IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Raphael Hunter Brandon of N° 1 Rue Laffitte Paris
in the Republic of France, Engineer and Patent Agent, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING" communicated to him by George
Crompton, Loom Builder, of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of
America
•
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Raphael Hunter Brandon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th August 1883.
"
"
RAPHAEL HUNTER BRANDON, of N° 1 rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Engineer and patent agent,
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING,"
(a cominunication to me by George Crompton, loom Builder, of Worcester,
Massachussetts, United States of America.)
This invention in looms has for its object improvements ou the shed forming
mechanism, and in the combination with such improved mechanism of shuttle-box
operating mechanism of the particular class or character hereinafter specified, and
also improvements in the art or method of weaving in open shed looms.
In shed forming mechanisin heretofore employed, one toothed cylinder has been
placed between the toothed arms of a bifurcated jack having a third toothed arm
which engaged a pinion having an attached eccentric which moved a harness lever,
and so also two toothed cylinders have engaged a toothed gear having a crank pin
and connecting rod joined with a harness lever..
The first part of this invention consists in a shed forming mechanism which
includes a series of jacks composed of a single substantially straight bar provided
with three series of rack teeth, vis, two series upon one edge and one series upon
the other edge thereof, two partial gears above and below the said jacks to act
respectively as depressors and elevators and with which the series of rack teeth at
the upper and lower sides of the said jack are intermittingly engaged through the
action of a pattern surface which raises and lowers the said jacks to place the teeth
at their upper and lower edges in position to be engaged by the said gears, a series
of toothed vibrators actuated by the teeth at the end of the jacks most remote from

page_text: the said partial gears, a series of harness lovers, and suitable intermediate connec-
tions between the said vibrators and the harness levers, and suitable means to
operate the said pattern chain as will be described, the connections between the
said vibrators and gears being preferably such as to enable the harness levers to be
locked in their extreme positions.
The jacks referred to are disposed horizontally in the upper part of the loom-
frame, the harness levers actuated by them are a form of bell-crank lever pivoted
in the upper part of the loom-frame, and their arms are notched for the adjustment
of the harness cording and the arms of the said levers occupy a position with
relation to each other a little more than a right angle so that they are well out of the
way, and the shaft which inoves the pattern surface for the shed forming mechanism
also carries upon a prolongation of it, the pattern surface or chain for the shuttle-
box mechanism.
The second part of this invention consists in a shed forming mechanism such as
referred to organized in a loom and combined with a shuttle box mechanism composed
of a main and an auxiliary lever pivoted thereon, the latter having faces adapted
to be acted upon at opposite sides of and at different distances from the fulcrum of
the auxiliary lever by arms or projections moved by connecting rods joined with
toothed cranks mounted on carriers and adapted to be turned intermittingly in one
or the other direction by one of two parallel partial gears with one or the other of
which the said toothed cranks may be engaged in accordance with the requirements
of the pattern surface for the shuttle boxes, it, through suitable connecting
mechanisin raising and lowering the said carriers on which the toothed cranks
_ have their fulcra..
The third part of this invention consists in that improvement in the art or
method of weaving in open shed power or fancy looms which consists in commencing
to form the shed immediately after beating in the filling at the fell, the lay being
then-forward, forming the shed for the introduction of the filling during the-back-
ward movement of the lay, and thereafter keeping the shed open and all the warp
threads under strain while the filling is inserted and the lay in its forward
movement beats in the filling between the warps held fully taut in their respective
planes.
The fourth part of this invention consists in combining with the said toothed
jacks pattern chain and elevator gears a dog to act upon one edge of and hold the
teeth of the jack locked into the teeth of the said gear when the jack is to be
moved by it, and leave the jack free. to be lifted as the teeth of the elevator gear
run out of mesh from the said jack preparatory to moving the pattern chain for a
redistribution of the jacks the said dog during the action of the depressor on the
jacks bring inoperative as a holder or locking device.
