IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph John Harrison, of 2, Ada Terrace, Great
Clowes Street, Broughton, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 30th July 1867, and dated the 4th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph John Harrison
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th February 1867.
I, JOSEPH JOHN HARRISON, of 2, Ada Terrace, Great Clowes Street,
Broughton, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements in looms for weaving where com-
pressed air or air put in motion is used for driving the shuttle; it consists in
placing or fitting a sliding cap or case made of metal or other suitable material
on or to each shuttle box or end of the sley beam, the movement of, which
cap or case in a proper manner is made to compress or give motion to air that
shall by a fit opening or passage, either by its direct action upon the shuttle
or otherwise, propel it along its race. I give the requisite motion to the cap
or case by means of any suitable mechanical arrangement. The exterior of
the shuttle boxes or ends of the sley beam may be made cylindrical or of any
other convenient form for a portion of their length, and to make the cap or

page_text: case fit air-tight, or nearly so; they may be covered with leather or other
suitable material or packing. In order to check the shuttle on its arrival in
the boxes or at the ends of the sley beam I form these partly or wholly
contracting & expanding at the moment of picking.
My Invention also consists in forming a chamber or recess in each end of
the sley beam, within which a plunger is made to pass, and thereby compress
or give motion to air for driving shuttles in looms for weaving.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph John Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
JOHN HARRISON, of 2, Ada Terrace, Great Clowes Street, Broughton, Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph John Harrison, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
John Harrison, my executors, administrators, and assigns; or such others as
I, the said Joseph John Harrison, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Joseph John Harrison, my executors or administrators,' by an instru-
ment 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 Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph John Harrison, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to improvements in looms for weaving when com-

page_text: pressed air or air put in motion is used for driving the shuttle; it consists in
placing or fitting a sliding cap or case made of metal or other suitable
material on or to each shuttle box or end of the sley beam, the movement of
which cap or case in a proper manner is made to compress or give motion to
air that shall by a fit opening or passage, either by its direct action upon the
shuttle or otherwise, propel it along its race.. I give the requisite motion to
the cap or case by means of any suitable mechanical arrangement. The
exterior of the shuttle boxes or ends of the sley beam may be made cylindrical
or of any other convenient form for a portion of their length, and to
make the cap or case fit air-tight or nearly so they may be covered -with
leather or other suitable material or packing. In order to check the shuttle
on its arrival in the boxes, or at the ends of the sley beam, I form these partly.
or wholly contracting and expanding at the moment of picking.
My Invention also consists in forming a chamber or recess in each end of
the sley beam, within which a plunger is made to pass and thereby compress
or give motion to air for driving shuttles in looms for weaving.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into practice I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
ight-hand side of a loom having my improvements applied thereto as will
enable me to describe the first part of my Invention, the left-hand side of the
loom having a similar arrangement of mechanism applied thereto; Figure 3
is a longitudinal section of the shuttle box.
It will be seen on examining the Drawings the shuttle box a at each end of
the sley beam is so formed as to be covered by a moveable or sliding cap.6
(which I prefer to be cylindrical). Each cap 6 when moved out to its farthest
position forms an air chamber at either end of the sley beam, and when either
of the caps 6 are suddenly forced up towards the end of the sley beam the air
within the cap or chamber is forced through the shuttle box,. the passage
through which is so formed as to surround the shuttle, and thus confine and
direct the current of air effectually against the shuttle and thereby drive it
from one shuttle box to the other. The outer ends of the shuttle boxes are
lined with cork, india-rubber, or other suitable material ċ to arrest the
movement of the shuttle and form a joint with the shuttle to close up the end
of the box.
It will be readily understood that a great variety of mechanical means may

