Improvements in and relating to Means for Changing Shuttles of Looms when the Weft is Exhausted.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 9th Deo.,
1899
Improvements in and relating to Means for Changing Shuttles of
Looms when the Weft is Exhausted.
We, WILLIAM HENRY BAKER, of Central Falls, in the County of Providence
and State of Rhode Island, United States of America, Electrician, and FREDERIC
ELLSWORTHI KIP, of Montclair, in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey,
United States of America, Manufacturer, 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:-
This invention relates to that class of looms which are provided with
automatic weft-supplying mechanisms, and particularly to those wherein the
supply is controlled by electro-magnetic means.
The object of this invention is to provide a simple mechanism, operated by a
going part of the loom, and preferably by the lay or batten, which, when the
weft in a shuttle is nearly or quite exhausted, will take a full shuttle from a
shuttle-magazine and place it in the shuttle-box, the exhausted shuttle being at
the same time displaced. The exhaustion of the weft of the shuttle in play is
detected and the weft-supplying operation controlled by electrical means.
present case a construction is provided at the shuttle-box for permitting the
incoming full shuttle to displace and expel the shuttle in play, that has been
more or less exhausted, or deprived of weft.
In the accompanying drawings
In the
Fig. 1 is a general, front view of a loom provided with our improvements, the
weft-supply mechanism being seen at the right. This view is on a relatively
small scale.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the weft-supply mechanism, taken at line in
Fig. 3; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view in the same plane as Fig. 2, but showing
the parts in a different position.
Fig. 3 is a horizontal section, taken at line
in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary face view of the carrier showing one of the fingers
thereon.
Fig. 5 is a detail, perspective view of one of the hinged flaps of the shuttle-box
for supporting the shuttle: and Fig. 6 is a similar view of the side of the shuttle-
box, showing the electrical connections.
Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of the shuttle showing the electrical devices
therein for closing the circuit when the weft is nearly or wholly exhausted.
Fig. 1 is merely an illustrative view, designed to show the position of the weft-
supplving devices on the loom. F is the loom-frame; L the batten or lay; B the
shuttle-box, as a whole, at the side of the loom where the supply-devices are
situated; B is the shuttle-box at the opposite side of the loom, at the left in
Fig. 1: Pare the picker-sticks; S is the shuttle; R is the reed, and W (in
Fig. 1), is the weft-supplying mechanism as a whole.
Respecting this last named mechanism, which is best illustrated in the detail
views, Figs. 2, 2ª, 3 and 4-1 is a strong bracket, mounted on the loom-frame,
and 2 is a shuttle-magazine supported on said bracket. The magazine discharges

page_text: at its bottom, and the shuttles S are superposed therein; they are taken, one by
one, as required, and transferred by a rocking carrier to the shuttle-box B, when
the lay L moves up to the beating-up point, the descending full shuttle, on the
fingers of the carrier, displacing the shuttle already in the box, as will be herein-
after explained.
Mounted in bearings in the bracket 1, at 4, is a shaft, 5 on which is fixed the
carrier, 6. This carrier is in the form of a frame, and stands, normally, in the
receiving position under the magazine, as seen in Fig. 2; it carries a curved
plate or guard, 7, which, when the carrier moves down to the position seen in
Fig. 2, takes under and closes the delivery outlet of the magazine 2, and prevents
the shuttles from falling out therefrom. In moving down, the upper end of the
carrier, and the shuttle carried thereby, plays close under a fixed, curved shield, 7",
which prevents the shuttle from flying off from the carrier. The shield or
guard may be connected with and form a part of the magazine; and the latter,
as well as said shield, need only house or take over the ends of the shuttles.
The shuttle S has in it two mortises or sockets 3 (Figs. 2 and 7), to engage
upright fingers, G, on the carrier 6; and when the latter is brought to the position
seen in Fig. 2, the bottom shuttle is impaled on these fingers, being then wholly
below the bottom of the magazine and ready to be transformed to the shuttle-
box.
