CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Smith, of Heywood, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 4th October 1870, and dated the 20th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1870.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, of Heywood, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
This Invention is applicable to looms for weaving terry and cut pile
fabrics, and it consists in an improved combination of parts for drawing
the wires out of the loops of the warp and inserting them into the
shed.
In performing my Invention I make use of a slide which is traversed
to and fro by a lever actuated by a cam or other equivalents; to the slide

page_text: is fixed a catch taking into a slot in the head of the wire and a stud on
which an elbow lever is mounted; one arm of this elbow lever is forked
and fits on the catch, and the other arm is acted upon alternately by
studs projecting from the frame. When the wire has been drawn out
of the fabric the elbow lever presses against the head of the wire and
directs the point towards the open shed, and when the slide again
approaches the fabric the wire is guided by a rest, and it is held in
position by a hooked instrument to which up-and-down and to-and-fro
motions are given by cams or other equivalents. As soon as the head
of the wire arrives near the selvage it is liberated from a retaining spring,
and the wire nearest the breast beam is then caught hold of by the catch
ready to be draten out at the next outward move of the slide. The
wires when inserted in the shed are held upright by a recess in the head
fitting on a plate projecting from the breast beam. In weaving velvets
breast_bcam.
or other cut piled fabrics the ends of the wires are provided with a
cutting edge. In weaving terry or looped fabrics the end of the wire is
plain. Any convenient number of wires may be employed, but I find
that five wires give a good result.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 19th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SMITH, of Heywood, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Smith, Her special licence; that
I, the said William Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns; of
such others as I, the said William Smith, 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

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
he performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention is applicable to looms for weaving terry and cut
pile fabrics, and it consists in an improved combination of parts for
drawing the wires out of the loops of the warp and inserting them into
the shed, also in the mechanism for guiding the wires as they enter
the shed.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 is an end view of a loom to which my improvements aro
applied; Fig. 2 is a front view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a plan of part
of the same. a is the crank shaft; b, the tappet shaft; c, c, c, the warp
beams; d, the vibrator; c, the lay or batten; /, the breast beam; g, the
taking-up roller, and the cloth beam. The parts above enumerated
and the others requisite to complete the loom which are not particularly
referred to hereafter are made in the ordinary manner.
My improved machinery for drawing the wires out of the loops of
the warp and inserting them into the shed consists of the following
parts is a slide fitting on the flat bar j, which is provided with V
shaped edges and is bolted to the framing of the loom; the slide is
traversed to and fro on the bar by means of the double cam b' fixed
on the tappet shaft b; this cam gives a vibrating motion to the lever k,
the end of which is connected by the link to the lever which is fixed,
on the same shaft as the lever connected by the link ♬ to the slide i

page_text: This slide is provided with a catch which takes into the slot m³ in the
head of the wire m, shewn full size in Fig. 4. To the slide ; is also
fixed the stud, on which the elbow lever 12 is free to vibrate; one
arm of this elbow lever is forked and fits on the catch i, and the other
arm is acted upon at each end of the traverse of the slide by the studs
The elbow lever
n¹ and n³, which are fixed to the framing of the loom.
n is held in position by the spring i, shewn best in the detached views
Figs. 5, 6, and 7, which represent three views of the slide with the
parts connected to it. Above the catch is the flat angle spring i,
which is also fixed to the slide; at the under side of this spring is a
round headed projection, which fits in the recess m³ in the head of the
wire, and at the outer edge of the slide is the projection, against which
the head of the wire is pressed by the forked lever » when the slide is
out, as shown in Fig. 3. To the top plate of the breast beam fis fixed
the plate f, the object of which is to hold the wires upright when they
are in the fabric, the recess m³ in the head of the wire fitting on the
edge of the plate f, as shewn in Fig. 4. There is a similar recess m⭑
at the outer end of the head of the wire, which fits on the edge of the
plate to assist in holding the wire upright. To the breast beam f
is also fixed the angle plate, the object of which is to guide the point
of the wire into the shed. The hooked instrument o shewn in Fig. 1
is moved up and down and to and fro by the cams b³ and b³ fixed
on the tappet shaft in the following manner :-The lower end of the
instrument o is jointed to the longer arm of the double lever o' which
vibrates on the stud o³, and the shorter arm of this lever has a bowl
which is acted upon by the cam b³. The cam ³ acts on a bowl on the
vertical lever o³ which vibrates on the stud o*, and to this lever is jointed
one end of the link o³, the other end of which is jointed to the
instrument o. When the slide is back as shewn in Fig. 3 the hook
of the instrument o retains the end of the wire near to the angle of the
plate fs, but as the slide i approaches the selvage of the fabric the cams
and cause the hook of the instrument o to move towards the breast
beam to allow the wire to enter the shed, and when the slide is near
the selvage the hooked instrument assumes the position shewn in
dotted lines in Fig. 1, so that it may be out of the way when the wire
is deposited in the shed and when the reed beats up. The mode of
operation is as follows, and the Drawing represents the parts in the
positions they occupy when the slide i is out:-In this loom I have shewn
four wires in the fabric and one out, but the number of wires may be

page_text: increased or diminished according to the fabric that is being woven.
When the slide i is going out the head of the wire is hooked on the
catch, and the forked end of the elbow lever is held by the spring ♬
in the position shown in Fig. 5, but when the slide is nearly out the
inclined end of the elbow lever comes against the stud n', by which
as the slide completes its traverse the elbow lever is caused to swivel
partly round, whereby the forked end thereof pushes the head of the
wire off the catch and holds it against the projection ; this action
of the elbow lever brings the point of the wire against the angle guide
plate, by which and the hooked instrument o it is guided; the slide i
is now ready to be moved by the double cam towards the selvage
of the fabric so as to insert the wire into the shed, which has at this
time been opened by the ordinary shedding motion, and as the slide is
moving towards the selvage the hooked instrument is gradually moved
by the cams and towards the front of the loom so as to allow the
wire to enter freely into the shed. When the slide i is nearly in, the
end of the lever comes against the stud ², by which the forked end
is moved to liberate the head of the wire from the projection ³, and
when the slide has completed its traverse the catch is brought in front
of the head of the first wire, the incline of the catch pushing the head
slightly to one side until the catch is home, at which time the head
springs back and the slot m' takes on the catch. At this time the
hooked instrument o is up and back as shown by the dotted lines in
Fig. 1, and the reed is free to beat up the wire and the binding pick into
the fabric. When the slide is completing its inward traverse the rounded
projection on the spring rises over the ends of the heads of the wires
in the fabric, and drops into the recesses m at the completion of the
traverse. When the slide commences its outward traverse again the
first wire being hooked on the catch is by it drawn out of the fabric,
and if pile fabric is being woven the end of the wire is provided with
a cutting edge of the usual description, but in weaving terry or looped
fabrics the end of the wire is plain.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim,—
First. The improved combination of machinery described for drawing
the wires out of the loops of the warp and inserting them into the
shed, and particularly the parts shewn in Figs. 5, 6, and 7.

page_text: And, secondly. The hooked instrument marked o for guiding the
wires, and the mode of actuating the same as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Smith, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October One thousand
cight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM SMITH. (L.S.)