Means or Apparatus for Use in Punching Jacquard Cards.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Aug., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 2nd May, 1899-Accepted, 2nd June, 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Means or Apparatus for Use in Punching Jacquard Cards.
We, JAN SZCZEPANIK, Engineer, and LUDWIG KLEINBERG, Manufacturer, both
of Ungargasse 12, Vienna III, Austria, do hereby declare the nature of this in-
vention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus for enabling the cards employed in
Jacquard weaving to be punched by electric means directly from a suitable
template.
For this purpose the template is composed of conducting and non-conducting
parts, corresponding to the ground and to the figure of the pattern, and in which
the binding is either already represented on the template by a suitable alterna-
tion of conducting and non-conducting fields in the squares formed upon it, or is
produced by the card-punching machine itself, by means of a special binding
apparatus provided on the machine, in which latter case the representation of
the design which is made conducting in the ground portion of the template and
non-conducting in the figure, may serve without any binding or squares.
The apparatus comprises a series of contact levers bearing upon a movable
template, each of which levers is connected with an electro-magnet and the arma-
tures of these electro-magnets are situated in the openings of a grating which is
capable of being raised and lowered between the magnetic cores and the needles
of a Jacquard machine. These armatures when the machine is at rest lock the
needles.
When certain of the said electro-magnets are energized according to the con-
ducting portions of the fields of the template which come at times under the
contact levers, and as the grating is lowered, those armatures which are not
attracted move down with the said grating and release the needles so that the
corresponding hooks of a card punching machine can enter into operation. The
grating, together with the armatures, thus constitutes an electrical card which
can be copied with the help of a card-copying machine of the usual kind which
is connected in the usual manner with the hooks.
When the bindings are to be made by the machine itself, then the contact
device which is in contact with the template (which in this case is not provided
with any binding or squares) is connected with two groups of electro-magnets,
of which one group is provided with a device for throwing out of operation
certain of these magnets according to the binding, whilst the other group of
electro-magnets act to throw out of operation all those magnets of the first group
which correspond to the conducting surface of the template, so that, in this
manner the binding (which may be of other type) can be made in the non-
conducting part of the template subsequently by means of the device for throw-
ing out of operation.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 illustrates an arrangement of the
electrical card punching apparatus diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is an elevation of
the grating, and Fig. 3 shows, by way of example, a template which is provided
with bindings, and which is employed in this machine. Fig. 4 illustrates an

page_text: arrangement of binding device applicable to such a machine. Fig. 5 is a modi-
fied form of the disengaging device of a binding apparatus of this kind, and
Fig. 6 shows by way of example a template employed without binding or squares.
The template A consists of metal plate which is electrically conductive at those
parts a that are left bare and shown white, and is made non-conducting at the
parts b which are covered with an insulating medium such as oil colour, gelatine,
or the like. The template A is movable in the usual manner for the purpose of
moving the several rows of fields of the squares into the scope of the contact
device. This latter consists of a number (depending upon the number of fields
in the width of the template) of levers B which are conveniently formed of thin
sheet metal, and are pivoted on a non-conducting axle 1. Between every two
levers there is mounted upon the axle 2 a thin spacing plate C of insulating
material, and all these plates are connected by means of cross rods c c¹ to form
a frame which keeps, by means of the rod c¹, the contact levers B bearing upon
the template, but which, when rotated upwards round the axle 2 engages with
the contact levers by their noses and raises the same.
In order to produce a better contact, the levers B may be pressed down by
means of a brush roller 1) of non-conducting material, which for the purpose of
reducing the wear of the template, allows of the necessary lifting of the levers
before each movement of the template. The contact levers are each conduc-
tively connected with one of a series of small electro-magnets E the windings of
which are connected by means of the conductor e and the wire el with the
battery F, which latter has its other pole connected to a rubbing contact f,
bearing on the template A.
In front of the electro-magnets, which are arranged above one another in
horizontal rows, there is arranged a grating G (Figs. 1 and 2) which is capable
of being raised and lowered, and in the perforations of which are inserted the
magnet armatures g which fill up only a portion of each perforation and so long
as they are not attracted can be raised or lowered together with the grating.
