IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WEAVING CERTAIN KINDS OF FABRICS.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Samuel Laycock, of Portobello Place,
Sheffield, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR WEAVING CERTAIN KINDS OF FABRICS.'
IN MACHINERY FOR WEAVING CERTAIN KINDS OF FABRICS.
Sealed the 22nd September 1871, and dated the 13th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Samuel Laycock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th April 1871.
I, WILLIAM SAMUEL LAYCOCK, of Portobello Place, Sheffield, in the
County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WEAVING CERTAIN KINDS OF FABRICS,"
to be as follows :-
My Invention is applicable to those looms in which the weft is of
horsehair or other material in short lengths, and it consists in the appli-
cation of two or more selecting instruments at each side of the loom,
which instruments each draw down a single weft from a corresponding
number of bunches of weft. The nippers or other instruments which

page_text: convey the weft from the selecting instrument to the shuttle by which
the weft is carried into the shed, are actuated by a cam and spring,
whereby the traverse of the nippers can be varied, so that if the first
selecting instrument has failed to draw down a weft, the nippers pro-
ceed to the second and even to the third, if the second has also failed.
So long as the first selecting instrument draws down a weft the nippers
convey that weft to the shuttle, and it is only when the first selecting
instrument fails to act that the succeeding ones come into operation.
By this means the shedding motion is enabled to work without inter-
mission, thereby greatly increasing the production of the loom, and
dispensing with the weft stop motions.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Samuel Laycock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SAMUEL LAYCOCK, of Portobello Place, Sheffield, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Samuel Laycock, Her special licence
that I, the said William Samuel Laycock, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Samuel Laycock, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WEAVING CERTAIN KINDS OF FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Samuel Laycock, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent

page_text: |Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Samuel Laycock, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the samo
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say) :—
_
My Invention is applicable to those looms in which the weft is of
horsehair or other material in short lengths, and it consists in the
application of two or more selecting instruments at each side of the
loom, cach of which instruments draws down a single weft from a
corresponding number of bunches of weft. The nippers or other
instruments which convey the weft from the selecting instruments to
the shuttle by which the weft is carried into the shed are actuated by a
cam and spring, whereby the traverse of the nippers can be varied, so
that if the first selecting instrument has failed to draw down a weft,
the nippers proceed to the second and even to the third, if the second
has also failed. So long as the first selecting instrument draws down
a weft the nippers convey that weft to the shuttle, and it is only when
the first selecting instrument fails to act that the succeeding ones come
into operation. By this means the shedding motion is enabled to work
without intermission, because the supply of the weft is almost, if not
quite certain, thereby greatly increasing the production of the loom, and
dispensing with the ordinary weft stop motion.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 is an end elevation; Fig. 2 a plan, and Fig. 3 a front view of
a loom to which my improvements are applied. The picking motion
and the mechanism for working the lay or batten are supposed in this
instance to be constructed in the manner described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to James Lyall, on the Twenty-sixth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, No. 1042.
a is the driving shaft; b, the second motion shaft; c is the lay or
batten; d, the breast beam, and e, the taking up beam. The parts above
enumerated and the other parts requisite to complete the loom, which
are not described hereafter, are made in the ordinary manner, or as
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the

