IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thom, Power-loom Manufacturer, and Angus
Kennedy, Civil Engineer, both of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING."
Sealed the 11th April 1860, and dated the 17th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thom and Angus
Kennedy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 17th October 1859.
We, JAMES THOM, Power-loom Manufacturer, and ANGUS KENNEDY,
Civil Engineer, both of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention comprehends improvements in mechanism for actuating,
shifting, or changing shuttle boxes, and in mechanism for actuating the
heddles so as to produce varied weaving effects, and has for object efficiency
and accuracy in working and non-liability to derangement. The improvement
connected with shifting or changing shuttle boxes is more particularly designed
for use where the shift takes place horizontally, but is also applicable where
the shift takes place vertically or otherwise. The improvement consists in
using a peculiar wheel in place of the ordinary tappet wheel, formed with
alternate elevations and depressions on its outer edge. The improved wheel
has a deep groove formed in one side or face, and within the outer edge; the
inner surface or contour of this groove corresponds to the ordinary tappet

page_text: wheel, and acts on the antifriction pulley of the lever in the same way, whilst
the outer surface of the groove is shaped to keep the antifriction pulley in
contact with the inner surface, and thus insure its steadiness.
It is preferred to actuate this improved tappet or shifting wheel by mecha-
nism of the kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to James Thom and Hugh McNaught, under date 24th October, 1857,
No. 2708, but it may obviously be actuated by means of various kinds of
pattern mechanism.
In carrying out the improvements connected with heddles, each heddle leaf
is connected by cords or otherwise to a sliding rod, which passes down
between two treadles. Each treadle is worked by a cam or tappet on the low
shaft of the loom, such cam acting inside a box formed in the treaddle, and
making the latter vibrate independently of any reactionary movement. One
treaddle vibrates above, and never descends below the mid position, whilst the
other vibrates below, and never rises above the mid position. Each heddle
rod has jointed upon it a Z-shaped catch, contrived so that it must engage
with one or other of the treaddles, and according to its position the rod is
raised or lowered by the action of the treaddles. The rod is always brought
back to its mid position by the return of the treaddles, being formed with
lateral projections for that purpose, the Z-shaped catch acting only during the
movement from the mid position. Various kinds of pattern mechanism may
be used for adjusting the Z-shaped catches, but it is preferred to use a modi-
fication in which the Z catches of the several heddle rods are acted upon each
by the vertical arm of a bell-crank lever, the horizontal arm of which bears
by means of an antifriction roller upon a wheel formed with a depression at
one or more parts. When the bell-crank lever rests upon the outer circum-
ference of the wheel, the Z catch is not acted upon, but is left free to fall
over to one side, being weighted or poised for that purpose, but when a
depressed part of the wheel comes under the bell-crank lever, the latter turns
down by its weight, and sets the Z catch over to the other side, the heddle rod
being raised or lowered accordingly.
To obtain the desired succession of heddle movements, the several wheels
are fixed on a spindle, with their depressions in suitable relative positions, so
as to act on the respective bell-cranks in proper order. The spindle carrying
the wheels is connected by suitable gearing with the first or second motion
shaft of the loom, so as to rotate uniformly in concert therewith. To obtain
varied weaving effects, such as alternate plain weaving and twilling, two or
more sets of bell-crank levers are used, and those not working at any one
time are kept out of action by a lever, which simply prevents their entering

page_text: the depressions of the corresponding wheels. Where there are two kinds of
heddle action, two of the last-mentioned levers are used, and their alternate
action is derived from pattern mechanism of any suitable kind, preference
being given to that described in Thom and McNaught's Specification, herein-
before referred to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Thom and Angus Kennedy in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
THOM, Power-loom Manufacturer, and ANGUS KENNEDY, Civil Engineer,
both of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Thom and Angus Kennedy, Her special licence that we, the said
James Thom and Angus Kennedy, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said James Thom and Angus Kennedy, our exc-
cutors, administrators, or 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 LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Thom and Angus..
Kennedy, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under-
our, 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
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the:
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Thom and Angus Kennedy,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described. and ascertained in
and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that.
is to say:-

