An Improved Shuttle-driving Apparatus for Looms.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 22nd Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by GEORGE FRANKLIN BUTTERFIELD, of Hotel Lang-
wood, Woodland Road, Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United
States of America, Hotel Keeper.]
An Improved Shuttle-driving Apparatus for Looms.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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 is designed to furnish novel means for actuating the shuttle of a
power loom, such means being independent of the loom frame and applicable
therefore to various kinds of frames, the device having certain adjustments adapting
it to be used with any of them.
These improvements are embodied in a suitable base adapted to rest on the floor
beneath the loom, and having at each end a horizontal rock-shaft, an upright arm
therefrom connected by a strap to the vibrating picker-staff, which throws the
shuttle, another arm at about a right angle to the first, furnished at its free end
with a small wheel or roller to bear against the edge of a cam on the rotating shaft
of the loom, and a. spring or springs adapted to be compressed between an abutment
on the base and a wing mounted on said rock-shaft. These devices act alternately
at opposite ends to drive the shuttle back and forth, and are supplemented by the
adjustments and attachments herein shown and described. The actuating cams are
of peculiar shape and will be fitted upon the main shaft of the loom, commonly by
slipping on end wise from each end. They will be set to conform to the relative
position of the arms they are to actuate, and the position and tension of the springs
will be adjusted as explained. The height of the rock-shafts from the base may he
also adjusted readily. Suitable buffers check the backward movement of the arins
under recoil of the springs. The arm which bears by its terminal roller upon
the periphery of the cam stands parallel to and somewhat in front of the cam shaft.
In the drawing,
Fig. 1 is a rear elevation,
Fig. 2 a top plan, and
Fig. 3 an end view of my improved apparatus, showing the cams in position on
their shaft.
A represents part of the frame, B the main shaft, and C C the rotating cams
fixed thereon at such distance apart and in such opposite relation, radially, to
each other as the length of the base and time of actuation of the shuttle may
require.
D is the base-plate, preferably formed as a single flat-bottomed iron casting to rest
upon the floor, to which it may be secured by bolts or screws. By preference I cast
in one with this base-plate the vertical flanges E at and parallel with each edge
and near each end thereof, to constitute bearings or to act as supports for the
adjustable bearings, and also the transverse vertical flanges e extending across near
the ends of the base as stops for the buffers.
In
F F are slotted vertically adjustable plates, secured to the flanges E by bolts f
through their slots, and having at their upper ends bearings for the transverse rock-
shaft G, which may thus be set at various heights from the floor as required.
supplying an order where the height is definitely known this adjustment is
unnecessary and the bearings are permanent on the flanges E or equivalent uprights.
The base itself may be raised when required by introducing a plate or bars
beneath it.
The ack shaf
I
naoicotina from it at about a right

page_text: angle to each other as shown, and also a broad wing J or an equivalent series of
short arms extending about diametrically opposite to the arm H, to bear against and
compress the series of short stiff springs K. The arm I and wing J are shown in
Fig. 3 as integral, as I prefer to make them; and I am accustomed to secure them
to the rock-shaft by a groove and key, while the arm H has through its hub a set
screw bearing firmly against the rock-shaft, but permitting radial and longitudinal
adjustment as required.
The arm H extends upwardly and at its upper end is recessed to receive the strap L
running about horizontally to the middle of the picker-staff which is pivoted at the
foot and has a rocker-spring and a vibrating stroke as heretofore, to drive the shuttle
across in its race, and to retire for another stroke, while like devices at the other end
of the race drive the shuttle back again.
The armi I is furnished, at its extremity, with an anti-friction roller i mounted for
rotation on a short shaft between two lateral lugs or projections. This roller travels
upon the periphery of the rotating cam C, being pressed firmly into contact with
it by the springs K, which are compressed when the larger part of the cam
bears against the roller and immediately and forcibly expand when the smaller part
presents itself.
The rotating of the can, therefore, gradually forces down the free end of the arm I
against the springs resistance to compression, the arm H and the connected strap L
and picker-staff take position to drive the shuttle the instant the cam releases the
arm I and permits the expansion of the springs to give a quick partial rotation to the
rock-shaft. Collars O on this shaft prevent its longitudinal movement. I interpose
a suitable buffer R between the transverse flange e and the outer face of the wing J,
to prevent their forcible contact, and keep the roller i from striking the smallest part
of the cam when the springs expand.