The fifth feature of this invention consists in the construction of a vibrator, and
its connection with the harness lever, the said vibrator having a tongue to enter a
recess in an arm of the harness lever, the said vibrator as well as the arin of the
said harness lever having faces and stops which cooperate to form a positive locking
contrivance for the harness levers in their extremo positions, the said parts being
combined with a toothed jack to move the vibrator and with gears to move the
jack.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Raphael Hunter Brandon in the Patent Office on the 4th February
1884.
RAPHAEL HUNTER BRANDON, of N° 1 Ruo Laffitto, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Engineer and Patent Agent IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
(A communication to me by George Crompton Loombuilder of Worcester
Massachusetts, United States of America)
This Invention in looms has for its object improvements on the shed forming
mechanism and in the combination with such improved mechanism of shuttle box
operating mechanism of the particular class or character hereinafter specified and
also improvements in the art or method of weaving in open shed looms.
In shed forming mechanism heretofore employed, one toothed cylinder has been
placed between the toothed arms of a bifurcated jack having a third toothed arı
which engaged a pinion having an attached eccentric which moved a harness lever,
and so also two toothed cylinders have engaged a toothed gear having a crank pin
and connecting rod joined with a harness lever.
The first part of this Invention consists in a shed forming mechanism which
includes a series of jacks composed of a single substantially straight bar provided
with three series of rack teeth, viz, two series upon one edge and one series upon
the other edge thereof, two partial gears above and below the said jacks to act
respectively as depressors and elevators and with which the series of rack teeth at
the upper and lower sides of the said jack are intermittingly engaged through the
action of a pattern surface which raises and lowers the said jacks to place the teeth
at their upper and lower edges in position to be engaged by the said gears, a series
of toothed vibrators actuated by the teeth at the end of the jacks most remote
from the said partial gears, a series of harness levers, and suitable intermediate
connections between tho said vibrators and the harness levers, and suitable means
to operate the said pattern chain as hereinafter described, the connections between
the said vibrators and gears being preferably such as to enable the harness levers
to be locked in their extreme positions.
The jacks referred to are disposed horizontally in the upper part of the loom
frame, the harness levers actuated by them are a form of bell-crank lever pivoted
in the upper part of the loom frame, and their arms are notched for the adjustment
of the harness cording and the arms of the said levers occupy a position with
relation to each other a little more than a right angle so that they are well out of
the way, and the shaft which moves the pattern surface for the shed forming
mechanisin also carries upon a prolongation of it, the pattern surface or chain for
the shuttle box mechanisin.
The second part of this invention consists in a shed forming mechanism such as
referred to organized in a loom and combined with a shuttle box mechanism
composed of a main and an auxiliary lever pivoted thereon, the latter having faces
adapted to be acted upon at opposite sides of and at different distances from the
fulcrum of the auxiliary lever by arms or projections moved by connecting rods
joined with toothed cranks mounted on carriers and adapted to be turned inter-
mittingly in one or the other direction by one of two parallel partial gears with
one or the other of which the said tootliod cranks may be engaged in accordance
with the requirements of the pattern surface for the shuttle boxes, it through
suitable connecting mechanism raising and lowering the said carriers on which the
toothed cranks have their fulcra.

page_text: The third part of this Invention consists in that improvement in the art or
method of weaving in open shed power or fancy looms which consists in commencing
to form the shed immediately after beating in the filling at the fell, the lay being
then forward, forming the shed for the introduction of the filling during the back-
ward movement of the lay, and thereafter keeping the shed open and all the warp
threads under strain while the filling is inserted and the lay in its forward move-
ment beats in the filling between the warps held fully taut in their respective
planes, substantially as hereinafter described.
The fourth part of this Invention consists in combining with the said toothed
jacks, pattern chain and elevator gears a dog to act upon one edge of and hold the
teeth of the jack locked into the teeth of the said gear when the jack is to be
moved by it, and leave the jack free to be lifted as the teeth of the elevator gear
run out of mesh from the said jack preparatory to moving the pattern chain for a
redistribution of the jacks the said dog during the action of the depressor on the
jacks being inoperative as a holder or locking device.
