IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL REEDS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles de Bergue at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd May
1862.
I, CHARLES DE BERGUE, of Strangeways Works, Manchester, in the County
of Lancashire, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL
REEDS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
The usual method of manufacturing dents for reeds has been to take round
wire coiled on a drum or reel and to wind it off on to another drum or reel,.
and then back again on to the first drum, repeating the operation several
times, and while the wire has been passing from one to the other to subject
it to the operations of planing, gouging, filing, and polishing by the use of
cutters' files, and other tools shaped and presented so as to act on not only
the sides but also on the edges of the flatted wire; and by a machine con-
structed for making up the dents into reeds, the wire so treated as it has been
unwound from off a drum, has been cut into lengths, and these have been
inserted or placed or fed into position between the "ribs," or framing of the
reed and bound or secured thereto by "bands" or binders unwound from off
bobbins carrying fliers or guides for the purpose.. The means employed for
starting and stopping the winding drums have required much skill and care
on the part of an attendant to prevent breaking or undue strain on the wire,
and this operation, as also several of the operations for treating the wire

page_text: and making it up into reeds, are the subject of my improvements, that is
to say :-
ment.
My Invention has reference to regulating the speed (at the starting and stop-
ping) of the winding drums or reels; to the treatment of the wire while passing
from one reel to another, including improvements in the tools or apparatus for
filing, planing, gouging, polishing, or otherwise treating the wire; and to the
construction and working of the bobbins and fliers for carrying the bands or
binders to be used in the "setting" machine and of the driver or "beater
up," to be used in the said machine. In reference to the starting and retard-
ing of the winding drums, I employ a double bevil friction driving clutch so
as to render the proper regulation of the speed much more easy of attain-
In the passage of the wire from one drum to another I give to the
wire a screw-like inclination or spiral twist, which may be to the extent of
half a complete turn so as to bring that which was the upper surface of the
wire to the bottom, and vice versâ, the which twist I effect by passing the
wire against or between a series of guides, and in the passage. I plane, file,
polish, or treat the wire according to the tools or apparatus caused to act
upon it, by which means I present the wire. or its edges to or against the
tools or apparatus instead of specially shaping and specially presenting them
to or against the wire. For planing I use a series of cutters placed either
as heretofore in pairs opposite to each other, or otherwise placed not in pairs,
but each opposite to a firm block or roller or guide, and preferably so that
the several cutters shall operate alternately on the opposite sides or edges,"
that is to say, one tool on one side or edge and the next on the opposite, and
In planing or cutting with gouges I cut the edges from both of the
(opposite) sides with gouges. presented from one side only, thus saving one
half of the usual running or winding motion, or the inclination of the wire,
will afford a more convenient application of gouges in pairs opposite to each
other, or alternately on opposite sides. For filing I use files cut on a flat surface
and applied either in pairs parallel and opposite to each other (the wire,
passing between) or not opposite to each other, but alternately on opposite
sides of the wire as for the cutting process, a roller or support for the wire
being furnished where requisite. In either case the series of files are not to
follow the inclination of the wire as given to it by the guides, but the guage
or distance between the files will vary in different situations between the
winding drums according to the degree of inclination at any particular spot:
To cause the files to bear properly up to press against and accommodate
themselves to their work, I mount them on a somewhat yielding bed, such as
a leather strap stretched tightly over a hollow frame, and for convenience of
so on.

page_text: application I fix dovetailed sockets on the straps and fit the files into the
sockets; and further, I provide adjustments so as to prevent the wear being
always in the same positions on the files, and to accommodate the cut to both
directions of running or winding the wire I mount the files in series on
frames which shall afford the means of bringing the proper series into action
alternately according as the direction of winding may require. I polish
either as heretofore or with composition emery blocks or stones applied in
the same manner as the files for filing as above explained. The "setting"
machine which I use for cutting off the wire into dents and placing them
and binding them to gauge in or with the "ribs" or frames of the reed
differs from an ordinary "setting" machine in the following respects, namely:
I construct and work the bobbins and fliers so as to turn at a speed varying
during the complete turn or rotation, and I construct and work to time a
driver or beater for beating up the dents to gauge so as to take advantage
of the varying speed of the bobbins. Also I construct and cause the fliers to
revolve in opposite directions, and thereby to admit the use of larger bobbins
and obtain a better angle for or more direct line of the "band" or "binder
between the bobbin and its flier.