IMPROVE- MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR ACTUATING THE SHUTTLE BOXES IN POWER LOOMS
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM THOMAS WHITEMAN of No 7 Staple Inn in the County of Middlesex
Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR ACTUATING THE SHUTTLE BOXES IN POWER LOOMS" to
be as follows:-
The said invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in
mechanism for actuating the shuttle boxes in power looms. I will describe the
said Invention as applied to a loom having four shuttle boxes on each side.
On one side of the loom two pairs of crank discs are mounted so as to be capable
of turning independently each of which discs has a toothed wheel formed on or
secured to it which wheels are actuated by toothed racks which are caused to gear
with the said wheels when required by means of cards and card levers and are
actuated by means of reciprocating bars connected to crank arms formed on a
segmental plate keyed to a shaft to which a toothed wheel is also keyed which
gears with a toothed segment connected to and actuated by an excentric on the
main shaft of the loom. One of the said pairs of crank discs is connected to the
rod carrying the shuttle boxes on one side of the loom and the other pair of crank
discs is connected to the rod carrying the shuttle boxes on the opposite side of the
loom as hereinafter described.
One crank disc of one of the said pairs of crank discs is connected to the lever
which actuates the shuttle boxes on that side of the loom on which the mechanisin
hereinbefore described is arranged the connection consisting of rods jointed or
linked together the upper end of the upper rod being engaged with the crank pin
of the said disc and the lower end of the lower rod being jointed to the said lever.
The other crank disc of the said pair is connected to one arm of a bell crank
lever the other arm of which is connected to the said rods at the part where they
are jointed together. The other pair of crank discs is connected in a similar way
to a lever which is connected to the shuttle boxes on the other side of the loom.
The action of this arrangement is as follows:-
When the loom is in action the reciprocating bars herein before referred to are
actuated by the excentric on the main shaft through the intervening mechanism

page_text: and those of the said crank discs with which the racks hereinboforo referred to are
caused to gear by the action of the cards on the card levers are turned so as to
bring the crank pins on the said discs from the highest to the lowest position or
vice versa.
When the crank disc thus actuated is one of those directly connected
to the jointed rods herein before referred to the shuttle boxes connected thereto are
brought to one of two positions according as the pin of the crank disc is in the
highest or lowest position and when the crank disc actuated as described is one of
those which work the levers connected to the joint of the said jointed rods the said
rods (which are normally in line with each other) are forced out of line and the
distance between the end jointed to the crank diso and that jointed to the con-
nections of the shuttle boxes is thus shortened and the shuttle boxes are thus
depressed the throw of the lever connected to the joint of the rods being such that
the extent of depression of the shuttle boxes caused by the action of the said levers
is equal to half the extent of their traverse caused by the semi-rotation of the
crank disc to which they are connected. Thus any one of the four shuttle boxes
on each side of the loon is brought into position as required by the action of the
two pairs of crank discs one disc of each pair effecting the elevation or depression
of the shuttle boxes connected to it to two of the required positions and the other
disc of each pair effecting the depression or governing the elevation of the shuttle
boxes to the two other required positions by virtually shortening the connections
between the shuttle boxes and the crank disc to which they are connected by the
jointed rods.
The weight of the shuttle boxes may be balanced by a counter weight formed
on or affixed to a suitable part of the mechanism.
The crank discs herein before reforred to.are provided with suitable breaks,
The mechanism herein before described is applicable to looms in which four or
a less number of boxes is used on each side.

