CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HAMER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Third day of July, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, and in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Hamer,
Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Hamer, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said William Hamer, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Hamer, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hamer, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention of improvements in looms for weaving relate to the con-
struction of certain parts of looms employed in weaving textile fabrics,
namely,
Firstly, to the construction of temples, by which the fabric as it is woven
is maintained in a distended state, such temples being perfectly self-acting,
or requiring no assistance from the loom attendant during their working.
Secondly, to the application of a means of arresting the movements of the
picking sticks which take place upon the throwing of the shuttles.
The temples, which form the first of these improvements, have four move-
ments given to them, one is a movement outwards from each other, which
takes place immediately subsequent to the jaws of them taking their hold of
the selvages of the fabric, by which the fabric will be distended to the desired
extent, and there maintained during the traverse or onward movement of the
temples with the fabric, which is the second movement given to them; and
when they have thus moved on a certain distance, they are released from their
hold of the fabric in a self-acting manner, and immediately thrown back to
their first position or starting point forming the other movements, and again
take hold of the fabric and expand to effect the distension of the fabric, and
pass onwards with it as before. In fully describing these temples and their
action, and also the mechanism connected with them by which that action.is
effected, it will be necessary to refer to the accompanying two Sheets of
Drawings in which they are represented; Fig. 1 being a front elevation of
the mechanism as adopted to a loom, those portions of the loom not essentially
necessary for shewing the construction and working of the temples being
either only partially shewn or entirely omitted; Fig. 2 is a plan view; Fig. 3,
a side elevation, showing the breast beam of the loom in section; and Fig. 4,
a back elevation of one of the temples. A, the breast beam, which is attached
to the loom framing B in the usual manner. To the back of the breast beam
the brackets C, C, are bolted; the upper sides of these brackets are provided
with dove-tailed pieces, which form retaining pieces and guides for the temple
carriages D, D, so that the carriages are free to slide upon the brackets and
between the guide pieces in directions to and from the breast beam A. One
or both the dove-tailed guide pieces upon each of the brackets may be fixed
by set or adjusting screws, so as to admit of easy and proper fitting of the
carriages upon the brackets.
.
The construction of the temple and the temple carriage will be better
understood by reference to the Figures of thein drawn to the real size,

page_text: Fig. 5 being a side elevation, Fig. 6 a sectional elevation, showing the jaws
of the temple closed and the fabric in a state of tension; Fig. 7, a like
sectional elevation, but shewing the jaws open; Fig. 8, a plan view; and
Fig. 9, a back elevation. The temple is composed of two portions, an upper
portion E and lower portion E¹; they are attached together by a hinge or
other joint, which will allow the upper portion to rise of and close down
upon the lower portions, and they together form the jaws by which the fabric
is held. Figure 9* shows the under or holding side of the upper portion or
jaw, and Fig. 10. the upper holding side of the lower portion or jaw; these
surfaces may with advantage be roughened or file-tooth cut, the better to hold
the fabric and prevent slipping. The temples are fitted into the temple
carriages, so as to. slide freely therein in directions at a right angle to the
traverse of the carriages upon the brackets. F, F, are springs which are
secured to the temple carriages, the elastic action of which is to press the
upper jaws of the temples down upon the lower ones, and come into action
when the jaws of the temple are pushed into the temple carriages, the elastic
force of the spring upon the temple being at that point sufficient to hold the
fabric securely. between the jaws and prevent slipping. The sides of the
temple carriages are slotted at D', so as to allow the selvage edges of the
fabric to pass through and between the jaws of the temples. To the temples
are jointed the inclined rods G, G, and there are connected together at the
middle of the width of the loom above the fabric, or any part most con-
venient, by one or more joints G¹; the object of this is, that when the roils
are depressed and assume an angle approaching more to a right line, the
temples will be slid in their carriages outwards, and holding the fabric between
the jaws will distend it to the desired extent, and when the rods are elevated
so as to assume a less angle with each other, the temples will be drawn
inwards towards each other, the upper jaws lifted, and the fabric released
from their hold. I have here described the upper jaw only as being actuated,
but the lower one may be made to fall instead of the upper one rising to release
the fabric. His a horizontal shaft mounted above the breast beam A; the bear-
ings of this shaft are in the brackets H', H', secured upon the upper side of the
breast beam. This shaft carries the levers H", H", fixed upon it; the ends of
these are looped or forked, and embrace the two rods G, G. Upon one end of
the shaft H is also fixed the lever H, it either passes through a hole in the
breast beam, or it may be bent so as to pass upon the outside of the breast beam.
The lower end of this lever is notched, and into the notch the end of the blade
spring I takes, thereby retaining the lever back, and the temples closed and
expanded. This spring is fixed to the piece or bracket I', upon the framing

