Electrical Jacquard Apparatus for Looms.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Jan., 1895-Accepted, 23rd Feb., 1895
[Communicated from abroad by Messrs. SIEMENS & HALSKE, of Berlin, in the
German Empire, Electrical Engineers.]
Electrical Jacquard Apparatus for Looms.
We, SIEMENS BROTHERS & Co. LIMITED, of 12 Queen Anne's Gate,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The production of patterns in looms by means of the ordinary Jacquard
apparatus is effected by causing certain rods connected to the healds to be selected
by the pattern cards of the jacquard so as to be engaged with rising and falling
knife bars and thus in raising the corresponding healds and warp threads, to
form the shed for the shuttle.
The engagement of the heald rods with the bars can also be effected by the
action of electro magnets which at the required moments are made to attract
the rods towards the bars. With such an arrangement however the electro-
magnets have to be of considerable size and the consumption of electrical energy
is correspondingly large, as is also the space occupied by the apparatus, so that
the apparatus is only applicable to looms with a comparatively small number of
healds.
According to the present invention these disadvantages are avoided by the
following arrangement of apparatus.
The rods of all the healds are, before the formation of the shed, pressed by the
knife bar itself (for example during its downward motion) against electromagnets
and during the upward motion of the knife bar only those rods are carried up
thereby whose electromagnets have not been excited, while the heald rods whose
electromagnets were excited are held back by these.
With this arrangement it is possible to employ very small electromagnets, as
they do not have to attract the rods from a distance, but only to hold them
The conditions for the
when mechanically brought into contact therewith.
reliable action of this apparatus are, that the armature attached to the heald
rod shall be pressed as centrally as possible to the corresponding electromagnet
and that the armature shall be retained a suitable length of tiine against the
poles of the magnet. These conditions are fulfilled by the following arrangements.
The knife bar is attached to a vertically reciprocating lever, the end of which
extending downwards carries a bar that, during the downward motion of the
lever, presses against the heald rods, forcing the whole of these backwards.
To the heald rods are attached horizontal rods sliding through guides and
carrying at their ends soft iron armatures which by the said backward motion are
pressed against fixed electromagnets.
The heald rods are provided with spring action, so that when the pressing bar
of the lever, in commencing its ascent, releases them from the backward pressure,
those heald rods whose armatures are not attracted by their electromagnets are
pressed forward again, and in having their hooks caught by the rising knife bar, are
raised thereby to form the shed, while the others are retained by the attraction of
their magnets, and are consequently not raised.
The heald rods may be variously arranged for affording this spring action.

page_text: .
Thus they may be formed of a looped steel wire passing through a slot in a frame
against the front end of which the hooked limb of the loop is made to bear by. the
spring action, while the other limb is made to bear against the other end of the
slot. The horizontal rod carrying the armature has an eye through which
the hooked limb passes, so that while the limb can push the rod backwards as
described, it is free to slide through it in rising and falling with the knife bar.
The horizontal rod also carries a helical spring, one end of which presses against
a fixed abutment, while the other end tends to press the armature towards the
electromagnet. This spring is of course of less strength than the spring action of
the heald rod. The armature is loose on the horizontal rod, and is pressed by
the said spring against a head on the end of the rod so that when the rod is
pressed back by the bar acting on the heald rod, it first brings the armature in
contact with the electromagnet and then, in moving still farther back, it slides
backward through the armature.
On the lover of the pressing bar rising again, the heald rod and armature rod
are moved forward again by the spring action of the former, until the head of
the armature rod bears against the armature again whereupon, if the armature
is retained by the attraction of its electromagnet, the heald rod will be prevented
from moving farther forward. If the armature is not so retained, the spring
action of the heald rod will overcome the spring of the armature and will cause
the rod of the latter to draw it forward so that the heald rod can be seized by the
knife bar.
From the above arrangement it will be seen that the armature is pressed
gradually and effectually by its spring against the magnet and that it is held there
for some time before the return motion of the armature rod exercises a pull upon
it in the contrary direction; also, it is not necessary that the electromagnets shall
all be at exactly the same distance from their electromagnets, as the extent of
motion of the heald rod and armature rod is quite independent of that of the
armature.