When the machine is in the position of rest the armatures prevent the needles H,
which pass through the needle board h, of an ordinary Jacquard machine, from
being moved by the action of the springs h, but in the operation of the machine,
as soon as the corresponding electro-magnets are energized and their armatures
are attracted, by means of the corresponding levers bearing upon the conducting
squares or portions a, in the rows of fields of the template, that are brought
under the contact levers, only the said armatures will, when the grating G is
lowered, prevent their needles from being moved, whilst the other armatures
which move down with the grating will release their needles, so that the latter
needles are pushed by the spring pressure into the corresponding perforations of
the grating. These perforations which are occupied by needles correspond to the
holes of the Jacquard cards. The corresponding hooks I are brought within
the path of their knives i, and as the hooks form a portion of the well-known
card-punching machine, the card can be copied in the ordinary manner by the
lifting of the knives and hooks.
After each row of fields has been dealt with, the current is mechanically
switched off in the well known manner, and by the movement of the board K,
the hook needles are pushed back and the "griffe" is again lowered, whilst the
grating is lifted together with its armatures to its original position.
As shown in Fig. 3, the templates used in this operation are so constructed
that each card representing a pick is produced by means of a row of squares, and
the binding is represented by a corresponding alternation of the conducting and
non-conducting squares.
For the flat ornamental portions which mostly occur, it is sufficient to have a
small template without any binding and without any squares. The bindings are
then prepared by the car-punching machine itself which is provided for this
purpose with the binding device shown in Fig. 4. The bindings for the con-
ducting or metallic ground a and for the non-conducting figure 6 of the template

page_text: illustrated in Fig. 6 may be punched either on separate cards or upon the same
card. If this template be moved under the contact device in the manner above
stated, then as the levers would be in contact with metal in all points of the
ground, holes will be punched for the entire said ground, and therefore no bind-
ing would be represented. Now, in order to prevent this, there is inserted in
the circuit of each electro-magnet E, viz.:-in the circuit leading to a contact
lever B, an electro-magnet E¹ which is capable of being moved by any suitable
lever device, and in the conductor leading to the battery, there is inserted a
switching-out device, whilst that portion of the conductor leading from the
battery to the rubbing contact of the template is adapted to be cut-out by means
of a switch L.
The movable electro-magnet E¹ may be moved nearer to its armature k which
in
is constructed in the form of a pin, or it may be moved away from the same;
which latter case, when the magnet E¹ is energized, the armature is drawn out of a
conducting guide casing which is connected by means of a branch lead, to the
second contact point of the switch. In the casing there projects a bolt m which
is under spring pressure, through a side hole, the bearing m of which is con-
nected by means of a branch lead to the wire leading from the electro-magnet E
to the contact lever B. When the armature has been moved in, it bears
against the bolt m and constitutes a conducting connection between the casing
and the bolt, so that when the switch L is reversed (as shown in Fig. 4) the
battery current can pass through the branch conductor."
consist as
The switch arrangement for each of the electro-magnets E may
shown in Fig. 4 of a contact rod N which is under spring pressure, and which is
The former can
adapted to be moved in the bearing, and of a contact piece n¹.
be pressed down by its spring on to the contact piece, whereby the battery
circuit for the corresponding electro-magnet E is closed, assuming that the
switch L is in the position shown dotted in Fig. 4.
By means of the rotary cam discs M whose cams are arranged on the periphery
of the disc in each case to correspond to the binding, the contact rod N can be
lifted temporarily off from the contact piece n¹ and thus the circuit for the corre-
sponding binding place of the template is interrupted so that the electro-
magnet E is cut out. The discs M of all the electro magnets E, are combined
together for each kind of binding to form a roller. Similarly, the bearings n
and also the contact piece n¹ are each arranged in a common bar. When the
contact levers B come in contact with the conducting ground A of the template
all the electro magnets E which correspond to this ground are energized. But
when the roller which represents by the grouping of its cams, the binding to be
made in the ground, has rotated so far as to cause its cams to act upon certain
contact rods N, according to the binding in each case, a number of electro mag-
nets E are cut out, viz., those which form the binding corresponding to the roller.