page_text: Our said Invention comprehends improvements in mechanism for actuating
shifting or changing shuttle boxes, and in mechanism for actuating the
heddles so as to produce varied weaving effects, and has for object efficiency
and accuracy in working, and non-liability to derangement..
And in order that our said Invention may be properly. understood and
carried into effect, we have delineated upon a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
bereunto appended, and will particularly describe, a modification of loom
mechanism embodying our improvements, premising that the same reference
letters mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a front elevation, partly in section, of a loom
having our improvements applied to it, but divested of parts not necessary to
the present explanation; Figures 2 and 3 are corresponding end elevation
and plan, and Figures 4, 5, and 6, represent details on an enlarged scale.
The improvement connected with shifting or changing shuttle boxes is
more particularly designed for use where the shift takes place horizontally, but
is also applicable where the shift takes place vertically or otherwise. The
improvement consists in using a peculiar wheel in place of the ordinary tappet
wheel formed with alternate elevations and depressions on its outer edge. The
improved wheel, marked A, in Figures 1 to 4, has a deep groove B (Figure 4),
formed in one side or face and within the outer edge. The inner surface or
contour of this groove B corresponds to the ordinary tappet wheel, and acts
on the antifriction pulley of the lever C in the same way, whilst the outer
surface of the groove is shaped to keep the the antifriction pulley in contact
with the inner surface, and thus insure the steadiness of the lever C and shuttle
box D. In the modification represented in the Drawings the shuttle box D is
arranged to shift horizontally, the lever C being a bell-crank having an arm E
connected by a link F to an arm G, on a horizontal spindle having two arms
H connected to the shuttle box D. It is preferred to actuate the improved
tappet or shifting wheel A, by mechanism of the kind described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to James Thom and Hugh McNaught,
under date the 24th October 1857, No. 2708, a modification of which is
shown in the Drawing hereunto appended. The tappet wheel A is loose on a
stud fixed to the side of the loom frame, and has pins projecting from its back,
which are caught at the proper intervals by a catch I jointed to a bar J, made
to reciprocate by an eccentric pin on the end of the low shaft K. To the
reciprocating bar J there is also jointed a catch L, which acting on ratchet
teeth at the back of a barrel M, loose on the stud, turns the latter partly round
at each movement. On the barrel M there is placed a chain of cards or plates
prepared to suit the required pattern, and acting by a lever N on a pin O,,

page_text: fixed to the catch I, so as to prevent this catch from turning the tappet wheel
A, except at the intervals required by the pattern. The tappet wheel A may
obviously be actuated by means of various other kinds of pattern mechanism.
In carrying out the improvements connected with heddles, according to one
modification, each heddle leaf P is connected by cords or otherwise to a sliding
rod Q, which passes down between two treadles R, S, being guided at the
bottom by a tail T, which works in a slotted guide U, whilst its upper end
works through an aperture in the upper end of a frame V. This frame V is
cast or fixed upon a bar W, running from front to back of the loom framing,
and has the lower slotted guides U cast or fixed upon it, whilst it also carries
at its lower end the pulleys X round which the heddle cords pass to the lower
ends of the sliding rods Q. The treadles R, S, are mounted on centres at the
front of the loom, and are worked by cams Y (Figure 5) on a shaft Z, driven
at the same speed as the crank shaft of the loom. Each cam Y acts inside a
box or frame formed at the back end of the treadle R or S, making.
the latter move in both directions independently of any reactionary movement..
One treadle, as R, vibrates above, not descending below the mid position,
whilst the other, S, vibrates below, not rising above the mid position. Each
heddle rod has jointed upon it a Z-shaped catch a (Figure 6), con-
trived so that it must engage with one or other of the treadles R, S, being
caught by the upward movement of one, or by the downward movement of the
other, and the heddle rod being consequently raised or lowered by the treadle
action according to the catch's position. The heddle rod Q is always brought
back to its mid position by the return of the treadle last acting upon it, being
formed with lateral projections b for that purpose; the Z-shaped catch a
acting only during the movement from the mid position. In the accompanying
Drawings four heddle leaves P are shown, each having its rod Q with catch a,
but a greater or less number of heddle leaves can be introduced if required.
Various kinds of pattern mechanism may be, used for adjusting the Z-shaped
catches a of the heddle rods Q, but it is preferred to use the modifications,
shown in the accompanying Drawings, and constituting a part of the present.
Invention, in which modification the Z-catches a are acted upon each by the
vertical arm c (Figure 6) of a bell-crank lever c, d, carried by the frame V,
the horizontal arm d of which lever bears, by means of an antifriction roller,.
upon a wheel e formed with a depression fat one (or more) part. When the
bell-crank lever c, d, rests upon the outer circumference of the wheel e, the,
Z-catch a is not acted upon, but is left free to fall over to one side, being.
weighted or poised by means of a tail g (on being acted upon by a spring) for
that purpose, but when a depressed part f of the wheel e comes under the

