IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Buchanan, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING."-Partly a
communication.
Sealed the 14th September 1855, and dated the 14th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Buchanan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
May 1855.
I, JAMES BUCHANAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iы-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING," being
partly a communication from a foreigner resident abroad, and in part my own
Invention, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to various improvements upon the machine for making
heddles or healds, for which David Anderson and James Berrie obtained
Letters Patent for England on or about the 25th day of March 1885, as well
as to other improvements of a distinct character. In this machine as hitherto
constructed, the thread forming the eye of the heddle is thrown and knotted
by hand, the remainder of the operations required in the formation of the
heddle being performed by the machine; according to the present Invention,
however, the machine is made to perform the whole of the required operations.
The thread which forms the eye and one half of the heddles is carried in a

page_text: shuttle of a peculiar shape, having one of its end points turned, as it were, a
little to one side; & the pirn of the shuttle is formed with an internal spring,
which re-winds up the slack of the thread during the operation of forming the
knot, other springs being also applied to the pirn or its spindle to regulate
the tension of its thread.
This shuttle works in races or shuttle boxes in a vertically moveable. frame,
which is shifted by means of a cam or other suitable movement.
In forming
a heddle eye with its accompanying knot according to one modification of the
cycle of processes, the shuttle is first thrown across the race, and the thread
laid by it is caught by a two-pronged hook, which holds it during the return
of the shuttle. Another two-pronged hook then comes into play, and catching
the thread, forms it into a loop, and places this loop upon a spear-headed
holding point. The shuttle-is then-thrown across and passes through the loop,
forming a knot loop ready to be drawn into a knot; the races are next depressed;
and the shuttle is thrown back again under the stud, upon which the eye of
the heddle is formed, and through the "clasp" or lower portions of the heddle.
After this the races rise again, and tho-shuttle is thrown back again through
the knot loop, which is subsequently taken off its holding hooks or points, and
run down and tightened by other hooks. or forks, worked by cams or similar
movements. The shuttle is finally thrown over the upper ribcord of the heddle,
and so completes the cycle of its movements. This routine of operations may
be varied in many ways, according to the kind of heddle to be made, and
various kinds of knots may be made by suitably modifying the action of the
shuttle and that of the hooks. The knot loop may be formed in various ways
besides that just referred to. Thus, for example, a circular hook or cut ring
with a groove round its circumference may be used, which ring after taking up
the thread makes a partial revolution and so forms the loop, the shuttle being
shot through the ring or hook; or a three-pronged hook may be made to effect
the same thing, bends being formed in the prongs so as to spread the thread
laterally in order that the shuttle may pass through the loop. The shuttle is
shot by means of picking levers, worked by suitable cams, or by an equivalent
movement, the stroke being given to the shuttle by a sliding rod connected to
the picking cover or other picking movement, in such a manner as to produce
a uniform or nearly uniform picking action, notwithstanding the rise and fal
of the races or shuttle boxes. A weft work stopper stops the machine wher
the shuttle thread fails, and a pin on the indicating gear stops it at the end
of the set. The motions of the loop-forming hooks are produced by cams o
similar contrivances, and some of the hooks are made to partially revolve or
their spindles in any convenient way; as, for example, by being moved longi

page_text: tudinally through sockets containing stationary pins which work in spiral
grooves in the hook spindle and cause it to turn. The mechanism just
described for forming the eye and knotted portion of the heddle is incorporated
in the general arrangement of the heddle-making machine, and it is made to
work in concert with the rest of the working parts, being driven in any conve-
nient manner from any of the moving details thereof. The present Invention"
also comprehends certain minor improvements in the general details of the.
heddle-making machine. One of such improvements consists in the appli-
cation to the several threads or cords used in the manufacture of the heddle,
or to any of them, of a tension spring, consisting of a helical coil of wire.
through which the thread or cord is passed being twisted or lapped one or.
more times round the coils. A helical or other spring is also made to press
against the end of the bobbin from which the thread or cord is unwound, the
tension produced by which last spring prevents the thread from twisting itself.
into a hitch between the bobbin and the coil tension spring. A further
improvement consists in driving the rim wheel which carries and works the
thread for forming the "clasp" of the heddle by means of an intermediate
pinion in such a direction as to bring the bobbin over towards the worker or
attendant instead of in the reverse direction, as originally worked.
Another improvement consists in fitting the rim wheel, already herein-before
referred to, upon V slides or grooves on the stationary arms, such slides being
made adjustable, so that they can be set up when worn. The traversing frame
carrying the braiding needles is also fitted in adjustable slides or grooves in
the stationary framing with a like object.
Another improvement consists in making the depresser, for depressing the
turned-back point of the needle into the recess in the needle shank, adjustable
upon its carrying blade spring, by means of a screw or otherwise. In the.
marker movement, for working the marking thread into the heddle, the cam
wheel hitherto employed is superseded by a grooved wheel, contrived to change
the thread with equal rapidity and certainty in either direction, which is not
effected by the cam wheel arrangement. The number of each machine is
marked on the heddles manufactured by such machine, either by inserting
by hand a bit of colored thread at a point in the heddle to correspond to the
number, or the machine may itself be contrived to mark the number on the
heddle by effecting a double change of the count-marking thread at a point in
the heddle to correspond to the number, this change not interfering with the
regular action of the count-marking movement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Buchanan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BUCHANAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Gentleman, 5
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Buchanan, Her special license that I, the said James Buchanan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Buchanan, my executors, administrators, or 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING," being partly a communica-
tion from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Buchanan, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said James Buchanan, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to various improvements upon the machinery
for making heddles or healds, for which David Anderson and James Berrie
obtained Letters Patent for England on or about the Twenty-fifth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, as well as to other
And in order that
improvements of a distinct and different character.
the said Invention may be properly understood, I have hereunto attached
two Sheets of explanatory Drawings, to which I shall herein-after refer in
describing the said improvements. In the heddle-making machine as
hitherto constructed, the thread forming the eye of the heddle is thrown and

page_text: knotted by hand, the remainder of the operations required in the formation of
the heddle being performed by the machine. According to the present Inven-
tion, however, the machine is made to perform the whole of the required
operations. The thread which forms the eye and one half of the heddle is
carried in a shuttle, the pirn of which has fitted to it a spring to re-wind up
the slack of the thread during the operation of forming the knot, other
springs being also applied to the pirn or to its spindle to regulate the tension
of its thread.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached is a plan, and
Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, of one modification of shuttle con-
structed according to this plan. This shuttle is of a peculiar shape externally,
having one of its end points A turned, as it were, a little to one side, or out
of the direct line; this being for the purpose of insuring its accurate passage
through the knot loop, as formed according to one of the herein-after
described modifications of the knotting process. This configuration of the
shuttle is not required, however, when the knot loop is formed according to
some of the other modes of forming the knot, herein-after described. The
spindle B of the pirn C has fixed upon it near one end a small collar D,
upon which that end of the pirn revolves loosely, and to which is fixed one
end of a helical wire spring E. The other end of the spring E is fixed to a
boss F, which revolves loosely upon the spindle B, but which is squared
externally to fit into a square socket at that end of the pirn C. The boss F
is made with a flange at its outer end, and it abuts against a pulley G fast on
the spindle B, upon the circumference of which pulley a small spring friction
piece H screwed to the shuttle acts. When the tension of the thread is
sufficient to overcome the friction of the piece H, then the pulley and spindle
slip round along with the pirn; but before this takes place the spring E is
wound up to its limit by the unwinding action of the thread, and its reaction
causes the pirn to re-wind up any slack of the thread occurring during the
formation and tightening of the heddle eye knot. Instead of or in combination
with the friction spring H, a helical spring I may be fixed to the pulley G, so
as to act against the metal lining J of the shuttle, and prevent the spindlo
from turning, unless a sufficient tension is put upon the thread. Figure 3 on
Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached is a plan of a slightly modified
arrangement of shuttle, in which the end points A are placed centrally, or in
one longitudinal line, as in common shuttles. In this shuttle the re-winding
agent consists of an ordinary volute watch spring, which is contained in a barrel
B, fast on the spindle C of the pirn D, the pirn itself being looso on the
spindle. One end of the spring is fixed to the outer rim of the barrel B,

