Improvements relating to the Healds or Lifting Wires of Looms, and to the Manufacture of the same.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 18th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 1:th Nov., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Healds or Lifting Wires of Looms,
and to the Manufacture of the same.
I, MAX ALFRED FICKER, Manufacturer, of 8, Mathildenstrasse, Chemnitz, in
the Kingdom of Saxony, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Healds or lifting wires which are composed of two wires soldered or twisted
together have generally the drawback, that they are apt to tear the warp threads
when the latter are drawn through the eyelets.
To avoid this inconvenience, I make the heald or lifting wire from one piece of
hardened steel wire, in which the eyelet forms a loop produced by bending and
pressing.
The manufacture of such healds from hardened steel wire presents special
difficulties, due to the elasticity of the material, which tends to bring the wire back
to its original shape, after it has been bent or twisted.
I first form a loop by bending the steel wire round a suitably shaped core or
former (corresponding to the shape of the eyelet), press the steel wire against the
said core by means of two steel cheeks, and prevent the superposed parts of wire
from shifting, until a stamp has descended upon the same and pressed them one
upon the other.
In order to produce the eyelet in the middle by this method and
to provide the healds also with eyelets at their ends, I employ special mechanism.
For each of the three eyelets I employ a core or stud corresponding in shape and
size to the shape of the eyelet, and a moveable bending pin or stud fixed to a crank
or lever adapted to describe a semicircle or a circle around the respective core,
thereby bending the steel wire on or over the said core, after which each of the
two cores or studs for the outer eyelets turns on an axis situated in the prolongation
of the healds or wires and thereby twists the corresponding extremity of the wire,
while the latter is held fast by a pair of moveable clamps or jaws.
The bending pin for the eyelet in the middle of the heald is preferably fixed
with its crank or holder to a spur wheel, the axis of which is vertical and coincides
with that of the core, the said spur wheel being set in motion by a toothed rack or
wheel, and surrounding a piston, which is situated axially above the core, while the
wire is placed horizontally on a table or platform.
For bending and twisting the wire at the ends, I employ at each end a stud or
core perpendicular to the heald and formed on a jointed arm adapted to turn on an
axis situated in the prolongation of the heald, said jointed arm being preferably
mounted on a hollow shaft, which receives rotary motion by means of a spur wheel
and a toothed segment; the bending pin is parallel to the axis of the core and
formed on a crank mounted on a shaft, the axis of which coincides with that of the
core, but which is situated on the opposite side of the heald; and the said shaft
receives a semicircular motion (half a revolution) on its axis from a toothed wheel
and toothed segment.
The wire to form the healds is fed into the machine at one end and cut off to the
required length by a pair of knives or two pairs of knives.
To provide, that in forming the eyelet in the centre, the two halves or straight
ends of the wire do not meet in the same plane, one of the cheeks has an inclined
plane, so that during the operation of bending one of the wire ends is lifted above
the other.
The method of operation which I have found most advantageous is as follows;-
After the required length of steel wire has been fed into the machine, and while
t is still connected with the remaining wire, the mail or eyelet for the warp thread

page_text: is formed by causing the bending pin to revolve around the stationary forming pin
or core, after which the eyelet is pressed, as described above. Subsequently the
length of wire necessary for a heald is cut off by two pairs of knives, the ends of
the wire are bent over their forming pins or cores by causing the bending pins to
make half a revolution (the upper half) and laid upon the slotted lower die or anvil,
after which the upper die is caused to descend and hold the wire, and the forming
pins or cores are caused to revolve with their respective axles, so as to twist the
wire ends in the neighbourhood of the just formed eyelets. The shortening of the
heald produced by the twisting, is allowed by the axles carrying the bending pins,
said axles being adapted to move longitudinally and carried back to their normal
position by springs. Subsequently, the forming pins or cores are pressed back by
means of the jointed arms, the lateral jaws or cheeks (provided with semi-oval
recesses for the eyelets), are withdrawn from the heald, and finally the finished
heald is lifted out by a pair of levers.
Dated this 19th day of November 1892.
