IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1856

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time 'prescribed
by' the Act.).
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Fernand Rodolphe Pfnor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
February 1856.-A communication.
I, FERNAND RODOLPHE PFNOR, Artist, of Darmstadt Town, of the Great
Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, do hereby declare the nature. of. the said Inven-
tion for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING, to be as follows:-
I construct a loom, which may be driven by a steam engine or other motivė
power, and which is adapted for weaving the various fabrics which may be
produced by the hand loom, the jacquard loom, and the electric loom. The
warp is wound upon a roller or beam, from which it passes through the loom
to the cloth beam on which the cloth is wound up. Motion is communicated
to the various parts of the loom from a main shaft which carries a pulley, and
is driven by an endless belt or strap from another pulley with a fly wheel
driven by the engine or other power. The strap is loose, so that it does not
drive the loom until tightened by means of a roller, which is pressed against it
by a lever, which is itself worked by another lever moved by hand and secured
by a ratchet and click; by means of this hand lever the loom is easily stopped
and started. The main shaft carries a crank or cranks, which work in slots in
a vertical lever, carrying the batten or lay, or which are. otherwise connected.
to the batten, so as to give it its backward and forward motion. The reed is

page_text: not fixed directly to the lay, but to a frame which is capable of sliding on the
lay, and which is secured to it by a catch. On releasing this catch, the reed
is drawn back by springs, so that it ceases to beat up the weft. If the shuttle
fails to pass into its box and stops in the shed, the catch is released by an
arrangement of levers, and the reed is drawn back and prevented from striking
the shuttle. The warp threads are raised and lowered by strings with loops,
or glass eyes, or other description of harness attached to a series of transverse
bars, bent at right angles at each end, and turning loose upon a spindle; the
bent portions or arms form levers, by which the transverse bars can be raised
and lowered with the strings and warp threads connected to them; these bars
may be made of thin sheet iron, so that a considerable number of them may
be fitted, one inside the other, in a comparatively small space, and in some
cases I employ one of these bars for each warp thread. When the pattern to
be woven requires that several warp threads should always be raised simul-
taneously, the strings or harness of all such warp threads may be connected to
'the same bar; thus, for plain weaving, two of these bars are sufficient. The
arms or levers at the ends of each bar carry projections with small rollers
which rest upon cams on a shaft or spindle extending across the machine;
these cams may be shifted and exchanged for other cams, according to the
pattern or twill or plain weaving which it is required to produce. The cam
shaft is driven by a ratchet wheel and a click, which is moved. by an arm on
the lay or batten, and it is held by means of another ratchet or notched wheel
with a paul or click. The shuttle is driven by means of a lever at each side
of the loom, having a projection which enters the end of the shuttle box.
These levers.are drawn towards cach other by a wire with a spring. They are
forced outwards by cams on the crank shaft, which suddenly release them, so
that they are caused by the spring or springs to strike the end of the shuttle
and drive it through the shed. Cushions are provided to check the concussion
of the levers. When the shuttle proceeds from the box, the outer end of the
latter is lowered to prevent the shuttle from only partially entering the box.
As the cloth winds upon the cloth beam the diameter. of the roll keeps
increasing, and therefore the angular motion of the cloth beam requires to be
diminished. This is effected by means of slotted levers turning loose upon the.
spindle of the cloth beam, and carrying a click which drives a ratchet wheel
attached to the spindle. A roller rests upon the cloth on the cloth beam, and
the bearings of this roller work up and down in the slotted levers, and carry a
projecting arm, which is struck by the levers of the batten or lay. As the
cloth beam increases in diameter the virtual length of the click levers, is
increased, and the motion of the click diminished. In order, however, to give

page_text: accurate motion to the cloth beam, it would be necessary to make the ratchet
with very fine and small teeth. This is obviated by employing several clicks,
as, for example, ten or eleven clicks acting on the same ratchet wheel, and so
arranged in advance of each other as to admit of varying the advance of the
ratchet one tenth of a tooth at a time. While the cloth is winding on the
cloth beam the warp is unwinding from the warp beam, whose diameter
diminishes in a different ratio. The weight which is employed to keep the
warp stretched is supported by the bearings of a roller which work in horizontal
slotted levers, turning loose on the spindle of the warp beam. The roller is
pressed by springs against the warp on the warp beam. The weight is thus
brought nearer to the centre of the warp beam as the diameter diminishes, and
the tension is thus equalized. The levers are connected to the spindle of the
warp beam by a sort of escapement, which allows the warp to be gradually
given out while preserving the proper amount of tension upon it. In apply-
ing the loom for weaving elaborate patterns, such as are now woven by the
jacquard loom, I employ a transverse bar for raising each thread or as many
threads as are required to have the same motion. The bent portions or levers
which raise the bars are prolonged beyond their centres of motion, and the
prolongations are pressed downwards by springs, and rest upon the heads of a
row of pins capable of sliding up and down in a strong transverse bar, turning
upon centres; this bar is raised by a cam, and thus all the warp threads are
lowered. The cam then lowers the bar, so that the pins rest upon a roller
which is pierced with holes in various positions, according to the pattern to be
produced. Some of the pins enter the holes, and thus cause the corresponding
warp threads to rise, while the other pins rest upon the roller and keep their
corresponding warp threads depressed. Each time that the bar with the pins
is raised, the pierced roller is advanced by a ratchet, so as to bring a fresh row
of holes under the pins. The pattern is thus produced; different rollers may
be used for different patterns, or the roller may be perforated with continuous
rows of holes, and provided with grooves or dovetails for receiving thin metallic
plates or cards perforated with holes, according to the pattern required. Or
the ordinary jacquard cards may be employed. Or, in lieu of a revolving roller,
I employ a pattern surface, moving in a rectilinear direction, and composed of
short rods or types of metal or other suitable material, of two different lengths.
These types may be cast in type metal, and may be about a twentieth of an
inch wide, or more or less. The pattern is composed upon a table by placing
a long type for each warp thread which is to be depressed, and a short type
for each thread that is to be raised, or vice versa. The table is advanced a
space equal to one row of types at each throw of the shuttle, and the aforesaid

page_text: pins are allowed to descend upon the types in lieu of descending on the pierced
roller. A cast or stereotype may be taken; if, its be desired, to preserve the
pattern surface for future use; and the pattern may be registered by inking the
types and taking an impression from them. The types may be distributed and
again composed into other patterns, in a similar manner 'to. thats in which i
ordinary printing, types are employed: In this way one set or fount of types
may be employed for producing an endless variety of patterns, just as one fount
of ordinary type is employed for, producing an endless variety of books: When
wefts.ofs various.colours are required, I.applýsa number of shuttle boxes, with
a straight or revolving..motion, which may be actuated by the type table, so as '
to introduce the shuttle with the required colour at the proper time..