If now the card punching machine be allowed to continue working in the above
described manner, holes will be punched in the ground a so as to represent that
binding which corresponds to the arrangement of the cams on the said roller.
The template is connected with the battery F and as in consequence the electro
magnets E are energized whose respective electro magnets E correspond to the
conducting ground of the template, the respective armatures & are drawn out and
thereby a conducting connection of these electro-magnets E through the branch
conducts leading to the battery through the bolts m, armatures and casings is
rendered impossible. If now the switch L be moved into the position shown in
full lines in Fig. 4, all the electro magnets E can be energized which correspond
to the non-conducting surface of the template, whilst the armatures of the
corresponding electro magnets E¹ are not moved and bear against the bolts m.
By the rotation of a second cam roller M with cams differently arranged, again
certain of these energized electro magnets can be cut out and thus the insulated
surface of the template can be provided with a desired binding which differs
from that formed in the conducting portion a.

page_text: Instead of the above described switch device with cam rollers, it is an advan-
tage to combine the device shown in Fig. 5 with the card punching machine.
This device consists in that the bindings are formed with the help of ordinary
Jacquard cards which are made of non-conducting material and which are
placed around the metal cylinder P (without holes) that is connected with the
battery F.
This cylinder presses the card in each case against the spring wires which
are connected with the electro magnets E. If there is a hole in front of one of
these wires in the Jacquard card (that serves as an insulator) a wire will come in
contact with the metallic cylinder and the battery current will energise the corre-
sponding electro magnet, which again, by the attraction of its armature situated
in the grating (Fig. 1) prevents the corresponding hook needle from moving.
Also reversely the card may be constructed as a conductor and the cylinder as
a non-conductor in which case the card is connected with the source of current.
Further, it will be readily understood that also in the template, the figure can
be formed of conducting portions of the metal plate, and the ground may be
formed by an insulating layer.
We are aware that experiments have already been made (by Lacasse) to pro-
duce an electrically operated card-punching machine but in practice, as the
hooks were raised directly by the electro-magnets a strong current and strong
magnets were necessary.
Now, according to the present invention, by means of small electro-maguets
which are so weak that they do not influence one another, a card is formed of the
armatures, which is copied by mechanical means in a well-known way, and it is
possible to employ a current that is so weak that it is unable to pierce or destroy
the insulating layer of the template.
Dated this 2.1 1
t
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicants.
means or Apparatus for Use in Punching Jacquard Cards.
We, JAN SZCZEPANIK, Engineer, and LUDWIG KLEINBERG, Manufacturer, both
of Ungargasse 12, Vienna 111, Austria, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
1
This invention relates to apparatus for enabling the cards employed in
Jacquard weaving to be punched by electrical means directly from a suitable
template.
For this purpose the template is composed of conducting and non-conducting
parts, corresponding to the ground and to the figure of the pattern, the binding
being either (a) already represented on the template by a suitable alternation of
conducting and non-conducting fields composed of squares formed upon it, or (b)
produced by the card-punching machine itself by means of a special binding
apparatus provided on the machine so that a representation of the design made
conducting in the ground portion and non-conducting in the figure may serve as
the template without any binding representation or formation
thereon.
of squares
Apparatus according to this invention comprises a series of contact levers
which bear upon a movable template and each of which is connected with an

page_text: electro-magnet, and the armatures of these electro-magnets are situated in the
openings of a grating which is capable of being raised and lowered between the
cores of the magnet and the needles of a Jacquard machine.
These armatures, when the machine is at rest, lock the needles.
When, how-
ever, certain of the electro-magnets are energized in accordance with the con-
ducting portions of the row of fields of the template for the time being under the
contact levers, and the grating is lowered, those armatures which are not
attracted move down with the grating and release the needles so that the corre-
sponding hooks can enter into operation.
The grating, together with the armatures, thus constitutes an electrical card,
which can be copied with the help of a card-copying machine of usual kind con-
nected in the usual manner with the hooks.