Before minutely describing the mechanism which, at the proper time, rocks the
carrier and brings the full shuttle down to the shuttle-box B, we will describe the
construction of this box. 8 is the fixed side of the box, and 9 the swell at the
opposite side thereof. Under the box the lay L is cut away or mortised, at 10,
to open a way for a shuttle to fall down through into any suitable receptacle or
chute, 11. The shuttle in the box is sustained, however, by two hinged flaps, 12
(detached in Fig. 5), one at each side of the mortise 10 in the lay. These flaps
may be about as long as the shuttle and they will take, normally, under the
bottom of the shuttle in the box to a limited extent and be backed by suitable
springs, 13. Supported in this manner on yielding supports, it will
be obvious that when the carrier 6 brings a full shuttle down, as in Fig. 2"
into the box B, said shuttle will drive down the exhausted shuttle in the box,
the flaps 12 yielding and allowing the latter shuttle to drop down into the
receptacle or chute 11. The falling shuttle is indicated in Fig. 2. The side 8
of the box B will be notched, as seen at 8° Fig. 6, to allow the fingers 6" of the
carrier G to enter, and as the lay recedes toward the picking point, the full shuttle,
just deposited in the shuttle-box, will be drawn off from the fingers 6 and the
carrier will then be free to return to its upright, receiving position. This return
is effected by a spring or springs, for example the spring 14. In order to hold
the shuttle down in the box while the lay is receding and before the fingers 6*
are disengaged therefrom, a hinged finger or latch-guard, 15 is mounted on the
lay and backed by a spring, 16. When the shuttle enters the box it wipes past
this latch-guard and the latter springs in over it. The electro-magnetic devices,
together with the mechanical devices they control, will now be described. On
the lay is mounted a stout bracket. 17, which supports an electro-magnet, M, and
an elbow-shaped armature lever, 18, carrying the armature, a of said magnet.
The lever 18 is backed by a spring, 19 and has an upwardly turned toe 20, which,
when the magnet is excited and attracts its armature, is protruded upward
through an aperture in the horizontal arm of the bracket 17. The bracket
magnet, etc., being mounted on the lay, will, of course, move to and fro with the
latter.
Mounted to slide in a guideway in the bracket 1, is a rack, 21, which plays
directly over the bracket 17; and in gear with this rack is a circular rack or
toothed wheel, 22, fixed on the carrier 6, concentric with the shaft 5. Now if
the rack 21 be pushed to the right (as the parts are represented in Figs. 2 and 2ª)
the carrier will be rocked by the intermeshing racks, from the upright position
seen in Fig. 2 to the position seen in Fig. 2; and to effect this automatically,

page_text: means are provided-to be hereinafter described-whereby when an exhausted
shuttle enters the box B (while the lay is at the picking point), an electric circuit
will be closed through the magnet M; the magnet will be excited and attracts
its armature, thus rocking the armature lever 18, and causing its toe 20 to pro-
trude through the slot or aperture in the bracket 17. As the lay advances in
beating up, the protruding toe 20, will impinge upon the end of the rack, 21, and
drive it back, thus operating the carrier 6.
Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate the electrical construction at the shuttle-box B, and in
the shuttle. As herein shown-23 is the spindle, hinged in the shuttle ;
and on it is a loose, metallic washer, 24, backed by a spring 25. The
bobbin, 26, carrying the weft, w, is slipped onto the spindle, and a
metallic, spring contact terminal, 27, mounted in a slot in the bobbin, is
thus put into metallic contact with said washer, 24. The terminal
27 has a bow or arch, and the weft on
this
the bobbin bears on
arch and thus presses the terminal inward so that its free end is out of contact
with the inner surface of a metal band or ring, 28, on the bobbin where said
ring crosses said slot. The ring 28 is connected electrically by a conductor 29,
with a grooved metal ring or part, 30, on the bobbin, and when the bobbin is in
place the grooved ring 30 makes electrical contact with a metal pin, 31, in the
shuttle. The spring 25 is electrically connected by a suitable conductor, 32,
with a contact plate, 2, on the side of the shuttle, and the pin 31 is connected in
a similar manner by a conductor, 33, with a similar plate, p on the shuttle.
On the side of the shuttle-box B (Fig. 6) spring terminals, t and which con-
tact, respectively with the plates and p on any shuttle which may enter the
shuttle-box. The springs and are terminals of the operating electric circuit
which consists of conductors c and c, and includes the electro-magnet M and a
generator G.
When the weft wo is nearly exhausted from the bobbin 26 the resiliency of the
spring terminal 27 causes the latter to close the break in the circuit in the bobbin,
so that when the shuttle next enters the box B, the magnet E will be excited and
a fresh or full shuttle supplied.