For exciting the electromagnets or solenoids various arrangements of electrical
apparatus may be employed; if, however, it be desired to use the current of an
electric light installation for the purpose, or any other current of comparatively
high tension, such as 100 volts, the windings of the electromagnets must possess a
great resistance and would therefore have to be large. In order to avoid this,
arrangements may be employed whereby the windings of all the magnets are
connected in series, the windings of those magnets that are not to be excited being
for the time short circuited. By this means it would only be necessary to provide
a single supplemental resistance should the resistance of the combined windings be
still too small. For the above purpose a series of contact plates may be connected
by leads to each intermediate point of the circuit between two successive windings
so that by connecting two contiguous contacts the winding of the electromagnet
situated between them would be short circuited.
According to another arrangement, the windings of the electromagnet are con-
nected in parallel with the supply circuit, with the interposition of a supplemental
resistance, the one end of each winding being connected to a contact plate, so that
according as these plates are coupled up by moveable contact pieces the corre-
sponding windings of the electromagnets are put in circuit.
Or the electromagnets may be arranged in separate groups, all connected in
parallel with the supply circuit, the windings of each group being arranged in
series in the manner first described. The metal contacts for the above purpose
may be variously arranged, thus they may consist of metal tubes of varying lengths
threaded on insulated bars carried by endless bands or chains made to travel over a
polygonal drum receiving a step by step rotary motion from the loom so that the
said tubular contacts of the chain are consecutively brought against the before
mentioned fixed contact plates so as to effect the desired connections for exciting
certain of the electromagnets.

page_text: In place of threading tubular contact pieces upon cylindrical bars of the endless
chain or band, bar-shaped contact pieces may fit with tongues in slotted bars,
Dated this 3rd day of May 1894.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
We, SIEMENS BROTHERS & Co. LIMITED, of 12 Queen Anne's Gate,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The production of patterns in looms by means of the ordinary Jacquard
apparatus is effected by causing certain rods connected to the healds to be selected
by the pattern cards of the jacquard so as to be engaged with rising and falling
knife bars and thus in raising the corresponding healds and warp threads, to form
the shed for the shuttle.
The engagement of the heald rods with the bars can also be effected by the
action of electromagnets which at the required moments are made to attract the
rods towards the bars.
With such an arrangement however the electromagnets have to be of con-
siderable size and the consumption of electrical energy is correspondingly large, as
is also the space occupied by the apparatus, so that the apparatus is only applicable
to looms with a comparatively small number of healds.
According to the present invention these disadvantages are avoided by the
following arrangement of apparatus.
The rods of all the healds are, before the formation of the shed, pressed by the
kuife bar itself (for example during its downward motion) against electromagnets
and during the upward motion of the knife bar only those rods are carried up
thereby whose electromagnets have not been excited, while the heald rods whose
electromagnets were excited are held back by these.
With this arrangement it is possible to employ very small electromagnets, as
they do not have to attract the rods from a distance, but only to hold them when
mechanically brought into contact therewith. The conditions for the reliable.
action of this apparatus are, that the armature attached to the heald rod shall be
pressed as centrally as possible to the corresponding electromagnet and that the
armature shall be retained a suitable length of time against the poles of the magnet.
These conditions are fulfilled by the arrangements which we will describe with
reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.
The knife bar m is attached to a vertically reciprocating lever a the one end of
which receives an up and down motion by a rod while the other end extending
downwards carries a bar that, during the downward motion of the lever, presses
against the heald rods c forcing the whole of these backwards.
To the heald rods are attached horizontal rods d sliding through guides Land
carrying at their ends soft iron armatures A which by the said backward motion
are pressed against fixed electromagnets E, as shewn at Fig. 1.
The heald rods care provided with spring action, so that when the pressing bar *
of the lever, in commencing its ascent, releases them from the backward pressure,
those heald rods whose armatures are not attracted by their electromagnets are
pressed forward again, and in having their hooks caught by the rising knife bar m
are raised thereby to form the shed, while the others are retained by the attraction
of their magnets, and are consequently not raised.

page_text: The heald rod may be variously arranged for affording this spring action.
Thus as shewn in the drawing they may be formed of a looped steel wire passing
through a slot r in a frame against the front end of which the limb o of the loop is
made to bear by the spring action, while the other limb p is made to bear against
the other end of the slot.
The horizontal rod d carrying the armature A has an eye d' through which the
hooked limb o passes, so that while the limb can push the rod backwards as
described, it is free to slide through it in rising and falling with the knife bar.
The horizontal rod also carries a helical spring one enl of which presses against
the fixed abutment L while the other end tends to press the armature A in the
direction of the arrow i towards the electromagnet E. This spring is of course
of less strength than the spring action of the heald rod c.
