IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD DOBBIES EMPLOYED IN POWER-LOOMS
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 16th June, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 19th July, 1887.
I, JAMES WATSON of 7 Belle Mount Bramley, near Leeds, in the County of York,
loom-overlooker do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
JACQUARD DOBBIES EMPLOYED IN POWER-LOOMS to be as follows:-
My improved Jacquard is a single lift machine, and is constructed on the open shed
principle, or it can be used as a centre shedding jacquard on the open shed principle;
that is, when the healds are taken up they will remain up until required at the bottom,
as in double lift machines. It is positive in its action; or weights may be employed if
preferred.
The improved Jacquard consists principally of a jack knife, a lifting bar and a dish
or treadle to take them down, also a roller to lift them to the centre when centre
shedding is required.
The Jack-knife is made with three catches or notches, one required for lifting it, one
for holding it up, and one to take it down. The knife is attached to the end of the
jack lever. The heald shafts are fastened to the jack by bands and links, as usual.
The jack knives are held up when required by means of a catch lever; a rod passes
through this lever which works on the same and is so formed that it will fall back by
its own weight and release the jack knife when the latter is lifted and is not held up by
the needle.
There are two kinds of needles placed horizontally one above the other, fitted into a
frame and held in position by spiral springs as usual. The top needle has a slot
through which the top part of the Jack knife works.
This needle controls the Jack knife and the end of the needle is turned downwards so
that it can be pressed backwards by the lower needle.
The lower needle has a long slot which holds the end of the catch lever above
named; the jack knife also passes through it, and at the front of this slot is a projection
upwards, so that the needle can be pressed back, when required, by a rod at the front
worked by a hand lever, or a lever and a cam connected with the lag cylinder motion.
By this arrangement the lower needles can be pressed back when the lag cylinder
turns, so that the pegs will not rub the needles.

page_text: The front end of each of these needles is of a disc or button shape and slightly
grooved downwards, and is about half an inch in advance of the turned down end of
the top needle.
The other end of the needle is made with a notch or catch, so that it can be drawn
back by a treadle, worked by a cam and lever to draw the jack knives away from the
lifting bar to the dish at the back; and this treadle rests on a bearer and is so
constructed that it will only draw those needles backwards that are held back by the
pegs.
The pegs of the pattern lags on the lag-cylinder, work against the end of the needle
which holds the catch, and press it backwards half an inch; the pegs remain on the
needle when at rest.
When a needle is pressed back by a peg as above described, the treadle will draw
them backwards, by the catch or notch at the end of the needle, and the other end of
the needle which is button-shaped comes in contact with the top needle and so the jack-
knife is drawn away from the lifting bar to the dish at the back to be taken down.
DESCRIPTION OF THE JACQUARD MOVEMENTS.
When the lifting bar is at the top or at "full-shed" the dish will be at the
bottom with some of the jack-knives; the cylinder now turns and where a needle is
held back by a peg, the catch lever will fall back, so that it will not hold the knife
up when the lifting bar goes down, the other knives that are up remaining on the
catches.
When the lifting bar is again at the bottom and the dish at the top, the treadle will
pull those needles further back that are held back by the pegs, and so the knife will be
pulled away from the lifting bar, to be taken down; the lifting bar again goes up and
the lag-cylinder is turned to another pattern lag.
The advantages of this arrangement are that the healds remain at the top until they
are required at the bottom in single or centre shedding, as the healds do in double
lift machines.
Dated this 15th day of September 1886.
GEORGE DAVIES,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: I JAMES WATSON- of 7 Belle Mount Bramley near Leeds in the County of York Loom
Overlooker do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My improved Jacquard is a single lift machine and its action is on the open shed
principle that is when the healds are taken up they will remain up until required at
the bottom as is the case in double-lift machines. It is positive in its action or it may
be worked by springs and weights.
It can also be used as a centre-shedding jacquard on the open shed principle when
springs or weights are employed.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto two
sheets of drawings and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference
corresponding with those in the following explanation thereof.
On Sheet 1. Fig. 1. is a side elevation and Fig. 2. a similar sectional view of my
improved dobby. Figs. 3. 4. 5 and 6. are detached views hereafter referred to, and on
Sheet 2. Fig. 7 shows how the machine is connected to the crank-shaft of the loom.
a, a is the frame of the jacquard which is fixed as usual on the top rail a¹, a¹ of the
loom.
In this frame a, a I mount a shaft b, b upon which are keyed or fastened two spur
wheels one at each side of the machine, one of which is shown at c, c Fig. 2, each of
the wheels is in gear with two racks as shown at d and d¹ Fig. 2.
The front racks d carry the jack knife lifting bar e and I connect the lifting or
shedding lever f,f to these racks d; and I actuate this lever ff as usual by a cam g, g
or an excentric on the crank shaft h, h of the loom (see Fig. 7, Sheet 2).
At the upper end of the rack d¹ Í fit a dish or catch bar ii pivotted thereto and
provided with springs k to allow it to catch on the jack knives 1, 1.
When the springs or weights are employed instead of the positive motion, in order
to make the "jacquard centre shedding." I mount a roller or rod dx (shown dotted
on Fig. 2 at the lower end of the rack d', the jacks rest on this roller which will carry
them (when the said rack d' d' rises) up to the required central position. m is the pattern
cylinder provided with a series or a chain of lags and pegs **. Or a chain of bowls
may be employed if preferred.
The jack knives, are connected to the jacks n, n and to the healds in the usual
manner, and each knife is made with three projections or catches o¹, o² 0³.
The catch o¹ is actuated by the lifting bar e for lifting the knife the catch o' by the
weighted knife catch p,p for holding it up and the catch o³ by the dish or catch bar i, i
for bringing it down when required.
The knife catches p,p are mounted and work loose upon a rod 9, 9 and they are so
shaped that they can fall back of their own weight and release the jack knives 1, 1
when the latter are lifted and the said catches p, pare not retained by the needles r, r as
hereafter described,

