Improvements in the Shedding, Change-box, and Picking Motions of Looms.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Aug., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 7th May, 1898-Accepted, 11th June, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Shedding, Change-box, and Picking Motions
of Looms.
I, GEORGE RICHARDSON, of Low Mills, Kendal, in the County of Westmoreland,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention relates to the shedding, change-box, and picking motions of
looms, or to any one, two or all of such motions.
The particular type of the motions to which this invention relates is described
and illustrated in and by the Specifications of Letters Patent No. 21291 dated
the 6th of November 1894, No. 21292 of the same date, and No. 5139 dated the
7th March 1896.
One of the objects of the present invention is to enable the same appliances or
devices of driving and driven elements to be used in combination with swing bars
suitably connected with each driving element, at either end of each swing bar the
hooked bars or catches are connected, these are operated by bar catches of im-
proved construction which enables the movement to be carried out in à generally
more efficient and simple manner.
An improved form of driven element is also used in the form of a 3 ended or
Tshaped lever, the middle end engages with the driving element, and of the
2 ends opposite cach other, one end engages by means of levers or pulleys with
the upper part of the healds and the other end by similar levers or pulleys with the
lower part of the healds thus giving positive movement in either direction, these
last mentioned levers or pulleys may be so arranged as to alter their position by
a lever and catch or the like, that the heald may be levelled to facilitate the repair
of breakages in the warp by the weaver. The improved bar catches are so formed
that a second bar can be bolted thereto, and which second bar engages with the
ends of the hooked bars or catches making the return movement, which is then
positive both forward and in the return.
A sliding or pendant knife controlled by a spring is attached to the before men-
tioned second bar, which comes into position on the forward movement of the
bar catch and is so arranged that it holds the hooked bars or catches in contact
with the bar catch in their indicated position both in the forward and return move-
ment of the bar catch, until moved out of position by coming in contact with a
stop attached to the framework and the like.
The bar catches are operated in the usual manner.
The hooked.bars or catches are changed in their position either up or down as
may be required by the pattern to be woven, in the usual well known manner.
To hold either end of the swing bar in position when desired not to be moved,
notches are added to the ends of each swing bar and a catch bar or knife moved by
means of a spring and the like, through lever arrangement comes into position
on the forward movement of the bar catches, and holds the notches on either end
of the swing bar at rest until the bar catch has nearly completed its return
movement when it moves the knife out of position again, or instead of the notch

page_text: at each end of the swing bar an extra notch or catch may be added to the upper
side of the hooked bars or catches which can engage with the catch bar or knife
actuated in like manner.
When it is desireable to use a bowl or bowls to reduce friction in the driving or
driven elements the bowls are fixed to the elements by means of metal plates,
preferably steel and rivetted thereto, the bowls may be hollowed on the face, or
the steel plates arranged by the edges projecting so that the one element works
within the other, thus holding each in their proper position.
The T shaped driven element is connected with the change boxes by means
of chains, steel bands and the like, one end of the driven element connected by
suitable levers or pulleys with the change boxes and picking motion, moves them
in one direction and the opposite end in the contrary direction.
As a means for conveniently raising or lowering the healds to a proper height
with the shuttle board, or as may be required, on either end of the shafts which
act as the fullerum for the levers or pulleys which are directly connected with
the healds are fixed eccentrics, these eccentrics are held in position by an upper
and a lower fixed bar. When the eccentric is turned the shaft which is held in
position sideways by a vertical slot is raised or lowered as may be required.
These eccentric shafts may be connected together and turned by means of a
rack and pinion or intermediate levers, or each may be turned separately and
there held by suitable means to prevent turning until required.
An improved picking motion is effected by an inclined plane at any required
radius from the vertical picking shaft to which it is fixed, on the lower shaft of
the loom is fixed a crank or the like, at the extremity of which is an horizontal
hole through which a pin or small shaft is passed, on the one end of which is fixed
a pulley or bowl which at each revolution of the loom shaft strikes the before
mentioned inclined plane and actuates the picking motion, on the other end of
the pin is fixed a collar or its equivalent which engages with a sliding collar on the
loom shaft through which the same is connected with the driven element of the
dobby, and a lateral movement in either direction is effected as required.
Dated this 6th day of August 1897
Improvements in the Shedding, Change-box, and Picking Motions
of Looms.
GEORGE RICHARDSON, of Low Mills, Kendal, in the County of Westmoreland,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This invention relates to shedding, change box, and picking motions of looms,
or to any one, two, or all of such motions, of the type described and illustrated
in the Specifications of Letters Patent Nos. 21291 dated the 6th November 1894;
21292 dated the 6th November 1894, and 5139 dated the 7th March 1896.
According to these improvements driving and driven elements of any suitable
form or construction may be employed, and the driving elements are operated
by hooked bars through the intermediary of swing bars, to the ends of which the
hooked bars are attached and which in turn are attached to the driving elements.
The bar catches are also formed or adapted so as to ensure a positive movement
of the hooked bars in either direction.
The swing bars may be held or locked in position when desired by notches

page_text: which are formed in their ends and are adapted to engage with catches, detents
or the like operated by levers by the forward movement of the bar catches in such
a manner that the selected ends of the swing bars are at rest until the bar catch
has nearly completed its return movement when it permits the disengagement of
the detents
or the like, or, alternatively, the upper sides or outer ends of the hooked
bars may be adapted to engage with similarly operated detents.
Bowls or friction rollers may be used to reduce the friction between the driving
and the driven elements, a preferred form being to provide one of the elements
with suitable bowls mounted between flange plates or the like, into the space
between which the active part of the other element extends. The security against
relative lateral movement between the elments, may, however, be obtained in
other ways, as, for example, by forming the bowls on one element with recessed
peripheries with which the other element can engage.
An improved form of driven element consists of or is provided with three arms,
the centre one of which is driven by the driving element, while the other two are
connected respectively to the upper and lower parts of the healds by a suitable
system of levers or pulleys. In order to enable the healds to be easily raised and
lowered, for instance, in adjusting them to the shuttle board, the levers or pulleys
referred to are mounted upon a transverse shaft the ends of which are carried by
excentrics or are adapted to be raised or lowered by cams or the like.
The system of connecting the driven elements to the change box or the pick-
ing motion is the same as that described in reference to the healds.
In order that my invention may be more readily understood I have heretó
appended 3 sheets of drawings to which I will hereinafter refer.
Figure 1 illustrates in side elevation some forms of my improved devices.
A is a lever mounted upon a rocking shaft which has an oscillatory motion
communicated to it from either the crank shaft or the bottom shaft of the loom
by known means. The ends of this lever are connected by the rods B, B¹ with
the bar catches C, C', which reciprocate in the slides or slots D, D¹. E, and E'
are the hooked bars which are adapted to be reciprocated by the bar catches as
is well understood and one of which is attached to each end of each of the swing
bars H. Each of these bars is connected to one of the driving elements F by
pivots or the like h as is more clearly shewn in Figure 2. The driven elements Ġ
engage with the elements F, and are preferably formed with three arms, two of
which g and g¹ are connected to the healds or the like.
In order that either end of each swing bar may be locked or held in place at
any desired time, the attached hooked bars are formed at some convenient point,
preferably their ends with a device or means for engaging with a catch or detent. In
the example illustrated the ends of the hooked bars are notched as at e so as to
engage, when in their raised positions, with the bar detent J which extends across
the dobby. Pivotted to each side frame both at the top and the bottom are levers K
the fulcrums of which are at k. See also Figure 3. Movably attached to a vertical
extension from each lever is a link or arm L pulled or moved in one direction by
the spring M, or by the weight of the lever. The links on opposite sides of the
frame carry the transverse bar detents J. The lower face or edge of each lever
is curved or formed to come into the path of the bar catches C, C₁. When these
latter have commenced their forward strokes they come into contact with the levers
and raise them. By the angular motion thus imparted the bar detents are drawn
towards to engage with and securely hold the ends of those hooked bars which are
in their raised positions. When the bar catches are withdrawn the levers are
returned to their lowest positions by their own weight or by the springs M. The
levers are shown respectively raised and lowered in the upper and lower parts of
Figure 1. To prevent the ends of the hooked bars from rising too high the bar
detent, may be formed with a projecting stop or plate j. The bar detent J also
acts as a stop to prevent the rising of those hooked bars which are engaged by the
bar catches until the catches have nearly completed their return movements.
It will of course be understood that similarly operated levers may engage directly

page_text: with the ends of the swing bars H but this arrangement is not so convenient as
the arms have a slight vertical oscillatory movement as well as an angular motion.
Stops or the like N may be employed to limit the movement of the swing arms.
As shewn in Figure 1 one of the swing bars illustrated is held at its lower end,
with its upper end free to move backwards and forwards with its attached hooked
bar, while the other swing bar is held at its upper end with its lower end free to
move forwards and backwards.