When the bindings are to be made by the machine itself, the contact device
in contact with the template, which in this case is not provided with a binding
representation or squares of any kind, is connected with two groups of electro-
magnets, of which one group is provided with a device for cutting out certain of
these magnets in accordance with the binding, whilst the other group of electro-
magnets throw out of operation all those magnets of the first group which corre-
spond to the conducting surface of the template, so that in this manner the
binding (which may be of other type) corresponding to the non-conducting part
of the template can be made subsequently by means of the cutting-out device.
In the drawings filed with our Provisional Specification Fig. 1 illustrates
diagrammatically an example of an electrical card punching machine according
to this invention, Fig. 2 is an elevation of the grating, and Fig. 3 shows, by way
of example, a template provided with a binding representation and employed in
this machine; Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a binding apparatus applicable to
such a machine; Fig. 5 shows a modification of the cutting-out device of a bind-
ing apparatus of this kind; and Fig. 6 shows, by way of example, a template
without binding representation or squares adapted for use with the apparatus
shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
The template A consists of a metal plate, is electrically conductive at those
parts a that are left bare and shown white, and is made non-conducting at the
parts b, which are covered with a suitable insulating medium, medium as oil
colour, gelatine, or the like. The template A is movable in the usual manner
for the purpose of moving the several rows of fields of squares into the range of
the contact device. The contact device comprises a number (depending upon
the number of squares in the width of the template) of levers B which are conve-
niently formed of thin sheet metal, and are mounted on a non-conducting axle ³.
Between every two levers there is mounted upon the axle a thin spacing
plate C of insulating material, and all the plates C are connected by means of
cross rods c, cl to form a frame, which, by means of the rod e¹, keeps the contact
levers B bearing upon the template, but which, when rotated upwards about the
axle engages with the contact levers by their noses b₁ and raises them. In
order to produce a better contact, the levers B may be pressed down by means of
a brush roller D of non-conducting material, which allows the levers to be lifted
before each movement of the template as is necessary for the purpose of pre-
serving the template.
The contact levers are each conductively connected with one of a equal number
of small electro-magnets E the windings of which are connected by means of a
conductor e and a wire e¹ with the battery F, which has its other pole connected
to a rubbing contact f that bears on the template A.
In front of the electro-magnets, which are arranged one above another in
horizontal rows, is a grating G (Figs. 1 and 2), which is capable of being raised
and lowered, and in the perforations of which are inserted the magnet arma-
tures g, which fill up only a portion of each perforation, and as long as they are
not attracted, can be raised or lowered with the grating. When the machine is in
the position of rest, the armatures prevent the needles H, which pass through

page_text: the needle board h, of an ordinary Jacquard machine, from being moved by the
action of the springs
.
As soon, however, during the operation of the machine, as the corresponding
electro-magnets are energized and their armatures are attracted, by means of the
corresponding levers bearing upon the conducting squares a in the row of fields
of the template brought under the contact levers, only the armatures that are
thus attracted prevent their needles from being moved on the lowering of the
grating G, whilst the other armatures, which move down with the grating,
release their needles, so that the latter needles are pushed by the spring pressure
into the corresponding perforations of the grating. These perforations occupied
by needles, correspond to the holes of the Jacquard cards. The corresponding
hooks I are brought into the path of their knives i, and as the hooks form a
portion of the known card-punching machine, the card can be copied in the
ordinary manner by the lifting of the knives and hooks.
After each row of fields has been dealt with the current is mechanically
switched off in a known manner, and by moving the board K, the hook needles
are pushed back and the "griffe" is again lowered, whilst the grating is lifted
together with its armatures to its original position.
As shown in Fig. 3, the templates used in this apparatus are so constructed
that each card representing a pick is produced by means of a row of squares, and
the binding is represented by a corresponding alternation of the conducting and
non-conducting squares.
For the flat ornamental portions which mostly occur, it is sufficient to have a
small template without any binding representation and without any squares.
The bindings i.e., the regularly arranged binding-producing holes within the
areas determined by the template-are then produced by the card-punching
machine itself, which is provided for this purpose with the binding device shown
in Fig. 4.
The binding-producing holes for the conducting or metallic ground a and for
the non-conducting figure of the template illustrated in Fig. 6 may be punched
either on separate cards or upon the same card.
