CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Knowles, of the City of Manchester,
Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 23rd December 1858, and dated the 27th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Knowles at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th July 1853.
I, JOHN KNOWLES, of the City of Manchester, Manager, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING " to be as follows:-
My improvements are applicable to looms for weaving fabrics
requiring two or more shuttles. To the drop box containing the
shuttles is attached a chain or cord, which, after passing over a guide
pulley, is made fast to a drum loose on a stud fixed to the lay sword;
on this drum is fixed a ratchet or piu wheel, the number of teeth or
pins in which varies according to the number of shuttles in the drop
box. Two catches mounted upon studs in the loom side are placed
so that one catch reaches over, and the other under, the ratchet or pin
wheel; the catches are lowered or raised so as to come in contact with

page_text: the ratchet wheel by means of an endless chain, having elevators,
lepressors, and dwells upon it, passing over a pulley; this chain is made
to advance one link at every revolution of the tappet shaft by means of
an intermittent wheel fixed to the chain pulley driven by a stud
projecting from a disk on the tappet shaft.
The above described machinery is suitable for moving one shuttle at
a time, but when the shuttles are required to rise or fall two at a time
it is necessary to employ two double sets of catches for acting on the
ratchet wheel mounted on the stud projecting from the lay sword.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Knowles in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 26th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN KNOWLES, of the City of Manchester, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing-date-the Twenty-seventli lay of July; in the
year of our Lord One thousand. cight lundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Fler heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said John Knowles, Her special
licence that I, the said John Knowles, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as T, the said John Knowles, iny 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 CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Knowles, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Knowles, 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; that is to say:
.
My Invention consists in an improved combination of machinery for
moving.up and down the drop box of a loom working with two or more
shuttles; and in order that my Invention may be fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued
by 'me; reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the
letters, and figures marked 'thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, is an end elevation of a loou to which my improvements
are applied. Figure 2, is a. front view, and Figure 3; is a plan of the
same. Figures 4, and 5, are detached. views of the tappet chain on an
enlarged scale.. a, is the crank shaft.;.b, the connecting arms; c, 'the lay
swords; d.the lay bottoin; e, the drop box, which in this instance is
shown with four. compartments, but more or less may be used according
to circumstances; and f, is the tappet shaft driven from the crank shaft
by the wheels.al and these parts are made. in the usual manner.
In addition to. the lay swords c, I make use of a supplementary 'lay
sword; fixed. below to the fulcrum shaft, and above to the frame e',
of the drop box e; the study, is fixed in the supplementary lay sword c',
and supports a pulley h, to which are attached the ends of two chains;
the one marked h', after passing over the guide pulley, is attached
to the drop box c, and to the one marked his attached a weight h³,
which counterbalances. the weight of the drop box; this weight is
guided in a socket, which is not shewn in the Drawing, as it would
hide some of the working parts. To the back of the pulley ", is
attached a catch wheel ', with four notches, which is put in motioni
by the catches, jk, and 1; in the same manner as the prism or
cylinder of a jacquard engine. These catches are actuated by the
tappet chain, which passes over the ilrum n, then under the guide
roller and over the guide roller p; the drum », is fixed to the
wheel gearing into the-pinion on the tappet shaft by which it is

page_text: put in motion; the drum n, has eight pins projecting from its periphery
taking into holes in the links of the chain m, consequently as the drum
revolves it gives motion to the chain. The catches k, and 1, are
furnished with arms &', and ', each of which has an antifriction roller
bearing upon the chain m, these catches are drawn upwards by springs,
one of which, marked , is shewn in Figure 1; by this means the anti-
friction rollers at the ends of the arms ', and ', are kept in contact
with those links of the chain which form the dwells and elevators; but
when a link forming a single depressor, such as the one marked m³, in
Figures 4, and 5, or one forming a double depressor, such as m², in the
same Figures, passes over the drum », the antifriction rollers drop into
the recesses in the said drum, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 1,
thereby elevating the catches in connection therewith. In Figure 1,
the antifriction roller at the end of the arm ', is on the summit of
a single elevator similar to m', in Figures 4, and 5, consequently the
catch j, is depressed. The action of the link marked m³, would depress
the catch i, 'and leave the catch j, up, and the action. of the link m²;
would depress both the catches i, and j. The upper catch i, is furnished
with a stud, which bears upon the lower catch . These two catches are
.connected by the spring, and the catches j, and 2, are connected in
the same manner. The mode of operation is as follows: the drop
box e, is shown in the position required, when the third compartment
of the shuttle box (counting from above) is in a line with the shuttle
race. The lay is supposed to be advancing towards the breast bean,
consequently the catch j, having been depressed by an elevator on the
chain m, acting on the roller at the end of the arm, is now in
the position for acting on the catch wheel h'; when the lay is home
the catch wheel, having performed the fourth of a revolution, will have
wound up a portion of the chain h', thereby raising the drop box e,
until the lowest compartment is in a line with the shuttle race.
During the back stroke of the lay the drop box is held stationary by
the holder, which is guided in projections from the supplementary
lay sword c', and pressed down by the spring coiled round it, as clearly
shewn in the Drawing. When the lay again advances towards the
breast beam the drum n, which is moved by the pinion, on the tappet

page_text: shaft, has performed the eighth part of a revolution, thereby bringing
another link of the chain m, under the antifriction rollers projecting
from the arms, and ; if the link thus brought forward is a plain
dwell similar to those marked m³, in Figures 4, and 5, all the catches
i, j, k, and 1, are held out of contact with the catch wheel /', conse-
quently no motion is imparted to it as the lay beats up, and the drop
box c, remains stationary. As soon as a link similar to m³, comes
opposite the end of the arm, or ', the antifriction roller drops
into the recess in the drum », and the drop box e, is lowered one
compartment by the catch wheel , coming in contact with the
catch , or 1, which moves the pulley, round a fourth of a revolution
when the lay beats up; but if, instead of lowering the drop box one
compartment, it should be required to lower it two compartments, then
the link of the chain m, must be similar to the one marked m², in
Figures 4, and 5, both the antifriction rollers of the arms k', and ',
then drop into the recesses in the drum n, thereby elevating both the
catches, and 1; consequently, when the lay moves towards the cloth
beam, the catch wheel +, first comes in contact with the catch k,
which moves it one fourth round, and then with the catch 1, which
moves it round another fourth. When the drop box is required to
lift two compartments at one stroke of the lay, the link m², is brought
into action, and both the catches i, and j, being thereby depressed, give
the requisite motion to the catch wheel . It will be evident to any
practical weaver that the position of the links and the length of the
chain must be varied according to the pattern that is required to be
produced. The picking motion and other parts of the loom are partly
shewn in the Drawing, but they are not described, as they are well
understood, and form no part of my improvements. When it is only
required to move the drop box one compartment at a time the catches
, and 7, may be dispensed with, and the catches i, and k, retained. In
some cases the chain m, may be dispensed with, and the requisite
elevators, wells, and depressors made on the surface of a drum
working on a fixed centre like the drum n.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, 1 declare that I claim as of my Invention the

page_text: improved combination of machinery as herein-before shewn, and as
described, for moving up and down. the drop boxes of looms working
with two or more shuttles.
In .witness whereof, 1, the said John Knowles, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, One 5
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.