CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RAILTON, of Blackburne, in the County of Manchester, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-two, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Railton, Her especial licence
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Railton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said John
Railton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no other, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
WEAVING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
John Railton, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Railton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hercto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
My improvements in machinery or apparatus for weaving consist, firstly, in
a novel arrangement of mechanism designed for the purpose of instantly
stopping the working parts of power looms whenever the weft thread breaks,
on the shuttle does not complete its course or enter the shuttle box.
Secondly, in a particular construction of the apparatus used in weaving
called "temples," whereby they are rendered self-acting, and the perfect
delivery of the cloth from the reed (as it is woven) towards the cloth roller is
also secured, and the cloth held in the requisite distension from selvage to
selvage without the objectionable pin holes, hitherto caused by the temple ends.
Thirdly, in the connecting link which is usually employed to communicate
motion from the crank shaft to the lathe or slay in ordinary power looms.
These connecting links, which are commonly made or cast in one piece, and
effect a direct and firm communication between the driving cranks and slay,
I. improve, by making them in two or more pieces, capable of sliding in and out,
and by their connection with a spring, with which they are provided, causing
such communication to be elastic and yielding, thus saving the frequent
breakage of the cranks, lathe swords, and the crank and tappet motion wheels
of power looms, whenever any sudden concussion takes place, such as the loom
being thrown out of gear, or from the shuttle not passing entirely across the
loom, but by stopping in the middle of its race is caught between the reed and
the cloth and strains the loom.
Fourthly, in a simple arrangement of mechanism for allowing the yarn or
warp beam to recoil or run back any required number of picks, in case of the
weft breaking and the cloth running on for a few picks without weft, which
recoil may be readily adjusted to suit any variety of cloth.
But in order that my improvements may be more fully detailed, and their
application to power looms perfectly understood, I have attached to these
Presents a Sheet of Drawing illustrative of the same, in which Figure 1
represents a plan or top view of an ordinary power loom for weaving plain
calico with my improvements attached, being mostly those parts shaded with
color, the ordinary parts of the loom being drawn in outline; Fig. 2 is a front
view; Fig. 3 a side or end view of the same; and Fig. 4 a transverse section,
taken vertically through about the middle of the loom; the same letters referring
to corresponding parts in all the Figures.

page_text: The side and cross framings of the loom a, a, a, support the working parts
of the loom. b, b, is the warp roller; c, c, the warp threads proceeding through
the healds e, e, and the reed f, f, mounted in the vibrating lathe or slay g, g;
the driving or crank shaft is seen at h, h; the treadles i, i, are actuated by the
tappets k, k, upon the tappet shaft I, I, which also gives motion to the picking
sticks m, m, by means of the tappet n. Now, supposing the loom to be in
operation, and the shuttle o being impelled across the loom from the shuttle
box p to the shuttle box q; upon entering that box it will press against the
projection or swell upon the bent lever r in the back of the shuttle box g (as
shewn in red lines), and this lever, being connected by a pin and fork to the
levers, swivelling on its fulcrum t, will thus project the end u of this lever
forward at every alternate pick. There is also provided a small elbow lever
v, v*, having its upright arm, divided or as a fork, which passes between two
coarse wires placed at the end of the reed every time the slay beats up, the
weft thread intersecting these wires and the forked arm, and thus keeping the
fork in a nearly vertical position by the presence of the thread (as shewn in
red); but whenever the shuttle does not enter the box, or the weft thread breaks,
the tail of the small elbow lever falls into a line with the end u of the
lever 8, which strikes against it at the succeeding beat of the slay, and projects
the bar w, connected to one end of the forked lever v, and thus shifts the
knocking-off rod a and stops the working of the loom.
With reference to this first part of my improvement, therefore, I claim only
the arrangement of the pieces marked r, s, t, u, and w, for the purpose of
availing myself of the absence of the shuttle as a cause for stopping the
working of the loom, as I am aware that somewhat similar means to the elbow
lever v, vx, and the coarse wires at one end of the reed being intersected by
the weft thread, have already been employed for the same purpose.
My improved self-acting temples are shewn as applied to the loom at xx, xx,
and one mounted at the upper ends of spring bars y, y, so as to allow a little
play to and fro, or elasticity to the temples, as the cloth is beaten up. These
temples consist of two or more small metal rollers or bars, upon either one or
all of which a screw thread is formed, one-half of which is right-handed and
the other left-handed; the rollers are then closely fluted or grooved all round
in a longitudinal direction, or that of their axes, which forms a continuous
surface of fine points or pins (shewn more clearly in the detached Figure of
part of one of these rollers at Fig. 7); the cloth passes over one and under the
other, being distended tightly, and is thus firmly held out and transmitted over
the breast beam 3, 3, (which is also a pointed roller instead of the ordinary
flat surface) to the cloth roller uniformly, and at the same time leaving, the

