IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Langlands, Shuttle Maker, of 161, Hill-
town, Dundee, and Joseph Johnston, Manager at Messrs. Ritchie &
Simpson's, Maxwelltown Works, Dundee, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES."
Sealed the 16th December 1873, and dated the 20th June 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Langlands and
Joseph Jolinston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th June 1873.
WC, GEORGE LANGLANDS, Shuttle Maker, 161, Hilltown, Dundee, and
JOSEPH JOHNSTON, Manager at Messrs. Ritchie and Simpson's, Maxwell-
town Works, Dundee, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES," to be as follows:-
In an.
ordinary shuttle, as the yarn comes from the cope or pirn, it
either leaves the shuttle through an eye or winds round a wire or staple,
and then enters the eye.

page_text: Our improvements consist in placing an oscillating weft drag attached
to an ordinary shuttle upon the yarn as it comes from the cope or pirn
and before it leaves the shuttle through the eye.
The drag is hung upon the cross pin used generally for keeping down
the yarn and bearing the cover of the shuttle, and in shuttles where
there is no cross pin or cover the drag is hung on a pin placed across
the head of the socket in the shuttle, for holding the cope or pirn. This
improvement necessitates that the eye of the ordinary shuttle be placed a
little further forward so as to give room for the oscillating drag to work.
The oscillating drag works by its own weight, leaning on the yarn and
keeping it in a state of uniform tension.
With the present ordinary shuttle the action of the loom often throws
out the yarn too quickly or loosely, and at other times, especially when
the yarn is knotted or of unequal thickness, too tightly, and the object
of the drag is to keep the yarn in a uniform state of tension, and to ]
yield readily where the weft is of unequal thickness or knotted. The
effect of this is to make the weft more regular in the weaving, and to
improve the selvage of the cloth.
A further improvement consists in the insertion of a screw from the
bottom of the shuttle to raise the oscillating drag and relieve its pressure
on the yarn, and to act as a regulator on the drag, so as to adapt it for
fine and coarse weft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Langlands and Joseph Johnston in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, GEORGE
LANGLANDS, Shuttle Maker, of Number One hundred and sixty-one,
Hilltown, Dundee, and JOSEPH JOHNSTON, Manager at Messrs. Ritchie
and Simpson's, Maxwelltown Works, Dundee, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,...

page_text: :
With the present ordinary shuttle the action of the loom often throws
out the yarn too quickly or loosely, and at other times, especially when
the yarn is knotted and of unequal thickness, holds it too tightly, and tho
object of the drag is to keep the yarn in a uniform state of tension, and
to yield readily where the weft is of unequal thickness or knotted. The
effect of this is to make the weft more regular in the weaving, and to
improve the selvage of the cloth.
A further improvement consists in the insertion of a screw from the
bottom of the shuttle to raise the oscillating drag and relieve its pressure
on the yarn, and act as a regulator on the drag, so as to adapt it cither 1
for fine or coarse weft.
In order more fully to describe and ascertain the said Invention, and
in what manner it may be performed, we refer to the annexed Drawings,
Sheets Nos. I. and II.
In Sheet No. I. Fig. 1 is a plan of an ordinary shuttle; Fig. 2 is a
section thereof; and Figures 3 and 4 are a plan and section of our
improved shuttle, shewing oscillating drag a, a, placed between the pirn
or cope and the eye of the shuttle e, and also shewing one mode in
which the drag can be operated on and regulated by the action of a
screw c introduced below and acting directly on the drag.
In Sheet No. II. Figures 5 and 6 are also a plan and section of our
improved shuttle, also shewing at a, a, that part of our Invention called
the oscillating drag placed in the same situation between the pirn or
cope b and the eye of the shuttle e.
. And another mode in which the drag can be operated on indirectly by 2
means of the screw c moving a spring or tongue d affixed to the bottom
of the shuttle below the drag.
The Figures 7 and 8 shew the said spring or tongue and oscillating
drag respectively.
Having thus described our said Invention, and in what manner it is 3
to be performed, we wish it to be understood, that what we claim as
novel and of our Invention are, the mechanical contrivances or apparatus
described as the oscillating drag, and the spring or tongue and screw
connected therewith as applied to shuttles for regulating the tension of
the thread or yarn, and facilitating its passage, substantially as before 3

page_text: lescribed and as shewn in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere
nodification thereof.
In witness whercof, we, the said George Langlands and Joseph
Johnston, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventeenth
day of December, in the year One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.