page_text: I WILLIAM THOMAS WHITEMAN of No 7 Staple Inn in the County of Middlesex
Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR ACTUATING THE SHUTTLE BOXES IN POWER LOOMS
»
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The said Invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in
mechanism for actuating the shuttle boxes in power looms. I will describe the
said Invention as applied to a loom having four shuttle boxes on each side,
:
On one side of the loom 'two pairs of crank discs are mounted so as to be capable
of turning independently each of which discs has a toothed wheel formed on or
secured to it which wheels are actuated by toothed racks which gear with the said
wheels and are actuated as required by means of reciprocating bars connected to
crank arms formed on a segmental plate keyed to a shaft to' which a toothed wheel
is also keyed which gears with a toothed sector connected to and actuated by an
excentric on the main shaft of the loom. The said racks are caused to engage
with one or other of the said bars by means of levers actuated by cards with which
levers each of the said racks is engaged at one end. One of the said pairs of crank
discs is connected to the rod carrying the shuttle boxes on one side of the loom and
the other pair of crank discs is connected to the rod carrying the shuttle boxes on
the opposite side of the loom as hereinafter described.
One crank disc of one of the said pairs of crank discs is connected to the lever
which actuates the shuttle boxes on that side of the loon on which the mechanism
herein before described is arranged the connection consisting of rods jointed or
linked together the upper end of the upper rod being engaged with the crank pin
of the said disc and the lower end of the lower rod being jointed to the said lever.
The other crank disc of the said pair is connected to one arm of a bell crank
lever the other arm of which is connected to the said rods at the part where they
are jointed together. The other pair of crank discs is connected in a similar way
to a lever which is connected to the shuttle boxes on the other side of the loom.
Having thus described the nature of this invention I will proceed to describe the
manner in which it is to be performed reference being had to the accompanying
drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon. The same letters and
figures of reference indicate the same parts in each of the Figures of the drawings.
Figure 1 of the said drawings is an end elevation of the improved mechanism
those parts of the frame of the loom which support the said mechanism being
shown and Figure 2 is a side elevation partly in section of the said mechanism and
of the parts in connection therewith. The following parts shown in Figure 2 and
hereinafter referred to are not shown in Figure 1 namely the card roller the cards
the card levers the brake and that part of the frame which supports it the bars
which work the lifter racks the main shaft and the mechanism by which motion is.
communicated to the said bars from the main shaft,

page_text: .
A is the frame BC and DE are the two pairs of crank discs which are mounted
independently and loosely on a shaft F supported by the framo A. be aro
the toothed wheels formed on or secured to the said crank discs. G G G G aro
the toothed racks which gear with the wheels b' c'de. HI are the reciprocating
bars by which the said racks are actuated J is the main shaft is the excentric
thereon K is the toothed sector connected to the said excontric L is the toothed
wheel with which the said toothed sector gears M is the segmental plate and mis
the shaft to which the wheel Land plate M are keyed and hil are rods by which
the said reciprocating bars H I are connected to the plate M. The arrangement of
the said racks G G G and the parts by which they are actuated is essentially
similar to that described in the specification of Letters Patent No 3411 granted to
Robert Jacob Gülcher and dated 18 July 1882.
N is the lever through which the shuttle boxes on one side of the loom are.
actuated the said lever being connected at one end to the rod n' which carries the
said shuttle boxes by means of the link n'. O is the rod which is connected to
the shuttle boxes on the other side of the loom. bbbb are the connections
between the crank disc B and the lever N the rod b' being jointed to the said
crank disc B at 6' and to the rod at b7 and the said rod being jointed at b to
the lever to which lever and to the lever N the rod b is jointed at b° and 10.
is the lever through which the crank disc C is connected to the rods b2 68.
The said lover works on a spindle supported by brackets a' a' formed on the
frame of the loom and the connections between the said lever c* and the crank
disc C and rods bb consist of rods co the rod c being jointed at one end to the
said, crank diso at c and at the other end to the said lever at o' and the rod c
being jointed at ono end to the said lever at o' and at its other end to the joint 67
of the said rods b*b*.
ddare rods and dis a levar by which the crank disc D is connected to the
rod O. eis a lever and e' are rods by which. the crank disc E is connected to
the joint of the rods dd. The connections between the said crank discs D E and
the said rod O. being similar to the connections between the crank discs BC and
the lever N further description of the said parts is unnecessary. P (see Figure 2)
is a brake by which motion of the crank discs due to the momentum of the moving
parts is prevented or controlled. The end of the lever N to which the rod b' is
jointed is formed sufficiently heavy to counterbalance the weight of the shuttle
boxes connected to the other end of the said lever consequently no greater power
is required to raise the boxes than to lower them.
