Certain IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonas Marland, of Sun Vale Iron Works, Walsden,
in the County of Lancaster, and Samuel Marland, also of Sun Vale
Iron Works, Walsden, in the County of Lancaster, Machinists, for the
Invention of "Certain IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS."
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS."
Sealed the 19th April 1859, and dated the 21st October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonas Marland and
Samuel Marland at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st October 1858.
We, JONAS MARLAND, of Sun Vale Iron Works, Walsden, in the County of
Lancaster, and SAMUEL MARLAND, also of Sun Vale Iron Works, Walsden, in
the County of Lancaster, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists, first, in an improvement in the mode of producing
and regulating the tension on the warp. This we effect by varying the
shedding motion and combining it with the letting-off motion in the following
manner-Instead of a vibrating rail sliding on studs, as in our Specification,
No. 2741, 1855, we fix the vibrating rail on a shaft or axis, turning in
bearings attached to the framework of the loom; at the end of this shaft is
fixed a lever which rests upon a spring, which thus produces the requisite
tension on the warp. From this lever, at a point nearer to the centre, is
attached the swagger rope or chain which passes round a pulley connected to
the warp beam, and the other end attached to a fixing on the loom side or a

page_text: spring, as may be required. By this arrangement when the warp becomes too
tight, the swagger rope or chain is slackened and more warp is let off, and
when the warp becomes too slack the swagger rope or chain is tightened, and
less warp is allowed to uncoil from the warp beam.
Second, in an improvement in the taking-up notion of looms in which the
cloth is coiled upon a roller as it is woven by what is called a positive taking-
up motion. To retain the cloth roller we employ a catch, which retains a
a clutch or friction wheel, and which catch and also the impelling catch is in
connexion with the letting back rod of the weft motion. In case the weft
breaks or the loom stops, these catches are thus rendered inoperative, and the
cloth would subject to be uncoiled from the cloth beam if the cloth beam were
not retained by another catch and catch wheel, which only allows it to return
a certain distance. The effect of this is that the loom ceases to take up the
cloth the moment the weft breaks, or the driving strap is thrown on to the
loose pulley, the warp ceases to be drawn forward, and consequently the
operative has not to recoil the warp again on to the warp beam in order to
prevent a thin place in the cloth.
A third improvement consists in applying a clutch box held in geer by a
spring or springs, for the purpose of connecting the friction pulley with the
warp beam, so that the warp may be tightened at any time when required
without disturbing the position of the swagger rope or chain. Or instead of
using a clutch box we apply a catch wheel, and catch or catches for the same
purpose.
A fourth improvement consists in a new mode of releasing the shuttle from
the grip of the retaining apparatus at the moment the picker is required to
operate on it. This we effect by fixing a finger on the stop rod, at the end of
which is an inclined plane or curve, which coming in contact with a catch
retained in one direction by a stop, vibrates the stop rod and releases the
retaining apparatus or swell from the pressure of the spring, and thus liberates
the shuttle at the moment the shuttle is required to be impelled through the
sheed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jonas Marland and Samuel Marland in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st April 1859.
ΜΑ WHOM
COME

page_text: and SAMUEL MARLAND, also of Sun Vale Iron Works, Walsden, in the County
of Lancaster, Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Jonas Marland and Samuel Marland, Her special licence
that we, the said Jonas Marland and Samuel Marland, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Jonas Marland
and Samuel Marland, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Jonas Marland and Samuel Marland, our executo:s or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or their, or one of our or their hands
and scals, 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 Jonas Marland and Samuel Marland,
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, and the accompanying Drawing, (that is to
say):-
Our improvements in power looms consist, first, in a certain variation or
variations in the letting-off motion; second, in a variation or variations in the
taking-up motion; third, in the application of a clutch box or ratchet motion
to the warp beam, in order to facilitate the tightening of the warp when
required; and, fourth, in the application of an improved easing motion to
relieve the shuttle from the pressure of the swell at the moment it is being
thrown through the sheed.
In order to make our Invention more easily understood we have hereunto
annexed a Sheet of Drawings to which the following description refers, in
which the same letters and figures of reference, or letters and figures con-
joined, indicate the same parts. It will be observed that those parts of the
loom which do not relate to our Invention are left out in order to avoid
confusion. Also for further information relating generally to the subject of