FAIRFAX &
ER,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Healds or Lifting Wires of Looms,
and to the Manufacture of the same.
I, MAX ALFRED FICKER, Manufacturer, of 8, Mathildenstrasse, Chemnitz, in
the Kingdom of Saxony, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
Healds or lifting wires which are composed of two wires soldered or twisted
together have generally the drawback, that they are apt to tear the warp threads
when the latter are drawn through the eyelets.
To avoid this inconvenience, I make the heald or lifting wire from one piece of
hardened steel wire, in which the eyelet or mail forms a loop produced by bending
and pressing, or by bending, pressing and soldering, the latter operation being
performed in any ordinary manner.
Such a heald is shown by Figs. 16 and 17 of the accompanying drawings.
Soft steel wire or ordinary soft iron wire is not suitable as it would have to be
made very thick, to prevent its being bent out of shape, consequently it would
Occupy too much space, and the warp threads would meet with too much friction.
The manufacture of such healds, from hardened steel wire, by ordinary means, is
lifficult because the wire always tends to assume its original straight shape, after
having been bent, and the mail does not retain the shape which had been given to
it, by coiling and bending the wire round a core pin.
To overcome or avoid these difficulties, I have devised the following method of
manufacture.
I first form a loop by bending the steel wire round a suitably shaped core or
former (corresponding to the shape of the eyelet), press the steel wire against the
said core by means of two steel cheeks, and prevent the superposed parts of wire
from shifting, until a stamp has descended upon the same and pressed them one
upon the other.
In order to produce the mail or eyelet in the middle by this
method and to provide the healds also with eyelets at their ends, I employ special
mechanism, as represented by the annexed drawings, of which
Fig. 1 is an elevation showing the relative position of the tools at the beginning
of the operation;
Fig. 2 is a plan showing the position of the tools after the formation of the mail
by bending;
Fig. 3 shows the device for bending the ends into eyelet shape before the
commencement of the twisting;

page_text: Figs. 4 to 8 illustrate the process of pressing the mail or thread eyelet ;
Figs. 9 and 10 show the position of the tools necessary for the formation of the
end eyelets oo, after these eyelets have been completed;
Figs. 11, 12 and 13 are end elevations and sections of a machine embodying my
invention;
Fig. 14 is a side elevation and Fig. 15 a plan of the machine.
For bending the wire into eyelet-shape I employ a core or stud corresponding in
shape and size to the shape of the eyelet, and a moveable bending pin or stud
fixed to a crank or lever adapted to describe a semicircle or a circle around the
respective core, thereby bending the steel wire on or over the said core, after
which each of the two cores or studs for the outer eyelets turns on an axis situated
in the prolongation of the healds or wires and thereby twists the corresponding
extremity of the wire while the latter is held fast by a pair of moveable clamps or
jaws.
The bending pin c Fig. 1 for the mail or thread eyelet in the middle of the
heald is preferably fixed with its crank or holder h to a spur wheel 1 Fig. 1 and 2
the axis of which is vertical and coincides with that of the core, the said spur-
wheel being set in motion by a toothed rack or wheel s' and surrounding a piston /
which is situated axially above the core, while the wire is placed horizontally on a
table or platform. The pin c' is constantly pressed downwards, by a spring acting
on a bolt and enclosed in a vertical arm which connects the pin c¹ with the
wheel (Fig. 1).
For bending and twisting the wire at the ends (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10), I employ
at each end a stud or core a', a', perpendicular to the heald and formed on a
jointed arm adapted to turn on an axis situated in the prolongation of the heald,
said arm having a spring joint and being mounted on a hollow shaft w³, which
receives motion by means of a spur wheel and a toothed segments. The
bending pin is parallel to the axis of the core a² and formed on a crank mounted
on a shaft w¹, the axis of which coincides with that of the core, but which is
situated on the opposite side of the heald; and the said shaft receives a semi-
circular motion, (half a revolution) on its axis from a toothed wheel r³ and toothed
segments.
The wire to form the healds is fed into the machine at one end and cut off to the
required length by a pair of knives m¹ m² or two pairs of knives.
