Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Apr., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 5th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 5th Feb., 18
We WILLIAM ROSE of the firm of William Rose and Company of Grosvenor
Chambers, Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Fire Engine and Hose Manu-
facturers and FRANCIS MCLELLAN of Number 4 Cambridge Street, Lower Broughton,
Manchester aforesaid Manager do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention to
be as follows:-
Our said Invention relates to looms for weaving fire hose. At present such looms
are divided into two classes namely hand looms in which the weaving is effected by
hand and power looms in which the weaving is automatically carried on by power.
Of these two the hand looms produce superior results but are not so quick in produc-
tion as the power looms and also tax the strength and attention of the operator to a
great extent. Among several reasons for the inferiority of the work produced in the
power loom it may be mentioned that the pull on the weft as it is inserted by the
shuttle is generally insufficient and irregular but the prime cause of bad work is that
the stroke of the reed or "lay" being within defined limits any irregularities in the
yarn or in its state of tension cannot be provided for so that in the case for example
of a pick or series of picks when the weft is accidently rather finer than in the
preceding or following picks, the hose is not so closely woven and is liable to leak
and fail at that part, or by excessive "beating up "where the pick is coarse the hose
is sometimes cut by the reed. In the power loom also the warp is subjected to a
much greater strain than in the hand loom and the hose has to pass between nipping
and taking up rollers held so tightly together that the selvedge of the hose is often
injured by the excessive pressure. In the case of the hand loom however although
these disadvantages are not present still the excessive work entailed upon the operator
is in itself often the cause of bad work, as both hands and feet are employed, the
former to work the shuttle and the "lay" and the latter to work the healds so as
to shed the warps at the proper intervals. To alleviate the labour of the operator and
to enable him to devote his attention entirely to the working of the shuttle and the
lay" we raise and lower the healds by power, at such a speed as will conveniently
allow the operator to shoot the weft and beat up the pick with the "lay" by hand.
66

page_text: "
As the automatic shedding is constant and certain, the operator is less likely to make
accidental "stitches or binding picks as sometimes happens in the present hand
loom from insufficient or careless shedding. The feet of the operator are not
employed so that he can concentrate his attention upon the shooting of the weft with
the shuttle and the beating of it up with the "lay." The speed of the shedding can
be regulated to suit the dexterity of the operator. The raising of the healds may be
effected by the apparatus at present used in the power loom for that purpose or other
well known or suitable arrangements of mechanism may be employed. By means of
our Invention we combine the advantages of the power loom with those of the hand
loom, as we only utilize power to operate those parts of the loom which can be so
automatically operated without militating against the quality of the work produced.
Dated this 31st day of March 1888.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Looms for Weaving Fire Hose.
We WILLIAM ROSE of the firm of William Rose and Company of Grosvenor
Chambers, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Fire Engine and Hose Manu-
facturer, and FRANCIS MCCLELLAN of Number 4 Cambridge Street, Lower Broughton,
Manchester aforesaid, Manager, 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 and accompanying drawings :-
:-
Our said Invention relates to looms for weaving fire hose. At present such looms
are divided into two classes namely hand looms in which the weaving is effected by
hand and power looms in which the weaving is automatically carried on by power.
Of these two the hand looms produce superior results but are not so quick in produc-
tion as the power looms, and also tax the strength and attention of the operator to a
great extent. Among several reasons for the inferiority of the work produced in the
power loom it may be mentioned that the pull on the weft as it is inserted by the
shuttle is generally insufficient and irregular but the prime cause of bad work is that
the stroke of the reed or "lay" being within defined limits any irregularities in the
yarn or in its state of tension cannot be provided for so that in the case for example of
a pick or series of picks where the weft is accidentally rather finer than in the preceding
or following picks, the hose is not so closely woven and is liable to leak and fail at
that part, or by excessive "beating up" where the pick is coarse the hose is sometimes
cut by the reed. In the power loom also the warp is subjected to a much greater
strain than in the hand loom and the hose has to pass between nipping and taking up
rollers held so tightly together that the selvedge of the hose is often injured by the
excessive pressure. In the case of the hand loom however although these disadvan-
tages are not present still the excessive work entailed upon the operator is in itself
often the cause of bad work, as both hands and feet are employed, the former to work
the shuttle and the "lay" and the latter to work the healds so as to shed the warps at
the proper intervals. To alleviate the labour of the operator and to enable him to
devote his attention entirely to the working of the shuttle and the "lay we raise and
lower the healds by power, at such a speed as will conveniently allow the operator to
shoot the weft and beat up the pick with the "lay" by hand.
"
To render our invention more clear we have appended hereunto a sheet of drawings
in which we represent the means for automatically raising the healds as set forth.
Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view of the parts of the hose loom affected by our
-invention.
Fig. 2 is a front view of the loom showing the automatic actuation of the healds.
Fig. 3 is a view of the cams and levers for raising and lowering the bealds.
It is to be understood that apart from their application we claim nothing as new in
the actual construction of the parts shown as these are at present employed as part of
the mechanism of power looms for weaving hose.

page_text: 0
In the said drawings a is the breast beam over which the hose is drawn as it is
woven. b is the "lay" and reed for beating up the picks the said "lay" being pivotted
or suspended at c. The healds are marked d. e. f. g and the warps h. The warps are
coiled on the warp beam not shown in the drawings and pass over the guide roller i to
the healds. The healds are connected on their upper sides by jack levers k to the side
levers which are operated by cams m shown in side elevation at Fig. 3 of the
drawings, and are similarly connected on their lower sides by jack levers n. Thev
are thus held in positive tension between the jack levers k. n and are raised and
lowered automatically at the proper intervals by the cams m. The cams are driven
by the following means. The driving shaft is rotated from the fast and loose pullies p
and carries a pinion which gears with a spur wheel r on the shaft s. On the
opposite end of this shaft s is a pinion t which gears with a spur wheel u on the shaft
which carries the cams m. The side levers 7 are pivotted on a stud to extending
from the side frame of the loom. By these means we secure a regular and automatic
raising and lowering of the healds d. e. f. g. The operator stands in front of the breast
beam a and passes the shuttle through the sheds by hand, beating up each pick by
means of the "lay" 6 which he also operates by hand. As the automatic shedding
is constant and certain the operator is less likely to make accidental " stitches
binding picks as sometimes happens in the present hand loom from insufficient or
careless shedding. The feet of the operator are not employed so that he can con-
centrate his attention upon the shooting of the weft with the shuttle and the beating
of it up with the "lay." The speed of the shedding can be regulated to suit the
dexterity of the operator. The raising of the healds may be effected by the apparatus
herein before described or other well known or suitable arrangements of mechanism
may be employed. By means of our invention we combine the advantages of the
power loom with those of the hand loom, as we only utilize power to operate those
parts of the loom which can be so automatically operated without militating against
the quality of the work produced.
"
or
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
In a hand loom for weaving hose, actuating the healds by power so as to produce
an automatic and regular shedding of the warp yarns substantially as set forth.
Dated this 4th day of January 1889.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.