In order to ensure that the hooked bars shall be positively moved in either direc-
tion the bar catches are provided with rigidly attached additional bars or
projections preferably capable of adjustment upon the bar catch and one form
of which is separately shown in plan and edge elevation in Figure 4. The
additional bar projects upwards into the plane occupied by the ends of the hooked
bars and returns them to the left of Figure 1. The hooked bars are drawn in the
opposite direction by the bar catches engaging with the hooks. The additional
bar may be bolted or otherwise suitably secured in place.
In Figure 5 are illustrated several modified forms of the devices previously
hereinbefore described. The additional bar O which is rigidly attached to the
bar catch may be extended so as to reciprocate within a slot o and engage directly
with the ends of the swing bars H as is well known instead of with the ends of
the hooked bars E. An additional bar for the lower part of the machine is shown
in plan and elevation in Figure 6 and one for the upper part is represented in
elevation by Figure 7. The ends of the hooked bars may be formed with edges
instead of recesses so that they may engage with a recess formed in the bar detent J.
See also Figure 8.
The driving and driven elements shown in Figure 5 differ from those illustrated
by Figure 1 in respect of the number of teeth or projections or recesses.
If desired
the elements may gear together by spur gearing, as, when the swing arms are
rigidly locked and held in position, there is no necessity, in light weaving, for the
locking elements as here shown and as more particularly described in the Specifica-
tions of Letters Patent Nos. 21291 and 21292 both of 1894.
In the drawings previously referred to the driving elements F have been rotary,
but in Figure 9 a sliding element F is illustrated. It is connected to the swing
bar Hand, upon its reciprocation, drives the element G which is connected to
the system of levers or pulleys by means of which the healds are operated. The
shafts P upon which these levers are mounted are capable of vertical movement
so that the whole of the levers may be raised and lowered together. This move-
mient may be accomplished by fixing to each end of each shaft an excentrically
mounted disc Q which is confined within a recess R formed in a fixture or bracket Ş,
which is also shown in Figure 10. The ends of the shaft pass through the vertical
slots T in the bracket and are thus only permitted vertical and rotary motion.
The shafts are raised or lowered by being rotated or partially rotated, and this
rotation may be effected by handles or cranks U, which are preferably perforated
for the passage of a screw or bolt V adapted to engage with any one of a series
of holes W in the brackets S. The two shafts shown may be connected together
by racks and pinions, by coupling rods, or in any other well known manner
that motion imparted to one shaft is communicated to the other.
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Figure 11 illustrates in side and edge elevation driving and driven elements F, G,
furnished with anti-friction devices. The devices may consist of bowls or rollers
mounted upon the elements G between the flanges of flange plates m. The active
or driving part of the element F projects into the space between the flanges and
engages with the bowls. Relative lateral motion between the two elements is
thus prevented. It will of course be understood that other and equivalent devices
may be employed to achieve the same result. For example, the bowls may be
recessed on their peripheries and the opposing element may be adapted to engage
with such recesses.
The sliding element F shown in Figure 9 may be replaced by the end of a lever

page_text: or arm which has such a length of radius that the end practically moves in a
straight line.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In a device for operating the shedding, change box, or picking motions of
a loom, the combination of a swing bar and intergeared or connected driving and
driven elements, all constructed arranged and operated substantially as herein-
before described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
2. In a dobby, a driven element formed with or consisting of three arms, con-
structed arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
set forth and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
3. In a device for operating the shedding, change box, or picking motions of a
loom, the combination with a bar catch of a second rigidly attached bar adapted
to engage with the ends of the hooked bars and ensure their positive return
motion, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and as
illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
4. In a device for operating the shedding, change box, or picking motions of
a loom, a locking device for holding the ends of the hooked bars in their raised
positions, consisting of levers suitably pivotted and provided with a bar detent and
adapted to be operated by the bar catches, all constructed and arranged substan-
tially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
5. In a device for operating the shedding motion of a loom, mounting the levers
or pulleys to which the healds are attached upon a shaft or shafts, capable of
vertical movement by means of an excentric or the like, so that the healds may be
raised or lowered to the shuttle board,' substantially as hereinbefore described
and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
6. In a device for operating the shedding, change box, or picking motions of a
loom, driving and driven elements either of which is furnished with friction bowls
or the like constructed and arranged so that relative lateral motion of the two
elements is prevented, substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated
by the accompanying drawings.