IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," a com-
munication from Gustave Bornèque, of Bavillers, in the Empire of
France, Manufacturer.
Sealed the 8th August 1856, and dated the 1st March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st March 1856.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," &
communication from Gustave Bornèque, of Bavillers, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturers, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain further improvements on the modes of
working drop boxes, described in the Specification of an Invention for
Improvements in Looms for Weaving," for which Letters Patent for Great
Britain were granted to me, the 29th of January 1855.
In the further modification and improvements which form the subject of the
present Invention, the principle of raising the drop boxes of looms by means

page_text: of a hook and knife edge in combination with an endless tappet or pattern
chain, described in the Specification herein-before referred to, is retained; but
in place of requiring two or more hooks and. knife edges according to the
number of shuttles to be acted. upon, it is proposed. to use one hook and knife
edge only, such hook having two or more notches in it, one above the other,
according to the number of shuttles employed, the distance between each
notch corresponding to the distance between. each. shuttle. box. The notched
portion of the hook is slightly bent forward, so that any one of the notches
may be brought over the knife edge in the sliding box by simply pushing the
hook forward more or less; this is effected by employing a tappet or pattern
chain fitted with pegs or pins of varying lengths, so that as these pegs or pins
during the rotation of the chain come in successive contact with the hook, the
latter will be pushed forward over the knife edge to a greater or less extent,
according as the actuating peg is long or short. The vertical traverse of the
knife edge is always the same, its movement being derived from a cam on
the end of the tappet shaft outside the framing acting on a lever, which is
connected by a rod and second over-head lever to the box or slide carrying
the knife edge. It will thus be obvious, that when the highest notch of the
hook is brought into action, the drop box will only be slightly elevated, and
when the lowest notch is engaged by the ascending knife edge the lowest
shuttle will be brought into play, since the greatest traverse will be imparted
to the drop box, which is connected as described in my former Specification
herein-before referred to, by a cord or chain to the hook. The lever, which
is acted upon directly by the cam, is elevated after depression by a short
grooved portion of the cam, in which groove works a small antifriction pulley
carried on the side of the lever, thus dispensing. with-the-use- of springs for
elevating the lever again, and bringing down the knife edge after it has been
raised by the previous depression of the lever. In place of connecting the
notched hook to the 'drop box by a simple chain passing over suitable guide
pullies,, it may be connected, to, a lever, the free end of which is connected by
a fod to the drop box,..the rod -being-guided, vertically, and steadied in its
movements by suitable guides... The drop box is contained in a, wooden.case,
and guided in its vertical motion by a metal bar at, the top, edge of the
'wooden, case:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year, of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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," a communication from Gustave
Borneque, of Bavillers, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters,and figures marked thereon, that is, to say:--
The said Invention relates to certain additional improvements on the modes
of working drop boxes, described in the Specification of an Invention for
"Improvements in Looms for Weaving," for which Letters Patent for
Great Britain were granted to me on the Twenty-ninth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
In the present Invention the principle of raising the drop:boxes of looms
by means of a hook and knife edge in combination with an endless-tappet or

