A CERTAIN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING OR MANUFACTURING A CERTAIN PART OR PARTS OF LOOMS USED IN WEAVING
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ALLPORT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Maker, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of May,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Allport, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,.
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Samuel Allport, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Allport, my exors, adññiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVED
METHOD OF MAKING OR MANUFACTURING A CERTAIN PART OR PARTS OF LOOMS USED
IN WEAVING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Samuel Allport, should cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Allport, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to the mode of making or manufacturing the
mails used in the draw loom and other descriptions of figured weaving looms
in place of the heddle eyes of the old plain weaving looms. As these mails
are now made the process consists of three principal operations:-First, a strip
of malleable metal (copper, brass, or iron) is pierced at its extreme end with
the number of holes suitable for a single mail, say, three, four, or more, and
these holes are produced by means of punches and corresponding beds, fixed
in and worked by a common fly press, but only one set of holes is in this way
pierced at a time, that is to say, by one stroke of the press; second, the strip
of metal, after it has been so pierced throughout, is passed between another set
of tools, by which the mails, that is to say, small pieces of the metal of an
elongated, oval (or any other required) form, each embracing one of the sets of
holes, is cut out and separated from the strip, but here again one mail only is
cut out by each stroke of the press; and, third, the detached pieces, con-
stituting each a mail in a rough state, are each separately subjected to what is
technically called "a striking process," in order to bevil or round the outer
rim of the mail, and also the edges of the inner holes. Plans of mails of
different patterns, as thus completed, are given in Figure 1*.
Now, my improvements consist, firstly, in piercing a number of sets of holes
(instead of one set only) at one and the same time, or by one operation;
secondly, in cutting out a number of mails at one and the same time; thirdly,
in effecting by one operation both the piercing and cutting out of mails;
fourthly, in striking or bevilling the outer rims and interior holes of a number
of mails (instead of those of one mail only) at one and the same time; and,
fifthly, (which is an improvement' arising out of and consequent on the pre-
ceding improvements) in attaching the punches and beds to their holders, so
that in the event of any of them breaking or wearing away they can be
replaced without having to cast the whole aside.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a cross
section, and Figure 3 a top plan of the tool which I employ to pierce a
number of sets of holes by one and the same operation. A is the holder, and
a, a, eight sets of punches, three in each set, which are inserted in the holder
all on one line. The number of sets, and also the number of punches in' each
set may be varied, as may be required. At their upper ends they are slightly
burred, as
shewn in Figure 2, to prevent their starting while at work, and the
holders are countersunk, to receive these burrs, so that they may come flush

page_text: with the top face of the holder A. When any of these punches are broken
or damaged the holder A is detached from the bolster of the press or other
machine used to work the tools, the faulty punch struck out, and a new ono
inserted in its place. Figure 4 is a top plan, and Figure 5 a section of a bed
adapted to the piercing tool just described.
Figure 6 is a side elevation, Figure 7 a cross section, and Figure 8 a top
plan of the tool which I employ to cut out a number of mails at one and the
same time. A is the holder, and a, a, the punches, which are burred at the
upper ends, like those of the tool first before described.
. Figure 9 is a top plan, and Figure 10 a cross section of a bed adapted to
the cutting-out tool last described. B, B, are two pins, which project beyond
the top surfaces of the two outermost of the piercing punches, Figure 6, and
take into corresponding holes in the bed plate, Figure 9, and thereby serve to
keep the two tools in a perfect state of reciprocal adjustment while the strip
of metal is passing through between them.
Figure 11 is a top plan, Figure 12 a side elevation, and Figure 13 an end
view of the tool by which I both pierce and cut out mails at one operation.
A is a bolster, and A₁ the punch holder, which is slid into a recess in the
upper face of the bed piece, and bevilled at the sides, to fit corresponding.
bevils in the sides of the recess (see Figure 13). H is a stop piece, which is
bolted to one end of the bed A. P1, P2, are two rows of punches, for piercing
the mails, and C2, C3, two rows of punches for cutting them out; the piercing
and cutting-out punches being placed in an alternating order. R, R, are
seats raised on the face of the sliding holder A", and cut out of the solid metal
of A, into which the punches are inserted (from beneath), there being one
seat for each set of mail holes, and one for each cutting-out punch. The
punches are burred at their upper ends exactly as in the single tools before.
described, and are removed and replaced, when required, in the same way.
Figure 14 is a plan, Figure 15 a side elevation, and Figure 16 an end view
of a set of beds adapted to the double tool last herein-before described. A' is
a holder, which is slid dovetailwise into a chase or carrier A³, which again is
slid also dovetailwise into a recess made for it in the upper surface of the foun-
dation bolster A³; P and P are the beds corresponding to the piercing.
punches P¹ and P3; and C, C are the beds corresponding to the cutting-
out punches C¹ and C. The beds are inserted into the holders in pairs, that is
o say, each of the circular pieces c, c, contains one of the beds P¹* or P², and,
one of the beds C or C. The pieces c are raised a little above the general
surface of the holder, and each bed is separated from the other down to
he depth of the projecting part by a cleft d. Each of the pieces c is also

