Invention of WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS, AND IN LOOMS THEREFOR."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Strang, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
North Britain, Manufacturer, for an Invention of
WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS, AND IN LOOMS THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Strang at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st March 1881.
"
WILLIAM STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer. IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS, AND
LOOMS THEREFOR."
"
IN
This Invention has for its objects the production of ornamental fabrics in an
improved manner, and to simplify and otherwise improve the construction and
action of parts of looms for weaving ornamental fabrics.
In carrying out the Invention jacquard pattern mechanism and harness are used
together with two or more shuttles, and the arrangements are such that at some
parts of the same pattern single shots can be laid of any one of the wefts, whilst at
other parts two or more shots of the same weft may follow each other without
change. The shuttle boxes at the two sides of the loom are alike, each having
as many cells as there are shuttles, and they are shifted together to bring
simultaneously to the race level the cells of both corresponding to the shuttle to be
thrown at each pick of the loom. The picking levers are arranged to both act at
every stroke of the loom, the one at the side where the shuttle cell is empty being
ineffective whilst the shuttle is thrown from the other side. This arrangement
renders the picking mechanism very much simpler than it is in looms in which
special adaptations of pattern mechanism and other parts are made to move the
picking levers singly, but otherwise than alternately. The shuttle boxes are
shifted to suit the pattern in a manner controlled by the jacquard apparatus, each
card having a part of it alloted to act on certain harness threads or cords connected
to the shuttle box mechanism, and in this way separate pattern mechanism for
the shuttle boxes is dispensed with. The actual shifting of the shuttle boxes is
effected by a rotating cam or wiper, or by a pair of cams or wipers. Each cam
moves between two bars connected in any convenient way to the shuttle boxes,

page_text: and carrying a number of small lever rods corresponding to the number of shuttles.
The lever rods have the harness cords or threads attached to their ends which are
lowered by their own weight or by springs when not raised by the cords or
threads, but when any cord or thread is raised it turns the corresponding lever rod
so that its other end which was raised is depressed into a horizontal position
across the two bars. Notches are formed in the two bars to receive the lever rods
when depressed, and when any lever rod is thus depressed the cam or wiper in
rotating encounters it, and by acting on it moves the pair of bars, and through
them shifts the shuttle boxes. The extent of shift depends on which of the lever
rods is depressed, and this is determined by the jacquard cards. A weft fork
protector of any suitable known kind is fitted at each side of the loom, and in
addition there is fitted at each side across the race beyond each end of the reed a
finger which is raised just before the passage of each weft shot in order to lift up
any previously shot wefts, so that they may not act on the weft fork and prevent
its showing whether a new weft is laid or not. When the Invention is applied in
producing leno or gauze curtains, the movements for weaving the ground or gauze
are controlled by the pattern mechanism in a manner similar to what has been
described for controlling the shuttle mechanism.
The improved loom mechanism hereinbefore described is applicable for weaving
various known kinds of ornamental fabrics, and also for weaving an improved
ornamental fabric of the leno-curtain class. This improved fabric is produced by
throwing two, three, or more shots of rove or pattern weft in any single interval
between the ground shots, such multiple shots of rove being laid either all in the
same shed or in different sheds as determined by the pattern 'cards.
In this way
parts of the pattern may be distinguished by being made thicker, or by being
differently colored in a manner believed not to have been hitherto effected by any
looms in use for weaving the same class of fabrics.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Strang in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1881.
WILLIAM STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS, AND
LOOMS THEREFOR."
IN
My said Invention has for its objects the production of ornamental fabrics in an
improved manner, and to simplify and otherwise improve the construction and
action of parts of looms for weaving ornamental fabrics.
In carrying out my Invention jacquard pattern mechanism and harness are used,
together with two or more shuttles; and the arrangements are such that at some
parts of the same pattern single shots can be laid of any one of the wefts, whilst
at other parts two or more shots of the same weft may follow each other without
change. The shuttle boxes at the two sides of the loom are alike, each having
as many cells as there are shuttles, and they are shifted together to bring
simultaneously to the race level, the cells of both corresponding to the shuttle
to be thrown at each pick of the loom. The picking levers are arranged to both
act at every stroke of the loom, the one at the side where the shuttle cell is empty
being ineffective whilst the shuttle is thrown from the other side. This arrangement
renders the picking mechanism very much simpler than it is in looms in which
special adaptations of pattern mechanism and other parts are made to move the
picking levers singly, but otherwise than alternately. The shuttle boxes are shifted
to suit the pattern in a manner controlled by the jacquard apparatus, each card
having a part of it allotted to act on certain harness threads or cord connected to
the shuttle-box inechanism, and in this way separate pattern mechanism for the
shuttle boxes is dispensed with.