The fifth feature.of this Invention consists in the construction of a vibrator and
its connection with the harness lever, the said vibrator having a tongue to enter a
recess in an arm of the harness lever, the said vibrator as well as the arm of the
said harness lever having faces and stops as hereinafter described which co-operato
to form a positive locking contrivance for the harness levers in their extreme
positions, the said parts being combined with a toothed jack to move the vibrator
and with gears to move the jack.
On the accompanying drawings Fig 1 represents a leſt hand end elevation of a
sufficient portion of a loom to illustrate the present improvements.
Fig; 2. is a rear side elevation of the left hand end of the loom, Fig; 3, is a
vertical section of a part of the left hand end of the loom in Fig; 1, on the dotted
line xx. Fig; 4, is a detail of the gearing for moving the partial long gears of
the shuttle -box-mechanism. -Fig; 6, is-a diagram-of the- movement of one of the
shuttle box levers at one end of the loom. Fig; 6, is a detail view of one set of
the shuttle box levers at one end of the loom looking at it from the front. Fig; 7,
is a partial plan view of the right hand end of the loom to illustrate the mechanism
for driving the pattern chain shaft, the said figure showing a modification in the
form of the fingers which are to be connected with the carriers of the shuttle box
mechanism. Fig; 8, is a partial side elevation of Fig; 7. Fig; 9, is a detail of
the slide rod by which to move the clutch sleeve. And Fig; 10, is a modified form
of vibrator and harness lever.
The crank or lay shaft A' and the cam shaft A³, will be driven as the
correspondingly marked shafts referred to in the Specification of Letters Patent
No 3655 A.D. 1883. granted to me on the 25th day of July 1883, see Fig; 1, the
shafts A³, in practice having picking rollers to effect the movement of the
picker sticks and a gear d, to effect the movement of the shuttle box mechanism
as described in the said Specification.
The crank shaft A¹ has a gear B which engages a gear B' on a stud B².
Connected with the sleeve of the gear B¹, is a bevel gear B³, which engages a bevel
gear B at the lower end of an upright shaft B5, having at its upper end a bevel
gear B, which engages a bevel gear B7 loose on a stud 1 fast to the frame.
The bevel gear BT has attached to it a small pinion D and the latter at its renr
side has its hub made as a pin and stop wheel E adapted to alternately engage the
slots D' and the concaved projections D2, of the star wheel D³, the said pin and
star wheel being commonly known as the Geneva stop motion it being used to
impart an intermitting motion to one shaft from a continuously moving shaft.
The star wheel D³, is fast on the hub of a bevel gear D', loose on the pattern
chain shaft b².
The face of the hub of this bevel gear D', is toothed as seen in Fig 7, to be
engaged by the one toothed end of a clutching sleeve Do, splined upon the pattern
chain shaft b', the opposite end of the said sleeve being also toothed to engage the
toothed hub of a second bevel gear Dº, also loose on the pattern chain shaft b*,

page_text: The two bevel gears D, Dº, are always engaged by a bevel gear D' loose on a
stud attached to a stand D, of the loom frame, so that the said bevel gears D*, Dº,
always move in opposite directions and either of the said bevel gears is thus made
the driver for the pattern chain shaft 64, and pattern chains 6º, 65; according to
with which ono of the said gears the said sleevo is engaged. The sleeve D³, is
provided with an annular groove 101 which is adapted to be engaged by the end
of a suitable lever D³, pivoted at 102 and connected at its lower end with a
suitable slide bar 103 under the control of the operator of the loom whereby the
movement of the said bar moves the sleeve longitudinally in one or the other
direction on the pattern chain shaft to engage with the toothed hub of one or the
other of the gears D', De, to make it the driver of the pattern chain shaft b' in
one or the other direction positively, or if the sleeve is left in an intermediate
position, the said pattern chain shaft, provided at one end with a suitable hand
wheel D, may be engaged and turned by hand either forward or backward to turn
the shaft b and pattern chains to correct any errors or to find a lost pick.