page_text: pattern chain, described in the Specification herein-before referred to, is.
retained; but in place of requiring two or more hooks with corresponding
knife edges, according to the number of shuttles to be acted upon, (that is to
say, one hook and knife edge to each shuttle,) it is proposed to use one hock
and knife edge only, such hook having two or more notches in it, one above
the other, according to the number of shuttles employed, the distance between
each notch corresponding to the distance between each shuttle box. The
notched portion of the hook is slightly bent forward, so that any one of the
notches may be brought over the knife edge in the sliding box by simply
pushing the hook forward more or less. This is effected by employing a
tappet or pattern chain fitted with pegs or pins of varying lengths, so that as
those pegs or pins during the rotation of the chain come in successive contact
with the hook, the latter will be pushed forward over the knife edge to a
greater or less extent, according as the actuating peg is long or short. The
vertical traverse of the knife edge is always the same, its movement being
derived from a cam on the end of the tappet shaft outside the framing acting
on a lever, which is connected by a rod and second over-head lever to the
box or slide carrying the knife edge. It will thus be obvious that when
the highest notch of the book is brought into action, the drop box will only
be slightly elevated, and when the lowest notch is engaged by the ascending
knife edge, the lowest shuttle will be brought into play, since the greatest
traverse will be imparted to the drop box, which is connected (as described in
my former Specification herein-before referred to) by a cord or chain to the
hook. Or, in place of connecting the notched hook to the drop box by a
simple chain passing over suitable guide pullies, it may be connected to
a lever, the free end of which is connected by a rod to the drop box, the rod
being guided vertically, and steadied in its movements by suitable guides.
The drop box is contained in a wooden case, and guided in its vertical motion
by a metal bar at the top edge of the wooden case. The lever, which is
acted upon directly by the cam, is elevated after depression by a short grooved.
portion of the cam, in which groove works a small antifriction pulley carried
on the side of the lever, thus dispensing with the use of springs for elevating
the lever again, and bringing down the knife edge after it has been raised by
the previous depression of the lever.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout both Figures.

page_text: Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a front elevation of the left-hand side
of a loom with my improvements attached, and Figure 2 is a side elevation of
the same, corresponding to Figure 1.
It will be seen that the general features of this arrangement are similar to
those of the Invention described in the Specification herein-before referred to,
but the contrivances which motion is imparted to the knife box P, and by
which the movements of the shuttle boxes are produced, are simplified by the
present Invention. The cam F is placed outside the framework, and acts
directly upon the lever H, by which motion is imparted to the vertical rod J,
and thence to the over-head lever K, which actuates the rod k attached to
the knife box P. By reason of the height given to the external or fixed
guide box O¹, and the movement imparted to the lever H, the knife box P
with its knife edge B will always rise to such an extent as will be sufficient
to bring the fourth or lowest shuttle on a level with the shuttle race.
The hook bar X is slightly curved or bent forward at its upper end, and
this curved or bent part is furnished with two, three, or more notches
C, C, C2, in such a way that each notch is in a different vertical plane from
the one below it, by which arrangement one hooked bar is sufficient for
actuating any desired number of shuttles, in place of having a separate hooked
bar to each shuttle, as described in my Specification herein-before referred to.
If the notch C, which is the lowest of the series, be brought over the knife
edge B, the lowest or fourth shuttle will obviously be brought up to a level
with the race, and if the notch C' be acted upon by the knife, the third
shuttle will be elevated to the desired extent, whilst the notch C will serve
to raise the second shuttle. In order that the hook raised by the knife B
may produce a corresponding movement of the shuttle box, I make use either
of a lever and rod for pressing this box upwards, or, as in the arrangement
described in the. Specification herein-before referred to, I use a chain.
attached at one end to the lower end of the hooked bar, and communicating
at its other end with the shuttle box. In order that the proper notches of
the hooked bar X2 may be pressed towards the knife (which by its rising
brings the desired shuttle box into action), the endless tappet chain of
moveable laths M is furnished when the loom is set to work, and at the
proper intervals with pins or tappets of various lengths L, L, L'; the result
is, that the shortest pins will throw the upper notch into play by bringing it
over the knife edge, and the other pins will bring in due course the other
notches into action, according to the lengths of such pins and their arrange-
ment on the chain. The lever II, which is acted upon directly by the cam

page_text: F. is elevated after its depression by the short grooved portion F1 of the cam,
in which groove works a small pulley H. fitted on to the side of the lever H.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of the said Invention; but
.what.I consider to be novel and original, and. therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the berein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the
system or mode of actuating any desired number of shuttles by the employ-
ment of a single hooked bar carrying several notches, that is to say, a notch
for each shuttle to be raised, in combination with a knife edge and endless
tappet chain fitted with tappets or pins of various lengths, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
'my 'hand and seal, the 'Thirtieth day of August, One thousand eight
'hundred and fifty-six.
J. HENKY JOHNSON. (L.S.)