IMPROVING THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE TENSION OF THE TWIST THREADS OR WARP WHILST IT IS WEAVING IN POWER LOOMS INTO CLOTH
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Eccles, of Thirty-four, Surry Street,
Strand, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, and of the University
of Cambridge, Master of Arts, for the Invention of "IMPROVING THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE TENSION OF THE TWIST
THREADS OR WARP WHILST IT IS WEAVING IN POWER LOOMS INTO CLOTH."
Sealed the 7th June 1859, and dated the 1st January 1859.
F
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Eccles at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st January 1859. .
1
I, WILLIAM ECCLES; of Thirty-four, Surry Street, Strand, Westminster, ini
the County of Middlesex, and of the University of Cambridge, Master of Arts;
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVING THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE TENSION OF THE TWIST THREADS
OR WARP WHILST IT IS WEAVING IN POWER LOOMS INTO CLOTH," to be as follows: -
Firstly, by giving the back bearer a horizontal to-and-fro motion by
placing it in the interval between similar end bearings in the shorter part of
two similar levers, whereof the fulcrum of each is near, to wit, within three
inches of each of the said end bearings, and the longer end of each of the levers
being connected by chain or rod with the slay swords; I thereby counteract
or exceed the action upon the yarn or warp produced by the opening of the
shed; but in order to retain the above result, which is in order to secure
greater slackness to the yarn, except when the slay is beating up and the yarn
ought to be kept tight.

page_text: Secondly, I dispense with the very heavy weights most commonly used in
cotton looms altogether, and in using the levers commonly used with lighter
weights, to wit, ten pounds in worsted looms; I dispense with weights
altogether by placing a horizontal rod under the levers last aforesaid, and I
then substitute between the said levers and the said horizontal rod spiral
springs movable towards the fulcra as the diameter of the beam diminishes.
In place of the weights so used as aforesaid in worsted looms, I further place
the bearings of the aforesaid horizontal rod in slotted brackets, so as to be
easily removable by the hand or foot for the purposes of pulling back, and by
thus dispensing with weights and as aforesaid counteracting the effect pro-
duced by the opening of the healds or shed, I secure a much less tension on
the twist and consequent breakage, except at the time when great tension is
really required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Eccles in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ECCLES, of 34, Surry Street, Strand, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, and of the University of Cambridge, Master of Arts, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Eccles, Her special licence that I, the said William
Eccles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Eccles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVING
THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE TENSION OF THE TWIST
THREADS OR WARP WHILST IT IS WEAVING IN POWER LOOMS INTO CLOTH," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Eccles; 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

page_text: 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 Eccles, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
To be the better understood, I will suppose myself standing at the back of
the loom and facing the yarn or twist beam, and shall describe my Invention
mainly with a view to that side of the loom, which in my position aforesaid
is on my left hand, remarking that the arrangements on the right are similar
to those on the left.
:)
My Invention relates, firstly, to the "back bearer," otherwise called "back
rest" or "rest;" and, secondly, to the weight levers or apparatus, which, acting
on the ropes' at the back of a loom, keep the yarn in a state of tension.**
First, as respects the back bearer; instead of using a bearer fixed in position,
or one dependent for its motion upon weights or springs, I place- the back
bearer between two levers approximately vertical in position, one of which is
on each side of the loom, in such a manner that the fixings of the back
bearer are near to, to wit, within three and a half inches of the centre of
the stud or fulcrum of the lever, on the short end of which the back bearer
is carried. The longer end of the said lever is on the 'reverse, or under side
of the said fulcrum, and is linked or connected by a rod or chain to the slay
sword. Hence when the loom is at work the back bearer has a to-and-fro-
motion derived from the slay sword. The particular points to-be as aforesaid
connected in the lever aforesaid with the slay sword are readily ascertained
by known laws, and depend on the circumstances of the individual case to be
dealt with, five-eighths of an inch being in, many cases a convenient amount
of horizontal oscillation in the back bearer. Be it observed that I prefer
an iron back bearer revolving on centres, and am careful so' to modify the
subsidiary arrangement of details in respect of the brackets attached to the
framework, as that the yarn shall when the beam is half full, pursue a vertical
course from the yarn beam to the back bearer. This concludes the description
of the first part of my Invention.
The second part of my Invention consists in placing a horizontal bar or rod
very low down bebind the loom and below the ordinary weight levers. The
said bar or rod is with a view to easy removal when necessary, placed in
brackets horizontally slotted, and instead of weights being used, I produce
ension on the weight ropes by substituting a stiff spiral spring between the

page_text: rod aforesaid and the weight lever in place of the ordinary weight; the said
stiff spiral spring is moved by the weaver nearer to the fulcrum as the beam
diminishes in diameter, in precisely the same manner as the ordinary
'weights were formerly moved from notch to notch. It is, however, some-
times practicable so to use the first part of my Invention as to make an
exceedingly strong spring available for regulating. the tension of the weight
ropes, and this leads me in some cases to prefer substituting a mere stud
or catch for holding up the end of the weight lever aforesaid instead of
the springs and horizontal bar aforesaid. But under the last-mentioned
circumstances it will be found convenient slightly to alter the ordinary
form of lever, and to place the fulcrum between the rope and the stud or
catch, and to place the said stud or catch below instead of above the longer
end of the lever, in this case I have, therefore, commencing from my left, first,
the rope acting upwards on the lever, second, the stud or fulcrum, and thirdly,
the said stud or catch bearing up the longer end of the weight lever. It
remains only to say that I connect the weight rope to the weight lever by the
ordinary piece of wrought iron having a hook at one end, (which is fastened
to a loop in the said rope and a screw thread at the other end, which said
other end being passed through a slot in the said weight lever, permits the
tightening or slackening of the said weight rope by means of the thumbscrew
working on the said thread. And the said thumbscrew is used for diminishing
or increasing the tension of the said weight ropes. When the said stud or catch
in used, it is necessary to have the said weight lever so far loosely fitting the
fulcrum as to permit the lever to be forced off the said stud or catch when
the weaver is pulling back.
First, I claim the method of producing the motion of the back bearer,
back rest, or rest, by connecting it with the slay sword as above described.
Secondly, I claim the method of regulating the tension of the weight ropes
above described.
Thirdly, I claim the combination of the said method of moving the brick
bearer with the said method of regulating the tension of the weight ropes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Eccles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM ECCLES.
(L.S.)