page_text: whilst the other end is hooked to a small tubular boss, indicated by dotted lines
at E. This boss E is loose on the spindle C, and is elongated to receive the
end of the piru D, which is fixed upon it by stiff friction or otherwise. At
the back of the barrel B is fixed a small pulley or ring F, upon which a spring
friction piece G acts, and prevents the spindle C from turning until the
spring in the barrel B is wound up to its limit by the unwinding of the thread
from the pirn D. The shuttle works in races or shuttle boxes in a moveable
frame, which is shifted vertically by means of a cam or other suitable move-
ment during the cycle of operations of the machine, so as to bring the shuttle
boxes to the proper levels for passing the shuttle across, as may be required
by the various operations.
In forming a heddle eye with its accompanying knot according to one
modification of the cycle of processes, the shuttle is first passed across the
race, and the thread laid by it is caught by a two-pronged hook, which
holds it during the return of the shuttle. Another two-pronged hook
then comes into. play, and catching the thread, forms it into a loop, and
places this loop upon a spear-headed holding point. The shuttle is then
passed across through the loop, and forms a knot loop ready to be drawn
into a knot. The shuttle boxes are next depressed, and the shuttle is
passed across back again under the mesh stud upon which the eye of the
heddle is formed, and through the "clasp" or lower portion of the heddle.
After this the shuttle boxes rise, and the shuttle is again passed through the
knot loop, which is subsequently released from its holding hooks or points, and
is run down and tightened by other hooks or forks, worked by cams or similar
movements. The shuttle boxes are finally raised to their uppermost position,
and the shuttle is passed over the upper rib cord of the heddle, and so com-
pletes the cycle of its movements according to this modification. This routine
of operations may be varied in many ways, according to the kind of heddle to
be made, and various kinds of knots may be made by suitably modifying the
action of the shuttle and that of the hooks; the knot loop may also be
formed in various ways besides that just described. Thus, for example, a
circular hook or cut ring with a groove round its circumference may be used,
which ring after taking up the thread makes a partial revolution, and so forms
the loop, the shuttle being shot through the ring or hook; or a three-pronged
fork
may be made to effect the same thing, bends being formed in the prongs
so as to spread the thread laterally in order that the shuttle may pass through
the loop; or, again, hooks or holders may be arranged to form a double or
figure & loop, the shuttle being shot through the two loops as laid across the
stud, and through the "clasp," and so completing the entire knot for forming

page_text: the eye of the heddle with a single stroke of the shuttle, another stroke of
the shuttle laying the thread over the upper rib cord, and in a position to be
acted upon by the hooks in readiness for the next knot.
The arrangements for working out my Invention according to this last
mode of operating, which is the best with which I am acquainted, are
represented in Figures 4, 5, and 6 on Sheet 2, and in Figures 7, 8, and 9
on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached. Figure 4 is an elevation
of the heddle-making machinery, as sectioned transversely near the driving
end; and Figure 5 is a side elevation, corresponding. In these Drawings
I have only represented such portions of the machinery as. I shall require
more particularly to refer to in describing the mode of working out the
present Invention, but complete Drawings and a full description of heddle-
making machinery, as constructed without the mechanism for forming the
eye knot comprehended in the present Invention, are included in the Speci-
fication of British Letters Patent granted to me on or about the Fifteenth
day of November, in the year One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
The improvements comprehended in the present Invention are represented
in the Drawings as added to a machine, which in its main framing and
in the other general details is precisely the same as that represented in the
Specification just referred to, and by examining that Specification along with
this present instrument the entire apparatus will be thoroughly understood.
To prevent confusion between the several Drawings in the two Specifica-
tions, I shall, in the Drawings appended to this present Specification, apply
to such parts as are the same as in the previous Specification the same literal
or numeral references as in that Specification; and as in that Specification
the references consist of Roman and Italic letters and numbers as far as the
number 47, or thereabouts, in the present Specification, when referring to
parts not referred to in the previous Specification, I shall indicate such parts
by numeral references, commencing with the number 51.
The movements of the mechanical details, by which the upper portion
of the heddle is thrown and the eye is formed and knotted, are derived from
the horizontal shaft 51, carried in suitable bearings across the lower part of
the framing, and the motion of this shaft is derived from the main shaft C
of the machine. The shaft C has a bevil wheel fast upon it in gear with a
bevil wheel on a short vertical spindle 52, which has a bevil wheel on its lower
end in gear with a bevil wheel 58 on a transverse horizontal spindle, carrying
a pinion in gear with a large spur wheel 54 fast on the shaft 51. This train
of gearing is so proportioned that the shaft 51 makes a revolution in exactly
the same time as the rim wheel Z, so that the several cycles of operations

page_text: may coincide. Close to the spur wheel 54, the shaft 51 has fast upon it a
large cam or scroll wheel 55, by which the shuttle boxes 56 are moved. The
shuttle boxes 56 are combined into a stiff frame with a pair of vertical rods
57, which work in guide eyes 58 in brackets attached to the framing of the
machine. The rods 57, which are bolted to the backs of the shuttle boxes 56,
are tied together above by the cross bar 59, and below by the cross bar 60;
and this cross bar 60 has fixed to it a vertical bar 61, which descends below
the shaft 51, having a slot in it through which the shaft passes, allowing of
the vertical movement of the bar, whilst the shaft acts as a guide to it. This
bar 61 carries a pin 62 with a roller upon it, which lies in the groove of the
scroll wheel 55, and the rotation of the scroll wheel shifts the shuttle boxes up
or down, according to the contour of the scroll groove, as it comes round and
acts on the pin 62 of the bar 61. The shuttle is passed across from one shuttle
box to the other by means of slides 63, which are formed with rows of
horizontal rack teeth, and which are worked by the small spur wheels 64.
These wheels 64 are fitted upon the vertical spindles 65 with grooves and
feathers, so as to accompany the shuttle boxes in their vertical movements
without interfering with the rotatory driving action of the spindles, and they
are carried up and down with the shuttle boxes by collar brackets fixed to the
shuttle boxes or shuttle box frames. The lower ends of the spindles 65 are
supported in footstep bearings in brackets bolted to the lower part of the
framing, and the spindles have fast upon them small pinions 66, in gear with
spur wheels carried loosely on stud centres, and having fast to them pinions 67,
which are driven by circumferentially toothed segmental levers 68. These
levers 68 turn upon centre pins upon the brackets, and are formed with arms
which carry pins 69, lying in the circumferential grooves of the wheels 70 fast
on the shaft 51. These details are partly hidden on the right-hand side of
Figure 4, but they are precisely the same as the corresponding parts on the
left-hand side. The groove on the wheel 70 is formed with a bend or curve
at one part of the circumference, which bend, acting on the pin 69, causes
the lever 68 to make a reciprocatory movement, which is transmitted by the
wheels 67, 66, and 64 to the shuttle slide 63, causing the latter to pass the
shuttle across into the opposite shuttle box. The wheels 70 on the shaft 51
are of course so set that the respective bends in their circumferential grooves
hull act upon the shuttle slides at the precise periods in the cycle of move-
ments when the transmission of the shuttle is required. Immediately below
the shuttle boxes 56 are the claws 71, by which the thread 5, forming the
upper portion of the heddle, and being that carried and worked by the shuttle,
is formed into loops for the passage through of the shuttle to form the eye

