CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FÓR WEAVING VARIOUS SORTS OF CLOTHS, WHICH LOOMS MAY BE SET IN MOTION BY ANY ADEQUATE POWER
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BOWMAN, of Manchester, in the the County Palatine of Lancaster, Manufac-
turer, send greeting.
+
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of July, in the first year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Bowman, my exors, admors, and
assigns, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Robert Bowman, my exors, adñors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FÓR
WEAVING VARIOUS SORTS OF CLOTHS, WHICH LOOMS MAY BE SET IN MOTION BY ANY
ADEQUATE POWER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Robert Bowman, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain 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,
and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advan-
tages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become
void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto bad, will more fully and
at large appear.
f...

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Robert Bowman, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings' hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
That my improvements in the construction of looms for weaving various
sorts of cloths are applicable to looms worked by power, and will render such
power looms proper for weaving those sorts of cloths of cotton, wool, silk, or
flax (or of mixtures of those substances) which are called fustians, such as
velveteens, cordaroys, and woolen cords, velvets, and sateens, all which cloths,
being of the nature of tweeled and tufted cloths, require the loom to be mounted
with several heddles to divide the warp. The manner in which the heddles
of power looms have hitherto been harnessed does not admit of employing so
many heddles as are requisite for weaving the aforesaid sort of cloths without
very great complication and danger of derangement; but I have, after much
study, trouble, and expence, found out and invented such a simple mode of
connecting or harnessing the heddles of power looms, and such an effectual
mode of applying the tappets or wipers to draw the said heddles, that 1 am
enabled to weave the aforesaid sorts of cloths (or other sorts of cloths which
require more or less heddles) by power looms, as well and as quick as they
can be done by hand weaving in the common manner. The conimon power
looms already in use being usually employed for weaving plain cloth only two
heddles are required, and these two heddles are harnessed with leavers or
pulleys, so that they must always move in opposite directions, viz., when one
heddle is pressed down by its wiper or tappet and treadle, the other heddle
will be drawn up by that same motion, therefore one heddle acts against the
other, and they require no counterweights; but when such power looms are
applied to the weavings of tweeled cloths which require more than two heddles
to divide the warfs, the heddles cannot be made to act one against the other,
and therefore that complicated harness must be used which is commonly
known to weavers by the name of jacks, with long and short lames and
treadles. One part of my improvements is a new manner of connecting or
harnessing the heddles for power looms, whereby although several heddles are
employed still they are always kept in a proper state of tenison without any
complication, and are better adapted to receive the action of the wipers or
tappets by which they are raised and lowered in order to divide the warp.
Another part of my improvements is, a new manner of applying the wipers
or tappets which give motion to the heddles, whereby such wipers or tappets
produce both motions of lowering as well as raising such heddles.

page_text: For the better explaining of my Invention I have hereunto annexed three
sheets of Drawings of a power loom to which my improvements are applied
in a proper manner for weaving velveteens with six shafts or heddles. I
shall first give a description of this loom, and afterwards specify those parts
and combinations of parts which constitute my improvements.
Description of the Loom.-The cast-iron framing of the loom is distin-
guished in all the Drawings by a shading of Indian ink. It consists of two
upright standards or main frames mark 1, 1, which are firmly united
together and kept in their vertical position by five pieces, viz, a horizontal
cast-iron frame 2, 2, at the bottom of the loom, the breast beam 3 in front
thereof, and a cross 4, 4, at the back; also two horizontal rails 5, 6, at the top,
and one of these bars is formed with a cross 6 to strengthen the uprights.
These pieces are all firmly screwed to the upright standards 1, 1. 7 is the
yarn roller, on which the yarns 8 for the warp are wound. It is situated at the
back of the loom, and has an enlarged pulley upon it at each end, over
which a strap is passed, and is drawn tight by a loaded leaver to occasion
friction on the pulley, and make the yarn draw off the roller with a sufficient
tenison. 9 is a roller, over which the yarns are conducted. 10, are the lease
rods. 11, the heddles, of which there are 6, situate one behind the other.
The yarns are conducted through the eyes of these heddles, so that by raising
some of the heddles up and drawing the others down the warp will be divided
into two sheds, which will admit the shuttle to pass between them. 12 is the
reed through which the threads of the warp pass; it is fixed in the lay 13, 13,
which is suspended in the manner of a pendulum on the pivots of the axis 14,
so that it can swing forwards in order to beat up the weft and form the cloth,
or it can be drawn backwards when the shuttle is to be thrown across between
the divided warp. The cloth which is formed by the intervening of the warp
and the weft passes over the breast beam 3 at the front of the loom, and then
descends and is wound up round the cloth roller 15. This roller is turned by
a cog wheel 16, Sheet I., and a pinion on the axis of a ratchet wheel 17.
18 is a cleck which acts in the teeth of the ratchet wheel; it is jointed to one
end of the lever 19, which plays on a fixed centre pin, and has a weight hung
at the opposite end. This weight tends to raise up the cleck and turn the
ratchet wheel round, which action, by the pinion and wheel, tends to turn the
cloth roller round, and thereby to wind up the cloth as fast as it is made.
The click 18 is occasionally pressed down to take fresh hold of the teeth of.
the rachet wheel when it has arisen to a proper height, and 20 is another
check which stops the teeth of the ratchet wheel to prevent it from running
backwards. The whole machine is put in motion by means of a fast and loose
pulley 21, at one extremity of the main axis 22, and 23 is a small fly wheel

