Improvements in Drop-box and Shedding Motions for Looms.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Apr., 1887
Complete Left, 23rd Jan., 1888
Complete Accepted, 9th Mar., 1888
Improvements in Drop-box and Shedding Motions for Looms.
[ WILLIAM HENRY HACKING of the California Iron Works, Bury in the County of
Lancaster Machinist do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to the looms employed in the weaving of fabrics and
particularly to the parts which effect the movements of the drop box and of the healds.
In an invention for which Letters Patent number 1257 of the year 1883 have been
granted to a John Brownlee excentrics making half revolutions were employed to
give motion to parts which effected the movements of the drop box. I also employ
an excentric or excentrics according to the number of positions of the drop box.
Taking for example a four shuttle drop box I employ a compound excentric consisting
of two excentrics which I actuate by means of oscillating spur segments which are
acted upon or are connected with parts which are acted upon by rods or bars which
are lifted as required by means of a vibrating knife the said lifting being controlled
by ordinary or suitable pattern mechanism as for example by a peg barrel or pattern
chain. By preference I employ sliding bars which are provided with projecting
fingers which pass below studs which project from discs formed upon the said spur
segments or to which such segments are secured. Each disc or segment is provided
with a pair of these bars one bar in the pair being adapted to turn the segment in one
direction and the other bar being adapted to turn the segment in the contrary
direction. The upper ends of the bars are hooked or are connected with hooks or
griffs which engage with the vibrating knife at the required times as controlled by
tho pattern mechanism. The oscillations of the segments or discs are limited by
recessed wipers coming into contact with studs or projections upon the bars whereby
the bar which is out of action is lifted to admit the stud or projection to enter the
recess in the said wiper or the locking may be effected by suitable means. In the
weaving of cross bordered fabrics or of goods having distinct patterns which recur
at intervals the shedding motion is controlled by means of two pattern barrels. I
cause either of these barrels to control the shedding for as many picks as is required
the other barrel remaining for an interval out of gear and action. Either barrel is
n' 07

page_text: automatically brought into use at the required times. I provide each barrel with a
star wheel which is mounted to slide upon the barrel shaft and the two star wheels
receive notion from an intermediate peg wheel. A tappet chain motion controls a
vibrating frame which carries the said barrels. When one barrel is raised into action
the other is lowered ont of action by the same movement. At the same time fixed
inclines act upon a pair of rocking levers or upon a rocking lever frame or forked
lever which slides one star wheel into gear and the other wheel out of gear.
Dated this 22nd day of April 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION....
Improvements in Drop-box and Shedding Motions for Looms.
I WILLIAM HENRY HACKING of the California Iron Works, Bury in the County
of Lancaster, Machinist, 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 stateinent and accompanying drawings:-
:-
My Invention relates to the looms employed in the weaving of fabrics and
particularly to the parts which effect the movements of the drop box and of the healds.
In an invention for which Letters Patent number 1257 of the year 1883 have been
granted to John Brownlee excentrics making half revolutions were employed to give
motion to parts which effected the movements of the drop box. I also employ an
excentric or excentrics according to the number of positions of the drop box. Taking
for example a four shuttle drop box I employ a compound excentric consisting of two
excentrics which I actuate by means of oscillating spur segments which are acted
upon or are connected with parts which are acted upon by rods or bars which are
lifted as required by means of a vibrating knife, the said lifting being controlled by
ordinary or suitable pattern mechanism as for example by a peg barrel or pattern
chain. In the weaving of cross bordered fabrics or of goods having distinct patterns
which recur at intervals, the shedding motion is controlled by means of two pattern.
barrels. I cause either of these barrels to control the shedding for as many picks
as is required, the other barrel remaining for an interval out of gear and action.
Either barrel is automatically brought into use at the required times.
My Invention can bo best described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the said drawings Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a loom-parts which are
of ordinary construction not appearing in the drawing. Figs. 2 to 6 represent
details of the drop-box motion. Figs. 7. 8. and 9 illustrate the shedding motion.
In Fig. 1 A is the drop box which has places for four shuttles and which is connected
by means of a link with one arm of a lever c which is mounted upon a fulcrum
at d. To the other arm c¹ of the lever is jointed the end of an excentric rode which
is acted upon by a compound excentric consisting of two excentrics one mounted
to revolve upon the other as indicated by Fig. 10. The outer excentric has double-
the throw or excentricity of the inner one.. By turning one or the other of the two
excentrics half a revolution backward or forward the lever c can be moved into either
of four positions and the drop box be thereby raised or lowered to bring any one of
the four shuttles into use. Fig. 10 shows the four positions into which the excentrics
are moved the arrows indicating the movements to produce each change. The half.
revolutions of the excentrics are effected by means of two tootlied sectors which act
upon pinions which drive the excentrics. In Fig. 1 g is the sector which gears with
the pinion h which is fast to the inner excentric. The sector and pinion which.
actuate the outer excentric being behind do not show. The two sectors are attached
to discs k which are mounted to vibrate upon a shaft. One of these discs appears in
Figs. 3 to 6 which illustrate the parts which actuate the outer excentric.. Each disc

