Improvements in Looms for Weaving for Producing Serpentine Designs.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th June, 1899-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Looms for Weaving for Producing Serpentine
Designs.
I, CHARLES LOUIS VANDERBEKEN, of Houhne, Seine Inferieure, France, Manu-
facturer, 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:-
The present application for a patent of invention has for object to secure to
me the exclusive ownership of certain improvements which I have made in
looms for weaving in which the healds that serve to produce the serpentine effects
are dispensed with.
These improvements do not necessitate the application or addition to the loon,
of a harness arrangement or of a Jacquard mechanism, and they can be applied to
any loon which is driven by power or by hand.
In order to render the following description as clear as possible, I have illus-
trated 1, in a diagrammatic manner all the parts of a loom for weaving, and 2,
in a complete manner the parts which I add to the said loom in order to enable
the object in view to be effected.
Figure 1 is a front view of the loom from which it is assumed that the head
rollers have been entirely removed in order to enable the whole arrangement for
operating the needle-carrying carriages which I add to the loom, to be seen.
Figure 2 is a detail view of the mechanism which serves to rotate the cylinder.
Figure 3 is a front view of the cylinder mounted on its batten.
Figure 4 shows the arrangement of the pusher levers.
Figure 5 illustrates the eccentric roller.
Figure 6 gives the details of the plate.
Figure 7 is a view showing the mode of mounting of the crank which causes
the needle-carriers to move downwards.
Figure 8 shows the step which bears upon the hooks of the needle carriers.
Figure 9 shows the form of the hook fixed on the needle-carriers.
Figure 10 is a cross section through a centre of the loom, showing the path
followed by the threads of the fabric and the serpentine threads.
Figure 11 shows the arrangement employed for placing several carriages
parallel.
Figure 12 shows the details of the buffer or stop against which abuts the
needle-carrying carriage which serves at the same time as a grating in order to
preserve the distance of these carriages apart.
Figure 13 is a front view of the separating comb.
Figure 14 shows the reed which I employ in order to vary the serpentine
designs.
Figure 15 is an enlarged view showing the form of the needles.
The arrangement which I employ consists mainly in the "adjunction" of one
or more parallel series of needles on iron bars or blades of special form which
I shall describe hereinafter and which, as shown in Figure 10, are placed between
the reed A and the healds B. These needles have for object to effect at the desired

page_text: moment, the incorporation, into the fabric, of the threads which form the ser-
pentine design and which are unwound from a beam C situated above and at the
rear of the loom.
The series of needles to which I have just referred, may have two kinds of
movements; (1) a vertical to-and-fro movement the strokes of which are regu-
lated in an invariable manner according to the height necessary for the passage
of the shuttle, and (2) an alternate borizontal movement the strokes of which are
regulated in such a manner as to produce the desired design in serpentine style.
In order to allow the needles to descend in the shed accurately between the
proper warp threads, I adopt a special comb D placed between the needle-car-
riers E and the healds B.
The description hereinafter given will therefore be divided into three main
parts.
(1) Production of the ascending motion of the needles.
(2) Production of the horizontal motion of the needles and
(3) Comb for separating the threads.
I shall first describe briefly the general operation of the loom to which my
apparatus has been applied, and which is illustrated in the accompanying draw-
ings. The warp thread passes first from the roller F (Figure 10), and it arrives
at the separating comb D after having passed by the healds B and from there
to the reed A. It then passes over the frame or race G where the shuttle
deposits the weft and then winds itself on the roller II. The serpentine threads
which are wound on the roller C pass under the horizontal rod a which is fixed
to the support on which the roller C is mounted, then over the horizontal rod b
which is held by means of two iron wires to the loom-lath I (Figure 1), and
which gives the requisite tension. From there the serpentine thread passes to the
fabrics during the operation of the loom.
These needles El are soldered at their upper ends on a horizontal bar E
(Figures 1 and 15) which is guided between the slotted uprights of the carriage T
whose extension opposite to the driving side of the loom passes out at the side of
the loom. This carriage rests upon rollers n and is maintained vertically by
means of a grating as indicated in Figure 12.
The bottom of this grating serves also as a stop for the carriage; Figure 11
shows the arrangement employed for placing several carriages parallel if the
serpentine design so requires.
In order to allow the needle-carriers E to act at the determined moment for the
production of the design, I employ a card movement composed of a cylinder S
(Fig. 3) of octagonal or hexagonal shape that is capable of rotating on its axis
and that is formed on each face with a recess designed to receive a wooden bare
in which there are pierced some small holes which are adapted to receive small
wooden pegs f. One card comprises an undetermined series of these small
wooden pegs. The cylinder S is supported by a batten R that pivots on an axis
situated at its upper part and is fixed on the framing P and presents at every
oscillation of the batten, one of its faces to the levers hi which are mounted in
a grating that is fixed on the framing P.
The oscillatory motion of the batten R is produced by means of an eccentric Q
mounted on the crank shaft J which imparts its motion through a rod d. This
rod d ends at its upper end in a guide slot in which there works freely a trun-
nion that is fixed on the arm U of the batten. To this trunnion there is im-
parted by means of a spring a constant tendency to move down to the bottom
of said guide slot; this being effected in such a manner as to allow the cylinder
to rest longer on its buffer or stop K (Figure 2) which is fixed on the framing P
(Figure 2). In fact, when, at each revolution of the crank shaft J the eccen-
tric Q that causes the cylinder to move towards its stop, has not yet reached the
bottom of its stroke, the cylinder has already stopped. As the rod d continues
to move down, the spring expands, and the trunnion resumes its place only
during the ascending movement of the rod d.