My improved loom mechanism is applicable for weaving various known kinds
of ornamental fabrics for which two or more wefts are used, and also for weaving
an improved ornamental fabric of the leno-curtain class. This improved fabric is
produced by throwing two, three, or more shots of rove or pattern weft in any
single interval between the ground shots, such multiple shots of rove being laid
either all in the same shed or in different sheds, as determined by the pattern
cards. In this way parts of the pattern may be distinguished by being made
thicker, or by being differently colored, in a manner believed not to have been
hitherto effected by any looms in use for weaving the same class of fabrics.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of explanatory
Drawings to be hereinafter referred to, and representing various loom details as
constructed or arranged for carrying out my improvements.
On Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings there is shown one modification of
my improved apparatus connected with the shifting shuttle boxes, Figure 1 being
a sectional plan of some parts, and Figure 2 a corresponding sectional side elevation,
whilst Figure 3 is a plan of other parts, and Figure 4 a sectional front elevation
corresponding partly to Figure 3, and partly to Figure 2; Figure 5 on Sheet 2 is
a sectional front elevation of a part of the picking mechanism; and Figures 6, 7,
and 8 show a second modification of some of the parts shown on Sheet 1, Figure 6
being a sectional plan, and Figures 7 and 8 sectional side and front elevations;
Figures 9 and 10 are explanatory of parts used when my Invention is applied in
weaving leno or gauze curtains. In these Drawings the same reference numerals
are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The shuttle boxes at the two sides of the loom, as already stated, are alike, but
only the one, '11, at the left-hand side is shown, being delineated in Figures 2, 3,

page_text: and 4. Each shuttle box may be fitted in the usual way to slide in a guide
frame 12 fixed to or forming part of the lathe, of which a part is shown in Figure 4
with the upper part of one of the swords 13, and with a part of the reed 14. The
shuttle box 11 is represented as constructed for six shuttles, and each box is
connected by a spear 15 to a lever 16 fixed on a horizontal rocking shaft 17 which
extends across the loom and moves the two boxes simultaneously. The picking
levers, which are arranged to both act at every stroke of the loom, might be
worked by means of wipers or equivalent parts on the crank shaft of the loom, or
on a shaft rotating at the same speed as the crank shaft, or their movements might
be derived from the lathe; but as the loom is provided with the usual low or
second-motion shaft 18, which rotates at half the speed of the crank shaft, it is
convenient to have the picking levers worked from it in any suitable known
manner. A suitable arrangement is shown in Figure 5, in which the low shaft 18
has fast on it at each side of the loom a lever piece 19 armed with two diametrically
opposite striking points 20 (instead of one, as in common looms) for acting on the
sector 21, which transmits the movements by the strap 22 to the picking lever 23,
so that the picking levers at both sides are moved at every stroke of the loom.
The shifting of the shuttle boxes 11 is effected by a rotating cam 24 on the low
shaft 18, as in the modification shown in Figures 1 to 4, or by a pair of cams 24
on a shaft 25, rotating at the same speed as the low shaft, as in the modification
shown in Figures 6 to 8. Each cain 24 moves between two horizontal bars 26
fixed to the framing, and acts on a slide 27 movable backwards and forwards
between the bars 26, but drawn forwards by springs 28. In Figure 2 the spring 28
is shown as acting by means of a lever 29, the upper end of which projects into a
slot in the slide 27. Each slide 27 has forined on or fixed to it an arm 30, carrying
a number of small levers 31, which are severally connected by harness cords 32 up
to the jacquard pattern mechanism, which is not shown, but which may be arranged
in the ordinary way. The sınall levers 31 descend by their own weight, and are
raised by the jacquard apparatus, as required by the pattern, the effective stroke of
the cam 24 being greater or less accordingly as more or fewer of the levers 31
remain down at each operation or stroke. As shown in Figure 2 the cam 24 tends
to push backwards the slide 27, and as many of the levers 31 as may be down, and
the movement is transmitted by a slide 33 at the back, which is connected by a
pair of curved links 34 to a lever 35 on the rocking shaft 17, hereinbefore described
as for moving the two shuttle boxes 11.
In the modification shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8 there are two slides 27, two
sets of levers 31, and two back slides 33; these back slides however are both fixed
to a piece 36 below. The movement it not transmitted directly to the shuttle
boxes, but to shuttlebox-shifting mechanism of a well known kind, in which a
cam 37 on the low shaft 18 acts on a pair of oppositely acting bell-crank pawl
levers 38, and these act on an arc-shaped lever piece 39, which moves the shuttle-
box spear 15, the action depending on the positions of a pair of notched levers 40
carried by the lever piece 39. These notched levers 40 are connected together, and
one of them is connected by a rod 41 to a bell-crank lever 42, which is connected
by a rod 43 to the piece 36, to which the two back slides 33 are attached, and by
these means the jacquard apparatus is made to control the operation of the shuttle-
box-shifting mechanism.