To provide, that in forming the eyelet in the centre, the two halves or straight
ends D and D' of the wire do not meet in the same plane (Fig. 1) one of the
cheeks has an inclined plane, so that during the operation of bending, one of the
wire ends D' and the pin C' is lifted above the other (D).
The mechanism for pressing the thread eyelet or mail chiefly comprises a pair of
cheeks enclosing the core pin a', Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 8, and a stamp or die e
which is fixed in the vertically moveable piston l.
Around the pin a¹ enclosed by the steel cheeks 61 63 (Figs. 1 and 2) the pin c¹
describes a circle, and bends the wire D, D', into a loop (Fig. 4) subsequently the
cheeks b', 6' move apart, and the stamp e descends upon the wire thus bent, (Figs. 5
and 6), after which the cheeks 6' 6 again approach each other and impart to the
heald the shape shown in Figs. 6 and 7, finally the upper stamp or díe e presses
the heald strongly against the matrix or anvil e¹ Fig. 6.
The wheel and the shafts w', w³, w³, to, receive rotary motion from toothed
sectors - gearing into the spur wheels - The wire is cut off to the required
length by a pair of knives m² m² which at the required moment move into the
position shown in Fig. 1 by dotted lines.
The various mechanisms described above for the formation of the thread eyelet
by bending and pressing, and for shifting the ends of the wire into eyelet form,
by bending and twisting, may be united in a single machine, whereby the healds
may be produced more rapidly and with less labour in the following manner;-
After the required length of steel wire has been fed into the machine, and
while it is still connected with the remaining wire, the mail or eyelet for the warp

page_text: thread is formed by causing the bending pin c¹ to revolve around the stationary
forming pin or core a', after which the eyelet is pressed, as described above.
Subsequently the length of wire necessary for a heald is cut off by two pairs of
knives, mm the ends of the wire are bent over their forming studs or cores a³ a³
by causing the bending pins c³, c³ to make half a revolution (the upper half) with
the shafts w w³, and laid upon the slotted lower die or anvils g', after which the
upper dies are caused to descend, and hold the wire and the forming studs a' a³
or cores are caused to revolve with their respective axles, 10³ w, so as to twist the
wire ends in the neighbourhood of the just formed eyelets Fig. 9. The shortening
of the heald produced by the twisting, is allowed by the axles 10³ 20, said axles
being adapted to move longitudinally and carried back to their normal position by
springs Subsequently the forming pins a³, a³, are pressed back by means
of the jointed arms, the cheeks (provided with semi-oval recesses for the
eyelets) are withdrawn from the heald, and finally the finished heald is lifted out
by a pair of levers.
The machine is otherwise constructed as follows: On the horizontal main
driving shaft W¹ are mounted grooved drums N N N the first serving to actuate
the mechanism for bending the thread eyelet, while the others act on the
mechanisms for bending the end eyelets.
In the groove of the drum N is situated the friction roller of the lever H',
which has its fulcrum at X', and at its free end a bolt projecting into a slot of the
lever H³, thereby imparting a shaking motion to the shaft w connected with
the lever H. This shaft sets in motion the toothed sector s¹, and consequently also
the bending pin c¹..
With the drum N' is connected a cam S¹, which sets in motion the lever H'
pivoted at X (Fig. 11), and also the connecting rod Z', lever H* and rod Z',
which acts on an eccentric E mounted on the axle X'. This eccentric actuates
the bolt or piston and the die e fixed to the same, so as to press the die upon the
thread eyelet.
After the wire has been cut off by the knives m² m² set in motion from the
cam S, either direct or through the intermediary of the lever mechanism H, ZH0,
the drum N sets in motion the toothed sector s', by means of its friction roller
situated in the groove of the drum N, and thereby turns at the required
moment the shaft w', which carries the pin c serving to bend the end eyelets,
and the tooth wheel. Subsequently the cam S' presses the stamp g' downward
by means of the lever mechanism H° 7 H, thus preventing the end of the wire
from taking part in the twisting of the end eyelets which now takes place, as
described above.
The toothed sector & serving to turn the end eyelets is set in motion by the
cam S by means of the lever mechanism H' Z* H³.
