Improvements in and relating to Means for Changing Shuttles in Looms when the Weft is Exhausted
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application 29th Aug., 1899--Accepted, 9th Dec., 1899
"
'Improvements in and relating to Means for Changing Shuttles in
Looms when the Weft is Exhausted."
We, WILLIAM HENRY BAKER, of Central Falls in the County of Providence and
State of Rhode Island, United States of America, Electrician and FREDERIO ELLSWORTH
KIP of Montclair, in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey, United States of
America, Manufacturer, 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 :—
This invention relates to the class of looms provided with mechanism for supplying
to the loom, automatically, filled weft-carriers, and which are provided with monitors
or detectors which act when the weft in the running shuttle is nearly or wholly
exhausted, to set in motion the weft-supplying mechanism.
In the construction which formns the object of this invention, there is a stationary
magazine of some kind for the filled shuttles, a shiftable and displaceable shuttle-box
on the lay or batten, adapted to be moved from the picking point to make room
for a placer containing a full shuttle; means whereby the said placer or placing
pocket is made to receive a full shuttle from the inagazine; mechanism for effecting
the shifting of the shuttle-box and placer, and magneto-electric means for
detecting the exhaustion of the shuttle in play and for setting in motion said
shifting mechanism.
One of the features of the invention is the manner of shifting the shuttle-holders
when a full shuttle is to be supplied and the exhausted shuttle discharged, and
another is the operation of the shifting mechanism from a cam in the loom which
rotates once for each two picks of the loom.
In the accompanying drawings-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a part of the loom, illustrating the application of
our invention thereto. This view shows the lay or batten in its advanced position,
having beaten up, and the shuttle box and placer in their normal positions; and
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the magnet and adjacent parts.
Fig. 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1, but shewing the lay receding and the placer in
operation to supply a full shuttle.
Fig. 3 is a front, sectional elevation, the plane of the section being indicated by
line in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the magazine and placer, which
are omitted from Fig. 3.
Fig 5 is a sectional plan, taken at line in Fig. 2, showing the placer in plan
but empty.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the fixed side of the shuttle box, showing the electric
terminals and circuits.
Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the shuttle and bobbin, with their electrical
devices.

page_text: Fig. 8 illustrates the preferred construction of the magazine.
Fig. 9 includes a side elevation and a plan view of the magnet, armature-lever and
adjacent parts, on a larger scale than the principal views.
Before minutely describing the construction of our weft-supplying mechanism, it
will be of advantage to point out the general character of the same. The magazine
is stationary and delivers the full shuttle at its bottom to a placer, or placing pocket,
which moves, at the proper time, to a position on or over the lay-head, simultaneously
with the elevation of the shuttle-box to make a place for it. When an exhausted
shuttle enters the shuttle-box, it closes an electric circuit through an operating
electro-magnet, and thus puts the armature-lever of this magnet into the path of an
operating lever or arm to which motion is imparted by a cam on the loom, so that
this cam, through said lever and suitable intermediate mechanism, shifts the
shuttle-box, discharges the exhausted shuttle therefrom, puts the placer in position,
and holds it in line with the picker until the full shuttle therein is picked to the
opposite side of the loom. The arm then passes, and the parts resume their usual
or normal positions until the shuttle in play is practically exhausted of weft, when
the supplying operation is repented.
1 represents, generally, the frame of the loom; 2 the breast-beam thereof; 3 the
lay or lay-head, carried by the lay-swords, 3* which latter are fixed, below, to the
swing-rail, 4. The lay is vibrated in the usual manner from a crank, 5, and connecting
rod, 5. All of these parts are common, in some form, on looms now in use, as are also
the picker-sticks, 6.
The features which embody the present invention will now be described; On the
loom-frame is mounted a shuttle-magazine, 7, which discharges at the bottom. In
the principal views this is an upright magazine of a known form, with the shuttles
superposed therein.
At the delivery outlet of the magazine is situated the placing-
pocket or placer, 8, into which a shuttle, S, from the magazine, is free to fall by
gravity. The placer is a sort of trough mounted on an upright arm 8, which turns,
at its lower end on the swing-rail 4, or on some adjacent pivotal axis. A spring, 9,
of any suitable kind, holds the placer in its normal, receiving position. On the lay 3,
is mounted the shuttle-box, 10. This box consists of a stationary part and a
movable part. The side 10, farthest from the magazine, is fixed on the loom; the
bottom, 10b, and the side next the magazine, including the swell, 10°, form
movable part, which is secured to a pair of stems, 11, that are guided in suitable
keepers, 12, on the lay-head. Connected to the stems 11, is an upright guide-rod
or slide, 13, by which the box 10 may be raised and lowered to the proper
extent.
