Improvements in Warp Stop Motion for Looms.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Dec., 1897-Accepted, 19th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (AMENDED).
Improvements in Warp Stop Motion for Looms.
I, STEPHEN WATKINS, of Prince's Chambers, Wolverhampton in the County of
Stafford, Civil Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention (a communication to 1ne from abroad from FREDERIC ELLSWORTHI KIP,
of Montclair, in the County of Essex, in the State of New Jersey, one of the United
States of America, Manufacturer), 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 means for automatically stopping a loom upon the break-
age of a warp thread therein, and it has for its object to provide simple and effective
electro mechanical means whereby the clutch which connects the driving shaft of the
loom with a loose driven pulley thereon may be automatically disconnected upon the
breakage of a warp thread. The invention consists in the improvements which I will
now proceed to describe and claim.
In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification―.
Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic view showing a loom stopping apparatus
embodying my invention.
Figure 2 represents a top view of the construction shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 represents a perspective view of a portion of the apparatus.
Figure 4 represents a plan view of part of the apparatus shown in Figure 2,
showing the clutch members disconnected, as by breakage of a warp thread.
Figure 5 represents a diagrammatic view, showing a somewhat different arrange-
ment of mechanism embodying my invention.
Figure 6 represents a view of a modification of the arrangement shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 6 shows a detail of one of the contact arms of the mechanism shown
in Figure 6.
Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 represent details of the mechanism shown in Figure 5.
In the drawings-
a represents a loose driving pulley mounted upon the shaft a¹ of a loom.
represents a clutch member, which is rotatively engaged with the driving shaft and
is movable into and out of engagement with the pulley a, and a³ represents a clutch
lever or shipper which is pivoted to the loom at a' and is engaged with the clutchi
member a² in such manner as to move the same into and out of engagement with
the corresponding member formed on the pulley a. An actuator is provided which
is adapted to move the lever a into position to separate the clutch members and thus
stop the loom, said actuator being shown in Figures 2 and 4 as a spring connected
with the lever as and with the frame of the loom, said spring when free to act moving
lever as from the position shown in Figure 2, which represents the clutch member a
in its operative position, to the position shown in Figure 4, which represents the

page_text: clutch member disconnected from the driving pulley. The mechanism above
described is of a type common in looms, and is here shown and described as illus-
trating a suitable means for carrying my invention hereinafter described into effect.
Said invention is not, however, limited to this particular form of clutch operating
mechanism.
In connection with the clutch lever and its actuator I employ an actuator restrain-
ing mechanism which when all the warp threads are intact, prevents the actuator from
operating and maintains the clutch members in engagement with each other. Said
restraining mechanism comprises a source of electricity x, such as a dynamo or
battery; a series of contact arms e hung to oscillate upon a fixed support el extending
across the warp-threads w, the said contact arms being provided at their swinging
ends with hooks e², each of which is adapted to engage a warp thread; an elongated
contact piece 3 extending across the warp threads and arranged to support the con-
tact arms and make electrical contact therewith when said arms are released by the
breakage of the warp threads that support them; an electro-magnet having an
armature b¹, and an operating or controlling device connected with said armature, for
making the restraining mechanism operative and inoperative.
I have shown the contact arins extending alternately in opposite directions from
*the support e¹ and a contact piece e for each set of arms. In this way a greater
number of arms can be grouped together than if all projected from the same side of
the support el. The dynamo, the circuit closing arms e and contact piece e³, and the
electro-magnet are included by suitable connections in an electric circuit, which is
closed by the contact of either of the arins e with the contact piece e³. The said
operating or controlling device, as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4 comprises a hooked
lever or detent 2 which supports the armature and is pivoted to the clutch lever a³
(the magnet b being also mounted on said lever), and a latch or shipper controller c
which is pivoted at c¹, to the clutch lever and is adapted to be engaged at its free
end by the hooked lever 62, as shown in Fig. 2. When the latch c is thus engaged,
a stud d', which is suitably secured to the frame of the machine, is confined between
the clutch lever and latch, as shown in Fig. 2, the clutch lever being thus held in its
clutch engaging position. When the circuit is closed through the electro-magnet,
the armature b¹ is attracted, and displaces the hooked lever 62 as shown in Fig. 4,
thus releasing the latch c and permitting the clutch lever to be moved inwardly by
the actuator f as shown in Fig. 4, the clutch member a¹ being thus separated from
the driving pulley and the operation of the loom stopped. The stud d' projects
upwardly from a bar d, which is movable across the frame of the machine and is
adapted to be locked or secured to the frame. Said bar or rod is simply slid in its
supports and locked by any suitable means such as a set screw or other clamp. The
stud d' is engaged with a loop g attached to the latch c on the side toward the lever
and may be used to restore the latch to engagement with the hooked lever b² before
starting the loom, the rod a being moved inwardly to swing the latch into engage-
ment with the hooked lever, and then after such engagement moved outwardly to
restore the clutch lever to the position shown in Fig. 2, after which the rod d may be
again locked to the frame of the machine.