page_text: and eye knot of the heddle. The acting ends of these claws are shewn drawn
full size in Figures 7 and 8 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached,
these two Figures showing them in two different positions. The claws are
carried on tubular spindles 72, and they are shifted transversely by means
of rack slides 78, which act upon the spindles by means of a projection
fitting between a pair of collars on each spindle, thus allowing the spindles
to turn whilst being moved longitudinally. The rack slides 78 are actuated
in much the same way as the shuttle slides, namely, by means of spur wheels
74, fitted with grooves and feathers upon the vertical spindle 75, and rising
and falling with the shuttle box frames, collar brackets upon which keep
them constantly in gear with the rack slides 73. As both the claws 71
have to be actuated simultaneously, one of the spindles 75 is driven from
the other by means of the transverse spindle 76 and bevil wheels 77. The
driving spindle 75 on the left-hand side in Figure 4 has fixed on its lower
end a pinion 78, which is actuated by a circumferentially toothed segmental
lever 79. This lever 79 turns on a centre carried by the bracket, and has
another arm furnished with a pin which lies in the circumferential groove
of the wheel 80, and this groove is curved, so as to give the required move-
ments to the claws 71 through the intervention of the lever 79, spindles 75,
wheels 74, and rack slides 78, just described. As the spindles 72 are moved
longitudinally, they are made to turn round to a certain extent by means of
a fixed pin at 81, which projects into a slot or groove in the spindle, this
groove being curved spirally at the part corresponding to the point in the
longitudinal traverse at which the turning action is required, whilst the rest
of the groove is straight, and the pin acting therein keeps the spindle from
turning. The weight of the shuttle box frames and connections is counter-
balanced by means of a weighted lever, jointed to the cross bar 60, and
suspended a link from the framing of the machine, as plainly represented
in Figure 5, so that these parts are moved as easily upwards as downwards
by the scroll wheel 55. In the position of the parts as represented in
Figures 4 and 5, the shuttle, which is supposed to have been just thrown from
left to right (Figure 4) over the upper rib cord K of the heddle, is in the right-
hand shuttle box 56, and the shuttle boxes have descended a short distance
below the rib cord. In descending, the shuttle box has caused a hook 82,
the greater portion of which is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 4, to turn
on its centre and pass its prong down across the inner mouth of the right-
hand shuttle box, so as to catch the thread 5, and bear it down into the position
in which this thread is represented in Figure 4. The details connected with
this hook 82 are represented as drawn to an enlarged scale in Figure 6 on

page_text: Sheet 2 of the Drawings. The hook is carried on the stud pin 83, fixed to
the frame of the shuttle box 56, and has a short arm 84, which, in descending
from the highest position of the shuttle box, comes in contact with an inclined
piece 85, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 4, and carried by a bent over
bracket 86, fixed to the stationary framing of the machine. When this action
has brought down the hook 82, and thereby drawn down the shuttle thread 5, the
claws 71 are thrust forward and enter the loop formed in the thread 5, this loop
being spread laterally by an inclined part of the hook 82. The claws 71 are not
exactly in line with each other, and one passes behind the other a short distance
until their respective claw points 87 get beyond the thread 5 on each side. It is
at this moment that the hook 82 is withdrawn, and as the claws 71 are now in
the way of its return directly upwards, it is first shifted laterally, so as to clear
them. The small boss or centre eye which carries the hook 82 and the short
actuating arm 84 is carried loosely on the stud pin 83, and carries a pin which is'
embraced by the prongs of a forked lever 88. The lever 88 turns on a centre
upon the shuttle box frame, and is linked to a lever 89, which turns on a
centre carried by the stud 83. Another arm 90 of the lever 89 is disposed so
as to be acted upon by a pin on the wheel p, indicated by dotted lines in
Figure 4. The wheel p is in stationary bearings, being a detail of the older
portion of the machine, whilst the other details move up and down with the
shuttle box; they are, however, in the proper position to be acted upon by the
pin on the wheel p when this action is required. This pin, coming in contact
with the lever 90, causes the lever 88 to shift the boss of the hook 82 along
the stud pin 83. A pin in the inside of the boss works in a groove in the stud
pin, and prevents the hook from turning up until the lateral shift is com-
pleted, when the pin in the boss passes up a transverse portion of the groove on
the stud pin, the hook turning up. A helical spring 91, fixed by one end to the
stud pin 83 and by the other to the boss, causes the hook 82 to turn up, and
then makes it slide back laterally into the position in which it is represented
in Figures 4 and 6, the pin in the boss passing along a longitudinal groove on
the stud pin parallel to the one first mentioned, into which it afterwards
descends by a cross groove, when the hook 82 is again depressed. The parts
being in the position represented in Figures 4 and 6, the short arm 84 is int-
mediately under the inclined piece 85; but this latter piece oscillates on a pin,
and in rising, the arm 84 shifts it to one side, being hung, however, so as to fall
back after the passage upwards of the arm; it then assumes a proper position
to cause the turning down of the hook 82, when the arm 84 again descends.
The hook 82 being in this manner withdrawn from the loop of the thread 5,
this thread clips the claws 71, being drawn tight by the spring action upon the

page_text: shuttle pirn, and insures its being caught by the claw points 87. The claws
71 are then withdrawn or sundered a short distance, holding the thread 5
as in Figure 7 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings; the points 87 of one claw being
disposed in one direction, and those of the other in the opposite direction.
Whilst receding from each other, the claws 71 turn on their axes in opposito
directions, as indcated by the arrows, until they are in a horizontal position, us
represented in Figure 8 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings. This turning action is
offected by means of the spiral grooves on the spindles 72 and by the fixed
pins 81, herein-before described. At the same time the shuttle box frames
descend to a level just below the mesh stud X, upon which the eye of the
heddle is formed, and carrying down the claws 71, cause the loops 92, formed
by them, to be laid across the mesh stud X, one being inclined down on each
side of this stud, as represented in Figure 8 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings.
Figure 9 on the same Sheet is a plan, showing the loops 92 as laid across
the mesh stud X.
The shuttle is next passed through the loops 92, as indicated by the arrow
in Figure 8, the thread being represented as shot through in Figure 9, having
passed under the mesh stud X, and through the loop of the "clasp" thread W,
which has been previously passed over the mesh stud. To complete the eye of
the heddle and the eye knot, it simply remains to release the loops 92 and to
run the knot home. The loops are released by the withdrawal of the claw
points 87. These claw points are in each case formed upon the turnod back
extremity of a small plate 93, being passed from the back through a backward
inclined slot in the front end of the claw 71. The plate 93 is hinged to
another plate 94, which slides upon the back of the claw 71, being connected
to it by pins working in slots, and by shifting this plate 94 outwards, it causes
the points 87 to recede within the slot in the end of the claw, thus releasing
the loops 92. This movement of the plate 94 is effected by means of a rod or
wire 95, which is passed up the tubular spindle 72 of the claw. This wire 95
projects beyond the outer end of the tubular spindle 72, and when the spindle
recedes it strikes against a stop 96 upon the part of the shuttle box frame
which carries the slide rack 73. A small spiral spring 97, acting between the
end of the tubular spindle 72 and a collar on the wire 95, shifts the latter, so
as to make the claw points 87 project again after the loops are released. One
of the claws 71, namely, that to the right hand in Figure 4, is made to release
its loop a little before the other one, so as to facilitate the running home of the
knot, the loop so let go in advance being the portion of the thread which is
furthest from the shuttle. The knot is run home with the aid of two finger
pieces, one, 98, rising up from below, and the other, 99, descending from above.