The pinion D engages and drives the two spur gears B, C, of the shaft C¹, C³,
respectively of the depressor and elevator C³, C, both made as partial gears and
shown in section in Figure 3. The triple racked jacka R mado as substantially
straight bars, each provided with three series of teeth 21*. 22*, 23*, are placed so
that their ends having toothed parts 21*, 22*, extend between the elevator and
depressor C, C, and so that the smooth part 24*, of cach jack at its under side
will rest on the bars of the pattern chain 6³, or on a roll or projection carried by
tho said bars during the entire reciprocation of the jacks by reason of its
engagement by the elevator or depressor.
The teeth 23*, of the jacks are held in engagement with the toothed
vibrators R, placed side by side on a rod E and connected with the harness levers
Ra, the latter having their fulcra at Eª, in the upper part of the loom frame so that
the oscillation of the said vibrators causes the harness levers to be turned in one
or the other direction about their fulcra and effect the various movements of the
harness frames R' by reason of the harness cording 26*, 27*, 28*, passed over
suitable sheaves and connected with the said frames in the usual manner.
These harness levers are notched at their ends for the adjustment of the harness
cording to give the proper shape to the open shed by raising and lowering some
harness frames more than others according to their distance from the lay.
As shown in Fig; 3, the connection between the vibrator R³ and the harness
lever is by a curved piece or connection R³, pivoted at one end to the said lever and
at its other end to a crank pin E, carried by or moved in unison with tho
vibrator, the said link being curved and the vibrator having such an extent of
movement under the action of the jack which operates it, that the crank pin E*
may stop at either side of and past the centre E of tho vibrator to thus lock or
retain the harness lever in one or its other extreme position when left by the jack:
Instead of the link connection between the vibrators and the harness lovers each
vibrator may be provided with a tongue F and two stops F¹, F', and curved
faces 105, 106, as shown in Fig 10, and each harness lever with a projection near
its hub, the said projection having a recoss F, shaped substantially as shown, to
form faces F F and shoulders 107, 108, so that as the vibrator is turned about its
fulcrum, its tongue F, always in the recess F, of the projection of the harness lever
will turn it about its fulcrum, and when in one of its extreme positions the stop F¹
of the vibrator will meet the shoulder F, of the harness lover and at the same time
the end of the tonguo F will meet the face 107 and lock the harness lever, and while
the vibrator and harness lever are in their other positions, the parts F, 105, and
the tongue of the vibrator will act against the parts Fs and 108, of the harness
lever and lock the latter in place against other movement than that derived
from the direct pull against the vibrator by its connected toothed or triple
racked jack.
I
In the modification illustrated in Fig 10, the stops F, F, are so arranged
that when they strike the projections F³, F, of the harness lever, the toothed jacks

page_text: are left in just the proper position to have their teeth engaged by the elevator or
depressor when the jack is next moved or selected to be moved by the pattern,
chain.
The vibrator in this modification is weighted above its centro so that its gravity
assists in holding the vibrator in place to properly co-operate with or maintain the
same in position to lock the harness lever."
The fulcrum shaft E is slabbed of at one side see Fig 10, to enable the slotted
hub of the vibrators to be readily applied and removed, the said shaft being so
held that it may be partially rotated when desired.
In the accompanying drawings the elevator and depressor are shown as having
a certain number of teeth, but only a portion of them need be taken to effect the
shedding, others of the said teeth being added to effect the locking movement of
the harness levers and when practising the improved method of weaving herein
described it is preferred to use the vibrator and harness lever shown in Fig 10,
because with such devices the harness levers may be most effectually locked and
retained at the completion of their movement and prevented from rebounding.
The upper edge of each rack bar R is made straight or nearly so as at 100, and
such straight part is acted upon by a small dog G³, pivoted at G³, so that the said
dog when the elevator commences to operate a jack acts against the said straight
part 100, and forces the jack down with its teeth 22*, in engagement with the said
elevator but as soon as the said jack has been fully moved toward the right as
represented by one of the jacks in Fig 3, tho said dog runs off the end of tho
straight top 100, and leaves the jack free to be raised by a projection on a bar
...of the pattern. chain. As.a. jack is moved inward by a depressor the dog above it
is merely pushed back about its pivot, and does not affect the jack.