It will be seen from the foregoing that whenever a warp thread breaks, the contact
arme supported thereby falls and makes contact with the contact piece e³ thus
making the actuator restraining mechanism inoperative, so that the actuator moves
the clutch lever to the position to stop the loom.
In Fig. 5, I show a different type of actuator, and actuator restraining mechanism,
the actuator being a lever f¹ which is oscillated by the power of the machine and is
in fact, the lever which is commonly employed in connection with a pivoted latch or
weft fork f mounted on the usual knock off part of slide 1, said latch f2 being
normally held above the path of the oscillating actuator f¹ by a filling thread and
allowed to drop into the path of said actuator when the filling thread breaks, so that
the actuator engaging the latch 2 moves the knock off backwardly and causes it to
move the knock off slide or shipper lever which communicates motion to a clutch
lever and causes the stoppage of the loom through connections and in a manner so

page_text: I have not
well known in the art as to require no illustration or description here.
illustrated the knock off lever and clutch lever employed in this embodiment of my
invention as the same are well known, and therefore require no special description.
In this case I utilize the knock off slide to support the electro-magnet which controls
the operating device, whereby the actuator restraining mechanism is made alternately
operative and inoperative. In this case the said operating device comprises a con-
trolling member in the form of a vertically movable slide or dog n, which has a rule
joint at n¹, so that its lower end n² will yield to the actuator f¹, when the latter is
moving in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5 and will engage said actuator
The electro-
when it is moving in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 10.
magnet here indicated 65 has its armature 6 affixed to a pivoted lever or detent b
one end of which has a hook 63 engaging a notch in the operating or controlling
device n when the magnet is not energized, the armature and lever being held in
the position shown in Figs. 5 and 7 by a spring b³. When the circuit is closed and the
magnet 65 energized, the armature is attracted as shown in Fig. 10 and releases the
operating or controlling device n, causing it to drop into the path of the actuator f¹.
The contact arms employed in this embodiment of my invention and indicated e5 are
provided at their free ends with comparatively deep hooks e, each of which is adapted
to bestride two adjacent warp threads, the depth of the hooks being sufficient to
permit the opposite movement of the warp threads required by the play of the needles
without disengaging said threads from the hooks. At the same time the circuit will
not be closed by the hook moving down with either thread for the other thread is
simultaneously rising and will take the hook before it has descended far enough to
make contact; and only in the event of a breakage or failure of one of the threads
will the hook descend into contact with the circuit terminal. By this arrangement
I enable one contact arm to serve for two warp threads. The contact arms are made
of very thin sheet metal and are relatively wide, the object of which is to provide for
assembling a great number of hooks close together, side by side, without danger of
their becoming entangled. It will be seen that thin flat and wide hooks have a great
advantage in this respect over hooks made of wire. The contact piece which co-
operates with the contact arms, and is here indicated e' is rotated in suitable bearings
by means of a belt es driven by a shaft e which is rotated by the power of the loom.
The object of rotating the contact piece e7 is to prevent interference with an opera-
tive electrical contact by particles of lint deposited on the contact piece, the rotation
of the contact piece causing any lint that may have been deposited thereon to be
scraped away by a contact arın when the latter drops upon the contact
piece.
i represents a fixed rod or stop which extends across contact arms e5 above the
same, to prevent said arms from being thrown upwardly by the upper warp threads
sufficiently to disengage their hooks from the lower warp threads. The contact arms
in this instance are pivoted between the lease rods h, h. In Fig. 6, I show a contact
arm elo, ell, of a somewhat different form pivoted back of the lease rods and having
that the arms can be readily
open eyes e12 engaged with the pivot rod so
removed.
