IMPROVED MEASURING APPARATUS FOR LOOMS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Bell, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEASURING
APPARATUS FOR LOOMS."
Sealed the 23rd February 1864, and dated the 28th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Bell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th August 1863.
I, ROBERT BELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVED
MEASURING APPARATUS FOR LOOMS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
⚫ This Invention relates to improved measuring apparatus specially designed
for application to looms in order to measure the fabric immediately upon its
being woven.
The improved apparatus comprises a small roller or wheel fitted with points
or other frictional appliance to receive motion from the fabric, in contact with
which it is applied; or the fabric may be passed between two rollers or wheels,
from one of which the measurement is taken. The measuring roller is com-
bined with a train of wheels and with a dial and pointer, or equivalent indi-
cating or registering details. The measuring apparatus may be applied to
the fabric at any convenient part between the fell and the take-up.roller or**

page_text: beam, a very suitable position for it being just below the breast beam, and
with the measuring roller bebind the fabric. The framing of the loom may
be originally formed to receive the measuring details, or these details may be
arranged in a portable form in or on a separate casing or bracket piece
capable of easy application to existing looms. The measuring roller may
be made adjustable on its spindle so that it may be set to suit fabrics of
different widths, or in some cases the spindle may be continued across the web
and be supported at both sides of the loom, whilst it may be fitted with two
or more rollers. There may be combined with the measuring details a bell or
other alarm appliance arranged to call the attention of the weaver when a pre-
determined quantity shall have been measured, or a contrivance may be added
for stopping the loom when a predetermined quantity is measured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Bell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eight day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Bell, Her special license that I, the said Robert Bell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Bell, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might nake, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MEASURING
APPARATUS FOR LOOмs," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Bell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manuer 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said I.etters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Bell, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improved measuring apparatus specially
designed for application to looms in order to measure the fabric immediately
upon its being woven.
It has been proposed to combine indicating apparatus with various parts in
connection with the take-up motion of a loom with the view of measuring the
cloth, but any arrangements of the kind indicated have been defective chiefly
on account of their connection with parts having a different office, and a
distinguishing feature of my Invention consists in the provision of details
specially arranged for measuring and indicating directly from the woven cloth
and quite independently of other parts of the loom.
•
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing one
of the various modifications of my improved apparatus.-
Figures 1 and 2 are front and edge views of the apparatus drawn full size,
and Figure 3 is a sectional view, drawn one-fourth size, and showing the
apparatus as placed in a loom.
The apparatus comprises a small roller or wheel A fitted with points or
other frictional appliance to receive motion from the fabric B, in contact with
which it is applied; or the fabric may be passed between two rollers or wheels,
from one of which the measurement is taken. Thus, the second roller may
be the frictional take-up roller C, as shown in Figure 3, it being understood
that the roller C acts, so far as the measuring is concerned, simply as a
counter-pressure roller to keep the cloth B in contact with the measuring
roller or wheel A. This measuring roller or wheel A is fixed on a spindle D,
upon which it is adjustable, so that it can be set to the selvage of the fabric,
and this spindle D is conveniently carried by a small casing E, which can be
easily attached to the loom framing by means of the lug F. Inside the
casing E a train of wheels, indicated by dotted lines, communicates the motion
of the measuring roller A and spindle D to a pointer G working over a
dial H, on which yards or other measures are marked. It is useful to apply
a set finger I to show from what point a measurement is to be read, and it is
also useful to connect the main pointer G to its gearing by a spring friction
plate, so that on commencing to measure it may be set to zero.

page_text: The details of the measuring apparatus may obviously be modified in many
ways. The apparatus may be applied to the fabric at any convenient part
between the fell and the take-up roller or beam, a very suitable. position for it
being just below the breast beam and with the measuring roller behind or
within the fabric. The framing of the loon may be originally formed to
receive the measuring details, or these details may be arranged in a portable
form in or on a separate casing or bracket piece, as shown in the accompanying
Drawings, and capable of easy application to existing looms. In some cases
the spindle (D) may be continued across the web and be supported at both
sides of the loom, whilst it may be fitted with two or more rollers (A). There
may further be combined with the measuring details a bell or other alarm
appliance arranged to call the attention of the weaver when a predetermined
quantity shall have been measured, or a contrivance may be added for stopping
the loom when a predetermined quantity is measured.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the applying to looms
for weaving of independent measuring apparatus, substantially such as is
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Bell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
ROBERT BELL. (L.S.)