A tooth is removed from each of the series of teeth 21*, 22*, at the left hand
end of the series 21×, as in Fig 3, and at the right hand end of the series 22*, to
permit the ready engagement of the teeth of the depressor-and-elevator when.about.
to move the suid jacks, and the removal of teeth from a portion of the peripheries
of the elevator and depressor permit them to run out of mesh from the said jacks
when the latter reach their extreine positions.
The pattern chain do, see Fig 2, for the shuttle box acts upon fingers c¹, pivoted
at c², on a spring held arm c³, and the said arms are joined by suitable con-
nectors 8, 9, with the carriers 12, 10, substantially as described in the said
Specification herein before referred to, the only difference being that the connectors
in Fig 2, do not herein extend in a straight line from the fingers to the carriers,
but if desired they may be so extented as shown in Figs 3, 7, and 8 which
represent a modification wherein parts the same in operation are marked with like
letters.
In Fig 7, the fingers are however somewhat differently shaped and the pattern
chain acts on the same between their ends.
The carriers 10, 12, toothed cranks c³, connectors c, radius bars 31, 32, pins or
studs 35, 30, main shuttle box lever e, auxiliary lever e³, pivoted thereon at 28,
and having faces 29, 30, against which the said pins or studs slide, the shuttle
boxes, the connection between the lever e, and the shuttle box rod, the partial
gears c³, c³, the studs 18, 19, the gears 22, 23, intermediate gears 20, 21, detent c¹º,
and gear d, provided with toothed portions and flanges 24, are the saine as
described in the said Specification herein before referred to, and the cam shaft A³,
which turns the gear d, to move the train of gearing which actuates the shuttle
box lever is as therein described, so that any one of a series of four boxes may be
brought opposite the shuttle race way of the lay d³, and are all driven as described
in the said Specification.
It will be understood that the loom herein represented will in practice bo
provided with pickers, bowls 6, shoes h, shafts h³, arms h², connections h¹, and
picking sticks h, such as are fully shown in Figures 1, 3, 12, and 14, of the drawings
accompanying the Specification of the said former Patent.
In ordinary open shed fancy looms wherein the lay beats up the filling while

page_text: that portion of the warp threads which is required to be shifted is passing from
one plane to the opposite plane of a shed it frequently happens that certain of the
threads remain in one plane of the shed for a number of consecutive picks
(sometimes as many as sixteen to twenty picks) before being shifted, which results
in such threads becoming longer than those which are interwoven into the fabric
with more frequency, and when the said longer or less frequently moved threads
are finally crossed and interwoven they have a tendency to form loops on the
surface of the fabric, or else by reason of their slackness form an indistinct
pattern by moving aside out of a straight line under the influence of improper
deflection, filling up the interstices on the face of the fabric, which interstices form
part of the pattern.
In the usual open shed loom, when the pattern requires that nearly all the warp
threads should be shifted from one plane to the opposite plane of the shed, the beat
of the lay takes place when the majority of the warp threads are mid-way
between the two planes, and consequently slack, so that the blow of the lay or its
reed is brought almost entirely upon the few threads which are held taut and are
not being shifted and these latter throads are thus unduly stretched and frequently
broken.
When the lay or reed beats a weft thread into the fell between a small number
of threads so held taut while the main body of the warps are loose, the loosely
held warps are liable to have loops formed in them on the face of the fabric, as
before stated.
In seeking to remedy some of these difficulties the sheds have been opened and
closed earlier in the movement of the lay so as to cross the warps upon the filling
and enable the lay to beat up the filling after the formation of the next shed back
of that in which the said filling rests, but such timing is very objectionable because
of "gridironing" the filling, and thus greatly increasing the formation of loops in
those of the warp-threads which have become somewhat longer by reason of not
having been so frequently crossed into the shed.