page_text: of the loom. " is a helical spring, attached at one end to the piecė 1', or to
any other convenient point of fixture, and .at. the other end to the lever H.
The duty of this spring is to draw. back the lever H when that lever is
released from the detaining action of the blade spring I, and thereby raise the
rods G, G, of the temples, draw the temples:inwardly, open them, and release
their hold of the selvages of the fabric. The brackets C, C, carry upon their
under side the pieces or brackets C, C¹, to which the blade spring's C, C;
are attached. The upper ends of these springs pass through openings in the
brackets C, C, and bear against the point of the temples. The object of
these springs is, that by their elastic action when the temples are released from
their hold of the fabric, they instantly return the temples back to their starting
position preparatory to their again taking another hold of the fabric nearer to
the reed. Upon one of the brackets, namely, on that one which is upon the
same side of the loom as the lever H and its accompanying springs, is placed
a slotted piece or bracket K, in the slot of which a projecting stud may be
fixed by
a nut, the slot allowing of the adjustment of the position of the
stud. This stud carries the lever K³, moving or vibrating upon the stud as à
fulcrum. This lever is also slotted, and the boss upon which it vibrates upon;
the stud is also adjustable within the slot, so that its position may be regulated
to suit the position of the stud in the slot of the bracket; by this means the ends
of the lever are always retained in their proper places. The object of being thus
enabled to adjust the position of the fulcrum of the lever is, that the amount
of the relative movements to the two ends may be varied to suit the descrip-
tion of fabric manufactured in the loom. The upper end of this lever bears
against the front of the temple carriage, and the lower end rests upon an
inclined piece L fixed upon the side of the blade spring I. N is the cloth
beam, and O the fabric. The action of these temples and accompanying
mechanism is as follows:-The positions of the parts as shewn in the
Drawings are that which they will assume at about the end of the traverse of
the temples, the jaws of which are expanded outwards in the temple carriages
and holding the selvages of the fabrics firmly in their grasp, maintain it in a
proper state of tension. The stay beats up in the usual manner. The taking-
up-movement apparatus attached to the cloth beam, which may be of any
ordinary description, is duly at work, and the fabric is consequently taken up
upon the cloth beam in the usual progressive manner. This draws the fabric
over the breast beam, and the temples being firmly attached to the selvages of
it, they of course move forward with it, the temple carriages sliding upon the
brackets between the dovetails. The upper end of the slotted lever K' is
carried forward by the temple carriage, and the lower end is consequently

page_text: moved slowly along the incline L upon the blade spring I, until by the time
the temple carriages have completed their traverse forward, when the lever
will have moved so far along the incline that the spring will be depressed
sufficiently to throw the end of it from the notch upon the lower end of the
lever Hupon the shaft H, thereby releasing it, upon which the helical spring
I immediately comes into action, draws the levers H backwards, elevates
the levers H, H", and with them the inclined rods G, G, drawing the temples
inwards and opening the jaws of them, and releasing their hold of the fabric;
and immediately this takes place the blade springs C', C', force back the
temple carriages to their starting positions upon the brackets ready to again
take hold of the fabric. The whole of these releasing movements and change
of situations of the temples will be effected between one or more beats up of
the stay, so that at its next beat up a projecting piece attached to any con-
venient part of one of the stay swords will come in contact with the lever H
when drawn back as before stated, and by it carried forward until the blade
and spring I slip up into the notch upon the end of it, and holding it as
before; this movement forward of the lever H will depress the lever
H", H", close the jaws of the temples upon the selvages of the fabric, expand
them outwards, and effect the proper degree of tension upon the fabric, and
now again move forward as before.
The second part of my improvements which I will now describe, consists in
the adaptation to the loom of a "checker" or stop, for the purpose of arresting
the momentum of the picking stick upon the throw of the shuttle.
This improvement is shewn in Fig. 11, which represents a side clevation of
a portion of the loom, with the checker or stop applied. A, the framing of
the loom, to which is attached the bar or piece of wood B, the attachment
being at one end of the piece only at the end B', the other end B" being
intended to receive the picking stick C against it; when the pick is made, from
the position of the piece B with reference to the direction of motion of the
picking stick, the blow being received upon its side, it exerts to a small degree
an elastic action, and thereby deadens the effect of the blow. The side of the
piece of wood B is provided with a piece of leather, or other like flexible
substance, against which the picking stick comes immediately in contact. The
bar or piece B may be of any suitable description of wood, or indeed it may
sometimes be composed of metal if desired, but I prefer the use of ash or
other woods, which possess a roughness with a certain degree of elasticity.
Having herein-before described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into practical operation, I claim as
my Invention as secured by the present Letters Patent,-.

page_text: First, the adaptation to and employment in looms for weaving or manu-
facturing textile. fabrics of sliding, expanding, and contracting temples, and
their connected and actuating mechanism, or any mere modification thereof
constructed and operating as described, in a self-acting manner, for the
purpose of giving to and maintaining in a state of tension the fabric as
manufactured.
Secondly, the adaptation to and employment in looms for weaving or manu-
facturing textile fabrics of stationery checker bars, whether of wood or metal,
if affixed to the framing of the loom, and the wood "checker", if affixed to the
moving parts of the loom arranged and actuating as described for the purpose
of checking the movement of the picking stick after the throw of the shuttle.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hamer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.