IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING NETS AND NETTING
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Weldon Symington
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th May 1873.
I WILLIAM WELDON SYMINGTON, of the Colne Valley Iron Works,
Halstead, in the County of Essex, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MAKING
NETS AND NETTING," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to make fast net of large or small mesh
with bobbins and carriages, and my said Invention consists of a frame
or machine in which the said bobbins and carriages are combined with
pickers, hooks, and guide needles, and with mechanism for working
the same, as herein-after described.
For convenience of description I will first describe the manner in
which the threads are arranged and the knots are formed, and then the
arrangement of the carriages, bobbins, pickers, hooks, and guide
needles, and of the mechanism by which they are worked. The warp
threads pass from the warp beam over a guide roller, through a reed,
and under a tension roller, which has a rising and falling motion.

page_text: Thence the said threads pass through the race of the carriage circle
and over a work bar, at the lower edge of which the knots are formed
by the tying of the weft threads with the warp threads. From this
bar the net made passes to the work beam.
"
The knots are made as follows:- There are two sets of pickers, one set
at the front of the threads and the other at the back. Supposing both
sets to be between the warp threads, close under the edge of the work
bar, the comb bars are "shogged," i. c. moved end ways one "gate."
The hooks then by a backward and forward radial or "tipping" motion
pass between the warp threads and engage therewith. They then
descend below the combs, carrying down with them the said threads,
and the guide needles rise and carry up the said threads, so as to form
openings; the tension roller rising in like proportion to give out the
necessary length of warp for the said openings. During those motions
the back pickers by a backward, radial, or knocking out" motion
disengage themselves and descend to the back combs, through which
the bobbin carriages pass (the said carriages being at this time
stationary between the teeth of the front combs). The said pickers
then by a forward radial motion pass between the guide needles and
the openings in the warp threads, and engage with the said threads, and
then rising take up the said threads to the work bar, the hooks still
retaining the threads below the comb bar. During this rising motion
of the pickers the guide needles descend below the combs so as to allow
of the backward and forward traverse of the bobbins and carriages,
which now pass backward through the openings, carrying with them
the weft threads, so as to form loops. The comb bars are then
'shogged" one "gate, " from right to left, and tho weft threads aro
thereby twisted half round the warp threads. The weft threads are
then passed by the bobbins and carriages forward between the warp
threads, but this time outside the loops. As soon as the bobbins and
carriages have passed into the front comb the comb bars are "shogged,"
from left to right, and the bobbins and carriages pass back through
the loops.
The next operation is to throw off the loops from the hooks previously
to drawing up the loops. For this purpose the hooks rise, and by the
"tipping" motion herein-before referred to throw off the loops, and the
tension roller then descending takes up the slack of the warp threads
and tighten the knots, leaving the said knots on the pickers. The

page_text: opposite picker bar now "knocks out" (i. e. disengages the pickers
from the knots), the work beam at the same time taking up the requisite
amount of the net to make a mesh of the required size. The hooks
then come forward between the warp threads, the picker bar is
shogged from left to right, the hooks are then again tipped
backward, and the several motions described are repeated, with the
exception of the pickers, the back pickers this time being stationary,
and the front pickers descending to form another row of knots.
.
I will now describe the manner in which the various parts are
constructed, arranged, and actuated. The driving shaft of the machine
is connected by a connecting and disconnecting clutch or by fast and loose
pulleys and bands, with a main laying shaft, on which are keyed cams,
which give the necessary rising and falling motions to the parts. This
shaft by means of bevil wheels drives a vertical shaft at one end of
the machine, on which shaft are keyed cams, which give the endway
or "shogging" motions to the comb bars and picker bars. The pickers
are affixed to horizontal bars, which respectively work at the front and
back of the hooks. Each picker bar is carried by arms affixed to a
sliding bar mounted in bearings in two arms carried by a rocking shaft,
so as to be capable of sliding and turning therein. The picker. bar
rocking shafts are worked from two of the cams on the main laying
shaft. An endway motion, from left to right, is given to the sliding
bars which carry the picker bars by means of levers worked by two of
the cams on the vertical shaft. The reverse motions of the said sliding.
bars is effected by springs. The radial motions of the picker bars are
given to them by means of double ended levers worked by two of the
cams on the main laying shaft. The bobbin carriages (which are
similar to those used in lace machines) are driven by two horizontal
fluted rollers which engage with the teeth of the said carriages and are
driven by a toothed quadrant, which engages with pinions keyed on
the shafts of the said rollers. This quadrant is driven from a cam on
the main laying shaft. The bobbin carriages work in combs mounted
on bars in front of and behind the hooks. An endway motion in one
direction is given to these bars by means of a lever actuated by one of
the cams on the vertical shaft, the return of the said bars being effected
by a spring.

page_text: ends of which are jointed to arms affixed to a rocking shaft, by which
the raising and lowering of the hook bar is effected; the said rocking
shaft being worked from a cam on the main laying shaft. The ends of
the hook bar slide in vertical guides in the frame of the machine.
One end of the said hook bar carries a tappet, which being acted upon
by a double ended lever, worked by one of the cams on the vertical
shaft, gives to the said bar the radial motion necessary to effect the
tipping of the hooks for disengaging them from the loops. The other
end of the said bar carries a plate which slides against the end of a
spring, and is so curved that as it rises and falls, it being acted upon
by the said spring, gives to the said bar the "tipping" motion
necessary to enable the hooks to retain the loops until disengaged
therefrom, as aforesaid. The guide needles are affixed to a bar, which
has a rising and falling motion, in guides adjacent and parallel to the
guides in which the hook bar works. The needle bar is raised and
lowered by the arms of a rocking shaft worked by one of the cams on
the main laying shaft. The tension roller and the reed are mounted
in a rocking shaft worked from one of the cams on the main laying
shaft.
The work roller is turned as required by means of a worm wheel on
the axis of the said roller, with which wheel a worm driven by a ratchet
wheel engages. The said ratchet wheel is driven by a clawker or hook
jointed to a double ended lever worked by a cam on the main laying
shaft.