&
The operating mechanism of the placer and shuttle-box will now be described. On
the frame of the loom a lever, 14, is fulcrumed at 2, and one arm of this lever is
coupled by a rod, 15, to one arm of an elbow-lever, 16, fulcrumed at its elbow on the
upright slide 13. The other arm of the elbow-lever is provided with a hook, 16",
which is adapted, under certain conditions (to be hereinafter explained) to engage a
stud, 8, on the arm carrying the placer 8.
On the other arm of the lever 14, is fixed an electro-magnet, M, the armature a,
of which is fixed on one arm of an elbow-lever, 17, which is provided, on its other
arm with a hook, 17*. An ordinary armature spring, 17b, holds the armature
retracted, normally; and a spring, 14, holds the lever 14 in the normal position
seen in Fig. 1.
The crank-wheel 5*, gears with a wheel, 18, of twice its own diameter; and on the
shaft, 18, of said wheel is a cam, 19, which will, of course, rotate once while the lay is
making two vibratory movements. This cam 19 bears on an arm or lever, 20, which
may be held up to the cam by a spring, 21. This operating arm or lever is vibrated
constantly, while the loom is in operation, and it bears at its free end a hook, 20,
which plays close to the hook on the armature lever 17 and when the magnet M is
excited and attracts its armature, the lever 17 is rocked and its hooked end 17 put
into the path of the hook 20*.
Let us suppose that while the lay is at the picking point, an exhausted shuttle

page_text: enters the shuttle-box 10 from the opposite side of the loom, and, through electrical
means, to be hereinafter described, completes a circuit through the magnet M. The
lay will afterward beat up the shot, and start to recede, but before it again reaches
the picking point the cam 19 will depress the lever 20, which will engage the lever 14
and rock it, thus acting through the rod 15, and elbow-lever 16, to elevate the shuttle-
box 10, and shift the placer 8, to the position seen in Fig. 2. The exhausted shuttle
will be thrown from the open rear side of the shuttle box and may be caught in a tray
or receptacle, 22, on the loom-frame; the full shuttle, in the placer 8, will be picked
to the opposite side of the loom.
The cam 19 now passes; the placer is returned by its spring to its normal
receiving position, and the shuttle-box descends to its normal position on the
lay.
As soon as the shuttle-box is elevated the circuit is broken, and the continued
engagement of the lever 20 with the armature lever 17, will be purely mechanical.
It should be explained that the picker and picker-stick are omitted from
Figs. 1 and 2 to avoid obscuring the other parts. The picker-stick plays in an slot in
the lay-head and in the bottom of the shuttle-box; and also of the placer, when the
latter is on the lay, as seen in Fig. 2. In Fig. 5 the slots for the picker in the
respective bottoms of the placer and shuttle-box, are shown. It will be noted, in this
view, that the fixed side 10, of the shuttle-box has in it recesses, 10d, to receive the
parts, 8c, forming the corresponding side of the placer. This side of the placer is short,
and a part of the bottom of the placer (at 8d) is omitted so that should the placer be
permitted to return to its normal, receiving position before the picker-stick, on its
return after the pick, is fully home, the stick will clear the placer. The opposite side
of the placer that one at the left in Figs. 1, 2 and bottom in Fig 5-has a movable
side, 80, which, when the placer recedes to its position at the receiving point under
the magazine, is moved outward automatically so as to widen the placer and allow
ample room for the shuttle to enter freely from the magazine. This outward
movement of the side 8° may be effected by any convenient means, that herein shown
comprises a lever 23, fulcrumed on the arm 8*, the side 8° being mounted on the upper
arm of said lever. A spring, 23, acts to hold said side pressed in, and a stud, 23, on
the loom-frame engages the lever below its fulcrum and presses the side out, as seen in
Fig. 1.
To prevent the shuttles from falling out of the magazine when the placer advances,
a device is employed in connection with the simply upright form of magazine seen
in Figs. 1 and 2: This device consists of springs, 24, on the side of the magazine,
carrying two fingers, 25, which tend to take under the coned ends of the bottom
shuttle and support it; but downwardly projecting branches, 25", on the fingers 25,
are engaged by the placer when it recedes, and thus the supporting fingers are
pressed back by the placer and the shuttle allowed to descend into the latter.
Fig. 8 illustrates the preferred form of magazine; in this construction, 7 is a
fixed casing of drum-like contour, having at its underside a pocket, 7b, open at the
bottom to deliver a shuttle to the placer 8. Within the casing 7, is a rotatively
mounted drum, 7°, having at its periphery cells to contain the shuttles. At its top
the casing is open so that the shuttle-cells in the drum may be conveniently filled.
The shuttle in the lowermost cell of the drum passes down through the pocket, guide,
or chute, 7b, into the placer. When the placer recedes from the picking position
(Fig. 2) to the receiving position (Fig. 1), a latch, 26, carried thereby, engages one
of a series of studs, 27, on the end of the drum 7, thus turning it on its axis to an
extent sufficient to bring the next shuttle-cell over the placer. When the placer
advances, the latch 26 wipes under the stud 27 which it finds in its path. A spring-
detent, 28, by engaging the studs 27, steadies the drum in its set position.
The electrical devices employed in the shuttle-box, shuttle, and weft-carrier,
consist of the instrumentalities which will now be described.
On the side 10 of the shuttle box are mounted two spring-terminals, and t¹;
these form terminals of an electric circuit comprising the conductors, c, c¹, the
magnet M, and a suitable generator, G.

page_text: On the side of the shuttle are two contact-plates, p and p¹, which, when the
shuttle enters the shuttle-box, are put into electrical contact with the respective
spring terminals, t and . The shuttle has hinged in it a bobbin-spindle, 24, on
which is loosely mounted a metal ring, 25, which is electrically connected by a
conductor, 26, (through a spring, 27, behind the ring.) with the plate p. The
bobbin 28 which slips on the spindle 24 and carries the weft, carries a spring
terminal, 29, which has electrical contact with the ring 25 when the bobbin is in
place, and this spring terminal tends, by its resiliency, to spring outward until its
free end is in contact with the inner face of a metal ring or piece 30, on the bobbin.
This latter ring is connected electrically by a conductor 31, with a grooved metal
ring or piece, 32, on the bobbin, and when the bobbin is pressed down in the
shuttle the said groove engages a metal rod, 33, in the shuttle, which is in turn
connected by a conductor, 34, with the plate p¹. The terminal 29 occupies a slot
in the bobbin and when overwrapped by the weft thread its free end is held out
of contact with the ring or piece 30, but when the weft is nearly exhausted the
circuit will be closed at this break.
The object in providing the elbow lever 16 with a hook on its arm to engage
the stud 8b on the placer-arm 8, is to permit the lay to vibrate, normally,
without carrying the placer with it, and to enable the hook on the lever to engage
the stud of the placer at the moment of shifting. It would be feasible, however,
to couple the lever 16 permanently to the arin of the placer. Where a hook is
employed, the cam 19 will be so set as to provide sufficient movement of the hook
to engage the stud before the shuttle box and placer are moved. As the electro
magnet M will be excited when the exhausted shuttle enters the box 10 from the
opposite side, at the picking point, and the engagement of the hook 16" with the
stud 8b must take place at the end of the beating up movement of the lay, it is
desirable to binge the end of the arm of the lever 16 bearing the hook 16, and
provide it with spring, as seen in Fig. 1, thus giving it the form of a spring latch,
so that, at the moment the circuit is completed at the picking point, the cam-
lever 20 may engage the armature lever 17 and begin to rock the lever 16. The
latch hook 16 will then, as it approaches, wipe over the stud 8' and snap into
engagement with the same.
The
As the armature lever 17 will tend to swing or turn about its fulcrum on the
lever 14 when the hook on its end is engaged by the hook on the end of the
lever 20, it is desirable to employ the construction seen best in Fig. 9, which
shows the armature-lever on a larger scale than in the principal views.
hook 17 is connected to the lever proper by a rule-joint backed by a spring, 17.
This spring normally holds the hook rigid with the lever proper; but when acted
upon by the lever 20, the spring 17 will yield a little, as will be understood.
It may be explained respecting the placer 8, which is made automatically
expansible, that one of the objects sought is to have the same contact when the
lay recedes to the picking point so as to hold the shuttle snugly; and as we are
the first, as we believe, to provide a placer that thus expands and contracts, we
do not limit ourselves to any specific means and structure for effecting this
result.
