A MEANS OB METHOD OF. AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR UTILIZING WASTE HEALDS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Johnston (of the Firm of Johnston, Brothers,
Cotton Manufacturers), and William Astley, Manager, both of Black-
_ burn, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "A MEANS
OB METHOD OF. AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR UTILIZING WASTE
HEALDS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 12th June 1866, and dated the 16th December 1865..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Johnston and
William Astley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th December 1865.
We, FRANCIS JOHNSTON (of the Firm of Johnston, Brothers, Cotton Manu--
facturers), and WILLIAM ASTLEY, Manager, both of Blackburn, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
MEANS OR METHOD OF AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR UTILIZING WASTE
HEALDS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:―
The object of this Invention is to utilize and prepare for re-use certain
portions of healds now considered waste. It is well known that the eyes of
heals employed for weaving are exposed to constant friction when in use;

page_text: the eye being worn the whole of the heald is considered waste, as repairing
such healds is found a tedious and expensive process.
Our Invention consists of a means or method of and apparatus for utilizing
and preparing for re-use the sound and undamaged parts of such healds,
namely, the worsted or lower half of the heald, also the "braiding," which
we effect as follows:-A heald considered worn and unserviceable is divided
by cutting the eyes of such heald, thus separating the lower loops or part of
the heald from the upper part; a cylinder or roller is then passed longitudinally
through the loops of such part of the heald, which loops are held securely on
the said roller by means of a hook or pin; the cylinder or roller is supported
on a framework and provided with suitable bearings. The braiding is cut
(at the terminating or finishing end of the knitting of such heald) and the end
passed through the neck of the shaft of the roller (which as well as the shaft
is made hollow for that purpose) and attached to a weighted creel. The
worsted forming the loops and through which is passed the cylinder or
roller is also cut and attached to a bobbin having rotary motion applied
thereto by any suitable means, around which said bobbin the worsted is
wound, the braiding being drawn in a direction at or about right angles to the
worsted by means of the weighted creel, to which it is attached and wound
thereon, thus unravelling or unknitting the whole.
The worsted on its transit from the cylinder or roller above mentioned is
passed under a rod of iron (or a weight may be used) and through a brush or
brushes, the rod serving to keep the worsted at a proper degree of tension for
winding, and also serving to test the said worsted before it is wound on the
bobbin and handed to the operative at the heald knitting machine to be
reknit; the brush or brushes cleanse the said worsted during its passage to the
bobbin. The braiding is wound from the weighted creel to a bobbin ready
for reknitting. It will be seen by the above operation and apparatus we are
enabled to re-use a great portion of valuable material heretofore considered
waste.
We can dispense with the weighted creel and wind the worsted on a bobbin
'as above described, but we prefer the weighted creel (or a revolving bobbin),
as we thus recover the whole of the braiding as well as the worsted..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
•
by the said Francis Johnston and William Astley in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th June 1866.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FRANCIS
JOHNSTON (of the Firm of Johnston, Brothers), Cotton Manufacturer," and
WILLIAM ASTLEY, Manager, both of' Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
r
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Francis Johnston and William Astley, Her special licence that we, the
said Francis Johnston and William Astley, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Francis Johnston and William Astley;
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with;
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A MEANS OR METHOD
OF AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR UTILIZING WASTE HEALDS FOR WEAVING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Francis Johnston and
William Astley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner. the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Francis Johnston and William Astley,
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 in writing and on reference to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings (that is to say) :-
"
The object of this Invention is to utilize and prepare for re-use certain
portions of healds now considered waste. It is well known that the " eyes
of healds employed for weaving are exposed to constant friction when in
the eye being worn the whole of the heald is considered waste, as
repairing such healds is found a tedious and expensive process.
use;

