IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS, AND IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF PREPARING WEFT THAT WIEL ENABLE THE PLAIN LOOM TO WEAVE "CHECKS" OR STRIPE GOODS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hill and Sampson Shelley, both of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS, AND IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF PREPARING WEFT THAT WIEL
ENABLE THE PLAIN LOOM TO WEAVE "CHECKS" OR STRIPE GOODS."
Sealed the 17th April 1868, and dated the 18th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hill and Sampson
Shelley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 18th October 1867.
We, JOHN HILL and SAMPSON SHELLEY, both of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN LOOMS, AND IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF PREPARING WEFT THAT WILL
ENABLE THE PLAIN LOOM TO WEAVE "CHECKS" OR STRIPE GooDs," to be as
follows:-
Our improvements are designed for the purpose of preparing weft pre-
viously to its being formed into "shuttle or pin cops" in such a manner that
when such weft is being manufactured into cloth it will enable the plain
loom to weave or produce checks or stripe goods in contradistinction to
weaving such goods in shuttle looms as now employed, and the Invention
[Price 8d.1

page_text: consists, first, in a novel arrangement of moveable guides through which the
yarn is delivered from the bobbin on to a reel in such manner that during
the time the "reel" is revolving it shall be caused to receive the yarn in
the manner and for the purpose following, that is to say:-The eyes or guides
through which the yarn passes from the delivery bobbin on to the "reel"
are fixed or secured to a rail running parallel with the longitudinal axis of
the "reel;" this rail is supported in the groove of a second or under rail, and
in which the top rail supporting the guides or eyes can freely slide. The
yarn when passing from the delivery rollers on to the "reels" receives a
slight lateral motion, which is transmitted thereto by means of a crank,
eccentric, or other equivalent actuating the under rail by which the top rail
is carried; this regular to-and-fro motion of the eyes or guides lays the yarn
evenly upon the "reel" so as to form a hank, but in order that the hank of
one continuous thread may be divided in several equal parts corresponding in
length to a given number of "picks" the top rails supporting the guides
and resting in the groove of the under rail receive an independent throw or
movement at a given time by the following arrangement of mechanism:-An
endless chain receiving a positive motion from gearing on the end of the
frame is supplied with a number of incliued projections or tappets, which
when the chain is slowly traversing are caused at regular or varied intervals
of time according to the disposition of the tappets on the chain to come into
contact with a bowl on a lever so as to depress the same, the action of which
transmits through the medium of a bell-crank lever a sudden throw or move-
ment to the top rail supporting the guides, the effect of which is to place the
eyes or guides for the yarn in a position that will immediately cause the
commencement of another hank on the reel a short distance from the one
already finished, the two when completed being formed of one continuous
thread, so that by this means the same eye or guide is enabled to subdivide a
continuous length of thread into two or more divisions. The hanks when
thus divided are taken off the "reel" and arranged in sets, and so divided
that a portion of each hank can be readily prepared to receive color, for
example, the portion of hank containing a given number of picks to be
colored is placed in a receptacle away from the reminder of the hank to
which they belong, being connected therewith by means of the running weft
or thread forming the hank; the separate portion of hanks are then
"mordanted" and dyed in the ordinary manner, after which when dry are
mingled with the remaining portion of hank to which they belong. These
variegated hanks are afterwards formed into cops, which when being wove
into cloth produce a "check" or striped pattern; by this means a plain

page_text: loom will be enabled to produce a check or stripe with one shuttle in contra-
distinction to such pattern being produced in a shuttle loom by the employ-
ment of two or more shuttles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hill and Sampson Shelley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
HILL and SAMPSON SHELLEY, both of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dute the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Hill and Sampson Shelley, Her special license that we, the
said John Hill and Sampson Shelley, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Hill and Sampson Shelley,
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 terin
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 LOOMS, AND
IN THE METHOD OR PROCESS OF PREPARING WEFT THAT WILL ENABLE THE PLAIN
LOOM TO WEAVE CHECKS OR STRIPE COCDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Hill and Sampson Shelley, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their hands and seals, 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 we, the said John Hill and Sampson Shelley,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The nature of our Invention consists in an improved method or process of
preparing weft so that when wound on pirns or pin bobbins, and woven with