The springs bear at their opposite ends against a transverse abutment P, which is
preferably made adjustable as shown, to vary the tension of the springs. Said abutment
is an angle-bar, slotted to receive the bolts by which it is adjusted and secured to the
bed-plate, and its upright face is furnished with a vertically adjustable plate p having
short studs entering the barrel of the springs to keep them in position upon it.
Like studs are formed on the face of the wing J for the same purpose. The vertical
adjustment of the abutment P p is designed to provide for cases where the rock-shaft
bearings are raised by the vertical movement of the plates F F, already referred to.
When the bearings are permanent, the vertical adjustment of the abutment is not
required and the plate p is omitted.
The shape of the cam C is best shown in Fig. 3. Its smallest part, for about
120 degrees, is a mere hub which the roller i on the arm I does not strike at all,
being so near to the shaft B. The rise of the cam from its smallest to its greatest
diameter occurs during the next third of its rotation, while its remaining third or
thereabouts has its periphery in a true arc of a circle, described from the axis of
rotation. On this arc-shaped portion, the roller i travels easily, holding the arm H
in its extreme position and the picker-staff draws back by its rocker-spring in readiness
to receive the shuttle on arrival at that end of its race and to drive it back again
when the point c of the cam releases the arm and roller I i.
For the purpose of easing the movement of the cam during the compression of the
springs and subsequently, and to lessen the lateral pressure on the arm I, tending to
move it bodily in the direction of the length of the rock-shaft, I prefer to place said
arm with its roller i not directly beneath the main shaft B, but, in practice, about an
inch and a half in front thereof as in Figs. 2 and 3. This arrangement is peculiar to
my invention. By it the spring pressure exerted through the arm I and its roller i
upon the arc-shaped portion of the periphery of the cam C, tends to accelerate rather
than retard rotation, since such pressure is not radial upon the cam, but upwardly,
aside from the centre, upon the retreating periphery of the cam.
The roller i by preference runs freely on an axis having a longitudinal groove
containing lubricating material or fibre saturated with a suitable lubricant. One end
of the axial bolt is screw-threaded to screw into the corresponding lug of the arm-

page_text: head, and a check-nut S on the tip of the bolt holds it securely, the opposite end
being slotted to receive a screw-driver.
While I have represented my apparatus, aside from the cams, as distinct from
the loom frame, as I prefer to make it, it is of course obvious that the base D might
be secured to the frame bars instead of to the floor. I therefore do not limit my
improvements exclusively to devices independent of the frame.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The base D provided with suitable bearings, the rock-shaft G oscillated therein,
and the arms H, 1, and wing J projecting therefrom as described, in combination
with the cam C bearing peripherally against the roller i of the arm I, and with the
springs K acting against the wing J, for the purpose set forth.
2. The independent base-plate D adapted to rest upon and be secured to the floor,
the upright flanges or bearing supports E thereon, and the oscillating rock-shaft G
supported by said flanges distinct from the loom frame, in combination with the
arin H and means for adjusting it radially upon said shaft, and with the arm I
and wing J and the cam C and springs K serving to oscillate it, substantially as
set forth.
3. The base-plate D having vertical flanges E, the adjustable bearing plates F
attached to said flanges, and the rock-shaft G mounted thereon with its projections H, I, J,
in combination with the peripheral cam C on the main shaft and the springs K
and abutment P with means for adjusting such abutment on the base-plate,
substantially as set forth.
4. The base-plate provided at each end with bearings and with the rock-shafts G G
mounted therein independent of the loom frame, in combination with the arm I i
and wing J secured to each shaft G between said bearings, and the arm H fixed
thereon outside of the bearings, and with the springs K abutting on said wing
and base-plate, and the cams CC on the rotating loom-shaft B, substantially as
set forth.
5. The combination of cam-shaft B, cams C thereon, transverse rock-shafts G
and springs K, with the arms I on said rock-shafts arranged parallel to shaft B and
pressing by their terminal rollers upon the periphery of said cams but not radially
thereon, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 17th day of September 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.