CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING MACHINERY
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, LUKE
SMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Manufacturer, and
JOHN SMITH, of Heywood, in the same County, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing:
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the fourth year of
His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Luke Smith and John Smith, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said Luke Smith and John Smith, our
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Luke Smith and
John Smith, our exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING MACHINERY;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said Luke Smith and John Smith,
or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Luke Smith, for myself and the said John Smith, do hereby declare that our
said Invention consists of two improvements in those weaving machines which
arc denominated " power looms;" that one of these improvments relate to the
mode by which the picking sticks are made to operate upon the shuttle, and
the other to the back roller over which the warp is drawn in the process of
weaving. Our mode of performing the first-mentioned improvement I proceed
to describe with reference to the Drawings hereunto annexed.
weaver.
In the ordinary power looms to which our Invention relates there are two
fly wheels, one at each end of the crank shaft, and above each of these fly
wheels is suspended to the top rail, upon a pivot or centre, a vibrating lever,
technically called a picking stick, whose office it is to strike or shoot tho
shuttle, thus forming a mechanical substitute for the arms of the hand-loom
Now, instead of operating upon the said levers or picking sticks by
geer or other mechanism heretofore employed, we fix upon the periphery of
each fly wheel certain inclined curvilinear projections, which we denominato
"inclined planes," and each of these inclined planes is made to operate upon
its respective picking stick at overy second revolution of the crank shaft, one
picking stick being operated upon at one revolution whilst the other is at rest,
and the latter put in motion at the succeeding revolution, when the former is
at rest. To obtain this state of rest to the picking sticks alternately, they are
alternately moved out of the line of action of the inclined planes, or their
respective fly wheels, by the eccentric or other movement in common use for
that purpose, with which our Invention does not interfere, our improvement
consisting in a novel mode of bringing the picking sticks into and not out of
operation, and our mode of effecting this is by means of "inclined plains"
upon the fly wheels, in the manner represented in the attached Drawing, in
which Figure 1 affords a side view or elevation of our improvement, and
Figuro a plan. a represents one of the aforesaid fly wheels. b, an inclined
plane fixed thereon, which by the revolution of the fly wheel comes in contact
with an antifriction roller c, mounted upon a stud fixed to the socket of the
picking stick d, and for the convenience of adjustment the said stud is
moveable in the slot c, and is fixable at any desired point by means of a nut
above. ff, is the top rail, to which is screwed a centre pin 7 by means of
the nut h, and to this pin is suspended the picking stick through a collar in
which it passes, and becomes the centro of motion, as shown on the plan in
dotted lines, by the different. positions of the picking stick. h is the bell
crank suspended to the top rail upon a swivel joint, which crank operates
upon the picking stick, to remove it out of the range of the inclined planes by

page_text: the action of the mechanism before alluded to, and common to other power
looms. To guard against an accidental revolution of the fly wheel in the
wrong direction, we have added to the inclined plane b another piece l, bent
into an opposite angle, which receives and throws off the roller c without
producing an injury to the loom.
We now proceed to notice our improved substitute for the back roller.
This consists in a fixed rail m, Fig. 3, which we make of cast iron, and bolt
to the frame. It has a longitudinal cavity or groove n, n, extending to within
two or three inches of each end of the fixed rail. In this cavity or groove
we place a loose rail of the sectional form represented, also made of cast
iron and smoothed over at top, over which the warp is stretched.
Our claims to exclusive right in our Invention consist in the mode described
of giving motion to the picking sticks by means of inclined planes fixed on
the fly wheels, and to the substitute for the back roller described and delineated
in Figure 3.
In witness whereof, I, the said Luke Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.
Inrolled the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.