page_text: On one of the sides of the cylinder there is situated a ratchet wheel S1 having
eight teeth which at every oscillation of the batten is engaged by a hook Su
fixed on the framing P (Figure 2) and which causes the cylinder to rotate one
eighth of a turn at each revolution of the crank shaft J.
RISING MOVEMENT OF THE NEEDLES.
I assume there is only one row of needles and that which I am about to say,
will obviously apply in a similar manner to all the rows if the serpentine design
should necessitate several rows.
When I desire to cause the needles to move down into the warp threads at a
determined moment, I place a small peg f exactly in front of the lever h upon the
rod o which is situated in front of the levers hi. In the downward movement of the
batten R this small peg pushes back the lever which, pivoting on its axis h',
pulls the hooks 0 against the arms L' L' (Figure 8) by means of an iron wire o
which is attached to the extension of the lever hand to the hooks O, O. The
hooks 0, 0, are connected together by means of an iron wire o and they aro
fixed to the needle-carrier by means of trunnions and they pivot easily on their
axle. At this moment a crank y mounted on the crank shaft J is caused at each
revolution of said shaft to engage by means of an iron rod M (Figure 7) an
arm L fixed to the shaft N whereby an alternating circular motion is imparted
to said shaft. Since the arms L, L', are fixed on said shaft, it is obvious that
they execute an oscillatory downward movement and carry the hooks 0, 0, with
them when they are pulled against the latter as I have just described.
As the loom continues its operation, the eccentric Q moves the cylinder away
from the lever h which is no longer pushed back by the peg f, and on the other
hand since the crank y causes the armis L', L1, to move up again, the hooks O, O,
are disengaged and they resume their position by the action of the spring O'
which is fixed to the framing of the loom.
The needle-carrier being now free, is returned into its original position by
means of a spring I' which actuates the lath I to which the said needle-carrier
is attached by means of the iron wires C¹.
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT OF THE NEEDLE-CARRYING CARRYING CARRIAGE.
In order to produce the horizontal movement of the needle-carrying carriage,
I fix upon the screw shaft J an eccentric roller W (Figure 5) which at every
revolution of the screw shaft produces an oscillatory motion of the lever X
which is fixed on the same axle as the pusher lever U and which moves down to
the level of the carriage T. The lower part of the lever X is kept constantly
against the eccentric roller W by means of a spring W
Between the extension of the carriage T and the pusher lever U there is pro-
vided a small plate V (Figure 6) whose lower part is thicker than its upper part
by an amount which is equal to the distance through which the carriage T is
to travel. This plate is attached to the point of the lever i in such a manner
that normally the narrower portion will be situated directly between a small
bent angle piece U¹ (Figure 4) fixed on the pusher lever U and the extension of
the carriage T.
2)
A small steel spring V₁ keeps this plate constantly in its normal position.
From the foregoing description it will be readily understood that when a small
peg is placed on a rod which is situated in front of the lever i, it pushes back the
lever that causes the small plate V to move up in such a manner that the thickest
portion will be situated just between the angle piece U¹ of the pusher lever U.
and the extension of the carriage T.
The oscillatory motion of the lever then pushes back the carriage to an extent
equal to the thickness of the plate.
When the card moves away from the levers hi and the pusher lever U in its
return movement, no longer pushes back the plate V, the latter is then free and
is therefore moved back into its original position by the small spring V₁ and the
carriage T is returned against its stop Z (Figure 12) by means of a spring .

page_text: SEPARATING COMB.
In order to prevent the needles from passing over other warp threads than
those which have been designated for that purpose, I have placed a separating
comb D (Figure 13) between the needles E and the healds B.
The warp threads over which the serpentine threads are to pass, are passed
through the space A¹ comprised between two small steel blades similar to those
employed for the reeds of ordinary looms. The other threads are passed through
the space B comprised between two small steel blades which are situated nearer to
each other at their upper parts in such a manner as to form a very much con-
tracted space B". When the shed is opened the warp threads of the upper
stretch that have passed in the space B are carried along into the contracted
space, and necessarily move away from the threads that have passed through
the space A¹. In this way the needle, not encountering any obstacle moves down
exactly between the warp threads where it is required and the design is pro-
duced with great regularity.
When it is required to produce a design of 2, 3, 4, 5 or more needles, I
employ a reed of special construction which consists in connecting together by one
soldering 2, 3, 4, 5, needles (Figure 14) in such a manner as to leave a vacant
space between the upper part of said needles and the frame of the reed. In
this way it will be easy to cause the serpentine thread to pass over several
needles.
From the foregoing, the number of serpentine designs is infinite because the
number of rods forming the card, and the number of needle-carriers, can be
increased at will, and the needle-carriers may also be composed of a large number
of threads over which the serpentine threads will produce their effect.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
-
(1) The hereinbefore described apparatus, applicable to all power looms and
hand looms, for the purpose of producing serpentine designs obtained by dis-
pensing with the healds, the said apparatus being characterized by a separating
comb which serves to give to the warp threads the requisite interval of space for the
passage of the needle, as also, by means of a plate of different thicknesses, to
impart in a positive manner regularity to the horizontal movement of the car-
riages, substantially as described.
(2) In power looms and hand looms, the combination of devices which effect
the separation of the threads and the positive motion in the horizontal movement
of the needle-carrying carriages, substantially as described and for the purpose
above specified.
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E.,
Chartered Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Associate Agent.