page_text: The extremity of the former, 98, consists of a narrow blade, curved inwards
on its top edge, as best seen in Figure 5, so as to catch the thread. It is
carried by the bar 61, having a short traverse in eyes 100 upon this bar,
this traverse being regulated by a helical spring abutting upon the lower
eye. When the bar 61 rises, it carries up the finger 98 until this comes
into contact with the thread, the resistance of which retards its upward
motion, and causes the compression of the spring below. The finger piece
99 is carried by a slide rack 101, working in vertical guides fixed to the
stationary framing. The rack 101 is actuated by a spur wheel 102, carried
loosely on a stud pin, and being in one piece with a pinion which is acted
upon by a circumferentially toothed segmental lever 103. The lever 103
is fast on a spindle 104, driven by means of bevil wheels from a vertical
spindle 105, on the lower end of which last is a pinion in gear with a spur
wheel 106, loose on a stud pin, and in one piece with a pinion, which is acted
upon by a circumferentially toothed segmental lever 107. The lever 107
turns on a centre upon the bracket, and has another arm, a pin on the end of
which is acted upon by a circumferential groove on the wheel 108. This
wheel 108 is fixed on the shaft 51, and its circumferential groove has a bend
or curve in it at one part, which causes the finger picce 99 to descend and
rise again by means of the intervening gearing just described. The finger
piece 99 is formed with two downward projecting blades or prongs, one of
which is rather shorter than the other, and the ends of both blades are scooped
out, so as to prevent the thread from slipping off them. The single blade of the
lower finger piece 98 rises up between the two prongs of the upper finger
piece 99, and their combined action as they approach each other causes the
knot loops 92 (Figures 8 and 9) to be run home to the mesh stud X, whilst
the slack of the thread is re-wound up by the spring action of the shuttle pirn,
being drawn quite tight by the subsequent strain on the shuttle. At about
this period of the operations the shuttle boxes rise to their highest position,
and the shuttle, which is now in the left-hand box (Figure 4), is passed across
to the right-hand side over the upper rib cord K, after which the shuttle boxes
descend to the position represented in Figures 4 and 5, and the loop-forming
mechanism again comes into play for the next eye of the heddle, in the
manner already described. The various movements herein-before described
may obviously be produced by a variety of mechanical contrivances, but I have
described those which I have so fur found to be the best in practice. The
shuttle may be shot by means of picking levers acting upon picking slides
connected to them in such a way as to permit the up and down movements of
the shuttle boxes.

page_text: The machine as herein-before described is arranged for making the common
kind of heddles, in which the eye knot is formed regularly from the same side.
A very slight modification is required, however, for forming other kinds of
heddles, as, for example, the kind known as "two and two " heddles, in which
the eye knot is formed alternately from each side.
In this case the various cam, scroll, or grooved wheels on the shaft 51 are
modified so as to move the shuttle and other details in the required manner,
the intervening gearing through which these wheels act remaining much the
same as represented in the Drawings. An additional hook, similar to the hook
82, together with its actuating details, requires to be fitted to the other shuttle
box as the knot loops require to be formed; first when the shuttle is in one
box, and then when it is in the other box, and so on alternately. The cycle of
movements which take place in forming the "two and two" heddles are as
follows:-The shuttle being passed over the upper rib cord towards the right-
hand side. for example, it is then passed under the rib cord to the left-hand
shuttle box. The knot loops are formed whilst the shuttle is in the left-hand
shuttle box, and the knot is formed by passing the shuttle from left to right.
The shuttle is next passed over the upper rib cord from right to left, and back
again under the rib cord from left to right, and the second eye knot is formed
from the right-hand shuttle box by passing the shuttle across to the left hand,
this completing the cycle of movements which extends over two eyes or
single heddles.
When the shuttle thread fails, the machine is immediately stopped by an
automatic action. This is effected by means of the lower finger piece 98,
which acts on a small double-armed lever 109 carried by the bar 61. If the
finger piece meets with resistance of the shuttle thread, it compresses the
spring abutting upon the lower guide eye 100, and in doing so turns the lover
109 so as to clear a lever 110 as the bar 61 rises. If, however, the finger
piece 98 does not meet with the resistance of the shuttle thread, from the
failure or improper position of this last, the bar in rising causes the lever 109
to strike the lever 110. This lever 110 is fast on a spindle 111, which
has fast upon it another lever 112 in such a position as to throw the spring-
disengaging lever 113 out of its catch, thereby causing the driving belt to be
shifted to the loose pulley when the lever 110 is acted upon by the lever 109.
A self-acting contrivance is also employed for stopping the machine when
the required length of heddle is manufactured. One modification of this con-
trivance is represented in Figures 10 and 11 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings
as operating in connection with the dial 42, by means of which the splits of
the heddle are indicated by hundreds as they are manufactured. The dial 42

page_text: is made to turn instead of the pointer; or a disc fixed on the spindle 47 will
answer the same purpose. A lever 114 is constantly pressing gently on this dial
or disc 42, and at a point on the disc which comes under the point of the lever
when the heddle is completed, there is a slot into which the latter falls. The
lever 114 is fixed on a short spindle, which has fast on it another short arm
115, of a bent form, against which presses a projection on a rod 116, the
pressure of the latter being obtained from a helical spring 117. When the
point of the lever 114 falls into the slot in the dial or disc 42, the rod 116
escapes past the end of the lever 115, and is forced by the spring 117 against
the spring-disengaging lever 118, causing it to shift the driving belt to the
loose pulley. When a new leaf of heddles is commenced, the rod 116 is
re-adjusted by means of the handle 118.
The present Invention also comprehends certain minor improvements in
the general details of the heddle-making machine. One of such improve-
ments consists in the application to the several threads or cords used in the
manufacture of the heddle, or to any of them, of a tension spring, consisting of
a helical coil of wire, through which the thread or cord is passed, being
twisted or lapped one or more times round the coils. A helical or other spring
is also made to press against the end of the bobbin from which the thread or
cord is unwound; the tension produced by which last spring prevents the
thread from twisting itself into a bitch between the bobbin and the coil tension
spring.
A further improvement, but one which is only of value in machines in which
the eye knot is formed by hand, consists in driving the rim wheel Z, which
carries and works the thread for forming the "clasp" W of the heddle, by
means of an intermediate pinion b, shown in the Drawings attached to my
carlier Specification herein-before referred to, in such a direction as to bring
the bobbin over towards the worker or attendant instead of in the reverse
direction, as originally worked.
Another improvement consists in fitting the rim wheel Z upon V slides
or grooves on the stationary arms a, as described in my earlier Specification
herein-before referred to, such slides being made adjustable, so that they can
be set up when worn. The traversing frame s, carrying the braiding needles u,
is also fitted in adjustable V slides in the stationary framing with a like
object.
Another improvement relates to the depresser y, indicated by dotted lines in
Figure 5 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings hereunto attached, but shewn drawn to
an enlarged scale in Figures 8 and 9 of the Drawings attached to my earlier
Specification herein-before referred to. This depresser serves for depressing

page_text: the turned back point of the needle u into the recess in the needle sbank,
and the present improvement consists in making it adjustable upou its carrying
blado spring by means of a screw or otherwise.
According to another improvement,, which has reference to the marker
movement for working the marking thread into the heddle, the cam wheel 18
hitherto employed is susperseded by a grooved wheel, contrived to change the
marking thread with equal rapidity and certainty in either direction, which is
not effected by the cam wheel arrangement. The number of each machine
is marked on the heddles manufactured by such machine, either by inserting
by hand a bit of coloured thread at a point in the heddle to correspond to the
number, or the machine may itself be contrived to mark its number on the
heddle by effecting a double change of the count-marking thread at a point
in the heddle to correspond to the number, this change not interfering with
the regular action of the count-marking movement.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of the Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore clain as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means to be used in the manufacture of heddles or healds for weaving, as
herein-before described.
Second, the application and use in heddle or heald making machinery of a
shuttle furnished with a spring for re-winding up the slack of the thread, as
herein-before described.
Third, the various herein-before described systems or modes of forming the
eye and eye knot of heddles or healds.
Fourth, the application and use in self-acting heddle or heald making
machinery of stopper movements in connection with the shuttle thread and
count-indicating details for stopping the machine when the shuttle thread
fails, or when a predetermined length of heddle is completed, as herein-before
described.
Fifth, the application and use in heddle or heald making machines of
tension springs, consisting of helical coils of wire, and acting on the threads
used, or on any of them, as herein-Lefore described.
Sixth, the system or mode of driving the rim wheel of partially self-acting