The drum N and cam S' serve to bend, hold fast and twist the left end eyelet,
in the manner just described, after the knives mm have cut off the wire D
to the desired length also on the left side, said knives being, actuated by, the
cam Sex by means of a lever mechanism of which the parts Zx Zox H10x are
shown in Fig. 14.
The motion of the cheeks b¹³ is effected from the cam S (Fig. 12) by means
of levers H. The feeding of the wire through the hollow shaft w³ is effected, by
the slide C mounted on the bed. G of the machine frame. The said slide curries
the bearings of a shaft w which carries an arm. A', which presses on the wire so
as to clamp it fast, and also an-arm A connected with. the lever H by the rod Z.
The lever His connected with the crank disc K by a rod. Z8, which disc.is.
screwed fast on the shaft W set in motion from the main driving shaft by means of
bevel wheels R' R'.
When the lever H" moves to the right, (Fig. 14) the arm. A abuts against the
pin t, after which the slide takes part in the right hand motion, without that the
arm Atouches the wire, and the wire-guides. F F F connected with each other
and with the slide by chains, occupy the positions determined by, the lengths of

page_text: the chains. If the lever H" now moves to the left, the armn A' is pressed against
the wire D, whereupon the slide and the wire move to the left, and the
guides F F F prevent the wire from being bent out of shape.
The cam S produces the longitudinal shifting of the shaft w¹w (Fig. 14), which
is necessary for pushing the pins a² a out of the end eyelets, and this by means of
the levers H*, H, H, (Figs. 14 and 15).
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A heald or lifting wire consisting of a single hardened steel wire (Figs. 16
and 17) in which the mail is a loop formed by bending and pressing, or by bending,
pressing, and soldering the wire in the manner or by the process substantially as
described.
2. The process for forming the thread eyelet or mail of a lifting wire, which
consists in first bending the wire around a core to form a loop, subsequently pressing
it against the core by a pair of cheeks and preventing a lateral shifting of the
superposed parts of the wire until the latter have been firmly pressed together
from above by a stamp and thereby the tendency of the eyelet to open by the
elasticity of the wire has been removed, substantially as described.
3. The process for forming the three eyelets, which consists in causing suitable
pins c', c, c, to describe a circle or a semicircle around suitably shaped cores or
studs a, a, a, and thereby to bend the steel wire D D around or over the same,
after which the wire ends held fast by the stamps g¹² are twisted together by
causing the studs a³ a³ to revolve on an axis w³ situated in the prolongation of
the lifting wire, substantially as described.
4. The appliance for bending a single steel wire into eyelet shape for the
formation of the mail or thread eyelet, comprising a pin c secured to a tooth
wheel enclosing a piston and adapted to receive rotary motion from a toothed
rack or spur wheels, substantially as described.
5. The appliance for bending and twisting the end eyelets of the lifting wires,
chiefly comprising suitably shaped studs a² a connected with shafts ww, and
adapted to turn on axes situated in the direction of the lifting wire, and pins c³c
connected with shafts w¹ w and adapted to describe a semicircle around the said
studs, substantially as described.
6. A machine for the manufacture of lifting wires by the method specified in
Claims 2 and 3, comprising a bending pin c¹ for the thread eyelet, said pin being
adapted to revolve around the die e, and secured to a toothwheel through which
passes axially the die spindle l, also pins c³, a³, c³, a³, connected with the
shafts w¹, 10, 10³, wo, placed perpendicularly to each other and propelled from the
main driving shaft, said pins serving to twist the end eyelet ends, also a pair of
cheeks b, and a die e actuated from the main driving shaft, so as to press the
thread eyelet, and a pair or pairs of similarly actuated stamps g', ', which prevent
the ends of the wire from taking part in the twisting of the end eyelets, substan-
tially as described.
7. In a machine as specified in Clause 6, a slide provided with a clamping
device, and set in motion by means of crank disc, connecting rod and lever, for
pushing the required length of wire through the hollow shaft w, in combination
with moveable wire guides to prevent the wire from being bent out of shape,
substantially as described.
· נ
1011 1
C
1000
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents.