Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Apr., 1887
Complete Left, 29th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1888
1 EDWARD BOOTH of 57 Sussex Street Lower Broughton, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to
be as follows :-
My said Invention relates to loom shuttle tongues or skewers upon which the cop is
impaled and held in the shuttle during the weaving operation as it is well understood.
To assist in maintaining the cop in its proper position, such shuttle tongues are
usually made with a curved spring, lying parallel with the shank and which collapses
or yields when the cop is thrust upon the tongue. By exercising an outward elastic
pressure in the interior of the cop the said spring tends to prevent it from slipping
off. It is usually found however that such springs are easily broken or become soon
ineffective. According to my invention the entire shuttle tongue is preferably made
from one strip of steel or other suitable metal punched or pressed to the proper shape
and folded together so as to form the shank of the tongue. I also enlarge the butt
end into a chamber. The halves forming the shank are braized together at the tip
and are curved or set apart so as to compose a collapseable spring shank the sides of
which are equally curved and equally elastic. The edges of the spring tongue halves
are rounded off and smoothed so as not to catch the yarn. I insert a solid block of
metal into the chamber formed at the butt end of the tongue or skewer the said block
occupying the whole length of the chamber but being preferably in contact with the
top and bottom of the chamber for a portion of its length only. The halves of the
skewer do not come together at the root of the shank viz: at the butt or chambered
end, so that the elasticity of the curved collapseable portion of the shank is not
interfered with and in addition, the elasticity stored in the sides of the chamber
is utilised and allowed free play. It thus follows that the curved spring sides
of the tongue are more elastic, not so easily broken and not so soon fatigued as is
the case with existing spring shuttle tongues. The pin for jointing the tongue
to the shuttle passes through the block fixed in the chamber at the but end and
the ordinary or a suitable spring is applied to keep the skewer in its working

page_text: position. My improved tongue or skewer can be. applied to existing shuttles
without making any change in existing arrangements. By a modification the block
or part through which the joint pin passes might be formed as a part of the metal
composing the chamber, the chamber sides being prolonged so as to give the
required elasticity, or otherwise the balves of the tongue might be disunited and
rivetted or braized to the butt block; but in all cases where such modified forms are
adopted care must be taken to preserve the principle of a prolonged area of elasticity
as presented in the form of tongue first described.
Dated this 2nd day of Annil 1007
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester
Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Loom Shuttle Tongues or Skewers.
I EDWARD BOOTH of 57 Sussex Street, Lower Broughton, Manchester in the
County of Lancaster, 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 and accompanying drawings:—
My said Invention relates to loom shuttle tongues or skewers upon which the cops
are impaled and held in the shuttles during the weaving operation as is well understood.
To assist in maintaining the cop in its proper position such shuttle tongues are usually
made with a curved spring lying parallel with the shank and which collapses or yields
when the cop is thrust upon the tongue. By exercising an outward elastic pressure
in the interior of the cop the said spring tends to prevent it from slipping off. It is
usually found however that such springs are easily broken or become soon ineffective.
According to my invention the entire shuttle tongue is made from one strip of steel or
other suitable metal punched or pressed to the proper shape and folded together so as
to form the shank of the tongue. I also enlarge the butt end into a chamber. The
halves forming the shank are brazed together at the tip and are curved or set apart so
as to compose a collapsable spring shank the sides of which are equally curved and
equally elastic. I insert a solid block of metal into the chamber formed at the butt end
of the tongue or skewer or otherwise form the butt end in such a manner that it
will receive the pin which hinges the tongue to the shuttle. The halves of the
skewer do not come together at the root of the shank viz at the butt or chambered
end so that the elasticity of the curved collapsable portion of the shank is not interfered
with and in addition the elasticity stored in the sides of the chamber is utilised and
allowed free play. The ordinary or a suitable spring is applied to keep the skewer in
its working position. My improved tongue or skewer can be applied to existing
shuttles without making any change in existing arrangements.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I will now proceed
fully to describe the same, reference being had to the annexed sheet of drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a shuttle tongue or skewer made in accordance with my
invention. In manufacturing the same I first take a piece of suitable steel of the
requisite thickness and punch or stamp therefrom a blank a of the form somewhat as
shown at Fig. 5, which is a plan view of the said blank. The central portion a' is
intended to form the aforesaid chamber butt of the shuttle tongue while the arms a on
each side form the spring halves. To produce the shuttle tongue shown at Fig. 1, 1
bend the flat portion a¹ of the blank into the shape of the rectangular chamber a¹
(Fig. 1.) the two limbs a being thus brought nearly together. To unite them at the
tip a where they touch I braze them together and when set to the form shown in the
drawings or to a suitable form they compose a collapsable spring shank the sides of
which are equally curved and equally elastic. The shank is suitably rounded off and
finished so as not to catch the yarn of the cop. In the rectangular chamber a' at the
butt I place a block 6 which may either fill the entire length of the chamber as in

page_text: Fig. 1 or may be reduced as shown at Fig. 2 so as to be in contact with the sides of
the chamber for a portion only of its length. The block is bored at c to admit the pin
by which it is hinged to the shuttle. The object of reducing the block 6 as in Fig. 2
is to lessen the effect of the block in diminishing the elasticity of the sides of the
chamber a¹. In some cases the block b might extend through only a portion of the
length of the chamber a¹.
The shuttle tongue thus composed of a single strip or blank of steel bent into
the required form is more elastic, not so easily broken and not so easily fatigued as is
the case with spring shuttle tongues of the ordinary make.
In the modified form shown at Fig. 3 the block portion through which the pin c
passes is fashioned in one piece with the shuttle tongue. The block 6 might be made
of hide or of a suitable material other than metal. In the example illustrated by Fig. 4
the block is dispensed with and the tongue formed complete by bending the sheet
metal blank into the form illustrated.
In this example a curl or loop d is formed by bending the central portion of the
blank, the eye in the said curl receiving the pin c when the tongue is mounted in its
place in the shuttle. This curl or loop might be formed to project from the side of the
chamber a¹, instead of from the end as shown in the Fig. I do not confine myself to
the use of steel in the formation of the tongue so long as the novel method of formation
is employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1) In the manufacture of shuttle tongues or skewers forming the same from a strip
or blank punched or stamped from a sheet of steel of the requisite thickness and bent
into form substantially as indicated in the drawings and as hereinbefore set forth.
(2) A shuttle tongue or skewer formed from a single blank or strip of steel or
stamped or pressed from sheet metal and having a chamber a¹ at the butt occupied by
a hinge block b as shown Figs. 1 and 2.
(3) In a shuttle tongue or skewer made from a single stamped or pressed blank or
strip of steel forming the hinge block in one piece with the shuttle tongue as in Fig. 3
or bending a portion of the blank into a curl or loop to receive the hinge pin
substantially as shown and described with reference to Fig. 4.
Dated this 28th day of December 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.