page_text: to regulate the motion. 24 are two cranks formed on the main axis at
opposite ends thereof. 25 are two crank rods, which are jointed at one end
to the lower part or sole of the lay 13, and the opposite. ends are jointed to
the cranks 24. The axis 22 and fly wheel is turned round by any adequate
power at about 90 revolutions per minute, and by its cranks and rods-swings
the lay backwards and forwards, and every turn of the main axis completes
one shoot. The action for pecking or throwing the shuttle is obtained from
the motion of the lay when it is drawn backwards. The shuttle is adapted
to run along the shuttle race just in front of the reed, and at each end of the
shuttle race two sides are fixed, to form troughs or boxes for the reception of
the shuttle at either end. 26, 26, are straight wires or steel spindles fixed hori-
zontally to the lay over the shuttle boxes, and upon these the peckers 27,
slide in order to strike the shuttle and drive it with great rapidity out of one
shuttle box, and it runs along the shuttle race between the sheds of the
divided warp till it enters the shuttle box at the opposite end of the loom.
28 are upright levers, which are attached to the peckers 27 at the lower ends
by thongs, and are suspended at their upper ends on joints, which are affixed
to the axis 14 of the lay. These levers are connected by links 29 with
the ends of two short horizontal levers 30, which are attached by joints
to the extremities of brackets fastened to the upright swords 13 of
the lay. Springs are applied to act behind each of the levers 30 to force
them outwards, and by the links 29 and the levers 28 the peckors 27 are
thrown outwards by the same motion in order to admit the shuttle to enter.
hte shuttle boxes. The levers 30 have rollers at the extremities which, when
the lay is pushed backwards, run against the ends of inclined planes 31, which
are supported by the upright standards of the main frame. The action of
cither of these rollers against its inclined plane is to force the roller 30 and
its lever 30 inwards, and by the link 29 and the long lever 28 the pecker is.
forced very smartly along its spindle so as to throw the shuttle;
comes forward again the roller 30 quits its inclined plane 31,
spring behind the lever 30 restores the levers and pecker to their original
positions. As it is requisite for one of the peckers to act to throw the shuttle
at one shoot, and the opposite one to throw the shuttle back again at the next:
shoot, the two inclined planes 31 are moveable, being affixed to pieces of
iron, which are moveable on centre pins in the manner of horizontal levers,
and a long horizontal lever 32, which extends all across the frame of the loom,
connects the two inclined planes 31 at the opposite sides of the loom in such
manner that when one inclined plane is lifted up on its centers the other will
be let down, and that inclined plane 31, which is lifted up, will be in the
proper situation to intercept the roller 30 in the manner above described, but
but as the lay
and then the