The armature is loose on the horizontal rod and is pressed by the spring against
a head 9 on the end of the rod d as shewn more clearly in the enlarged view at
Fig. 3 so that when the rod is pressed back by the bar acting on the heald rod, it
first brings the armature A in contact with the electromagnet and then, in moving
still farther back, it slides backward through the armature as shewn at Fig. 1.
On the lever a rising again, the heald rode and armature rod d are moved
forward again by the spring action of the former, until the head of the armature rod
bears against the armature again as at Fig. 3 whereupon, if the armature is retained
by the attraction of its electromagnet, the heald rod will be prevented from moving
farther forward as there shewn.
If the armature is not so retained, the spring action of the heald rod c will over-
come the spring f of the armature and will cause the rod of the latter to draw it
forward so that the heald rod can be seized by the knife bar m, as at Fig. 2.
From the above arrangement it will be seen that the armature is pressed
gradually and effectually by its spring f against the magnet and that it is held there
for some time before the return motion of the armature rod exercises a pull upon it
in the contrary direction; also, it is not necessary that the armatures A shall all
be at exactly the same distance from their electromagnets E, as the extent of
motion of the heald rod c and armature rod d is quite independent of that of the
armature. These features are of great importance when it is considered that with
a large number of heald rods e that have to be operated rapidly the accurate action
of the parts is indispensible.
For exciting the electromagnets or solenoids various arrangements of electrical
apparatus may be employed; if, however, it be desired to use the current of an
electric light installation for the purpose, or any other current of comparatively
high tension, such as 100 volts, the windings of the electromagnets must possess a
great resistance and would therefore have to be large. In order to avoid this,
arrangements may be employed whereby the windings of all, the magnets are con-
nected in series, the windings of those magnets that are not to be excited being for
the time short circuited. By this means it would only be necessary to provide a
single supplemental resistance should the resistance of the combined windings be
still too small. For the above purpose a series of contact plates foƒ'¹ƒ² ƒ³ &c..
Fig. 4 may be connected by leads to each intermediate point of the circuit between
two successive windings of the electromagnets 1, 2, 3 &c. so that by connecting for
instance two contiguous contacts fof the winding of the electromagnet 1 situated
between them would be short circuited. to is the supplemental resistance on the
circuit such as a glow lamp.
According to another arrangement shewn at Fig. 5 the windings of the electro-
magnets 1, 2, 3 &c. are connected in parallel with the supply circuit C with the
interposition of a supplemental resistance to in each branch circuit, the one end of
euch winding being connected to a contact plate fff &c. so that according as
these plates are coupled up by nioveable contact pieces on a drum D the corresponding
windings of the electromagnets are put in circuit.
Or the electromagnets may be arranged in separate groups as at Fig. 6 connected
in parallel with the supply circuit, the windings 1, 2, 3 &c. of each group being,

page_text: arranged in series in the manner first described. The metal contacts for the above
purpose may be variously arranged, thus they may consist of metal tubes I, II &c.
of varying lengths as at Fig. 9 threaded on insulated bars n carried by endless
bands, or chains S as at Fig. 7, having links formed as at Fig. 11, which chains are
made to travel over a polygonal drum D Fig. 5 receiving a step by step rotary
motion from the loom so that the said tubular contacts of the chain are consecutively
brought against the before mentioned fixed contact plates fo f1 &c. so as to effect
the desired connections for exciting certain of the electromagnets, this device
operating in a similar manner to the pattern cards of an ordinary Jacquard apparatus,
but for operating electrical contacts instead of Jacquard needles.
In place of threading tubular contact pieces upon cylindrical bars of the endless
chain or band, bar-shaped contact pieces 1, II &c. Figs. 10 and 104 may fit
with tongues in slotted bars Fig. 8, which are strung together by chains, bands or
cords.
This Jacquard apparatus can be situated at any convenient part of the loom.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. An electrical Jacquard apparatus for looms wherein the heald rods that are
operated by the knife bar are connected to rods having an armature mounted loose
thereon but pressed against a stop on the rod by a spring, so that when the heald
rod with its armature rod is pressed backwards by a bar on a reciprocating lever,
the armature is carried by the spring against the poles of an electromagnet, which
if excited by a current retains the armature and heald rod in the backward position,
but which, if not excited allows the armature and heald rod to move forward again
so as to engage with the knife bar, substantially as described.
2. Electric Jacquard apparatus such as is referred to in the preceding claim,
combined and operating as herein described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1895.
ADEL & IMМКАТ,
Agents for the Applicants.