page_text: heddle or heald making machines by means of an intermediate pinion, in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Seventh, the system or mode of fitting the rim wheel and traversing frame
of heddle or heald making machines upon adjustable V slides or grooves, as
herein-before described.
Eighth, the system or mode of rendering adjustable the depressers for
depressing the points of the braiding needles in heddle or heald making
machinery, as herein-before described.
Ninth, the systems or modes of marking on each heddle or heald the
number of the machine employed in its manufacture, as herein-before 1
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Buchanan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Buchanan, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING."-Partly a
communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Buchanan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
May 1855.
I, JAMES BUCHANAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING," being
partly a communication from a foreigner resident abroad, and in part my own
Invention, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to various improvements upon the machine for making
heddles or healds, for which David Anderson and James Berrie obtained
Letters Patent for England on or about the 25th day of March 1835, as well
as to other improvements of a distinct character. In this machine as hitherto
constructed, the thread forming the eye of the heddle is thrown and knotted
by hand, the remainder of the operations required in the formation of the
heddle being performed by the machine; according to the present Invention,
however, the machine is made to perform the whole of the required operations.
The thread which forms the eye and one half of the heddles is carried in a

page_text: shuttle of a peculiar shape, having one of its end points turned, as it were, a
little to one side; & the pirn of the shuttle is formed with an internal spring,
which re-winds up the slack of the thread during the operation of forming the
knot, other springs being also applied to the pirn or its spindle to regulate
the tension of its thread.
'
This shuttle works in races or shuttle boxes in a vertically moveable. frame,
which is shifted by means of a cam or other suitable movement. In forming
a heddle eye with its accompanying knot according to one modification of the
cycle of processes, the shuttle is first thrown across the race, and the thread
laid by it is caught by a two-pronged hook, which holds it during the return
of the shuttle. Another two-pronged hook then comes into play, and catching
the thread, forms it into a loop, and places this loop upon a spear-headed
holding point. The shuttle is then thrown across and passes through the loop,
forming a knot loop ready to be drawn into a knot; the races are next depressed,
of
eye
and the shuttle is thrown back again under the stud, upon which the
the heddle is formed, and through the "clasp" or lower portions of the heddle.
After this the races rise again, and the shuttle is thrown back again through
the knot loop, which is subsequently taken off its holding hooks or points, and
run down and tightened by other hooks or forks, worked by caus or similar
movements. The shuttle is finally thrown over the upper ribcord of the heddle,
and so completes the cycle of its movements. This routine of operations may
be varied in many ways, according to the kind of heddle to be made, and
various kinds of knots may be made by suitably modifying the action of the
shuttle and that of the hooks. The knot loop may be formed in various ways
besides that just referred to. Thus, for example, a circular hook or cut ring
with a groove round its circumference may be used, which ring after taking u
the thread makes a partial revolution and so forms the loop, the shuttle being
shot through the ring or hook; or a three-pronged hook may be made to effec
the same thing, bends being formed in the prongs so as to spread the threa
laterally in order that the shuttle may pass through the loop. The shuttle
shot by means of picking levers, worked by suitable cams, or by an equivaler
movement, the stroke being given to the shuttle by a sliding rod connected
the picking cover or other picking movement, in such a manner as to produ
a uniform or nearly uniform picking action, notwithstanding the rise and f
of the races or shuttle boxes. A weft work stopper stops the machine whe
the shuttle thread fails, and a pin on the indicating gear stops it at the e
of the set. The motions of the loop-forming hooks are produced by camis
similar contrivances, and some of the hooks are made to partially revolve
their spindles in any convenient way; as, for example, by being moved long

page_text: tudinally through sockets containing stationary pins which work in spiral
grooves in the hook spindle and cause it to turn. The mechanism just
described for forming the eye and knotted portion of the heddle is incorporated
in the general arrangement of the heddle-making machine, and it is made to
work in concert with the rest of the working parts, being driven in any conve-
nient manner from any of the moving details thereof. The present Invention"
also comprehends certain minor improvements in the general details of the.
heddle-making machine. One of such improvements consists in the appli-
cation to the several threads or cords used in the manufacture of the heddle;
or to any of them, of a tension spring, consisting of a helical coil of wire.
through which the thread or cord is passed being twisted or lapped one or.
more times round the coils. A helical or other spring is also made to press
against the end of the bobbin from which the thread or cord is unwound, the
tension produced by which last spring prevents the thread from twisting itself.
into a hitch between the bobbin and the coil tension spring. A further
improvement consists in driving the rim wheel which carries and works the
thread for forming the "clasp" of the heddle by means of an intermediate.
pinion in such a direction as to bring the bobbin over towards the worker or
attendant instead of in the reverse direction, as originally worked.
Another improvement consists in fitting the rim wheel, already herein-before
referred to, upon V slides or grooves on the stationary arms, such slides being
made adjustable, so that they can be set up when worn. The traversing frame
carrying the braiding needles is also fitted in adjustable y slides or grooves in
the stationary framing with a like object.
Another improvement consists in making the depresser, for depressing the
turned-back point of the needle into the recess in the needle shank, adjustable
upon its carrying blade spring, by means of a screw or otherwise. In the.
marker movement, for working the marking thread into the heddle, the cam.
wheel hitherto employed is superseded by a grooved wheel, contrived to change
the thread with equal rapidity and certainty in either direction, which is not
effected by the cam wheel arrangement. The number of each machine is
marked on the heddles manufactured by such machine, either by inserting
by hand a bit of colored thread at a point in the heddle to correspond to the
number, or the machine may itself be contrived to mark the number on the
heddle by effecting a double change of the count-marking thread at a point in
the heddle to correspond to the number, this change not interfering with the
regular action of the count-marking movement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Buchanan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BUCHANAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Buchanan, Her special license that I, the said James Buchanan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Buchanan, my executors, administrators, or 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF HEDDLES OR HEALDS FOR WEAVING," being partly a communica-
tion from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Buchanan, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said James Buchanan, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to various improvements upon the machinery
for making heddles or healds, for which David Anderson and James Berrie
obtained Letters Patent for England on or about the Twenty-fifth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, as well as to other
And in order that
improvements of a distinct and different character.
the said Invention may be properly understood, I have hereunto attached
two Sheets of explanatory Drawings, to which I shall herein-after refer in
describing the said improvements. In the heddle-making machine as
hitherto constructed, the thread forming the eye of the heddle is thrown and

page_text: knotted by hand, the remainder of the operations required in the formation of
the heddle being performed by the machine. According to the
present Inven-
tion, however, the machine is made to perform the whole of the required
operations. The thread which forms the eye and one half of the heddle is
carried in a shuttle, the pirn of which has fitted to it a spring to re-wind up
the slack of the thread during the operation of forming the knot, other
springs being also applied to the pirn or to its spindle to regulate the tension
of its thread.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached is a plan, and
Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, of one modification of shuttle con-
structed according to this plan. This shuttle is of a peculiar shape externally,
having one of its end points A turned, as it were, a little to one side, or out
of the direct line; this being for the purpose of insuring its accurate passage
through the knot loop, as formed according to one of the herein-after
described modifications of the knotting process. This configuration of the
shuttle is not required, however, when the knot loop is formed according to
some of the other modes of forming the knot, herein-after described. The
spindle B of the pirn C has fixed upon it near one end a small collar D,
upon which that end of the pirn revolves loosely, and to which is fixed one
end of a helical wire spring E. The other end of the spring E is fixed to a
boss F, which revolves loosely upon the spindle B, but which is squared
externally to fit into a square socket at that end of the pirn C. The boss F
is made with a flange at its outer end, and it abuts against a pulley G fast on
the spindle B, upon the circumference of which pulley a small spring friction
When the tension of the thread is
piece H screwed to the shuttle acts.
sufficient to overcome the friction of the piece H, then the pulley and spindle
slip round along with the pirn; but before this takes place the spring E is
wound up to its limit by the unwinding action of the thread, and its reaction
causes the pirn to re-wind up any slack of the thread occurring during the
formation and tightening of the heddle eye knot. Instead of or in combination
with the friction spring H, a helical spring I may be fixed to the pulley G, so
as to act against the metal lining J of the shuttle, and prevent the spindle
from turning, unless a sufficient tension is put upon the thread. Figure 3 on
Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached is a plan of a slightly modified
5 arrangement of shuttle, in which the end points A are placed centrally, or in
one longitudinal line, as in common shuttles. In this shuttle the re-winding
agent consists of an ordinary volute watch spring, which is contained in a barre
B, fast on the spindle C of the pirn D, the pirn itself being loose on the
spindle. One end of the spring is fixed to the outer rim of the barrel B