page_text: be employed for actuating the caps b in the manner and for the purpose above
described, the following being a suitable arrangement for this purpose:-d is a
tappet wheel which in the arrangement shown is mounted on the cam shaft or
axis d'; each wheel d carries projections or tappets d³, d, which in their
revolution act upon a truck or roller carried by the lever d, moving on a
stud d; on the end framing of the loom is a bell-crank forked lever carried
by a bracket d' mounted upon the "sword," and the lever is connected by
'means of a rodds to the lever d'; the forked end of the lever being con-
nected as shown to the sides of the sliding cap b. It will be seen that by the
revolution of the tappet wheel d that when the tappet de acts to depress the
truck mounted upon the lever d' the cap will be moved towards and upon the
end of the shuttle box, so as to discharge the air from the cap chamber and
thus drive the shuttle across the shuttle race as previously described, and
when by the further revolution of the tappet wheel d the tappet acts upon
the truck so as to raise the lever d' the cap will be moved outwards from the
shuttle box upon the śley beam to form an air chamber preparatory to
repeating the operation. When the cap c has nearly arrived at the extremity
of its outward movement air may be admitted if desired to the chamber (by
boles or apertures formed through the cap) from the exterior in place of
continuing to draw it through the shuttle box after the shuttle has arrived or
nearly arrived therein.
b
When manufacturing some descriptions of fabrics where a powerful "swell "
is required it is desirable to place a projection m on the interior of the cap b so
as to act upon the end of the shuttle and set it in motion when the cap
'commences its movement to drive out the air from the chamber, as shown by
dotted lines in Figure 3. It will be understood that movement is com-
municated to the cap upon the other sbuttle box in a similar manner to that
"above described.
Figure 4 shows another arrangement of apparatus for driving the shuttle
through the shed, a case or collapsible bag f being substituted for the sliding
cap b, previously described; f is the case or flexible bag made of canvas,
leather, india-rubber, or other suitable material attached to the outer end of
the shuttle box, the other end of the case or bag f being attached to a plate
of wood, metal, or other material f¹. The plate f' is actuated from time to
time so as to compress the flexible case f against the end of the shuttle box
in order to expel the air contained in the case, and by that means force a
current of air through the shuttle box, and thus drive the shuttle through the
shed when opened; for that purpose I prefer to move the plate fito and fro
by means of the picking lever f2 carried by the rocking axis g of the

page_text: "sword" e in the usual manner, and motion is communicated to the picking
lever when required by the ordinary means employed for this purpose, as
is well understood. The upper end of the picking lever f is retained in
position by a guide f³ attached to the sley beam. A self-closing valve h; bý
preference of india-rubber, may be inserted in the end of the passage through
the shuttle box, as shown at Figure 5, so as to prevent the suction of the air
through such passage; a suitable valve i (by preference of india-rubber.)
allowing air to enter the case, cover, or chamber b when in the act of
being moved away from the end of the shuttle box, such valve i closing when
.the cap, case, or cover 6 is moved towards the end of the shuttle box; k is a
lever or expanding and contracting surface applied to the shuttle box for the
purpose of retarding the motion of the shuttle on its arrival in the box. The
lever k (which may, if preferred, be arranged at the side of the box in place
of at the bottom) moves upon a pin at k¹, and is caused to project from the
inner surface of the box by means of the spring k², and so act to retard the
movement of the shuttle on its arrival in the box. When the time has arrived
for the return pick to take place the pressure is removed from the shuttle by
withdrawing the lever or surface k within the inner surface of the box so as
to leave the shuttle free for the current of air to act upon it; this may bo
accomplished by means of a lever actuated by the crank shaft acting upon the
pin k³ and lever k, so as to withdraw the part of the lever which presses upon
the shuttle within the inner surface of the box, or it may be acted upon in
any other convenient manner, as will be readily understood.
I would here remark, that in place of a cap being arranged to move upon
the end of the shuttle box the end of the box may be formed into a chamber
or recess so as to receive a plunger, to which motion can be communicated in
a similar manner to that above described in reference to the cap b, so as to
force out the air contained in the chamber or recess and set the shuttle in
motion when required. I would also remark that when the cap case or bag
previously described is applied to actuate the shuttle in hand looms, the
requisite movement can be given to the cap case or bag by means of a
treadle or in any other convenient manner. I would also remark that tho
cap case or bag, previously described, may be applied to the end of revolving
shuttle boxes, the aperture through which the air is admitted into the box
being arranged opposite to that portion of the box from which the shuttle is
to be thrown.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details or arrangements of mechanism

page_text: herein shown and described, which may be greatly varied without departing
from the nature of my Invention; but what I claim is,-
First, arranging and working hollow caps b at the outer end of the shuttle
box for actuating the shuttles in looms for weaving, substantially as herein
shewn and described.
Secondly, I claim applying and working an air case or bag f at the outer
end of the shuttle box for actuating the shuttles in looms for weaving,
substantially as herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph John Harrison, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOSEPH JOHN HARRISON. (L.S.)