page_text: There are two sets of needles r, r and s, s placed horizontally, the one set above the
other (see Fig. 2) fitted respectively into the frames t, t and u, u and held in position
by the spiral springs r¹ and s¹ in the usual way.
Each jack knife, passes through, and is held in place by, its needless which is
turned or bent downwards at one end so that it can be pressed back by the head
the lower needle as shown.
of
Or instead of being bent downwards as shown, the needless, s may be ordinary
needles to hold the jack knives in which case the end of the slot in the lower needles
will pull the jack knives back, when the said needles are caught by the treadle w.
A long slot 3, is formed or cut in the lower needler (see detached sectional view
Fig. 3) through which the jack knife passes and the knife catch p is held in this slot
so that it keeps up the said knife by means of its catch o' until the needler is pressed
backwards..
And at the front end of this slot ³, there is a projection by means of which the
needle can be pressed back as hereafter described.
The front end of the needle r is provided with a disc or button shaped head r³.
The pattern barrel or cylinder m'm works at this end of the needle
and the pegs
(or bowls) act against the disc or button shaped head ².
r,
The other end of the needle is made or provided with a catch which is actuated
(when the said needle has been pressed back by a peg or bowl on the pattern
cylinder) by a treadle or bar w pivotted loosely on rocking or oscillating levers a, x
which are connnected by a tie-rod a link y lever y¹ and rod y³, to an excentric y³ on
the crank shaft h, h of the loom-see Fig. 7. Sheet 2-But I would here remark that
other means for actuating the levers & may be adopted.
The treadle w is prevented from catching those needles which are not pressed back
by pegs or bowls by a short arm z fixed thereto and provided with a pin or peg which
rises up the incline * fixed to the frame of the machine and lifts the said treadles w
see Fig. 1 and detached view Fig. 4.
This incline also releases the needles which have been caught by the treadle and
brought back for the next shed, and is so formed that (as before said) as soon as the
peg has descended the incline z¹ the treadle will catch those needles which have been
pressed back by the pattern barrel 'and pull them further back.
The pattern cylinder m is or may be actuated by a peg wheel and catches m³, m²
mounted on a lever m³, which passes beneath a cam or tappet m* keyed or fixed on the
spur wheel shaft b of the jacquard dobby.
This cam or tappet m works against a bowl on the lever m³ which is held in place by
the spring m or by other suitable means.
The projection from the needle at the end of the slot r³, is acted upon by a bar,
which may be moved by hand (see Figs. 1 and 2) by the lever, or automatically
from the pattern cylinder m or the motion which governs the same.
This cross bar may be bent or cranked so as to act only upon as many needles as
may be required to work at once.
Fig. 5 shows the bar actuated by bowls at the ends of the two sliding rods or
needles, held by springs against the indented or concave sides of a wheel or flange
cast to the pattern cylinder m and at either end thereof.
Fig. 6 shows the pattern cylinder m driven by a star wheel and a peg wheel m*, the
lever, being actuated by a cam attached to the said peg wheel m* or its shaft.
In either case the lower needles are pressed back automatically just as the pattern
cylinder is turning in order to obviate excessive wear of the pegs against the said
needles r.
The hand lever can be used to lower all the healds when required.

page_text: position all the jack knives, which are caught thereon by the catch o¹ are lifted, the
weighted knife catches p, p can (in the cases where the needles r are pressed in) drop
out of reach of the catches o into the position shown dotted in Fig. 2.
The lifting bare now goes down and the dish or catch bar i goes up.
The treadle w then draws back those of the lower needles r which are held in by the
pegs (or bowls) and which will then draw their corresponding top needles with
them and thereby pull their corresponding jack knives into the position shown
dotted on Fig. 2 so that their catches o' will miss the lifting-bar e and their catches o³
will be engaged by the "dish or catch bar i which will carry them down when the said
bar e is raised again.
,,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:
First. A single lift " open shed" "Jacquard dobby" positive in its action,
constructed and operating substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
the drawings annexed.
Secondly. A Jacquard dobby provided with two sets of needles one set for retaining
or releasing the knives and the other set for governing their positions connected and
operating substantially as hereinbefore described.
Thirdly. A Jacquard dobby wherein the jack-knives are made or provided with
three catches whereby they are respectively raised held up, and brought down as
required.
Fourthly. The combination with the needles and jack knives of a jacquard dobby of
a series of catch levers for holding up the said jack-knives until they are required to
be taken down.
Fifthly. The combination with the needles and pattern cylinder of a jacquard dobby
of the treadle w so mounted as to actuate only those needles which are held by the
pegs or bowls, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings
annexed.
Sixthly. The combination with the pattern cylinder and needles of a jacquard
dobby of a bar or rod substantially as shown at Fig. 5 on the annexed drawings for
relieving the wear and preventing the breakage of the pegs substantially as hereinbefore.
described.