If this template were moved under the contact device in the manner herein-
before stated, then as the levers would be in contact with metal at all points of
the ground, holes would be punched for the entire ground, and therefore no
binding would be represented.
In order to prevent this, there is inserted in the circuit of each electro mag-
net viz. in the conductor leading to the contact lever B-an electro-magnet E¹
which is capable of being moved by any suitable lever device; and in the con-
ductor leading to the battery, there is inserted a cutting-out device; whilst that
portion of the conductor leading from the battery to the rubbing contact of the
template can be cut-out by means of a switch L.
The movable electro magnet El may be moved nearer to its armature k,
which is constructed in the form of a pin, or it may be moved away from the
same; in the latter case, when the magnet El is energized, the armature is drawn
out of a conducting guide casing 7, which is connected by means of a branch
conductor, to the second contact point of the switch. Through a side hole, there
projects into the casing e, a bolt m, which is under spring pressure and whose
hearing m is connected by means of a branch conductor to the wire leading from
the electromagnet E to the contact lever B. When the armature k has been
moved in, it bears against the bolt m and constitutes_a_conducting connexion
between the casing and the bolt, so that when the switch L is reversed (as shown
in Fig. 4) the battery current can pass through the branch conductor.
The cutting-out device for each of the electro-magnets E may comprise, as shown
in Fig. 4, a contact rod N which is under spring pressure and is adapted to be moved
in the hearing n, and a contact piece n¹. The former can be pressed down by its
spring on to the contact piece, whereby the battery circuit for the correspond-

page_text: ing electromagnet E is closed, if the switch 18 in the position indicated by a
dotted line in Fig. 4.
cams,
By means of rotary cam discs M, whose cams are arranged on the peripheries
of the discs to correspond to the binding to be produced for the time being, the
contact rod N can be lifted temporarily off from the contact piece n¹ and thereby
the current for the corresponding binding place of the template interrupted and
the electromagnet E is cut out. The discs M of all the electromagnets E are com-
bined together to form a roller for each kind of binding; similarly, the bear-
ings n and also the contact pieces n' are respectively arranged in a common bar.
When the contact levers B are in contact with the conducting ground a of the
template, all the electro-magnets E that correspond to this ground are energized.
But when the roller that represents by the number and grouping of its
the
binding to be made in the ground, has rotated so far as to cause its cams to act upon
certain contact rods N according to the binding, those electromagnets E are cut out
that form the binding corresponding to the roller. If, now; the card-punching
machine be caused to continue working in the herein before described manner,
holes will be punched to correspond to the ground a so as to represent that bind-
ing which corresponds to the arrangement of the cams on the roller in question.
The template is, during this, connected with the battery F and as, in consequence
of this, those electromagnets El are energized whose electromagnets E correspond
to the conducting ground of the template, the respective armatures are drawn
out and thereby the conductive connexion of these electromagnets E through the
branch conductors leading to the battery through the bolts m, armatures k, and
casings, is rendered impossible. If, now, the switch L is moved into the posi-
tion shown in full lines in Fig. 4, all the electromagnets E that correspond to
the non-conducting surface of the template (but no others) can be energized,
since the armatures of corresponding electromagnets E alone have not moved
and bear against the bolts m. By the rotation of a second cam roller M with
cams differently arranged, certain of these energized electromagnets can be cut
out and thus for the insulated surface of the template there can be produced an
arrangement of holes adapted to produce any desired binding which differs from
that adapted to be produced by the holes made for the conducting portion a
Instead of the above described cut-out device with cam rollers, it is an advan-
tage to combine the device shown in Fig. 5 with the card-punching machine.
With this device the binding-producing holes are formed with the help of ordi-
nary Jacquard cards p, which are made of non-conducting material and are placed
around a metal cylinder P (without holes), which is connected with the battery F.