page_text: whilst the other end is hooked to a small tubular boss, indicated by dotted lines
at E. This boss E is loose on the spindle C, and is elongated to receive the
end of the piru D, which is fixed upon it by stiff friction or otherwise. At
the back of the barrel B is fixed a small pulley or ring F, upon which a spring
friction piece G acts, and prevents the spindle C from turning until the
spring in the barrel B is wound up to its limit by the unwinding of the thread
from the pirn D. The shuttle works in races or shuttle boxes in a moveable
frame, which is shifted vertically by means of a cam or other suitable move-
ment during the cycle of operations of the machine, so as to bring the shuttle
boxes to the proper levels for passing the shuttle across, as may be required
by the various operations.
In forming a heddle eye with its accompanying knot according to one
modification of the cycle of processes, the shuttle is first passed across the
race, and the thread laid by it is caught by a two-pronged hook, which
holds it during the return of the shuttle. Another two-pronged hook
then comes into play, and catching the thread, forms it into a loop, and
places this loop upon a spear-headed holding point. The shuttle is then
passed across through the loop, and forms a knot loop ready to be drawn
into a knot. The shuttle boxes are next depressed, and the shuttle is
passed across back again under the mesh stud upon which the eye of the
heddle is formed, and through the "clasp" or lower portion of the heddle.
After this the shuttle boxes rise, and the shuttle is again passed through the
knot loop, which is subsequently released from its holding hooks or points, and
is run down and tightened by other hooks or forks, worked by cams or similar
movements. The shuttle boxes are finally raised to their uppermost position,
and the shuttle is passed over the upper rib cord of the heddle, and so com-
pletes the cycle of its movenients according to this modification. This routine
of operations may be varied in many ways, according to the kind of heddle to
be made, and various kinds of knots may be made by suitably modifying the
action of the shuttle and that of the hooks; the knot loop may also be
formed in various ways besides that just described. Thus, for example, a
circular hook or cut ring with a groove round its circumference may be used,
which ring after taking up the thread makes a partial revolution, and so forms
the loop, the shuttle being shot through the ring or hook; or a three-pronged
fork may be made to effect the same thing, bends being formed in the prongs
so as to spread the thread laterally in order that the shuttle may pass through
the loop; or, again, hooks or holders may be arranged to form a double or
figure 8 loop, the shuttle being shot through the two loops as laid across the
stud, and through the "clasp," and so completing the entire knot for forming

page_text: he
eye of the heddle with a single stroke of the shuttle, another stroke of
he shuttle laying the thread over the upper rib cord, and in a position to be
acted upon by the hooks in readiness for the next knot.
Figure 4 is an elevation
The arrangements for working out my Invention according to this last
mode of operating, which is the best with which I am acquainted, are
represented in Figures 4, 5, and 6 on Sheet 2, and in Figures 7, 8, and 9
on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached.
of the heddle-making machinery, as sectioned transversely near the driving
end; and Figure 5 is a side elevation, corresponding. In these Drawings
I have only represented such portions of the machinery as I shall require
more particularly to refer to in describing the mode of working out the
present Invention, but complete Drawings and a full description of heddle-
making machinery, as constructed without the mechanism for forming the
eye knot comprehended in the present Invention, are included in the Speci-
fication of British Letters Patent granted to me on or about the Fifteenth
day of November, in the year One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
The improvements comprehended in the present Invention are represented
in the Drawings as added to a machine, which in its main framing and
in the other general details is precisely the same as that represented in the
Specification just referred to, and by examining that Specification along with
this present instrument the entire apparatus will be thoroughly understood.
To prevent confusion between the several Drawings in the two Specifica-
tions, I shall, in the Drawings appended to this present Specification, apply
to such parts as are the same as in the previous Specification the same literal
or numeral references as in that Specification; and as in that Specification
the references consist of Roman and Italic letters and numbers as far as the
number 47, or thereabouts, in the present Specification, when referring to
parts not referred to in the previous Specification, I shall indicate such parts
by numeral references, commencing with the number 51.
The movements of the mechanical details, by which the upper portion
of the heddle is thrown and the eye is formed and knotted, are derived from
the horizontal shaft 51, carried in suitable bearings across the lower part of
the framing, and the motion of this shaft is derived from the main shaft C
of the machine. The shaft C has a bevil wheel fast upon it in gear with a
5 bevil wheel on a short vertical spindle 52, which has a bevil wheel on its lower
end in with a bevil wheel 58 on a transverse horizontal spindle, carrying
gear
with a large spur wheel 54 fast on the shaft 51. This train
of gearing is so proportioned that the shaft 51 makes a revolution in exactly
the same time as the rim wheel. Z, so that the several cycles of operations
a
pinion in
gear

page_text: may coincide. Close to the spur wheel 54, the shaft 51 has fast upon it a
large cam or scroll wheel 55, by which the shuttle boxes 56 are moved. The
shuttle boxes 56 are combined into a stiff frame with a pair of vertical rods
57, which work in guide eyes 58 in brackets attached to the framing of the
machine. The rods 57, which are bolted to the backs of the shuttle boxes 56,
are tied together above by the cross bar 59, and below by the cross bar 60;
and this cross bar 60 has fixed to it a vertical bar 61, which descends below
the shaft 51, having a slot in it through which the shaft passes, allowing of
the vertical movement of the bar, whilst the shaft acts as a guide to it. This
bar 61 carries a pin 62 with a roller upon it, which lies in the groove of the
scroll wheel 55, and the rotation of the scroll wheel shifts the shuttle boxes up
or down, according to the contour of the scroll groove, as it comes round and
acts on the pin 62 of the bar 61. The shuttle is passed across from one shuttle
box to the other by means of slides 63, which are formed with rows of
horizontal rack teeth, and which are worked by the small spur wheels 64.
These wheels 64 are fitted upon the vertical spindles 65 with grooves and
feathers, so as to accompany the shuttle boxes in their vertical movements
without interfering with the rotatory driving action of the spindles, and they
are carried up and down with the shuttle boxes by collar brackets fixed to the
shuttle boxes or shuttle box frames. The lower ends of the spindles 65 are
supported in footstep bearings in brackets bolted to the lower part of the
framing, and the spindles have fast upon them small pinions 66, in gear with
spur wheels carried loosely on stud centres, and having fast to them pinions 67,
which are driven by circumferentially toothed segmental levers 68. These
levers 68 turn upon centre pins upon the brackets, and are formed with arms
which carry pins 69, lying in the circumferential grooves of the wheels 70 fast
on the shaft 51. These details are partly hidden on the right-hand side of
Figure 4, but they are precisely the same as the corresponding parts on the
left-hand side. The groove on the wheel 70 is formed with a bend or curve
at one part of the circumference, which bend, acting on the pin 69, causes
the lever 68 to make a reciprocatory movement, which is transmitted by the
wheels 67, 66, and 64 to the shuttle slide 63, causing the latter to pass the
shuttle across into the opposite shuttle box. The wheels 70 on the shaft 51
are of course so set that the respective bends in their circumferential grooves
shall act upon the shuttle slides at the precise periods in the cycle of move-
ments when the transmission of the shuttle is required. Immediately below
the shuttle boxes 56 are the claws 71, by which the thread 5, forming the
upper portion of the heddle, and being that carried and worked by the shuttle,
is formed into loops for the passage through of the shuttle to form the eye