page_text: the other inclined plane 31, which is let down, will be beneath the roller 30,
so as to produce no action thereupon. The inclined planes 31 are moved up
and down alternately by a small rod 33, which is situated at the left-hand
side of the loom, and is connected with the left-hand piece 31. At the
lower end of the rod 33 is a fork to receive the action of a small excentric
or heart 34, which is turned round by wheelwork 35, so that it will make
only one turn for two turns of the main axis 22, or two shoot. In consequence,
at one shoot the heart 34 will raise the piece 31, to which it is attached,
and place it in the proper situation to intercept the left-hand roller 30
(when the lay is drawn back by the crank 25), and thereby to throw the
shuttle from left to right; but at the succeeding shoot the heart 34, having
made half a revolution, will have depressed the left-hand piece 31 to take
it out of action; and this motion by the lever 32 will have raised the
right-hand piece 31 into the proper situation to intercept the right-hand roller
30 (when the lay is drawn back), and thereby to throw the shuttle back again
from right to left. If ever the shuttle should fall short of passing quite across
the warp and entering the opposite shuttle box, the machine will stop itself in
the following manner, because the shuttle might lodge between the divided
yarns, and if the lay were then to beat up the yarns would be broken, and
perhaps the reed also. To prevent any such accident there are two stops 36
applied to the lay; they proceed from a horizontal axis 37, which lies in front
of the shuttle race, and is attached thereto by pivots at its two ends. From the
same axis two short upright arms 38 proceed; they are pressed backwards by
slight springs 39 affixed to the front of the shuttle race, which springs tend to
raise the front ends of the stops 36. into such a position as would make them
catch against stop pieces 40 fixed to the frame, and thereby stop the lay from
advancing beyond the middle of its course; but when the shuttle is lodged
in either of the shuttle boxes the ends of the stops 36 will be depressed, so
that they will pass clear beneath the stop pieces 40. For this purpose two
horizontal pieces of wood 41 are fitted into slots or openings through the front
sides of the two shuttle boxes so as to bear against the shuttle when it lies
in the box. These pieces of wood are moveable upon centre pins at the outer
ends in the manner of horizontal levers, and the upper ends of the arms 38
bear against the inner end of the pieces 41, and therefore the action of the
springs 39 tends always to push the ends of the pieces 41 through the slots
into the shuttle boxes; but when the shuttle is lodged in either of the boxes
it presses the piece 41 of that box outwards, and by the upright arms 38 turns
the stops 36 so much downwards that their ends will pass clear beneath the.
stops 40 and allow the lay to move. At every shoot, when the lay is.

page_text: drawn back and the shuttle is thrown out of one shuttle box, the piece 41 of
that box is set at liberty, and the springs 39 instantly raise the stops 36 into
such a position that they would catch against the stops 40 if the lay were then
advanced; but in an instant, when the shuttle has passed across the warp and
entered into the opposite shuttle box, it presses the piece 41 of that box out-
wards and again depresses the stops 36, so that they will not catch; but if the
shuttle had stopped short in its course and had not entered the opposite shuttle
box, then the stops 36 would have remained raised, and would have stopped
the motion of the lay and of the machine. The endless strap which works
on the fast and loose pulley 21 to turn the machine is in that case turned to
the loose pulley in the following manner :-The strap is guided through a loop
at one end of a lever 42, which moves upon a fixed centre pin, and the other
end of the lever is connected with the middle part of an upright spring 43,
which is fastened to the frame at its lower end, and the upper end passes
through a groove in the stop piece 40. The top end is a handle for the work-
man to take hold of. The spring 43 always tends towards the left, and would
shift the strap to the loose pulley so as to stop the motion of the machine; but
if the workman pushes the handle to the right (by binding the spring) the
lever 42 will shift the strap to the fast pulley and put the machine in motion,
and he may maintain the spring 43 in that position by locking it sideways into
A short lever 44
a notch formed at one side of a groove in the stop piece 40.
is applied horizontally beneath the stop piece 40; one end bears against the
upright spring 43 in front of it, and the other end lies in such position that the
end of the stop 36 must strike it and push it forwards in case the shuttle does.
not go fairly across the warp, as before stated. This action will press back the
spring 43 and disengage it from the notch in the groove, and the spring will
then act on the lever 42, and shift the strap to the loose pulley, as before.
mentioned, to stop the machine. All the aforesaid parts of the loom are such
as are already in use, and form no part of my Invention.
My improvements consist in the manner of connecting or harnessing the
heddles, and in the manner of giving motion to them.
Firstly, each of the heddles 11 is suspended by cords, which proceed from
the upper shaft of such heddle (or otherwise connected) to the extremity of a
lever A, B, situated at the top of the loom, and the lower shaft of the same
heddle is attached in like manner to the extremity of a lever C, D, which is
placed at the lower part of the loom. The outer extremities B, D, of these
two levers are united by perpendicular cords or wires E, which are drawn tight,
and thereby brace or extend the heddle to any required tension; but the
heddle being balanced and in equilibrium is equally free either to rise, or to