In a modification shown in Figures 6 to 8 the shuttle boxes are counterbalanced
and moved positively both upwards and downwards, but in the modification shown
in Figures 1 to 4 the shuttle boxes 11 descend by their own weight, and are
prevented from moving between the shifts by parts shown in Figure 2. These
parts consist of a notched bar 51 fixed to the back of each shuttle box 11, and of a
bolt or catch 52 carried by a lever 53, and acted on by a spring 54, so as to enter
whichever notch is at the race level when the lathe is moving backwards. The
catch 52 is jointed to the lever 53, and is made with a slotted part 55, which slides
on a stationary pin or stop so placed as when the lathe moves forwards to hold back
the catch 52, and allow the shuttle box to be shifted.

page_text: A weft fork protector of any suitable known kind is fitted at each side of 'the'
loom, and in addition there is fitted at each side across the race beyond each end of
the reed 14 a finger 44, Figures 2 and 3, which is raised just after a shuttle has
left either box and before it enters the other box, in order to lift up any previously
shot wefts so that they may not act on the weft fork and prevent its showing
whether a new weft is laid or not. This finger 41 is moved at the proper times by
a rod 45 acted on through a lever by a cam on the low shaft 18. It is necessary
to prevent the weft fork at the side, from which a shuttle has just been thrown,
from causing the stoppage of the loom in consequence of the wefts being lifted by
the finger 44, and for this purpose a spring wire 46 is fixed to a bracket 47 fixed
to the frame 12, in which the shuttle box works, and passes horizontally behind the
place of the shuttle cell which is at the race level. This wire 46 is bent so that its
inner end 48 lies against the back of the weft-fork grating, and it has fixed on it a
small plate 49 bearing on the inner end of the protector spring 50, with which
each shuttle cell is, as usual, provided. When the cell at the race level is empty,
in consequence of the shuttle just having been thrown from it, the wire 46, 48,
prevents the action of the weft fork at that side of the loom; but at the other side
the shuttle on entering its cell pushes back the protector spring 50 in the usual
way and with it the wire 46, 48, so that if the weft should be absent the weft fork
can enter the grating and cause the stoppage of the loom.
When my Invention is applied in producing leno or gauze curtains the movements
for weaving the ground or gauze are controlled by the pattern mechanism in a
manner similar to what has been described for controlling the shuttle mechanism.
The gauze reed or reed heddle is moved vertically by means of rods extending
down to levers on a horizontal rocking shaft, and of these one rod 56 with its
lever 57 and the rocking shaft 58 are shown in Figure 10 on Sheet 2 of the
Drawings. On the same rocking shaft 58 there is fixed a lever 59 placed so as to
be acted on by cams 60 on the low shaft 18 of the loom or on a shaft rotating at
the same speed as the low shaft, and this lever 59 is slotted so that the cams work
down into the slot excepting when the slot is covered by a lever plate 61 centered
on the lever. This lever plate 61 is connected by a link 62 to a bell-crank lever 63
which is connected by a harness cord 64 to the jacquard pattern mechanism. The
bell-crank lever 63 is weighted so as to tend to keep the lever plate 61 to one side
of the slot in the lever 59, and whenever the pattern requires the action of the
lever 59 the harness cord 64 acts on the bell-crank lever 63 so as to put the lever
plate over the slot and thus cause the cam 60 to act effectively on the lever.
Figure 9 is a vertical section as at right angles to Figure 10.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The combination of jacquard pattern mechanism and harness with parts which
by means of the jacquard cards control the shifting of shuttle boxes with two or
more shuttles, the said parts being constructed or combined together substantially
as hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of parts for shifting shuttle boxes wherein the effective
action of the cams is rendered more or less by the interposition of more or fewer
levers or pieces (31) moved by jacquard pattern mechanism, whether the said
action takes effect directly on the shuttle boxes substantially as in the modification
hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying
Drawings or takes effect through other shifting mechanism, substantially as in the
modification hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 of the
accompanying Drawings.
3. The providing of similar shuttle boxes with two or more cells at both sides.
of the loon combined with mechanism arranged to move the picking levers at

page_text: both sides at every stroke, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
4. The combination with weft forks applied at both sides of the loom of
fingers (44) for lifting the wefts out of the way and of protector wires (46, 48),
the parts being arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes
hereinbefore described.
5. The arranging of the parts operating to produce the ground or gauze when
weaving leno or gauze curtains so as to be controlled by the jacquard pattern
mechanisin, and substantially in the manner hereinbefore described with reference
to Figures 9 and 10 of the accompanying Drawings.
6. The improved ornamental fabric of the Yeno-curtain class produced by
throwing two, three, or more shots of rove or pattern weft in any single interval
between the ground shots in the manner and by means of apparatus substantially
such as is hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said William Strang, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
W. STRANG. (L.S.)