When the filling is beat or pressed into a partially open shed the drag of the
filling between the warp threads which are passing to the upper and lower planes
of the shed, or from one to the other plane when forming a new shed, "gridirons
the filling" as it is called, as it is being beat up to the fell, and frequently draws
the warp threads which are being changed, they being at such times slack, toward
the fell resulting in throwing up loops in the loose warp threads or making a rough
appearance in the cloth which is objectionable.
.
In weaving, the shed for the passage of the shuttle with the filling is formed by
separating the warps into two planes, and to secure the best results the harness
frames carrying the heddles the eyes of which contain the warp threads have
successively a little more movement commencing with the first harness frame
toward the lay and proceeding back ward through the series of harness frames, to
thus bring all the warp threads between the heddlo eyes and the fell of the
cloth, or the line of the last crossing of weft of filling over the warps, in two
compact even planes or substantially so, thus forming what is denominated an
even shed,"
"
In close shed looms of the class described and shown for instance in the
Specification and drawings of the United States Letters Patent No 191 granted
on November 25, A.D. 1837, to William Crompton, the harness frames after each
passage of the weft or filling through the shed formed in the warp, are moved to
bring all the warp threads into one line or level, to "even the warp" as it is
called, and then those warps which are to appear in the upper part of the new shed
are lifted from the common level of all the evened warp threads.
In this class of loom each warp thread during the extent of its movement in
forming a shed and being evened into one plane is subjected to the same strain as
each of all the other threads, or in other words some of the warp threads are not
held taut and soine looser, as in the so called "open shed loom."
In the latter class of loom, upon which the present Invention is an improvement,
•

page_text: the warps are separated into two planes to form a shed for the passage of tho
filling and the shed having been fully opened, all the warp threads are hold equally
taut.
In a loom of this class when a succeeding shed is to be formed, all the warp
threads are not brought into the same plane or evened, as stated when referring to b
the close shed loom, but only those threads of the warp changed from one to the
other of the two planes of the shed which in the new shed are to appear upon the
opposite face of the fabric to that on which they last appeared, or to bo concealed
in the body of the fabric, this depending upon the pattern.
In this plan it will be noticed that in forining the new shed a part of the warp 1
threads, viz, those threads which are not being moved by the heddles, but held in
the two extremes or planes of the shed, are held taut while all the warp threads
that are being changed or moved from one to the other plane of the shed by the
heddlos are slack or loose.
During such time, if the filling is carried forward between the moving warps by 1
the reed of the lay as it approaches its fell, the filling will be gridironed, the
loose warps will be dragged forward and buckled up at the fell and the blow of
the reed on the filling at the fell will excessively strain the distended or taut
warps.
In open shed fancy looms as heretofore generally made, the picking has been
commenced when the lay was substantially half way back, and the shuttle has
finished its flight when the lay was moved about half way forward, and in such
looms the formation of each new shed has been.commenced just as the shuttle
reached-the end of its flight, but the shed has not been fully completed until after
the reed in the forward movement of the lay has beat up the filling in tho old
shed.
In this way it will be seen that each crossing of filling before it is beat in is
pressed at bottom and top by the warp threads then being changed to form the.
next shed, such threads crimping the filling and producing such a pressure on the
latter as it is beat up that it frequently acts to drag forward with it the warp
threads then being changed from one to the other plane of the shed, as stated,
they being at such times somewhat loose or slack, causing the formation of loops
both in the warps and filling and making rough the face of the fabric.
According to the present Invention it is proposed to remedy these difficulties
by pressing the filling into the fell of the open shed when all of the warp-threads
are fully distended, after which those warp threads which in the production of the
pattern are required to be shifted in the formation of the next shed, are crossed as
the lay is being moved backward and with the lay in its backward position the
filling is again inserted into the new shed and is beat up into the same shed while
the warps are held stationary and distended.
By pressing or beating the filling into the open shed when every thread is
equally distended or held under greatest strain by the harness, all the warp
threads receive about an equal amount of tension and are not liable to be broken
or unduly stretched which prevents the buckling or looping of the threads and the
indistinctness of the pattern is obviated.
It is a well established fact that some patterns of cloth produced on close shod
looms cannot be satisfactorily woven upon open shed looms as heretofore
constructed, but in an open shed loom organised to operate in the manner herein
described it is possible to weave any desired pattern, and by the present
improvements the efficiency of open shed looms is greatly increased.
The crank or lay shaft is so geared with the cam shaft which is the source of
motion for both the picking and shedding mechanisms that the parts of the open
shed harness motion will operate in such relative time and order that the shed will
remain open and at rest until the reed of the lay beats in the filling at the fell,
and as the lay commences to retire from the fell the change of warp for the next
shed to receive filling commences, and the said shed, the formation of which was
not commenced until after the weft thread had been fully beat in at the fell, is

page_text: completed for the commencement of the picking by the time the lay is half way
on its back stroke from tho fell, and the shed so opened is held open during the
further rotation of the crank-shaft until the filling is beat in at the fell, as first
stated
According to this Invention the shed is started and substantially completed
during one fourth the rotation of the crank shaft or from the time the lay
commences to retire from the fell until the picking is to take place which is
commenced substantially at the time that the crank comes to its top centre or the
lay arrives substantially half way back.
The operation of picking is finished as the crank arrives substantially at its
lowest centre by which time the lay has been carried about half its distanco
forward toward the foll, and the shed is held open until tho reed strikes tho fell
In some classes of goods it is however preferred to take about threo eights of the
time of the revolution of the crank-shaft in which to form the shed and commenco
the picking just before the shed is fully formed completing the picking as before
or when the lay is about half way forward holding the shed open until the reed
strikes the fell.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature and objects of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, I would observe in conclusion that what is claimed
as constituting the Invention secured by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters
Patent is
1. In a shed forming mechanism the series of jacks R composed of bars having
three series of teeth, two series upon one odgo and one series upon the other edgo
thereof, two partial gears to intermittingly engage teeth at opposite edges of the
said jacks, a pattern surface or chain to place the teeth of the said jacks in
engagement with one or the other of the said partial gears, a series of vibrators
actuated by the one of the series of teeth of the said jacks, and a series of harness
lovers, intermediate connections between the said vibrators and levers and suitable
means for moving the pattern chain or surface, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. The combination in a loom of the shed forming devices such as herein
described with the described shuttle box mechanism containing a main lever an
auxiliary lever pivoted thereon having faces acted upon at different distances
from the fulcrum of an auxiliary lever by pins or studs joined with toothed
cranks mounted on carriers and adapted to be turned intermittingly in one or
the other direction by one of two parallel partial gears with one or the other of
which the said toothed cranks may be engaged in accordance with the requirements
of the pattern surface or chain of the shuttle box mechanism, the said chain
through suitable connecting mechanism raising and lowering the said carriers on
which the toothed cranks have their fulcra, substantially as herein before described
and shown on the accompanying drawings.
3. The hereinbefore described improvement in the art or method of weaving in
open shed power fancy looms and which consists in commencing to form the shed
immediately after beating in the filling at the fell the lay being then forward
forming the shed for the introduction of the filling during the backward movement
of the lay and thereafter keeping the said shed open and all the warp threads
undor strain while the filling is inserted and the lay in its forward movemont
beats in the filling between the uniformly strained warps substantially as
described.
4. The toothed jacks R, pattern chain and elevator gear combined with a dog to
act upon one edge of and hold the teeth of the jack locked into the teeth of the
said gear when the jack is to be moved by it, leaving the jack free to be lifted
as the teeth of the elevator gear run out of mesh from the said jack preparatory
to raising the pattern chain for a redistribution of the jacks, said dog during the
action of the depressor on the jack being co-operative as a holder or locking device,
substantially as herein before described.

page_text: 5. The harness lever provided with the projection having the recess F*, and the
vibrator R2, having the tongue F, and stops and faces on the said parts as described
whereby the vibrators and levers are locked in their extreme positions, combined
with toothed jacks to move the said vibrators, and with gearing to move the said
jacks substantially as herein beforo described.
In Witness whereof, I, the said Raphael Hunter Brandon have hereunto set my
hand and Seal this 14th day of December in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three

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