It will be noted, also, that the placer is full open at its top so as to receive
the shuttle which drops in from above.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay and a stationary shuttle-
magazine, of a displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, a shiftable shuttle-placer which
is movable from the delivery outlet of the magazine to the picking point on the lay
and adapted to receive and carry a shuttle from the magazine to said picking point,
mechanism as described for displacing the shuttle-box and replacing it with the
paid placer containing a full shuttle, mechanism for replacing said shuttle placer

page_text: and box after the full shuttle shall have been picked, and electro-magnetic means
for controlling the shifting of said placer and shuttle-box.
2. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay, of a shuttle-box on the lay
and capable of an up and down movement, a shuttle-magazine on the loom-frame
and having a delivery outlet at its lower part, a shiftable placer normally situated
at the outlet of the magazine and open to receive a shuttle therefrom, mechanism
as described for elevating the shuttle-box on the lay and for shifting the placer to
the position vacated by the shuttle-box, means for returning the shuttle-box and
placer to their normal positions after the full shuttle has been picked, and electro-
magnetic means for controlling the shifting of said shuttle-box and placer.
3. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay and a stationary shuttle-
magazine, of a displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, a shiftable shuttle-placer which is
movable from the delivery outlet of the magazine to the picking point on the lay
and adapted to receive and carry a shuttle from the magazine to said picking-point,
a rotating cam in the loom, mechanism between said cam and the placer and shuttle-
box, and actuated by said cam, for displacing the shuttle-box and shifting the placer
to the position at the picking point vacated by the former, means for returning the
placer and shuttle-box to their normal positions when the operating cam shall have
passed, and electro-magnetic means controlling the connection between said cam and
the mechanism which shifts the shuttle-box and placer.
4. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay, of a weft-supply mechanism,
comprising a displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, a stationary magazine having a
delivery outlet at its lower part, and a shiftable placer adapted to be shifted from its
normal receiving position at the magazine to the position vacated by the shuttle-box,
of the rotating cam 19, in the loom, its lever 20, the lever 14, fulcrumed on the
loom-frame, the electro-magnet carried on one arm of the lever 14, its armature, the
armature lever 17, and its spring, mechanism between the lever 14 and the placer
and shuttle-box for shifting these latter when the lever 14 is rocked, an electric
circuit including a generator and said magnet, the shuttle, and means carried by the
shuttle for closing the circuit through said magnet, whereby the magnet is excited
and attracts its armature, the armature lever is put into the path of the lever 20,
substantially as set forth.
5. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay and a stationary shuttle-
magazine, of a displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, a shiftable shuttle-placer which
is movable from the delivery outlet of the magazine to the picking point on the lay
and adapted to receive and carry a shuttle from the magazine to said picking point,
the slide 13 carrying the shuttle-box, the elbow-lever 16, fulorumed on said slide ard
having one arm adapted to engage the arm carrying the placer, the lever 14, fulcrumed
on the loom-frame, the rod 15, coupling the other arm of the elbow lever to the
lever 14, the magnet mounted on the lever 14, its armature and armature lever, the
cam lever 20, adapted to engage said armature lever when the magnet is excited,
the rotating cam 19, which acts upon the arm 20, an electric circuit including the
said electro-magnet and having terminals at the shuttle-box, and the shuttle, having
in it a circuit with terminals to contact with those on the shuttle-box, said circuit
having in it a self-closing break which is held open by the weft in the shuttle,
substantially as set forth.
6. In a weft-supplying mechanism, the combination with a guided shuttle-box,
adapted to be moved up and down, and a guided, shuttle-carrying placer, adapted
to be moved in a substantially horizontal path, of a shuttle-magazine with a delivery
outlet at its lower part and adapted to supply filled shuttles to said placer, of means
substantially as described for simultaneously moving said shuttle-box upward and
for moving said placer into the position left vacant by said shuttle-box, substantially
as set forth.
