AN IMPROVED METHOD OF UNHOOKING IN JACQUARD MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stevens, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF UNHOOKING IN JACQUARD MACHINES." A communication from abroad
by Stefano Pettaluga, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 15th August 1861, and dated the 23rd February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
February 1861.
-I, CHARLES STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF UNHOOKING IN JACQUARD MACHINES," (& that it has been
communicated to me from abroad by Stefano Pettaluga, of 42, Rue Laffitte,..
Paris, in the Empire of France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of an improved method of unhooking in jacquard
machines, replacing the present method, which. is effected by means of the
needles.
In the jacquard machine there is a grate of stout iron wire, which crosses
horizontally the front of the line of the hooks, & by means of its retrograde
movement at the moment of the unhooking of the hooks forces the latter to

page_text: draw back after their stationing on the collar board. Instead of this opera-
tion, that is to say, the forcing back of the grate when the hooks are at rest,
the grate is made to perform its retrograde movement at the moment of the
unhooking, and thus it is the bars of the grate which causes the hooks to
leave the lifting blades of the grif or lifting bar, and the needles are consequently
no longer subjected to this shock, and are pushed back very gently. A simple
escaping movement will effect this operation. A double lever is connected
with the grif, & a moveable catch is placed on the slider, which catch in
descending from the grate gives movement to the double lever, and in
ascending escapes without giving movement...
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date, the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand. eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Iler reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I,
the said Charles Stevens, my 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 "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF UNHOOKING IN JACQUARD MACHINES," a communication to
me from abroad by Stefano Pettaluga, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the
Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Stevens, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Stevens, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The present Invention consists in an improved mode of unhooking in jac-
quard looms, by which destruction of the cards is avoided, and the wear
produced by the friction of the hook or lifting wire on the eye of the needle,
which in a short time breaks the latter, is greatly diminished.
By the improvements introduced, instead of it being the cards which drive
back the needles as in the old system, and in which the needles are required
to develope a considerable force to cause the hooks which are suspended to
the blades of the grif or lifting bar to fly, more especially when the hooks
bear a certain weight, as, for example, that of the lisses or heald, the back
movement is produced by means of the lattice or grate represented by
Figs. 1 & 3, formed of a row of thick iron wires crossing horizontally in front
of the line of hooks, which are made to draw back at the moment of the
unhooking, produced as in the old system, and thus the wires of the gratef
force the hooks to fly from the lifting blades of the lifting bar, and the needles
are pushed back with perfect ease. A simple escapement movement Z, x, see
Figs. 1 & 3, effects this operation; the pieces marked R, T, are unnecesary.
The piece Z is in perfect communication with the lifting bar f, which is placed
in the inner part of the mechanism, and effects the pushing back of the lifting
bar. x represents a moveable catch on the slide H, which in descending from
the grif F communicates movement to the lever Z, while in ascending it
escapes without effecting movement.
Figs 3, 4, & 5 represent different views of the loom, having the above-
described improvements adapted to it.
Figs. 1 & 2 represent the escapement movement in detail.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, the improvements in jacquard machines, as above described
and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES STEVENS. (L.S.)