page_text: a suitable warp or a plain warp, checks or striped goods cr fabrics can be
produced in an ordinary single shuttleloom, whereas in producing such fabrics
it has heretofore been requisite to employ looms having shuttle boxes with
two or more compartments.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings representing a convenient arrangement of machinery for producing
the desired result, but we wish it to be understood that the machinery may
be considerably modified.
Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the reel or winding machine on which the
yarn to form the weft of the fabric is wound, and by which it is separated into
portions of equal or unequal lengths, according to the number of picks in the
breadth of the checks or stripes to be produced; Figure 2 is a back elevation
of the reel; Fig. 3 is a plan, and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are
detached parts of the same. a, a, are cops or bobbins of weft yarn which
are spun in the ordinary manner and placed on skewers or in a creel, which
are supported in suitable footsteps and eyes as in ordinary winding
machines, the yarn from each of the cops a is taken through the guide hook b
over-the glass rod b¹ and then around the rods b²; each yarn then passes over
a longitudinal wire e forming part of the self-acting stop motion by which the
action of the machine is arrested when an end breaks; this stop motion
consists of the tumbler levers c¹, each of which is held up by one of the weft
threads. The tumbler levers c¹ shewn detached in Figs. 4 and 5 are jointed
to brackets fixed on a rail extending the whole length of the machine, and
to each tumbler lever is attached a bent wire under which the yarn or weft
thread passes.
After the thread has passed under the said bent wire it is
carried over the longitudinal wire c³; both the wires c and c³ are kept in a
state of tension by tightening nuts, as shewn in Fig. 3. When a tumbler
lever ceases to be held up by the yarn it drops into a vertical position as
shewn by dots in Fig. 4, and comes in a line with the projections d on the
rail d', which is constantly traversed to and fro by the grooved cam on the
driving shaft; this cam acts on the lever l, which is connected to the rail d'
by a stud, and to the other parts of the stop motion as will be described
hereafter. When the yarn has passed the wire c³ it is taken through a wire
guide projecting from the rail e which fits in a groove in the railf; the guides
in the rail e deliver the yarn to the reel g, on to which the yarn from each cop
is wound in two portions, as shewn in Fig. 3. The peculiar construction of
the reel is shewn best in Figs. 6 and 7. To each end and at suitable inter-
mediate parts of the bars of the reel are fixed the screws g³ passing through

page_text: bevel pinions gª forming nuts; the screws also pass through holes in the
plates g5 which are keyed to the axle of the reel, and the pinions g gear into
the wheels go which are loose on the axle of the reel; by this arrangement the
bars of the reel can be simultaneously expanded or contracted, so as to be
able to vary the circumference of the reel according to the width of the fabric
to be woven, The mechanism for expanding the reel can be varied. The
rail e is traversed to and fro in the rail by means of the tappet chain / which
passes over a drum fixed to the boss of the wheel h, to which a slow rotary
motion is given by the pinion g¹ on the axle of the reel g gearing into the
wheel h' which revolves on a stud fixed to the end frame. Each link of the
tappet chair corresponds to one or more revolutions of the reel, which can be
varied by changing the wheel and pinion. The links of the chain / act on
the bowl of the lever i, the extremity of which fits in a horizontal slot in the
slide it, see Fig. 8, and this slide fits in the frame f¹ fixed to the rail fin the
slide. is a pin which gives motion when required to the elbow lever i³, the
upright arm of which is connected to the rail.e. The links in the tappet
chain are arranged to traverse the rail e as often as may be required, thereby
dividing the hanks to produce checks or stripes of any number of picks. The
lower rail f(and with it the rail e) is also traversed to and fro for distributing
the yarn evenly on the reel, and this second traversing motion is obtained
from the rail & of the stop motion which gives a vibrating motion to the
lever f connected to the rail f, as shewn in Figure 3. The reel is turned
round by means of a strap passing round the driving pulley ;, which is loose
on the driving shaft j, but connected to it when required by the clutch box,
which is moved to and fro by the forked levers fixed to the shaft k¹
connected to the stop motion; the clutch box slides on a key in the shaft,'
and takes into the teeth of a similar clutch on the pulley j. To the end of the
shaft j is fixed the spur wheel gearing into the wheel g² fixed on the
axle of the reel g; to the axle of the reel is also fixed the break pulley g³
around which passes the clip m, one end of which is connected to the framing
at m', and the other end is jointed to the starting lever n; this lever when the
reel is at work is held up to release the break by the vertical stud o, as shewn
best in Figure 9, and this stud is fixed in the bent lever of suspended to the
stud of fixed in a bracket bolted to the end frame. The lever k² fixed to the
shaft above referred to for moving the sliding clutch box passes over the
starting levern and the end of its horizontal arm is acted upon by the spring /³.
The mode of operation is as follows, and the Drawing represents the various
parts of the machine in the positions they occupy when the yarns are being
uninterruptedy drawn off the cops a and wound on the reel g, the circum-