This cylinder presses the card in each case against the spring wires pl, which are
connected with the electromagnets E. If there is a hole in front of one of these
wires in the Jacquard card (which serves as an insulator), a wire comes into con-
tact with the metallic cylinder and the battery current energizes the correspond-
ing electro magnet, which, again, by the attraction of its armature situated in
the grating (Fig. 1), prevents the corresponding hook needle from moving. The
card may, reversely, be constructed as a conductor and the cylinder as a non-
conductor, and in this case the card is connected with the source of current.
Further, it will be readily understood that also in the template, the figure can
be formed of conducting portions of the metal plate, and the ground may be
formed by an insulating layer.
We are aware that experiments have already been made (by Lacasse) to pro-
duce an electrically operated card-punching machine but in practice, as the
hooks were raised directly by the electro-magnets, strong current and strong
magnets were necessary; with such a strong current the template cannot be
sufficiently insulated and the many electro magnets, which must be placed in
a very small space, act upon one another in such a manner that there is always
a greater number of them in action than are energized by the current. Now,
according to the present invention, by means of small electro magnets which are
so weak that they do not influence one another, a card is formed of the armatures,

page_text: which is copied by mechanical means in a known way, and it is possible to
employ a current that is so weak that it is unable to pierce the insulating layer
of the template.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is;
-
1. An electrical card-punching machine for the production of Jacquard cards
direct from a template, in which a row of contact levers B are arranged apart from
one another and rest, so as to be capable of being lifted off, upon a template A
composed of conducting and non-conducting portions corresponding to the ground
and the figure and possibly the binding, and are connected with corresponding
electro magnets E whose armatures g act upon the hooked needles of a card-
copying machine and are arranged in a grating G, which is capable of being
raised and lowered, whilst the movable template is connected by means of a
rubbing contact with a source of current F, in the circuit of which the electro
magnets E are inserted, so that the contact levers when in contact with conduct-
ing portions of the template make circuit and energise the corresponding electro
magnets, whose armatures, thus attracted, arrest the needles situated in front of
them, whilst the remaining armatures, which are not attracted by their electro
magnets and descend with the grating, release their needles so that the hooks of
the card-punching machine can be suitably moved, substantially as described and
shown.
2. In an electrical card-punching apparatus according to the preceding claim,
a device for producing, by the card punching machine itself, the regularly
arranged binding-producing holes in areas determined by the template, in which
movable electro magnets E each acting upon an armature & capable of adjust-
ment in a guide casing 4, are inserted in the circuits of the electro magnets E,
and can be connected by means of a switch L with shunt circuits in which are
arranged the casings and spring bolts m between which and the corresponding
casings conducting connexions are established when the armatures are pushed
in, whilst between the electro magnets E and the source of current F there is
inserted a device for cutting out certain of these magnets E corresponding with
the binding, so that first by operating the cut-out device binding holes are made
corresponding to the conducting portion of the template and the circuits of all
the electro magnets E corresponding to this conducting portion are broken by
means of the electro magnets El, and then, by reversing the switch, the electro
magnets E corresponding to the non-conducting portion of the template are
energized, and by operating the cut-out device the binding-holes corresponding
to the non-conducting portion of the template can be made, substantially as
described and shown.
3. In an electrical card-punching apparatus for the production of Jacquard
cards direct from a template, a device for cutting out certain electromagnets E
in making binding holes within areas determined by the template, comprising
an imperforate Jacquard cylinder P and spring wires 21 that are moved by
Jacquard cards p placed over the cylinder, which is made of conducting material
whilst the cards are made of non-conducting material, or vice versa, the con-
ducting part (cylinder or cards as the case may be) being connected with the
battery F, and the spring wires are electrically connected with the electro-
magnets E, so that the armatures corresponding to the group of holes in the
card, are attracted into the apertures of the grating G, substantially as described
and shown.
4. In a device according to Claim 2 for producing the regularly arranged
binding-producing holes in areas determined by the template, a cut-out device
in which a battery F is connected with the bearings n of movable contact rods N,
and each electromagnet E is connected with a contact piece n', whilst by means
of rotary cam discs M, whose cams correspond in number and position to the

page_text: binding desired, the electrical contact between the rods N and the contact
pieces is broken by raising the rods N of those electro magnets that correspond
to the binding places and must therefore he cut out, substantially as described and
shown.