CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CLOTH
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
JOHNSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Wire Manufacturer,
send greeting..
:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirtieth day of September, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Johnson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,.
that I, the said Richard Johnson; my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Richard Johnson; my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with; and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,..should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE CLOTH;" in which said Letters Patent is.
contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Johnson, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Johnson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
My Improvements in the Manufacture of Wire Cloth apply to looms for
weaving wire cloth or gauze by power, and consist,―
Firstly, in the use or employment of certain distending arms to be worked
by cams and levers (or other suitable apparatus), placed either above or below,
for the purpose of drawing the weft wire tight after every shoot or traverse
of the shuttle.
Secondly, in a certain novel method of regulating the " taking up" of the
wire cloth or fabric, so as to produce cloth of a finer or coarser mesh, as
required. This is effected by employing a loose reed, which is held in the
requisite position by springs whilst the stay is "beating up," but yields after
every beat, and acts against a lever which is connected with the "taking up"
motion. When the weft wire breaks the reed does not yield, and consequently,
the "taking up" ceases.
"
Thirdly, in the employment of a weighted calendering roller, bearing against
the cloth upon the cloth or work beam, so as to keep it always smooth and
even. And,
Fourthly, my improvements apply to the shuttles to be employed in such
looms, and consist in furnishing them with a double spring, which presses
against the bobbin of wire whenever the shuttle enters either shuttle box, and
thus prevents it from giving off any more wire, but releases it the instant the
shuttle leaves the box; and also in having the wheels or rollers upon which
such shuttles run biassed or inclined towards the reed, which prevents the
tension of the wire from dragging the shuttle out of its proper course.
The practical application of the aforesaid improvements will be better
understood by reference to the two Sheets of Drawings accompanying these
Presents, being drawn to a scale of about two inches to a foot, and marked.
with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
description thereof :-
In Sheet 1, Figure 1 is an elevation of the driving end, and Figure 2 a
front elevation of my improved power loom for weaving wire cloth; and in
Sheet 2, Figure 1 is a transverse section of the same. A, A, is the main
framing of the loom. B, B, is the warp beam, and C, C, the back beam.

page_text: D, D, is the driving pulley, and E, E, is the crank shaft. F, F, are the healds
.or harness; G, G, the crank arms; H, H, the lathe or .slay; and I, I, the
slay swords. K, K, are the shuttle boxes; L, L, the picking levers; and
M, M, the breast beam. These several parts of the loom may be arranged
and wrought in the ordinary manner as in looms for weaving any other kind
of cloth, but must of course be made stronger in proportion to the work they
are intended to perform. The method of causing the cloth beam N, N, to
take up the cloth will be described hereafter.
66
The arrangement of mechanics for tightening or distending the weft wire
after every shoot is as follows:-At the driving end of the loom (see Fig. 1)
is a shaft a, a (placed upright or nearly so), which receives motion from the
crank shaft by means of the spur and level gearing b, b, b, b, and actuates the
horizontal shaft c, c, by the bevil wheels d, d. Upon the shaft c, c, are keyed
two cams or tappets e, e, acting against the friction rollers or bowls attached
to the under side of the levers f,f. The ends of these levers f, f, are connected
by springs and chains to the levers g, g, keyed upon the studs upon which the
distending arms or levers h, h, are fixed. After each pick or shoot of the left-
hand picking lever L', the right-hand cam or tappet e¹ will raise the lever f¹, thus
actuating the distending arm or lever h¹, the end of which, as it passes over the
shuttle race, will catch the weft wire (represented by the blue line), and draw it
tight, as shewn on the right hand of the loom in Figure 2, Sheet 1, the spring
which connects the levers f¹ and g¹ together yielding so as to prevent the
lever h' from breaking the wire. As the cam e¹ revolves the spring i, i, will
bring the lever h into its original position. It will be evident that at every
pick of the left-hand picking lever the cams e, e, being set opposite to each
other, the result will the same, but at the opposite end of the loom. The
method of regulating the taking up of the cloth is as follows:-The "slay cap"
k, k, which carries the reed 7, l, is mounted and swivels upon the two pins m, m.
(one at each end), but is kept in the required position by the rail n, p, being
acted upon by springs (not seen in the Drawing) enclosed in the boxes o, o,
and connected to the rail n by links and rods p, p. When the reed beats up
against the weft the reed yields, and a pin or stud upon one of the rods p
comes into contact with the upper end of the lever q, q, and causes the lower
end of the said lever to strike against the stop r, and slides the bar s, s, in the
direction of the arrow. The sliding bars is furnished at one end with a
ratchet or catch, which actuates the ratchet wheel t upon the upright shaft u,
thus driving (by means of the worm v) the worm wheel w, keyed upon the
journal of the cloth roller N, N. The sliding bars is brought back by the
lever a striking against the stop y, the said lever x being caused to vibrate by

page_text: the action of the excentric z, keyed upon the crank shaft. The action of
this taking up" motion is assisted at the driving end of the loom by the
excentric 1 acting against a lever 2, which carries a catch 3. The catch 3
acts upon a ratchet wheel 4, which is connected by spur gearing to the cloth
beam N, N, and is retained in this position by the holding catches 5 and 6,
fixed to the framing. The catch 3 does not take up so fast as the wheel t at
the other end of the loom, but takes up a certain quantity at each pick, so as
to assist the wheel t and counterbalance the great weight which it is necessary
to have upon the warp beam B, and the catches 5 and 6 retain what the
wheel t takes up. Thus it will be seen that,
any other cause is absent from the shed, the
quently the wheel t does not take up the cloth. The cloth is kept even and
smooth upon the cloth beam N by means of the calendering roller 7, which is
mounted in a frame &, and kept against the beam by the lever and weight 9.
The number of picks in any given space may be at any time altered and
regulated by increasing or diminishing the pressure of the springs upon the
back of the reed, and by altering the position of the slips r and y upon the
sliding bar s, so as to cause it to take up more or less teeth of the ratchet
wheel t.
if the weft wire breaks, or from
reed does not yield, and conse-
In Sheet 2, Figure 2 is a plan view of my improved shuttle to be employed
in power looms for weaving wire cloth. Figure 3 is a side view, and Figure 4
is a view of the under side of the same. It will be seen by referring to
Figure 2 that the shuttle a, a, is furnished with two springs b and c connected
together. As soon as the shuttle enters either shuttle box, the side of the
latter, pressing against the outer spring b, forces the inner spring c against the
bobbin d, and thus prevents it from giving off any more wire, but releases it
the instant the shuttle leaves the box. It will also be seen in Figure 4 that
the wheels e, e, of the shuttle are biassed or inclined towards the reed, which
prevents the wire from dragging the shuttle out of its proper course:
Having now described the nature and object of my said improvement,
together with the method of carrying the same into practical effect, 'I would
remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention,―
:
Firstly, the employment or use of the distending arms or levers h, h, for
driving the weft wire tight after every shoot or traverse of the shuttle.
Secondly, I claim the method of" taking up" the cloth or fabric by causing
the reed to yield by the action the weft wire, so as not to "take up" when the
weft wire is broken or absent.
Thirdly, I claim the use of the weighted calendering roller bearing against
the cloth upon the work beam.

page_text: And, fourthly, I claim the improved construction of the shuttle as above
described, and represented in the Drawing hereto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of March, in the year above written.