In all cases, I prefer to arrange the contact arms so that when they are supported
by the warp their upper edges will be at a uniform height, so that they will present
a uniformn appearance where thus supported, and will show a gap where any warp
thread has broken and permitted the accompanying hook to fall, thus making it easy
to locate the broken thread. In the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the
contact arms are placed near the lease rods, so that the portions of the warp threads
which support them have little or no vertical movement; hence the upper edges of
the contact arms can readly be caused to present the desired uniform appearance.
In this case the arins e are provided with upwardly projecting fingers et which stand
in line with each other when the arms are supported by the warp threads, the finger
on any displaced arm standing out of line with the others and enabling the broken
thread to be readily located. In the construction shown in Figure 5, the arms are
supported by the upper warp threads at points between the lease rods and the

page_text: heddles. In the construction shown in Figures 6, 6 the contact arms are supported
by the parts of the warp threads which have no vertical motion; and to compensate
for the slight variation between the heights of the adjacent warp threads caused by
the lease rods, I make the hooks e13, e14 of varying depth, the hook e¹s resting on the
higher warp thread being deeper than that e¹ on the lower. To reduce friction
between the hooks of the circuit closing arms and the warp threads, I provide the
hooks of said arms with antifrictional coatings or facings arranged to bear on the warp
threads, such facings being for example, composed of enamel applied to the hooks in
any suitable way. Any other suitable material may be used for the same purpose.
The specific construction of the feelers or contact arms is to be particularly noted,
as to that construction are attributable certain advantages presently to be enumerated.
Ordinarily the warp threads lie so closely together that it is a difficult matter to
assemble the feelers in engagement with the threads and have them operate without
interference and without becoming entangled.
It will be observed that I employ contact arms in the form of very thin flat and
wide sheet metal strips. The preferred construction is that shown in Figs. 5 and 6
where the arm will be observed to be devoid of any lateral projections. It will be
obvious that this construction of contact arm or feeler permits of a very close assem-
blage of a number of them and overcomes any difficulty about accomodating a
sufficient number in the alloted space. The metal of the arms is so very thin that
they can be easily accomodated however closely the warp threads may lie together.
Again the extra width of the arms allows for an adequate up and down movement
without so far passing each other as to make possible any interference.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me from abroad I declare that what I claim is:
1. In a warp stop motion for looms, the combination of a shipper, means for
vibrating or reciprocating the same to clutch and unclutch the driving mechanism
of the loom, a controlling member movable on the shipper to prevent an unclutching
movement of the latter, a detent engaging said controlling member to hold it in
position to prevent unclutching of the driving mechanism, an armature compounded
with said detent, an electro-magnet, a circuit embracing the same, and a warp con-
trolled circuit closer whose operation causes the said magnet to attract the arma-
ture and thereby displace the detent and release the shipper controller allowing the
latter to move to position permitting unclutching of the mechanism, substantially
as described.
2. In a warp stop motion for looms, the combination with a clutch lever and
actuator therefor exerting itself to move the lever to unclutching position, of a
latch on the lever, a detent for engaging the latch, a holding bar engaging the
latch to hold the clutch lever in clutching position when said latch is engaged
by the detent, an electro magnet arranged to attract the detent, a circuit
embracing said magnet, and a warp controlled circuit closer.
3. In a warp stop motion for looms, the combination with a clutch lever and
actuator therefor exerting itself to move the lever to unclutching position, of a
latch pivoted at one end to the lever, a detent pivoted to the lever and arranged
to engage the opposite or free end of the latch, a holding bar engaging the latch
and acting there against in opposition to the aforesaid actuator to hold the lever in
clutching position, an electro magnet carried by the lever in position to influence
the detent, a circuit embracing said magnet, and a warp controlled circuit
closer.
4. In a warp stop motion for looms, the combination with a clutch lever and
actuator therefor exerting itself to move the lever to unclutching position, of a
latch pivoted at one end to the lever and having a loop on the side toward the
lever, a holding bar projecting into said loop, a detent on the lever and arranged
to engage the free end of the latch, an electro-magnet carried by the lever in

page_text: position to influence the detent, a circuit embracing said magnet, and a warp
controlled circuit closer.
5. In au electrical warp stop motion for looms, the combination with the thread
supported circuit closers, of a rotary contact bar for said circuit closers to engage,
a circuit embracing said bar and closers, and electrically controlled clutch shipping
mechanism, arranged substantially as described.
STEPHEN WATKINS.