CHOMATY IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Aspell, of Middleton, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, and Edward Booth, of Tonge, near Middleton,
Manager, and James Hurst, of the same Place, Overlooker, for the
Invention of "CHOMATY IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Invention of "CURTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Aspell, Edward
Booth, and James Hurst at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 20th March 1860.
We, JAMES ASPELL, of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturer, and EDWARD BOOTH, of Tonge, near Middleton, Manager, and JAMES
HURST, of the same Place, Overlooker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates, first, to that portion of the power loom known as the
taking-up" motion; and secondly, to that part known as the "letting-off"
motion.
The first part of our Invention, the "taking-up" motion, is designed for
the purpose of regulating the taking-up of the cloth, as the cloth upon the
roller or beam increases in diameter from the accumulation of fabric, and is
effected as follows:-The cloth roller or beam is driven from the "swing
shaft" by means of a friction plate or toothed wheel, which imparts motion to
a frictional bowl or pinion, which turns or drives the cloth beam by an inter-
:

page_text: mediate worm and worm wheel. A small roller is placed contiguous to the
periphery of the beam of cloth, which roller is in connection at one end with
a lever, the opposite end of such lever being attached to a rod bearing upon a
frictional bowl or pinion, so that as the diameter of the cloth upon the beam
increases the said bowl or pinion is depressed or forced nearer to the centre of
the driving friction plate or toothed wheel, and consequently there being a less
driving surface, the speed of the cloth beam is gradually diminished as
required, and the "taking-up" equalized or regulated.
The second portion of the Invention, called the "letting-off motion,"
consists in gradually releasing the warp beam from the friction placed there-
upon as its diameter decreases, so as to allow the warp beam to rotate more
rapidly, and "let off" an equal amount of warp, which is effected by gradually
drawing the weight upon the lever (to which a rope or band passing round
the beam is attached) nearer to the said rope, and consequently shortening the
leverage and friction, thereby permitting the yarn beam to rotate faster, the
weight being gradually moved by means of a cord passing round a roller
turned by a worm wheel and worm upon the warp beam shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Aspell, Edward Booth, and James Hurst in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 19th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
ASPELL, of Middleton, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, and EDWARD
BOOTH, of Tonge, near Middleton, Manager, and JAMES HURST, of the same
Place, Overlooker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Aspell, Edward Booth, and James Hurst, Her special license
that we, the said James Aspell, Edward Booth, and James Hurst, our execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Aspell,
Edward Booth, and James Hurst, 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 "CERTAIN

page_text: IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition, amongst
others, that we, the said James Aspell, Edward Booth, and James Hurst, or
one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, (or the
hand and seal of one of us,) should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 I, the said James Aspell, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
Our Invention relates to that portion of the power loom known as the
"taking-up motion."
Our Invention is designed for the purpose of regulating the taking up of
the cloth as the cloth upon the roller or beam increases in diameter from the
accumulation of fabric, and is effected as follows:-The cloth roller or beam
is driven from the "swing shaft" by means of a friction plate or toothed
wheel, which imparts motion to a frictional bowl or pinion, which turns or
drives the cloth beam by an intermediate worm and worm wheel, or other
convenient gearing. A small roller is placed contiguous to the periphery of
the beam of cloth, which roller is in connection at one end with a lever, the
opposite end of such lever being attached to a rod bearing upon a frictional
bowl or pinion, so that as the diameter of the cloth upon the beam increases,
the said bowl is depressed or forced nearer to the centre of the driving friction
plate or toothed wheel, and consequently there being a less driving surface,
the speed of the cloth beam is gradually diminished as required, and the
"taking up" of the cloth is equalized or regulated.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the same,
and made upon a scale of about four inches to a foot, and having similar
letters of reference marked upon corresponding parts of the mechanism.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of that portion of a power loom to which my improve-
ments are applied; and Fig. 2 is an end view of the same view thereon, partly
in section.
In Fig. 1, a, a, is the framing of the loom; and b, the cloth beam, which
receives motion from the "swing or rocking" shaft c through the medium of
the toothed wheel, which we now term a conical or spiral ratchet wheel, or
cylinder d, which is a modification of the toothed wheel before named, and

page_text: which we find more servicable and practicable, giving motion to the worm and
worm wheel e, e, or any other description of intermediate gearing. The
"swing shaft" gives motion to the spiral ratchet wheel d by means of the
pawls or ratchets f, f, which are carried along the surface of the said ratchet.
wheel from the lesser diameter to the greater by means of the carrying bar g,
which is actuated by the block or roller h becoming depressed as the cloth
beam fills, and causing the bell-crank lever to move so as to impart the
necessary forward motion to the said carrier; i, i, is a vertical rod and lever,
by means of which the pawls are lifted off the ratchet cylinder by the action of
the "spring handle" k when the loom is stopped. The action of the various
parts is as follows:-As the cloth accumulates upon the cloth roller 6, the
block or roller h bearing upon the exterior of the fabric upon the cloth roller
becomes depressed, and by means of the bell-crank lever and carrier bar g
the pawls are gradually carried or transferred from the smaller diameter of the
"spiral ratchet cylinder" to the greater diameter, and thus the action of the
pawls upon the said ratchet cylinder becomes diminished, and the cloth roller b
is caused to rotate at a gradually slower speed, and consequently an equal
amount of cloth is "taken up," at cach pick from the commencement to the
completion of the piece..
.
I would here remark, that since the filing of the Provisional Specification
for
my said Invention, I have ascertained that the second part of my Inven-
tion, as therein described, is not so novel or original, nor of such utility as I
then considered it to be, and I therefore hereby disclaim that portion of the
Invention.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention for regulating the
taking up of the cloth, together with the method of carrying the same into
practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I claim regulating
the "taking up of the cloth by the novel application and use of a "spiral
ratchet wheel or cylinder" interposed between the cloth beam and the swing
shaft, and the pawls and mechanism connected therewith, as herein-before
described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Aspell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
TATIA LODDTT
TT