IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS FOR LOOMS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS FOR LOOMS."-A communication.
Sealed the 12th January 1858, and dated the 11th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th August 1857.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS FOR LOOMS," to be as
follows:-
The pickers of looms as heretofore constructed have been composed of raw
hide, the two ends being joined together by nails, rivets, or otherwise.
This Invention consists in making a picker without a seam or joint, by the
employment of a composition consisting of a preparation of hard rubber,
gutta percha, or other analogous substance as the material of which the
pickers are manufactured, this material being vulcanized in the customary
manner in suitable moulds. Pickers thus constructed possess many advantages
over the raw hide pickers, amongst which may be enumerated their diminished
cost, and the facility which they afford for the application of Babbitt's or soft

page_text: metal bearings for the wires upon which the picker runs. These soft metal
bearings may be inserted before the rubber is vulcanized, and thus be held in
place by their form without other fastenings for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th February 1858:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel. Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS FOR LOOMS," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
1. The pickers of looms as heretofore constructed have usually been composed
of raw hide, the two ends being joined together by nails, rivets, or otherwise.
The Invention for which I have obtained Letters Patent as aforesaid,
'consists in making 'a picker without a seam or joint, by the employment of a

page_text: composition consisting of a preparation of hard india-rubber, gutta percha, or
other analogous substance as the material of which the pickers are manu-
factured, this material being vulcanized in the customary manner in suitable
moulds. The manner of preparing the hard compound of india-rubber will
be found described in detail in the Specification of a Patent granted to Alfred
Vincent Newton, and bearing date the Fourth day of March One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one. The preparation of this compound does not,
however, form any part of the present Invention, and I do not intend to limit
myself thereto, as other analogous preparations will no doubt answer the
purpose equally well. Pickers constructed of hard india-rubber compounds,
or analogous preparation, possess many advantages over the raw hide pickers
now in general use, amongst which may be enumerated their diminished cost,
and the facility which they afford for the application of soft metal bearings for
the wires upon which the picker runs. This metal is usually known in the
United States of America as "Babbitt's metal," and Letters Patent were
granted to me on the Fifteenth day of May One thousand eight hundred and
forty-three, for the preparation of this metal and its application for making
bearings. These soft metal bearings may be inserted in the body of the picker
before the rubber is vulcanized, and they will, therefore, be held in place by
their form, without providing any other fastenings specially for the purpose.
In order, however, that the Invention may be clearly understood, I have in
the accompanying Drawing shewn views of the ordinary raw hide picker, and
also of the improved picker.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of an ordinary raw hide picker as usually constructed;
Fig. 2 is a similar view of the improved picker as constructed according to
the present Invention; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same, shewing the
soft metal bearings inserted in the ends of the picker. The body of the picker,
which is made of a hard compound of india-rubber or gutta percha with other
materials, as is well known, is seen at a, a; the soft metal bearings b, b, are let
into the body of the picker while it is in a soft state. These bearings have
holes c, c, made through them for the purpose of receiving the rod on which
the pickers run. The outside of the bearings is corrugated, as seen in Fig. 3,
in order to cause the hard rubber compound a, a, to grip and hold more firmly
thereon; d, d, is a block or piece of metal, or other suitable material firmly
attached to the picker, or imbedded therein for the purpose of receiving the
pointed end of the shuttle, as is well known.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in Pickers for
Looms," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim, in conclusion, the

page_text: use and application for the construction or manufacture of pickers for looms,
of hard compounds of india-rubber or gutta percha, or other. analogous
substances, whereby pickers may be made without seam, as above described
and set forth:
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)