7. In a weft-supplying mechanism for looms, the combination with the lay, and
the fixed side 10%, of the shuttle-box on the lay, of the bottom and opposite side of
said shuttle-box connected and provided with guides or supports on the lay, and the
said guides, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 8. The combination with the vibrating lay, the displaceable shuttle-box on the lay,
the vibratable placer, and mechanism for operating said shuttle-box and placer, of the
magazine, comprising a stationary casing, having a delivery chute at its lower part,
the rotatable drum in said casing provided with cells or pockets for the shuttles and
with studs at its end, of means carried by the placer for imparting intermittent
rotative impulses to said drum, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
9. In a weft-supplying mechanism for looms, the combination with a magazine
having a delivery at its lower part, and a placer situated normally in position to
receive a shuttle or weft-carrier from said magazine said placer having a movable
side, of means for automatically moving said side outwardly when the placer takes
its receiving position at the magazine, whereby the placer is made wider for the
reception of the shuttle, substantially as set forth.
10. The vibrating placer 8, having a movable side 8°, and supporting arm of
the placer, the lever 23, carrying the side 8° and fulcrumed on the said drum the
spring 23b, and the stud on the loom frame by which said lever is actunted to
move said side, all combined and arranged to operate substantially as set forth.
11. In a weft-supplying mechanism, the combination with the placer 8, having
its side next the lay formed of detached parts 8°, of the lay, of the fixed side 10°
of the shuttle-box mounted thereon, said side being recessed to receive the parts 8c
of the placer, substantially as set forth.
12. The combination with the rotating cam 19, the lever 20 arranged adjacent to
said cam and having a hook 20° at its free end, and means for holding said lever up
to the cam, of the lever 14, fulcrumed on the loom-frame, the electro-magnet
mounted thereon, the armature of said magnet, the armature lever 17, fulcrumed
on the lever 14, and having a hook on its free end, said hook being so situated
that it is put in the path of the hook on lever 20 when the magnet attracts its
armature, substantially as set forth.
13. The combination with the vibrating lay, the vibrating picker-stick, and the
upwardly displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, of the vibrating placer having a slot in
its bottom to provide a way for the picker-stick, the side of said bottom being cut
away at 8d to permit the placer to return to its receiving position before the picker-
stick is fully retracted, substantially as set forth.
14. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay and a stationary shuttle-
magazine, of a displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, a shiftable shuttle-placer which
is movable from the delivery outlet of the magazine to the picking point on the lay
and adapted to receive and carry a shuttle from the magazine to said picking point,
a rotating cam in the loom, mechanisin between said cam and the placer and shuttle-
box, and actuated by said cam, for displacing the shuttle-box and shifting the
placer to the position at the picking point vacated by the former, means for returning
the placer and shuttle-box to their normal positions when the operating cam shail
have passed, an electro-magnet, and its armature and lever, controlling the connection
between said cam and the mechanism, which shifts the shuttle-box and placer, an
electric circuit including the electro-magnet, and having terminals at the shuttle-box,
the shuttle-box, having terminal plates to contact with the terminals on the shuttle
box, a weft-carrier in the shuttle, and a circuit in said carrier having its terminals
fat the plates on the shuttle and a brake held open by the weft, substantially as set
- orth.
15. In a weft-supplying mechanism for looms, the combination with a shuttle-
magazine having a delivery outlet of an expanding and contracting placer situated
normalt in position to receive a shuttle from said magazine, and means for
automatically expanding and contracting said placer at the proper times, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
16. In a weft-supplying mechanism for looms, the combination with a shuttle-
magazine having a delivery outlet, of a shifting-placer, fully open at its top to
receive the shuttle sidewise from the magazine, means for expanding and holding said
placer expanded while in its normal position at the magazine, and means for

page_text: contracting and holding said placer contracted after leaving its normal position
substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
17. A weft-supplying mechanism for looms, having a shifting or reciprocating,
open-topped placer, for conveying a full shuttle to the picking point, and incans for
automatically expanding and contracting the shuttle space in said placer, sub-
stantially as set forth.
18. In a loom, the combination with the vibrating lay and a stationary shuttle-
magazine, of a displaceable shuttle-box on the lay, a shiftable shuttle-placer which is
movable from the delivery outlet of the magazine to the picking point on the lay and
adapted to receive and carry a shuttle from the magazine to said picking point,
mechanisin as described for displacing the shuttle-box and replacing it with the
said placer containing a full shuttle and an open electric circuit including an electro-
magnet, said circuit controlling the time of operation of said mechanism and having
in it a break, the closure of which is controlled by the weft in the shuttle.
Dated this 28th, day of August 1899.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.
Of 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicants.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.
Of 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicants.