IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Elias Smethurst, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Elias Smethurst at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 28th March 1881.
ELIAS SMETHURST, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
This Invention relates to that class of looms (for weaving piece goods known as
"Loongees" or other similar fabrics) for which Letters Patent were granted to
Christopher Cross, bearing date the Ninth day of March 1880, No. 1027, and is
designed to simplify certain portions of the mechanism thereof.
The Invention relates particularly to that part of the loom which is employed
for weaving straight colored stripes or borders along the selvages of the piece.
In one modification of my Invention, instead of the bobbins or cops containing
the "lap weft" or "whip thread," being mounted on vertical sliding bars placed at
the back of the loom as described in the Specification of the said Letters Patent,
I arrange them in a horizontal position upon a sliding bar underneath the reed.
For this purpose I fix a horizontal bar or rod across the slay frame, provided
with longitudinal slots at each end, and which carries a sliding bar; on this sliding
bar I fix brackets at or near each end, to which are fixed spindles on which the
bobbins or cops are carried, the weft from which is passed through a suitable
arrangement of eyes or twirls to the "race" of the shuttle above.
This sliding bar which carries the bobbins has a horizontal to and fro motion
imparted to it from an arrangement of mechanism worked from the tappet shaft,
and which may be described as follows:-
One end of a bell crank lever which is pivotted to a bracket on the cross bar of
the loom is actuated by an arm on the tappet shaft, the other end of this lever
acts upon a fork on the end of a "picking lever" (which is also in the form of a
bell crank lever, but set at right angles to the other), the other end of this picking
lever acts in its turn upon the sliding bar carrying the bobbins, and therefore
gives the necessary to and fro motion thereto on the opening and closing of the
shed.

page_text: On the lower end of this picking lever is a projecting finger, to the end of which
I attach a cord which passes over pulleys on the reed frame; the other end of this
cord is held by an elastic band or spring, which allows it to have a rising and falling
. motion imparted to it.
This cord is connected to the healds or harness of the border warp, which opens or
closes the shed as required.
A weft motion hereinafter described is also employed, which is caused to throw
the loom out of action whenever the yarn breaks.
In another modification of my Invention, the whip thread is wound in the form
of cops being carried in shuttles, which are caused to travel to and fro horizontally
at each end of the reed cap.
The two shuttle-carriers are connected together by a sliding bar which passes
across the loom underneath the reed cap, and as this bar is caused to travel to and
fro it imparts an alternate horizontal motion to the shuttles.
This sliding bar is moved to and fro by a bell crank lever pivotted to the back of
the shuttle box, this lever being actuated by a connecting rod, the lower end of
which is attached to the end of a lever, to which a rising and falling motion is
imparted by means of a short arm (or its equivalent) on the tappet shaft, being
connected thereto by a suitable link.
In some cases I propose to employ an excentric keyed to the tappet shaft. This
excentric is connected by a short arm to a joint on a lever, which latter has its
fulcrum near the flooring, and oscillates in a direction parallel to the side framing
of the loom. The upper end of this lever is connected to the lap weft shuttle by a
connecting rod, and moves the latter to and fro horizontally in suitable slides
attached to the end framing of the loom. I employ one of these levers at each :
side of the loom, and it will be evident that each lap weft shuttle will work
independently of the other.
This lever may also be worked by an arm on a secondary shaft driven from the
tappet shaft.
In order to stop the loom when either of the lap wefts or the ordinary weft
breaks, each of the lap weft threads passes through an eye or twirl in a light
upright arm fast on a short shaft which passes beneath and across the slay. On
the other end of this small shaft is a nicely weighted balance lever, at one end of
which is a projection, which as the slay beats up (if the wefts are not broken) just
misses an upright arm on a sliding rod which passes across the loom, but on the
tension of either lap weft being released by breakage, or by the breaking of the
ordinary weft, this rocking lever falls so as to bring the projection thereon in
contact with the upright arm on the sliding rod, and by partially turning
the latter to cause a second arm thereon to work the stop motion of the loom.
By the time that the tension of the weft is released by the approach of the
shuttle at every alternate pick, the rod has been caused to slide and carry the
upright arm out of the way of the projection on the balance lever, the arm at
the other side of the loom having been placed opposite to its projection, which
should be held out of the way by the tension of its lap weft, the motion being
reversed at every pick.
This sliding motion is obtained from the tappet shaft as follows:-One end of a
lever which is actuated by a projection on the tappet shaft is connected to a bell
crank lever by a link, and by raising one end of this latter causes the other end to
move horizontally and carry the sliding rod with it.
.
When the lever is released a spring moves the rod back to its position for the
next pick, and so on alternately.