As the movements of the carrier 6 will be rapid and the impact of the incoming
shuttle will be considerable, it is best to provide the carrier with means for inter-
posing a cushion or cushions of some relatively soft material, such as leather,
between the shuttles at the moment of the shifting or changing. In the present
construction two such cushion devices are employed, placed opposite to the
respective fingers 6°. Each comprises a supporting bracket, 34, on the carrier,
provided with a cushion, 35, of leather or the like.
As the cushions 35 must, at the time of supplying the shuttle to the box, pass
down below the bearing surfaces of the flaps, 12, these latter are recessed, as seen
at 12 in Fig. 5, at the proper points, and the recesses 8* in the side 8 of the
box B (Fig. 6) are also deepened and widened for the same reason.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In a loom, the combination with the lay and the shuttle-box thereon, of a
yielding support for the shuttle on the lay within said box, a magazine, and a
vibrating carrier which takes the shuttle from the magazine, and transfers it to
the shuttle-box by driving the shuttle already in the box down past the yielding
support in the latter.
2. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay and the shuttle-box
thereon, said box having a yielding support for the shuttle, of the shuttle, having
mortises 3, the shuttle-magazine, having a bottom delivery, and a vibrating
carrier for the shuttle which plays between the magazine and the shuttle-box and
has fingers 6, to engage the mortises in the shuttle.
3. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay, and the shuttle-box

page_text: thereon, said box having a yielding support for the shuttle and a spring latch-
guard 15, to take over the inserted shuttle, of the magazine, and the vibrating
shuttle-carrier between the magazine and shuttle-box, said carrier having fingers
which engage the shuttle to be carried.
4. The combination with the lay, the fixed magazine, and the shuttle-box on
the lay, having a yielding support for the shuttle, of the vibrating shuttle-carrier
which plays between the magazine and shuttle-box, said carrier having a cushion
which interposes between the shuttle in the carrier and that in the box.
6. The combination with the lay, having an opening in it below the shuttle-
box, and the said shuttle-box, of the hinged, spring flaps, 12, forming a yielding
bottom for the shuttle-box to support the shuttles, whereby the shuttle may be
displaced from the box by a downward blow or pressure on the shuttle.
6. The combination with the vibrating lay, the magazine, the shuttle-box on
the lay having downwardly yielding supports for the shuttle, and a vibrating
shuttle-carrier which plays between the magazine and shuttle-box of the
brackets 34 on the carrier, and the cushions 35, carried by said brackets.
7. In a loom, the combination with the lay, the shuttle-box thereon having in
it a yielding support for the shuttle, the magazine, and a vibrating shuttle carrier
which plays between the delivery of the magazine and the shuttle, whereby the
shuttle in the carrier is made to displace downward that in the shuttle-box, of
electro-magnetic means controlling the vibrations of said carrier, substantially as
set forth.
8. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay, the shuttle-box thereon,
having in it a yielding support for the shuttle, the magazine, and a vibrating
shuttle-carrier which plays between the delivery of the magazine and the shuttle-
box, whereby the shuttle in the carrier is made to displace downward the shuttle
in the shuttle-box, of electro-magnetic means controlling the vibrations of said
carrier, and a shuttle having in it a partial electric circuit forming part of the
operative circuit when the shuttle is in the shuttle-box, and said partial circuit
having in it a selfelosing break held open normally by the overwrapped weft in
the shuttle, substantially as set forth.
9. The combination with the vibrating lay, the fixed magazine, and the shuttle-
box on the lay, open at its top to receive a shuttle and having in it vielding
supports for the shuttle, of the vibrating shuttle-carrier which plays between
the magazine and the shuttle-box and is adapted to deposit the shuttle in the box
at its open top and displace the shuttle therein, substantially as set forth.
10. In a loom, the combination with a vibrating lay, of a weft-supplying
mechanism comprising a fixed magazine, a shuttle-box on the lay and having in
it yielding supports for the shuttles, a vibrating shuttle-carrier which plays
between the magazine and the said shuttle-box, and is adapted to deposit the
shuttle in the box and displace the shuttle therein, and an operating electric
circuit including an electro-magnet, said circuit being opened or closed by the
presence or absence, or partial absence of weft or thread in the shuttle.
Dated this 28th day August 1899.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicants.