IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOOKS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Weightman Harrison, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOOKS FOR WEAVING,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Weightman
Harrison at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd August 1864.
I, CHARLES WEIGHTMAN HARRISON, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Iuven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates, firstly, to improvements upon my Invention for
working shuttles in looms for weaving by the direct action of compressed air
for which Letters Patent were granted to me the 18th November 1862,
Number 3097. These improvements consist in fixing at each end of the
lathe a box or case of any convenient form, and furnished with a nipple or
socket and valve which opens into the shuttle box. The valve is worked by
leversandspindle,orother suitable contrivance which maybe.made adjustable,
so as to regulate the extent of opening in the valves, motion being imparted by
[Price 8d.]

page_text: a swell or inclined stud fixed on the side of a cogged wheel driven by a pinion
on the crank shaft. I fix a buffer of leather, vulcanized rubber, or other like
suitable material at the end of the shuttle box around the opening in the
nipple, and I make it in the form of a hollow cone, into which the end of the
shuttle fits. I connect the detector fork with a tap or valve, so that it will
shut off the supply of air when the weft is broken. The pipe for conveying
compressed air to the valve boxes at the end of the shuttle boxes is carried in
a groove or recess in the lathe, and the main or service pipe is placed in the
back pass with a branch pipe to each loom.
My Invention consists, secondly, in regulating the delivery of the warp from
the warp beam by the pressure of a break actuated by compressed air.
The third part of my Invention consists in an arrangement for working the
heddles by means of a cam fixed on a short shaft near the side of the loom.
This cam gives motion to a slotted rod which is connected to a T-shaped
slotted lever that works the treddles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Weightman Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WEIGHTMAN HARRISON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and gran unto
me, the said Charles Weightman Harrison, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Weightman Harrison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Weightman Harrison, 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 LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upou
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Weightman Harrison,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-

page_text: tain 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 Charles Weightman Harrison, 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 statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention relates, firstly, to improvements upon my Invention for
working shuttles in looms for weaving by the direct action of compressed
air, for which Letters Patent were granted to me the Eighteenth November
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, Number 3097.
These improvements consisting in fixing at each end of the lathe a box or
case of any convenient form, and furuished with a nipple or socket and valve,
which opens into the shuttle box. The valve is worked by levers and spindle
or other suitable contrivance, which may be made adjustable so as to regulate
the extent of opening in the valves, motion being imparted by a swell or
inclined stud fixed on the side of a cogged wheel, driven by a pinion on the
crank shaft. I fix a buffer of leather, vulcanized rubber, or other like suitable
material at the end of the shuttle box around the opening in the nipple, and
I make it in the form of a hollow cone, into which the end of the shuttle fits.
I connect the detector fork with a tap or valve, so that it will shut off the
supply of air when the weft is broken. The pipe for conveying compressed
air to the valve boxes at the end of the shuttle boxes is carried in a groove or
recess in the lathe, and the main or service pipe is placed in the back pass
with a branch pipe to each loom.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an end elevation of a loom in
which this part of my present Invention is carried out; Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal section of the right-hand end of the lathe and part of the loom side,
in which one of my improved arrangements for driving a shuttle by air is
carried out. I is an air-tight box or case furnished with a nipple or socket I',
and valve or plug J; V is the shuttle box, into which the nipple and valve open.
The air-tight box is attached to the end of the lathe by means of screws
or bolts, as shewn in the side elevation, Figure 1. The valve J is worked by
means of an inclined stud or projection T, bolted to the side of the toothed
wheel S, which is driven by a pinion R on the main axis or crank shaft B of
the loom; U is a lever carried on a slotted bracket, fixed on the side of the
loom frame A; O is a rod supported by a bracket Q fixed on the under side

page_text: of the lathe; the outer end of this rod passes through a stuffing box P into the
air box I. The other end of the rod is furnished with an adjustable screw to
regulate the extent of opening of the valve for the admission of air from the
air box to the shuttle box. M is a small lever, one end of which passes
through a slot in the rod O, and the other end through a slot in the spindle N
of the valve J; L is a spiral spring to keep the plug or valve J when not
actuated on its seat; H is a pipe let into the lathe to convey compressed air
into the air box I. The compressed air is brought into the pipe H by a con-
nection near the middle of the lathe, with a flexible vulcanized rubber or other
tube G, which communicates with a supply pipe F from a reservoir; X is a
concave buffer of leather or other like suitable material, into which the end
of the shuttle W fits, or nearly so, thus avoiding loss of power by the
expansion of the air. It is fixed in the end of the shuttle box, and formed of
leather or other suitable material. Similar arrangements to those are made
on the left-hand end of the lathe aud loom side, the projection or stud T on
the wheel S being fixed on an exactly opposite part to the one on the right-
hand side.
In working the loom the air box at each side is kept charged with air at a
proper pressure, the air being compressed by a pump or fan, or in any other
suitable manner. The pressure may be easily regulated by an escape valve on
the reservoir or supply pipe, as well as by a tap on the pipe leading to each
loom separately, as shewn in the arrangement, Figure 9. It will be seen that
as the wheels S revolve the studs attached to them alternately strike the
bowls S¹on the levers U, raising the plugs J, and thus, the valve being opened
the shuttle is blown along its race.
A method which I adopt to adjust the extent of opening in the valves, and
thus to vary the strength of the "pick," is shewn in the side view, Figure 4,
and cross section Figure 5. A is part of the loom side, to which the bracket
rest is bolted; mis a short pin or vertical axis on which the lever U works,
and which is made to slide in the slotted rest as required by means of a key
applied to the screw n. O is the rod shewn in Figure 2; S is the wheel on
which is bolted the inclined stud T for working the valves by striking the
small bowl S' on the lever U.
One of the modes by which I connect the detector or weft fork with a tap
or valve, so that it will shut off the supply of air from the air boxes when the
weft is used up or broken, is shewn in Figure 6. F is the pipe which conveys
the compressed air, and which is carried up the sword arm" C to the pipe H
laid in the lathe I); or, as I generally prefer in carrying out this portion of
my Invention, a sword arm may be formed hollow to convey the air itself. p is