page_text: our present Invention, we refer to the Specification of our previous Invention
of Sixth December One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, Number 2741,
on which our present Invention is intended for the most part to constitute a
further improvement.
Our first improvement refers to the letting off of the yarn from the warp
beam, and will be understood from Figs. 1, 2, and 4. A, A, end framings of
the loom by which the moving parts are supported; B, B, vibrating or
oscillating rail constituting also what is generally called a shedding motion.
The peculiar form and construction of this rail will be understood from the
Drawing, from which it will be seen that the pressure of the warp upon it is
at all times very nearly the same, notwithstanding the variation of the
diameter of the warp beam. B 1, B 1, two centres or axes by which it turns
on bearings attached to the framework; B 2, B 2, a lever or arm fixed on
one of the axes B 1, B 1, outside the framework; B 3, a worm spring resting
on a bracket attached to the frame end, and by which the lever or arm B 2,
B2, is supported; B 4, a short arm or lever fixed on one of the axes B 1, B1,
inside the frame end, to which is attached the swagger rope or chain C 2
(by the intervention of the adjustable bracket B 5, or otherwise), which passes
round the friction pulley C 1, and thence to a filbow or adjusting screw C 3,
to which the other end is attached; C, C, the warp beam from which the
warp proceeds over the vibrating rail B, B, to the healds in the usual manner.
The tension of the worm spring B 8 and swagger rope or chain C 2 being
adjusted, the action is as follows:-When the warp in the process of weaving
becomes tight it acts on the vibrating rail B, and depresses the lever or arm
B 2, B2, and consequently compresses the spring B 8. By the same action
the short arm B 4 becomes also depressed, and the swagger rope or chain C 2.
slackened, which reduces the friction on the friction pulley C¹, and con-
sequently the necessary tension on the warp is attained as it uncoils from the
warp beam in the process of weaving. Instead of the worm spring B³, we
occasionally make use of a flat spring B, as shewn in Fig. 4, which also
acts in the same way by compression. But we do not confine ourselves
absolutely to this mode if supposing the vibrating rail, as we occasionally use
a weight or a spring acting by tension for the same purpose in conjunction
with the short arm B 4 and swagger rope or chain C 2, in order to produce
the necessary tension on the warp.
It is obvious that the arm or lever B' may be placed inside the frame end
and the short arm B 4 dispensed with, the swagger rope or chain being
attached to the arm or lever B 2 by the intervention of the adjustable
bracket B 5 or otherwise. The position and form of the several parts may

page_text: also be varied without departing from the essential features of this part of our
Invention.
Our second improvement relates to the taking-up motion, and will be
understood from Figs. 5 and 10. To retain the cloth roller during the
operation of weaving, we employ a catch which retains a clutch or friction
wheel, and which, as also the impelling catch, is in connection with the letting
back rod of the weft motion. D, cloth roller, which is connected by means of
a train of wheels and pinions D', D', &c. to the clutch or friction wheel D²,
which is provided with a groove, in which plays the impelling clutch or
catch D³, and also the retaining catch or clutch D 4; D 5, rod connecting
these catches or clutches with the letting-back rod of the weft motion D 6
In case the weft breaks or the loom stops, these catches are thus rendered
inoperative, and the cloth would be subject to be uncoiled from the cloth beam,
if the cloth beam were not retained by another catch D 7, and catch wheel D 8.
The catch D 7 vibrates on a stud fixed on a bracket affixed to the frame end,
but the hole through the catch in which the stud plays is elongated, so as to
allow the catch wheel to return the space of one tooth, and consequently the
cloth beam to return a certain distance sufficient to obviate thin places in the
cloth in case the loom stops from the breaking of the weft or any other
cause.
Our third improvement consists in applying a clutch box, held in geer by a
spring or springs, for the purpose of connecting the friction pulley with the
warp beam. See Figs. 2 and 7. C, the warp beam, as before; C1, friction
pulley, the pivot of which turns in a bearing on the frame end; this pivot is
made sufliciently large to have a hole in it to receive the pivot of the warp
beam. C3, clutch box, one part of which attached to the warp beam C, and
the other part to the friction pulley C 1; the friction pulley can thus be
attached to the warp beam or detached from it at pleasure. When the loom
is at work, the clutch box is held in geer by a string C 4, at the opposite end
of the beam. When the warp is required to be tightened, the operative
presses the warp beam against the spring, and by that means disengages the
clutch box, and then turns the warp beam until the warp becomes of the
required tension, when he allows the spring to react, and the clutch box is
re-engaged, and the warp beam connected to the friction pulley, as before.
Another mode of obtaining the same end is shown in Figs. 2 and 4. C5,
a ratchet wheel, fixed on the axis of the warp beam C; C6, a catch, turning
on a stud in the interior of the friction pulley C 1; this catch C 1 is held in
contact with the ratchet wheel C 5 by means of a spring. If the operative
wishes to slacken the warp, he has only to raise the catch out of the teeth of