page_text: cloth quite at liberty to vibrate or give to and fro at every crossing of the
sheds without being subject.to pass over fixed bearers or temples. This mode
of templing being altogether.elastic, is found to effect a considerable improve-
ment in the cloth, as, by not disturbing the size or stiffening,matter in the cloth,
the cloth produced will be heavier and more substantial. I have shewn in
the Drawing only two rollers, one being, screwed and fluted, and the other
being entirely-plain, that being the method I prefer for templing.
With reference to the second part of my improvements, therefore, I claim
the novel and peculiar construction of temples above particularly described,
and also the mode of their application to looms in general. A modification
of this part of my improvements is shewn at the detached Figure 5,
which is a plan or top view of a temple I propose to attach to each side of
the loom instead of extending across, the only difference in principle being
that a, a, is a flat bar or rib, fluted at an angle to the right on one side
and to the left on the other; the selvages of the cloth are to be passed over
this bar and under a plain bar b, b, which, owing to the tightness of the cloth,
as it passes between the edges of these bars will be kept distended.
My improved elastic connecting link to be used in place of the ordinary
connecting rod between the crank shaft and the slay is shewn at 1, 1, and
detached and upon a larger scale at Figure 6; and it will be seen that by
being in two parts 1, 1, and 2, 2, the distance between the crank 3 and back
of the slay 4 may be shortened and resumed by the action of the spring 5
whenever any sudden concussion in the loom, or other accidental cause, would
otherwise endanger considerable breakage; that is, if this link was firm and
in one piece, and consequently no relief or elasticity given between these two
points, which has hitherto been the case in power looms.
With reference to the third part of my improvements, therefore, I claim
making the connecting links used between the slay and crank in power looms
elastic or yielding, whether the springs employed be helical, elliptical, or of
any other form.
The improved mechanism by which I effect the recoil of the warp beam, in
order to bring back the cloth a few picks in case of necessity, if the loom
should have proceeded for a few picks without weft, is most clearly shewn in
Figure 3. A small lever 6 is attached to the clicks 7, 7, of the common
taking-up wheel 8, and by lifting up this lever, when the recoil is wanted, the
taking-up motion is released, and the weighted warp roller recoils and pulls
back the warps and cloth, until a catch lever 9 falls over the taking-up
wheel 8 and stops the recoil or running back of the warp beam. The catch
lever is suspended over the wheel, as shewn in the Drawing, and is guided by

page_text: a pin 10, working in the mortice 11 at the top of the catch lever, and the
distance or space between this pin and the set screw 12 regulates the descent
of the catch 9, and thus the warp roller recoils any required number of picks.
The cloth is shewn at 13 passing under a friction guide roller 14, and wound
upon the cloth roller 15, suspended in bearings by friction of contact, and is
held tight upon the roller by the springs 16, 16.
With reference to the fourth part of my improvements, I claim only the
particular arrangement for effecting and regulating the recoil of the warp beam,
as just described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Railton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.