page_text: the tap through which the air passes from the supply pipe, and of any suitable
kind which may be turned by a small gearing chain o and pulley on the tap, a
similar pulley p' being carried by a bracket at the loom side near the weft
fork 2.
To the axis of the pulley pa handle ris attached in a vertical position
when the compressed air is on, and in a line with the spindle s of the weft
fork. The handler is loaded at the extremity, and is provided with an
adjustable pin t, against which the end of the fork spindle & strikes when the
weft hammer u catches the fork, thereby causing the handle to fall, turn the
pulley p', chain o, and the head of the tap p, and shut off the cupressed air.
The pipe for conveying the compressed air to the valve boxes I at the ends of
the shuttle boxes V is carried in a groove or recess in the lathe D, and the
main or service pipe F is placed in the back pass with a branch pipe G to
each loom, as shewn in the plan Figure 10, in which A', A', represents the
looms; B, B, the back passes; C, the main service pipe; F, F, the supply
pipes; and
P, p, the taps for regulating the admission of compressed air to
each loom.
My Invention consists, secondly, in regulating the delivery or tension of the
warp from the warp beam by the pressure of a brake actuated by compressed
air. Figure 7 is a plan and Figure 8 a vertical section showing a method
whereby this improved let-off motion is carried into operation.
a represents an air cylinder, which is held on the back stretcher or rail b
of the loom by brackets c, c; d is a pipe which communicates between the
cylinder a and the supply pipe F of compressed air; e is a tap through which
the air is conveyed to the cylinder a, its admission being regulated by means
of the roller f, which is held in contract with the warp on the beam g by the
spiral spring h, whereby as the warp diminishes the tap is progressively closed,
and the pressure of the brake gradually lessened; i is the piston against
which the air exerts its pressure; the cross headj of this piston acts on the
levers k, k, which draw down the chain brake upon each end of the beam g;
/is a waste tap through which the air is allowed to escape when changing
the beam. By this arrangement an entirely uniform and self-acting
motion and pressure are obtained. The application of this part of my In-
vention is further illustrated in the side elevation, Figure 1, and in Figure 3,
which is a back elevation of the loom. In these Figures the saine letters
refer to like parts.
The third part of my Invention consists in an arrangement for working the
heddles by means of an excentric or cam fixed on a short shaft near the side
of the loom. This excentric imparts motion by its revolution to a slotted rod
which is connected to a T-shaped slotted lever that works the treadles.

page_text: Figure 9 represents the arrangement of the various parts, in which v is the
short shaft, serving at that side of the loom as the axis of the wheel S,
Figures 1 and 2, before referred to, and on which shaft is placed the excentric
cam w working between two rollers attached to a slotted rod or arm x, near
one extremity of which is a small stud adjusted by a screw and nut, or in any
other convenient manner, and working in a slot in the T-shaped lever y, to
which a reciprocating motion is given by the revolution of the excentric cam
10. The T-shaped lever y is supported from the loom side, and works the
treadles z by their ends being passed through the stirrups of rods a¹, z. The
horizontal bar of the T-shaped lever y is rounded off at each extremity, where
the rods, z, are secured by nuts and bolts, as seen in the Figure, or in any
other convenient manner, allowing of a little adjustment for freedom of action
in rising and falling. The treadles may be supported on a cross rail, or from
a bracket, or otherwise for working the jacks of the heddles.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not confine myself
to the precise details herein-before given, as the same may be varied without
departing from the main features or the peculiar character of 1 my Invention;
what I claim is,-
First, the construction and employment of a shuttle box, with a valve or tap
opening into it at the end, as herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
.
Second, fixing the shuttle box a buffer of leather or other suitable material,
made with a concavity to fit the end of the shuttle or nearly so, as herein-
before described.
.Third, regulating the extent of opening of the valve in the air box by
means of an adjustable rod or lever, as herein-before described and represented
in the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth, forming a "swell" or inclined stud on a wheel or pinion, as herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings, for giving
motion to the valve in the air box.
Fifth, regulating the delivery or tension of the warp by means of the
pressure of one or more brakes actuated by compressed air, as herein-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Sixth, the arrangement herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings, for causing the detector or weft fork to actuate a
tap or valve, and thus shut-off the supply of compressed air to the air boxes
when required.
And, seventh, the arrangement herein-before described and represented in

page_text: the accompanying Drawings for working the heddles by means of an excentric
or cam on a short shaft near one side of the loom.
In witness whereof, I,the said Charles Weightman Harrison, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
C. WEIGHTMAN HARRISON. (L.S.)