IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Railton, of Blackburn, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, and Seth Lang, of the same Place,
Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS."
Sealed the 10th June 1859, and dated the 24th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Railton and
Seth Lang at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 24th December 1858.
We, JOHN RAILTON, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, and SETH LANG, of the same Place, Mechanic, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS," to be as follows:-
Instead of working the "dobby" with one or two lifters moving up and
down in a vertical direction, we employ one slide only, and work it horizontally
by means of a pinion or toothed wheel gearing into a rack fixed to or forming
part of the said slide, to which alternate motion is given by fixing on the shaft
of the wheel or pinion a drum or pulley connected by chains or rods to the
ordinary treddles. We connect to the slide one or more catches for the
purpose of giving motion by means of ratchet wheels to one or more pattern
cylinders, each furnished with pegs or turning a lattice with pegs of any
desired pattern.
In order to give the shedding motion as required, we connect the healds by
means of cranks or cords passing over pullies to horizontal wires or rods

page_text: having bends or hooks so placed that when the pattern pins press the wires,
the said bends or hooks shall come in contact with one or other of the knives,
thus receiving a pulling motion according to the length of the throw of the
slide and raising the healds, which latter are moved down by means of
weights or springs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Railton and Seth Lang in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
RAILTON, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and
SETH LANG, of the same Place, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said John Railton and Seth Lang, Her special licence that
we, the said John Railton and Seth Lang, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Railton and Seth Lang,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Railton and Seth Lang, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and, ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Railton and Seth Lang, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained. in
and by the following statement (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates to those looms in which a double "dobby" is
employed for working the healds, and our improvements consist in the appli-

page_text: cation of a single slide to work the double "dobby," which slide is moved
to and fro horizontally by means of a toothed wheel or pinion gearing into a
rack fixed to or forming part of the slide. The pattern cylinders are turned
round by catches jointed to a lever put in motion by the slide. The pegs on
the pattern cylinders or on the lattices passing over them, act on wires or
tumblers connected to the slide, and these wires or tumblers are hooked to
catch hold of knives or hooked rods, to which the healds are connected by
cranks or cords passing over pulleys.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents an elevation of the upper part of a loom to which our
improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; and Fig. 3 is a
detached view of part of the same. a, a, are the sides of the loom, to which
are bolted the horns b, b, supporting the dobby frame c; the pattern cylinders
d, d, revolve in bearings attached to the frame c. The lattices e, e, indicated
by dotted lines in Fig. 1 are made of perforated wooden lags, furnished with
pegs in the usual manner, or the pegs may be inserted into the pattern
cylinders, if preferred. The slide f is supported on ribs c', cast to the frame c;
this slide is moved horizontally to and fro by the chains or rods g, g, which
are connected below to the ordinary treddles, and above to a chain h' attached
to the pulley h, fixed to the same shaft as the pinion or toothed wheel or
segment i, gearing into the rack f', fixed to the slide f; the pulley h may be
made of two or more different diameters in order to be able to vary the
amount of traverse given to the slide f, without altering the tappets acting on
the treddles. The pegs in the pattern cylinders or on the lattices act on the
tumblers j, which are mounted on shafts supported in the troughs k; the
tumblers are hooked at their outer ends to catch hold of the knives or rods 1,
to which the segment levers m are connected by cords passing over the
pulleys n. The healds o are suspended to the levers m, and drawn down by
weights or springs in the usual manner; the knives or rods / slide on the
plates, which are fixed to the frame c, and they are held by the bridles l²,
fixed to the plates . The tumblers j and troughs & move laterally with the
slide f, each trough being binged at to the slide, but as it is requisite, in
order to produce an even shed, that those healds furthest from the reed should
open more than those nearer to it, we connect the other ends of the troughs k
together by the rack p, into which gears the toothed wheel or segment p¹,
which is fixed to the same shaft as the pulley h and segment i, the segment p¹
being larger than the segment i, causes each of the troughs k to assume