page_text: bell-crank lever c, d, the latter turns down by its weight, and sets the Z-catch a
over to the other side, as shown in Figure 6, the corresponding heddle rod Q
being lowered or raised accordingly. To obtain the desired succession of
heddle movements, the several wheels e are fixed on a spindle h, with their
depressions in suitable relative positions, so as to act on the respective bell-
cranks c, d, in proper order. The spindle h is mounted in a frame i fixed to
the bar W and a parallel bar w, and has fast on it a spur wheel j, in gear
with a wheel k of half the size on a second spindle 1, carried by the frame i.
The spindle has fast on it a bevil wheel m in gear with a bevil wheel n, fast
on the low or second motion shaft K of the loom. In the present example
the wheels & make one turn for every four of the crank shaft, but the gearing
may be varied according to the kind of heddle action required. To obtain
varied weaving effects, such as alternate plain weaving and twilling, two or
more sets of bell-crank levers c, d, are used, and those not working at any one
time are kept out of action by a lever, which simply prevents their entering
the depressions f of the corresponding wheels e. Thus, in the example
represented in the Drawings, there are six wheels e, with six corresponding
bell-cranks c, d, two, the central ones, being designed for plain weaving,
and the other four for twilling. The lower end of each lever arm c for
plain weaving has a cross tail arranged to act upon two (or other number)
of the Z-catches corresponding to one half of the heddles. Passing beneath
the two sets of bell-cranks, there are two levers p, q, supported by rods r,
jointed to the opposite ends of a double levers, on the end of a shaft t, the
oscillation of which alternately raises and lowers the levers p, q, thus allowing
each set of wheels e, and bell-cranks c, d, to act alternately. The shaft t, is in
the present example represented as actuated by the pattern mechanism already
described as acting on the shuttle box movement, and a modification of that
described in Thom and McNaught's Specification herein-before referred to..
The shaft t has a lever u fixed on its outer end, and this lever is connected by
a link v to a lever x, which rests upon and is actuated by the chain of pattern
plates or cards on the barrel M, the shaft t being moved in one direction or
the other according to the action of the plates or cards upon the lever x.
Various other kinds of pattern mechanism may obviously be employed for
effecting or regulating the alternate action of the two sets of bell-cranks c, d.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, we have to state that
we do not restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated,
and that we do not claim to have invented every separate detail herein
described and delineated; but that what we consider to be novel and original,

page_text: and claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
The constructing of pattern or tappet wheels for actuating shifting shuttle
boxes, substantially as herein-before described.
And, the constructing and arranging of mechanism for actuating heddles,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Thom and Angus Kennedy,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.
JAMES THOM.
(L.S.)
ANGUS KENNEDY. (L.S.)