page_text: fall without occasioning any unnecessary strain upon the warp; each heddle is
braced in the same manner, therefore there are many levers A, B, at the top
of the loom, and as many levers C, D, at the bottom of the loom, as there are
heddles, and also there are as many of perpendicular cords or wires E, and the
machinery which operates to raise or lower the heddles is connected with these
perpendicular cords.
Secondly, the requisite movements for raising or lowering the heddles are
given by two sets of tappet wheels or rosettes G, H, which are fixed upon two
horizontal axis I, K, situated one above the other; and each axis has as
many of the said tappet wheels as there are heddles in the loom, so that there
is a pair of tappet wheels for each heddle. The tappets or prominences of
these tappet wheels operate upon horizontal levers L, M, which are situated
between the upper and lower sets of tappet wheels, and there is one lever for
each heddle. All these levers are moveable on one common centre pin L,
Sheet I. & III., at one end, and the other end enters into a loop in one of the
perpendicular cords E. Each lever L, M, carries two rollers g and h near the
middle of its length, one of which rollers h is occasionally operated upon by
the tappets or prominences of the lower tappet wheel, in order to raise up the
lever L, M, and sink that heddle to which it belongs; and at other times the
other roller g of the same lever L, M, is operated upon by the tappets of the
upper tappet wheel, in order to depress that lever and raise the heddle to
which it belongs. The two sets of tappet wheels G and H are turned round
by means of large cog wheels N, O, fixed upon their axis I and K, and
worked by a pinion P on the extremity of main axis of the cranks. The pro-
portion between the pinion P and the wheels N, O, is such for a loom with
six heddles that each of the tappet wheels will make one revolution during
nine shoots. The prominences or tappets of the different tappet wheels are so
arranged upon those wheels that at every shoot the lower set of tappets will
elevate such of the levers L, M, as belong to those heddles that require to be
depressed during that shoot; and the upper set of tappets will at the same
time depress such of the levers L, M, as belong to those heddles which require
to be raised during the same shoot. At the succeeding shoot the pinion P
will have made one revolution, and the wheels N, O, and tappet wheels will
have made one ninth of a revolution, whereby new parts of the circumferences:
of the tappet wheels, and a new set of tappets, will have been brought into.
action, in order to produce such a new arrangement of the heddles as the
succeeding shoot requires. The tappet, wheels are circular rims, with nine
mortice holes made in the circumference of each, in order to receive tennons,
which are formed at the opposite ends of each tappet; and the said tennons

page_text: may.
are held fast in the mortices by pins, which are put through the tennons where
they project withinside the circular rim of the tappet wheel. By this means
the tappets can be fixed on at any part of the circumference of the wheels as
be required. For weaving different kinds of cloth a great or lesser
number of tappet wheels may be required to be placed upon the axis I; and
also the proportion between the pinion P and wheels N, O, must be varied as
the fabric of such cloth requires. The arrangement of these tappets upon the
wheels must be according to the number of heddles and the order of the
successive movements which are to be given to them, as that depends upon
the nature of the cloth to be woven, and forms no part of my Invention; and;
as it is well known to weavers, it need not be described in this Specification.
Note, instead of employing levers at A, B, and C, D, pulleys may be placed
at A and B, and at C and D, to conduct the perpendicular cords E; and one
end of each of these cords being connected with the top of the heddle, whilst
the other end of the same cord is connected with the bottom of the same
heddle, the effect of bracing or extending the heddles will be produced the
same as by the use of levers. Also, in some cases, the heddles may be braced
or extended by applying a perpendicular shaft or inflexible bar to each heddle,
as shewn in Sheet III., so that it will cross the middle of the two shafts of
that heddle; and the cords which proceed from the upper shaft of such heddle
being attached to the upper part of the said perpendicular bar, and the cords
which proceed from the lower shaft of the same heddle being attached to the
lower part of the same bar, then the heddle may be braced or extended as
aforesaid; and the motion which is to raise and lower the heddle may be
applied by levers at top or at bottom, or in any other convenient manner to
the said perpendicular bar. Note, as the perpendicular bar will pass through
between the yarns of the warp, this plan is not applicable except to such looms
as are mounted to weave two pieces at once, and then the perpendicular bar
will be in the space between the two pieces. The manner of applying the
cords which connect the two shafts of the heddles to the upper and lower ends
of the said perpendicular bar may be varied at the discretion of the weaver,
provided he does not depart from the principle of my Invention, which is, to
brace or extend the heddles, whether it be by means of such a perpendicular
bar or by a connection of levers or cords at the top and others at the bottom
of the same heddle, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Bowman, have hereunto set my:
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-one.
ROBERT (L.S.)
BOWMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1821, the aforesaid Robert Bowman came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.