page_text: álternately a diagonal position, as shewn in Fig. 2; consequently when the
knives or rods have been moved laterally by the tumblers j, the healds are
raised by them in proportion to their distance from the reed. To the under
side of the slide f is cast or fixed a slot piece f¹, having an adjustable stud f2
fixed to it; this stud takes into a slot in the lever q, whose fulcrum is the
stud q¹, fixed to the frame c. To the lever q are hinged the catches 92, which
take into the teeth of the ratchet wheels d', d', fixed to the axes of the pattern
cylinders d, d; when the slide f moves, the catches 92 act alternately on the.
ratchet wheels d', and move the pattern cylinders d alternately round one-
eighth part of a revolution. The spur wheel d² is keyed to the axle of the
right-hand pattern cylinder d, and the wheel d' into which d
gears is loose
on the axle of the left-hand pattern cylinder, which in Fig. 1 is shewn in the
position it assumes when it has been moved in the direction of the arrow;
while it was moving, the other pattern cylinder remained stationary, the
wheel d³ is furnished with a segmental slot as shewn in Fig. 3, which slot fits
on a pin fixed in the notched wheel d', keyed to the axle of the left-hand
pattern cylinder. A similar notched wheel is keyed to the axle of the right-
hand pattern cylinder, and a spring r acts on both the notched wheels to hold-
the pattern cylinders when they have been turned partly round by the
catches 2. By means of the wheels d and d³, and the pin in the notched
wheel d', the pattern cylinders or the pattern lattices are connected, so that
when it is necessary to turn them either forward or backward independently
of the working of the loom, the patterns remain in their proper relative
positions; this, however, forms no part of our present Invention.
The Drawing represents our improvements applicable to a loom in which
seventeen healds are required, but it is evident that a greater or less number
of healds may be employed. In Fig. 2 some of the parts are broken away,
and others omitted to avoid useless repetition. In Fig. 1 the slide f is shewn
to the left-hand side of the frame c, thereby bringing the left-hand tumblers j
under the left-hand pattern cylinder d, the pegs of which or of the lattice
passing around it, act on the tumblers corresponding to those healds that are
not required to be raised at the succeeding shed, whereas the tumblers corre-
sponding to the healds that are to be raised to form the next shed, remain
with their hooked ends on the rods l, so that when the slide f moves towards
the other end of the frame c, the rods are booked by the tumblers j, and
the cords attached to the rods and levers m, raise the healds selected.
By these improvements in looms, it will be seen that each traverse of the
slide produces a change in the position of the healds, and that while on
one side the tumblers are acting on the rods, and healds to form the shed,

page_text: the rods at the other side are all in a line, being pulled by the springs or
weights connected to the lower side of the healds, so that the notches at the
under side come against the plate l¹.
Fig. 4 is a detached view of a modification of our Invention; in this view
the healds are connected to the sliding rods s, to which the tumblers t are
hinged; these tumblers answer the same purpose as the tumblers j in Fig. 1;
in this instance the slide fis furnished with a knife, which acts upon the
hooked ends of the tumblers that are not raised by the pegs on the pattern
cylinder, thereby selecting those healds that are required in the manner
before described. By this arrangement the tumblers remain at rest while the
pattern cylinder or lattice is acting upon them.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the details given, but that what we claim is,-
First, the application of a single horizontal slide to a double ", dobby,"
which slide is moved to and fro, and communicates motion to the pattern
cylinders or pattern lattices, and to the hooked tumblers and slide rods, by
which the healds are selected and raised as described.
Secondly, the improved arrangement of parts for imparting a diagonal
traverse to the tumblers and slide rods, for the purpose of obtaining an even
shed as described.
And, lastly, the improved arrangement of slide rods and tumblers, combined
as shewn and described in reference to Fig. 4.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Railton and Seth Lang, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-second day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ILTON.
SETH LANG.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)