IMPROVED SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR DAMPING THE WARP IN LOOMS DURING THE PROCESS OF WEAVING
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Mark Knowles and Abraham
Chalk at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 15th April 1873.
Wo, MARK KNOWLES, of Walpole Street Iron Works, Blackburn, in
the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and ABRAHAM CHALK, of
Queen Street, Low Moor, in the Borough of Clitheroc,' and County of
Lancaster, Engineer and Millwright, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR DAMPING
THE WARP IN LOOMS DURING THE PROCESS OF WEAVING," to be as follows:-
This Invention is a self-acting apparatus for damping the warp in
the loom during the process of weaving, and is intended to give to the
warp in dry weather as much moisture as it naturally holds of itself
in damp weather, and which is known to contribute so much to good
weaving.
The apparatus constituting this Invention consists of a bar, beam, or
roller, of wood or other porous material, formed with a tube or cavity
into which is conveyed the water or solution used for moistening the
yarn, this water or solution gradually finds its way to the surface of the

page_text: the said surface is placed in contact.
The parts constituting this apparatus can be constructed in several
ways, but the principle of action named above; namely, the filteration
through the porous substance, is the same in all.
In one form of the apparatus we have a tube of metal or other
suitable material perforated almost throughout its length with small
holes, and upon this tube and covering these holes we place a sufficient
number of rings, discs, or washers, of wood or other porous material,
which will when screwed up together by a nut at one end form a
compact roller a little broader than the breadth of the warp to be
damped. If the said rings or washers be of wood we take care to place
them so that the grain of each disc shall cross the next one at right
angles. We place the said roller in contact with the yarn near to
where the back rest is usually placed, and either use it in conjunction
with the back rest or not, and we cause it to be turned round slowly by
the yarn as the said yarn passes to the healds and reed.
We feed the tube before named with water or other fluid, which
finding its way through the holes enters the pores of the discs and shews
itself on the surface of the roller in order to equalize the fluid on the
surface of the roller; we usually cover the said surface with one or two
layers of cloth. The tube can be fed at both ends, but we usually feed
at one end only, the other end being plugged up and formed to turn in
a suitable bearing. The feeding end of the tube we furnish with a gland
box, so formed that the tube may turn in the said box and still have a
water-tight joint.
In another form of the apparatus we have a bar or beam of wood or
other
porous material a little broader than the warp to be damped, and
bored or formed with an internal cavity into which we admit the water
or damping fluid; this bar or beam is placed in contact with the yarn
like the roller described in the above apparatus, but instead of turning
round it simply vibrates with the yarn, being formed with journals at
each end for the purpose; a small stop bracket fixed on the loom
prevents it turning over towards the front of the loom; and to allow of
its vibrating it is coupled to the fluid supply by an elastic tube; it can
be fed as in the above apparatus at one or both ends.

page_text: For supplying each loom with the fluid required for damping,
whichever of the before-named forms of apparatus be adopted, we either
furnish each loom with a small cistern to which we connect the
apparatus,
or we convey the fluid to each loom in pipes from any
convenient source. We have a small tap to each loom to regulate the
quantity and if necessary the pressure of the fluid, besides the before-
named tap used to regulate the quantity of fluid delivered to the roller
or beam; we can where we retain the ordinary back rest of the loom
regulate the quantity delivered to the yarn by raising or depressing the
said back rest so as to cause the yarn to be in contact with more or less
of the damping surface.