The action of the arrangement horeinbefore described is as follows :—
When the loom is in action the reciprocating bars H I are actuated by the
excentric on the main shaft J through the intervening mechanism and the
racks G³ ³ ³ Gare caused to engage with the said bars by means of the cards
and card levers as described in the specification of the aforesaid Patent. No 3411
of 1882 and those of the said racks which by the action of the cards are engaged
with the said bars are pushed or pulled endwise and those of the toothed
wheels be with which the racks so actuated are geared are caused to turn
carrying with them the crank discs on which they are formed the traverse of the
racks G G G G being sufficient to give a half rotation to the said discs.
When the disc C is so turned that the connection between it and the lever o' is
in the highest position (as shown in the drawings) the rods bare in line and
when the said connection is in the lowest position the rods are drawn or forced out of
line into the positions in which the rods d³ ³ are shown the distance between
their most distant ends in a straight line being thereby shortened. When the
rods are in line and the connection between the rod b and the disc B is in
the lowest position (as shown in the drawings) the shuttle boxes on the side of the
loom on which the mechanism described is mounted are raised to their highest
position and when the connection between the said rod and the said disc B is in
the highest position the said shuttle boxes are depressed to the lower of two
positions intermediate between the highest and the lowest. When tho rods b³ ³

page_text: are out of line and the connection between the disc B and the rod 62 is in the
highest position the said shuttle boxes are in their lowest position and when the
said connection between the disc B and the fod 6 is in the lowest position (the
rods bb being in line) the said shuttle boxes are in the higher of the two positions*
intermediate between the highest and the lowest positions. Thus by the action of
the two crank discs, on the rods connecting them to the lever N the shuttle boxes.
connected to the said lever are brought to any one of the four required positions.
The action of the two crank discs D E on the connections between them and the
rod O is similar to that hereinbefore described with reference to the crank discs BC
on the connections between them and the lever N.
The Invention hereinbefore described is applicable to looms having three shuttle
boxes on each side, as well as to looms having four shuttle boxes on each side and
is also applicable to looms having three or four shuttle boxes on one side and one
shuttle box on the other side. In the case of a loom having four or three shuttle
boxes on one side and one shuttle box on the other side only one pair of crank
discs and their connections are required the other pair of crank discs and their
connections being unnecessary.
Instead of connecting the excentric 1 to the crank plate M by means of toothed
gearing as shown in Figure 2 the rod of the excentric may be lengthened and
connected to a pin on the said plate M in which case the toothed sector K and the
toothed wheel L are dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention of " Improvements in mechanism for actuating the shuttle boxes in
power looms" and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that
what I claim is
First The general combination and arrangement of parts constituting the
mechanism herein before described for actuating the shuttle boxes in a power loom
having four shuttle boxes on each side.
Secondly The method hereinbefore described of working the shuttle boxes in a
power loom having four or three shuttle boxes on each side or on one side that is
to say the transmission of the motion of two crank discs to one chain of rods
connected to the shuttle boxes so that one of the said crank discs brings the shuttle
boxes connected to it to either of two positions by direct action on the chain of
rods and the other of the said crank discs brings the shuttle boxes to either of two
other positions by forcing the rods of the chain out of line thus shortening the
distance between the two ends of the chain.
Thirdly Working the shuttle boxes in a power loom by drawing or forcing out
of line the links of a chain to one end of which the shuttle boxes are connected the
other end of the chain being connected to mechanism which works the shuttle
boxes by direct action on the said chain.
Dated this thirteenth day of June 1885.