page_text: and eye knot of the heddle. The acting ends of these claws are shewn drawn
full size in Figures 7 and 8 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached,
these two Figures showing them in two different positions. The claws are
carried ou tubular spindles 72, and they are shifted transversely by means
of rack slides 78, which act upon the spindles by means of a projection
fitting between a pair of collars on each spindle, thus allowing the spindles
to turn whilst being moved longitudinally. The rack slides 73 are actuated
spur wheels
in much the same way as the shuttle slides, namely, by means of
74, fitted with grooves and feathers upon the vertical spindle 75, and rising
and falling with the shuttle box frames, collar brackets upon which keep
them constantly in gear with the rack slides 78. As both the claws 71
have to be actuated simultaneously, one of the spindles 75 is driven from
the other by means of the transverse spindle 76 and bevil wheels 77. The
driving spindle 75 on the left-hand side in Figure 4 has fixed on its lower
end a pinion 78, which is actuated by a circumferentially toothed segmental
lever 79. This lever 79 turns on a centre carried by the bracket, and has
another arm furnished with a pin which lies in the circumferential groove
of the wheel 80, and this groove is curved, so as to give the required move-
ments to the claws 71 through the intervention of the lever 79, spindles 75,
wheels 74, and rack slides 78, just described. As the spindles 72 are moved
longitudinally, they are made to turn round to a certain extent by means of
a fixed pin at 81, which projects into a slot or groove in the spindle, this
groove being curved spirally at the part corresponding to the point in the
longitudinal traverse at which the turning action is required, whilst the rest
of the groove is straight, and the pin acting therein keeps the spindle from
turning. The weight of the shuttle box frames and connections is counter-
balanced by means of a weighted lever, jointed to the cross bar 60, and
suspended by a link from the framing of the machine, as plainly represented
in Figure 5, so that these parts are moved as easily upwards as downwards
In the position of the parts as represented in
O by the scroll wheel 55.
Figures 4 and 5, the shuttle, which is supposed to have been just thrown from
left to right (Figure 4) over the upper rib cord K of the heddle, is in the right-
hand shuttle box 56, and the shuttle boxes have descended a short distance
below the rib cord. In descending, the shuttle box has caused a hook 82,
5 the greater portion of which is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 4, to turn
on its centre and pass its prong down across the inner mouth of the right
hand shuttle box, so as to catch the thread 5, and bear it down into the position
in which this thread is represented in Figure 4. The details connected with
this hook 82 are represented as drawn to an enlarged scale in Figure 6 or

page_text: Sheet 2 of the Drawings. The hook is carried on the stud pin 83, fixed to
the frame of the shuttle box 56, and has a short arm 84, which, in descending
from the highest position of the shuttle box, comes in contact with an inclined
piece 85, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 4, and carried by a bent over
bracket 86, fixed to the stationary framing of the machine. When this action
has brought down the hook 82, and thereby drawn down the shuttle thread 5, the
claws 71 are thrust forward and enter the loop formed in the thread 5, this loop
being spread laterally by an inclined part of the hook 82. The claws 71 are not
exactly in line with each other, and one passes behind the other a short distance
until their respective claw points 87 get beyond the thread 5 on each side. It is
at this moment that the hook 82 is withdrawn, and as the claws 71 are now in
the way of its return directly upwards, it is first shifted laterally, so as to clear
them. The small boss or centre eye which carries the hook 82 and the short
actuating arm 84 is carried loosely on the stud pin 83, and carries a pin which is
embraced by the prongs of a forked lever 88. The lever 88 turns on a centre
upon the shuttle box frame, and is linked to a lever 89, which turns on a
centre carried by the stud 83. Another arm 90 of the lever 89 is disposed so
as to be acted upon by a pin on the wheel p, indicated by dotted lines in
Figure 4. The wheel p is in stationary bearings, being a detail of the older
portion of the machine, whilst the other details move up and down with the
shuttle box; they are, however, in the proper position to be acted upon by the
pin on the wheel p when this action is required. This pin, coming in contact
with the lever 90, causes the lever 88 to shift the boss of the hook 82 along
the stud pin 88. A pin in the inside of the boss works in a groove in the stud
pin, and prevents the hook from turning up until the lateral shift is com-
pleted, when the pin in the boss passes up a transverse portion of the groove on
the stud pin, the hook turning up. A helical spring 91, fixed by one end to the
stud pin 83 and by the other to the boss, causes the hook 82 to turn up, and
then makes it slide back laterally into the position in which it is represented
in Figures 4 and 6, the pin in the boss passing along a longitudinal groove on
the stud pin parallel to the one first mentioned, into which it afterwards
descends by a cross groove, when the hook 82 is again depressed. The parts
being in the position represented in Figures 4 and 6, the short arm 84 is im-
mediately under the inclined piece 85; but this latter piece oscillates on a pin.
and in rising, the arm 84 shifts it to one side, being hung, however, so as to fall
back after the passage upwards of the arm; it then assumes a proper position
to cause the turning down of the book 82, when the arm 84 again descends.
The hook 82 being in this manner withdrawn from the loop of the thread 5,
this thread clips the claws 71, being drawn tight by the spring action upon the

page_text: huttle pirn, and insures its being caught by the claw points 87. The claws
1 are then withdrawn or sundered a short distance, holding the thread 5
s in Figure 7 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings; the points 87 of one claw being
lisposed in one direction, and those of the other in the opposite direction.
Whilst receding from each other, the claws 71 turn on their axes in' opposito
directions, as indcated by the arrows, until they are in a horizontal position, as
represented in Figure 8 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings. This turning action is
effected by means of the spiral grooves on the spindles 72 and by the fixed
pins 81, herein-before described. At the same time the shuttle box frames
descend to a level just below the mesh stud X, upon which the eye of the
heddle is formed, and carrying down the claws 71, cause the loops 92, formed
by them, to be laid across the mesh stud X, one being inclined down on each
side of this stud, as represented in Figure 8 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings.
Figure 9 on the same Sheet is a plan, showing the loops 92 as laid across
the mesh stud X.
The shuttle is next passed through the loops 92, as indicated by the arrow
in Figure 8, the thread being represented as shot through in Figure 9, having
passed under the mesh stud X, and through the loop of the "clasp" thread W,
which has been previously passed over the mesh stud. To complete the eye of
the heddle and the eye knot, it simply remains to release the loops 92 and to
run the knot home. The loops are released by the withdrawal of the claw
points 87. These claw points are in each case formed upon the turned back
extremity of a small plate 93, being passed from the back through a backward
inclined slot in the front end of the claw 71. The plate 98 is hinged to
another plate 94, which slides upon the back of the claw 71, being connected
to it by pins working in slots, and by shifting this plate 94 outwards, it causes
the points 87 to recede within the slot in the end of the claw, thus releasing
the loops 92. This movement of the plate 94 is effected by means of a rod or
wire 95, which is passed up the tubular spindle 72 of the claw. This wire 95
projects beyond the outer end of the tubular spindle 72, and when the spindle
recedes it strikes against a stop 96 upon the part of the shuttle box frame
which carries the slide rack 73. A small spiral spring 97, acting between the
end of the tubular spindle 72 and a collar on the wire 95, shifts the latter, sc
as to make the claw points 87 project again after the loops are released. One
5 of the claws 71, namely, that to the right hand in Figure 4, is made to release
its loop a little before the other one, so as to facilitate the running home of the
knot, the loop so let go in advance being the portion of the thread which i
furthest from the shuttle. The knot is run home with the aid of two finge
pieces, one, 98, rising up from below, and the other, 99, descending from above