page_text: the ratchet wheel, and the warp naturally slackens itself by turning the warp
beam; but if he wishes to tighten the warp, he has only to turn the warp
beam in the proper direction till it is sufficiently tight, and the catch taking
into the teeth of the ratchet wheel, retains the beam in that position.
The fourth part of our Invention consists in the application of an improved
easing motion to relieve the shuttle from the pressure of the swell at the
moment it is being thrown through the sheed. See Figs. 3, 4, 8, and 9.
E, stop rod, projecting from which is the horizontal finger E 1, ou which is the
swell E 2; E 3, adjustable bracket, fixed to the frame side which carries the
adjustable standard E 4, at the upper end of which is a double joint, in which
plays the tumbling catch E 5, the lower part of which is rounded or inclined,
as shewn in the Figure. This tumbling catch has liberty to vibrate betwixt
two stops, one of which retains it in a vertical position when hanging loose,
and the other prevents it vibrating to far forward. The tumbling catch is so
adjusted, that when the loom is at work it slightly touches the swell E 2 on
the finger E 1 of the stop rod, which it depresses, and so withdraws the
pressure of the stop-rod springs from the swells in the shuttle box, and so
relieves the shuttle from the pressure just at the moment it is being thrown
through the sheed. On the finger E 1 is fixed the adjustable finger E 6,
which presses on the swell in the shuttle box in the usual manner. But these
two fingers may be separately attached to the stop rod. We do not, however,
confine ourselves precisely to the construction here shown, as we occasionally
vary the position of the finger E 1 and the tumbling catch E 5 to suit the
particular construction of the loom.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we hereby declare that what we claim as
new and of our Invention is as follows:-
Under the head of our first improvement we claim, first, the form, con-
struction, and application of the vibrating rail B, B, as shown in Figs. 1, 2,
and 4, and herein described.
Second, we claim the attachment and combination of the swagger rope or
chain C 2, with the lever or arm B4, or lever or arm B 2, by the intervention
of the adjustable bracket B5 or otherwise, as shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, and
herein described.
Third, we claim the application, combination, and adaptation of the
vibrating rail B,B, the swagger rope or chain C 2, the lever or arm B 2, and
the spring B 3, or substitute for the spring as shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 4,
with the variations as herein set forth and described.
Under the head of our second improvement, we claim the combination,

page_text: adaptation, and arrangement of the parts shewn in Figs. 5 and 10, and herein
described.
Under the head of our third improvement we claim, first, the application
and adaptation of a clutch box held in geer by a spring or springs for the
purpose of connecting and disconnecting the friction pulley and warp beam
as shewn in Figs. 2 and 7, and herein described.
Second, we claim the application and adaptation of a ratchet wheel and
catch, for the purpose of connecting and disconnecting the friction pulley and
warp beam as shewn in Figs. 2 and 4, and herein described.
Under the head of our fourth improvement, we claim the application and
adaptation of the tumbling catch E 5, in combination with the finger E 1, and
its swell E 2, for the purpose of easing or relieving the shuttle from the pressure
of the swell at the moment it is being thrown through the sheed as shewn in
Figs. 3, 4, 8, and 9, and herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonas Marland, for the said Samuel
Marland, as well as for myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Twentieth day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JONAS MARLAND. (L.S.)
0 Signed by the within-named Jonas
Marland, in the presence of
JOHN POTTER, C. E.
9, Corporation Street,
Manchester.