page_text: First day of September, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine,
Number 2584.
The selecting instruments and the machinery for giving motion to
them forming my present Invention are constructed in the following
manner: To the breast beam d are fixed the frames ſ, one of which
with the parts connected to it is shown full size in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, theso
frames support the tubes f¹ containing the horsehair or other material
forming the weft of the fabric. In each frame is a sliding block g,
which in moving up and down raises one or more of the selecting
instruments which are connected to the uprights h, i, and j; the number
of selecting instruments must correspond to the number of tubes or
troughs containing the weft. The upward motion is given to the sliding
blocks by means of the cams b' fixed on the tappet shaft b, cach cam
in revolving depresses one end of the levers k, the other ends of which
are connected by the links k¹ to the sliding blocks, and cach block is
drawn down by a spring *, the cams &' are set so as to act on the sliding
blocks alternately. To the tappet shaft b are also fixed the cams b³,
which act on the levers 1, these levers are connected by the links to
the levers, and to the lower end of each lever is connected a spring P.
To the upper end of each lever is jointed a spring jaw m forming with
a projection on the top of the said lever a pair of nippers which takes
hold of the weft that has been pulled out of the bunch by the selecting
instrument; these nippers are held closed by the spring m³, and they aro
opened when required by the catches c¹ fixed to the lay or batten c.
The cams &ª move the levers ♬ from the frame ƒto the lay or batten c,
and the springs pull the levers back again towards the selecting
instruments; the range of these levers varies according as the nippers
catch hold of a weft from the first, second, or third selecting instrument;
the cams 6 must act on the levers alternately. The levers are
guided by the slotted brackets d', fixed to the under side of the breast
beam d, and to the brackets are jointed the weft lifters n, the object of
which is to lift the weft from the selecting instrument towards the lay;
these lifters aro actuated by the diagonal arms & projecting from the
links. When the lover is near the selecting instruments the weft
lifter is down, as shewn by the full lines in Fig. 1, but as the cam b²
acts on the lever to draw the lever towards the lay the diagonal
arm acting on the short arm n moves the weft lifter in the arc of a
circle, as shewn in dotted lines, thereby bringing the weft into position
for being drawn into the shed by means of the little pulleys and guard

page_text: attached to a plate forming part of the shuttle o, see Fig. 2. The
selecting instruments connected to the uprights h, i, and j, are con-
structed in the same manner as those described in reference to Fig. 7 of
the plan forming part of the Specification of the Patent granted to me
on the First day of September, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine, Number 2584, but in addition to the needle s, lever r, and spring r
forming the nipper that selects the single horsehair, I hinge to cach
upright a light lever p, which is pressed upwards by the spring p¹, and
downwards by the spring p, the three springs p² for each side of the
fabric are secured to the angle bracket f* fixed to the frame f. In
Figs. 4 and 5 I have shewn the upright up or in the position it
occupies when it has been raised by the sliding block g, to select a
horsehair from the bunch in the first tube f¹; the little lever P is now
held down by the spring p², but the other uprights i and j are down,
and the selecting instruments are cach supposed to have drawn down a
horschair, the levers p are then below the springs p³, and the springs p¹
press the levers p against the nipper lever r to assist in holding the
horschair. As the uprights rise and when the selecting instrument is
near the bunch of horschair, the horizontal arm of the lever 7 comes
against the tumbler catch to open the nippers, and as soon as the
upright is at the top of its lift, the horizontal arm of the lever 1, has
got beyond the catch t, consequently the spring closes the nipper and
selects a single hair. In descending the lever » moves the tumbler
catch into the position shown in dots in Fig. 5, and as soon as the
lever has passed, the tumbler catch regains its original position, ready
to act when the upright rises again. The uprights are lifted alter-
nately at every stroke of the lay by the sliding block g, which fits
between pins projecting from the said uprights, whereas the uprights i,
and j are only lifted when they are required to bring down another weft,
but so long as the selecting instruments connected to them have hold of
a weft they remain down, because the catches and j' are held flush with
the face of the uprights by the springs and 12, shewn in Figs. 4 and 5,
but when the weft fails the uprights i and j are raised by the plate g in
the following manner :-The feelers q are mounted loose on an axle q',
each feeler passes through a slot in the plate f³ fixed to the frame f, and
is pressed gently towards the plate f³ by a spring q³ coiled around the
axle q'.
The feelers are pressed back when the uprights are lifted by an
inclined projection at the back of each upright, and when they descend,
the feelers are brought by the springs q³ towards the plate f³, if the ends

page_text: the middle opener m² by which the nipper is opened, and in closing the
nipper takes hold of the weft drawn down by the second selecting
instrument, which weft is deposited in the shed at the return of the
lever, and in like manner when both the first and second selecting
instruments have failed to draw down wefts, the traverse of the lever
is continued by the spring P, until the nipper m takes hold of the weft
that has been brought down by the third selecting instrument. By
this improved machinery it is almost impossible for the weft to fail
and consequently the motions of the loom continue without intermission,
thereby greatly increasing the production. A weft stop motion may
however be applied to stop the loom if desirable.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described a
convenient manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the details given, but that I claim the
application of two or more selecting instruments at each side of the
fabric, and I also claim the mechanism whereby the weft from either of
the selecting instruments is deposited in the shed.
In witness whercof, I, the said William Samuel Laycock, have
"
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Seventh day of October One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.