page_text: The extremity of the former, 98, consists of a narrow blade, curved inwards
on its top edge, as best seen in Figure 5, so as to catch the thread. It is
carried by the bar 61, having a short traverse in eyes 100 upon this bar,
this traverse being regulated by a helical spring abutting upon the lower
eye. When the bar 61 rises, it carries up the finger 98 until this comes
into contact with the thread, the resistance of which retards its upward
motion, and causes the compression of the spring below. The finger piece
99 is carried by a slide rack 101, working in vertical guides fixed to the
stationary framing. The rack 101 is actuated by a spur wheel 102, carried
loosely on a stud pin, and being in one piece with a pinion which is acted
upon by a circumferentially toothed segmental lever 103. The lever 108
is fast on a spindle 104, driven by means of bevil wheels from a vertical
spindle 105, on the lower end of which last is a pinion in gear with a spur
wheel 106, loose on a stud pin, and in one piece with a pinion, which is acted
upon by a circumferentially toothed segmental lever 107. The lever 107
turns on a centre upon the bracket, and has another arm, a pin on the end of
which is acted upon by a circumferential groove on the wheel 108. This
wheel 108 is fixed on the shaft 51, and its circumferential groove has a bend
or curve in it at one part, which causes the finger piece 99 to descend and
rise again by means of the intervening gearing just described. The finger
piece 99 is formed with two downward projecting blades or prongs, one of
which is rather shorter than the other, and the ends of both blades are scooped
out, so as to prevent the thread from slipping off them. The single blade of the
lower finger piece 98 rises up between the two prongs of the upper finger
piece 99, and their combined action as they approach cach other causes the
knot loops 92 (Figures 8 and 9) to be run home to the mesh stud X, whilst
the slack of the thread is re-wound up by the spring action of the shuttle pirn,
being drawn quite tight by the subsequent strain on the shuttle. At about
this period of the operations the shuttle boxes rise to their highest position
and the shuttle, which is now in the left-hand box (Figure 4), is passed across
to the right-hand side over the upper rib cord K, after which the shuttle boxes
descend to the position represented in Figures 4 and 5, and the loop-forming
mechanism again comes into play for the next eye of the heddle, in the
manner already described. The various movements herein-before described
may obviously be produced by a variety of mechanical contrivances, but I have
described those which I have so far found to be the best in practice. The
shuttle may be shot by means of picking levers acting upon picking slide
connected to them in such a way as to permit the up and down movements o
the shuttle boxes.

page_text: The machine as herein-before described is arranged for making the common
nd of heddles, in which the eye knot is formed regularly from the same side.
very slight modification is required, however, for forming other kinds of
eddles, as, for example, the kind known as "two and two" heddles, in which
he eye knot is formed alternately from each side.
In this case the various cam, scroll, or grooved wheels on the shaft 51 are
nodified so as to move the shuttle and other details in the required manner,
he intervening gearing through which these wheels act remaining much the
same as represented in the Drawings. An additional hook, similar to the hook
82, together with its actuating details, requires to be fitted to the other shuttle
box as the knot loops require to be formed; first when the shuttle is in one
box, and then when it is in the other box, and so on alternately. The cycle of
movements which take place in forming the "two and two" heddles are as
follows:-The shuttle being passed over the upper rib cord towards the right-
hand side, for example, it is then passed under the rib cord to the left-hand
shuttle box. The knot loops are formed whilst the shuttle is in the left-hand
shuttle box, and the knot is formed by passing the shuttle from left to right.
The shuttle is next passed over the upper rib cord from right to left, and back
again under the rib cord from left to right, and the second eye knot is formed
from the right-hand shuttle box by passing the shuttle across to the left hand,
this completing the cycle of movements which extends over two eyes or
single heddles.
When the shuttle thread fails, the machine is immediately stopped by an
This is effected by means of the lower finger piece 98,
automatic action.
5 which acts on a small double-armed lever 109 carried by the bar 61. If the
finger piece meets with resistance of the shuttle thread, it compresses the
spring abutting upon the lower guide eye 100, and in doing so turns the lever
109 so as to clear a lever 110 as the bar 61 rises. If, however, the finge
piece 98 does not meet with the resistance of the shuttle thread, from th
30 failure or improper position of this last, the bar in rising causes the lever 10
to strike the lever 110. This lever 110 is fast on a spindle 111, whic
has fast upon it another lever 112 in such a position as to throw the spring
disengaging lever 118 out of its catch, thereby causing the driving belt to b
shifted to the loose pulley when the lever 110 is acted upon by the lever 10
85 A self-acting contrivance is also employed for stopping the machine whe
the required length of heddle is manufactured. One modification of this co
trivance is represented in Figures 10 and 11 on Sheet 2 of the Drawin
as operating in connection with the dial 42, by means of which the splits
the heddle are indicated by hundreds as they are manufactured. The dial

page_text: is made to turn instead of the pointer; or a disc fixed on the spindle 47 will
answer the same purpose. A lever 114 is constantly pressing gently on this dial
or disc 42, and at a point on the disc which comes under the point of the lever
when the heddle is completed, there is a slot into which the latter falls. The
lever 114 is fixed on a short spindle, which has fast on it another short arm
115, of a bent form, against which presses a projection on a rod 116, the
pressure of the latter being obtained from a helical spring 117. When the
point of the lever 114 falls into the slot in the dial or disc 42, the rod 116
cscapes past the end of the lever 115, and is forced by the spring 117 against
the spring-disengaging lever 118, causing it to shift the driving belt to the
loose pulley. When a new leaf of heddles is commenced, the rod 116 is
re-adjusted by means of the handle 118.
The present Invention also comprehends certain minor improvements in
the general details of the heddle-making machine. One of such improve-
ments consists in the application to the several threads or cords used in the
manufacture of the heddle, or to any of them, of a tension spring, consisting of
a helical coil of wire, through which the thread or cord is passed, being
twisted or lapped one or more times round the coils. A helical or other spring
is also made to press against the end of the bobbin from which the thread or
cord is unwound; the tension produced by which last spring prevents the
thread from twisting itself into a hitch between the bobbin and the coil tension
spring.
A further improvement, but one which is only of value in machines in which
the eye knot is formed by hand, consists in driving the rim wheel Z, which
carries and works the thread for forming the "clasp" W of the heddle, by
means of an intermediate pinion 6, shown in the Drawings attached to my
carlier Specification herein-before referred to, in such a direction as to bring
the bobbin over towards the worker or attendant instead of in the reverse
direction, as originally worked.
Another improvement consists in fitting the rim wheel Z upon V slides
or grooves on the stationary arms a, as described in my earlier Specification
herein-before referred to, such slides being made adjustable, so that they can
be set up when worn. The traversing frames, carrying the braiding needles u,
is also fitted in adjustable V slides t in the stationary framing with a like
object.
Another improvement relates to the depresser y, indicated by dotted lines in
Figure 5 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings hereunto attached, but shewn drawn to
an enlarged scale in Figures 8 and 9 of the Drawings attached to my earlier
Specification herein-before referred to. This depresser serves for depressing

page_text: the turned back point of the needle u into the recess in the needle shank,
and the present improvement consists in making it adjustable upou its carrying
blado spring by means of a screw or otherwise.
According to another improvement,, which has reference to the marker
movement for working the marking thread into the heddle, the cam wheel 18
hitherto employed is susperseded by a grooved. wheel, contrived to change the
marking thread with equal rapidity and certainty in either direction, which is
not effected by the cam wheel arrangement. The number of each machine
is marked on the heddles manufactured by such machine, either by inserting
by hand a bit of coloured thread at a point in the heddle to correspond to the
number, or the machine may itself be contrived to mark its number on the
heddle by effecting a double change of the count-marking thread at a point
in the heddle to correspond to the number, this change not interfering with
the regular action of the count-marking movement.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the preciso details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of the Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-beforo in part recited Letters Patent, is,—
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means to be used in the manufacture of heddles or healds for weaving, as
herein-before described.
Second, the application and use in heddle or heald making machinery of a
huttle furnished with a spring for re-winding up the slack of the thread, as
erein-before described.
Third, the various herein-before described systems or modes of forming the
ye and eye knot of heddles or healds.
Fourth, the application and use in self-acting heddle or heald making
achinery of stopper movements in connection with the shuttle thread and
ount-indicating details for stopping the machine when the shuttle thread
ils, or when a predetermined length of heddle is completed, as herein-before
scribed.
Fifth, the application and use in heddle or heald making machines of
nsion springs, consisting of helical coils of wire, and acting on the threads
ed, or on any of them, as herein-before described.
Sixth, the system or mode of driving the rim wheel of partially self-acting