IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th October 1876. A communication
from abroad by Robert J. Guelcher, of Biala, Galicia, in the Empire of Austria.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
A communication.
These improvements relate more especially to looms with three to five fold
change of shuttles, and have for their object,-
Firstly. Simple and sure means for changing the shuttles by drawing back the
shuttle brake tongue, and which can be arranged for any pattern up to a five fold
change of shuttles.
Secondly. An arrangement for insuring that the picking mechanism shall not
come into action except when a full shuttle box is opposite an empty one, and which
arrangement is made so that all the sensitive levers and mechanisms are fixed to
perfectly immovable parts of the looms, thereby enabling the loom to be safely
worked at a greater speed than usual.
Thirdly. An improved arrangement for actuating the heddle leaf machine.
Fourthly. An arrangement to be called safety rake, and insuring the exact
motion of the shuttle into and out of the shuttle box, thus obviating the jumping
of the shuttle.
Fifthly. An arrangement to be called "the conical star, with double crank", and
enabling the easy conversion of ordinary looms into such with rising boxes.
The chief part of a loom constructed according to these improvements consists of
a bent lever attached to the pecker bar, and one arm of which is connected with
the shuttle brake tongue, and the other with a simple wire attached to a firm part
of the loom, and about three inches sidewise from the centre of motion of the lay;
by the movement of the lay, and in consequence of this firm fixture of the said
wire, a relative motion of the bent lever connected with the shuttle brake tongue is
produced, thus causing the lever to withdraw the tongue when the lay is set in
motion, and thereby enabling in a simple manner the rising and falling of the
shuttle box. With the said bent lever a second lever arm is firmly connected,
which again acts on another bent lever attached to each of the two exterior lay
feet, and by which the driving out of the shuttle is communicated from the one to
the other side, so that the shuttle can only then be driven out when the shuttle box

page_text: just opposite is really empty; all the movable parts of this mechanism are attached
to the fixed frame of the loom, thus avoiding the possibility of the vibrations of the
lay which arise when the loom works at a greater speed than usual, hindering the
sure driving out of the shuttle as is the case, for example, in Schænherr's looms,
where the mechanisms for driving the shuttle are fixed to the end of the lay.
Another improvement relates to the use of levers acting on the tail piece of the
pecker bolt, which tail piece is made separate from the bolt, and only connected
movably with it. As soon as the shuttle is situated at the one side the said levers
push away the tail piece of the pecker bolt at the other side of the loom so that
the touch lever there cannot raise the bolt nor let the pecker out; on the other hand
the tail piece remains close to the bolt as soon as there is no shuttle in the raised
box, and therefore at the other side of the lay the pecker drives the shuttle.
Another improvement made possible by the mechanism described relates to a new
driving back motion. According to this improvement a simple wooden lever
moving in a double joint is connected directly with the pecker, and draws the same
back in the simplest manner through the movement of the picking mechanism
itself by means of a strap.
Another improvement relates to simple and safe means for raising the shuttle
box and thereby bringing into use a card requisite for this raising. This
mechanism is to be called "the conical star with double crank." A double crank
is made movable in a groove along a shaft, and for this purpose a forked lever
gearing into the crank is connected with a handle; by moving the handle so as
to let the right or left side of the double crank gear into the conical star the
weaver can weave forwards or backwards. The conical star and the double crank
work like two bevel wheels, except that the motion takes place in jerks as required
for this purpose. With the said handle is connected the fork for the motion of the
cylinder of the Crompton heddle leaf machine to be used here, so that should the
weaver, in case of failure to act, be obliged to set the handle in such a way that
the double crank works reversely the card cylinder of the heddle leaf machine is
simultaneously struck back and works also reversely.
The motion of the heddle leaf machine takes place by means of a peculiar cam
piece driven by gearing from the main shaft of the loom; a sliding piece runs in a
cam groove and transmits its motion through a double armed lever to both the
heddle leaf machine and to the card cylinder simultaneously. By this arrangement
the shed remains open until the shuttle has been driven through it.
Another improvement relates to a contrivance for preventing the shuttle box from
being raised too high. It consists of a so-called safety rake fixed to the back of the
shuttle box, and of a roller block for the same, and arranged on the frame. When
the lay returns one of the openings in the rake comes under the roller of the block
which is so arranged that it presses down the rake with the shuttle box just as
much as it might have been raised too high by the chain links. For this purpose
the shuttle box rests on powerful springs.