IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING CERTAIN PARTS OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Slack, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING
CERTAIN PARTS OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 29th September 1857, and dated the 6th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Slack at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th April
1857.
I, JOHN SLACK, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LUBRICATING CERTAIN PARTS OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a method of lubricating the spindles of the picking
motion of looms, whereby the shuttle is thrown across the shed. In order to
effect this, I apply a piece of sponge, or other substance capable of holding the
lubricating material, to some convenient part of the loom. The sponge should
be placed in such a position that the vibrations of the slay which carries the
spindles of the picking motion will bring the spindles in contact with the
sponge or material which contains the lubricating substance. This operation
may be arranged to take place at each advance of the usual beating-up
motions or at any required periods.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Slack in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SLACK, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
di, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Slack, Her especial license that I, the said John Slack, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Slack, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING
CERTAIN PARTS OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition, amongst others,
that I, the said John Slack, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 I, the said John Slack, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to a method of lubricating the spindles of the picking
motion of looms. In order to effect this, I apply a piece of sponge or other
substance for conveying lubricating material in such a position that the
vibrations of the slay will bring the spindle in contact therewith. The means
adapted for carrying this into practical effect may be varied to a considerable
extent, but I have appended to this my Specification a Drawing descriptive of
apparatus which I have found to be generally useful.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 a top view of the same, drawn full
size. A small tin vessel a is closed at the upper part by a block of wood b,
through which an apperture is formed for the reception of a piece of sponge c,
which extends into a cavity below, there being a space left between the
bottom of the block b and vessel a. The apparatus thus formed I fix by

page_text: piece of bent wire or other simple means on each side of the breast beam
of the loom, and in such situations that as the lathe comes towards the cloth
the shuttle spindles will just touch the part d of the sponge. In using this
apparatus the attendant occasionally (say, every morning,) applies a small
quantity of oil to the sponge c, which runs downward to the space below the
block, but leaves a sufficiancy to deposit a small quantity upon the spindles,
and the supply is kept up by the oil passing onward to supply the place of
that used. If desired, this apparatus may be constructed of larger dimensions
so as not to require replenishing for several days or weeks, it being provided
with a lid through which the oil may be poured. In such cases a piece of
worsted, or other material capable of acting by capillary attraction, may be
used to raise the oil to the sponge.
I have in the above description shewn a particular arrangement of
apparatus, and described it as connected with a sponge for conveying the
lubricating material, but I do not confine myself to these particulars, as the
form and construction of the apparatus may be varied at pleasure, and other
substances than sponge may be employed; I would also remark that, if
desired, the lubricating apparatus may be mounted upon a part which receives
motion from the loom, so as to arrive in position for contact with the spindle
at certain periods only; that which I claim, as secured to me under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, being the application of sponge or other
substance for conveying lubricating material placed in such a position that
the picker spindles arrive in contact therewith during the working of the loom.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Slack, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.