page_text: conically enlarged to a slight extent towards the bottom, which prevents
its starting out of its place when in work, but enables it to be easily removed
and replaced when the holder A¹ is withdrawn from its chase and turned
upside down.
The piercing punches and cutting-out beds are so arranged in respect of one
another, that the second sets of both shall come opposite the intervals between
the first sets, which greatly diminishes the amount of waste, and room is
obtained to give the requisite strength to all parts of the tools.
E is a plate, called a "releaser," which has holes in it corresponding with
the punches of Figure 12, and is secured by four bolts 1, 2, 3, 4, to the under
bolster when they are set to work, in order to prevent the strip of metal
following the punches as they are withdrawn from the cutting-out beds.
The double sets of punches and beds last herein-before described being fixed
in a machine in the usual way, with the sides F, F, in front; the strip of metal
is introduced endwise between the beds and releaser, and two rows of holes
successively proceed in it by two strokes of the machine. The strip is next
moved forward on to the top of the first row of cutting-out beds C¹³, and by
a third stroke of the machine the metal containing the first set of rows is cut
out into as many mails as there are sets in that row; and so the work goes on
continuously, a new row of holes and a new series of mails being cut out by each
-stroke of the machine. A representation of a piece of metal in the waste state,
after it has gone through a series of these operations, is given in Figure 16°.
Figures 17 and 18 are plans of two sets of dies D, D, by which I accom-
plish the "striking" or bevilling of a number of mails by one operation, and
Figure 19 a cross section thereof on an enlarged scale. A, A, are the die
holders. Each of the set D¹ is an exact counterpart of the obverse side of one
of the mails, and each of the set D³ a counterpart of the reverse side, and the
effect of striking a mail Between them is to bevil or round both the outer rim
and the interior holes. The number of dies contained in the holders is
represented in the Drawings as ten, but that number may be encreased or
diminished as convenience may suggest. The machine for working these dies
(and to which I claim nothing new) is provided as usual with a supply tray for
containing the mails to be struck, and a feeder by which they are delivered to
the dies; but these appendages are made proportionably larger than usual
to suit the greater number of mails struck at one time, and the tray is
channeled also, in order to keep the mails separate in their passage to the
dies.
Figure 20 is a plan of the supply tray (Q); Figure 21 is a side elevation of
that part of the machine which includes the supply tray and feeder (R); and

page_text: Figure 2 a plan thereof. The tray Q is placed in an inclined position, so as to
ensure by the downward gravitation of the mails a constant supply of them to
the feeder R, which delivers them to the dies.
The whole of the tools herein-before described are proposed to be worked by
steam power.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention in the several
parts thereof, and in what manner the same are to be performed, I declare that
I claim, in regard to the method of manufacturing weavers' mails, the improve-
ments following:-
First, I claim the piercing of a number of sets of mail holes at one
operation by means of the tools represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and
before described.
Second, I claim the cutting out of a number of sets of mail holes at one
operation by means of the tools represented in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and
before described.
Third, I claim the piercing and cutting out of a number of mails at one
operation, by means of the tools represented in Figures 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and
16, and before described.
Fourth, I claim the "striking" or bevelling a number of mails at one operation
by means of the tools represented in Figures 17, 18, and 19, and before
described.
And, fifth, I claim the modes of securing the punches and beds used in the
manufacture of mails in their respective holders, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Allport, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One