page_text: ference of which has previously been adjusted according to the width of the
fabric to be woven.-The starting levern is resting on the studo,and the forked
lever is holding the clutch box 12 in contact with the clutches on the driving
pulley j; the tumbler levers c' are all held up by the yarns, and the projections
d on the rail d¹ traverse to and fro without coming in contact with the
tumbler levers, the bowl of the lever is resting on one of the lower links of
the tappet chain h, and the yarn is being wound on the left-hand portion of
the hank, as shewn in Figure 3. As soon as one of the higher links is brought
forward the lever i is raised, and the rail e is traversed rapidly so as to guide
the yarn on to the right-hand portion of the hank where the yarn continues to
be wound until another low link is brought forward; the yarns in passing from
one portion of the hank to the other cross each other, and before the hanks
are removed from the reel the intersecting yarns are tied together so as to
separate the hank into two portions united together by the intersecting
parts. As soon as an end breaks the tumbler lever c¹ that had been held
up by it drops, as shewn in dots in Figure 4, and the projection d on the rail
d¹ comes in contact therewith and pushes the rail co to move the lever o¹ either
in one direction or the other (according to the direction in which the rail c
was moving when it came in contact with the tumbler lever), and causing the
stud o to slip from under the starting lever n, which instantly drops and allows
the spring 3 to pull down the lever 2, by which means the cluch box j³ is
drawn out of gear with the pulley, which is instantly stopped by the application
of the break m. When the broken end has been pieced up and the starting
lever n has been raised again the clutch box ja is put in gear, and the stud o
slips under the starting lever n to hold it up until again liberated by the action
of the stop motion or by the attendant.
The machine above described is arranged to divide the hank into two
portions, but by making the pattern chain with more than two heights of
links the rail e may be traversed so as to divide the hanks into more than
two portions, each of which can be dyed of a different color. When all the
hanks have been removed froin the reci they are opened out, as shewn in
Fig. 10, and arranged in sets, and the portious thereof that require to be dyed
are subjected to any convenient dyeing and mordanting process, after whichthe
binding threads by which the interlacing yarns had been united are cut asunder,
and the entire hauks now consisting ofalternatelengthsofcoloredanduncolored
yarn or yarn of different colors are wound on to pin bobbins by a pin winding
frame of the usual construction. In Figure 11 we have shewn a full sized
section of a full cop, with party colored yarn suitable for weaving a plain
check. These pin cops are then placed in the shuttle of an ordinary calico

page_text: loom which is provided with a striped warp, and in weaving the partycolored
weft will produce the alternate rows of colored and uncolored weft to produce
a check, or if a plain warp is in the loom the partycolored weft will produce
a striped fabric.
By means of the improvements above described great economy in the
manufacture of checks and striped fabrics is effected, as the drop shuttle box
and the mechanism for working it are dispensed with, and the loom can be
worked at a much greater velocity than usual, thereby reducing the cost and
increasing the production.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described a convenient
arrangement of machinery for carrying the same into operation, we declare
that we claim,
First. The method or process described of preparing weft whereby checks
and striped fabrics can be woven in an ordinary single shuttle loom.
Secondly. The machinery described or any modification or arrangement of
machinery for winding or reeling yarn and dividing each hank into two or
more portions.
Thirdly. Dyeing or printing the different portions of the hank so divided of
different colors, or dyeing or printing one or more portions and leaving other
portions without color, so that the yarn is partycolored in alternate lengths.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Hill and Sampson Shelley,
have hereto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN HILL.
(L.B.)
SAMPSON SHELLEY. (L.S.)