page_text: .
.
Our Invention consists of a means or method of and apparatus for utilizing
and preparing for re-use the sound and undamaged parts of such healds,
namely, the "worsted" or lower half of the heald, also the "braiding,"
which we effect as follows:-A heald considered worn and unserviceable is
divided by cutting the eyes of such heald, thus separating the lower loops
or part of the heald from the upper part; a cylinder or roller is then passed
longitudinally through the loops of such part of the heald, which loops are
held securely on the said roller by means of a hook or pin; the cylinder or
roller is supported on framework and provided with suitable bearings. The
braiding is cut (at the terminating or finishing end of the knitting of such
heald) and the end passed through the neck of the shaft of the roller (which
as well as the shaft is made hollow for that purpose) and attached to a
weighted creel. The worsted forming the loops and through which is passed
the cylinder or roller is also cut and attached to a bobbin having rotary
motion applied thereto by any suitable means, around which said bobbin
the worsted is wound, the braiding being drawn in a direction at or about
right angles to the worsted by means of the weighted creel, to which it is
: attached and wound thereon, thus unravelling or unknitting the whole.
The worsted on its transit from the cylinder or roller above mentioned: is
passed under a rod of iron (or a weight may be used), and through a brush
or brushes, the rod serving to keep the worsted at a proper degree of tension
for winding, and also serving to test the said worsted before it is wound on
the bobbin and handed to the operative at the heald knitting machine to be
reknit ; the brush or brushes cleanse the said worsted, during its passage to
the bobbin. The braiding is wound from the weighted creel to a bobbin ready
for reknitting. It will be seen by the above operation and apparatus we are
⚫ enabled to re-use a great portion of valuable material heretofore considered
waste.
We can dispense with the weighted creel and wind the worsted on a bobbin
as above described, but we prefer the weighted creel (or a revolving bobbin),
as we thus recover the whole of the braiding as well as the worsted.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention, we will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or
may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that the same
may be distinctly understood we have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings
illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with letters of reference
.corresponding with those in the following explanation thereof, similar letters
of reference being placed upon corresponding parts of the apparatus in the
various Figures..

page_text: Fig. 1 shows elevation of a machine constructed for the purpose above
described; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is an elevation
of the end opposite to view shewn at Fig. 1; Figs. 4 and 5 shew part of
a hollow cylinder or roller on which the heald is received previous to being
unknit; and at Fig. 6 is shewn part of a heald before the eyes are cut.
At A is shewn part of a heald; A¹ is the "worsted" or lower part or
loops; and A³ the "braiding." The heald is divided by cutting through the
eyes on the dotted line a, b, the sound and undamaged part of the heald,
namely, the lower half, marked A', and braiding A are put on the cylinder
or roller B (which cylinder or roller is supported by the brackets b', b', and
is constructed of a number of wires and expanded by a spiral spring a³, só
as to be capable of self-adjust:nent to healds of various sizes (see Figs. 4
and 5), the braiding is cut at the terminating or finishing end of the knitting
at C, and the end of the, material composing the braiding passed through
the hollow neck of the shaft c, and attached to the weighted creel or bobbin
D, the end of the worsted A' on the roller B is also cut and attached to the
bobbin E, which bobbin has rotary motion imparted thereto by means of
the spindle d, pulley d, cord d³, and drum d³, actuated by the strap and
driving pulleys F, fixed on the drum shaft F¹. As the worsted is wound
on the bobbin E it is equally distributed over the surface of such bobbin by
the "traverse or raising and falling of the rail G. Motion is imparted to
the said rail by means of the eccentrics G', G¹, fixed on the shafts H, H,
which shafts are driven by the "worms" J, J, on the shaft F1 and worm
wheels K, K; as the eccentrics revolve the upright rods L, L, to which the
rail G is attached, are raised and lowered in their bearings M, M, M, M,
thus distributing the worsted evenly on the bobbin E. At N is shewn a brush
through which the worsted is caused to pass so as to cleanse said worsted
before it is wound on the bobbin; at P is shewn a rod of iron resting on
the said worsted as a test that such worsted is sound, and in order to obtain
the necessary tension. The braiding is wound on the creel or bobbin D on
the spindle R, rotary motion being obtained from the shaft H by the pulleys
S, S, and cord S¹; the spindle R is shewn supported and working in
bearings T, T; V' is a weight and hook hung on the braiding, so as to obtain
necessary tension or "drag" for winding such braiding on tothe creel or
bobbin D (see enlarged view); W and W are the side frames and crcss
rails, and at X is shewn a box for bobbins. We have shewn the machine
constructed so as to unravel and wind at. the back as well as at the front,
so that two healds may be operated upon at one and the same time when
required, and also a "spare" spindle at front and back, so that the stoppage

page_text: of the machine from the breaking of cord d³ or other trivial causo would not
be necessary.
Having thus fully described the nature and object of our said Invention
for "A Means or Method of and Apparatus to be employed for Utilizing
Waste Healds for Weaving," together with the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, we would remark
in conclusion that "we claim as our Invention the utilizing of the lower
half and the braiding of waste healds by cutting, separating, and unravelling
the same substantially as above described.
And, secondly, we claim the apparatus shewn in the Drawings and herein-
before described, or any mere modification or imitation thereof.
In witness whereof, we, the said Francis Johnston and William Astley,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
JOSEPII BRIERLEY,
Civil Engineer,
Blackburn.
(L.B.)
WILLIAM ASTLEY.
(L.S.)