

page_text: of the male screw in the bore of the ball and the female screw f, s, on the
spindle, and the remainder of the thread of the cop worked off as far as prac-
ticable; but if the coils of the thread of the cop when it is put on the spindle
do not reach the screw f, s, the ball may be slided on the spindle and fixed, as
above mentioned, and the shuttle be put in the loom having the ball on the
spindle, and the whole of the thread of the cop, or as much thereof as prac-
ticable, worked off.
Shuttles vary in size according to the looms in which they are used; I
cannot therefore define the exact distance at which the ball must be fixed in
all cases, but in the ordinary shuttles for weaving cotton I fix the ball about
one inch and half an inch from the point of the spindle, that is, so that about
one inch or one inch and half an inch of the spindle shall protrude through
the ball, but I do not limit myself to those précise distances. The diameter
of the ball will also vary according to the size of the shuttle to which it is
applied; but for the ordinary cotton shuttles above mentioned I prefer the
diameter of the ball, which is, when fixed on the spindle at right angles with
the plane of the spindle, to be about three-quarters of an inch.
The female screw f, 8, should have smooth flat edges, and the groove should
be cut in the opposite direction to that in which the thread of the cop un-
winds, that is, if the thread of the cop unwinds from left to right. The groove
of the female screw f, 8, should be from right to left, and if the thread of the
cop unwinds from right to left the groove of the female screw f, 8, should be
from left to right, so that the thread of the cop shall in unwinding over the
spindle be across the groove of such screw that it may not wind therein. I
make the spindle of the shuttle in some cases in two parts, as above men-
tioned, the point end and ball with a female screw in the latter to form one
part, Figure 7, and the remainder of the spindle with a male screw at one end
to screw into the female screw of the ball, Figure 6, to form the other part,
so that when the cop is put on the part of the spindle, Figure 6, the other
part, Figure 7, is screwed thereon, and the thread worked off the cop as
usual. The ball should be in the form of a sphere, or nearly 'so, or of an
oblate spheroid, being more or less flattened or depressed at the poles, as may
be required, or of a prolate spheroid, or nearly so, and it may be made of
brass, iron, steel, glass, china, or other hard substance or material, which can
be sufficiently polished or smoothed for the purposes mentioned. The bal
may be fixed on the spindle by other convenient known imeans than the screw,
but I prefer the screw, as described, for that purpose.

page_text: CLAIMS.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as my
Invention of "Improvements in Shuttles for Weaving," is the combination
and arrangement of a spherical ball of a spherical or nearly spherical form, or
of spheroidal or nearly spheroidal form with the ordinary shuttle, as shewn in
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Wickens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
H. WICKENS. L.S.)