A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANISM FOR REGULATING THE DELIVERY OR LETTING OFF OF WARP IN LOOMS FO KNITTING OR WEAVING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hezekiah Conant, of, Willimantic, in the County o
Windham, and State of Connecticut, of the United States of America,
for the Invention of "A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANISM
FOR REGULATING THE DELIVERY OR LETTING OFF OF WARP IN LOOMS FO
KNITTING OR WEAVING."
Sealed the 27th July 1860, and dated the 17th May 1860.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Hezekiah Conant at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition and Declara-
tion, on the 17th May 1860, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT
KNOWN that I, HEZEKIAH CONANT, of Willimantic, in the County of Wind-
ham, and State of Connecticut, of the United States of America, have
invented "A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANISM FOR REGULATING THE
DELIVERY OR LETTING OFF OF WARP IN LOOMS FOR KNITTING OR WEAVING," and.
I do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which it is to be performed, or in other words its construction and mode
of operation, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following
Specification and the accompanying Drawing.
The nature of my Invention consists in combining a belt guide with a
yielding or depressible roll (over which the warp passes in weaving, the saine

page_text: being commonly designated as the whip roll) in such a manner that a belt
running upon conical pulleys may be shifted, and their relative difference
in speed either increased or diminished according as the said roll may be
moved in one or the other direction by the action of said warp, whereby
the letting off or delivery of the same is regulated in a superior manner as
hereafter described.
The Drawing represents an end elevation of a weaving loom with my improve-
ment or Invention applied thereto; A, A, is the loom frame; B is a large geared
wheel, which is fastened to the end of the warp beam or roller; C, D, denotes
the lay of the loom or that part which carries the reed that beats the filling
to its place after a throw of the shuttle; E is the crank shaft, which operates
the lay D; F is a ratchet wheel, which with the pawls i, i, represents
the "take up" motion or mechanism, it being positive and regular in its
action as in most looms; L is a worm which engages with gear B, and
by its motiom operates to turn the beam C upon which the warp is wound,
such warp being represented in the Drawing by a red line. The shaft M
upon which the worm L is fastened receives its motion in the following
manner, from the combination of the gears T' and T2, which are respectively
fastened upon the two shafts n¹ and n². The shaft n' being set in motion by the
band O and the pulley p' that is fixed on the crank shaft E will simultaneously
impart motion in one direction to the doubler bevelled gear S, and by
the means of belt R. the cone pulleys N¹, N°, and gear T, motion in a contrary
direction will also be given to the other doubled bevelled gear S², the said
gears S¹ and S³ being fitted so as to revolve freely upon the shaft M. The
bevelled gear T is made so as to revolvo freely upon a stud, upon one side of
the block or cat head G, which is firmly fixed to the shaft m by a set screw c
(or other equivalent contrivance) and engages with the gears 'S' and S³, one
of which should be arranged above and the other below it, as represented in
the Drawing. Now, if the wheel S* be held stationary while the gear S' may be
in revolution, it will be evident that the wheel T will travel around upon the
face of the wheel S and turn the shaft M with it. Again, if the wheels S'
and S revolve at the same speed, but in contrary directions, the wheel T3 will
be revolved and have an equal impulse both from above and below, and will hold
the shaft M stationary. Such demonstrates the fact that the shaft M will turn
on its axis only when there is a difference in the speed of the two gears S¹
and S. Now when the belt R is on the pulleys when their diameters are
equal both pulleys will revolve to equal rates of speed and consequently.no.
motion will be imparted to the shaft M, but when the belt is moved to the
left on the pulleys, the speed of the gear S will be increased over that of the

page_text: gear S', and consequently the shaft M will rotate in a direction corresponding
with the greater amount of impulse.
The cone pulleys should be so constructed that the diameter of the smaller
end of the lower or driving one shall be somewhat less than that of the larger
end of the other pulley, the same being in order that when the two pulleys are
at equal speed the belt will be a short distance from the said ends. The
object of this is that in case the warp should become slack the belt guide may
be moved back far enough to cause the mechanism to so operate as to reverse
the motion of the shaft M, and thereby cause the slack of the warp to be
rewound upon the warp roller or beam. The warp as it leaves the beam C
passes over the rod or roll ; this roll (generally denominated the "whip
roll") should be mounted either in a swinging frame or upon levers, so as to
admit of being moved forwards or towards the lay, as the warp is made shorter
by the process of weaving the cloth. By means of a spring operating upon
an arm below the fulcrum, the roller a will be caused to press backwards, and
consequently keep the warp tight. The frame or levers upon which the roll
is mounted are pivoted near the upper left hand corners of the loom frame and
behind the worm L, and one of them should extend downward and be jointed
to one end of a belt guide or shifter d, whose other end is attached to a
spring, arranged and supported as shown in the Drawing.
Now; in process of weaving; if the warp beam were held stationary the roll a
would be drawn forward toward the lay by the shortening of the warp; this
consequently would move the belt guide d to the left, and the belt following
its motion would accelerate the speed of the shaft n' and set the shaft M in
motion, which, operating by means of the worm Land gear B, would unwind
the
warp so as to allow the spring to produce a rearward movement of the
roller x, which would continue until the speed of the letting off was equal to
the taking up, when the roller would continue stationary. As the diameter of
the mass of the warp would grow smaller by the warp being unwound from it,
such would require a slight acceleration only of the motion of the beam, the
position of the whip roll governing the speed thereof until the whole warp
should be unwound. I have found out from experience that a pair of cones
three inches in length is amply sufficient to let off a wind of warp having
an outside diameter of eighteen, and an inside one of five inches, or even
greater extremes in diametric measurements.
In nearly all devices heretofore contrived for letting off warps the shaking of
the loom occasioned by the action of the lay and picker motions or mechanism
has been a serious obstacle; furthermore the constant jerking of the warp.
upon the whip roll is productive of evil effects. By my improvement the

page_text: jerking of the warp does not produce such bad consequences, neither does the
shaking and jarring of the loom affect the .certainty of the delivery or letting
off of the warp, as the belt R yields only to the general pressure, and is not at
all affected by short spasmodic jerks of the warp upon the whip roll.
I do not claim mounting a whip,roll upon a lever or in a swinging frame
or affixing weights or springs to make it bear against the warp and yield
to the depression thereof, neither do I claim the manner of giving motion to a
shaft from the difference of speed of two others, nor do I claim broadly regu-
lating the delivery of the warp by the strain or action thereof to cause a roll
to vibrate. But I do claim the combination of a whip roll of a loom with a
belt guide so that a belt may be shifted, and the relative speed of a pair of
cone pulleys may be made to differ as and whenever said roll is moved with
respect to the lay as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hezekiah Conant, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of May in the year of our Lord I
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
HEZEKIAH CONANT. (L.s.)