page_text: is provided with two studs on which bowls are mounted. The discs are vibrated
by means of four rods m. m' which aro divided into two pairs, each disc acting upon
the two in a pair. These rods are hooked at their upper ends so that they can be
lifted by a knife bar n which is carried by a rod o which is fitted to slide up and down
and is connected by a link p with a lever q which receives motion from a tappet r.
The ordinary pattern chain barrel s is vibrated to and fro by any suitable means and
acts upon sliding needles & any needle of which is pushed inward by the pattern chain
moving the hooked end of one of the rods m. m² clear of the knife bar. Any rod
which is not so moved by its needle is caught and lifted by the knife bar. Each of
the two rods in each pair is formed with a projecting finger and when the rod is
lifted this finger acts upon one or the other of the bowls whereby the disc is
vibrated in one direction or the other. Referring to Fig. 3 the next movement of the
disc and sector from their indicated positions would be in the direction indicated by
the arrow and this would be effected by the finger m² on the rod m acting upon the
bowl when the rod would be lifted by the knife bar the disc being thereby caused
to make about one third of a revolution sufficient to turn the connected excentric
half round. The next movement caused by the finger m³ on the rod m² acting on
the bowl would turn the disc back into the position shown in the Fig. The disc is
locked after each movement by means of locking plates nu. Upon each rod in the
pair is a bowl v and each of the locking plates is recessed to receive one of the bowls
and is curved to act thereon so as to slightly lift the rod. When the rod m would be
lifted to turn the disc in the indicated direction the locking plate u would slightly
raise the other rod m' until the bowl on that rod would drop into the recess in the
locking plate thereby preventing further movement of the disc. It will thus be seen
that each rod in the pair limits the movement of the disc caused by the other rod in
the same pair. In consequence of the axis of the outer excentric being shifted by
_ each movement of the inner excentric it is necessary to have a sliding connection
between the outer excentric and its driving pinion. Such for example as indicated
at A Fig. 10 where the pin 1 projecting from the outer excentric slides in a slot in
an arm 2 shown in dotted lines and formning part of the driving pinion. The important
novelty in the invention is the arrangement for rotating the two excentrics backward
and forward.
Figs. 7. 8. and 9 illustrate the apparatus for effecting the changes in the shedding
that is to say in the action of the healds.
In these Figs. w. w are the two pattern chain barrels which are carried by a
frame which is mounted to vibrate upon the axis of motion of the revolving shaft y
which gives motion to the said barrels in the manner shown in Fig. 9. Upon the
end of the shaft y is a disc z which is provided with a stud which acts upon the star
wheels a a² which are fixed upon the pattern chain barrels in the manner now well
understood. Each star wheel is fitted to slide upon the barrel shaft so that it can
be moved into or out of the range of action of the stud disc c. A second shaft b'
gives motion to two tappet chain wheels c'e' and above these is a lever d¹ which is
mounted to swivel upon a fulcrum at e and is connected at both ends by means of
springs with the frame so that the latter will follow the movements of the
lever d. The tappet wheels cat each partial rotation rock the lever d¹ upon its
fulcrum whereby the frame is also caused to rock so as to raise one of the pattern
chain barrels w and to lower the other one, the barrel that is raised at any timo being
brought into acting relation with the levers g', the barrel that is lowered being
withdrawn from action upon such levers. The levers 9' when acted upon by the
pattern chain lift the griffs or hooks h¹ into position to be acted upon to actuate the
connected jack to raise the healds as is usual. Upon the side of the framing are
two fixed inclines which when the frame is rocked upon its fulcrum act upon a
double clutch fork and vibrate it upon its centre of motion. The forked ends of
this lever take hold of the bosses of the star wheels. At each movement of the
fork one of the star wheels is slid out of gear with the stud wheel the other star
wheel being at the same time moved into gear. Taking for example the parts in
the positions shown in Figs. 7 and 9 the pattern chain w is in action and the chain w

page_text: which is
is out of action and is at rest in consequence of the star wheel a' being withdrawn
from gear with the stud wheel. At the next movement of the shaft
effected at the time when the pattern is to be changed the lever d' and the frame r
rock upon their fulcra whereby the chain w is lowered out of action and the chain w¹
is raised into action. At the same time the inclines acting on the fork k¹ vibrate it
upon its centre and the star wheel a¹ is slid out of gear and the wheel a² is slid into
gear thereby effecting the change in the pattern which is being woven.
To steady
The frame in either of its two positions a bowl is pushed by a spring into one or
the other of two recesses in the frame at the end of each movement of the latter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is: =
(1) The combination of parts for raising and lowering the drop box of a loom
substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1 to 6 and Fig. 10 of the
drawings.
(2) The toothed sectors for imparting to and fro half revolutions] to the two
excentrics the said sectors being turned by means of pairs of rods which are lifted, by
a knife bar when selected by the pattern chain substantially as and for the purpose
set forth and indicated.
(3) The, arrangement and combination of the rods m. m¹ the lifter barn in
connection with pattern chain mechanism the fingers m² m² acting on the bowls
on discs or parts fitted to rock and provided with toothed sectors 9 which gear with
pinions h substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
g
(4) The locking plates u u¹ carried by the rocking disc and provided with recesses
to receive the bowls upon the rods m. m' substantially as and for the purpose set
forth and indicated.
(5) The apparatus for changing the pattern chain or barrel which governs the
order in which the healds are lifted as set forth with reference to Figs. 7. 8. and 9
of the drawings.
(6) The pattern chain or peg barrels w. w carried by a rocking frame which is
rocked by a lever d¹ which is actuated at the required times by tappet wheels c¹ c¹
substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
こ
(7) The pattern chain barrels w. w₁ carried by the rocking frame the two star
wheels a¹ a mounted to slide into and out of gear with the stud wheel the lever d¹
acted upon by tappet wheels to rock the frame and the lever k¹ which moves one
star wheel into gear and the other star wheel out of gear at each rocking movement.
Dated this 20th day of January 1888.
DUTTON & FULTON,.
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.